Hubert Rampersad, P.h.D.

“Something is wrong with American higher education; it’s going in the wrong direction. Indoctrination, corrupt DEI policies, antisemitism, corruption, politics, faculty bias, mismanagement, plagiarism, and fake science publishing plague American universities. These issues hinder progress and innovation and endanger lives. The Hamas war has shed light on the values of American universities. It has highlighted a significant failure at the core of American higher education, where the conduct of the faculty and management of these institutions poses an existential threat to America. They need to re-evaluate their values and practices.”–Hubert Rampersad.

“American colleges and universities need to reconsider their corrupt DEI policies, ensuring they are fair, transparent, and effective. While it’s important to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership hiring processes, it’s equally crucial to ensure that the most qualified individuals are selected based on their expertise and capabilities. Simply hiring leaders in response to the Black Lives Matter and gender movement may not guarantee the desired outcomes and could potentially compromise the quality of higher education leadership. To address these concerns, school leaders need to move beyond diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, and race theater, and instead focus on implementing sustainable DEI initiatives. Rebuilding trust in our school leaders requires a reconnection with authenticity, humility, and integrity. By fostering empathy and promoting inner alignment, leaders can create an ethical and sustainable culture of ECO-DEI within American higher education institutions. This shift in focus will not only strengthen the educational environment but also ensure that DEI efforts are embedded in the core values and practices of American colleges and universities, benefiting all members of the community.” –-Hubert Rampersad

UPenn president Liz Magill and Board Chair Scott Bok resigned after a disastrous hearing on antisemitism, in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. This war has brought to light the values of UPenn. Read also my article “How Collective Stupidity at Prominent American Universities Fuels Terrorist-Sympathizing Antisemitism”.  It highlights the mismanagement of this school and its poor DEI policies. Simply hiring school leaders in response to the gender movements could compromise the quality of higher education, read “Why Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies at American Colleges and Universities Suck”.

But there is more wrong at the University of Pennsylvania that is slowing progress, killing innovation, and endangering lives.

Katalin Kariko, a Nobel Prize winner, was not on the tenure track and was told by a University of Pennsylvania official that she was not of faculty quality. Universities tend to prioritize grants or research dollars professors bring in to do their work, as well as the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed publications in top journals in their field. Any system that repeatedly snubs someone with the talent to win a Nobel Prize probably deserves scrutiny. The tenure system, especially in the sciences at large research universities, isn’t set up to reward maverick thinkers whose ideas might seem extreme, yet those are the people who may go on to win a Nobel Prize. Universities tend to focus only on how much a researcher publishes, or how widely covered by the media their work is, rather than how innovative the research is, read “Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó was ‘demoted 4 times’ at her old university job“. Albert Einstein didn’t publish that many papers, but in this day and age publication volume and being a famous speaker are king. Karikó says her interest in mRNA was often dismissed.  She experienced a lot of politics, bias, distraction, rejection, and discrimination at the University of Pennsylvania, read also “Penn’s Nobel Prize winner wasn’t on the tenure track. How can the system better support talent?”. Without her, the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine would not have been invented. The University of Pennsylvania was sabotaging this. Read also “American Higher Education in Crisis”.

Important advice to the leadership of American colleges and universities 

Restore the Higher Purpose of of your school. Read “How to Restore the Higher Purpose of American Higher Education: Creating a Purpose-Driven University with Good Character of School Leaders, Faculty, and Students”

 Change the institution sustainably, by “Fostering a Culture of Ethics on Campus, Academic Integrity, and Sustainable Good Governance”.

Replace current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with ECO-DEI. This will prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial faculty and faculty bias; Emphasize authentic sustainability initiatives; Re-evaluate your curriculum to ensure that it is sustainable in the long run; Get rid of faculty members who exhibit left-brain and antisemitic racial tendencies with those who possess ethical expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles; Prioritize creativity over knowledge; Empower the educational experience with the help of AI; Introduce students to the Personal Disruptive Innovation system, which will help them (re)design their lives, unlock their creative potential, foster a growth mindset, and achieve success in their personal and professional endeavors. This will help them prevent emotional distress, unleash their creative potential, meet social needs, and foster sustainability; Embedding Personal Disruptive Innovation in the curriculum is essential to enable left-brain students to develop their ethical skills, and emotional intelligence, and become ethical critical thinkers; Redesigning academic departments will also be beneficial; Instead of focusing on the number of publications and famous speakers, it’s better to concentrate on innovative research. Read also “How to Measure and Fix DEI at Universities and Colleges”. 

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

If you’re interested in gaining more knowledge about our DEI program, you may want to consider joining our Free Live Webinar: How to Measure and Manage DEI Initiatives.

You may also want to consider becoming a Certified ECO-DEI Practitioner.

You may also consider attending his Orlando–Tampa Event: The Future of Innovation

You may also consider attending his Orlando-Tampa Live Event: “How Sustainability and Generative AI Fuel Design Innovation”.

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D., is a visionary leader in innovative solutions for genuine sustainability, disruptive design innovation, critical thinking in the age of AI, authentic personal branding, and entrepreneurial leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Innovation Sciences, an MSc in Technology Engineering & Robotics, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from leading accredited universities in the Netherlands/Europe (Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology). He is a well-known futurist, advocating for genuine sustainability on a global scale. With extensive knowledge and expertise, he has authored 25 books on the topics above in many languages and is highly regarded for his insights in these fields. One of his books, “Total Performance Scorecard,” has been published in 20 languages. Dorothy Leonard, an innovation professor at Harvard Business School, wrote the book’s foreword. Rampersad has also previously served as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan and was featured in BusinessWeek. He was a design innovation coach at ASML (the Most Important Tech Company in the World).

Orlando, Florida |tpsi@live.com | WhatsApp: +13053992116

“American companies, colleges, and universities need to reconsider their corrupt DEI policies, ensuring they are fair, transparent, and effective. While it’s important to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership hiring processes, ensuring that the most qualified individuals are selected based on their expertise and capabilities is equally crucial. Simply hiring leaders in response to the Black Lives Matter and gender movement may not guarantee the desired outcomes and could potentially compromise the quality of higher education leadership. To address these concerns, leaders need to move beyond diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, and race theater and instead focus on implementing sustainable DEI initiatives. Rebuilding trust requires a reconnection with authenticity, humility, and integrity. By fostering empathy and promoting inner alignment, leaders can create an ethical and sustainable culture of DEI within American companies and education institutions. This shift in focus will ensure that DEI efforts are embedded in the core values and practices of American companies, colleges, and universities, benefiting all members of the community.” –-Hubert Rampersad

DEI at American universities and colleges does not actually promote inclusivity. It is the opposite of diversity of thought. Students are classified into groups based on their race and heritage. DEI is being used as a cover to justify discrimination. Jews are considered “oppressors” by the DEI system, so the discrimination they face is somehow justified by its believers. This kind of ideology at American universities and colleges needs to be eliminated. Survey Shows Minorities Support Death of DEI.

Bill Ackman, a billionaire and Harvard graduate, has voiced his concern regarding the hiring practices of American universities and colleges. He believes candidates are being selected based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, which can limit the pool of potential candidates by excluding those who do not meet certain criteria based on race or gender. According to a recent analysis by Inside Higher Ed, colleges and universities have hired more non-white leaders in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, read “Diversity on the Rise Among College Presidents”. This approach does not necessarily lead to the best leaders being chosen and may ultimately harm the quality of higher education in America.  Ackman’s comments come after he called for the resignation of three university presidents who failed to condemn anti-Semitic behavior on their campuses. Harvard’s presidential search committee, for example, only considers candidates who meet the DEI office’s criteria. Ackman believes that shrinking the pool of potential candidates based on race, gender, or sexual orientation is not the optimal approach to identifying the best leaders for our most prestigious universities. Read also “Until DEI offices are closed, don’t expect better college presidents“.

Redefining American colleges and universities is badly needed by redesigning academic departments, developing a new holistic core curriculum, and replacing current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. DEI at American colleges and universities are mainly focused on racial and gender justice and cozy initiatives. Their hiring process is not focused on recognizing the value of differences and similarities among people, promoting synergy between diverse talents and skills, and fostering a sense of belonging among all individuals. 

New sustainable DEI policies are badly needed to prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial bias faculty (faculty bias) and promote a more balanced approach to hiring faculty with expertise in ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles. The new DEI approach must create a more ethical and balanced higher education system in America.

American colleges and universities also teach conventional diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that concentrate mainly on racial justice and surface-level equality and diversity initiatives. This limited approach often fails to provide organizations with the benefits of genuine diversity, equity, and inclusion, resulting in significant financial losses. To truly succeed in this area, colleges, universities, and companies require a comprehensive, measurable, and sustainable approach that addresses diversity, equity, and inclusion authentically and holistically.

ECO-DEI

This new DEI approach, known as ECO-DEI, emphasizes the need for a holistic and long-term view of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Please read my article “Reimagining Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”.

Diversity refers to the variety of traits and characteristics that make individuals unique. Equity involves understanding and providing individuals with what they need to live whole, healthy lives. Inclusion encompasses the behaviors and social norms that ensure everyone feels welcomed. Belonging describes the sense of fitting in and feeling like a valued group member. On the other hand, equality is about ensuring everyone receives the same resources to achieve this goal. This diagram shows how diversity, equity, and inclusion are interrelated.

ECO-DEI will help universities and colleges cultivate sustainable cultures that promote talent development and foster a sense of involvement, acceptance, respect, and connection to thrive. These cultures should encourage ethical, harmonious, and respectful interactions among individuals, fostering a synergetic culture of trust, learning, open communication, and innovation, ultimately leading to the best results. It is essential to value diverse thinking from individuals with different backgrounds and perspectives.

ECO-DEI Life Cycle Scan

To measure and fix diversity, equity, and inclusion at universities and colleges, institutions need to establish a comprehensive and effective system of metrics to track their progress. Institutions struggle to measure the effectiveness of their DEI initiatives.  Managing DEI effectively becomes nearly impossible without proper measurement. Therefore, I present the unique ECO-DEI life cycle scan. The ECO-DEI life cycle scan serves as an assessment system universities and colleges can use to effectively manage and cultivate diversity in their workforce. It outlines the fundamental characteristics required to create a work environment that values and promotes diverse perspectives while encouraging respectful interactions among individuals. The ultimate goal is to ensure that no individual is excluded based on their differences, thus enabling them to achieve their full potential. Read “How to Measure and Fix DEI”.

Important advice to the leadership of American colleges and universities

Restore the Higher Purpose of of your school. Read “How to Restore the Higher Purpose of American Higher Education: Creating a Purpose-Driven University with Good Character of School Leaders, Faculty, and Students”

 Change the institution sustainably, by “Fostering a Culture of Ethics on Campus, Academic Integrity, and Sustainable Good Governance”.

