Job Search Update Making progress despite greater demands of my current job responsibilities. I have been expanding my immediate network through LinkedIn:












I have been conducting searches on my network and will be seeking introductions to the contacts that match my interests. Current narrow search I conducted was on Parnassus Investments and I located 2 people who were previously affiliated to that firm. One of my introduction requests was declined by the intermediate contact who requested further clarification of my objectives. I have not heard back from my second request yet. I have faith in the approach however, since I am more quickly identifying people who are capable of providing me valuable insight on one of my target firms.

A broader search on "socially responsible" turned up 30 hits in my network. I will contact these users if I have a significant connection on other interests or past affiliations.

I recently made a connection with a business development professional with an executive search firm through filling a contract position at my job. I hope to keep in touch with her as a valuable source of insight.

I also find inspiration in the 10 principles of Hapkido, as taught by Master Robert Yee through the Embarcadero Hapkido Club. In particular #4, the extension/expansion principle, applies very well to networking efforts. By focusing my energy on career change towards right livelihood and communicating that message through people I am connected to, that message expands.  ¶ 11:02 PM 0 comments links to this post

  Globalization, freedom of expression, the Internet

We are bombarded by buzzwords like “globalization” and clichés about how we are all connected and empowered by the Internet. Let’s examine the reality behind these. Let’s take Singapore, a city nation of 4 million people 16 time zones or approximately 8500 miles away from me. We are economically connected, there is no doubt. Singapore is the US’s 11^th largest trading partner. We are Singapore’s 2^nd largest trading partner and more than 1,300 American companies have been attracted by Singapore’s business-friendly policies to set up operations in that country. In this room, I have 2 computers and monitors, an unreliable printer, a cell phone and a PDA – let’s bet there is at least one component that has been manufactured or assembled in Singapore.

The connections do not end with consumer goods; we are also financially connected – my 401-K includes an international fund with holdings in Asia. Even domestic funds hold many of the 1,300+ American multinationals that have direct investment in Singapore. So there’s globalization, a web of economic ties in which I am a usually unconscious participant. I’m just going about my life as a Bay Area resident, with my consumer electronics and struggles to save for retirement in the face of our cost of living.

The connections could end there, with me as a passive link in a chain set in motion by others: huge businesses, governments, packagers of financial products. No more thought about our connected world is demanded of us than of the alfalfa that winds up in a trough at the feedlot for globalization to run its course.

We continue to exist as individuals and human beings in this system if we choose to stretch our awareness to encompass our connected world. Browsing through Blogger, I read a piece about Martyn See, the Singaporean film-maker and blogger who is being persecuted for making a documentary on Dr. Chee Soon Juan, a leader of the marginalized opposition to the party that has ruled Singapore since 1959. The city-state forbids the making of any film of a political nature, although it selectively enforces the “Films Act” by allowing glowing biographies of figures in the ruling PAP party. It seems that the stable political climate and docile workforce that make Singapore so attractive to our companies come at the cost of freedom of expression and true democracy for the Singaporeans.

Now let’s talk about the Internet and empowerment… While the documentary has been pulled from film festivals in Singapore proper through government pressure, it is shown full length on Amnesty International Asia-Pacific’s web site, along with background on Martyn See’s case and contact information for the Singaporean Minister of Information, Communication and the Arts. In a few clicks and keystrokes, we are able to see something that the censors and jailers want to hide from us. I wrote to the Ministry to make them aware that trying to stop a message through repression is futile. I found Martyn’s blog and emailed him words of support. I’d encourage you to do the same. We need to show solidarity for others who are taking courageous steps.

Depending on how the case progresses, we can take the fight to the next level and use the Internet and research tools at our disposal to identify some of the 1,300 US companies that do business in Singapore to use them as leverage on the Singaporean government. A blueprint was left behind from the international community’s opposition to apartheid and the use of escalating economic pressure in support of reform movements. Foreign companies with operations in South Africa were used to pressure the South African government when public opinion alone failed to convey the message. Eventually, actual divestiture happened when the threats and cajoling weren’t sufficient.

In a much more connected era, where the images from across the world find their way to our screens, and where both companies and governments are much more sensitized to having their image tarnished, we can expect much less overt economic harm would have to be inflicted in order to get reforms. In the time it takes to cook angel hair pasta, you can identify that American Express, JP Morgan and EDS all have a Singapore presence. The firm I am employed with has a strategic relationship with American Express. Through an online networking site called LinkedIn, I find that I am no more the 3 degrees of separation from 49 people at American Express, 22 people who work for JP Morgan, and 48 at EDS. It is a matter of a few emails to get in touch with them and forward a link to the movie that Singapore’s government is trying to suppress. At that point who knows how far, fast and high the message can go?

This entry was also published on InvestedInterests.

  ¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments links to this post