Professor Michael Gordon

If I were hosting the upcoming presidential debate on domestic policy, what questions would I ask?

They would center on inclusivity:

These broad questions deserve our unwavering attention. No matter how you keep score--99 to 1, 53 to 47, or something else--too many are struggling to have decent life. 

What if I were asked these questions--how would I answer them?

Glad you asked: In my new book Inclusivity: Will America Find Its Soul Again (written with Christian Sarkar, who also created paintings for the book), we tell fifty stories about those who are taking giant strides in tackling these issues. These vignettes tell of entrepreneurs leading a resurgence in Detroit, Tony Hsieh (founder of Zappos) reinventing Las Vegas and David Orr (a leader in the environmental movement) creating the most sustainable community anywhere in the US, the midwest community of Oberlin, Ohio. We tell how poor kids--in our inner cities or equally poor rural areas--are being given new educaitonal opportunities and are rising to the occasion. We tell how doctors are writing prescriptions for food, how struggling high school students become devoted and successful tutors, and how a national entrepreneur identification and training program in South Africa could become a model for the United States.

More inclusive education and health care would go a long way towards fully using the talents of our populace and creating expanded opportunity for everyone--wealthy and poor alike. More inclusive places to live coupled with more inclusive economics would create not just a fairer, but a stronger, country. Those blazing the trail of inclusivity exhibit a kind of leadership that is uncommon--creating value for others first. But it is within the reach of us all.

Well, the survey was mostly conducted like this. An important detail is that respondents didn't know the names of the countries they were judging, just the level of wealth of the different population segments within them. 

The US distribution looked like a pie with five very uneven slices: the smallest piece (shared by the poorest 20% of the country) was only 0.1% (1/100th) of the pie; the next was 0.2% (1/50th), the middle two pieces were 4% and 11% respectively; and the largest 84%. In contrast the "Swedish" pie, had five considerably more equal slices: 11%, 15%, 18%, 21%, and 36% respectively. (A perfectly "equitable" pie would have five 20% slices.)

The "Swedish" distribution was favored regardless of one's outward political orientation: Democrats preferred it, and so did Republicans. The wealthy preferred it and so did the poor. The young and old, too. The voting was not even close, with 92% of all respondents preferring the equitable distribution to the one that prevails in the United States.

Another thing: respondents had no idea that the United States distribution of wealth was so lopsided. They thought the poorest 40% of the country had about 9% of the wealth (vs. only 0.3%). They thought the top 20% controlled 59% (vs. 84%).  The latter means, of course, that the vast majority of the country--everyone except those in the top 20%--has only 16% of the country's wealth.

Respondents weren't even asked about those at the very top where things are really lopsided. The wealthiest 1% controls 35% of the nation's wealth. The top 5% controls 62%.

In plain and encouraging terms, these results mean that US citizens want a more equitable distribution of wealth. We may fight about the wisdom of taxes, the deficit, the debt, the role of government -- but in many ways those are mechanisms, and wealth (and opportunity that goes along with it) is an outcome. An outcome that we agree about as a nation.

That does leave for debate the means for getting there; and the politics, which would be messy, all too likely would obscure what the vast majority of the country wants (remember: 92% prefer Sweden-on-steroids to the USA; and when respondents "constructed" an ideal wealth distribution rather comparing two that they had to choose between, they constructed one that was more equitable than any country on earth).

But, if we remember the goal that we all agree on--one of equality and inclusivity, not inequality and exclusion--it can unite us and guide constructive policy and actions.

Prêt a Manager is a chain of shops that serve sandwiches, salads, and coffee; plus porridge and a few other items that seem very English. The ingredients they use are fresh; the food is chemical- and additive-free. And it's tasty. All good things.

The walls have a bunch of sayings you might find in a yoga studio: "To feel full of life, don't eat too much, don't eat too little." And other things about what (not) to put in our bodies. This all might seem too new age-y, but their napkin tells a different, very practical story:

We're in an age of madness, don't you think, where simple truths are getting drowned out by loud voices with tons of money and by all-"facts"-deserve-an-equal-airing news coverage?

