Hi Ricardo,



Fascinating as always.



The top of the pyramid of course, are those things that are agreed by the majority (or the largest minority) in any structure like a nation, a group of nations like the UN for example, or an organization like a business.



Everything else, including how to 'get there' is subordinate to the end goal. If there is no end goal, then why are we doing what we're doing?



Therefore, we need an overriding goal or set of goals, then we must determine how to attain that goal or goals. Which process is routinely called Policy (writ large) and Procedure (writ large) particularly in the business realm.



The U.S. Constitution is a great example as it lays out the goals of the people and subsequently, explains how to use the levers of power to efficiently reach those goals.



Since the Bill of Rights (the goals) seventeen constitutional amendments (the procedures) have been legislated into existence in order to form a more perfect Union.



But none of it goes anywhere without broad agreement on what the goals are.



While mercantilism might have been a popular goal in the early years of the United States, it has since dropped in importance. Other things too, have come and gone.



Meanwhile, new visions and ideas appear -- therefore, even our goals are subject to change, let alone how we will attain them!



Such is the nature of democracy, where it is messy and efficient at the same time.



We are now at a point in the world where billions of people are looking at our leaders and thinking (and saying on social media) 'Our species has so much potential, especially now since the advent of affordable technology -- not even the sky should be our limit. Why aren't all our problems fixed, so that we can get on with the important stuff. This continual holding our finger in the dam routine is getting old.'



Every single problem on the Earth today should be solvable with our great technology, our knowledge and our goodwill. And everyone knows that.



But our problems haven't gone away.



Maybe, in spite of all of our great advantages, we are still using the same thinking to solve our problems, as we used to create them. -- Einstein paraphrased.



If we could only reach broad agreement on what humanity's goals should be (and here, I'm in full agreement with Jeremy Bentham) and further add that we should always be guided by results -- in this case the results of the UN Happiness Index and additionally, the more recent SP Index (SPI)



To me, ideology is nothing -- results are everything. As long as they are getting us to our goals and meeting the JB philosophy as we move forward.



The world is crying out for leaders to 'Think Big' and with all of our advantages, to finally solve the remaining problems on the planet (and not make new or bigger problems)



Once we decide on those goals, then we can decide on the steps we can employ in order to reach those goals.



If a high ranking on the Happiness Index or the SPI, or both, is our goal, then we don't need to reinvent the wheel. We simply need to look at those nations which score highly on those scales and work their policies and procedures into our own.



Today is a good day to start on that.



Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Germany, and others score highly and are therefore worthy of our attention.



In my mind, our main goal should 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people' and that we shouldn't waste any time getting there.



How to get there? That's what we pay our leaders for.



As always, best regards, JBS