"Unless we wake up to the fact that our actions and our words matter, we will continue to act with the abandon of a cancerous cell, which does not realize that the death of the organism will result in its own death."

Enlightened self-interest is the understanding that, when any individual on the planet self-actualises, they create value which no-one else could. Therefore, the self-actualisation of any individual on the planet is in your direct interest.