Parents, Priests and Generals - A Guide for How to Change the World for Good

Dano Jukanovich

Changing the world is at its simplest, changing people. But changing people for “good” – that’s complicated. Empowering people or educating them isn’t enough to change the world for good. Even making people wise or courageous or self-disciplined or honest isn't enough. But if we could develop the character trait that allows us to put others’ interests ahead of our own, then there would be no more war, no more poverty, and no more disease. It’s not impossible.

  1. 04/27/2020

    The Foundations of the Earth - Part 2

    “Behold, I am of small account.” Job, Hebrew prophet We can change the world. We can right Injustices. We can listen to what our patients are saying with their stories, root out and heal their ailments while helping them see the fullness of life beyond their own. We can create businesses that will outlast themselves through their employees, suppliers, customers and community. We can nurture that damaged and fearful child to a life full of confidence and joy. We can teach our students to share simply because their classmate is valuable regardless of the favor he might or might not return. We can win Martin Luther King’s double-victory over our oppressors. We can lead our parishioners toward intimacy with one another and God. We can write stories and make sculptures that inspire us to be our best selves. We can be diligent and disciplined in our commitments to value others even ahead of ourselves. However, sooner or later we will reach our pain threshold and we will realize like Job, that we are “of small account.” Without some of Joe Mukanwa’s “spirit,” whatever we do to change the world will be a childish and mostly futile exercise in painting by numbers. parentspriestsgenerals.com

  2. 04/27/2020

    The Foundations of the Earth - Part 1

    “Behold, I am of small account.” Job, Hebrew prophet We can change the world. We can right Injustices. We can listen to what our patients are saying with their stories, root out and heal their ailments while helping them see the fullness of life beyond their own. We can create businesses that will outlast themselves through their employees, suppliers, customers and community. We can nurture that damaged and fearful child to a life full of confidence and joy. We can teach our students to share simply because their classmate is valuable regardless of the favor he might or might not return. We can win Martin Luther King’s double-victory over our oppressors. We can lead our parishioners toward intimacy with one another and God. We can write stories and make sculptures that inspire us to be our best selves. We can be diligent and disciplined in our commitments to value others even ahead of ourselves. However, sooner or later we will reach our pain threshold and we will realize like Job, that we are “of small account.” Without some of Joe Mukanwa’s “spirit,” whatever we do to change the world will be a childish and mostly futile exercise in painting by numbers. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    The Foundations of the Earth - Part 1

  3. 04/27/2020

    Addicted to Stories - Part 2

    “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human Our imaginations have been captured by the many stories we see and hear on a daily basis. We imagine ourselves in Script's song, on our way to the Hall of Fame. We imagine ourselves as Tom Brady, married to a supermodel and winning the Superbowl. We hope to experience the wealth and power promised by The Secret or the meaning and fulfillment of The Purpose Driven Life. Literary critic, George Steiner, wrote, “ours is the long day's journey of the Saturday, between suffering, aloneness, unutterable waste on the one hand and the dream of liberation, of rebirth on the other.” Aslan goes farther than Sherlock’s or Schindler’s sacrifices for those they loved. Edmund had betrayed his actual blood brothers and sisters whom he truly did love. He sold out an entire kingdom for nothing more than a truffle. But Aslan chose a path sure to lead him to an undignified death on behalf of someone who had betrayed him and the people he loved. Elevating others over self, helping others to achieve more even if it means we achieve less, valuing every human equally simply because they are human, fighting the good fight – these are stories that touch on the most popular of all Hollywood themes - “Love Conquers All.” Changing character happens as the listeners imagine themselves in the stories being told. I have a request from my daughters, that you who pursue your dream to change the world through art and entertainment will be careful to tell stories that they will be better for having imitated. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    Addicted to Stories - Part 2

  4. 04/27/2020

    Addicted to Stories - Part 1

    “We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human Our imaginations have been captured by the many stories we see and hear on a daily basis. We imagine ourselves in Script's song, on our way to the Hall of Fame. We imagine ourselves as Tom Brady, married to a supermodel and winning the Superbowl. We hope to experience the wealth and power promised by The Secret or the meaning and fulfillment of The Purpose Driven Life.  Literary critic, George Steiner, wrote, “ours is the long day's journey of the Saturday, between suffering, aloneness, unutterable waste on the one hand and the dream of liberation, of rebirth on the other.” Aslan goes farther than Sherlock’s or Schindler’s sacrifices for those they loved. Edmund had betrayed his actual blood brothers and sisters whom he truly did love. He sold out an entire kingdom for nothing more than a truffle. But Aslan chose a path sure to lead him to an undignified death on behalf of someone who had betrayed him and the people he loved. Elevating others over self, helping others to achieve more even if it means we achieve less, valuing every human equally simply because they are human, fighting the good fight – these are stories that touch on the most popular of all Hollywood themes - “Love Conquers All.” Changing character happens as the listeners imagine themselves in the stories being told. I have a request from my daughters, that you who pursue your dream to change the world through art and entertainment will be careful to tell stories that they will be better for having imitated. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    Addicted to Stories - Part 1

