Is it possible that there could be threat involved in the freedom of individuals to choose how they look after their health? It might seem that that is innocent enough, given that we do have the freedom to make choices that will ruin our health (cigarettes, junk food, grog, lethargy ...)! So why can't we have the freedom to improve our health?
We are allowed the freedom to ruin our health because major companies make their profits from that. Stopping it could put them out of business.
Around the world, we are increasingly being denied the freedom to take care of our own health (see the US situation) because major multinational companies (known collectively as Big Pharma) make their profits out of that, and they don't want to lose any part of the market - as results when people turn to natural remedies and avoid their drugs when possible. Big Pharma has taken over the UN's Codex Commission where it has the power to limit, dilute or ban every health food, herbal product, vitamin - the lot. Under other circumstances, wouldn't this be considered a conflict of interest? With pharmaceuticals, apparantly not.
In Australia some 18,000 people die every year from medical error and prescription drug side effects. We keep hearing and forgetting this statistic. Why don't we remember it, talk about it - and put our money where our wellbeing is! But instead, Big Pharma always reminds us that someone once died from an overdose of vitamin A (although the findings were not conclusive)! They are now conducting statistically flawed reviews to prove that vitamins don't help - and can even hurt you! Well they hurt someone (your guess who).
And what does this have to do with strategy? Please recall that the first step in MegaPlanning is to define the ideal future - the World for Tomorrow's Child. The next step is to aim that anything we do as corporations or individuals contributes to that and doesn't violate it. Gradually our society is moving towards a situation where people expect companies to 'think Mega'.
Now, we might ask: did Lehman Brothers have a Mega Plan? Don't think so! They had a plan to get rich, that's all. Do you think we have a right to ask for more? I think so. Would it have saved us from some of the financial turmoil currently affecting the world? Definitely!
[more]Labels: Health, Mega Planning, Sustainability |
