Communications4Good Blog

Is Sustainability Really the Jargoniest Jargon?

2011-01-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Book of Tens at AdAge seems to think so. But I’d like to propose another way of looking at the growing use of the word sustainable.

First, I take issue with rejecting a word because it’s “a good concept gone bad by mis- and overuse.” That seems to be more the fault of the users than the innocent word itself. After all, the post continues to sing praise for sustainability, “Used properly, it describes practices through which the global economy can grow without creating a fatal drain on resources.” So, maybe this word belongs on a different list – Ten Words We Wish People Would Use Properly.”

Additionally, “It's come to be a squishy, feel-good catchall for doing the right thing,” seems like a backwards compliment to me. And captures a sentiment that warrants a bit more exploration.

- “squishy and feel-good”: Can someone tell me why these are used in the pejorative? Squishy things like pillows and actually feel good (most of the time). And feel-good might be something we could use a lot more of as we head into 2011. Frankly, after the long-lasting economic correction, environmental devastation and social upheaval the world over, a little feel-good is just what we need.

- “doing the right thing.” I am a big believer that we need lots of words and reminders and encouragement to usher in the transformation where doing the right thing becomes commonplace in business. And, let’s face it; we’re not there yet. Not sure how we can have a word become jargon before the behavior becomes ubiquitous.

It’s clear that practice of true sustainability (practices through which the global economy can grow without creating a fatal drain on resources) is still a long way from becoming a standard way of doing business. There are indicators that this discipline is growing in significance and focus.

According to a recent study from Accenture, more than 90 percent of respondents indicated that over the next five years they will be doing just that. CEOs would have indicated that their businesses would be seeking to deploy new technologies aimed specifically at addressing issues of sustainability?

According to a recent post from Patti Prairie at Fast Company, “market forecasters predict ongoing growth rates well into the double digits for corporate sustainability services, a market already valued in the billions of dollars. Sustainability is now big business in the U.S.”

Verdantix predicts that “In the post-recession economy, sustainability will become a more strategic issue as firms seek competitive advantage on a new dimension of business performance. And that CFOs will be pulled into decision making on sustainability and cleantech. In 2011, multiple factors will pile pressure on CFOs to engage in decision-making on sustainable business “

What makes this interesting is that for many, the attention of the financial sector in sustainability gives it legitimacy. What I believe is that it indicates the need for the same type of disciplined language, process, methodology and knowledge that has seen the financial dimension of business become its primary filter.

I think that the word sustainability is hamstrung by its misuse rather than its overuse. What it needs is a lot more words -- perhaps an entire language -- to represent all of the concepts, ideas, categories, approaches and disciplines that this one overused word has been burdened with carrying.

Any emerging industry needs its own nomenclature, and that’s not jargon.
(Blog post also appears at Sustainable Life Media)

The Challenge of Social Entrepreneurship

2010-11-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

I'm working with several new companies that are in the thick of developing business models, branding strategies and funding for their social enterprises. Part for-profit, part non-profit, they seek to meet the needs of the world through a business vision. The challengers are innumerable: when seeking funding, do they solicit grants or investments or both? If both, then how do you develop the financials that meet the requirement of grantors while answering the questions that traditional angel or early stage investors have?

How do you develop a business model and legal structure that incorporates the traditional for-profit business and integrates a non-profit foundation or similar structure that allows people to donate and participate as supporters? Right now, the closest we have is a B Corp and the work underway to develop a Fourth Sector in the tax code. Either way, these are initial efforts to begin recasting corporate governance to allow for true triple bottom line operational excellence that does not just put everything in financial terms.

An article in the New York Times proclaims that "the emerging sector of social entrepreneurship appears to be booming." They cite the growth of conferences like SOCAP, and social investment funds like Ingia Partners. Whatever tea leaves you choose to read, the evidence is mounting that more and more individuals and institutions are looking for truly purpose-driven businesses to support.

The communications challenge is that a multi-layered, complex story is required to explain who these newly formed companies are, and seek customers, supporters, advocates and evangelists to help by buying, giving, partnering and extolling. Because this new business model is still being invented, there are no short cuts to educating everyone about how it all works and why anyone should care.

It has become one of the most invigorating and demanding parts of my job. And I am grateful, everyday, to be in the thick of it.

Here are a few of my go-to sites for information and inspiration:

PBS
Ashoka
Change.org

Sustainability Signs are Promising

2010-07-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

Image Credit: Emilia Stasiak

These days, the talk of a double dip recession and the lagging job market could obscure several positive indicators that provide good evidence that a significant and lasting change is underway.

Pay attention to the more important transformation that is affecting product development, business formation, job creation and the very way we live and work. In any number of areas, you’ll find upbeat indicators where you might expect to find a downbeat story:

Social Capital
A month after the Sustainable Brands 2010 conference in Monterey, CA, it's worth noting that many of the presenting and attending companies are truly integrating social impact into their sustainability efforts.

For example, environment and ‘green’ issues, which have dominated sustainability discussions in the past, have given way to more practical explorations of new strategy, measurement, metrics and marketing initiatives. This has moved social programs from the periphery to the core.

According to Jason Saul of Mission Measurement, the scale of impact and benefit to business is exponentially greater when social change is connected to the engine of the company -- driving product development and market expansion -- rather than being relegated to the ‘fumes’ of the business -- located in philanthropy or community relations only.

Takeaway: The true integration of environmental and social impacts alongside financials has found its footing and will forever change the face of business.

Green Consumers
The Green Brands Study -- a fifth annual study by Cohn & Wolfe, Esty Environmental Partners, Landor, and Penn, Schoen & Berland -- polled almost 10,000 consumers in eight countries regarding attitudes about the environmental and social initiatives of over 350 brands.

In spite of the economic challenges dominating the news and peoples' live, the study concludes that overall, concern for the environment is up 3.5%. It is interesting to note that respondents is China and Brazil selected the environment as a greater concern than the economy by a significant margin when compared to the US (70 versus 30%). When the effects of pollution and environmental degradation are experienced at close hand -- as air quality and rain forest issues are in China and Brazil -- the local citizens are far more concerned.

Takeaway: What the study showed is that consumers are still looking to change their purchasing behaviors and use their wallets to support companies whose products and initiatives have proven to result in positive environmental impact. This tendency is more pronounced in markets outside the US.

Renewable Energy
Despite experiencing a 7% drop in global investments in 2009, renewable energy surpassed fossil fuels in creating power capacity in the U.S. and Europe for the second straight year, according to two reports released in July by the United Nations.

Renewable energy in 2009 accounted for more than half of new electricity capacity in the U.S. and about 60% in Europe, the U.N. reported. The devastation in the Gulf caused by the BP Deep Horizon disaster is playing a role also, as a growing number of celebrities, organizations and average citizens see the results of oil dependency being played out in fragile wetlands and local economies.

Takeaway: Early stage companies and established players who are tackling energy creation will benefit from the growing support for a transition away from fossil fuels.

Sustainability Industry
MIT Sloan's Quarterly Management Review's recent report on sustainability indicated that "many corporations view sustainability as a strategic opportunity and are pursuing it as an operational excellence.... Although other initiatives tend to pivot about a particular function such as purchasing, IT or operations, sustainability applies to every role and every action of the enterprise. It therefore requires widespread operational as well as cultural changes."

Recent studies (and those scheduled to be released within the next few weeks) from the sustainability analyst firm Verndantix, demonstrate the reality of a growing nascent industry. A case in point is the rapid growth of sustainability software solutions.

According to David Metcalfe, director, "A new era of sustainable business software has arrived, driven by a boom in supply side activity which anticipates the increasingly strategic nature of sustainability. But our analysis suggests that software providers in this space must cross the chasm. During the next 18 months suppliers need to expand their customer base from visionary buyers like News Corp. and Tesco to early majority buyers."

Takeaway: A new industry is forming and the opportunity for companies to provide services, products and solutions to facilitate the integration MIT Sloan calls for, is wide open. While the renewable energy sector might be getting all the media buzz, don't miss the broader market here.

