2010 – a short review about an exciting year

2010 was certainly one of the most successful years in Dialogue in the Dark’s 20 years history. Apart the fact to celebrate Hamburg‘s 10th and Frankfurt‘s 5th anniversary we ran exhibitions and workshops in 21 countries throughout the year. New sites as Bangkok, Hong Kong or Hyderabad were opened as permanent centers and will certainly generate new interest in the regions. Our plan to “land” in China could be accomplished by running successful workshops in Shanghai and to set the basis for another permanent hub. 2010 was a very busy year and the entire DSE team is proud and happy about the accomplishment. I would like to express my deepest gratitude how privileged I feel to lead such a company. Thank you for all the trust throughout the year. 2011 is starting today. Let’s take off for another exciting journey!

Dialogue in the Dark – International Meeting 2010

It was a great gathering at the 14th international meeting. 70 people from 20 nations came to Barcelona and entered quickly to a lively exchange about the various Dialogues across the world. This year’s topic was to work out closer relationships among the partner organizations. Outstanding keynote speakers as Nadira Panjwani from Karachi and Johanna Mair from Stanford/ Madrid widened the spectrum and gave an outlook about philanthropy: Nadira spoke about “From Giving to Philanthropy” and Johanna continued with “From Philanthropy to Social Business”. All of us were deeply impressed by the upcoming Dialogue in the Dark centre at the waterfront in Barcelona. It is going to open in October 2011 and will become our new flagship in Europe.

Together with ONCE, the Spanish Blind Organization and INCULT, our local partner in Barcelona we shared some unforgettable days. We were impressed by their generous hospitality and deep commitments. Next year’s meeting is going to happen in Hong Kong. We can’t wait to be there and to meet all participants again.

(Click on the picture to see Gallery of this years International Meeting)

Happy Birthday Japan

Today is a very special day. Dialogue Japan celebrates his 10th anniversary. What a success to enrich the social, educational and cultural map in various cities over a period of ten years. I don’t know how many blind people found work and how many visitors were emotionally impacted and changed in their understanding towards blindness and otherness.

I remember quite well when I cam to Japan for the first time in 2001. Dialogue was showcased in the Mediatheque in Sendai and from this day on I felt in love with Japan and Japanese culture. Over a long period of time I could witness Shinsuke Kanai’s passion and professionalism and make me proud to belong to such a wonderful family. Dialogue in the Dark runs across the world now for more than 20 years. Half of that long time Dialogue was present in Japan. No country apart Germany can show such a result. There is no country on earth were I feel so close connected.

Thanks Dialogue Japan for all your efforts and congratulations for all the successes you could achieve. Happy Birthday Dialogue Japan – I am sure we will celebrate lots of other birthdays together.

Dialogue in the Dark Japan

Dialogue Social Enterprise & World Economic Forum

Having been a social entrepreneur for the last two decades, its heartening to note how the concept of social entrepreneurship has grown from strength to strength. I was recently at the World Economic Forum’s summit at Dalian and was very excited to be a part of some very interesting discussions on reshaping business and society in post-crisis era. Its increasingly becoming clear that a business focus has to shift from “money to meaning” to be sustainable and inspire trust in its stakeholders. Businesses have to become more transparent and collaborative and therefore we need managers and business leaders who demonstrate these characteristics in their leadership style.

It was also clear that we need to rethink the values in business and economy and make it more human and redesign business education that focuses on creating a more collaborative and cooperative leadership. I read Henry Mintzberg’s book on the need to redesign MBA school programmes and was greatly inspired. It’s a subject that I am thinking about a great deal these days and I believe we can develop the strong and intense medium of darkness or silence into an effective learning ground. The workshop modules with blind or deaf trainers can be a wonderful experience that can help future leaders to rethink and reshape their mindsets.

I am sure we will be able to create a blueprint to enhance social and human capital and redesign the curriculum of business schools, corporate and public universities. And if this is done with social enterprises at the heart of the programme, no one will be happier than me…