Re: Vision Stmt Examples LO2030

J.Mullen@agora.stm.it
Tue, 11 Jul 95 11:51:24 GMT

Replying to LO1955 --

I'm sitting here wondering at what point one's vision statement
must make explicit one's presuppositions about ideology? Can we talk
about ideology anymore, anyway? Or has it become absolutely individual
and subjective? A discussion of values, morals and ethics? One's views
on sustainable development versus unlimited growth? It certainly doesn't
appear to follow nationalistic lines. More like one huge bubbling global
melting pot of interconnecting contexts. It would seem to me a crucial
point when considering why some vision statements need be merely one line,
while, say, rebels like Anita Roddick of the Body Shop or Ben and Jerry
might need two pages. How much does one have to contextualize when one
sees the world in a different light? Or is that the trick of a truly
successful vision statement, when one can summarize those two pages in the
turn of a phrase?

How does an O in a group of X's render an idea of its O-ness? Or
am I merely revealing my tendency to presuppose diversity instead of
looking for sameness??

What brings me to these questions was the entry on the economic
success of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy and the networks of small
businesses and mutual aid associations that thrive there. What popped
immediately into my head was : "Well, of course, it's a traditionally
communist region! Its vision statement is communist ideology." Okay,
this is a sweeping generalization, but my point is:

If we consider vision statements in some sense emergent from the
organization or community that create them, how much do the creators, or
the readers, presuppose economic homogeneity?? Or do they?? Can they
take for granted and leave implicit their modus operandi?

Thoughts?? Comments??

commenting on LO1955...

..."The examples from whole communities can be quite enlightening here. I
am particularly thinking of the small business tie-ups in the
Emilia-Romagna
region of Italy. Its economic miracle has been documented in a very large
scale social experiment encompassing the whole of Italy over the period of
two decades from 1970's onwards. You can find more about it in the book
by Robert Putnam (prof. at Harvard University) "Making Democracy Work:
Civic Traditions in Modern Italy". One of the main findings from this
work has been the recognition of the existence of what Putnam termed
"social capital".

As I understand it, the sources for social capital are:
- trust
- reciprocity, and
- dense social networks.

It turns out that this particular region of Italy has a very strong and
long established miriad of mutual aid associations. The associations that
act in an inclusive manner. This has not only built trust over hundreds
of years, but also enabled the civic regions of Italy to invent credit."

--
Jackie Mullen
j.mullen@agora.stm.it