Replace current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with ECO-DEI. This will prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial faculty and faculty bias; Emphasize authentic sustainability initiatives; Re-evaluate your curriculum to ensure that it is sustainable in the long run; Get rid of faculty members who exhibit left-brain and antisemitic racial tendencies with those who possess ethical expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles; Prioritize creativity over knowledge; Empower the educational experience with the help of AI; Introduce students to the Personal Disruptive Innovation system, which will help them (re)design their lives, unlock their creative potential, foster a growth mindset, and achieve success in their personal and professional endeavors. This will help them prevent emotional distress, unleash their creative potential, meet social needs, and foster sustainability; Embedding Personal Disruptive Innovation in the curriculum is essential to enable left-brain students to develop their ethical skills, and emotional intelligence, and become ethical critical thinkers; Redesigning academic departments will also be beneficial; Instead of focusing on the number of publications and famous speakers, it’s better to concentrate on innovative research. Read also “Redefining American Higher Education” and “How to Restore the Higher Purpose of American Higher Education”.

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

If you’re interested in gaining more knowledge about our DEI program, you may want to consider joining our Orlando–Tampa Live Event: How to Measure and Fix DEI

and our free Live Webinar: How to Measure and Manage DEI Initiatives.

You may also want to consider becoming a Certified ECO-DEI Practitioner.

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D., founded the Center of Excellence in Human-Centered and Purpose-Driven AI Innovation in Orlando. He is a Dutch-American visionary leader in innovative solutions for genuine sustainability, disruptive design innovation, critical thinking in the age of AI, human-centered and purpose-driven AI, and entrepreneurial leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Innovation Sciences, an MSc in Technology Engineering & Robotics, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from leading accredited universities in the Netherlands (Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology). He is a well-known futurist, advocating for genuine sustainability on a global scale. With extensive knowledge and expertise, he has authored 25 books on the topics above in many languages and is highly regarded for his insights in these fields. One of his books, “Total Performance Scorecard,” has been published in 20 languages. Dorothy Leonard, an innovation professor at Harvard Business School, wrote the book’s foreword. Rampersad has also previously served as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan and was featured in BusinessWeek. He was a senior design innovation coach at ASML, the most important tech company in the world and “Europe’s most valuable tech firm“.

Orlando, Florida |tpsi@live.com | WhatsApp: +13053992116

Javier Milei wint verkiezingen en wordt nieuwe president van Argentinië, met dollarisatie van de economie als thema

Prof.dr.ir. Hubert Rampersad

De overwinning van Javier Milei in de verkiezing van de president van Argentinië op zondag j.l. betekent dat het land de peso wil afschaffen. Milei heeft zijn wens om de Argentijnse economie in dollars om te zetten flink aangeprezen en daarmee de verkiezingen gewonnen. Hij wil  hiermee de op hol geslagen inflatie beteugelen, die in oktober 143% bereikte na een ineenstorting van de peso die dit jaar 99% van zijn waarde ten opzichte van de Amerikaanse dollar heeft weggevaagd. De peso is sinds 2008 in waarde gedaald door verschillende oorzaken, waaronder hyperinflatie, schulden en politieke instabiliteit. Milei wil de peso afschaffen en de Amerikaanse dollar invoeren om de inflatie in Argentinië te beteugelen. De  ruime overwinning van Milei is een teken dat Argentijnen bereid zijn om een radicalere aanpak te riskeren. De prominent econoom Steve Hanke – een voorvechter van Milei’s streven naar dollarisering en professor aan de toonaangevende Johns Hopkins University, zei onlangs dat Argentinië zijn centrale bank zou moeten afschaffen en de dollar als munt zou moeten aannemen om de inflatie te beteugelen. Milei heeft inmiddels besloten om te dollariseren en wil niks met die criminele Chinezen te maken hebben, lees “China responds to Argentina’s dollarization – BRICS will NOT be“. Hij is 2 dagen na zijn overwinning hiermee reeds begonnen, lees “New Argentina president Javier Milei wastes no time implementing radical policies“. Terwijl Chan Santokhi 3 jaar na zijn overwinning nodig had om te beginnen met hervormingen en meer tijd nodig heeft om echt te beginnen omdat hij het te druk heeft met de vele dure buitenlandse reizen en feesten.

SRD in Suriname

Suriname heeft al 30 jaar precies hetzelfde probleem met de SRD als Argentinie met de peso en opeenvolgende corrupte governors van de Centrale Bank van Suriname en ministers van Financien wisten/weten geen raad om de steeds maar stijgende koers en instabiliteit van de SRD te beteugelen. En nog steeds blijven de onwetende Surinamers heilig vasthouden aan de SRD, vertrouwen hebben in de mooie beloftes van Centrale Bank governors en Surinaamse politici en de moed/durf niet tonen om  te dollariseren en goud als wettig betaalmiddel in te voeren, zoals ik in deel 1, deel 2 en deel 3 van deze serie artikelen had aangegeven. Bij dollarisatie heb je de altijd politiek gelieerde corrupte domme Centrale Bank van Suriname niet meer nodig, die moet dan ook direct worden afgeschaft. Wanneer gaan Surinamers nu eindelijk kiezen voor duurzame economische ontwikkeling in het belang van hun kinderen en kleinkinderen en de moed en durf opbrengen om in 2025 voor duurzaamheid, welzijn, welvaart en integriteit te kiezen?

SPMD

De nieuwe politieke partij in oprichting “Surinaamse Partij voor welzijn van Mens & Dier (SPMD)”, bestaande uit een groep integere intellectuele Surinamers, heeft dit in haar partijprogramma de hoogste prioriteit gegeven (ik zit niet in deze groep, ben maar een eenvoudig mens in Amerika). SPMD wil precies zoals Milei in Argentinie, ook dollarisatie van de Surinaamse economie realiseren, maar dan wel op basis van bepaalde voorwaarden zoals ik in mijn serie artikelen heb aangegeven. Want succesvolle dollarisatie doe je niet zomaar zonder gedegen voorbereiding (Suriname is een speciaal geval die nauwelijks exportgerichte produktie heeft). Hopelijk dat het Surinaamse volk in 2025 het voorbeeld van Argentinie gaat volgen en voor eens en altijd gaat afrekenen met de instabiliteit en hoge SRD koers. Hiervoor is visie, moed, durf en integriteit nodig. Helaas kiezen de Surinamers met hun stemgedrag er telkens weer voor om arm te blijven. Ze trappen telkens weer in die W’O SET’ EN geklets van de visieloze domme corrupte Surinaaaamse politici.  Lees ook “Suriname heeft 42630 ambtenaren te veel; hoe jaarlijks SRD 7244 miljoen besparen c.q. verdienen mede via nieuwe AI-industrie” , “10 dingen waar Surinamers hun geld aan verspillen en hierdoor armer worden” en ““Waarom epidemie van collectieve domheid een ernstige bedreiging voor Suriname vormt”.

Prof.dr.ir. Hubert Rampersad

tpsi@live.com | WhatsApp: +1305399211

Prof.dr.ir. Hubert Rampersad

Behalve dat de Surinaamse overheid heel veel geld verspilt aan teveel ambtenaren, domme besluiten en dure buitenlandse reizen (lees mijn artikel: “Suriname heeft 42630 ambtenaren te veel; hoe jaarlijks SRD 7244 miljoen besparen c.q. verdienen mede via nieuwe AI-industrie”) zijn het ook de Surinamers zelf die heel veel geld verspillen aan onnodige dingen. Ze kijken af van het geldverspillings gedrag van Chan Santokhi. Hieronder 10 dingen waaraan Surinamers veel geld verspillen:

1. Gokken. De meeste Surinamers zijn gokverslaafd en gaan elke dag naar de casinos omdat ze geen andere afleiding hebben. Suriname heeft de meeste casinos ter wereld per hoofd van de bevolking.
2. Regelmatig aan feesten en avondjes uit zoals duur drinken en eten bij Mingle Cocktail Lounge, Hard Rock Café, Coffee Box, etc. om gezien te worden en dure kaartjes voor shows van cabaretiers die helemaal niet grappig zijn.
3. Smart phone om te roddelen op Facebook ipv deze te gebruiken om te leren. Surinamers kunnen hun telefoon gebruiken om hun kennis en vaardigheden voortdurend te ontwikkelen om hun verdienpotentieel te vergroten en daarmee geld te maken, lees het bovengenoemde artikel.
4. Veel geld uitgeven aan dure kledingmerken.
5. Dure auto’s. Suriname heeft de meeste auto’s ter wereld per hoofd van de bevolking. Op vrijwel elke hoek van de straat is er een auto dealer. Veel Surinamers hebben geen goed betaalde baan maar hebben wel een mooie dure auto.
6. De nieuwe mode is lidmaatschap fitness en sportschool. Gratis lopen en lichaamoefeningen thuis kunnen net zo effectief zijn als ze regelmatig worden beoefend.
7. Roken. Roken is een kostbare gewoonte van veel Surinamers.
8. Buitenvrouw. Veel Surinaamse mannen hebben een buitenvrouw, dit maakt deel uit van de Surinaamse cultuur. Ook dit is een dure grap.
9. Verkeerde politieke partij. Veel Surinamers zijn lid van een politieke partij en besteden veel tijd hieraan om het land nog verder kapot te maken want dit hebben Surinaamse politieke partijen in de afgelopen 60 jaar gedaan. Velen sponsoren hun partij en verlenen hand en spandiensten.Time is money. Ze kunnen hun tijd liever besteden aan zelfontwikkeling om zo meer geld te verdienen.
10. Dure groenten. Groenten worden steeds duurder in Suriname en ook nog schadelijker vanwege gebruik van bestrijdingsmiddelen. Suriname is een van de meest vruchtbare landen ter wereld. Vrijwel alle Surinamers hebben een tuin waarin ze groenten kunnen planten. Velen zijn te lui hiervoor.

Uit het bovenstaande blijkt dat zowel de Surinaamse overheid alsook het Surinaamse volk verkeerde prioriteiten stellen en door de bank genomen erg dom zijn. Lees mijn artikel “Waarom epidemie van collectieve domheid een ernstige bedreiging voor Suriname vormt” hoe deze domheid kan worden gerepareerd.

Prof.dr.ir. Hubert Rampersad

tpsi@live.com | WhatsApp: +1305399211

Hubert Rampersad, P.h.D.

