A set of common values is indeed shared across the world: from democracy and human rights to the defence of national sovereignty and belief in the benefits of economic development. The implantation of these values is disputed, in all countries, but not the values themselves - http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/worst_ideas_4228.jsp
A revolt has begun?against corporations that don?t permit individuals to have meaningful careers and lives while being true to their own values - Lisa A. Mainiero, Ph.D. and Sherry E. Sullivan, Ph.D., Kaleidoscope Career http://www.theoptoutrevolt.com/
A person can grow only as much as his horizon allows - John Powelll
A man to carry on a successful business must have imagination. He must see things as in a vision, a dream of the whole thing - Charles Schwab
A handful of values -- honesty, responsibility, respect, fairness, and compassion -- constitute the shared standard by which good citizens seek to live - Rushworth Kidder - http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/members/currentissue2.tmpl
A continuous interaction between the values of an individual and those of other members of society gives rise to the collective thought of society. This continuous dialogue on values and collective thought processes is the fundamental mode of their evolution. Evolution thus reinvents these values and thought processes to make them relevant for their subscribers as the times change - http://www.clubofamsterdam.com/content.asp?contentid=610
At the RSA in late 2010, Martha Nussbaum discussed ways in which the attitudes, values and practices of 21st century enlightenment could help more of us lead the good life in the good society.
Is it a wrong approach, as claimed recently, to start with your favourite quality or value (freedom, equality, justice etc), and then try to imagine what a society would look like if it were arranged to maximise that quality?
Should we, instead, examine the political and cultural institutions we already have and work from there, as failure to do this might lead to incoherence and fantasy?
Not sure...just because most "-isms" are divisive and fail ultimately, should we really give up on all big ideas and hopes of breakthrough change in favour of sheer pragmatism?
Could the collapse in consumerism caused by our troubled economic times combine with the growing critique of its consequences to create a fundamental shift in human values?