Work (r)evolution
According to Small Business Labs, the way we work is profoundly changing. Enabled by the Internet and low-cost information technology, the number of personal businesses (one-employee businesses) has grown twice as fast as the overall economy over the last decade, and exceeds 22 million. They predict that, with the unemployment rate remaining high and traditional employment options limited, 2010 will be another year of strong growth in the number of personal businesses.

Takeaway: More and more of us will be working for ourselves with others in distributed and ad hoc teams. Business models will be developed to leverage the mobility and flexibility required by this new work force.

So what does this all mean? Can we synthesize these indicators into an overall look for the next 12 months? The future, in spite of the massive changes underway, is full of pockets of real growth and opportunity. Pick one and invent something!

(Also published as an Industry Blog at Sustainable Minds)

New Good Works article...on LocalDirt

2010-07-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today we’re beginning a series of profiles of American farmers and ranchers who are using their considerable ingenuity, intuition, dedication and entrepreneurial spirit to bring goodness to all of us in the form of good food. Check out our Good Works Page by Susan Ditz

Branding Technology as a Sustainability Solution

2010-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy Stockxchange

Can technology save the world?

Most of the biggest brands think they can.

Yet, as small upstarts start getting real traction with innovation, they are faced with the challenge of building strong brands as big players change the products, services and business models they offer to the marketplace.

As a center of innovation, Silicon Valley is an ideal place to gather and review its own technological prowess in addressing climate change, resource depletion, soaring energy needs, and the integration of policy and business in deploying massive scale solutions.

I recently attended GreenNet2010, produced by GigaOM, a one-day conference that showcased technology solutions aimed at responding to the social and ecological challenges facing our world. From energy production and management companies to new transportation solutions, alongside close looks at the smart grid and IT as a solution provider, over 500 attendees heard from established brands and early stage innovators.

What struck me is the almost giddy enthusiasm for the enormous market opportunities available to the companies who most quickly and creatively address climate change, transportation issues, grid complexities, energy creation and management. Venture capitalists, engineers, public utilities, and technologists are enthused and optimistic about their ability to solve these intractable problems and make money in the process.

Imagine a panel with Better Place, Ford, OnStar, Nissan, and PG&E al discussing how they are both individually and collectively addressing the need to radically transform our transportation industry to reduce its 30% contribution to GHG. “We are in a unique era where we’ve never had this many stakeholders trying to affect this big of a change, in this small period of time,” said Saul Zambrano Director, Integrated Demand-side Management Core Products, Pacific Gas and Electric Company. To a man (and they were all men), they communicated their personal commitment and satisfaction in participating in the transformation.

Their language of goodness was a welcome dimension in the overall discussion of trillion dollar market opportunities.

Don’t get me wrong; I am a capitalist with the best of them.

However, as those on the car panel demonstrated, we all need to discuss, make space for, and value these other attributes. Purpose and meaning, according to Dan Pink, are the very things that motivate us. This is where the playing field levels a bit for large and small businesses.

Big brands like Ford and PG&E can share the world stage with upstarts like Lit Motors (also at the conference but not on stage – my opening point exactly) because what they share is an intention – to leverage business acumen and technological prowess to meet environmental and social challenges.

It will be interesting to watch the big players compete with the small innovators. Pitting imagination and cleverness that is not hemmed in by existing infrastructure and assumptions against the ability to scale and dominate. I think it’s going to be a matter of both/and. It will take small players and large organizations to create solutions and deploy them broadly and quickly.

At the heart of both approaches is, frankly, the heart. As we learn more about the cost of natural resource depletion, the power to galvanize people through campaigns like presenter 350.org, and hear from panelist like Bill Gross CEO of Idealab who links his solar efforts back to childhood passion and shop tinkering, we will be engaged because our hearts are engaged. Brands both small and large that trust and have the courage to communicate their interior purpose will be the players who lead the technology transformation and reap its benefits.

POST IS ALSO FEATURED AT SUSTAINABLE LIFE MEDIA

CSR+Sustainability is On the Rise

2010-05-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

According to recent research conducted by Boston Center for Corporate Citizenship, McKinsey, and the Entrepreneurs Foundation 's 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report (which I helped research, write, analyze and present), data consistently shows that sustainability is gaining traction inside corporations. The initial appearance and implementation of sustainability can begin inside Environment Health and Safety (EHS) departments, as a special branding and marketing campaign, within a product development task force, or as a supply chain initiative. Where it starts doesn’t matter. Once the sustainability mindset takes root inside two or more groups in a corporation, consistent and credible communications are required. A new “language of goodness” that incorporates social, environmental and profit programs, and creates linkages between them to accelerate change and increase benefits.

A Shifting Sustainability Definition
The Business Roundtable’s S.E.E.(Society, Environment, Economy) Change program defines sustainability as “maintaining the balance between the human need to improve the quality of life and standard of living of current generations, and the need to preserve natural resources, and ecosystems for the economic growth, and well-being of future generations.”

Many would add that these generations, both current and present, extend beyond the human species to all living species and need to be accounted for in all triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) companies. Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of InterfaceFLOR, describes his company’s journey to sustainability in his recent book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist. As he often says, “if we can do it, anybody can. If anybody can, then it follows that everybody can.”

McKinsey’s Global Survey on Sustainability makes it clear that the lack of a consistent definition and shared language are creating blocks to deployment within companies. The summary reveals the following:

"Overall, 20% of executives say their companies don't [have a clear definition of sustainability]. Among those that do, the definition varies: 55% define sustainability as the management of issues related to the environment (for example, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, waste management, green-product development, and water conservation). Another 48% say it includes the management of governance issues (such as complying with regulations, maintaining ethical practices, and meeting accepted industry standards), and 41% say it includes the management of social issues (for instance, working conditions and labor standards)."

CSR+ Sustainability
Globally, CSR is a collective of all measures that produce an overall positive impact on society through economic and social actions.

Combining CSR and sustainability is more than just linking community and philanthropy efforts to environmental initiatives. Lasting business transformation -- like the radical changes espoused by Ray Anderson -- require that a business’s core strategy provide business benefits as well as social and environmental benefits.

CEOs like Anderson point to clear benefits that are driving the move to corporate sustainability: risk reduction, lowered costs, markets or revenue creation, brand value and building loyalists (i.e., transforming customers into investors, and partners into shareholders).

A Language of Goodness (tm)
A new vernacular is required for describing how companies -- in alliance with NGOs and governments -- are meeting health and service needs, exceeding governance requirements, innovating product design, and increasing brand relevance through a new approach to business.

When companies shy away from talking about their actions in CSR and sustainability while framing them in a broader corporate strategy, they often cite fear of being accused of green washing. Given the growing push for ethical companies who are helping solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, doing and saying nothing over time is a greater risk.

This is the perfect place and time for PR professionals (with our sophisticated understanding of interrelated stakeholder needs) to take a leadership position. Sustainability is an innovation driver in new green/clean technology, in creative business models like for-benefit companies, and in customer experiences that meet growing demand for a sustainable lifestyle.

To download the report, go to The Entrepreneurs Foundation and click on the 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report link.

Carol Cone to Edelman: another proof point of business transformation

2010-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

With the recent news that Carol Cone has joined Edelman, I see a strong indicator that cause marketing is clearly on the path to becoming integral/core to effective communications and a business imperative. CSR is no longer a "fringe practice" (Carol's words) but a dimension squarely in the center of global brand making. I have followed Edelman's Goodpurpose studies and believe that their research is tracking the traces of a fundamental shift in business. We can use various labels for it -- reputation, brand, citizenship, CSR, sustainability.

I call it goodness.

What's exciting about Cone's move to Edelman is the recognition that smart cause marketers, sustainable brand makers, are the right stewards of change as businesses grapple with the increasing call for better brands.