  5. 04/27/2020

    Extending Life - Part 2

    “The aim is to postpone frailty, postpone degenerative disease, debilitation and so on and thereby shorten the period at the end of life, which is passed in a decrepit or disabled state, while extending life as a whole.” Aubrey de Grey, author of Ending Aging Encouraging the patient to value life above all else will leave her in pain, likely alone, and most certainly afraid. Doctors help slow life’s deterioration. That’s not what we patients need, nor is it what Hippocrates intended with his oath. What we need is a foundation such that in the face of our pain, we will not be overcome by fear. We need reassurance that there is more to being alive than just the length and quality of our own lives. In our vulnerability, medical professionals are maybe “the patient’s only familiar in a foreign country.” The doctor is the example for the patient – living a life lost in those he serves and leading them to life beyond themselves. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    Extending Life - Part 2

  6. 04/27/2020

    Extending Life - Part 1

    “The aim is to postpone frailty, postpone degenerative disease, debilitation and so on and thereby shorten the period at the end of life, which is passed in a decrepit or disabled state, while extending life as a whole.” Aubrey de Grey, author of Ending Aging Encouraging the patient to value life above all else will leave her in pain, likely alone, and most certainly afraid. Doctors help slow life’s deterioration. That’s not what we patients need, nor is it what Hippocrates intended with his oath. What we need is a foundation such that in the face of our pain, we will not be overcome by fear. We need reassurance that there is more to being alive than just the length and quality of our own lives. In our vulnerability, medical professionals are maybe “the patient’s only familiar in a foreign country.” The doctor is the example for the patient – living a life lost in those he serves and leading them to life beyond themselves. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    Extending Life - Part 1

  7. 04/27/2020

    More than Quarterly Earnings - Part 2

    Foster and Kaplan’s 2001 book, Creative Destruction, showed over the previous 50 years, the life expectancy of firms in the Fortune 500 had declined from 75 to 15 years. Those firms that do remain have only done so by adapting so drastically that they barely resemble the firms they were 15 years prior. General Electric has been around for 123 years. By 2001, the financial arm of GE accounted for 41% of its profits. Under twenty years of Jack Welch’s leadership, the behemoth of industrial manufacturing had become almost as much a financial institution as a manufacturing concern. Because of the 2008 financial crisis and GE's Lehman Brothers-level of financial risk, Welch's successor is on a trajectory to reduce financial services to only 10% of GE's overall business. The GE of 123 years ago has changed drastically, but the team members, customers and community still carry the weight of its values, for better or worse.  parentspriestsgenerals.com

    More than Quarterly Earnings - Part 2

  8. 04/27/2020

    More than Quarterly Earnings - Part 1

    “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy… your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products… Short-term profits should be allied with an increase in the long-term value of a company.” Jack Welch, Former CEO, General Electric A business leader interested in changing the world develops a vision like “organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful.” She hires people with shared values. Her occupation is story-teller for this business undergirded by its values, helping create habits of behavior, leading self-sacrificially, making and delivering on commitments and supporting others as she asks them to do the same. These values end up infused into all the activities of the business and as a result into the psyche of the stakeholders. This is the gospel of leadership according to gurus of business. What most gurus don’t realize is the outcome isn’t a longer lasting, more successful firm, but character change in stakeholders that outlasts the firm itself. parentspriestsgenerals.com

    More than Quarterly Earnings - Part 1
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About

Changing the world is at its simplest, changing people. But changing people for “good” – that’s complicated. Empowering people or educating them isn’t enough to change the world for good. Even making people wise or courageous or self-disciplined or honest isn't enough. But if we could develop the character trait that allows us to put others’ interests ahead of our own, then there would be no more war, no more poverty, and no more disease. It’s not impossible.

Information

  • Creator
    Dano Jukanovich
  • Years Active
    2020
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dano Jukanovich