“Something is wrong with American higher education; it’s going in the wrong direction. Indoctrination, corrupt DEI policies, antisemitism, corruption, politics, faculty bias, mismanagement, plagiarism, and fake science publishing plague American universities. These issues hinder progress and innovation and endanger lives. The Hamas war has shed light on the values of American universities. It has highlighted a significant failure at the core of American higher education, where the conduct of the faculty and management of these institutions poses an existential threat to America. They need to re-evaluate their values and practices.”–Hubert Rampersad.

“American colleges and universities need to reconsider their corrupt DEI policies, ensuring they are fair, transparent, and effective. While it’s important to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership hiring processes, it’s equally crucial to ensure that the most qualified individuals are selected based on their expertise and capabilities. Simply hiring leaders in response to the Black Lives Matter and gender movement may not guarantee the desired outcomes and could potentially compromise the quality of higher education leadership. To address these concerns, school leaders need to move beyond diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, and race theater, and instead focus on implementing sustainable DEI initiatives. Rebuilding trust in our school leaders requires a reconnection with authenticity, humility, and integrity. By fostering empathy and promoting inner alignment, leaders can create an ethical and sustainable culture of ECO-DEI within American higher education institutions. This shift in focus will not only strengthen the educational environment but also ensure that DEI efforts are embedded in the core values and practices of American colleges and universities, benefiting all members of the community.” –-Hubert Rampersad

DEI at American universities and colleges does not actually promote inclusivity. It is the opposite of diversity of thought. Students are classified into groups based on their race and heritage. DEI is being used as a cover to justify discrimination. Jews are considered “oppressors” by the DEI system, so the discrimination they face is somehow justified by its believers. This kind of ideology at American universities and colleges needs to be eliminated. Survey Shows Minorities Support Death of DEI.

The Hamas war has brought to light the values of American colleges and universities. It has exposed a significant failure at the core of American higher education, where the conduct of the faculty and management of these institutions poses an existential threat to America. It highlights the mismanagement of American colleges and universities and that something is wrong with American higher education. American universities are rife with indoctrination, racism, antisemitism, corruption, politics, faculty bias, mismanagement, corrupt DEI policies, plagiarism, and misleading scientific publications. Higher education in America has become a threat to America. Our corrupt, radical universities feed every scourge, from censorship and crime to antisemitism. Read also “The root causes of our illiberal higher education system”,    “Why is Harvard giving Claudine Gay ‘plagiarism privilege’?”, “Higher Ed, Indoctrination and Miseducation” and “Antisemitism issues at elite colleges mask ‘deeper rot’ of DEI dominance in higher education: WSJ editorial.” While there are many ways to address these issues, one approach is to redefine higher education in America by redesigning academic departments and developing a new holistic core curriculum.

On the other hand, envisioning a new normal that embodies empathy, personal integrity, non-racialism, environmental consciousness, circularity, redefined HR roles, good governance, and ethical leadership is essential. The cornerstone of this improved new normal is sustainability, which includes sustainability in design innovation, HR, leadership, diversity & inclusion, corporate governance, and higher education, as illustrated in this figure. 

Outdated management and design innovation theories

The traditional teachings on sustainability, corporate governance, leadership, innovation, design, HR, change management, process management, and diversity & inclusion theories taught at top business schools and universities are no longer effective and are causing significant harm to our society. These approaches lack authenticity and a holistic perspective, making them unsustainable and unsuitable for the current era. The shortcomings mentioned above contribute to the lack of sustainability in climate change efforts. I suggest taking the time to read my article on the topic “Why Climate Change Sucks“. 

Prominent business schools and universities that teach outdated management theories by left-brain professors can have significant negative consequences. These include inadequate leadership, compromised personal integrity, mismanagement, fraudulent behavior, violating corporate governance rules, financial ruin, widespread corruption, excessive financial waste, reduced creativity, increased racism and discrimination within organizations, and unjustified police violence against innocent black individuals. Unfortunately, these outcomes can cause extensive harm to society.

Many prestigious universities, such as Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, Stanford University, MIT Sloan, and Wharton, offer a narrow curriculum focused on a single discipline, which can hinder creativity and result in graduates who lack a broad understanding of the bigger picture. Instead, these graduates focus solely on formal corporate governance procedures, superficial change management concepts, short-term innovation, HR strategies, one-sided diversity & inclusion programs, flawed strategic management approaches, and shortsighted process improvement techniques. The following 9 examples illustrate how this approach has adverse effects on society.

Example 1; Corrupt DEI 

Bill Ackman, a billionaire and Harvard graduate, has voiced his concern regarding the hiring practices of American universities and colleges. He believes that candidates are being selected based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, which can limit the pool of potential candidates by excluding those who do not meet certain criteria based on race or gender. According to a recent analysis by Inside Higher Ed, colleges and universities have hired a higher percentage of non-white leaders in the wake of the Black Lives Matter and gender movement, read “Diversity on the Rise Among College Presidents”. This approach does not necessarily lead to the best leaders being chosen and may ultimately harm the quality of higher education in America.  Ackman’s comments come after he called for the resignation of three university presidents who failed to condemn anti-Semitic behavior on their campuses. Harvard’s presidential search committee, for example, only considers candidates who meet the DEI office’s criteria. Ackman believes that shrinking the pool of potential candidates based on race, gender, or sexual orientation is not the optimal approach to identifying the best leaders for our most prestigious universities. Read “Until DEI offices are closed, don’t expect better college presidents“ and “Why DEI Sucks”.

Read: “How to Measure and Fix DEI at Universities and Colleges”. 

American universities and colleges need to reconsider their corrupt DEI policies, and ensure they are fair, transparent, and effective. ECO-DEI will help prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial bias faculty (faculty bias) and promote a more balanced approach to hiring faculty with expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles. This approach can help create a more ethical and balanced higher education system in America.

Example 2; The era of design thinking taught at prominent American universities and colleges has come to an end

Intriguingly, institutions like Stanford, MIT, and Harvard continue to adhere to the entrenched and outdated design thinking method that yields uninspired results and numerous design flaws. Read my related article “The End of Design Thinking: Cultivating a Purpose-Driven Design Culture to Fix the World”.

These approaches emphasize analytical thinking, following specific design steps, attending comfortable meetings, completing tasks in a particular order, and utilizing design tools. However, they do not effectively inspire creativity. Some well-known examples of such designs include the botched vaccine rollout in America, Citibank’s loss of $500 million due to an unfriendly loan management tool, the $2 trillion F-35 project, Boeing 737 Max airplane, the T-14 Armata Russian Tank, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Please take the time to read my article “Why OceanGate’s Design Approach Sucks; How the Doomed Titan Sub Tragedy Could Have Been Avoided.”

The tragedy of the Titan serves as a valuable lesson for CEOs who prioritize their personal design choices over critical safety regulations, which endanger human lives. This applies to individuals such as Elon Musk and companies like Boeing, read ““How Elon Musk’s $3 billion Mars rocket failure, Boeing’s 737 Max airplane disasters, and the doomed Titan sub tragedy could have been avoided”. Read also: “Boeing lost its way. Other companies should take heed“; it’s become clear that Boeing’s problems run far deeper. They expose decades of American corporate philosophy gone awry. Boeing is a quintessential example of America’s rotting business culture over the past 40 years. The following figure displays the top 10 reasons for bad designs.

It would be beneficial to take a closer look at the eco-design thinking model, as outlined in my articles “How To Design a Better World” and “Circular & Value-based Design For Sustainability“:

The professor’s creativity, self-innovation, and self-awareness are crucial for fostering creativity and innovation in the classroom. Self-knowledge is the foundation of all knowledge, self-learning is the beginning of all learning, and personal innovation is the root of all innovation. In addition, management theories that lack authenticity and a holistic approach are not viable in the long run. Read my article “5 Steps to Cultivate Authenticity, Integrity, Empathy, and Critical Thinking in the Age of AI“.

Left-Brain Professors

Manny professors in various educational institutions lack emotional and spiritual intelligence, which leads to negative impacts on society. The left hemisphere of their brains is often overused, while the right hemisphere is underutilized. This results in missed opportunities to handle intricate issues holistically and genuinely. For more information, please refer to the article “Personal Disruptive Innovation”.

Left-brain professors need to start acting intuitively and make more effective use of their right brain.

Eco-Innovation

In today’s complex world, sustainable innovation is crucial. I introduced the Eco-Innovation concept to address this need. Traditional approaches to innovation are inadequate as they lack a holistic perspective. They are superficial, performative, and comfortable, failing to meet the standard of genuine sustainability. I define sustainability as a comprehensive and ethical system that enables humans and nature to coexist harmoniously for an extended period of time.

Example 3; Corporate governance programs fuel corruption rather than remedy it

Corporate governance programs implemented and offered at American colleges and universities fuel corruption instead of remedying it, which is a concerning reality. “Sustainable corporate governance cannot be solely dependent on formal regulations, rules, and procedures. It is essential to incorporate decency, empathy, and personal integrity into our daily lives without requiring rules to enforce them. These values should be instilled within us.”–Hubert Rampersad 

“It’s worth noting that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) do not include SDG #18: GOOD PEOPLE. To address the root causes of climate change, we must go beyond treating its symptoms and focus on nurturing personal integrity. This includes being mindful of how our actions and behaviors impact all living beings, including humans, animals, and plants. Empathy is the foundation of personal integrity and is crucial for effective action against climate change. Unfortunately, the world is full of bad people who don’t prioritize these values, which is why so few are engaged in efforts to combat climate change”. – Hubert Rampersad. Why haven’t prestigious universities and the bureaucratic United Nations addressed this significant shortcoming?

I am therefore proposing a new authentic, holistic, and sustainable good governance approach, please read my article “Fostering a Culture of Ethics on Campus, Academic Integrity, and Sustainable Good Governance at American Universities: An Authentic Holistic Approach”.

Example 4; HR systems taught are outdated and causing harm to businesses

Many articles suggest that the traditional annual performance evaluation system taught in business schools and universities is outdated and causing harm to businesses, check: “Annual performance appraisals are outdated” and “Annual performance review is an outdated concept”.  In my article, I have presented a sustainable and effective performance evaluation system that is necessary to adapt to the new normal, read “Reimagining HR“.

Example 5; The Same applies to leadership and other programs

The issues that plague leadership, lean six-sigma, balanced scorecard, and family businesses taught at business schools and universities are similar. It is alarming that our leaders have lost their genuineness, modesty, and honesty, which has led to a considerable decline in trust. Their lack of compassion and internal harmony is worrisome. You might find my article “Reimagining Leadership” interesting, which touches on this issue.

Example 6; AI is Disrupting Higher Education — Will Traditional Universities and  Colleges Survive?