I share Richard Edelman's belief that public relations, in general and in particular, is the best discipline to guide the communications challenges facing good companies and have said so In many previous posts. PR is not just posturing and positioning. It is the two-way conversation an organization needs to have with all its stakeholders as it goes about its business. Authentic communications, listening, feedback loops are all components of public relations and have a critical component to play in the sustainability market.

I see effective communications strategy as part of the solution to global economic, environmental and social challenges. A brand's communication shapes timely discussion about how that individual company is participating in and adding to the business transformation that is taking place on a worldwide platform. Critical stakeholder engagement uses two-way conversations that are relevant, authentic and transparent.

Earth Day Reflections

2010-04-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

"Every Earth Day is a reflection of where we are as a culture. If it has become commoditized, about green consumerism instead of systemic change, then it is a reflection of our society."
--Robert Stone, documentary filmmaker, as quoted by The New York Times

Why not both?

If Mr. Stone is right, what do we make of the commoditization of Earth Day? On the one hand, we lament the trivialization of a serious situation. Resource depletion and the exploitation of native peoples' are center piece issues in environmental discussions and deserve the careful and comprehensive exploration of solutions and best practices required to diminish their effects.

But does this make every green product, campaign, toy, seminar and web conference irrelevant and silly? I don't think so (unless, of course it IS silly like the umbrella, described in today's Times article, that is designed to catch rain run-off. Huh?)

I actually welcome a pervasive and consistent environmental aspect to everything. If we don't stop and consider the planet and its peoples as integral dimensions affected by every commercial or pop culture object we consume, we won't accelerate the mind shift needed to drive real change.

And change is what we need.

The transformation is one from a consumption culture to an experience existence. Where thriving and well being are the measures of success. Not simply untrammeled growth (of trinkets and toys, of banks and balances, of stock prices and stocked pantries)

We live in an amazingly abundant world, with enough resources to give every person all they need. We suffer from distribution problems and insidious hoarding that prevents the flow required for well being.

So, if we can be playful and a bit silly with Earth Day AND be serious and deliberate, then we are onto something. Because it will take a both/and approach.

After 40 years, it's time to let the profound AND the trivial coexist as we heal the earth and each other.

Happy Earth Day!

The Car 2.0

2010-04-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Is the world ready for a new generation of cars, particularly the electric kind? There are at least 41 teams hard at work, and competing, on the assumption that the world is not just ready, but that it’s in desperate need for Car 2.0. Energy and transportation analysts as well as green media sites like Earth2Tech have begun using the Car 2.0 moniker and predicting a sizable market opportunity. The new electric car infrastructure has implications beyond reducing the highly toxic impact that current fossil fuel transportation has on the environment. Electric cars will link to the smart grid, making them efficient and connected communicating transportation.

According to Frank Cloutier, director at Future Vehicles Technologies (FVT), the car of the future will have a lot more in common with computers than its horse and buggy heritage. And Frank would know. He’s the former Vice President and CTO at HP’s imaging and printing group, and started a number of HP's businesses, including their industry leading inkjet and notebook computers. Frank is also a lifelong car enthusiast who’s managed to link those two passions into a single purpose at FVT. “After more than 30 years of bringing new technology to market, sometimes in cycles as fast as every six months, I took a long look at the flailing automobile industry and decided I could have a positive impact,” said Cloutier.

He envisions a Car 2.0 industry that brings innovation and improvements to market quickly, based on rapid technology cycles and a fabrication and assembly mentality that replaces Detroit’s more staid industrial and machining approach. “We think of our car, the eVaro, as essentially the world’s first personal driving computer. It’s fast, looks beautiful, can be programmed and controlled to minute personal specifications from the individual driver, and can be upgraded or reprogrammed to accommodate increasingly improving battery, generator, or computing technology.”

Cloutier and FVT are not alone in seeing significant market opportunity with the electric car of the future. Experts predict new markets for a smart charging infrastructure, energy storage technologies, telematics, and the wide open opportunity for onboard Smartphone applications and touch screen capabilities that are just now being created. That’s Car 2.0.

FVT is just one of the remaining 41 car teams (from a beginning field of 121) betting on the electric car of the future by participating in the Automotive X Prize. The goal of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE is to inspire a new generation of viable, safe and super fuel-efficient vehicles. $10 million in prizes will be awarded to the teams that win a rigorous stage competition for clean, production capable and super fuel efficient vehicles that exceed 100 MPG equivalent fuel economy. (MPGe)

The eVaro, FVT’s newest prototype and the next generation in hybrid development, is competing in the high performance class at the Automotive X Prize. This summer its proven specifications will be put to the test in a series of shakedowns and race at the Michigan International Speedway. Winners will be announced in Washington DC in September. Right now, the eVaro has succeeded in getting between 122 and 325 MPGe (and 100-125 mile range on electricity alone) with an onboard gas generator that promises unlimited extended range.

With a 3 hour re-charge time plug in at home, and 1 hour with on-board generator, the eVaro looks like a bright spot in the new Car 2.0 world.

GLOBE 2010 Brings The World to the Individual Level

2010-03-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

“A green economy needs to just be the economy,” said Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, a board director at InterFace Global and member of the closing Town Hall session at the 20th anniversary Globe 2010 in Vancouver. - a sentiment which would be shared by many and echoed throughout the conference.

Held every two years, Globe Foundation gathered over 10,000 participants from more than 80 countries to focus on a variety of themes that included Corporate Sustainability, Climate Change and Energy, Finance and Sustainability, Urban Infrastructure, Clean Technology, and Water: Impacts on Business.

According to many speakers, this year the conference seemed different – more participants, more women, and a greater number of students and young professionals. One young woman, summed up her generation’s challenge with a question to the panel – as she looks for her first sustainability job, should she work for an oil and gas company and try change them, or work for something new and different? Nicholas Parker, Executive Chairman, Cleantech Group LLC in San Francisco, CA, encouraged her to “work in the lion’s den and help create the change we, and they, need to be.” Those fossil fuel companies, Parker asserted, are facing necessary and inevitable transformation and we should all welcome and support it.

The Honorable John Yap, Minister of State for Climate Action, Government of British Columbia, Victoria, BC, David Runnalls, President & CEO, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Ottawa, ON and Tony Manwaring, Chief Executive, Tomorrow’s Company, London, UK rounded out the panel.

Christopher Henderson, President, Lumos Energy in Ottawa, ON moderated a lively conversation between attendees and panelists that explored -- what is a green economy? What is each person going to commit to changing or doing different? How do governments, citizen consumers, businesses and NGOs tell the stories that will effect the swiftest, necessary changes?

Diane Dillion-Ridgle observed that a sense of urgency of the moment is needed, alongside a long horizon view. “This is the 21st century agenda for the completion of democracy throughout the world,” said Dillion-Ridgle. Interestingly, she cites language as a key factor in accelerating change. “We still have such siloed language, and we must integrate economic language to include language of the social component – one that ensures equity and parity. As a society and in business,” she continued, “we simply have to find a way to work horizontally rather than these silos of financials, and human rights and environmental concerns.”

John Yap, British Columbia’s Climate Action Minister, is showcased his provinces’ leadership in climate change legislation. “Green must become mainstream because climate change is the challenge of our generation. In BC we made this one of the central planks of our agenda and we now have the first ever CO2 emissions tax in North America. We also pledge to be the first jurisdiction that is carbon neutral by the end of 2010.”

David Runnalls, founder and CEO of International Institute for Sustainable Development, took a global view of the challenges facing humanity, “There is too much business as usual. We have to make significant reduction of our ecological footprint.” He described the dichotomy of both a bottoms up or top down approach and articulated that it requires an integration of both efforts.

The addition of meaning, a spiritual dimension is what is missing in most discussions of a green economy, according to Tony Manwaring of Tomorrow’s Company. “We must include a different sense of what has value and what is valued. This means a change of consciousness about how we live and the interconnection of environment and cultural, social and spiritual dimensions.”

Manwaring asserted that to base the future of our humanity on what we’ve learned in the last 50 years (eg. The industrial revolution and management training) rather than what we have unlearned in the same time is ludicrous. Our new worldview must be a combination of new learning and re-embracing the old wisdom.

