Our world is not the same after Lehman Brothers and friends´ scandals. Since then, trust is not the same as before. Relationships among organizations and people all around the world became more controlled and under suspicious atmosphere; to protect against others has became the cornerstone of our life.
Therefore, nowadays we could not expect to have high social capital societies -lacking trust-. This means, that it would be more difficult for us to work together as a whole, to struggle against the problems we already have. Our troubles would be potentially stronger if we are not able to work together as compact communities, sharing same aims and same values. Higher social capital societies are more successful fulfilling their challenges than those which have weak social capital.
My proposal is to work on basics: let´s recover ethics, so we may reestablish trust relationships that would let us have high social capital societies. Ethics education for new generations and strengthen ethical leaders in enterprises and other organizations should be a priority in our agendas. By creating cohesive communities based on ethical values and lead by ethical leaders, people focus their efforts in building new structures for the sake of all, and also, may reach a wide vision of the world, going beyond their own benefits.
This is an invitation to think about new societies where people can work together based on trust relationships and lead by people compromised with the tough task of building a better sustainable world.
Sandra Díaz P. Colombia
August, 2011.