The advent of AI has brought about a significant transformation in various industries, including higher education. As AI continues disrupting traditional learning models, many question whether conventional colleges and universities can keep up with this fourth industrial revolution. However, higher learning institutions can leverage AI’s power to revolutionize the educational experience in several ways. For instance, AI can be used to facilitate personalized learning, enhance student support through AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, foster collaboration between AI and human educators, and adapt the curriculum to meet market demands, read also “Cultivating Critical Thinking in the Age of AI”.

Example 7; Science scam in academic publishing

Study reveals scale of ‘science scam’ in academic publishing, read this article. According to a study by German researchers, one in five articles published in scientific journals may contain faked data produced by unauthorized “paper mills” that are paid to fabricate submissions. The study used new techniques to “red flag” problematic papers in biomedicine. The rise of generative AI such as ChatGPT makes the scam more of a threat. The study adds to the growing evidence that academic publishing faces a damaging surge in fabricated research sold by paper mills to researchers desperate for published work to boost their careers. It also backs up recent evidence that the majority of fake research comes from China. The researchers argue that fake science publishing is possibly the biggest science scam of all time, wasting financial resources, slowing down medical progress, and possibly endangering lives.

Read recent Harvard Business School publishing scams: “A Harvard professor raking in over $1 million a year who specialized in ‘dishonesty’ was accused of fabricating research. 3 retractions have already occurred”.

Francesca Gino, a well-known speaker and author of many publications, was put on leave by Harvard Business School after an internal investigation found that she had falsified her research. The investigation revealed that Gino was paid over $1 million annually by Harvard, and tens of thousands more by companies to speak at their private events. This suggests that at Harvard Business School, the number of publications and being a famous speaker are the only things that matter (not innovative research, see next example 8).

Read also: “Academics publishing pointless papers is another sign of a dire crisis in universities”.  It turns out that a rapidly rising number of papers that get through the process of peer review contain findings that are completely bogus. Last year, according to a study in Nature, one of the world’s two leading scientific journals, more than 10,000 papers that had been published in academic journals had to be withdrawn. This compares to just 1,000 in 2013. They were withdrawn because their findings were fraudulent. A vast number of academic papers are published each year but most of these are of no scientific value. There is a strong and rising demand from academics to publish papers, their career prospects depend on it. The key way in which academics judge the value of any particular article is the number of times it is cited in the subsequent work of others. Many articles that are published in highly respected journals such as MIT Press have zero citations, so their implicit value is therefore zero. This means that academics in many cases carry out worthless research. 

Example 8; How the University of Pennsylvania is Slowing Progress, Killing Innovation, and Endangering Lives

Katalin Kariko, a Nobel Prize winner, was not on the tenure track and was told by a University of Pennsylvania official that she was not of faculty quality and that her research was worthless. Universities tend to prioritize grants or research dollars professors bring in to do their work, as well as the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed publications in top journals in their field. Any system that repeatedly snubs someone with the talent to win a Nobel Prize probably deserves scrutiny. The tenure system, especially in the sciences at large research universities, isn’t set up to reward maverick thinkers whose ideas might seem extreme, yet those are the people who may go on to win a Nobel Prize. Universities tend to focus only on how much a researcher publishes, or how widely covered by the media their work is, rather than how innovative the research is, read “Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó was ‘demoted 4 times’ at her old university job“. Albert Einstein didn’t publish that many papers, but in this day and age publication volume and being a famous speaker are king. Karikó says her interest in mRNA was often dismissed.  She experienced a lot of politics, bias, distraction, rejection, and discrimination at the University of Pennsylvania, read also “Penn’s Nobel Prize winner wasn’t on the tenure track. How can the system better support talent?”. Without her, the BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccine would not have been invented. The University of Pennsylvania was sabotaging this. Read “More issues need to be addressed at UPenn“.

Example 9; American colleges and universities have become a hotbed for terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism

Antisemitism at American colleges and universities is growing, especially at Harvard University, Ivy League universities, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Michigan Law School, Northwestern University, Yale University, Cornell University, New York University, Indiana University, California State University Long Beach, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of California-Davis, and Arizona State University. Hamas War Shows Us What American Colleges and Universities Stand For. It seems that higher education in America has become a hotbed for terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism. It has become a center of indoctrination and anti-Israel hate. The war against Israel has shown the ugly unethical side of American higher education. It shows the mismanagement of American colleges and universities, and that something is really wrong with American higher education. Higher education is going in the wrong direction. Read Hamas War Shows Us What American Colleges and Universities Stand For, Pro-Hamas protests expose the massive failure at the heart of American higher education , and There is an Existential Threat to American Higher Education.  Read also my article “How Collective Stupidity at Prominent American Universities Fuels Terrorist-Sympathizing Antisemitism”.

To help students become aware of their own ignorance, develop their ethical skills and emotional intelligence, and become ethical critical thinkers, Personal Disruptive Innovation should be a mandatory part of the curriculum in all colleges and universities in America. With students now bringing historic levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues to college, the personal disruptive innovation system can help solve these issues sustainably.

Important advice to the leadership of American colleges and universities 

Restore the Higher Purpose of of your school. Read “How to Restore the Higher Purpose of American Higher Education: Creating a Purpose-Driven University with Good Character of School Leaders, Faculty, and Students”

 Change the institution sustainably, by “Fostering a Culture of Ethics on Campus, Academic Integrity, and Sustainable Good Governance”. Replace current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with ECO-DEI. This will prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial faculty and faculty bias; Emphasize authentic sustainability initiatives; Re-evaluate your curriculum to ensure that it is sustainable in the long run; Get rid of faculty members who exhibit left-brain and antisemitic racial tendencies with those who possess ethical expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles; Prioritize creativity over knowledge; Empower the educational experience with the help of AI; Introduce students to the Personal Disruptive Innovation system, which will help them (re)design their lives, unlock their creative potential, foster a growth mindset, and achieve success in their personal and professional endeavors. This will help them prevent emotional distress, unleash their creative potential, meet social needs, and foster sustainability; Embedding Personal Disruptive Innovation in the curriculum is essential to enable left-brain students to develop their ethical skills, and emotional intelligence, and become ethical critical thinkers; Redesigning academic departments will also be beneficial; Instead of focusing on the number of publications and famous speakers, it’s better to concentrate on innovative research.

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

If you’re interested in gaining more knowledge about Rampersad’s DEI program, you may want to consider becoming a Certified ECO-DEI Practitioner.

You may also consider attending his Orlando–Tampa Events:

Building a Purpose-Driven and Design-Driven Culture in Tech Companies

You may also consider attending his Orlando-Tampa Live Event: “How Sustainability and Generative AI Fuel Design Innovation”.

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D., founded the Center of Excellence in Human-Centered and Purpose-Driven AI Innovation in Orlando. He is a Dutch-American visionary leader in innovative solutions for genuine sustainability, disruptive design innovation, critical thinking in the age of AI, human-centered and purpose-driven AI, and entrepreneurial leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Innovation Sciences, an MSc in Technology Engineering & Robotics, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from leading accredited universities in the Netherlands (Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology). He is a well-known futurist, advocating for genuine sustainability on a global scale. With extensive knowledge and expertise, he has authored 25 books on the topics above in many languages and is highly regarded for his insights in these fields. One of his books, “Total Performance Scorecard,” has been published in 20 languages. Dorothy Leonard, an innovation professor at Harvard Business School, wrote the book’s foreword. Rampersad has also previously served as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan and was featured in BusinessWeek. He was a senior design innovation coach at ASML, the most important tech company in the world and “Europe’s most valuable tech firm“.

About his free live webinars:

How Generative AI Helps Design a Better World 

How the Doomed Titan Sub Tragedy Could Have Been Avoided

Orlando, Florida |tpsi@live.com | WhatsApp: +13053992116

Redefining American Higher Education

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

“Something is wrong with American higher education; it’s going in the wrong direction. Indoctrination, corrupt DEI policies, antisemitism, corruption, politics, faculty bias, mismanagement, plagiarism, and fake science publishing plague American universities. These issues hinder progress and innovation and endanger lives. The Hamas war has shed light on the values of American universities. It has highlighted a significant failure at the core of American higher education, where the conduct of the faculty and management of these institutions poses an existential threat to America. They need to re-evaluate their values and practices.”–Hubert Rampersad.

“American colleges and universities need to reconsider their corrupt DEI policies, ensuring they are fair, transparent, and effective. While it’s important to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in leadership hiring processes, ensuring that the most qualified individuals are selected based on their expertise and capabilities is equally crucial. Simply hiring leaders in response to the Black Lives Matter and gender movement may not guarantee the desired outcomes and could potentially compromise the quality of higher education leadership. To address these concerns, school leaders need to move beyond diversity, equity, inclusion, gender, and race theater, and instead focus on implementing sustainable DEI initiatives. Rebuilding trust in our school leaders requires a reconnection with authenticity, humility, and integrity. By fostering empathy and promoting inner alignment, leaders can create an ethical and sustainable culture of ECO-DEI within American higher education institutions. This shift in focus will not only strengthen the educational environment but also ensure that DEI efforts are embedded in the core values and practices of American colleges and universities, benefiting all members of the community.” –-Hubert Rampersad

Antisemitism at American universities is growing, especially at Harvard University, Ivy League universities, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Columbia University, University of Michigan Law School, Northwestern University, Yale University, Cornell University, New York University, Indiana University, California State University Long Beach, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of California-Davis, and Arizona State University. Hamas War Shows Us What American Colleges and Universities Stand For. Pro-Hamas protests expose the massive failure at the heart of American higher education. There is an Existential Threat to American Higher Education. 

Higher education in America has become a hotbed for terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism

Hundreds of Harvard faculty sign letter rebuking university leaders’ tepid response to Hamas ‘war crimes. Nearly three dozen Harvard student groups issued statements in support of Palestine following the Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,300 innocent civilians, including 29 Americans, read “Famed Harvard Professor Exposes Dark Secret”.   Many students at U.S. universities blame Israel for the Hamas militants’ attack on the Jewish state. More than 30 student groups at Harvard University signed on to a letter stating they ‘hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.’ Read “Harvard for Hamas? Something is very twisted on America’s university campuses“. College campuses around America have come out in support of terrorists who last weekend raped and murdered and beheaded innocent people (including children, women, and the elderly) in Israel. Most of these students seem perfectly OK with defending the atrocities committed when Hamas invaded Israel in a surprise attack in which the terrorists murdered at least 1,200 Israelis; 27 Americans also died and more than a dozen are missing. It seems that higher education in America has become a hotbed for terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism. It has become a center of indoctrination and anti-Israel hate. The war against Israel has shown the ugly unethical side of American higher education. It shows the mismanagement of American colleges and universities, and that something is really wrong with American higher education.  

Student organizations at more than a dozen prominent U.S. universities have issued statements pointing the full blame of the Hamas attack on Israel. Those also include the stupid left-brain squad members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) blaming Israel and supporting Hamas.