Nicholas Parker’s stark assessment that climate change is not a problem, it’s the symptom of a problem, set the stage for a call to action and greater imagination. “This failure of imagining the future possible is the greatest challenge we face.”

“We must accept that for all of us, especially when we consider countries like India and China, fear and a win/lose game will not work, this must be a win/win economy not dependent on government handouts, and includes full cost pricing.”

According to Parker, a green economy is powerful, abundant and inclusive, and is built on innovation and imagination.

What an exciting vision for all of us.

CSR and Sustainability in Silicon Vallley

2010-01-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

I am knee deep in survey results, interview transcripts, background studies about CSR, and recent news and opinion pieces about sustainability trends as I move into the final stages of a research project with the Entrepreneurs Foundation. It's gratifying to see how many hard-working people are deeply committed to creating and implementing programs that support local communities and employees. As we begin drilling down into the survey results, initial respondents are split into two distinct groups: small early stage companies, many of whom are creating market-based solutions addressing social and environmental concerns and large global corporations whose community relations programs and CSR programs are gaining more exposure and importance withing the company.

It's the stories behind the numbers and policies that hold the most interest for me. A new CEO, who has always spent personal time volunteering, instituting a corporate wide culture that embraces volunteering as an important ingredient in employee work life. Or the developer who integrates a way for gamers to contribute to breast cancer research because a key participant's wife is battling the disease. Or the founder who creates an entire new business model to help families caring for aging parents because he faced the same challenges and recognized a market need/opportunity.

But the thing that strikes me the most are the attitudes that people bring to their jobs -- compassion and passion, pragmatism and persistence, resourcefulness and leadership. They tell me that their work is getting results and gaining interest within their respective companies in a way that is new and exciting. More employees are coming to them looking for ways to get involved. Particularly following the earthquake's devastation of Haiti, employees want their companies to provide them with means to help. Additionally, companies are seeing an uptick in interest for green/environmental programs that link company initiatives to changes people are making at home.

The report will be compiled over the next month and results presented at the Entrepreneurs Foundation's annual meeting in early March.

2009 Corporate Philanthropy Awards

2009-11-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, I attended the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's 2009 Corporate Philanthropy Awards with more than 300 people gathered to honor the region's top 50 corporate givers. Applied Materials was the top philanthropist, giving $4.99 million in a top ten that gave over $30 million. According to James MacGregor, publisher at the Business Journal, "While giving overall declined by about 4% among the top companies on the list, the breakdown between those who increased what they contributed and those who were forced to cut back was about even." He also pointed out that this is only the second nationwide decline in charitable giving since 1956. Not a bad record for big business, especially in this Great Recession.

What struck me, as I watched the community relations, corporate social responsibility, sustainability and HR executivesm and a few CEOs as well, accept their awards, is the kindness and deep concern I heard from each one. They compete with each other for the title of biggest giver and, following host James MacGregor's instructions, in crafting the best 10-word acceptance speech. How gratifying to watch over 50 companies be recognized for staying engaged in community work at a time when budget cuts and donation declines at non profits are met by increased need.

My favorite quotes from the morning give me hope:

"We are science focused but community based." Amgen

"Money is a lot like manure, it's best when you spread it around." Deloitte

"When people are safe and happy, our communities and businesses thrive." NetApp

"Companies are social institutions and need to behave that way." Agilent

"Non-profits are our best bet and at eBay, we bet to win." eBay

"We're still Ma Bell, you're still community, and we're still family." AT&T

"It's not a question of if, but of how much more can we do?" Cisco

"Because we can, because we should, because we all must." Microsoft

"It's up to us to make a difference." West Marine

I agree with Laurie Fried, chief sustainability officer of West Marine, that is is up to us -- business -- to make a difference. All of the facts, figures, research, opinions and news coverage tell us that people are looking for leadership and integrity from business in dealing with environmental and social challenges. And businesses are stepping up. Some are giving more donations and increasing philanthropy. Others are giving employees time off to participate in community activities. Still others are increasing their in kind donations as a way of filling the need gap.

I will be learning more about what companies are doing in a regional study for the Entrepreneurs Foundation and Silicon Valley Community Foundation that I am conducting with JonesPR. We will measure corporate citizenship, philanthropy and community engagement alongside sustainability and/or environmental efforts. We will benchmark current levels and assess what companies are doing to meet social challenges. Look for regular updates here as we review early survey results, interview local CSR leaders and gather the heart stories that lie behind corporate decisions to give back.

Dashboards and Meters: the Next Blinking 12:00?

2009-09-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

We are bombarded with data, visuals, advertisements, tweets, updates and videos, so do we really need our products to beep, change colors, add leaves or update graphs? Especially since many people never use all of the functionality built into most products or, worse yet, simply discard the product when its complication oversteps its usefulness?

Recent product design is incorporating dashboards and metering capabilities as consumer features. Prius, Honda, Google Smart Meter, and even Mint.com are examples of products that incorporate a feedback mechanism into the product itself. ‘Hypermiling’ is the term for how to wring every last drop of efficiency from hybrid automobiles and can be found on sites like CleanMGP. While these dashboards provide a clear and powerful way to display data, they introduce a set of design challenges that must integrate social science strategies in order to be most effective.

In the same way that compelling stories can change behaviors, dashboards can do the same, if they are designed from the outset to generate behaviors that add up to a larger benefit.

I interviewed Marc Rettig, CEO of Fit Associates and social ethnographer, for his thoughts on dashboards, and he had several recommendations that help to frame the design and communication challenge: -

- Displaying information does not equal “feedback.” Just because you show it doesn’t mean people see it, understand it, know how it correlates with their behavior, or feel motivated to adjust their behavior.  

- It isn’t always obvious what to measure: people will adjust their behavior according to the feedback they receive. If you’re measuring the wrong thing, their behavior change may have less impact or even the wrong impact.  

- It isn’t always obvious how to measure: sometimes getting the data you need to provide good feedback is tough. Bodymedia, for example, carefully researched where they could put sensors on people’s bodies so they could get accurate data while people were active, without making them uncomfortable.  

- It isn’t always obvious how to communicate the feedback: “kilowatt hours?” “tons of CO2?” Who knows what these things mean? “100 calories?” It’s up to the dashboard to help people map the feedback to their behavior. Otherwise you’re only giving them a meaningless gimmick, uninteresting after the novelty wears off because they see no connection to their lives.

- The social possibilities are relatively unexplored: how interesting might it be when we can roll up say, household and institutional energy consumption to the level of neighborhoods, cities, regions, states, nations? Would a competitive spirit set in if this were visible to everyone in the same way? Will that help us introduce new language into the conversation about change?

- For product design, there is a tension between this idea and the need for simplicity. We face an epidemic of complexity in our products, and it is making people nuts. This keeps coming up in our household studies. A dashboard could very easily be Yet Another Damn Display, yet another gadget. Increasing product cost, increasing frustration levels, and delivering little or no value. In two years there will be six of the damn things in my life, all using different visual language, controls, and metrics, and none of them talking to each other.

When we say “simplicity” we're not just talking about too many features in each product -- it's systemic complexity. We’re to the point where even if your product has just one light and one button, it’s coming in to a home that’s over laden with lights and buttons and displays. Your product can be loved if it brings relief to that situation. If it adds without bringing relief, it better deliver significant authentic value.    

Dashboards and meters can create real change when they are simple and tied to a narrative of results that the consumer understands -- how every action tracked benefits me, and we.

Image source: Fotolia_16704656_XS
Image Credit: (c) Olaru Radian-Alexandru

Blog post also appears at Sustainable Minds

An Early Look at Sustainability Business Trends for 2010

2009-09-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Conversation and debate around the environment, ethical consumerism, corporate social responsibility and sustainability are changing fast. In just the past year, sustainability is no longer being questioned as a passing fad; it has been validated as a key business driver. PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued a report detailing how companies that report their sustainability efforts get better returns on their assets than companies who do not.

