Welcome to this edition of the Productive Business Magazine Blog – The power of collaboration. Its an honor and a pleasure to bring to you the best and the brightest from all around the world as we talk productivity in business. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a good friend of mine, Ambassador Dr. Clyde Rivers.
Dr. Clyde Rivers, is a highly sought after voice of peace around the world. His message of the Golden Rule, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” has qualified him for some of the world’s most prestigious recognitions. He is the Founder and President of iChange Nations™ an organization dedicated to developing a culture of honor around the world, giving iChange Nations™ the title of the “Largest network, creating cultures of honor around the world.” His organization is grooming statesmen to have the knowledge of how to bridge the span into the policy making rooms of the world by making a difference. As the Golden Rule Dialog Expert, Dr. Rivers works tirelessly to create dialogue where people can work out their differences to move forward in the peace-making process. You can follow Dr. Rivers at iChangeNations.org. He is also the co-founder of The Golden Rule of Civility Global Initiative.
PBM: Welcome Dr. Clyde Rivers. How are you today?
Dr. Rivers: Dr. Vernet, as long as I am with you, I am in the place to be.
PBM: Well, Dr. Rivers, it’s an honor and a privilege to interview you today. I know how busy a man of your stature can be, especially with your schedule, so thank you for carving out some time. When I tell you that Dr. Rivers literally travels all around the world; he is on the move. Folks, if you think I’m productive, you need to check out Dr. Clyde Rivers. Sir, I wanted to talk to you about the Golden Rule of Humanity and Civility. There’s so much going on in our world today and I know that you have the philosophy that it takes to bring peace and harmony to the world, so I wanted to bring that synergy to the first edition of Productive Business Magazine and Blog. Would you be so kind, as to explain a little bit about your Golden Rule Philosophy.
Dr. Rivers: My Golden Rule Philosophy, is this everyone in the world that God created is here with gifts. They’re gifted! Sometimes what we don’t understand is we can’t devalue the currency of God and people. So if we mistreat people, we are mistreating our solutions. I have a simple philosophy, “Treat others how you want to be treated.” That’s how we maximize the gold and the gifts that are within every individual born. Its documented that I’ve told someone on a TV interview, I said, “we don’t have an economic famine, we have a gift famine.” The one with the idea is being mistreated, so now as a society we lose as a whole because individuals are being mistreated and don’t have the ability to bring their contribution to the world.
PBM: I hope you are picking up what Dr. Rivers is putting down because that one right there was phenomenal. Listen clearly, we want everyone bringing their gifts and talents to the world because they also make a difference. Now Dr. Rivers, I want to talk about two words and I want to hear your thought pattern and process concerning them. Those two words are civility and character! I agree with you, if we treat others how we desire to be treated, then character and civility must be synonymous.
Dr. River: Dr. Vernet, part of the reason why I created the Golden Rule Global Civility Initiative is for this simple reason, people are no longer taught the skills of how to be kind, people are no longer taught how to respect one another. Because of the state of our world now, people are disenfranchised at young ages, we have people that are never taught how to be kind. Our Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative is an initiative that’s going to teach people these skills, what it is to be kind, how to do it, because it’s amazing. Dr. Vernet, people think that people know how to do it, but no, they’ve never been taught, they’ve never seen it. So to expect a civil world with character, without people being taught and trained, it’s not going to happen.
PBM: I’ve listened to you talk before and I know we always talk about that word development… So we have to develop a 
mindset and a culture that would allow people to learn, character and civility; would you say?
Dr. Rivers: Yes, yes, I would say take it a step further. When they practice civility with character, they’ll begin to get results of victory. What happens is, we expect people to do things, have character and integrity, but they haven’t seen what the outcome of character and civility brings. Now once they see, if I treat people well, man if I do good and all the good that will come back, it’ll change their life.
PBM: Let’s talk a little bit Ambassador Clyde Rivers, about how you came up with not only with the Golden Rule Philosophy, but Character & Civility, as well as Humanity. Ambassador Rivers, you’ve been around the world, share with us some of the things that you have learned and taught, and how it’s literally bringing the evidence and the results that we’re talking about.
