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Location: NYC –  Javitz Center
Dateline: 11.30.11
 
 
Wednesday, Nov. 30, I found myself in NYC’s Javitz Center to see and hear Marc Banioff speak.

Forbes magazine pictured Marc on the August cover, naming him top innovator of 2011. Part of that story included his words: “The past is never the future. But it’s easy to get caught up in the continuum.”
 
Banioff is brilliant, and his brilliance and passion show in his every word and movement. He has surrounded himself with others and their brilliance.
 
The first two hours I sat with thousands in a grand hall as Banioff laid out his vision for his company salesforce.com and the integration of social enterprise in our world today. The next two hours I sat in a room of less than 100 financial analysts and financial reporters as they quizzed Banioff on his company, his plans, his earnings report, business growth, etc., all things that matter when you carry a company from zero dollars into a revenue stream of billions of dollars.
 
Banioff creates commerce and furthers opportunity in cyberspace. He calls them Clouds. 
 
The Cloud business model integrates social media with business enterprise for social business enterprise. Any connected within that business can stay connected via Chatter, an in house version with interaction similar to Facebook and Twitter, designed for business application, and using both.

Since the beginning, part of his salesforce.com formula — "even when we had nothing” — is a 1/1/1 model of philanthropy, donating one percent of company’s time, products, and equity. That’s $20 million cash when taken from $2 billion — a lot more than I give.
 
Since then, I’ve been thinking. I had spent the last few weeks covering Occupy Atlantic City. Suddenly, I was smack dab in the middle of Wall Street. And, like most Americans, I sat back and tried to balance the good from both sides. It’s why so many of us have money invested in Wall Street, as we support the messengers of change "occupying" it.
 
Here’s what I see.
 
1) Americans have always been about greatness. Shared responsibility and shared reward. Something has changed in enough of that formula to give us all pause.
 
2) The country and the world are beset with problems. Wall street and the banks are being blamed. Thing is, I have family and friends who work on Wall Street. They, too, are affected. They are as much of the 99 percent as anyone else. So, who exactly is this evil one percent? And, when we find them in obvious violations, why aren’t we jailing them?
 
3) America is on the precipice of collapse or greatness, depending on what we choose to see. I like to think we are on the edge of greatness. After all, we have pulled through many crises since our beginning by pulling together. Our country was born of crisis, from the division that economic injustice brought forward. It just needs to be re-born with new formulas coming forth.
 
4) Some of the most intelligent, compelling conversations I have had this year are with the occupiers. Many can quote whole sections of the Constitution and have an economic and philosophical understanding of many parts of the economy and life far beyond mine.
 
5) Americans like wealth, and we aspire to have it. Problem is, not everyone has been sharing it. Those who do are often unnoticed behind the evil we can touch.
 
Americans don’t begrudge others’ success. We do resent those who lie, steal and cheat their way to it though, trampling others while they do. Something is wrong in a country with 10 million foreclosures, and 20 percent of homeowners upside down in their mortgages.
 
6) Wall Street is not the only evil. Our own greed and laziness drove the bus as WE ignored the interweaving of politics and money for decades, finding ourselves at this point.
 
7) Americans are awake at the grass-roots level, occupying one corner, and holding a tea party on the other. There are many things on which we can agree. Let’s start with those.
 
Pennies from heaven:
 
Ten years ago I had a dream of a better world —  where things worked, people worked, and life was good. I visioned the C.O.R.P.
 
The C.O.R.P. (Cooperating Organizations for Real Progress) is the investment vehicle that everyone can participate in, community by community.
 
The C.O.R.P. raise venture capital for smaller, community oriented entrepreneurs and their creative intellect and dreams. A larger version of the micro loans that are working wonders in 3rd world nations, before we became one.
 
Businesses born would also return money to the CORP for further investment and funding of social responsibilities, thereby lowering taxes.
 
It’s about doing something different, so something different happens. It’s about change and progress for all.
Americans must pool our resources and make our dreams come true again.
Think about the factory Village, where economies can sustain themselves, and we will once again lead the global economy.
 
On Dec. t, I sent Marc an e-mail which reads partially:

”Hello Marc,

Between us we can change the world and give capitalism a new lift, with Americans across the nation involved in their own communities via chatter."

And ACliveTV.com - American Community TV becomes the living archive of the Social Enterprises we create bridging the social divide with transparency on all levels as each day in each community becomes 'real time' reality TV.”

I am still waiting for an answer, but, hopefully private industry will respond more quickly than state politicians and government agencies who have done a good job ignoring an accompanying business action plan and my follow up phone calls and e-mails.
 
Tomorrow is here today if we allow it to be.

It’s about time we all join our common interests and create the C.O.R.P. ourselves.

Geoff Rosenberger is a Broker Associate at Marketplace Realty. Read more of the acweekly.com columnist, Margate City resident and self-proclaimed visionary's "Geoff's Page," including local snap shots, thoughts, Atlantic City news, random musings, GLBT-related news, "The Real Report," and happenings every week — only at acweekly.com.

E-mail Geoff at geoffrosenberger@comcast.net or call him at 609-385-7585.