Let’s look at a few other key findings:
40% of consumers bought because they liked the social or political values of the company…Nearly half of Americans in our poll said protecting the environment should be given priority over economic growth … and this comes in the midst of a recession.” (Time, Sept 21,2009)

More than half—62%—of online posts discuss various solutions to environmental issues. This is a shift from 18 months ago when people were still spending much of their time discussing sustainability by debating whether or not the environmental crisis was real. Consumers in the blogosphere group discuss sustainability solutions into two categories: broad social, organizational, and political change; and incremental personal change.” (JD Power & Associates, Sept. 2008)

Despite taking tough economic hits, at least two-thirds of the U.S. adults who took the survey and have been green buyers in the past said their green purchasing has been stable during the first half of this year. For many, it even increased.” (Earthsense, Sept., 2009)

This research, and my experience with both large corporations undergoing massive change and early stage innovators who are creating ways to capitalize on the power of the market to generate public benefit, set up three trends I see emerging for next year.

Be, Not Buy
There is a push among consumers for a less throw away economy to one where sustainability is real and counts. Key trend watchers are pointing to the earliest signs that we are shifting to a world where things will no longer be the dominant modality, but experiences will drive our cultural norms. We will see more attention paid to quality and less purchasing of goods that have a designed-obsolesce. Technology designers, take note.

Show Me How I am Part of We
The growing proliferation of dashboards (Prius, Honda, GoogleSmartMeter) and labels are creating an expectation by consumers that the can see – from the moment of purchase throughout the entire use cycle – how their activities add up to something bigger than themselves. The zeitgeist of the moment is inclusivity and the power of the individual to change the world. This is the year of enlightened self-interest. Once unleashed, people not only expect to make a change, but watch it happen in real time. What consumers are seeking is a way for the products and, increasingly services and experiences, to add to their efforts to change themselves and bring their lives into alignment with their social and ecological values.

Narratives as Transparency
Radical transparency and zero waste pressures by consumers and governments are creating a Babel of labels, a cacophony of metrics and measures. But what do all these facts and figures mean? How do consumers, purchasers, suppliers, legislators, reporters, and others make sense of this data? It will take clear communications and the constant updating, contextualizing and story telling that a complex world requires.

2010 promises to be an exciting year for sustainable brands.

2009-09-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

During Preside nt Obama's speech to Congress last night, he spoke eloquently, reminding us that caring for others is a deeply rooted American value.

"That large-heartedness -- that concern and regard for the plight of others -- is not a partisan feeling. It's not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character -- our ability to stand in other people's shoes; a recognition that we are all in this together, and when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand; a belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play; and an acknowledgment that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise."

More and more economists, business schools, corporations and NGOs are exploring how concern for others and the planet can be integrated into profit margins and market share growth. In seems to me that many of our elected officials are slow to recognize that a growing number of citizens are willing to accept their responsibility to care for others, and want our institutions -- government and businesses -- to be constructed and operated in support of that value.

The Center for Partnership Studies (full transparency, they are a client) is hard at work creating the programs and information people need to examine how we look differently at assumptions in our current economic structure. Based upon the scholarship and work of Riane Eisler (The Real Wealth of Nations), they are working to create an understanding and implementation of a "Full Spectrum Economy." A full spectrum economy is a six-sector economy instead of the three sector model we recognize and put energy/resources into: the market, government and illegal trade.

The three new sectors that are vital in an understanding of a true economy are the household (where optimal human development starts), the unpaid volunteer sector (where relationships are enabled throughout the community) and the natural sector (where caring for the planet employs thousands for restoration and long-term sustainability). The premise is that we must track, monitor, support, nurture and integrate these sectors into a full spectrum economy if we are going to deliberately and successfully build lives that are prosperous and have meaning.

President Obama's call to an ethic of caring, as an integral component of the American character, begins the work of building a true wealth for this nation.

The Power of Buycotting

2009-09-03T08:46:00.000-07:00

Consumers and advocates have embraced a new found power -- show up, be vocal, cast a vote, boycott a company. But there is a growing interest in a new type of activism, buycotting, that merits a closer look. A clear example is Carrot Mob. Developed under the Virgance wing, Carrotmob is a method of activism that leverages consumer power to make the most socially-responsible business practices also the most profitable choices. The opposite of a boycott, buycotts are organized efforts to deliberately buy from companies whose efforts to improve their business practices, tackle social problems, reduce environmental impacts, are rewarded by customer purchase. While Carrotmob designs and deploys a single day of buying, more and more people are looking for ways to tangibly support the businesses doing good in the world.

Can marketers create this kind of activism?

I don't think so.

The beauty of buycotting is that it works best when it is random, grassroots, amorphous (Carrotmob's business model notwithstanding) and tied to a growing awareness that we "vote" with our wallet. If you begin with the assumption that all of marketing is designed to encourage customers to buy, then buycotting is a natural outgrowth of that. What I like about the activity, as an activist consumer rather than a marketing/communications professional -- is that it helps me continue to be conscious about where I spend my money.

Buycotting expands an individual's point of view. Old marketing and advertising paradigms connected products and services to values and emotions that were individualistic. How does this product make ME feel? What does this product say about ME? How much value do I get if I buy this thing?

The beauty of buycotting is that the underlying assumption is from the WE point of view. How does buying this product tell a company that they are doing better as a global citizen? When I buy this product, am I part of a bigger effort to improve the planet or society? The changes that companies are making are incremental, to be sure, but buycotting is one way that a consumer's has of participating in that incremental change.

The Rise of the Phoenix Economy

2009-08-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Volans , whose tagline is "The Business of Social Innovation," offers a tantalizing view of a new economy using an powerful icon. Forget the bear and the bull, what's coming is the Phoenix.

“A new economic order is rising from the ashes—and a new generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors is accelerating the changes essential for delivering scalable sustainable solutions to the world.”

For those whose business model involves changing the world, take a look at the web site and download the Phoenix Economy report. John Elkington, former SustainAbility founder is a Volans founder. They have written an incredibly rich report, presenting examples and rationales for an economic theory that attempts to map this emerging social innovation business sector.

In my experience, there are few resources for those in the social innovation sector who are trying to rationalize their valuation, forecast success, and establish authentic metrics. This report is a good compendium of fifty corporations and organizations who are beginning to document success and get real traction. It's a thought-provoking assemblage of business models, new company formations, statistics and interviews with those on the forefront of a new economy.

Monitor Institute has issued a similar report, Investing for Social & Environmental Impact, that makes a strong case for the emerging financial market. According to the report,

"Evidence suggests that many thousands of people and institutions around the globe believe our era needs new type of investing. They are already experimenting with it, and many of them continue even in the midst of a financial and credit crisis. That’s why the idea of using profit-seeking investment to generate social and environmental good is moving from a periphery of activist investors to the core of mainstream financial institutions. No one can know for sure how much money has been invested or is seeking investment that generates both social and environmental value as well as financial return. But a good guess is that the total size of the market could be as big as $500 billion within the next decade."

Both groups make the case for an emerging economic sector that will feature not only strong (and responsible) financial returns but a business sector that matches such returns with purpose, people and the planet. What's compelling about both is the rigor that is used to size and set market parameters. It's a part of the momentum at corporations, business schools, legislative bodies, and NGOs to reinvent what success looks like when business takes a broader role in the world.

Can we make goodness a game?

2009-08-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting trend afoot these days. As I set about developing a messaging platform and launch strategy for my client, Boom Boom Revolution, I became aware of a whole world of new games that give people a way to practice random acts of kindness -- using cards, coins, and online tracking.

From Kind Acts and RandomKindActs to the Boom Boom Revolution, entrepreneurs are taking their passion for changing the world and creating an interesting new product category. What struck me about each of them is the blend of altruism and fun that pervades each offering, in very unique and different ways. You can be a social revolutionary or part of a coin-spiracy. You can play or be inspired. But the goal for each is to connect in the real world and then watch that connection ripple out in the world, using an online community.

