TRUST AND INTEGRITY IN GLOBAL ECONOMY

From 12 – 17 August, 2010

A report from a young participant
Name: Thanh Chi Le
Organisation: Friends of Initiatives of Change
Profession:
Student at Strathclyde Business School,
Senior analyst at Bao Viet Securities Company

12 Aug 2010

From the very brief introduction of Jean-Pierre Mean to the inspiring speech of Amira,
also having been bridged by exciting introductory talks about work streams

I do appreciate the efforts of IofC management team to establish the Mountain House to
dialogue the spiritual experience which is very powerful and meaningful to not only young
people like me but those caring their communities.

To close the speech, Jean emphasizes the purpose to keep up the IofC activities is to
encourage personal change which is the firm base to build up the sustainable growth for
the society.

I was totally astonished by all facilitators/trainers who were supposed to conduct four work
streams on later days. Foods security, social change in relation to business, seeking the
meaning of business and tackling complex global issues! What marvellous topics. All
presenters were very eager, exciting and owning a sense of humour! I wish I could attend
all four work streams but it is not allowed and I understand that I will be more efficient if I
only focus on one work streams. Opportunities to meet up and learn from different
facilitators are still there! I know I can learn from them individually.

The closing part was taken up by Amira, an amazing young lady! Being born in Africa,
acquiring overseas education, and having a passion to make a significant change in Africa
with her financing projects with Africa Development Bank. Amira mentions the current
situation in Africa in terms of both an African girl and an advocate. It is about HIV, about
stagnant governance in the continent, the cultural differences in the community but above
all, it is about love for Africa. She also responded some questions regarding the Africa
current stories. Although she admits that Africa situation is difficult to solve such as low
leadership, disadvantage women (high rate of pregnant women), it is very inspiring for me
to know that she and her colleagues keep working hard to bring about positive changes for
the continent.

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13 Aug 2010

GROUP DISCUSSION – STATEMENT BASED SHARING!

Personally, I felt very exciting with some further discussion with Amira and we expected to
have deeper conversation. Moreover, it was very refreshing for me to listen to some ‘cool’
music through the headset in the morning before sessions started!

I did also enjoy the group discussion. I got a chance to team up with Rohini from Srilanka,
Blair from Scotland, Joe from England (London), Maria from Sweden, Rishabh from India,
Daya from Malaysia, Olesya from Russia. Different people with diverse life stories, plans
and experience with IofC, in particular, Maria has known IofC just for a week! but Blair
devotes his own life to IofC activities. Some other young people got involved in IofC for a
considerable number of years such as Olesya with 9 years, Joe with 5 years, Rishabh with
couple of years. They, from different parts of the world, were there, sitting together to
share their life without being interrupted. The interception amongst them is the high desire
to make the world better. Daya follows her passion in meditation, Rohini and Rishabh enjoy
doing youth development (teaching, training and facilitating). Joe with his new business is
expected to support the young disadvantaged Londoners. I find it interesting when Maria is
pursuing a career in communication (negotiation) which is very close to my current
vocation – building trust in corporate environment. I received much encouragement and
sharing from team members when I shared my plan. The sharing ends up with the ‘looking
back and moving on’ part. I can easily find that people come to deeper sharing and even
more personal chats. I appreciate this because I can see the trust level in the team is very
high even we just meet each other for couple of minutes. It is IofC cultures! I love this!

The discussion was conducted in ‘statement’ based basis. It means members will repeat the
questions and answer them until all members finish. The last question was left for each
member and he or she will bring it to his/her work stream to find his/her answers!

I go for ‘Seeking meaning in a business world’.

Beyond a speech, it is a meaningful lesson for those who dare to run business in order to
bring wealth to stakeholders - by R. Gopalakrishnan

R. Gopalakrishnan is an amazing business man. His idea, (even I am not sure that whether it
is his distinguished thought or the corporate intelligence of Tata group), is brilliant!