Dr. Rivers: I’m going to give you a nugget here. Dr. Vernet, what happens is every country has great structure on paper. Everything looks good on paper, but the practicality of what it takes to win looks nothing like the paper says. When I walk into countries, they have everything we have. They have a great constitution, they have all these things, but that’s the key for a law, not the key for functionality. You have to learn in every country what makes that country function. Because structure is one thing, but what if you have a country with no structure and it has all the right things on the books, like the right laws, the right systems, but their community doesn’t operate based on their law. So you have to go in with the wisdom and say, how do we connect in to bring them to the victory. The laws that are imposed upon them from other nations don’t always work in their culture, so at times I watched cultures that are working how they work, but it doesn’t fit in the boundaries of our systems.
PBM: That’s something I want to make sure that we’re picking up. Now you can have structure, you can have order, but without functionality, nothing really moves. You can also be given rules or laws from other countries, and other places that may not necessarily fit within the structure of your individual country. Now, I want to make sure that the people are grasping the magnitude of what we’re talking about. Dr. Clyde Rivers, you’ve been to how many countries now, helping and instilling the Golden Rule Philosophy.
Dr. Rivers: I’ve been to over 70 different nations, and what I can tell you is this, I’m actually learning something, with all the smart people in the world, why is the world so challenged? What I asked myself, we have all these brilliant minds, and I think the one area that’s missing… is a brilliant mind that doesn’t want to empower other people will always lose because they don’t understand that their greatest currency is in the people that work for them. They’re going to show them the holes, they’re going to help advise them when things are going bad, they’re going to be the eyes for your business. So why would you want to close the eyes of your business? Because you don’t treat people with respect and decency. So I thought about something, everyone or every business, every government that mistreats people based on the word of God. According to James 2:8, it says there’s a royal law. The royal law is love your neighbor like yourself. You live under the law of liberty. Now, watch this here. That principal is in every major religion in the world, all of them have golden rule, but what happens, is no one has ever taught the consequence of mistreating people. There’s a back door, and that back door is how you treat people, you will end up with the same treatment. Let’s look at country after country that has mistreated its people, look at these countries today. They’re losing it because they activated a law, a law from God that they can’t reverse, unless they do what God says in order to actually reverse it. So this is my understanding, and hear this, I’m the head of actually the Interfaith Peace Initiative, so I worked with every religion. I have no hang-ups, I’m like, Hey, you can believe what you want to believe; just let’s be peaceful! So as we live in our communities, we have peace because where there’s no peace, there’s no development. We see that now, when people go to war.
PBM: As you’re talking about that Dr. Rivers, what I’m hearing is a principle with the same measure that you meet; that principal that we were talking about… with the same measure that you meet, that will it be done unto you. So as you continue now, like you said, you’ve been to over 70 nations, the United Nations is backing the golden rule and they believe in what you’re doing and it’s making a difference everywhere that you’ve gone. Would you mind sharing just three or four places that you’ve been this year alone and how it’s already setting a precedent and making a difference globally?
Dr. Rivers: Yeah, let me give you the concept for the UN. What happened is, we have a resolution, but it’s not ratified yet. So what I’m doing, I’m the representative from Interfaith Peace Building. I’m the representative to the United Nations with this initiative. So we are in the process of going around the world, mustering mass support for this initiative, so that it can become a resolution. So what’s taking place, I just got back from the country of Guyana. I’m working with Vice President Sydney Allicock of this country, and what’s happening is, we’re establishing Golden Rule Cultures of Honor, because watch this here, Dr. V, people need to see a modern day hero. They don’t need to just read a history book about what someone did good 200 years ago. Who is doing good today, so if we can show people who’s doing good today, they can pattern their life after what these people are doing. We’re looking to build a modern day hero that treats people well, because when they don’t, they’re only going to win for a minute and then the back door opens, which is the consequence of mistreating people; they have an appointment with destiny.
PBM: So we’re talking with the country of Guyana, what are some of the other places just in the first 31 days of this year that you’ve been with this initiative, sir?