It seems that many prominent American universities and the squad group are full of stupid people whose stupidity is a constant danger to America and the world. Some of these people are prominent politicians, professors, and in leadership positions at these universities who spread their stupid ideas among their students and followers. Under the guise of academic freedom, they tell lies to their students and followers as a result of their stupidity and hatred of the Jews. This is not only due to the stupidity of left-brain politicians, school leaders, and professors but also due to the curriculum they teach at colleges and universities across America. Read “Bill Maher mocks Ivy Leagues schools for ‘indoctrination’ and anti-Israel hate: College ‘makes you stupid’”.  In this article, I will present a solution to fix this stupidity in America and its universities and colleges.

DEI

DEI at American universities and colleges does not actually promote inclusivity. It is the opposite of diversity of thought. Students are classified into groups based on their race and heritage. DEI is being used as a cover to justify discrimination. Jews are considered “oppressors” by the DEI system, so the discrimination they face is somehow justified by its believers. This kind of ideology at American universities and colleges needs to be eliminated.

The Hamas war has brought to light the values of American colleges and universities. It has exposed a significant failure at the core of American higher education, where the conduct of the faculty and management of these institutions poses an existential threat to America. It highlights the mismanagement of American colleges and universities and that something is wrong with American higher education. While there are many ways to address these issues, one approach could be to redefine higher education in America by redesigning academic departments and developing a new holistic core curriculum. They need to reconsider their corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, ensuring they are fair, transparent, and effective. Simply hiring leaders in response to the Black Lives Matter and gender movement could compromise the quality of leadership, read “Why DEI Sucks, How to Fix It”.

ECO-DEI will help prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial bias faculty (faculty bias) and promote a more balanced approach to hiring faculty with expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles. This approach can help create a more ethical and balanced higher education system in America.

Collective stupidity in America

The term “stupidity” seems insulting, but it is not a lack of intelligence or knowledge but an inability to use your cognitive skills effectively. You don’t have to be exceptionally knowledgeable or highly educated to succeed in life, make good decisions, have good judgment, and positively impact the world. You may have heard of ‘collective intelligence,’ but there is also ‘collective stupidity’; read Bobby Azarian’s article “A neuroscientist explains why stupidity is an existential threat to America.” Collective stupidity in politics and at US campuses is very dangerous for America.

Stupid donors are endangering lives

Influential wealthy donors to the above-mentioned universities are also very stupid to sponsor these universities. These billionaires don’t know that they support Hamas and terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism in this way. Ivy League universities, for example, have the relative luxury of being enormously wealthy due to these big donors. Philanthropy is the single largest contributor to revenue at Harvard University, accounting for 45% of the university’s $5.8 billion in income last year. Philanthropic gifts accounted for 9% of the university’s operating budget last year and 36% of its $51 billion endowment amassed over decades. Kenneth Griffin has donated more than half a billion dollars to Harvard University, committing $300 million this year alone. Cliff Asness, Marc Rowan, David Magerman, and the Huntsman Family gave billions to UPenn. Donors often give for specific purposes — facilities, faculty research, technology on campus, athletics, scholarships, and financial aid for low-income students. But donors don’t know that their money is also going to students who love Hamas, defend real violence, and support terrorist-sympathizing antisemitism. So these donors are also endangering lives.

 Dunning-Kruger effect

According to Azarian, stupidity is a consequence of the inability to be aware of one’s limitations. This type of cognitive failure has a scientific name: the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a well-known psychological phenomenon that describes the tendency of individuals to overestimate their level of intelligence, knowledge, or competence in a given area. At the same time, they may also misjudge the intelligence, expertise, or competence of others. In other words, they are ignorant of their own ignorance (stupidity). Stupid people don’t know they’re stupid, they don’t know they don’t know this.

Danger of stupidity in America

What’s especially troubling about the Dunning-Kruger effect is that people are attracted to confident leaders, encouraging politicians to be overconfident in their beliefs and opinions. For example, stupid left-brainers Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) who are blaming Israel and supporting Hamas, and Donald Trump suggested that wind turbine noise causes cancer (a claim not supported by any empirical research). It’s bad enough that these politicians, professors, and students fail to acknowledge their ignorance. But what is most disturbing is that they are being praised for their stupidity.

How to fix stupidity in America

Stupidity in America can be fixed sustainably. By becoming aware of our ignorance (stupidity), we can adjust our reasoning, behavior, and decision-making to consider our intellectual shortcomings and develop our emotional intelligence. This is what my latest book “ Eco-Design Thinking for Personal, Corporate, and Social Innovation: How to Become a Disruptive Eco-Design Thinker Like Elon Musk”  is about. I hope that politicians, school leaders, donors, and students in America will read this book to educate themselves and their followers to gain a deeper self-awareness of their own cognitive limitations and develop a higher consciousness. They must learn to be aware of their own ignorance. They must evaluate their own stupidity, competence, and wisdom and develop the ethical skills they need to seek more knowledge, as well as build their competence, creativity, and emotional intelligence to become better and smarter human beings, and thus become honest critical thinkers. Read my articles “How to Redesign Your Life and Become a Disruptor“, “50 tips to become a critical thinker”  and “Cultivating Critical Thinking in the Age of AI”.

To this end, I have developed the globally acclaimed “ Personal Disruptive Innovation ” method; click this link. This innovative method starts with self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-learning, and self-responsibility to learn and unlearn. Personal disruptive innovation is indispensable, especially given the increasing stupidity in American society.

Fighting the stupidity crisis in America

Fighting America’s stupidity crisis requires cultivating self-awareness, critical thinking, constant curiosity and improvement, learning/unlearning, personal integrity, innovation, and helping others do the same. This fight starts with yourself. It begins with your personal responsibility to prioritize continuous learning and unlearning. Personal disruptive innovation is a tool with which this battle can be won so that collective stupidity can be converted into collective smartness and a better world can be created sustainably; read my article “How To Design a Better World.”

Fighting stupidity at prestigious American colleges and universities

Above mentioned universities are slowing progress, killing innovation, and endangering lives. There are so many new things about sustainability, ethics, innovation, creativity, leadership, and management you don’t learn at these prestigious universities and business schools, read my article “Redefining American Higher Education”.

We need to redefine higher education in America by redesigning academic departments, developing a new holistic core curriculum, eliminating current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies to prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial faculty (faculty bias), getting rid of current left-brain faculty and replacing them with ethical combined left-right-brain faculty with expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles. Why do American colleges and universities neglect this important issue?

Important advice to the leadership of American colleges and universities 

Change the institution sustainably, by “Fostering a Culture of Ethics on Campus, Academic Integrity, and Sustainable Good Governance”.

Replace current corrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with ECO-DEI. This will prevent hiring left-brain antisemitic racial faculty and faculty bias; Emphasize authentic sustainability initiatives; Re-evaluate your curriculum to ensure that it is sustainable in the long run; Get rid of faculty members who exhibit left-brain and antisemitic racial tendencies with those who possess ethical expertise in personal disruptive innovation, ethics, constitutionalism, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles; Prioritize creativity over knowledge; Empower the educational experience with the help of AI; Introduce students to the Personal Disruptive Innovation system, which will help them (re)design their lives, unlock their creative potential, foster a growth mindset, and achieve success in their personal and professional endeavors. This will help them prevent emotional distress, unleash their creative potential, meet social needs, and foster sustainability; Embedding Personal Disruptive Innovation in the curriculum is essential to enable left-brain students to develop their ethical skills, and emotional intelligence, and become ethical critical thinkers; Redesigning academic departments will also be beneficial; Instead of focusing on the number of publications and famous speakers, it’s better to concentrate on innovative research.

Read also “How to Restore the Higher Purpose of American Higher Education”.

If you’re interested in gaining more knowledge about Rampersad’s DEI program, you may want to consider becoming a Certified ECO-DEI Practitioner.

You may also consider attending his Orlando–Tampa Event: The Future of Innovation

Orlando, Florida |  tpsi@live.com |  Phone/whatsapp: +13053992116

Preparing Oil & Gas Companies in Guyana for the Next Stage of Sustainable Development in the 21st Century  

Executive Seminar in Georgetown: “Sustainable Good Governance, the Best Strategy for the Guyanese Oil & Gas Industry” by renowned Dr. Hubert Rampersad (president of Innovation & Sustainability Consulting Guyana).

Location: Lot 7 Jones & Gill St, Bagotstown, EBD, Georgetown, Guyana

Date/Time: November 1-2, 2003, 9 AM – 4 PM

More information: Mr. Ravidat Parasram, Chairman Innovation & Sustainability Consulting Guyana, Phone/WhatsApp: +5927000840, spgroupgy@gmail.com, http://www.iscguyana.wordpress.com

Prior registration required via tpsi@live.com | Phone/WhatsApp: +13053992116 

Topics to be discussed during the live webinar:

Sustainable Good Governance, the Best Strategy for the Guyanese Oil & Gas Industry

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D. 

“Today’s complex world requires sustainable corporate governance. Traditional corporate governance approaches taught at university and implemented in many organizations are not sustainable because they are cosmetical and not holistic. We should be aware that the foundation of sustainable corporate governance is personal integrity, and that sustainability begins with personal integrity”— Hubert Rampersad

“It’s about time we understand that corporate governance cannot be controlled effectively with formal rules, regulations, guidelines, and procedures only. It’s about decency, empathy, and personal integrity, which must be a way of life, with no need of rules, and cultivated from within”–Hubert Rampersad 

“The higher your personal integrity, the better your attentiveness, the better your empathic skills, the better person you are”- Hubert Rampersad

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws” – Plato 

“We need to address the real roots of climate change, not just the symptoms. People’s personal integrity needs to be tackled, which is awareness about their behavior and actions toward human beings, animals, and plants. This is the foundation of empathy. Climate change actions need good people. The world is full of bad people, which is probably the reason why so few engage in climate change”. — Hubert Rampersad

Matt Kelly (2018): “Corruption Risk in Oil and Gas: Why We See So Much? Why do oil and gas companies seem to fall into anti-bribery trouble so often? According to Insight Consultants (2022), bribery and corruption are widespread and endemic in the oil & gas sector. These are becoming an increasing concern for businesses operating in this sector. A research study shows one-third of oil and gas firms do not have an anti-bribery and corruption policy in place. Dr. Lorraine Sobers (2022): “In 2020, Guyana scored between five and 20 percentage points below the average for Latin American and the Caribbean in the six indicators for good governance, including voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. And, as we approach the first half of the century with more than a 2°C projected rise in average global temperatures, fossil fuel demand is set to decline annually, beginning sometime in the next few decades. So, while Guyana celebrates large oil discoveries, the world is moving away from oil toward greener energy. Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 plans to compensate for the global demand shift by creating a cleaner energy mix of natural gas, hydropower, and solar energy. However, the strategy will only be as good as the governance systems in place that ensure that these projects are delivered on time and on budget with fair transactions and safe and efficient operations. Government effectiveness is the crux for good governance, and, as such, Guyana needs to strengthen its institutions in every area of government administration. As oil revenues increase in years to come, the government will announce many more progressive development projects with thrilling promises of improved infrastructure and job creation. However, even as the government announces larger projects, it is impossible to ignore the lack of commensurate, game-changing policies and initiatives to protect whistle-blowers who call foul. It is time for a full-court press on corruption. Guyana can be a prominent player in the Latin America and Caribbean region only if it relies on good governance, not just abundant cash and oil resources, to achieve progress and prosperity for all. The discipline of good governance and the insight of strategists and policymakers will seal Guyana’s “big win” of inclusive, sustainable development. Efficient, trustworthy institutions and state agencies—the nation’s center of gravity—must play a stabilizing role in the rapid rise of the country’s energy sector“. So Guyana’s success depends much more on the practice of sustainable good governance than its large hydrocarbon reserve volumes.

