June 9th, 2010
BP Oil Spill creates Sacrifice Zone
We have created a sacrifice zone in the Gulf of Mexico. We were willing to accept the risk of a huge disaster. However, since most of us are busy doing their own things day in day out, we did not give it much thought. We get up in the morning. We drive to where ever we have to go. We fly to a business speaker conference. We go home. We know that we are totally reliant on dirty, dangerous energy sources. But we get a tall mocha and go on with our day.
Now we see what happens when we create a sacrifice zone. So the question is: should we identify other sacrifice zones and accept that they may one day be destroyed, too. We need to feed our economy, our appetite for luxury and our need to travel. We can’t do that without oil.
We never thought much about wells in the Arabian Desert leaking or burning, or water sources and wildlife habitat in Nigeria being destroyed for ever by our oil businesses. But we have already sacrificed these places. Do we even know we might miss them?
Now we have sacrificed the Gulf of Mexico and maybe more.
Do we make this our policy and our practice? It is our unstated policy now, isn’t it?
Tags: bp, gulf of mexico, luxury, oil spill, sacrifice, Travel
Posted in Travel, alternative energy, business speaker | Comments Off
April 29th, 2010
On of the things a business speaker likes to talk about is the moment when someone changes his or her mind. We all have opinions. Some are better informed than others. Some are just other people’s opinions that we regurgitate. But if we are lucky, we come across a time in our lives when we look at an opinion and realize that it is “off”. If we stand strong, we change our mind.
I am not so interested in the little changes, like when you might decide you really do like guacamole after having avoided it for years. I am more interested in the big changes, like when you decided that the invasion of Iraq really was a stupid thing, or when you decided that acquiring more parks and open space really are good things to do for the next generations.
It sounds like Governor Crist of Florida has had one of those moments. After taking an airplane tour over the massive oil spill that is uncontrollably taking over the Gulf of Mexico and after thinking about the people who died in the explosion, he said that he had changed his mind about off shore drilling. Crist is now convinced Florida does not need it or want it. After seeing how much damage can come from an accident, he has set aside one of his party’s biggest mantras: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Now Crist might be heard saying, “No drilling near Florida!”
As a business speaker, I would find a way to use this turnaround in a speech about leadership. Sometimes you have to take the right stance, even if it is opposite of the mantra of the day.
Tags: crist, drilling, florida, gulf of mexico, oil spill
Posted in Management, Travel, alternative energy, business speaker, history, people, personal growth, politics | Comments Off