We are seeing this trend over and over again, the integration of real and virtual lives, communities and activities. As technology visionary and proclaimed long-term thinker, Kevin Kelly, correctly stated a few years ago: "online culture is the culture." We are just now seeing how that is playing out in the convergence of two macro trends: online as culture and goodness as game.

According to Trendwatchers, they see Random Acts of Kindness as a major sub trend in their claim that the overarching global theme for 2009 is “Generosity“ They cite several business programs that randomly give individuals a gift, a nice surprise or an intriguing idea:

• "Leading Chinese e-tailer DangDang gives back to its customers—and encourages their vigilant attention to the site—by randomly assigning one hour a day as “Lucky Time” in which all purchases made within that hour are free of charge. (Tip of the hat to PSFK.com.)

• Wings is a credit card brand owned by Akbank, one of Turkey's largest banks. The card is targeted at frequent travelers, who earn miles as they shop at member restaurants and shops. Wings recently partnered with five upscale restaurants in Istanbul—Ulus 29, Hakkasan, Gilt, Topaz and Beymen Brasserie—to offer a random selection of lucky Wings members a pleasant surprise. After having dinner at one of the restaurants and paying with their Wings card, the customer is notified that Wings will foot the bill.

• Northern-Irish fashion brand ARK (short for Acts of Random Kindness) sells a line of logo-emblazoned shirts for men and women. They ask that each time a customer wears one, they do something kind for someone else – whether it be buying someone a coffee or giving up their seat on the bus. In addition to spreading random acts of kindness, ARK's shirts will no doubt also prove to be conversation starters, providing wearers with status stories to share with family and friends.”

How will this play out? I believe that we will continue to see goodness and kindness emerge as key themes for individuals, businesses and organizations. Of course, it goes without saying that authenticity and no gimmickry are the watchwords here. It's more than just jumping on this bandwagon, but creating experiences where being generous and kind are enough. They aren't a means to an end but the end game itself.

When authentic goodness is present, people will be draw in, the word will spread, the community will expand. And along the way, free coffees and kind words will be tracked, thank you letters and words of gratitude traded.

Sounds like fun to me!

Join Me at Sustainable Brands 09

2009-05-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is the third year I’ve attended Sustainable Brands and, once again, I am looking forward to being among “my people.” In 2007 in New Orleans, I attended the inaugural Sustainable Brands conference and discovered a vibrant community of communicators whose purpose matched my own. I spent three amazing days listening to, talking with, and being inspired by marketing and communications professionals – at some of the biggest brands in the world – talk passionately about their efforts to transform business.

In just ten days I will attend Sustainable Brands 09 in Monterey, this time as an advisor, speaker and PR counselor. Once again, I am confident that I will learn, be challenged, and create connections to the innovators and stalwarts of sustainability. More than 750 of us will gather to share best practices, insights and trends in order to re-imagine products, services and business models so that we can build a sustainable world.

If you're designing, building, analyzing or dreaming innovations in sustainability, SB’09 is the place to be. Join colleagues from Dell, Clorox, Coke, Frog, HP, Interbrand, Steelcase, Frito Lay Sun Chips, Johnson & Johnson, Gap, Starbucks, NASA and many more.

I'll be presenting a breakout session on PR and Transparency, along with Annie Longsworth of Cohn & Wolfe, reviewing media trends with a panel of journalists on Tuesday June 2nd.

Please consider joining me in Monterey. Register now by logging on to www.regonline.com/sb09.

Economy Looks Mixed at Sustainable Industries Forum in San Francisco

2009-05-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday morning at the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum with an inspiring and amazing group of sustainability innovators, beginning with the self-described “radical industrialist,” Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface Global. He came with a clear message for the group of over 500 -- the economic benefits of true sustainability are real, tangible and the truest purpose a business must pursue. I’ve heard Ray speak before and, as always, I leave feeling optimistic and knowing I’ve been educated by one of the smartest business minds today. All this great information is delivered with the most appealing southern drawl and sprinkled with colloquialisms that are somehow comforting. I believe Ray when he says, “if we can do it, anybody can. If anybody can, then it follows that everybody can.”

After Ray’s concise presentation on the various ways in which his petrochemical flooring company in Georgia transformed from a “brown company to a green one,” the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum continued with a discussion between Bob Davis, CEO of Sentilla, Laura Rodormer, division manager of green construction at Swinerton Management & Consulting and Anup Jacob, founding partner of the Virgin Green Fund. Moderated by Gil Friend (from Natural Logic), the panel discussed various ways in which the current economic realities are affecting the building industry, its transparency and tracking, as well as investment decisions.

Government support around the world is the single greatest economic impact on private equity investing decisions, according to Anup Jacob. If early stage companies view government subsidies as integral to their business strategies, they are likely to leave pitch meetings empty-handed. “We see more than three firms a day right now, ”Jacob said. “We are looking for business opportunities that don’t rely on government subsidies.”

Green building has been hit hard by what will be known as The Great Recession, but many are looking at to government intervention as the one bright spot in the current economy. As local and regional governments begin mandating green construction and retrofitting and federal programs will fund such efforts, Laura Rodormer sees the signs of an uptick.

Transparency about the data center is Bob Davis’ key issue as he advises companies in sustainability tracking programs. “When we look at operations and facilities, energy management issues are staggering and overshadow any other concern,” he noted. “Data centers are buildings’ ‘black boxes.’ Only 70 percent of energy that enters a data center actually gets to computers.”

The consensus of the speakers is that progress is being made, innovation is accelerating and the need for change in increasing. Perhaps Ray Anderson said it best, “the status quo is a powerful opiate, so extra commitment and courage are required.”

Kindness and Goodness Inspiration

2009-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

“Do all the good you can
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”
- John Wesley

Junk Email Pollutes

2009-04-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

According to a recent post in Environmental Leader on the energy effects of spam email, we have proof from MacAfee that there is more than just the massive irritation that such emails cause, but a real world effect. What is it about those emails that makes my blood boil? Is is the predatory nature of the copy? the attempt to dupe some unsuspecting reader? the use of hard-luck stories to mislead and engage when the world is full of too many real stories of lost fortunes?

And now we learn that these emails are contributing to the accumulated GHG. "The average GHG emission associated with a single spam message is 0.3 grams of CO2, or the same as driving three feet (one meter. However, when multiplied by the yearly volume of spam, it is equivalent to driving around the earth 1.6 million times."

Thank you MacAfee for the report and giving us all another reason to eliminate spam email. Let's try to stop it at the source rather than at the end point and develop a solution that finds the culprits and prosecutes/deploys laws already on the books.

Launching Your Product Begins with Great Design

2009-04-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

It might be presumptuous for me to talk about great design when my area of expertise is public relations and branding. But I can assure you that launching any product into the marketplace has two basic requirements – a deep understanding of the market/customer needs and a beautifully intuitive response to that need. Right now, I am working with a new company that perfectly demonstrates the value of great design for a shifting market. It begins with a little known fact about electricity usage: 22 percent of all electrical power generated in the world is used for lighting. A quarter of that power is used for exterior lighting, which costs $3.2 billion per year in the U.S. alone.

There’s a market need that can be met with beautiful design. Enter world-renowned sculptor Tom Joyce, and Qnuru is born. Tom Joyce is an artist, designer and blacksmith who forges sculpture, architectural ironwork and public art for projects throughout the United States. For over 30 years he has freely shared his design concepts and working knowledge in lectures presented in Europe, Africa, the US and Canada. His work is in many public collections and has been exhibited in numerous museums internationally including the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Detroit and Minneapolis Institutes of Art, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Boston Museum of Fine Art, the Museum for Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt, the Museum of Applied Arts in Moscow, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

He founded Qnuru with venture accelerator Noribachi because, “We all see that we have a problem in our world and in some ways we’re all implicated. As the creator of functional objects, I have a unique opportunity to express a new realm, to showcase solar technology in a more aesthetically compelling way. This is about toolmakers’ problem-solving.”

