Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow

Inspired by Einstein’s quote, I share highlights. I’ll be a featured speaker at online Collective Trauma Summit, talking about compassion and connection. Learn more here where you can register for free. A Forbes Councils member, I wrote articles and contributed to expert panels. I did several presentations and interviews, with more in the coming month. Jerry and I celebrated our granddaughter Taty marrying Derek and our grandson Teagan getting engaged to Meagan. beCause Global Consulting helps people and organizations connect with their core purpose and each other. Learn more about my company and me. Global Citizens Circle celebrates its 50th anniversary, please donate so future Circles will always be free to everyone everywhere. Join online Circle Sept 20 ‘Reclaiming our... more

Nadine B Hack, CEO beCause Global Consulting

2022: a year filled with sorrow and joy, losses and celebrations, tragedies and triumphs. We shared grief at the horrific toll of a pandemic, wars, environmental degradation. I was deeply honored to receive Catalyst for Change Award by Shirley Chisholm Cultural Institute that inspires me to keep on keepin on… Jerry and I keep promoting social causes in the long relay race for a more just world. I welcome your ideas on how to create mutually supportive connections at a time of growing inequity. Do you have projects that you’d like to promote? See what I’ve written in Forbes Councils and other places. Amidst our sorrow at a broken world, we celebrated the marriages of our two eldest grandchildren. Braedon... more

What a year it’s been! Together we can make things better

With 2021 drawing to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the “new normal” (or not normal) wrought by the pandemic, climate change and growing inequity worldwide. Despite these crazy times, Jerry and I have continued to promote social causes in the long relay race for a safer, more just and peaceful world, understanding that all of us are inextricably interconnected, so we have a sacred obligation to bring love, hope and peace to everyone everywhere. The work never stops. So, when the temperature drops and sunlight wanes, we can all take heart in knowing that every culture celebrates the power of light over darkness near the winter solstice. As the Brits say, we have to calm down and carry on.... more

The Four 'C's of Connectedness

Connectedness, or how people successfully connect to their core being and then come together with others despite myriad internal and external challenges, was always important. Now more than ever — when many are in despair about our divided world and harbor fears about an overwhelming present and an equally frightening prospective future — a sense of connectedness in the 2020s is absolutely essential. Regardless of what goals you seek professionally or personally, you can’t effectively do anything alone; you must engage others. We are inextricably interconnected, whether we like it or not. On every topic for which I’m known (e.g., corporate social responsibility, diversity, sustainability, multi-sector partnerships, etc.), there are a gazillion people far more knowledgeable on it than I.... more

Who are you? I am a connector!

At the start of my most recent interview I was asked, “who are you and what’s your why?” It was no surprise as the host, Muriel Favarger Ripert, CEO of @ma Table & Co and founder of Fondation aaa, both of which create intergeneration links among individuals, organizations and businesses, is guided by the fundamental principle that every human being has inherent dignity and equal worth. My immediate reply: “I am a connector!” You can watch the interview here. Muriel also is a connector and it was through our kindred spirit of following the South African concept of Ubuntu, I am a human being through my relationships with other human beings, that we came to respect each other. We talked... more

Leadership, responsibility, action, hope

beCause CEO Nadine Hack at IMD Global Alumni event, Future of the Planet: Inspiring What Could Be – IMD President Jean-François Manzoni spoke of a more engaged response at board meetings when he talked about “doing well by doing good” than he’d received just a few months earlier when board members seemed to shrug it off as irrelevant. And we see something happening now The Business Roundtable recently issued a statement redefining the Purpose of a Corporation in which they say we have to move away from exclusively shareholder primacy to a broader spectrum of stakeholders. And, at about the same time, Gillian Tett, US Managing Editor Financial Times, wrote Capitalism – a new dawn? addressing many of the same... more

Connectedness makes everything possible

beCause CEO Nadine Hack’s opening keynote at Stockholm Philanthropy Symposium – Other speakers will address with great wisdom myriad specifics on philanthropy, impact investing, corporate responsibility, social innovations, digital platforms, partnerships, gender equity and more. So, to start, I’ll share a meta framework about what I call connectedness because I believe it’s at the core of all those topics and, actually, everything. You can watch video of presentation. First, please turn to someone near who you don’t already know and introduce yourselves. Take a minute max each so the two introductions will take two minutes max. Go ahead! [participants interact] How many of you basically shared your name, where you’re from and what you do? That’s kind of like the... more

Long relay race for justice

by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – On International Women’s Day, hosted by Gérald Mathieu CEO Barclays Bank Switzerland, I gave a speech to 150 young bankers about why gender equality is important for women and men. Some were with us in Geneva; others joined us by teleconference. You can watch video of our conversation summarized here. I was very excited to share stories about inspirational women like US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who began her fight for women’s rights in the 1950s when she never could’ve imagined she would one day serve on the nation’s highest court. It’s fabulous that a younger generation now calls her the “Notorious RBG” and wears T-shirts “RBG Rules!” It’s thrilling to pass... more

Human Rights & Business for Beginners

Guest post by Mary Mayenfisch-Tobin – So, with this part 6 (see links to parts 1-5 at end) you have come a long way to understanding how the world is operating and why respect for human rights is important, I hope. Let’s take a step backwards to try to understand even more clearly where we are and where we need to go. Government & Business as a force for good Let’s be practical:  governments and business can be and should be a force for good. But is this the case today? And if this is not the case what can be done about it? Going back to the beginning of our story let’s think again about the Universal Declaration of Human... more

Beyond CSR: Emergence of SRC - a Socially Responsible Corporation

By beCause Associate Ravi Chaudhry — Business has been the most powerful institution on the planet since the second half of the twentieth century. Dr Willis Harman, co-founder of the World Business Academy in 1987 put forward the view that the dominant institution in any society needs to take responsibility for the whole, as the church did in the days of the Holy Roman Empire. Built into the original concept of capitalism and free enterprise was the assumption that the actions of many individual enterprises, responding to the market forces and guided by the ‘invisible hand’ of Adam Smith, would somehow add up to desirable outcomes. But it is amply clear that the ‘invisible hand’ is faltering. It depended on a... more