Behind the Veil (poem)

I must confess that when I was studying business, I really didn't have a clue what I was getting into. Business was something mysterious, something I understood only in terms of Hollywood stereotypes of tycoons and fat-cat villains - and perhaps that was the appeal. I soon discovered, however, that there are some very simple truths about the nature of business, and how to make your way in the world of commerce. This poem tries to demystify the misty, murky aura that surrounds business.

BEHIND THE VEIL

To those who stand outside
Or young ones still aspiring
The mysteries of business
Are tangled myths conspiring

But for those who enter in
The veil is quickly rent
For the secrets of success
Are simply common sense:

Make a lot of friends
And always keep in touch
Try to help with problems
But never pry too much

Get to know the rules
And always show respect
Play hard but even handed
Give as you hope to get

Set a lot of meetings
And always beat the bell
Talk less and listen more
And never do hard sell

Make a lot of money
And always watch your spend
But do not get confused
Between the means and end

Get to know your talent
And always have some fun
Throw in a little passion
And get the good job done

These are the simple truths
And answers many seek
To the enigma that is business
Behind the veiled mystique

So step inside the circle
And very soon you’ll find
The common sense of commerce
Is serving humankind

(2003)

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Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Stories (quote)

We all have a story to tell - of our journey through this life, of the world through our yes, of the "I am" that we are - and the true telling is in the living.

(1992)

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Corporate Sustainability and the Individual (research paper)

Corporate Sustainability and the Individual:
Understanding What Drives Sustainability Professionals as Change Agents.
By Wayne Visser and Andrew Crane
Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN), 2010.
Download the full paper

Abstract

In the face of overwhelming global challenges like climate change and persistent poverty, can individuals in organizations make a difference? This paper looks at what motivates sustainability managers to devote their time and energies to addressing social, environmental and ethical issues. It is rooted in the literature on the role of individuals as change agents for corporate sustainability, in particular in their capacity as environmental or social ‘champions’. The paper presents in-depth research among sustainability managers, providing a rich, nuanced understanding of different types of sustainability change agents. It identifies four such types – Experts, Facilitators, Catalysts and Activists – and uncovers the pivotal role of values, inspiration, expertise, empowerment, strategic thinking and social contribution as sources of meaning for these purpose-inspired managers. The findings deepen our understanding of the psychological dimensions of corporate sustainability management, and provide a useful tool for improving individual and team performance, enhancing recruitment and retention of sustainability talent, and developing more effective organisational leadership for sustainability.

Introduction

As social, environmental, and ethical issues like persistent poverty, climate change, financial market instability and economic globalisation continue to move up the geopolitical and economic agendas, corporate sustainability is increasingly touted as a timely and necessary response by business (Dunphy et al., 2003; Shrivastava, 1995; Zadek, 2004). Viewed in this way, sustainability can be thought of as a conceptual framework and practical mechanism for creating change that results in improved social, environmental and ethical conditions (Van Marrewijk, 2003).

Attention to corporate sustainability has tended to focus on how change can be achieved at the organisational level (Benn, et al. 2006; Dunphy et al., 2003). By contrast, comparatively little research exists on the role of the individual as a change agent for sustainability (Sharma, 2002). What literature there is on corporate sustainability and the individual level typically focuses on four areas: 1) The importance of values congruence between managers/employees and organisational values (Fryxell and Lo, 2003; Hemingway and Maclagan, 2004; Van Marrewijk and Werre, 2002); 2) the instrumental association between individual concern, knowledge and commitment and corporate social and environmental responsiveness (Bansal and Roth, 2000; Keogh and Polonsky, 1998); 3) narrative accounts by sustainability managers of corporate ‘greening’ (Fineman, 1997; Georg and Fussel, 2000; Starkey and Crane, 2003); and 4) the role of sustainability managers as champions, entrepreneurs or agents of change in their organisations (Andersson and Bateman, 2000; Prakash, 2001; Walley and Stubbs, 1999).

