Benoit Mandelbrot: Bottomless wonders spring from simple rules repeated without end.
Magnus Lindkvist: We are afraid to say “I don’t know.”
George Whitesides: A stone is simple. But you can build cathedrals of stones.
Alan Siegel: We need to build humanity into our paperwork.
Philip K. Howard: The law must be simple enough that people can internalize it in their daily choices.
Chip Conley: Bhutan’s created the ultimate export: a new global currency of well-being.
(Photos: TED / James Duncan Davidson)
Suzanne Townsend commented on Mar 21 2012
Dear people, PLEASE, please, read http://www.thenation.com/article/166667/enigma-bhutan and then decide for yourselves if Bhutan ACTUALLY represents Mahayana Buddhism and enlightened governance. The Bhutan government refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing, much less ethnic cleansing. It’s gross, it’s national, but it sure ain’t happy!
Peter Burgess commented on Feb 18 2010
I work in the premise that (1) what gets measured gets done; and, (2) the way the game is scored determines the way the game is played. The economic implosions of 2007 and 2008 has been coming for a very long time because the basic metrics of society are fatally flawed. Chip Conley is moving in the right direction. Bhutan has other elements of a better set of metrics. The world has to do better than money profit growth, stockmarket price growth and GDP growth as the key metrics of success and progress.
Community Analytics (CA) moves the focus from an organization to a community … where people live! CA uses not only the concepts of money profit accounting, but an enhanced system that also takes value into account. Value determines quality of life. Value adding is the way this improves over time. Sustainability is integrated into the metrics … so also is human capital in all its aspects.
Metrics are important … and technology could make amazing things possible!
Jeremy Stover commented on Feb 14 2010
You can find a transcript of Chip Conley’s TED Talk and more about how Bhutan measures happiness at http://www.peakorganizations.com/chip-at-ted
chris schuring commented on Feb 13 2010
the amount of ideas and innovation generated by these conferences can not be understated. How ever I feel that the amount of action that is generated is not in proportion to the ideas. It is all well and good to have Mega Leaders get on a topic and generate streams of thought towards a progressive result. These ideas and the funding needs to trickle down to the organizations that are in the trenches hammering out real solutions every day.
I understand that each of the attendees and presenters have been involved in great works over the years. If we are going to have change in our energy, such as a “miracle” as defined by Mr. Gates we need to support the innovators in the field not the “innovators” that got us to where we are today.