Dr. Rivers: I just got back from Peru. My goodness, what we’re doing in this country of Peru, with our ambassador Alberto Santana. He 
took our Golden Rule Initiative, went back and establish a Peace Alliance and is now running for the presidency of Peru in 2021, and I think he is going to WIN. I was in Trinidad meeting with a minister, looking for ways to bring the Golden Rule to the young people in Trinidad. So this is what we’re doing… We can’t stop, we won’t stop because this is what I say. What would the world look like if everyone just had the freedom to bring their contribution to the table, their gift cluster from God, what if we had the ability to bring that to the table; would there be famine? No, because everyone’s gift supplies another man!
PBM: Man, I hope that you guys are picking up what Dr. rivers is putting down. This right here, is some heavy stuff! We’re always talking about being able to cure this and cure that. The golden rule initiative is set in stone. If you would do on to others as you would have them do onto you, if it would show up and maximize your gift that, what did he call it? The gift cluster that comes from God. Come on, guys. I am telling you lives would change.
Dr. Rivers: If you don’t mind me giving an example, just think about this example. Say 50 years ago a young man died in sex trafficking. What if, that person’s contribution to this world was to heal aids, what if God gave him the vaccination to actually solve the problem of aids, but this guy was killed because of people mistreatment and now many people suffer because his contribution which was to cure aids is no longer allowed to come to the earth because the gentleman was mistreated.
PBM: Come on now, there’s so much that we can learn from this. I hope you guys are picking it up. This is why we’re talking about the Golden Rule of Humanity and Civility. Now Dr. Rivers, I want to talk about how are we building cultures of honor? What are some of the things? How are we going to build cultures of honor all around the world?
Dr. Rivers: What I do, I personally go into actually regions of the world and I work with great leaders. I’ll say, find me the people that are honoring people in humanity. Show me the ones that are doing the work and we looked at the work. We actually vet them because we are not going to become an organization that people can pay their way into. No, they’re going to have to empower others, and we have to see it. So in that vetting process, we assemble people. As an example, I did one in the country of Uganda, and I had 50 people that we honored. What happens is those 50 people have carried honor into their community and now as we’re there, the media comes and I tell people, these are your modern day heroes. If you follow their pattern of life, you will do well.
PBM: Wow! I want to talk about the Golden Rule Civility Initiative because we’re talking about teaching people how to be effective communicators, how to be effective leaders, and how to literally maximize and produce change.
Dr. Rivers: Let me explain! 30% of every business owner’s profits are lost because of incivility in the workplace. When you have employees that are disgruntled with each other, their productivity goes down. Then when your customer calls on the phone and here’s that bad attitude, you lost a customer, you lost production. 30% of profits are lost because of incivility in the workplace, but what happens is this, with our Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative, I also have a business side that we are going to franchise our training to help people go into businesses and help show owners how incivility is destroying their business. What happens is you may hear this, people are always trained in hard skills, but they don’t train in soft skills; as soft skills are destroying the hard skills.
PBM: Say that one more time Dr. Rivers, One more time! They got to hear that!!!
Dr. Rivers: People always train people on the hard skills. Let’s go get knowledge on how to use this and this, but it’s being lost! Where they’re losing it is in the people treatment, the soft skills, like: how to be kind, how to get along, how to problem solve. Let’s take for example, people have a problem at work. How come they can’t work it off their own self? Do they always have to go through mediation? If we teach them how to work it out, now that business will be more productive because 98% of the people in the world, hear this, they experience 2.4 acts of incivility against them in the workplace every day. So what has happened Dr. Vernet, is we have a culture of incivility and people can no longer find civility.
PBM: Listen guys, I can’t tell you enough this here spans more than just the golden rule. It spans your life, business, finance, and health. Everything in the world can be based off of this principle. Now Dr. Rivers, share with us three core concepts of building a culture of honor on a global scale.
