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John Elkington

John Elkington

A world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development.

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Constantinople

John Elkington · 20 September 2009 · Leave a Comment

Haghia Sophia 1 Haghia Sophia 1 Haghia Sophia: stairway to heaven Haghia Sophia: stairway to heaven Haghia Sophia: stairway 2 Haghia Sophia: stairway 2 Haghia Sophia: Sultan's Loge Haghia Sophia: Sultan’s Loge Haghia Sophia: chandelier Haghia Sophia: chandelier Haghia Sophia: a blur of tourists Haghia Sophia: a blur of tourists Haghia Sophia: Jar and couple Haghia Sophia: Jar and couple Haghia Sophia: Jar and pot-belly Haghia Sophia: Jar and pot-belly

Elaine and I flew into Turkey on Saturday, for a study tour on the Ottoman Empire, based in Istanbul. Today, we visited places like the Hippodrome, the Blue Mosque and the church of St Saviour in Chora. But the place that I had wanted to visit since I was a child, and which we visited during the afternoon, was Haghia Sophia.  I would put it on a par with Krak des Chevaliers, Syria, in terms of places that have moved me profoundly. The scaffolding in the interior, ahead of Istanbul’s becoming City of Culture in 2010, probably annoys many, but I found the ‘stairway to heaven’ effect rather appropriate.

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Introduction

I began this blog with an entry reporting on a visit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, on 30 September 2003. The blog element of the website has gone through several iterations since, with much of the older material still available.

Like so many things in my life, blog entries blur the boundaries between the personal and the professional. As explained on this site’s Home Page, the website and the blog are part platform for ongoing projects, part autobiography, and part accountability mechanism.

In addition, my blogs have appeared on many sites such as: Chinadialogue, CSRWire, Fast Company, GreenBiz, Guardian Sustainable Business, and the Harvard Business Review.

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John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently Founding Partner and Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements.

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john@johnelkington.com  |  +44 203 701 7550 | Twitter: @volansjohn

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