Sometimes it's not so hard to see who needs help and how we can help them. When we see this, throwing these ideas in the bin is just madness.

What's been going on?

1. Drafted a new book on creating Inclusivity in the United States.  

The aim is see how we can create better, and more inclusive, health, education, economics, and more--right here at home. Kind of a manifesto for dismantling BOP-USA--the system which keeps too many Americans at the Bottom Of the economic Pyramid while stacking the deck to favor the very few.  

My co-author on this effort, Christian Sarkar, and I are now making this book more bite-sized--un-writing it, so to speak--so that its message passes through more eyes, reaches more minds, and leads to more action. 

Stay tuned: this is ready to "pop."

2. Been thinking "local."  

I attended my first-ever BALLE conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Don't let that sentence fool you into thinking I'd been contemplating attending a BALLE event for a while: I had never heard of BALLE until Paul Saginaw, of Zingerman's and a BALLE board member, recently told me about it. Once I attended, it felt like my crowd, and I was amazed that it had been hidden (from me), but in plain view.

3. Still on the trail doing interviews.

It's been my privilege to talk to amazing changemakers.  I think I've become addicted.

Many are in Detroit, but the roster is truly international. The more I listen (and learn), the more optimistic I become--whether about innovative approaches to health in Detroit (thanks, Bobby Smith of En Garde Detroit) or about piggybacking on cell phone technology to light up Africa (thanks, Lesley Silverthorn Marincola of Angaza Design).

These interviews form the backbone of two works well underway: 

My technology (which is not always the latest and greatest--I'm still holding out against smart phones) tells me Summer starts tomorrow.  What does your technology say?

Goals for the rest of Summer include keeping the ol' blog galloping along (better make that trotting) to let you know about the new books and Detroit-based activities, and to share stories, ideas, and lessons learned from the cool folks kind enough to share their experiences with me so that I have something truly of value to share.  Oh, and to avoid saddle sores.

Happy trails!

As anyone reading this space knows (anyone? anyone? I can read your comments if you click the "(No) Comments" link above, you know), I've been thinking a lot about Detroit. And I think it's fair to say that, once foreign cars began to arrive in the United States, and then gain wide acceptance for being affordable, high quality vehicles, Detroit was in trouble. Imports have not been kind to Detroit.

But here's one that could be.

I met Yusuf Randera-Rees several weeks ago at the Skoll World Forum and talked to him on the phone a few days ago.  His organization, the Awethu Project, is creating vibrant businesses where they rarely exist: South Africa's townships, or what we would call slums.

The Awethu Project conducts brief trainings for those in the townships on how to create a business and then tells them to think up a business idea and put it into practice in their community. A month later, those who have created the most profit (with records to back up their claims) begin a more extended period of training. They receive support both for personal development and formalizing their business ideas, being taught "hard" topics like time budgeting and record keeping as well as "softer" topics including personal discipline. Those who excel become part of Awethu's business accelerator, where Awethu helps move them from being small, isolated business towards becoming what Awethu really expects of them: to become business that are as good as the top businesses in the world and to link up, as appropriate, with that business ecosystem. Awethu also invests in these businesses, so their success benefits Awethu, further reinforcing the relationship and Awethu's desire to see them excel.

The idea behind Awethu is simple: identify gifted entrepreneurs in under-resourced communities, and provide them with the training and resources needed to compete with the world's best. The underlying premises, of course, is that there is a latent pool of such individuals everywhere who lack the opportunity, but not the inherent skills, to launch world-class businesses.

And if those potential world-beaters are everywhere, then they are certainly in the poorer parts of Detroit.

Yusuf is well educated, optimistic, and idealistic. And his efforts produce: he has developed a model of business talent identification in the township of Alexandra that has been noticed by the South African national government, which is now funding the project. In the coming year, Awethu will identify and put through its business accelerator program 1,000 entrepreneurs with world-class talent. As Awethu expands, Yusuf expects to take this idea across the country and then across the African continent.  

You've heard Chrysler's new slogan: Imported from Detroit. This is an idea Detroit (and the US) need to import themselves. Now.