Daniel Lubetzky

And the priestess spoke again and said:
Speak to us of Reason and Passion.

And he answered, saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon
which your reason and your judgment wage
war against your passion and your appetite.

Would that I could be your peacemaker
in your soul, that I might turn the discord
and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.

But how shall I, unless you yourselves be
also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder
and the sails of your seafaring soul.
If either your sails or your rudder be broken,
you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill
in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining;
and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns
to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion,
that it may sing;
And let it direct your passion with reason,
that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection,
and like the phoenix rise above it own ashes.

I would have you consider your own judgement
and your appetite even as you would two
loved guests in your house.
Surely you wouldn’t honor one guest above the other;
for he who is more mindful of one loses
the love and the faith of both.

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool
shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace
and serenity of distant fields and meadows
then let your heart say in silence,
"God rests in reason".

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind
shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning
proclaim the majesty of the sky, then let your heart
say in awe, "God moves in passion."

And since you are a breath in God’s sphere,
and a leaf in God’s forest, you too
should rest in reason and move in passion.

–Gibran Khalil Gibran, The Prophet, on Reason and Passion

(thanks to Uncle Jorge and Sioma Waisburd for sharing this)

by Adeena Schlussel and Kim Walker

Check out Daniel on FOX! We’re so proud that our CEO got to represent KIND as a small business to keep an eye on….twice!  Watch these clips to see what makes KIND the best in its category.

This video, created by SS+K, is not only creative but very effective because it builds on Honest Tea’s value proposition so clearly.

by Kim Walker on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

For further evidence that some bankers just abuse the system, here is a disturbing story about how the Tetragon Financial Group is paying its partners tens of millions even as its fund suffers hundreds of millions.

by Kim Walker on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

British newspaper The Independent recently highlighted Natalie Portman for her new vegan shoe line and her involvement in good causes, including OneVoice!

[Read more →]

With extremism being particularly rampant among some religious followers who become increasingly zealous about their convictions and practices, and with the cartoonish tensions created by black and white contrasts set out by desensitized uber-capitalism vs. new age parsimoniousness, I was struck by the depth and timeliness of these contrasting messages:

With regard to all human traits, the middle of the road is the right path.  For example: Do not be hot-tempered, easily angered.  Nor, on the other hand, should you be unfeeling like a corpse.  Rather, take the middle of the road: keep an even disposition, reserving your anger for occasions when it is truly warranted.  Similarly, do not cultivate a desire for luxuries; keep your eye fixed only on genuine necessities.  In giving to others, do not hold back what you can afford, but do not give so lavishly that you yourself will be impoverished.  Avoid both hysterical gaiety and somber dejection, and instead be calmly joyful always, showing a cheerful countenance.  Act similarly with regard to all the dispositions.  This is the path followed by the wise.

- Maimonides, 12th Century

And

…this path, the one that avoids extremes, is called the ‘path of God,’ and Abraham taught his descendants to follow it.  Whoever follows it gains goodness and blessing, as it is said, "For I have known him, that he might command his children and those who follow him to keep the Lord’s path, doing justice and right, that the Lord may fulfill for Abraham the divine purpose (Genesis 18.19)."

Sometimes in business you are faced with the decision to invest up front more capital resources but ensure that over the long term you see savings, vs. save up front, but at a steady higher cost of production per widget on an ongoing basis.

The problem with choosing the path that is "inexpensive" up front is that it not only creates higher costs for the enterprise over the long haul, but it can also generate externalities (costs to society that the enterprise avoids paying).

A case in point is illustrated by this Edge shaving cream picture:

The travel-size version has less product but just as much waste in plastic on the cap and the outpouring device.

You can picture the team responsible for designing the travel-size version figuring that it made all the sense in the world to take advantage of existing infrastructure and just making a smaller bottle for travel by just cutting its height/size.

But years later and millions of cans later, so much more waste – AND COST – is generated because you are using such an inefficient means to provide a product: a fraction of the size in product but as much in caps etc.  It should not have necessarily been this way.  They could have designed a less expensive disposable version – but it would have required an upfront investment in capital.

Too bad.

A lot of "convenience" products like travel

We came to America for the American dream – to do good and to make good.

- K.R. Sridhar

(As quoted in a column by Tom Friedman in the NYT)

Under Indra Nooyi’s leadership, Pepsi keeps showing a commitment to move towards social responsibility.

They just recently launched this campaign to reward new ideas and charities.

And they now unveiled a 100% compostable packaging for SunChips.

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My friend Naif Al-Mutawa is one of the best and most impressive social entrepreneurs, and greatest hopes for this century.  He created a compelling series of Comics, headquartered out of Kuwait and primarily aimed at Muslim youth – creating positive role models with a foundation from Islamic religion.  The 99 is a group of super-heroes, each of whom possesses a super-power derived from the 99 attributes of Allah in the Koran.   The execution and story are so well done, they should appeal to all. Check out this trailer…