Sustainability

“Sustainability is a holistic and ethical system in which humans and nature can exist in harmony for a very long period of time”– Hubert Rampersad

I agree with Dr. Sober, however, she must understand that the emphasis should be on SUSTAINABLE good governance and not just good governance, with nice governance rules, policies, and guidelines only. Because nice good governance rules, policies, and beautiful code of ethics created a stable basis for more corruption in many oil & gas companies, read my related article. This is the main reason why so many oil & gas companies fall into anti-bribery trouble so often. Behind all the corruption scandals in the oil & gas industry are a number of common factors, including:

• Poor ethical leadership and management incompetence
• Lack of personal integrity & empathy
• Focus on rules, policies, and guidelines only, no ethical learning culture
• Fraud, corruption, and violation of corporate governance code of ethics
• Inefficiency of internal audit

Most large oil & gas companies have comprehensive corporate governance codes in place, implemented by some left-brain accountancy firms and large law firms and advised by top law school professors, who apparently are not working at all. They made things worse and created a stable basis for more corruption. The human element represented by the directors and employees is the major cause of these failures. Especially unethical behavior of leaders is the main cause of bankruptcy and financial failures. Remember what Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, said: “Our market system depends critically on trust—trust in the world of our colleagues and trust in the world of those with whom we do business…. I am saying that the state of corporate governance to a very large extent reflects the character of the CEO.”

Due to the above-mentioned shortcomings, most companies’ approaches to good governance are extremely formal, bureaucratic, cosmetic, woolly, non-holistic, and no-authentic, and therefore fail to address the above-mentioned shortcomings. Their implementations of good governance provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. We need a sustainable and innovative solution to this global epidemic, which I will present in this article.

Sustainable Good Governance 

The future of good governance entails eco-governance, which is a holistic approach that makes the link to personal integrity, personal governance, and corporate governance, as indicated in this Figure. This entails sustainable good governance.

In my related book “Authentic Governance; Aligning Personal Governance with Corporate Governance“, I have defined these three elements, as follows:

• Personal Integrity; Entails awareness about your behavior and actions toward human beings, animals, plants, and the environment, by aligning your personal ambition with your behavior and your way of acting.
• Personal Governance;  Entails the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine personal improvement, steering, and learning, based on your personal innovation strategy.
• Corporate Governance; Entails the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine corporate improvement, steering, and learning, via formal corporate regulations, procedures, and guidelines.

Traditional Good Governance Programs Cause More Corruption and are not Suitable for the New Normal

Having great corporate governance programs in place but not complying with these programs has become a normal practice globally. Traditional approaches to corporate governance are extremely formal, bureaucratic, cosmetic, non-holistic, and non-authentic, and therefore provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. Most corporate governance programs make things worse, create a stable basis for more corruption, and are doomed to fail.

We need a sustainable and innovative solution to this global epidemic urgently. I picked up where others left off by launching an innovative and sustainable methodology for creating a culture of good people, in which high ethical values are aligned with their corporate governance rules, regulations, and guidelines and embedded in their minds. It is based on my new book “Authentic Governance; Aligning Personal Governance with Corporate Governance“.  Two main endorsements for this book:

1) “Authentic governance or Eco-governance is a systematic, integrated, pragmatic, and innovative approach to corporate governance. By expanding traditional corporate governance concepts and integrating personal integrity and ethical leadership into one overall authentic governance framework, Dr. Hubert Rampersad gives us a new blueprint for sustainable corporate governance in which formal corporate regulations and personal values mutually reinforce each other. By unifying corporate ethics with individual ethics, he has written an outstanding synthesis, which is addressed to the corporate challenges of managing in the 21st century”.

2) “This book makes a most useful contribution to the never-ending challenge of protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. It serves as a practical guide and a tool kit for executives who aspire to realize ethical corporate excellence”.

Eco-governance (sustainable good governance) starts with value-based leadership development, embedding personal values in the minds of the Chairmen, Presidents, CEOs, CFOs, managers, and all employees, and guiding them to sincerely reflect on these values. This is about decency, empathy, and personal integrity. Eco-governance is one of the first tangible and measurable means to create a way of life within organizations, characterized by trust, credibility, transparency, personal responsibility, personal integrity, and a high-performance ethical business culture. This will have a positive impact on society. I refer to my related YouTube video.

The New Normal Requires Personal Integrity and Empathy

Let me illustrate this with some quotes:

Read also my article “Reimagining Leadership“. “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. If you do not have the first, the other two will kill you. If you hire somebody without personal integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”–Warren Buffett

Personal integrity is the most critical component in today’s business. It’s the most fundamental character trait of leaders and professionals and a crucial ingredient in creating empathy. Empathy means awareness of the emotions of others and the emotional connection with others. I refer to my articles “50 Tips for Leading With Personal Integrity and Empathy“ and “How to Cultivate Empathy”. 

Eco-Governance

As demonstrated by many oil & gas companies, traditional corporate governance codes (corporate laws) provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. Company integrity must always start with personal integrity. It must be an informal learning process and a way of life, based on alignment with yourself and alignment with your company. This ethical process must be promoted and communicated within the whole company to all stakeholders consistently. In this way, ethical behavior will become routine in the whole organization, and leaders and employees will gain more understanding of their responsibility with regard to ethical behavior. They will understand that it is their responsibility to act ethically, on duty as well as off duty. This is a more sustainable, comprehensive, and holistic approach to ethics and social responsibility.

Against this background, I propose an organic and holistic approach to corporate governance called eco-governance, by integrating personal values and integrity into one overall authentic governance framework, in which formal corporate regulations and personal values mutually reinforce each other. This theory has been borne out through my leadership experiences in the corporate world globally in the past 30 years.

Eco-Governance Model
I have defined eco-governance in holistic humanized terms, namely: the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine improvement, steering, and learning, that leads to sustainable high performance and ethical excellence. I made a distinction between personal governance and corporate governance, which I will explain here in detail. So, eco-governance is a continuous voyage of discovery, involving continuous, gradual, and routine improvement, steering, and learning. It is about a journey towards a happier and more successful life for individuals and ethical corporate excellence.

By redefining and governing themselves effectively, leaders and employees will gain more understanding about their responsibility regarding ethical behavior, and they will understand that it is their responsibility to act ethically, on duty as well as off duty. The figure below shows the eco-governance model, which provides an excellent framework and roadmap to develop, implement, and cultivate personal governance and corporate governance in a systematic and sustainable way. This new governance blueprint is an inside-out approach and focuses mainly on the human side of good governance. It places more emphasis on understanding yourself and the needs of others, meeting those needs while staying true to your personal and corporate values, improving yourself and your personal integrity continuously, making ethics a way of life and a continuous learning process, and aligning these with formal corporate regulations, procedures, and guidelines, instead of focusing on exhaustive formal corporate regulations, procedures and guidelines only.

This eco-governance model consists of the following four phases, which are the building blocks of sustainable corporate governance:

1. Personal Governance:

a) Personal ambition; this phase involves a soul-searching process based on thought, introspection, and self-reflection, supported by a breathing and silence exercise.  I refer to my article “Personal Disruptive Innovation”. Questions that you can ask yourself are: Who am I, What do I stand for? What makes me more ethical? What do I live for? Why do I want to lead? and What’s the purpose of my leadership? If the honest answers to the last four questions are power, prestige, and money, you may be at risk for your company. The result of this phase is the formulation of your personal mission, vision, and values. On the basis of insights acquired through this process, you develop self-awareness and self-regulation, which are the foundation of trustworthiness, integrity, and openness to learn.

b)  Personal Innovation Strategy; personal ambition has no value unless you take action to make it a reality. Therefore the emphasis in this stage is developing an integrated and well-balanced action plan based on your personal ambition, which I call a Personal Innovation Strategy (PIS). It’s about translating your personal ambition into action, which I have described in detail in my article “Redesigning Your Life” .

c) Personal governance; the next step is to implement, maintain, and cultivate your ambition and PIS to govern yourself effectively and to become a better human being. This entails personal governance; the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine personal improvement, steering, and learning. Your PIS needs constant updating to reflect the new challenges you take, the lessons you have learned, and the growth of yourself.

2. Personal Integrity (Alignment with yourself); corporate governance will be cosmetic if personal integrity is not a way of life in your organization and if you focus mainly on ethical procedures, formal regulations, and guidelines. Therefore it’s needed to align your personal ambition with your behavior and your way of acting. I refer to my article “The Future of Leadership“.  So you need to commit yourself to live and act according to your personal ambition and to keep promises that you make to yourself. Personal governance built on the person’s true character is sustainable and strong. You should reflect your true self and must adhere to a moral and behavioral code set down by your personal ambition. This means that who you really are, what you care about, and your passions should come out in your personal ambition, and you should act and behave accordingly (you should be yourself) to build trust. This inner alignment is an important step towards lasting personal growth and reinforcing integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, credibility, transparency, and personal charisma. People with this perspective on life value others’ lives and create a stable basis for others to feel they are credible, truthful, and trustworthy.
These first two stages in the authentic governance model focus on personal leadership development by cultivating your inner compass.