Dr. Rivers: First, you have to have people that have the skill and not just the philosophy. Let me explain, the actual skill that someone can tangibly look at and say, this person has done it. Number two, it’s important that there be a generous heart, skills with generosity open people up to become a partaker of doing something great. Example: I have friends that are wealthy, but they’re actually grumpy, they’re prideful and other things. Those people that work for them are looking to dethrone them. There has to be discipline. Let me tell you, my friend that’s running for the president of Peru, this guy has a 108,000 members in his church; watch this here. He’s building a $60,000,000 arena, and in his ministry, all the people are givers. He has an office of tithing, he has an office of offering; now watch this! People have given so much and they’d been blessed by it because he teaches the right principles. Now his people are cheerful givers because they were dirt poor and they follow the principal God, not being beat over the head by it, but they are seeing discipline and structure that has moved them into economic ownership of businesses, corporations, leaders starting from the ground up.
PBM: I’m talking about if you want to go with me, you’ve got to grow with me. Huh?
Dr. Rivers: Man Dr. Vernet, so let me tell you what he does different Dr. V. Everybody has to pass the test at a certain level or you do it again. It’s just the discipline! See people that WIN Dr. V, there is a secret to winning… Guess what it is Dr. V? It’s good systems in place!
PBM: Yes sir. Yes sir.
Dr. Rivers: Great systems. systems that produce, systems that have checks and balances and systems that are modified quickly when things change.
PBM: Yes sir. All Day, every day and every day that ends in “y” my friend. Systems that produce and I love how you caveated that systems that are willing to change when things change. I don’t know how many people are walking around trying to do in 2018, that which was done in 1970. Now you may have a principle that you can work, but you have to understand that there are differences in time.
Dr. Rivers: Dr. Vernet, if you don’t mind me tagging on something. Probably where they lost it was in the people that worked for them. They mistreated them, and they didn’t give them the knowledge to move their business to where their business could live with longevity. When you mistreat the workers, you killed the longevity of your organization or your business.
PBM: Say that again Dr. Rivers! Say that one more time cause they didn’t hear you. Come on now!
Dr. Rivers: You have to treat the people well that work with you because they’re the ones that will dictate your longevity. If you have people that are going to work because they have to and they hate you, those people are on the frontline looking at every change first. You’re sitting in your office and they’re out there in front and they can tell you, hey, we have to change this now. Why? Because this other company is doing this, and they’re technologies is this and we’re losing it. All of a sudden you start losing contracts, why? Because you didn’t have a good feeder system, a good checks and balances or a good communication dialogue system to where people are free to come and tell you what needs to change. So you can move into the future and that idea that started when it expands, it needs to expand with you. So you can work in the 90’s and still be going strong in 2018, if you have the right system of communication to develop your networks with new information, new technology and new information.
PBM: We’re talking effective communication folks! When you have effective communication, you will have longevity when you treat people right. You got to remember, just as Dr. Rivers was saying, you can be the CEO all you want, but the workers are getting the job done. So you treat your people like you want to be treated! Oh man, this is so good! Dr. Rivers, I’m telling you. Listen, I want to talk real quickly about, the trainings and the certification programs, that you built that are centered around the Golden Rule Civility Philosophy. Would you share just a few, and tell us about them?
Dr. Rivers: Yes, One thing that we have now, I’m privileged to work with Dr. Lew Bayer. She is the civility expert of the world. I met her in Indiana and we established a partnership and she is one of the best at building skills for civility. So, what happened is this, we took the golden rule, which I am the leading expert in and we mastered with the expert in civility. So what happened is we have merged a training to teach people how they want to be treated and give them the skills of how to do it. What’s happening is we’re establishing Golden Rule Civility Statesmen. What’s going to happen after they finished, they can become a franchise reseller of our information as they go, watch this Dr. V as they go into every system of our society needs civility. The workplace, the whole climate has changed because of incivility. We have created a training model to help teach you how to go in at teach corporations what it is to be civil. Trust me, there’s going to be a lot of brand new laws that are passed regarding workplace treatment. So we’re on the cutting edge of saying we have to bring Golden Rule Civility. I declare and decree right now, that one day there will be a golden rule civility office in every workplace. This office would deals with issues, bring things together and help educate not just when the problems are on fire, but help prevention so we don’t have to have intervention, because intervention always costs more than prevention.
