Business seems to be slowly adopting ‘do good and do well’ thinking. Advocates Richard Branson and Al Gore have called for a ‘return to values’.1 The bad news is that there are just too many disconnects between their stated values and actual practices. The ‘do good and do well’ slogan is useful for public relations purposes, based on selective activities designed to bring … [Read more...]
Ripening the Olive
A metaphor is a bridge between two situations or objects which at first glance seem not to be related... but actually have something in common. They abound in business: a wily old fox, slave driver, pick low hanging fruit, targets, drowning in paperwork, a psychic prison, etc. Our world is filled with archetypal imagery, powerful symbols that reflect the deepest layers of … [Read more...]
The Halo and the Noose
The Halo and the Noose is a book about the power of story telling and story listening in business life. It is aimed at all leaders and motivators who would rather use a gentle approach to lead and guide. The book is also for any person who wants to grow and learn on a spiritual front. Authors Dr. Dorian Haarhoff and Graham Williams set out their complex and important theme … [Read more...]
Blind faith (for Elma)
star nosed mole you work the world below in a network of passages. you recycle oxygen as a blood protein keeps you breathing in the CO2 dark. acrobat of tunnels, you somersault then reverse, push up mounds in the middle of lawns that sprawl across the moneyed world that drink all that water. some say you make the ground unpalatable for cattle and … [Read more...]
Rat lament
Where have you gone compost rats, scavengers of the heap unearthing the germ? Where have you gone with your furred brown backs and your furred buff fronts exposed as you climbed the mesh surround? There was a time when you'd grab and run if the threat to your world looked real, but the passage of time has brokered a calm more leisure to sample the fare with … [Read more...]
Planet poetry course
Do you care about the earth's story? Do you love reading and writing poetry? Would you like to combine these passions and write poetry that speaks through creativity and imagination to the heart, mind and soul? The Green Times is starting a poetry corner and you could see your poem published there. Poet and story-teller Dorian Haarhoff can show you how to write with energy and … [Read more...]
‘Tis the season to be grateful and giving
Even after all this time The sun never says to the earth, "You owe Me." Look what happens with A love like that, It lights the Whole Sky. (Hafiz) Gratitude From the moment of birth, we are given the gift of life and breath - before we learn to give. In the above poem the Persian poet, Shamseddin Mohammad (crica 1300's), better known as Hafiz (a title given to those who … [Read more...]
Weather & season song
in this cape of storms waves rear on hind legs like polar bears slashing the sky. gale wind drives rain parallel to the earth through the vineyard, splitting the oak, flooding the Flats, cracking the sea wall like an egg shell. sweating dog summers pant and howl in the face of a fynbos fire that chokes the air and hurls pine cone grenades at houses and sears … [Read more...]