This literature brings insights to our understanding of individuals within a corporate sustainability context by highlighting the importance of ‘intangibles’ like values, attitudes and beliefs in driving corporate sustainability, the crucial role of education and awareness in achieving behaviour change, the scope and necessity for managerial discretion in making change happen, the power of corporate culture in shaping a consensus ‘story’ on sustainability, and the pivotal role of leadership support for sustainability. However, the literature also shows certain limitations. We still know little about what drives individuals to be sustainability managers ...

Continue reading (download the full paper)

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Blue Skies (poem)

What can be a better metaphor for enduring love than the seasons ...

BLUE SKIES

When the skies are blue
And the world is bright
I am smiling also -
Let us bask in the sunshine!

When the grey clouds come
And the sun disappears
I will be here still -
Let us hold hands in the gloom!

When the lightening strikes
And the thunderclaps rage
I will tremble also -
Let us cling tight in the storm!

When the showers fall
And the land is drenched
I too will be crying -
Let us slow dance in the rain!

When the arch unveils
And the colours enchant
I will marvel also -
Let us fly over the rainbow!

(2004)

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Art - The mirror in which we see our truest self reflected (prose)

Art is the mirror in which we see our truest self reflected.

What space does art occupy in your life? Is there a medium that you are drawn to – maybe drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, tapestry, carving, quilting, or something else entirely? Which artistic styles do you best relate to? Do you have a favourite artist or piece of art?

The answers to all these questions say a lot about you.
Not only about your likes and dislikes, your tastes and interests, but also about your moods and musings, your hopes and fears.
Do you prefer realism or abstract art?
Impressionism or fantasy creations?
Romanticism or ethnic influences?
Each reflects a fundamentally different view of the world, a different set of beliefs about what it means to be human, a different perspective on aesthetics and beauty.

Some artists try to faithfully reproduce what they see, to give a factual account, while others attempt to capture the emotions of their subjects.
Some use art as a mouthpiece, to get a message across, while others use it to reflect their own inner state.
All art, however, has the power to transform those it touches.
We say we are moved by a piece of art, which means something has shifted, we are changed forever.

Art is a catalyst.
It sparks new insights, evokes dormant feelings.
It gives flight to angels and stirs slumbering demons within.
It does this not by providing us with answers, but by asking questions.

Every work of art is a slice of life, a freeze-frame in time, a snapshot of reality.
At first, we are fascinated by what the artist has captured – the scene, the characters, the play of light and shadow, the contrast of colour and tone.
We are implored to ask the obvious questions – why this place, these objects, those people?
But we know we have only scratched the surface.

Our curiosity piqued, we dig down a layer – what can we tell about the mood, the emotion, the atmosphere?
As each new shard is uncovered, we piece together artefacts of meaning.
What about the relationships – between the setting and the actors, the background and the objects, the artist and the work of art?
The more we chip away, the more we realise that what is revealed is only a fraction of what still lies hidden below the surface.

We cannot help but ask: What came before the painting?
After the sculpture?
What meta-narrative informed the quilt?
What threads in time wove together to form this knot?

It is as if art is the view we get looking through a keyhole.
We are voyeurs of another time and place, eavesdropping on other people’s lives.
But what we see is only a miniscule part of the whole picture. W
hat we hear is only a fragment of the entire conversation.

Art gives us a mystery to solve.
The clues are all there for the enthusiastic detective to discover – in the art piece itself, the genre it reflects, the life of the artist, and the historical period in which they are located.
As we investigate, we find that the plot thickens, and though we may develop hunches and hypotheses, the mystery remains forever unsolvable.
And so it should be.

We are free to create our own enigmas as well.
We are all latent artists.
Have you discovered your talent yet?
What kind of art do you wish you could do, or do better?

Our artistic nature cries out to be nurtured, but more often than not, we neglect it.
Like an unwatered plant, it shrivels inside us, until we stop believing we have any artistic inclinations at all.
Perhaps we are intimidated by what it means to be good enough?
But art is an experience, not an outcome; a process, not a product.