PBM: Yes sir, absolutely! That’s getting ahead of the game folks, heading it off before it ever becomes a problem. Creating a culture to where everyone understands. Now you talked a little bit about it and alluded to what I want to talk about next. You pinned a book called “Golden Rule Civility – An Action Plan for Building A Global Culture of Honor,” with Dr. Lew Bayer that you just mentioned. Please talk to us about that. How can people go out there and get this book and what should they be expecting Sir?
Dr. Rivers: First of all, it’s a Think Book! Dr. Lew Bayer she created a concept of a think book. What this book does, It’s going to challenge your thinking because what happens is as a man thinks so is he! If you think wrong, somebody has to interrupt that thinking to put that thinking in another gear. What happens is this, what the Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative and our book, we believe every person in the world will be trained with how to be civil. The Golden Rule of “Treat others how you want to be treated,” but hear this, we’re not stopping there with the words we’re going to teach you the skills of how to do it. Dr. V, when they do this, what’s going to happen is they’re going to catch the productivity, they’re going to be so much more productive and here this; I can’t be your gift. You can’t be my gift, so now I’m not. I’m not competing with you, but I got my own uniqueness.
PBM: Yes! Being able to understand your own uniqueness and how you produce and how to be a part of the pie. I think a lot of times Dr. Rivers, what we find is everybody is trying to eat the same piece of the pie or be the same piece of the pie. When in actuality, we were all given those gift clusters from God to utilize so that we can all be a slice of the pie.
Dr. Rivers: Dr. V, you just said something. I think we have to find an education model that wakes up the gifts in individuals. Every gift is different, so I’ll put it this way. I was talking with a leader around the world, I am not going to give the country. He said, America’s greatest power is their scholarship system. What do you mean? He said, you get the best brains, and you erase their brains from the cultures they come from and you put your culture. Your scholarship is a brilliant system!
PBM: You know what? This is exactly what we’re talking about guys, the golden rule of humanity and civility. Ensuring that we all understand that we are all needed here on this earth and can do it peaceably. We can co-exist, we can have a culture of honor, and all we have to do is be willing. Now, Dr. Rivers. I want to talk a little bit more about iChange Nations™. How did the concept of iChange Nations™ come about? If you would please.
Dr. Rivers: One day I was talking with God and he gave me the idea, he says, started a business called iChange Nations™, and I said, why? He said, because it’s an “I” that will change a nation. I said what do you mean, and He said, individuals change nations because the individual has the idea that the individual has the currency, the individual has the faith to start walking; the individual. So he said, it’s iChange Nations™.
PBM: In simplicity comes all of this. Now you do something as well, every morning that I think people need to know about. There’s a “Live Chat” that you do every morning. Talk to us a little bit about that, Sir.
Dr. Rivers: One day I woke up and I was battling with discouragement and I felt like I was supposed to get online and start to just 
encourage people every day. You know, one of the great things about working with Interfaith Peace Building, it’s OK for me to be my faith and others can be their faith. So I have no hang-ups, I have friends from every faith, but now I get to be my faith. What happens, I speak life from the word of God because I learned something. Dr. Vernet, if you focus on the problem, you’re going to eat the fruit of the problem. If you focus on life, you’re gonna eat the fruit of life! People are going through so much that they don’t want to go to church anymore, but they need hope. So what I do Dr. V, I am on every morning I am in town, I’m speaking life. Encouraging people that you’re going to have the greatest day you ever had because there’s a principle I believe life and death is in the power of the tongue. So if we get people speaking life, we can change their life.
PBM: Outstanding… Now even with that, you went a step further from the Live Chat and then created something that we call Cscope. Can you help the people to understand what that is?
Dr. Rivers: We want people to hear this. Life is not about a one man show, we are better together. We are smarter than me… so I created a concept with Dr. Larry Fischer we created a slogan, “There’s always hope on Cscope.” We want you the individual to come and give life to people on Cscope, share a word of encouragement, share a testimony, share a business concept. Just make sure that it’s producing life! What happens Dr. V, when you produce life, guess what happens? It comes back to you.