He simply approaches four aspects which are capitalism system, principle of obliquity,
central purpose of a business and the ‘inherent’ role of a business. It is not easy for me to
follow the description of capitalism system. I feel more comfortable with the three
remaining ideas. The first one is about the benefits to stakeholders. It is different from the
traditional concept. One year ago, there was a man asking me to choose a stance to bring

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benefits to either consumers or shareholders. I at the moment naively chose the consumer
side. When thinking about the sharing of Gopalakrishnan, I put a question for myself the
possibility to harmonise the corporate benefits with the other stakeholders’ benefits. Even
this idea still sounds like general but I think it is still better than having no orientation in
minds. The second point is about the methodology to tackle an issue. “Obliquity is the
principle that complex goals are best achieved indirectly” (John Kay). I think this point is
applicable and worth paying attention to when I take any decisions in the future. And the
last point is about the inherent nature of business. It means let a business facilitate the
economy and society naturally. The speaker gives an example about ‘birds won’t try to fly,
they fly naturally’.
Nevertheless, I do not agree with his following saying to some extent. It is ‘we cannot
choose the happy feeling’. About subconscious mind, I think at least people can do
something to switch their own emotion/ stem the negative feeling. However, above all, I
enjoy knowing that 66% of profit will go to a public trust to help the community.

Audience felt very exciting with the Tata’s directing executive, people put many questions,
but they are more about ‘technical’ issues. I did not find them owning a true passion to be
another Tata in other places in the world!

I think I learnt more about Tata when I talked to two friends (Danny and Vidushi – an Indian
friends). Both of them provided me with real projects of Tata in India such as building
hospitals and schools. It was so touched!

A ‘Tata’ in Vietnam, should I replicate this in Vietnam? I try my best. The answers are still
ahead but I always have the feeling I can bring out changes to my nation.

I decide to put my personal conversation with my roommate who is an interpreter. A smart

guy! He asked me what I longed for in this life. I said ‘money’, he said his was happiness.
And if he spent time as much as I did, he could have got lot of money. I am not sure I can
fully understand this sharing but it just gives me the feeling that it is easier for a Westerner
to say ‘I long for happiness’(I have heard this too many times when I stay in UK) because
the facilities such as healthcare or public services are high-qualified. I wonder if a
Westerner really puts them in an Asia context and let us see how they react. Nevertheless, I
appreciate his vision.

The day was closed up with the ‘Africa answer’. It is about the second movie about Pastor
and Imam. The movie shows how to reconcile the dispute between 2 parties. I think the
process is very logical. People always first need to talk without interruption. After that, they
can be ready to speak again what they think. Then, they will be ready to accept the truths
from the point of view of other side or from the third party documents.

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14 Aug 2010:

A fun of cooking and a tremendous inspiration from President of Focolare Movement in

Italy, Maria Voce

Waking up very early and so eager to be in the kitchen, I was there with Amira, Bill, and
Henrietta; we have guidance from Luzian. 2 hours cutting tomatoes helps me understand
more about Zimbabwe, about what other people want to know about Vietnam. It is fun in
short, and Luzian is a very committed person (he is a painter as well)

The speech is about Economy of Communion (a culture of giving). Based on the Christainity
concept, the project is to inspire people to practise the universal human values to tackle
the ethical issues at the moment. The core concept could be ‘living in a united community
requires people to be able to listen to the Holy Spirit’.

In relation to the business, Madam president says that a company should build up a
productive and profound entity with ‘genuine relations amongst employees’, ‘effective
objectives’, ‘values such as trust, listening, love, respect, participation’. She emphasizes
that ‘personal dignity is expected to be a part of a community’. In addition, it is very
inspiring to know her projects follow the following profit distribution rule. 1/3 of profit is
for the poor people, 1/3 for training and education and the remaining one is for
reinvestment in the business.

The sharing is very concise and meaningful but it seems like half of audience doubt the
success of the ‘economy of communion’. A Swiss professor concerns about individualism
in relation to the positive competition. How can people can compete but will be
themselves. Some other people also address that financial crisis, regulation of consumers
and the possibility to apply the model for different religion. The key answers are all about
the ability to treat other people of brothers and sisters, the full awareness of what we can
exchange with other people.