The value of engaging in an artistic activity is in the act of creation itself, the journey it takes you on and what you learn about yourself.
For far too long, art has been rendered inaccessible by snobbery and given marginal importance by modernity.
It is time we take back the power.
Art is our natural heritage, our birthright.
Until we embrace it, our lives will remain poorer, shallower in spirit, less human.

So why not make some space for art in your busy schedule today?
Sneak a peek through the keyhole and you may be amazed to spy fantastic worlds that you hardly dreamed existed, not least those inside yourself.

(2005)

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Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Love (quote)

Love is a journey in which we can never know the destination, only that we want to walk into the unknown with another by our side.

(2007)

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

Redefining CSR (book extract)

Responsibility is the choice we make to respond with care. This book, then, is a way of taking stock. What choices have we made – in the way we live our lives, in the way we do our work and in the way we run our businesses? How have we responded to the needs of our day – especially the social, environmental and ethical crises we face? And have our actions been taken with care – have we cared about our impacts on others?

I must admit to being slightly surprised (and a little dismayed) to find myself, 10 years after my first book, Beyond Reasonable Greed, still singing a similar refrain. I am once again arguing that business needs to ‘shapeshift’, to fundamentally rethink the purpose of business and to put into practice a genuinely sustainable and responsible ethos. There are fundamental differences though. Today, many of the problems are worse, more urgent and backed by more solid scientific evidence. In the interim, there has been a geopolitical shift away from the West, with the potential for more questioning of neoliberal economics and shareholder-driven capitalism. There are also more corporate corpses on the slab, allowing us to examine the nature of our greed disease. At the same time, awareness about our public social and environmental crises is much higher, and there are more genuine corporate sustainability and responsibility pioneers that provide living proof of what health and wellbeing could mean for business and society.

The fact is that now we know better what bad corporate magic looks like and the devastating consequences of practicing it. But we also know that magic spells can be broken by revealing the sleight of hand at work. It is my hope that by sharing some of the insights gained from the past 20 years of CSR wonder and trickery, we can move beyond magic to real responsibility – responsibility of the kind that makes a tangible, positive, sustained impact on the lives of the world’s poor and excluded and that visibly turns the tide on our wholesale destruction of ecosystems and species.

But I am getting ahead of myself. First let me say what I understand by CSR. I take CSR to stand for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility, rather than Corporate Social Responsibility, but feel free use whichever proxy label you are most comfortable with. My definition is as follows: CSR is the way in which business consistently creates shared value in society through economic development, good governance, stakeholder responsiveness and environmental improvement.

Put another way, CSR is an integrated, systemic approach by business that builds, rather than erodes or destroys, economic, social, human and natural capital. Given this understanding, my usual starting point for any discussion on CSR is to argue that it has failed.

I will provide the data and arguments to back up this audacious claim in the paragraphs, pages and chapters that follow.

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This is an extract from The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business
For more information and ongoing updates, follow the The Age of Responsibility Blog

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

First People (poem)

This poem is about the San (Bushmen) of Southern Africa, who are among the most ancient indigenous people of the world. They have long been a source of inspiration to me, especially since reading Laurens van der Post's books on the subject, like The Lost World of the Kalahari (1958), Heart of the Hunter (1961) and A Far Off Place (1974, and later made into a film). Sadly, despite the richness of their culture, their peaceful ways and their profound connection to nature, they have been persecuted and virtually wiped out over the past 100 years. And yet, they live on through their modern descendants and through those that are still inspired by their cave art, their myths and stories and their example.

