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Dear
FLOW members,
How do we create a new social movement based on a pragmatic idealism?
We ask ourselves that question every day, and gradually we are
discovering ever more wonderful answers.
FLOW ALLIANCES
To begin with, we are discovering a number of organizations, both new and old,
that are already doing much of the work that FLOW would like
to inspire people to do. In this newsletter we will begin to
introduce you to these complementary networks and organizations.
We are at various stage of dialogue with these organizations,
exploring potential alliances. Regardless of the eventual nature
of these alliances, the fact that so many like-minded organizations
are springing up is an encouraging sign.
For FLOW to be optimally effective, we will want a presence
in the international professional community. And to our delight,
we have found Globond, an international networking community
that has worked with FLOW to put together a panel at the
10th World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs in Sao Paolo, Brazil,
an event sponsored by several UN agencies and to be covered
by CNN. The topic of the panel is very FLOW: “Entrepreneurs
as Global Change Agents: Can entrepreneurs create sustainable,
global peace, prosperity, and happiness in the next fifty
years?” My co-panelists will include Alan Weber, the founder
of Fast
Company, Stefan Roever, CEO of Navio, and Irene Ho, an Asian
businesswoman. Thanks to Kirstin Myers of Globond for her
great work in putting this together.
We will also need a web platform that is more focused on
news and current events, than we can currently be on the
FLOW website.
Happily, Kevin Rollins has created The Free Liberal, a
transpartisan journal of politics and economics based on the
idea of “A
Free Liberal is a person who values individual freedom,
is alive
to the dangers inherent in all forms of power and authority,
and believes in the possibility of the rule of law, equal
justice, fundamental rights, and a free and prosperous
society.” Kevin
worked with Charlie Frohman and Kirstin Myers of Globond,
along with Global Integrated Solutions and Open World to
put together
a D.C. event at which I spoke to a fascinatingly diverse
transpartisan audience. Strikingly, several people at the
event said that
they met someone whom they had been told they should meet
but hadn’t yet; it was a great mix of people.
In addition to the existing FLOW networking site,
we will need a community-building site similar to myspace.com
or orkut.com. Happily, Brian Johnson is creating Zaadz,
a complementary community-building site, which will include
many prospective FLOW members. The copy on their main
page sketches their Plan: “Ours involves Capitalism. Spirituality.
Enthusiasm. Love. Service. Inspiration. Leaders. People
CRAZY enough to think they can change the world. And
courageous
enough to do something about it. And committed enough
to stick to
it when they feel like giving up.” An ad with the same
copy
will soon run in What is Enlightenment?, Ode, Utne, VegNews,
Shambala, Tricycle, Science of Mind and “a bunch of other
mags.”
We will want to constantly be out there discovering new
frontiers of exploration. And, voila, The Explorers
Foundation is already
doing this: “We believe that enterprise devoted to
finding, inventing, presenting, and distributing tools for
explorers
will change the world.” See their "glyphs"
for an amazing set of tools for explorers.
We will want to produce media that celebrates entrepreneurs
and markets. And Free to Choose Media, producers
of Milton Friedman’s “Free to Choose,” have a biography of
Milton Friedman
coming out on PBS in the fall of 2006, a forthcoming two-part
international production on the work of FLOW hero Hernando
de
Soto, (Institute of Liberty & Democracy), whose work Bill Clinton
describes as "The most promising anti-poverty initiative in the world",
and a sequel to Free to Choose that that juxtaposes Julian
Simon's vision of the centrality of human capital with economic
freedom and the rule of law.
We will want to support global entrepreneurs in projects
that create peace and prosperity around the world.
Open World is
developing brilliant, innovative ways of doing
this, and GlobalGiving finds
the best existing projects around
the world and channels funding to them.
We will want to provide top-notch expertise in helping
new entrepreneurs to bootstrap their enterprises.
And Bootstrap is doing this.
These are just a few of the dozens of groups, some
with extraordinarily large reach, with whom we
are working
towards common goals.
Future newsletters will continue to elaborate
on our various partnerships as they develop and on
specific projects stemming
from these partnerships. In another six months
or so
we intend to be ready to market a robust, visionary,
practical
problem-solving
network, prepared to support millions of FLOW
supporters and fellow travelers.
FLOW PROGRAM & EVENTS
I also want to give you all a heads up on a forthcoming media and education project
titled Working for Good – a wonderful program designed
to activate the entrepreneurial spirit for good in
young people). FLOW is providing a substantial portion
of the content and talent for a short classroom curriculum
preceding a series of videoconferences in early May.
Produced by FLOW Chief Activation Officer Jeff Klein,
Working for Good will be presented as a Pulse Program
of the Global Nomad Group and is sponsored
by Peace Cereal.
FLOW advisor
Susan Niederhoffer hosted a FLOW gathering in NYC
last month after FLOW member Marsha Enright gave
a talk at the NYC Junto on her plans for creating
a new college called College of the United States.
A lively meeting ensued.
Michael Ostrolenk, whose consulting group Global
Integrated Solutions helped to sponsor our D.C.
event, also achieved a coup in the form of a
great speech
by Al Gore co-sponsored by his Liberty Coalition.
Ostrolenk is a leading builder of practical transpartisan
alliances. See http://www.libertyspeeches.org/ for Gore’s speech.
FLOW WEB SITE
Finally, I have written this month’s article for our Member Platform on “Liberalism
vs. Leftism.” In a time when so much of our news
is filtered through the lenses of the “Left” or the
“Right,” it is good to remember that transpartisan
message that the United States is preeminently the
product of the Great Liberal Revolution of the 18th
Century. This piece may spark controversy; we hope
so. Join our FLOW theory group,
to talk about this piece.
Towards a sustainable peace, prosperity, and happiness
for all of humanity,
Michael
Michael Strong, CEO & Chief Visionary Officer
P.S. FLOW is above all a forum of free exchange for
its members in the quest for sustainable peace,
prosperity, and happiness. We welcome your feedback
to the content
of this newsletter and all FLOW activities and
publications. Please send your thoughts to contact@flowidealism.org.
P.P.S. Please join one of our five themed discussion
groups, and participate in our active and growing
community, at www.flowrealism.org or www.flowidealism.org (FLOW, where idealism and realism both lead to
the same place).
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JOIN FLOW to
"Criticize
by
Creating"
~Michelangelo
Would you like to join us to liberate
the entrepreneurial spirit for good?
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us for printed copies of the FLOW brochure.
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