Qnuru is a revolutionary solar lighting firm that integrates sophisticated, contemporary lighting design with advanced solar technologies and control systems to create lighting for commercial and residential installations. What Joyce has done is design solar landscape lighting with natural materials, utilizes proprietary, custom-designed power control system, so that the resulting products are completely untethered to the power grid.

When developing the launch strategy for Qnuru, we looked at the various influencers that would be interested in such a solution and the breadth of the horizon becomes quite significant because great design has tapped into the universal need for lighting at night with a broad human response to beauty. Environmental, green, electricity, design, landscape, architecture, sculpture, lighting, homes, public spaces -- all of these industries will be affected by Joyce’s innovation and are interested in how untethered lighting can be deployed to meet the market’s growing need for illumination.

(Photo credit: Nick Merrick-Hedrick Blessing)

Boomers Rebuilding their Lives as Sustainable

2009-04-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

According to a recent report from Natural Marketing Institute, Boomers are feeling the effects of the rec(depr)esssion most keenly and are making life changes that respond to a belief that the downturn will be deeper and longer than experts are saying.

A search for meaning and strong desire to contribute are driving the changes Boomers are making in their lives, according to the research. I see this in my own life and the research mirrors my reality. We are indeed buying fewer things, but making sure that what we buy is of value and will last.

According to NMI, "Four out of five Boomers believe that they have made a positive contribution to society, while a similar number state that balancing home and work life is important in their lives today." We are looking to give back, live smaller and more sustainably and take up our part in solving the crushing problems facing our world and societies today. We are making life and purchase choices based upon a deeper set of criteria. There are certainly many of us whose actions will, once again, set the momentum for cultural norms. It's gratifying to see that so many Boomers are looking for sustainability, meaning and balance.

This is the great opportunity we find in the midst of such turmoil and it is interesting to see how many people are responding with hope, a sense of belonging, and a drive to participate in making things better. While we watch our largest institutions crumble, we are hopeful and energized. Amazing.

Do we really need all this stuff?

2009-03-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

As sustainable design takes hold, there is increased focus on life cycle issues and growing demand that design become a change agent for transforming cultural and business systems. Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, does a brilliant job of explaining how design has become one of the six senses that will thrive in the new world.

But it seems to me, and recent research bears this out, that the first question a designer must ask is, do we need this?

I was chatting the other day with a technology analyst seeking to understand how sustainability will impact the Web 2.0 start-up mentality prevalent in Silicon Valley. My response was to suggest that the first question to ask any entrepreneur or inventor, does this heal or hurt the world? Because when you can marry a beautifully-designed, innovative device or service that ALSO adds to the quality of life, then the market will respond favorably. Rethinking our approach might mean not making that new thing you were thinking of making!

The proof that this trend is real comes from a disparate set of indicators:

• In March 2009, the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) released its annual trends report for 2009 and the overarching theme is “Recalibration.” The report details consumer attitudes and their attempts to reengineer their lives to reflect "comfort, safety, sustainability and moderation."

• Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue upon whom Meryl Streep’s character in “The Devil Wear Prada,” was reportedly based, had this to say in an article in the Wall Street Journal, “…to be honest there's been too much product, too much copy-catting, and, probably too much consumerism. I think a sense of clarity, a sense of leveling off and a sense of reality is needed.” When the diva of fashion is suggesting that less is more and quality is the new fashion dictum, something is happening.

• As I have covered in a previous posting, The Story of Stuff is a remarkable 20-minute video, written and produced by Annie Leonard, that describes how manufacturing and production, seen as a linear process, must be recast as a interdependent cycle. Her premise, that we cannot keep using third world assets and people to provide cheap goods is clearly communicated. It’s interesting to see how this has translated into a movement – in just three months, the audience for The Story of Stuff doubled to 5.5 million views.

• Numerous trend watchers and researchers have studied this emerging mindset. Benjamin Barber, author of Consumed, declares that selling and buying unnecessary stuff is unsustainable. Retail stores are closing, planned expansion of locations have been halted. Retail sales are off.

• The rec(depr)ession is a reaction to an over-heated, over-spending, over-consuming culture. People are shifting toward “under consumption” -- the slow food movement, cocooning as entertaining, localvores, farmers markets, greening of everything, ecological fashion, and others.

Now we know that we don’t need – or want – all this stuff.

(Also published as an Industry Blog at Sustainable Minds)

Leveraging Universal Themes to Build Loyalists

2009-03-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

“I belong.”
“What I do matters.”
“In spite of it all, I am hopeful.”

As our massive institutions stumble and crumble before our very eyes, we are seeing the emergence of new themes that permeate discussions online, in line at Starbucks, on the airwaves and inside our heads. These themes can be guides for product designers and communicators when solidifying plans for the next 12-18 months.

According to Trendwatching.com, there is an increasing requirement that generosity become a dominant driver in both business and social interactions and institutions. Every media outlet reports on massive citizen uproar and consumer rejection of the greed that has pervaded previously trusted companies. Everyone is looking for institutions that are true, that give back, that will be part of the solution. Mix that with the fast-growing online community of individuals who collaborate, donate, spread the word and raise the alarm and you have a powerful new market force. They know their power and they are wielding it, at the voting booth, in online causes, through viral video and even in winning Super Bowl ads.

Tom Watson’s new book, CauseWired, does a great job of delineating the movement of the hyper-engaged. He concentrates on the explosive growth of deeply connected activists who are changing how non-profits and grass root movements work. There are implications for businesses and products here as well. According to Watson, “there is simply no separation between real and virtual…. This new sector relies on open access to information … and an insistence on transparency.”

There are three basic steps for companies seeking to make authentic connections between their companies/products and target customers

Step One: Go back to the beginning and re-commit to the company or product’s initial purpose. Not its market promise or best feature but the highest customer benefit. There is the key to how to connect authentically. Is your product designed to support individual health? Make life easier? Save time or energy? Dig below the surface to get at the underlying value -- compassion, justice, courage, respect, humanity, empowerment, integrity, holism, broader good, responsibility, excellence.

Step Two: Look out into the broader world context and seek organizations, groups, causes, or programs that are targeting the same core value. There are bound to be ways that your product or company can participate in these efforts. I am not necessarily talking about donating a portion of the proceeds, although that might be helpful. Rather, I suggest that you apposition your company or product in the context of a greater purpose. Recently, I spoke with a company that is designing an in–home water filtration system. They have also designed a backpack version for third world countries which they will donate, one for one, for every home system they sell. Same product design, two very different environments, but they’re gaining greater leverage by serving a greater good.

Step Three: Get the word out online. Bloggers, online news sites, cause groups, Twitter, Flickr, and the proliferation of new social media sites are key to building community for your effort. You’ll find that a great deal of positive altruistic energy is focused online today.

And bear this in mind: products, marketing campaigns, company announcements must authentically reflect the principles, meaning, and purpose inside companies. Those that have neither a core ethos, nor the courage to claim it, will fail in the new world that is rapidly being created out of the shambles of this one. Align with your customers in co-creating a world that is built on belonging, doing and hope.

Reprinted from Sustainable Minds Industry Experts
(photo credit: Sergio Hayashi - Fotolia.com)

Boom Boom Cards for Random Acts of Kindness Day

2009-02-17T15:58:00.001-08:00

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day, at least that's what several web sites have said, as I look all over for evidence that kindness and goodness are growing. Full disclosure, Boom Boom cards and the Boom Boom Revolution are a client. Let's face it, a social innovation company that has the audacious intention to transform the world one purposeful act at a time, is a perfect fit for a communications agency that seeks to inspire goodness in a sustainable world!

But all that aside, I play the Boom Boom cards because they are a terrific way to reach out and connect with the people whose presence in our lives often goes unnoticed or unappreciated.

Mary Beth Campbell is the kind of visionary we need in the world. She just launched Boom Boom Revolution, empowering people to be intentionally altruistic every day, with a deck of dynamic, motivational action cards and an interactive online network. The Boom Boom cards encourage people to reach out to each other with the spirit of generosity--thanking a mentor, buying a stranger a cup of coffee, picking up litter, offering genuine compliments or holding the door open for others--all actions that are then played forward.

