By: Donna Kennedy-Glans The Arab Spring has moved into its next season: Arab Summer. In the natural world, summer is the time for flowering blossoms to progress their journey to mature fruit. Yet, this summer, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t feel a few pangs of apprehension about what these citizen-led revolutions will yield, [...]
Resilient Leadership
Monday, February 15th, 2010by Donna Kennedy-Glans As executive director of a Canadian-based volunteer organization and registered charity (Bridges Social Development), I’ve been inundated with surveys from pollsters seeking to quantify the impacts of the recession on Canadian charities. What these surveys tell us will surprise no one: corporate and government funding for charities is down, needs in communities [...]
In Yemen, the disaffected need alternatives
Monday, April 27th, 2009by Donna Kennedy-Glans Globe and Mail President Hamid Karzai’s recent backsliding on women’s rights in Afghanistan caught Canadians off guard. Emotions remain frayed, and the situation has prompted reflection about Canada’s role – indeed, the role of any middle power – in containing extremism beyond its own borders. Of course, the Canadian military is committed [...]
Lifting the secular veil
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008by Donna Kennedy-Glans “How do you conduct business in the Muslim world after Sept. 11?” I am encouraged by this question posed to me recently by an intrepid class of university commerce students. They didn’t ask “if” you could do business in the Muslim world-they had not, like some, fallen headlong into the wide chasm [...]
Beyond Polarity
Monday, October 1st, 2007by Donna Kennedy-Glans I worked for decades as a lawyer and then corporate executive in the international extractive sector. In this role, integrity dilemmas were plentiful. When a North American company invests in an oil, gas, gold or diamond project in Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East or frontiers in the west, the “right” [...]
VIP FORUM: Tools for making your corporate contribution count
Thursday, February 1st, 2007by Donna Kennedy-Glans As a management sherpa, and more recently as executive director of a humanitarian organization, I’ve been invited to hundreds of community investment and philanthropic initiatives championed by Canadian oil and gas companies. Whatever the location of the community investment project—Canada, the United States, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America—every responsible corporate manager [...]
Gender jihad: Enhancing female access in politics
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006by Donna Kennedy-Glans Yemen’s 2006 election was not only a barometer of pluralism in the Arab world, but also, a barometer of hope within Yemen. The September 2006 election results in Yemen mark the first time in modern Arab history that a president was seriously contested by an opponent with substantial popular support. The election [...]
Help Wanted: HR Sherpas to Navigate Integrity Dilemmas during Economic Boom
Tuesday, May 16th, 2006by Donna Kennedy-Glans Alberta’s economic players are proving themselves worthy in a globalizing world. We are seen by others as a big, strong warrior decked out in armour, capable, aggressive and hungry for our piece of the worldwide economic pie. Alberta has the financial and natural resources and the infrastructure potential to suppoer exponential economic [...]
Equality nudge needed at home
Friday, April 7th, 2006by Donna Kennedy-Glans The progress and celebration of egalitarianism in the Muslim world affords those of us in the West another chance to consider what equality of opportunity for men and women can look like in our own homes, offices and communities. Bridges Social Development, a Calgary-based humanitarian organization, offers training to women in the [...]
Muslim Cartoons: A right, or assault on dignity? Provocation is no way to defend democracy
Sunday, February 12th, 2006by Donna Kennedy-Glans Integrity dilemmas are inevitable, particularly in a globalizing world. There are always times when two or more values conflict. The publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers, and subsequently in other media, is justified by some as an exercise of the right of free speech. The value being protected is [...]