There are two ways to live, choose positive life and light up this world or decide to be
negative or hesitate. I long for the positive thinking. People are different themselves, it is
difficult to expect everyone treat us as brothers or sisters; but at least, if we keep treating
them well, we can reduce conflicts, misunderstanding, judgement and violence and of
course we can generate love, caring, mutual understanding, and ultimately a united world!

My day is ended up with the performance of the Cowell Brothers and Herb Allen. It was so
great when I had a chance to ‘travel around the world’ with their performance. I can feel
that the aging does not affect their inner youth. They sing with their warm and energetic
heart.

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15 Aug 2010

Rob Corcoran – providing guidelines to tackle necessary conversation in life!

Rob explains why people are scared of honest conversation; which is because of a fear of
being attacked and evolving emotion that they cannot handle. In order to resolve the fear,
it is necessary to build a bridge of trust that is strong enough to bear the way of truths that
we are trying to deliver. In building the bridge, a person need to make sure that the bridge
builder himself is able to walk on that bridge!

Conducting a conversation requires us to challenge assumptions and threaten our own

comfort and security! I think this thought very profound and practical! Be ready to be
vulnerable and be brave to take up the role!

Rob lists three questions should be answered to conduct an effective conversation:

1. Model the change (what change should be made?)

2. What conversation that has not taken place?
3. Who need to be at the table to have a meaningful conversation?

It is not necessary to explain why we need to answer these questions. They are very clear!
But it is very necessary to bear them in mind and find what conversation that matters your
community and companies!

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16 – 17 Aug 2010

PLENARY MEETING

From a designed programme to ‘I do my way’!

There are four work streams and we, participants, studied together, worked together to
answer the questions that we brought to the conference.

For the foods and sustainable growth team: they suggest building up a common platform
on internet to exchange knowledge, access documents and let consumers have freedom to
make their own choices based on the IofC values. It is a meaningful and useful project!

For the entrepreneur course, people come up with new ideas such as nursery community,
micro funding (Joe) for young people. Very inspiringly, they say, if you feel a fire in your
belly, a real need of community and you can make out a business plan with numbers! Don’t
hesitate anymore, be a social entrepreneur!

For the seeking meaning in global business, this track is about finding personal values in
relation to the business world! It is a course with the ‘unknown’ answers but participants
will find out a message for themselves after a 4 day journey!

The ‘solving complex problem’ work stream is forming a team and HUB team will support
participants to resolve difficulties when people are doing their social projects! It is very
useful for me to have the team’s support even after the conference finishes.

For me, I brought my own curiosity about the possibility to run a project ‘Building trust in
corporate environment in Vietnam’. My plenary meeting with many people has taken place
from the second day of the conference. I know that they are the important inputs for my
project. One of the communication activities that I have carried out is the presentation at
the Sustainable solutions fair. There are around 15 people dropping in and listening to the
presentation. For me, it is a good start because I started thinking about this project just
within two months and had not done much work on it! However, this is the vocation that I
follow! I think it is my whole life project! Please find the attached file for more information.

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HELLO WORK STREAM! ‘SEEKING THE MEANING IN BUSINESS’

First day: A new day has come!

I totally feel impressed by the way Myrna starts her ‘class’, the opening session is a very
tremendous power of music (cello) and its relation to the empowerment of human being
potential!

Myrna could be seen as a typical young business woman. She is confident, smart,
knowledgeable and well-organised person. She always tries to give freedom to participants
but skilfully lead them into a random archetype. We finish our morning session with sharing
the question that we brought to the class. Myrna tried her best to put us into different
groups which were based on our own sharing; and of course we have to right to choose our
own groups depending on own feeling and perception.

The morning session could have been more successful if participants followed all agreed
disciplines; however, let it go by its own way! Imperfection allows us to see the real each
other! I completely enjoy this!

