Together against Corruption

Transparency International Strategy 2020

In 2015, Transparency International developed a five-year strategy which sets out collective ambition for the coming years.

Together against Corruption: Transparency International Strategy 2020 is a strategy by and for the Transparency International movement.

Today the Transparency International movement includes more than 100 independent national chapters and partners around the world, who work Together against Corruption.

The Internet of Things

The internet of things, where ordinary consumer products or objects become connected to the internet, will have a big impact on people lives, but all of these connected devices could become a target for hackers and cyber criminals, including state-sponsored hackers.

Performance Measurement System

Why Measure Performance?

The basic purpose of any measurement system is to provide feedback, relative to your goals, that increases your chances of achieving these goals efficiently and effectively. Measurement gains true value when used as the basis for timely decisions.

Measurement is Not an Essence, but Improvement.

The purpose of measuring is not to know how your business is performing but to enable it to perform better. The ultimate aim of implementing a performance measurement system is to improve the performance of your organization. If you can get your performance measurement right, the data you generate will tell you where you are, how you are doing, and where you are going.

Balanced Scorecard. Measures that Drive Performance

What you measure is what you get.  Senior executives understand that their organization’s measurement system strongly affects the behavior of managers and employees.

Corruption

Vietnam Government is currently "Extremely Corrupted".

Corruption is defined as “the Abuse of Entrusted Power for Private Gain”. Corruption can be classified as Grand, Petty and Political, depending on the amounts of money lost and the sector where it occurs.

Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good.

Petty corruption refers to everyday abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials in their interactions with ordinary citizens, who often are trying to access basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police departments and other agencies.

Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth.

Pride

Pride is the virtue of respecting oneself. It is a human need to think highly of oneself. Without it, one would have no reason to trust one's ability to live. One would have no reason to accept that one's life is worthy of living.

Pride is often confused with Arrogance. Both seem to evaluate oneself highly. The difference is fundamental, though. Pride is a rational evaluation of oneself. Arrogance is NOT.

Pride requires one to think highly of one's accomplishments and abilities. But the accomplishments and abilities need to be worthy of the praise. Without them matching, the false pride will lead to self-hate when reality undermines the attempted illusion. If one's abilities are not as good as one would like to pretend, it is just a matter of time before they are genuinely tested, and the results will destroy the flimsy self-esteem.

True pride, on the other hand, is Rational. It has the secondary consequence of making an person want to improve himself in order to feel greater pride. This secondary effect, though, is not the reason for accepting pride as a virtue. Pride is virtuous because one needs it to live. It is the pillar the supports one's mind. Without it, one would constantly question one's ability to make rational judgments.

Courage

Courage is the ability to act in the face of danger and uncertainty. Although it is more of an emotion or state of mind, it is an important part of one's life. This is because the future is always uncertain. We can acquire understanding of the world, but there are too many factors to accurately predict the future. Or more importantly, to be certain that our prediction will come to pass. This is because we can make predictions that end up being accurate (even guessing works sometimes), but we have no means of knowing whether it will really occur.

Even danger is constantly present. There is no completely reliable way of avoiding danger. We can lessen the risk in many respects, but we cannot avoid it entirely.

Nor would we want to. Life is not just about avoiding death. It is about achieving values and happiness. Courage must overcome both the fear of danger and uncertainty. They must be pushed aside in order to get on with the business of living.

Living with courage is virtuous.