Peace Through Commerce®

In the context of my work with FLOW and my collaboration with FLOW co-founder Michael Strong (author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems), for the past three years I have been deeply engaged in advancing the idea of Peace Through Commerce. This coming week I will be moderating the last week of a two-month long Peace Through Commerce eConference at BusinessFightsPoverty.org, the focus of which will be “Where do we go from here?” Among FLOW’s responses to the question of where do we go from here? Are: to catalyze a Peace Through Commerce Alliance, focused on facilitating collaboration on-the-ground in various places around the world to cultivate Peace Through Commerce projects and systems and on spreading the word about the importance of Peace Through Commerce to advancing peace and prosperity. In collaboration with PTC Allies, FLOW will be co-producing the next Peace Through Commerce conference early next year at Thunderbird School of Global management. The idea that economic opportunity leads to peace is long-understood on some level, as people who trade together tend to build relationships and dependencies that preclude conflict, and when people have basic needs addressed, opportunity to enhance their conditions, and hope for the future, they tend to be more peaceful that belligerent. Various indices validate this understanding, including the Fraser Index of Economic Freedom, the World Bank’s Doing Business Project, among others. This week my friend Haley Rushing (Chief Purposologist of the Purpose Institute and co-author of It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For) introduced me to the Gallup Organization’s World Poll and Global Migration Report, which strongly reinforce the idea that economic opportunity is the key to peace. “What the whole world wants is a good job. That is one of the single biggest discoveries Gallup has ever made.” While, clearly, people need to have their basic needs met and have to be and feel safe and secure, to venture into enterprise development and trade, having meaningful work and feeling a sense of opportunity are key to establishing an orientation towards peace. Please join the Peace Through Commerce eConference next week, and consider how you can support the Peace Through Commerce movement. Yours in Working for Good, Jeff