February 2005 | Letters to the Editor
We Must Go Deeper
by Terry Mollner
In my judgment, our friend Paul Hawken (“Is Your Money Where Your Heart Is? The Truth About SRI Mutual Funds,” Common Ground, Oct., 2004) has done something that must be named and rejected if our values are to be perpetuated in mainstream society.
In criticizing the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) mutual fund industry, he created a simple and unrealistic polarity, the equivalent of “for our troops-against our troops” or “against the UN controlling America-for the UN controlling America.” I know of no one for the latter in either case.
Paul created the dichotomy of “for greed-against greed.” He then placed SRI in the “for greed” camp. This Madison Avenue sales technique currently being used so effectively by Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and the Republican Party works well in a sound-bite media world where you have the ability to sustain it as the context for the conversation. Given this simple, unrealistic choice, many will not see through the ruse and choose to be on your side because it is the only reasonable option.
This technique can comfortably be used by less mature people, people who believe the end justifies the means. However, more mature people accurately see the process as the end. They cannot do this (or fail if they try) because their lack of inner integrity is visible, i.e. Al Gore and John Kerry pandering to the political middle rather than successfully selling the truth.
To perpetuate our more mature values, like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, etc., we must live them well instead of joining in this manipulative game. SRI had a far more modest goal than ending greed. It was to prove that we could make as much profit investing in publicly traded companies moving in the direction of reducing, rather than increasing greed: the only two options available there. It has also nurtured investment in private companies and nonprofits that aggressively give priority to the common good over greed. While Paul advocates this approach, he does not mention the fact that it is being led by the progressive SRI community today.
If George Soros and his new Phoenix Group try to regain power using the-end-justifies-the-means methods, they will fail just as Paul is failing using it to critique our community. We have no choice but to go deeper, not cheaper, to regain respect and leadership. Our values will not allow us to be successful any other way — thank God!
Terry Mollner is Chair of Trusteeship Institute, Inc., a think tank and consulting firm in spiritually responsible business and co-founder of Spirit in Business, Inc. He is currently writing a book entitled, What I Didn’t Learn Growing Up In Mollner’s Meat Market: The 7 Layers of Maturity of Thinking.
This is an excerpt. To read the full text of Terry Mollner’s response to Paul Hawken and more of the ongoing SRI debate, visit: cemagazines.com
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