FIRST PEOPLE

First People
First people of this ancient land
Last exiles in the desert sand
To you we owe our destiny
Our struggle to be wild and free

We call you Hunter, Bushmen, San
You sowed the seeds of primal Man
A gentler race we have not known
See how your legacy has grown

For millennia you lived in peace
In harmony with nature’s beasts
With tools of sinew, wood and stone
And crafts of egg-shell, quill and bone

Hunting game and digging roots
Tapping trees and plucking fruits
Night theatre around dancing fires
Click singing under starry skies

You chose the way of archers’ bow
Of hunters’ grace - the art of flow:
To give and take and see the whole
To honour life and feed the soul

You felt the weather in your bones
And sensed earth’s subtle undertones
You heard the stars whisper ‘tsau! tsau!’
And rode the wind, we know not how

The landscape generations trod
Recalls to us your Mantis god
Windswept by myths and scattered tales
Told and retold on dusty trails

Then came the time of racial blight
A target for both black and white
The hunter became hunted prey
Pre-dawning your extinction day

You were the masters of the hunt
But progress left your arrows blunt
And tracking skills that reigned supreme
Are all but lost in history’s stream

Yet even now your soul still breathes
On cave walls and in rocky cleaves
In ochre, charcoal, mud and lime
Your gallery now transcends time

We see you smile in every face
Whose eyes reflect that ancient place
In wrinkled elders old as earth
Whose wisdom joins us with our birth

First people of this ancient land
If we could only understand
Your ancient ways still hold the key
To setting ourselves truly free

(2005)

This poem is included in the poetry collection, I Am An African: Favourite Africa Poems by Wayne Visser
Download First People
View I Am An African (the book)

Copyright 2010 Wayne Visser

New poem: Step Out

STEP OUT
By Wayne Visser

Step out into the breaking day:
Step lightly and step brightly;
As best you can, step rightly
Upon your chosen way –
Step out into the breaking day.

Step out into the spritely Spring:
A-thudding and a-budding,
With colours all a-flooding
And joy upon a wing –
Step out into the spritely Spring.

Step out under the glaring sun:
Beyond the shade of sheltered glade
Into the forge where hearts are made
And life’s true race is run –
Step out into the glaring sun.

Step out into the burning fire:
With dancing feet on blazing heat,
Defy the odds of self defeat
Through naked flamed desire –
Step out into the burning fire.

Step out into the gaping breach:
The bridge of sighs and stream of lies,
To stand astride the great divides
And stretch beyond your reach –
Step out into the gaping breach.

Step out into the fading Fall:
A-swirling and a-twirling,
Upon the breeze a-curling;
Responding to the call –
Step out into the fading Fall.

Step out into the sleet and snow:
It’s dripping and it’s slipping,
So walk with extra gripping;
Be careful as you go –
Step out into the sleet and snow.

Step out onto the fragile ice:
Cross hairline cracks and bear line tracks,
With quaking confidence that lacks
While fate is rolling dice –
Step out onto the fragile ice.

Step out under the gleaming moon:
While yearning tides and turning rides
Keep secrets that the future hides
Of lovers’ lilting tune –
Step out beneath the gleaming moon.

Step out into the starlit night:
Step surely and step purely;
Take care, yet not demurely,
Upon your homeward flight –
Step out into the starlit night.

(2011)

New book: Wishing Leaves: Favourite Nature Poems

My new poetry collection - Wishing Leaves - is out. Here's the blurb:

This unique collection brings together nature poems by South African poet and writer, Wayne Visser. The anthology includes many old favourites like "I Think I Was a Tree Once" and "A Bug's Life", as well as brand new poems like "Let Bells Ring Out" and "Wishing Leaves".

Here's an extract from Wishing Leaves, to give you a flavour:

Then as we turned our faces to the moon

Our hands entwined, our hearts in sync, in tune

We felt the fingers of the silken breeze

And made our wishes on the falling leaves

Order from the publisher, or Amazon.

Emotional beings

Last night, I watched a panel discussion on social media with, among others, Stephen Fry. Something he said struck a chord. He said we are emotional beings first and foremost, and intellectual beings second. Hence, the success of Twitter and other social media sites is down to their ability to connect people emotionally.

More art. Less sleep. Better interaction.

That's my answer to the question I posed on Twitter last night: Name the three things that you hope to do: more of? less of? and better? in 2011

What would your answers be?

The Meaning of Responsibility by Wayne Visser

What does "responsibility" really mean? This is an extract from my new book, The Age of Responsibility. I hope you find it interesting and inspiring. If the words resonate, feel free to share it with your friends. And watch this space for more videos.



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