3. Corporate Governance:
a) Corporate ambition; this phase involves formulation of the shared corporate ambition. Corporate ambition is the soul, core intention, and guiding principles of the organization and encompasses the corporate mission, vision, and core values.
b) Corporate Innovation Strategy; corporate ambition has no value unless you don’t take action to make it a reality. Therefore the emphasis in this stage is developing an integrated and well-balanced action plan based on the corporate ambition to realize the corporate objectives. This Corporate Innovation Strategy (CIS) is needed to improve the business and governance processes continuously based on the corporate ambition.
c) Corporate governance; the next step is to implement, maintain, and cultivate the corporate ambition and CIS in order to govern your organization effectively, to become an ethical company. This entails corporate governance: the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine corporate improvement, steering, and learning. This stage focuses also on the implementation of formal corporate regulations, procedures, and guidelines (corporate governance code).

4. Alignment with your organization; the emphasis here is aligning personal ambition with corporate ambition and creating uniformity of personal and organizational values. I refer to my article “The Future of HR“. By unifying corporate ethics with individual ethics you will create a strong foundation of peace, integrity, engagement, and learning upon which creativity and growth can flourish, and life within the organization will become a more harmonious and ethical experience.  It’s about aligning personal governance with corporate governance and getting the optimal fit and balance between these two activities in order to enhance labor productivity, create a climate of trust, and stimulate engagement, commitment, integrity, and passion in the organization. This alignment process is needed because staff members don’t work with devotion or expend energy on something they do not believe in or agree with. If there is an effective match between their interests and those of the company, and if their values and the company’s values align, they will be engaged and will work with greater commitment and dedication toward realizing the company’s objectives. When the personnel’s personal ambition is in harmony with their company’s (are compatible) and combined in the best interest of both parties, the results will be higher productivity and sustainable corporate governance. Employees are stimulated in this way to commit, act ethically, and focus on those activities that create value for clients. This will create a strong foundation of peace, personal integrity, and stability upon which creativity and growth can flourish, and life within the organization will become a more harmonious experience.

The effective combination of all these four phases creates a stable basis for a high-performance ethical organization. To illustrate the importance of this authentic governance model: Of the 140 businesses recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies, Aflac and Starbucks have received this honor every year between 2007 and 2013. They have been judged to not only have exemplary ethical standards and policies but also consistently high ethical practices. Their corporate governance codes are not empty words, but represent active coordinates in maintaining an ethical business culture, based on effective values‑based leadership and the alignment of personal governance with corporate governance.

This article is based on my new book “Eco-Design Thinking for Personal, Corporate and Social Innovation; How to Become a Disruptive Eco-Design Thinker Like Elon Musk“. Read the excerpt of this book, which is about reimagining design and innovation.

Join our live Webinar: “Sustainability in the Oil & Gas Industry in Guyana”

He also conducted this live webinar for Saudi Aramco:

Check also his webinar: ” A new way to think about sustainability”. Scan your oil & gas company for free:

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D., is a visionary leader in innovative solutions for genuine sustainability, disruptive design innovation, critical thinking in the age of AI, authentic personal branding, and entrepreneurial leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Innovation Sciences, an MSc in Technology Engineering & Robotics, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from leading accredited universities in the Netherlands/Europe (Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology). He is a well-known futurist, advocating for genuine sustainability on a global scale. With extensive knowledge and expertise, he has authored 25 books on the topics above in many languages and is highly regarded for his insights in these fields. One of his books, “Total Performance Scorecard,” has been published in 20 languages. Dorothy Leonard, an innovation professor at Harvard Business School, wrote the book’s foreword. Rampersad has also previously served as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan and was featured in BusinessWeek. He was a design innovation coach at ASML (the Most Important Tech Company in the World).

Innovation & Sustainability Consulting Guyana

Lot 7 Jones & Gill St, Bagotstown, EBD, Georgetown, Guyana, Phone/WhatsApp: +5927000840 | Miami, USA, Phone/WhatsApp: +13053992116 | tpsi@live.com |www.iscguyana.wordpress.com 

How Sustainability Fuels Durable Corporate Governance in Guyanese Oil & Gas Industry

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D. 

“It’s about time we understand that corporate governance cannot be controlled effectively with formal rules, regulations, guidelines, and procedures only. It’s about decency, empathy, and personal integrity, which must be a way of life, with no need for rules, and cultivated from within. We should be aware that the foundation of sustainable corporate governance is personal integrity, and that sustainability begins with personal integrity”— Hubert Rampersad

“Today’s complex world needs sustainable corporate governance. Traditional corporate governance approaches taught at university and implemented in many organizations are not sustainable because they are cosmetical and not holistic.”— Hubert Rampersad   

“The higher your personal integrity, the better your attentiveness, the better your empathic skills, the better person you are”- Hubert Rampersad

“Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws” – Plato 

“Empathy is just what is needed to make the world a better place for all animals and humans. Personal integrity is the foundation of empathy, in which there is no room for ego”. — Hubert Rampersad

“Sustainability is a holistic and ethical system in which humans and nature can exist in harmony for a very long pperiod It starts with you.”– Hubert Rampersad

“There is such a need for a complete rebirth of trust in our leaders. Somewhere along the line, they lost their authenticity, humility, and integrity, and in doing so they have lost their empathy and inner alignment“– Hubert Rampersad

How to Embed SDG, ESG, and Purpose in the Guyanese Oil & Gas Industry 

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

ESG and SDGs are two complementary frameworks. The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) framework originated in the 70s, while the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, and focused on 17 critical areas to address economic, social, and environmental challenges by 2030. By the way: “The most important SDG #18 is missing in SDGs, which is GOOD PEOPLE. We need to address the real roots of climate change, not just the symptoms. People’s personal integrity needs to be tackled, which is awareness about their behavior and actions toward human beings, animals, and plants. This is the foundation of empathy. Climate change actions need good people. The world is full of bad people, which is probably the reason why so few engage in climate change”. — Hubert Rampersad

This ESG model shows how my holistic concepts of eco-governance, eco-design thinking, eco-innovation, personal disruptive innovation, personal integrity, and eco-diversity are embedded in the ESG framework.

Read further: 

Sustainable Good Governance, the Best Strategy for the Gyanese Oil & Gas Industry

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D.

Matt Kelly (2018): “Corruption Risk in Oil and Gas: Why We See So Much? Why do oil and gas companies seem to fall into anti-bribery trouble so often? According to Insight Consultants (2022), bribery and corruption are widespread and endemic in the oil & gas sector. These are becoming an increasing concern for businesses operating in this sector. A research study shows one-third of oil and gas firms do not have an anti-bribery and corruption policy in place.

Dr. Lorraine Sobers (2022): “In 2020, Guyana scored between five and 20 percentage points below the average for Latin American and the Caribbean in the six indicators for good governance, including voice and accountability, political stability and absence of violence/terrorism, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption. And, as we approach the first half of the century with more than a 2°C projected rise in average global temperatures, fossil fuel demand is set to decline annually, beginning sometime in the next few decades.

So, while Guyana celebrates large oil discoveries, the world is moving away from oil toward greener energy. Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030 plans to compensate for the global demand shift by creating a cleaner energy mix of natural gas, hydropower, and solar energy. However, the strategy will only be as good as the governance systems in place that ensure that these projects are delivered on time and on budget with fair transactions and safe and efficient operations. Government effectiveness is the crux for good governance, and, as such, Guyana needs to strengthen its institutions in every area of government administration.

As oil revenues increase in years to come, the government will announce many more progressive development projects with thrilling promises of improved infrastructure and job creation. However, even as the government announces larger projects, it is impossible to ignore the lack of commensurate, game-changing policies and initiatives to protect whistle-blowers who call foul. It is time for a full-court press on corruption. Guyana can be a prominent player in the Latin America and Caribbean region only if it relies on good governance, not just abundant cash and oil resources, to achieve progress and prosperity for all. The discipline of good governance and the insight of strategists and policymakers will seal Guyana’s “big win” of inclusive, sustainable development. Efficient, trustworthy institutions and state agencies—the nation’s center of gravity—must play a stabilizing role in the rapid rise of the country’s energy sector“. 

So Guyana’s success depends much more on the practice of sustainable good governance than its large hydrocarbon reserve volumes. 

Sustainability

“Sustainability is a holistic and ethical system in which humans and nature can exist in harmony for a very long period of time”– Hubert Rampersad

I agree with Dr. Sober, however, she must understand that the emphasis should be on SUSTAINABLE good governance and not just good governance. Because governance rules, policies, and a beautiful code of ethics can create a stable basis for more corruption in many oil & gas companies if not aligned with personal governance, read my related article. This is the main reason why so many oil & gas companies fall into anti-bribery trouble so often. Behind all the corruption scandals in the oil & gas industseveralmber of common factors, including:

• Poor ethical leadership and management incompetence
• Lack of personal integrity & empathy
• Focus on rules, policies, and guidelines only, no ethical learning culture
• Fraud, corruption, and violation of corporate governance code of ethics
• Inefficiency of internal audit

These are the most important challenges oil & gas companies are currently facing, along with other issues, as shown in this figure.

Most large oil & gas companies have comprehensive corporate governance codes in place, implemented by some left-brain accountancy firms and large law firms and advised by top law school pwhosors, which apparently are not working at all. They made things worse and created a stable basis for more corruption. The human element represented by the directors and employees is the major cause of these failures. Especially unethical behavior of leaders is the main cause of bankruptcy and financial failures. Remember what Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, said: “Our market system depends critically on trust—trust in the world of our colleagues and trust in the world of those with whom we do business…. I am saying that the state of corporate governance to a very large extent reflects the character of the CEO.”

Due to the above-mentioned shortcomings, most companies’ approaches to good governance are extremely formal, bureaucratic, cosmetic, woolly, non-holistic, and no-authentic, and therefore fail to address the above-mentioned shortcomings. Their implementations of good governance provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. We need a sustainable and innovative solution to this global epidemic, which I will present in this article. This is related to my concept “HOW TO DESIGN A BETTER WORLD“.

I also refer to my forthcoming webinar “Sustainability in the Oil & Gas Industry“.

Sustainable Good Governance 

The future of good governance entails eco-governance, which is a holistic approach that makes the link to personal integrity, personal governance, and corporate governance, as indicated in this Figure. This entails sustainable good governance.

In my related book “Authentic Governance; Aligning Personal Governance with Corporate Governance“, I have defined these three elements, as follows:

• Personal Integrity; Entails awareness about your behavior ato understandions toward human beings, animals, plants, and the environment, by aligning your personal ambition with your behavior and your way of acting.
• Personal Governance;  Entails the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine personal improvement, steering, and learning, based on your personal innovation strategy.
• Corporate Governance; Entails the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine corporate improvement, steering, and learning, via formal corporate regulations, procedures, and guidelines.

Traditional Good Governance Programs Cause More Corruption and are not Suitable for the New Normal

Having great corporate governance programs in place but not complying with these programs has become a normal practice globally. Traditional approaches to corporate governance are extremely formal, bureaucratic, cosmetic, non-holistic and non-authentic, and therefore provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. Most corporate governance programs made things worse, create a stable basis for more corruption, and are doomed to fail. 

