Fundamental values underpinning my work

This posting is about a continuous update of my work on the fundamental values underpinning my writing and research.

My full profile is available on http://www.jopiecoetzee.co.za/
I am based in Johannesburg - email address: jopie@global.co.za


So what new guidance?
1 December 2011
As a hobby, I endeavour to plant one tree for each final page written. Over the past three years 740 Portulacaria afra (spekboom) trees have been cultivated in my little nursery in the back-yard. These trees are said to have the highest conversion rate of carbon to oxygen in nature - thus also being called 'miracle trees'! The trees are donated to local churches and charities to raise funds or to beautify their grounds.
1 February 2011
What has been your credo for doing business over the past three decades?
"My fundamental principle of doing business is "The best way to to benefit oneself is to benefit others first.""
Chen H. and Hou S. 2010: Managerial Lessons From the East - an interview with Acer's Stan Shih [chairman  emiritus]. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 24 (4):7


Dedication of this posting:
Berry, A.J. 1997. ‘Approaching the millennium: transforming leadership education for stewardship of the planet’s resources’, Leadership and Organisation Development Journal, 45(5): 86–92.

What are these fundamental values?

Stewardship – as a guardian of all life on Earth through responsible business models and policies.

Leadership acts of wisdom, love and courage.

The Golden Rule of Humanity:

“What I mean by this [the moral minimum guiding human behaviour] can be demonstrated relatively simply by means of the Golden Rule of Humanity which we find in all the great religious and ethical traditions. Here are some of its formulations:

Confucius (c.551-489 BCE): “What you yourself do not want, do not do to another person” (Analects 15.23).

Rabbi Hillel (60 BCE – 10 CE): “Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you” (Shabbat 31a).

Jesus of Nazareth: “Whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them” [...for this sums up the Law and the Prophets] (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).

Islam: “None of you is a believer as long as he does not wish his brother what he wishes himself” (Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi, 13).

Buddhism: “A state which is not pleasant or enjoyable for me will also not be so for him; and how can I impose on another a state which is not pleasant or enjoyable for me?” (Samyutta Nikaya V, 353, 35-342,2).

Hinduism: “One should not behave towards others in a way which is unpleasant for oneself: That is the essence of morality” (Mahabharata XIII, 114, 8).”

(Küng H. 1998: A global ethic for global politics and economics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. X11)

A Christian way of life.

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