Today they continue to come and go Sharing our space Us unfettered people of the land Refusing to let go of the past And sell age-old morals for dollars For we do not wish to abandon our traditions. God will deliver us from this, for He is our Protector And what was pre-ordained shall now come to pass.
By this time, my perspective began to come into focus. I had started my university studies majoring in architecture, but soon shifted to industrial engineering after getting acquainted with business administration. There was significant progress in my research capabilities, and I eventually joined other research centers, including the Stanford University thinktank Hoover Institution and Bechtel Research Center. Research in Policy During my time in research, I began formulating and developing my own ideas, and my interest for thinktanks – the role they play in research, their methodologies in research, analysis, and investigations – was sparked. Both my intellectual outlook and my professional interests started to take shape. At the same time, my interest in international developments began to grow, further intensified by my attendance at The Club of Rome, an organization whose members – notable scientists, economists, business leaders and former politicians – band together to address the crises faced by humanity and then define comprehensive solutions for these challenges. The Club of Rome draws on thorough scientific analyses, research, conferences and high-level events to create concrete policy proposals, and it publishes peer-reviewed reports that prioritize the key areas of climate-planetary emergency, economics, finance, emerging (new) civilizations, and youth leadership. There are, as of this writing, 45 reports published by the Club since its first one in 1972. It was the Club’s second report, titled Mankind at the Turning Point and published in 1974 that moved me deeply and had a great impact on not only my thinking but also my career path. According to the report, the need to create an organic or truly interdependent society is the only way to save the world from the ‘world problematique’ (a complex set of crucial p roblems that humanity faces). [4] Another highly formative experience for me was the time I worked at the research center of the prestigious Bell & Howell, an automated equipment manufacturing and services company that was formerly a camera equipment manufacturer, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The ‘Kitchen’ Perhaps the most important research center I engaged with, however, was the Centre for Policy Studies, a British government-affiliated thinktank in the UK where I spent my time between 1975 and 1976. It was my good friend Jonathan Aitken, a former cabinet minister and member of Parliament in the UK, who had introduced the center to me. Aitken was close to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who co-founded the center, which itself played a major role in the success of British policies at the time, particularly those pertaining to economics.
7
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online