We need a sustainable and innovative solution to this global epidemic urgently. I picked up where others left off by launching an innovative and sustainable methodology for creating a culture of good people, in which high ethical values are aligned with their corporate governance rules, regulations, and guidelines and embedded in their minds. It is based on my new book “Authentic Governance; Aligning Personal Governance with Corporate Governance”.  Two main endorsements for this book:

1) “Authentic governance or Eco-governance is a systematic, integrated, pragmatic, and innovative approach to corporate governance. By expanding traditional corporate governance concepts and integrating personal integrity and ethical leadership into one overall authentic governance framework, Dr. Hubert Rampersad gives us a new blueprint for sustainable corporate governance in which formal corporate regulations and personal values mutually reinforce each other. By unifying corporate ethics with individual ethics, he has written an outstanding synthesis, which is addressed to the corporate challenges of managing in the 21st century”.

2) “This book makes a most useful contribution to the never-ending challenge of protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. It serves as a practical guide and a tool kit for executives who aspire to realize ethical corporate excellence”.

Eco-governance (sustainable good governance) starts with value-based leadership development, embedding personal values in the minds of the Chairmen, Presidents, CEOs, CFOs, managers, and all employees, and guiding them to sincerely reflect on these values. This is about decency, empathy, and personal integrity. Eco-governance is one of the first tangible and measurable means to create a way of life within organizations, characterized by trust, credibility, transparency, personal responsibility, personal integrity, and a high-performance ethical business culture. This will have a positive impact on society. I refer to my related YouTube video.

The New Normal Requires Personal Integrity and Empathy

Let me illustrate this with some quotes:

Read also my article “Reimagining Leadership“. “In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. If you do not have the first, the other two will kill you. If you hire somebody without personal integrity, you really want them to be dumb and lazy.”–Warren Buffett

Personal integrity is the most critical component in today’s business. It’s the most fundamental character trait of leaders and professionals and a crucial ingredient in creating empathy. Empathy means awareness of the emotions of others; and the emotional connection with others. I refer to my articles “50 Tips for Leading With Personal Integrity and Empathy“ and “How to Cultivate Empathy”. 

Eco-Governance

As demonstrated by many oil & gas companies, traditional corporate governance codes (corporate laws) provide no protection from potentially catastrophic ethical failures. Company integrity must always start with personal integrity. It must be an informal learning process and a way of life, based on alignment with yourself and alignment with your company. This ethical process must be promoted and communicated within the whole company to all stakeholders consistently. In this way, ethical behavior will become routine in the whole organization, and leaders and employees will gain more understanding about their responsibility with regard to ethical behavior. They will understand that it is their responsibility to act ethically, on duty as well as off duty. This is a more sustainable, comprehensive, and holistic approach to ethics and social responsibility.

Against this background, I propose an organic and holistic approach to corporate governance called eco-governance, by integrating personal values and integrity into one overall authentic governance framework, in which formal corporate regulations and personal values mutually reinforce each other. This theory has been borne out through my leadership experiences in the corporate world globally in the past 30 years.

Eco-Governance Model
I have defined eco-governance in holistic humanized terms, namely: the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine improvement, steering, and learning, that leads to sustainable high performance and ethical excellence. I made a distinction between personal governance and corporate governance, which I will explain here in detail. So, eco-governance is a continuous voyage of discovery, involving continuous, gradual, and routine improvement, steering, and learning. It is about a journey towards a happier and more successful life for individuals and ethical corporate excellence.

By redefining and governing themselves effectively, leaders and employees will gain more understanding about their responsibility regarding ethical behavior, and they will understand that it is their responsibility to act ethically, on duty as well as off duty. The figure below shows the eco-governance model, which provides an excellent framework and roadmap to develop, implement, and cultivate personal governance and corporate governance in a systematic and sustainable way. This new governance blueprint is an inside-out approach and focuses mainly on the human side of good governance. It places more emphasis on understanding yourself and the needs of others, meeting those needs while staying true to your personal and corporate values, improving yourself and your personal integrity continuously, making ethics a way of life and a continuous learning process, and aligninging these with formal corporate regulations, procedures, andd guidelines, instead of focusing on exhaustive formal corporate regulations, procedures and guidelines only.

This eco-governance model consists of the following four phases, which are the building blocks of sustainable corporate governance:

1. Personal Governance:

a) Personal ambition; this phase involves a soul-searching process based on thought, introspection, and self-reflection, supported by a breathing and silence exercise.  I refer to my article “Personal Disruptive Innovation”. Questions that you can ask yourself are: Who am I, What do I stand for? What makes me more ethical? What do I live for? Why do I want to lead? and What’s the purpose of my leadership? If the honest answers to the last four questions are power, prestige, and money, you may be at risk for your company. The result of this phase is the formulation of your personal mission, vision, and values. On the basis of insights acquired through this process, you develop self-awareness and self-regulation, which are the foundation of trustworthiness, integrity, and openness to learn.

b)  Personal Innovation Strategy; personal ambition has no value unless you take action to make it a reality. Therefore the emphasis in this stage is developing an integrated and well balanced action plan based on your personal ambition, which I call Personal Innovation Strategy (PIS). It’s about translating your personal ambition into action, which I have described in detail in my article “Redesigning Your Life”.

c) Personal governance; the next step is to implement, maintain, and cultivate your ambition and PIS to govern yourself effectively and to become a better human being. This entails personal governance; the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine personal improvement, steering, and learning. Your PIS needs constant updating to reflect the new challenges you take, the lessons you have learned, and the growth of yourself.

2. Personal Integrity (Alignment with yourself); corporate governance will be cosmetic if personal integrity is not a way of life in your organization and if you focus mainly on ethical procedures, formal regulations, and guidelines. Therefore it’s needed to align your personal ambition with your behavior and your way of acting. I refer to my article “The Future of Leadership“.  So you need to commit yourself to live and act according to your personal ambition and to keep promises that you make to yourself. Personal governance built on the person’s true character is sustainable and strong. You should reflect your true self and must adhere to a moral and behavioral code set down by your personal ambition. This means that who you really are, what you care about, and your passions should come out in your personal ambition, and you should act and behave accordingly (you should be yourself) to build trust. This inner alignment is an important step towards lasting personal growth and reinforcing integrity, honesty, trustworthiness, credibility, transparency, and personal charisma. People with this perspective on life value others’ lives and create a stable basis for others to feel they are credible, truthful, and trustworthy.
These first two stages in the authentic governance model focus on personal leadership development by cultivating your inner compass.

3. Corporate Governance:
a) Corporate ambition; this phase involves formulation of the shared corporate ambition. Corporate ambition is the soul, core intention, and guiding principles of the organization and encompasses the corporate mission, vision, and core values.
b) Corporate Innovation Strategy; corporate ambition has no value unless you don’t take action to make it a reality. Therefore the emphasis in this stage is developing an integrated and well-balanced action plan based on the corporate ambition to realize the corporate objectives. This Corporate Innovation Strategy (CIS) is needed to improve the business and governance processes continuously based on the corporate ambition.
c) Corporate governance; the next step is to implement, maintain, and cultivate the corporate ambition and CIS in order to govern your organization effectively, to become an ethical company. This entails corporate governance: the systematic process of continuous, gradual, and routine corporate improvement, steering, and learning. This stage focuses also on the implementation of formal corporate regulations, procedures, a and guidelines (corporate governance code).

4. Alignment with your organization; the emphasis here is aligning personal ambition with corporate ambition and creating uniformity of personal and organizational values. I refer to my article “The Future of HR“. By unifying corporate ethics with individual ethics you will create a strong foundation of peace, integrity, engagement, and learning upon which creativity and growth can flourish, and life within the organization will become a more harmonious and ethical experience.  It’s about aligning personal governance with corporate governance and getting the optimal fit and balance between these two activities in order to enhance labor productivity, create a climate of trust, and stimulate engagement, commitment, integrity, and passion in the organization. This alignment process is needed because staff members don’t work with devotion or expend energy on something they do not believe in or agree with. If there is an effective match between their interests and those of the company, and if their values and the company’s values align, they will be engaged and will work with greater commitment and dedication toward realizing the company’s objectives. When the personnel’s personal ambition is in harmony with their company’s (are compatible) and combined in the best interest of both parties, the results will be higher productivity and sustainable corporate governance. Employees are stimulated in this way to commit, act ethically, and focus on those activities that create value for clients. This will create a strong foundation of peace, personal integrity, and stability upon which creativity and growth can flourish, and life within the organization will become a more harmonious experience.

The effective combination of all these four phases creates a stable basis for a high-performance ethical organization. To illustrate the importance of this authentic governance model: Of the 140 businesses recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies, Aflac and Starbucks have received this honor every year between 2007 and 2013. They have been judged to not only have exemplary ethical standards and policies but also consistently high ethical practices. Their corporate governance codes are not empty words, but represent active coordinates in maintaining an ethical business culture, based on effective values‑based leadership and the alignment of personal governance with corporate governance.

Th eco-governance concept is also based on my new book “Eco-Design Thinking for Personal, Corporate and Social Innovation; How to Become a Disruptive Eco-Design Thinker Like Elon Musk“. Read the excerpt of this book, which is about reimagining design and innovation. Read also: “Good Governance, the Best Play for Guyana” by Dr. Lorraine Sobers, February 18, 2022, Global Americans, University of the West Indies at St. Augustine. Check also my related master class:

Hubert Rampersad, Ph.D., is a visionary leader in innovative solutions for genuine sustainability, disruptive design innovation, critical thinking in the age of AI, authentic personal branding, and entrepreneurial leadership. He holds a Ph.D. in Innovation Sciences, an MSc in Technology Engineering & Robotics, and a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from leading accredited universities in the Netherlands/Europe (Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology). He is a well-known futurist, advocating for genuine sustainability on a global scale. With extensive knowledge and expertise, he has authored 25 books on the topics above in many languages and is highly regarded for his insights in these fields. One of his books, “Total Performance Scorecard,” has been published in 20 languages. Dorothy Leonard, an innovation professor at Harvard Business School, wrote the book’s foreword. Rampersad has also previously served as a guest lecturer at MIT Sloan and was featured in BusinessWeek. He was a design innovation coach at ASML (the Most Important Tech Company in the World).

About his live webinars:

Innovation & Sustainability Consulting Guyana

Lot 7 Jones & Gill St, Bagotstown, EBD, Georgetown, Guyana

Phone/WhatsApp: +5927000840

Orlando, Florida, USA, Phone/WhatsApp: +13053992116

tpsi@live.com    www.iscguyana.wordpress.com