PBM: Listen, it’s always a pleasure to talk to you my friend. I am super excited of all the work that you’re doing. Before we get off, I really just want to let the people know about a wonderful opportunity and honor on Capitol Hill where you were awarded the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award my friend. I salute you and I know what that means. It takes well over 4,000 hours of community service and you’ve done that at least four times over and it was a blessing to be on Capitol Hill to watch you receive that award as it encompasses everything that you’re about. So I wanted people to know about that. Talk to us real briefly about how it felt to receive such an honor.
Dr. Rivers: First of all, we honored Dr. Vernet. Joseph. He’s a humble man. We, honored him with the National Statement Degree. Watch this, as iChange Nations™, I believe skills and philosophy is the key to education. Dr. Vernet. Joseph, you have done so much to help humanity that you are a National Statesmen with your productivity, so as we vetted you, we saw the work you’ve done, and you qualified for the iChange Nations™ National Statement Degree. What does that mean? You have a skill, you create a philosophy, and your philosophy is bringing productivity to this world. So watch this, you should be the one with the degree, not the one that researches you. The actually searcher should be the doctor, not the researcher.
PBM: Absolutely, well I definitely appreciate that sir! What a way to deflect and not talk about the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, but I appreciate you and I know it was a very humbling experience my friend, to say the least.
Dr. Rivers: Yes, and you know what, I’m humbled to get that award. That award started with President George Walker Bush, and it has gone on through every president. It’s a nonpolitical award. It’s for a citizen that has given over 4,000 hours of service volunteers service to help make America better. I was humbled and honored to receive that award and I thank God! Again doc, I’m not ashamed of my faith. Jesus Christ made that happen for me and I just want to encourage people that great things are taking place around the world.
PBM: Absolutely, well we are super excited for all that is to come. If you would just share with us a little bit of your vision as we get ready to close out on this edition of the productive business magazine. What do you see for the rest of 2018, sir?
Dr. Rivers: Well, what I see Dr. Vernet. Your magazine is nations around the world are asking for productivity, but they’re also asking for a skill set. What I’m doing with the Golden Rule Civility Global Initiative, we are going to teach the skills of how to treat people, and then the business productivity will come in. I believe nations, what’s taking place right now, Nations are being unwound from corruption, but there’s going to be a day, where people treatment and business skills have to come together so every nation can rest on their own currency. Let me give you an example. I was in, a nation and one guy said, I can’t believe my country is so poor. I was in that country with another man, but one man saw the riches, and the other man saw the poverty. Amazing! One saw riches and one saw poverty. So I’m walking and one guy says look at the opportunity and the other guy says, we’re poor. Well what changed?
PBM: WOW, I hope you guys are literally picking up what Dr. Rivers is putting down. When one mind sees one thing, another mind, see something else, but if you can enlighten both minds, you can change the trajectory of life. I love it, sir.
Dr. Rivers: That’s good Dr. V!
PBM: Yes, indeed! Well, we’re super excited, Sir! We cannot wait to see all the things that iChange Nations™, the Golden Rule Initiative of humanity and civility around the world. I declare and decree that this year things are gonna change for the better because of people like yourself who are moving about this world, making deposits of humanity and civility everywhere you go.
Dr. Rivers: Dr. V, I will take the Productive Business Magazine, and I will take that all over the world so people can see that productivity is happening all around the world.
PBM: Yes Sir, we receive it! It’s not strange that this is literally the first edition of Productivity Business Magazine. Dr. Clyde Rivers, we salute you! I’m going to sneak this one in as we close out. You know that you’re doing something right when other countries start Knighting you… and I’ll leave it right there!
Dr. Rivers: Thank you so much!
PBM: Absolutely! Thank you for reading the Productive Business Magazine blog – where collaboration is the new currency. You can listen to the audio version of this blog by clicking here: Productivity 360 w/ Dr. Vernet A. Joseph. We look forward to hearing from you and all the reviews that will come from this awesome interview. Blessings, peace, love, and always civility because the golden rule is the key.