One more question is expected to be answered for all participants is: how difficult or
pleasurable to keep a purpose-led (sense of purpose) life!

Second day: A personal sharing with Johan from Sweden

The key principles to have an effective conversation:

- Empathy
- Authenticity (be yourself)
- Unconditional positive (let other be themselves)

I find the dialogue interesting because Johan also has some with me. 35 years old, married,
having 1 daughter, has high ambition to be successful, be very honest. The sharing makes
me be aware that there are people who are also in situations and we are working hard to
resolve our troubles in relation the mission to support the community! Great talk!

Third day: Visualisation; a rose garden, a little girl and tears from an Australian lady!

Starting from ‘self’ (persona, shadow); to body – central, to others – to a unity

consciousness. The jargons are complicated but the process to exercise the journey is just
using ears and your own instincts to receive a message!

I experience a journey to walk into a garden. It is an amazing time when I come up with
different images and I know they are my past, present and future. It is always challenging
for me to take decisions to transform myself. But I know that at least this visualisation

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procedure allows me to understand what I really want to do. I am brave and willing to
follow my vocation!

This is what I wrote down after the ‘visualisation’ process:

“I can choose between falling into an evil life and lighting up my own world. I chose the
bright place in my garden; I chose to be a part of human community. I receive love, I give
out love. I let the change occurs every day, every moment in my life!”

I finish the visualisation session with a sharing from an Australian lady (I was so emotional
to ask her name even I looked at her many times during the community group and work
stream time). She dreamt of the past and the image which is very similar to what I dreamt!
What a coincidence! She burst into tears. I put my hands on her back and try to transfer my
warmth and care into her. I wish I could have hugged her tight.

Four day: some explanation on future organisation

Myrna introduces about the Semco, a model for future organisation! Many profound ideas
have been mentioned!

http://www.saludygestion.com/archives/Ricardo%20Semler%20&%20Semco,%20Thunderb
ird.pdf

I think I have a responsibility with myself to read this and I wish many people can have a
look at this!

I do also need to read a report ‘Sustainability and purpose: Humanity at Work’ by Myrna
Roselind Jelman.

http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/ic.nsf/wFARATT/Sustainability%20and%20Purpose:%
20Humanity%20at%20Work/$file/SustainabilityAndPurpose.pdf

My further sharing and research on business ethics and trust building at work place will be
published on my personal blog:

http://happystaff.blogspot.com

Please send me an email if you wish to receive some updates from my trust building
project.

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 GREEN COMMUNITY – WHERE LOVE BLOSSOMS...

There are around 20 (?) members in our community – Green community. I cannot
remember all their names. I love them all, but I know I love some of them more (I am ugly
in this way!)

I can feel care from Johannes and Eva; I receive big love from Helena, a hand kiss from Katja
and a companion from Marc.

I share my wonderful time in big kitchen with Bill, Henrietta and Amira.

With care and love I received from this community, I am empowered to do whatever I have
planned so far!

Thank you again for loving me!

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 ACTION PLANS

1. Run the project “Trust Building In Corporate Environment in Vietnam” (from

10/2010 – 10/2012: first stage)

2. Personal sharing with Friends of Initiatives of Change Members

3. Deliver this report to those who wish to know about the TIGE conference

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 THANK YOU FOR READING THIS REPORT

This report is written upon the inspiration from the conference itself, from those I met
during the conference.

I would like to thank Don de Silva, who has worked hard to raise funds (Neville Cooper Fund
– thank sponsors) for me so that I can arrive in Caux, the place where change happens
every moment!

I would like to thank Mohan Bhagwandas , who always supports and encourages me to take
part into this conference.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ORGANISERS WHO WORK HARD TO PROVIDE A GLOBAL

STANDARD CONFERENCE. I WOULD LIKE TO SEND MY BIG HUG TO ALL PARTICIPANTS WHO
SPEND THEIR TIME WITH ME AND SHARE WITH ME THEIR LIFE STORIES.

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