2017
May
18
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

May 18, 2017
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Mark Sappenfield
Senior global correspondent

Where does extremism start? In many ways, Germany is a unique laboratory for that question. Recent right-wing anti-immigrant incidents have been more prevalent in the old East Germany than in the west. A study that came out today in Berlin sought to answer why.

Its answer: Under Communism, East Germans became socialized to have an “exaggerated need for harmony, ‘purity’ and order,” the report states. This has resulted in a “prevailing mentality” of xenophobia in places.

The study holds insight into the rise of right-wing populism in places like Hungary, Austria, and Poland. But in that way, it also offers a glimpse of a solution. Socialization is not irreversible, after all. It is the message that a society sends, repeated over years, sinking into thought and becoming action. But that message can be changed. What is needed is a similar commitment to a new message.  


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

For the past week, Washington has been binging on worst-case scenarios surrounding President Trump and his connections to Russia. But the appointment of Robert Mueller to lead the Justice Department's investigation has brought a new sense of calm.  

Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
A supporter of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, who is running for a second term in office, displayed his poster at rally in downtown Tehran.

Iranian democracy is getting a fascinating test. Elections are somewhat managed affairs with certain lines that usually aren't crossed. But this election has broken rules, raising the question: How much democracy is the Iranian regime really ready for?

Larry Downing/Reuters/File
Central Intelligence Agency headquarters, Langley, Va.

The tension between Mr. Trump and his intelligence agencies is something more than just a power play. Intelligence agencies are 'the skunk at the picnic.' They exist to give the president news he might not like to hear. That puts the current situation in a different light: It's about whether the president is willing to accept dissent.

Special Report

How is it that people could have foul, potentially dangerous water coming out of their taps and not complain? This is a parable of coal and poverty in one corner of Appalachia, where people have learned to shut their mouths ... and buy bottled water. 

SOURCE:

Kentucky Division of Water

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Jacob Turcotte and Story Hinckley
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Children engage in collaborative play at a preschool in Lexington, Mass. A new study finds that children as young as 3-1/2 understand and value the concept of joint commitments.

Guess what? Your 3-year-old kid knows how to share. Honestly. It caught our attention that new research is pointing to humans' deeply ingrained sense that people should help one another.    


The Monitor's View

AP Photo
A building is reflected in the windows of a Wells Fargo Bank in Los Angeles. Wells Fargo plans to cut an additional $2 billion out of the bank’s operations as it works to recover from its sales practices scandal in 2016 and respond to customer demand for more online services. In the results of an investigation released April 10, Wells Fargo's board of directors has blamed the bank's most senior management for creating an "aggressive sales culture" at Wells that eventually led to the bank's scandal over millions of unauthorized accounts.

A new global survey about the firing of corporate leaders, which is quite positive about changes in public thought, may help explain some of the heightened scrutiny of President Trump for his recent actions.

The survey was conducted by Strategy&, the consulting business of PricewaterhouseCoopers. It analyzed successions of chief executive officers at 2,500 of the world’s largest public companies over the past 10 years. Those successions that were forced by ethical lapses rose from 3.9 percent in 2007-11 to 5.3 percent in 2012-16. That is an increase of 36 percent worldwide.

 

In the United States and Canada, the increase was even higher – 102 percent. The forced turnovers rose from 1.6 percent of all successions in 2007-11 to 3.3 percent in 2012-16. (Note that the percentages are lower than those globally.)

The study attributes these increases to a number of trends. New digitals tools, such as “big data” and social media, allow greater insight on companies. The financial crisis of 2007-08 exposed more problems in corporations and brought tighter regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. And as more companies expand worldwide, they run into higher risks of corruption, such as kickbacks and bribery.

But the study’s authors doubt there has been a sharp uptick in unethical behavior. Rather they attribute the increases to a public “more suspicious, more critical, and less forgiving of corporate misbehavior.”

And to prevent reputational damage, companies are becoming better at cleaning up their workplace culture once wrongdoing is exposed. “Our data shows that companies are continuing to improve both their processes for choosing and replacing CEOs and their leadership governance practices – especially in developed countries,” the study states.

The good news is that people may be more aware of lapses in integrity and expect more of leaders in accountability, honesty, and transparency. In other words, the stakes for those who rule over others may have risen, especially as those being ruled see more examples of bad behavior being punished and more executives trying to create an ethical culture in organizations.

In another recent global survey by Edelman public relations firm, 45 percent of people say they trust a business better if it is contributing to the greater good. If more companies sought that greater good, they could more easily instill an ethical culture. The pressure to remove a CEO for lapses can only decline if CEOs become more aware of the public’s rising expectations.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Being vigilant in our thinking makes a difference toward counteracting theft.


A message of love

Jason Reed/Reuters
Participants in glowing vests looked out toward the Sydney Opera House from the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia May 18 during a press preview of a new 'Vivid Climb' tour – offered in Mandarin. The city opens it annual festival of light and sound May 26, with many landmarks participating.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for reading. Come back tomorrow for a look at what GOP lawmakers are doing to save their agenda as a chaotic week in the White House winds down. 

Also, a correction: In the May 8 edition, we misstated how many people in the French presidential elections either voted for Marine Le Pen or abstained from voting. A third of those who voted opted for Ms. Le Pen, while a third of all eligible voters either abstained or spoiled their ballot papers in protest.

More issues

2017
May
18
Thursday
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