The online social networking component builds community with comments, shared experiences, a global tracking map, video and photo posts and, very soon, the ability to donate a portion of the cards to a designated charity.

“Like a boomerang, we believe that whatever thoughts, actions and words you put out into the world will eventually find their way back to you, but not before covering a lot of ground a long the way,” Mary Beth says. “The quickest and simplest way to communicate that karmic notion is by saying, ‘Boom Boom!’ You get back what you give.”

Join their Facebook group
Track them on twitter, @boomboomcards.com
Or buy the cards and join the revolution!

What I Have Learned So Far

2009-02-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

A poem by Mary Oliver

Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I
not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside,
looking into the shining world? Because, properly
attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion.
Can one be passionate about the just, the
ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit
to no labor in its cause? I don't think so.

All summations have a beginning, all effect has a
story, all kindness begins with the sown seed.
Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of
light is the crossroads of -- indolence, or action.

Be ignited, or be gone.

Cooperate and Compete

2009-01-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

A pioneer in sustainability, the late environmental scientist Donella Meadows, founded the Sustainability Institute and has written some of the most prescient thinking on how this great transformation will -- and must -- happen.

We are moving from a competitive world to a collaborative community. We are beginning to recognize the we, every person and every country, are inextricably intertwined with the planet and competing for perceived scarce resources is not really how nature works.

Here's some of what she wrote:
"The Earth says, compete, yes, but keep your competition in bounds. Take only what you need. Leave your competition enough to live. Whenever possible, don't compete, cooperate. Pollinate each other, build firm structures that lift smaller species to the light. Pass around the nutrients."

I am amazed at her gift for simplifying complex concepts into language that is accessible and inspirational.

As we look ahead at redesigning everything, nature and its laws are our guides. From the precepts of biomimicry in product design (can we develop structural material as strong as spider web?) to the systems thinking required to re- engineer our economic system advocated in Slow Money by Woody Tasch, a nature-based capitalism and economy are the most sustainable and realistic.

Creating New Corporations

2009-01-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

The economic reality that everyone is now facing is the necessary dismantling of a flawed system that allowed for the egregious over-valuation of houses, bundled mortgages, re-financed debt portfolios. Now is the time for us to build a new reality, one based upon a new ethos of good economics and the new politics of optimism.

This will require alternatives to current corporate structures. I just finished reading a wonderful paper submitted by Susan Mac Cormac, a partner at Morrison | Foerster, entitled "The Emergence of New Corporate Forms," submitted at the 2007 Summit on the Future of the Corporation. Her premise is that the rigid divisions between for-profit and non-profit will no longer work in the new economy because companies and organizations are waking up to need and benefit of combined prosperity/social missions endeavors.

I couldn't agree more.

An example given, of the new Minnesota Socially Responsible Corporation, describes legislation that allows companies to create a corporate structure that integrates "financial success and social responsibility." This bill, introduced in 2007, is another indication that many disciplines and industries, including legal, taxes, corporate designations like B Corporation, and sustainable brands, are all participating in a new reality that is more than a fad, a trend.

Companies -- whether early stage or established -- that adopt a sustainability focus and match economic prosperity/shareholder value with social responsibility and environmental nurturing will be at the forefront of the new Good Economy.

A sustainability focus helps companies give customers better products that can lead to a better life. When all of us are stretched thin and trying to absorb the reality of our failing systems, the time is right for companies to join the effort by acknowledging their responsibility and opportunity.

What business wouldn't want to create a more profitable and innovative enterprise, all while building stronger relationships with customers, employees, communities and even shareholders?

That's the Good Economy we can all nurture, grow and celebrate.

Leaders Are Showing Up

2008-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

My dinner conversation last night following the close of Sustainable Brands International with Bob Isherwood, former Saatchi & Saatchi creative director responsible for the Prius launch campaign, Annie Longsworth of Cohn & Wolfe, and Steve Cook, former Samsung CMO, was a delightful exploration of how to take our years of experience and talent to accelerate the integration of a new, good mindset deeply into corporations.

We all agreed that the rapid change we are watching is driven by a rising social consciousness while entire industries are falling down.

Everywhere are serendipitous moments of the right people meeting and creating change, new leaders stepping up and seizing the moments in front of them to get involved. It will also take a new way of collaborating that incorporates levels of complexity heretofore unseen, something Steve is committed to sorting out for his clients. Communication will be an integral part of the strategic development of such complex community building, as Annie sees it, and must be a factor in accelerating the transformation we need in so many businesses.

Bob’s details about his Alaskan water purification project, highlighted in his keynote that morning, were amazing. He and his wife are helping bring a system to a small village that must melt ice in order to secure drinking and washing water. First, to realize that clean water is a real problem in an area that is essentially covered in frozen water was a revelation to me. But the challenges facing Bob and his team are daunting – village politics, cultural traditions, bureaucratic inertia.

His anecdote of one day’s journey from a morning conference room to an evening dining room is nothing short of magical. In twleve short hours he interacted with an intractable politico, used a 13 month old issue of the Muckluck Times to learn about a new NGO director, gained assistance from a helpful receptionist, and ended the day in a private dinner with the very health, water and tribe affairs leaders who can now align with Bob to create a large scale solution.

I admire his constant willingness to walk through each door that opened in front of him that day.

Your Brand of Good

2008-12-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

My presentation yesterday at Sustainable Brands International, “Uncovering Your Unique Brand of Good,” (created in collaboration with Cheryl Heller of Heller Communications Design) gave me a change to meet marketing professionals and sustainability executives who are looking for an authentic way to recreate brands. The old promises that companies could make – quality, price, breadth of line – these old “religions” that businesses were built on are no longer enough. By themselves, they’re not sustainable. So, if it’s not going to any one of these previously acceptable purposes, what will make you matter is the question we explored.

First, take stock of where you really are and an honest measure of what is truly sustainable inside operation in accessible clear way. Be clear about the challenges, recognizing that, per Peter Senge, “the tension of where you are and where you want to go gives you the energy to get to where you need to be.”

Good brands today are created, communicated, supported and transformed by the shared efforts of agencies, CMOs and every stakeholder inside and outside the company. Such a web of influence, communication and collaboration are the hallmark of sustainable brands.

To create a good brand, the head of business must now be connected to the heart of those in the business. Companies are filed with good people making smart decisions that benefit stakeholders other than investors. Supply decisions that honor local communities, smart packaging that reduces waste, product design with end of life strategy happen everyday inside companies.

Founding stories and company lore are other areas that can be mined for the rich texture inside a good brand. We have the business story, find the human story and link that to the good actions today – these are the ingredients for a sustainable company’s brand.

Today’s definition of brand promise -- The commitment that a business makes to each of the people who interact with it. It’s a promise that defines what is unique about the company, and what people will get for their money and their time, whether they are a customer, partner, investor or employee.

Four step process to finding your own brand of goodness
1. Dig deep – into your own company legacy
2. Cast wide – into the current world market for relevance
3. Weave systems – that link operational silos
4. Tell stories – to create loyalists

Wisdom

2008-12-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

wisdom

I just watched an amazing short film by Andrew Zuckerman. The project, a film and a book as well as the web site, is created as a archive of the spoken word of our elders. From Archbishop Tutu to Graham Nash, from Frank Gehry to Madeline Albright, this is a remarkable a gathering of advice, insights, admonitions to guide us as we navigate our way through these challenging times. I am grateful to these elders and their willingness to pause and reflect on what they know for sure --and then to share it.

Creating your own brand of goodness

2008-11-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

Five questions hold the key to authentic sustainable brands. They seem simple enough, but digging deep into a company’s mission and values gives us what we need to develop and drive a sustainability strategy that is rooted in reality while aspiring to goodness.

When we get together for our breakout session "Creating Your Own Brand of Goodness" at SBi on Thursday, 4:00pm, we will take two attendees and conduct a live assessment and brand analysis, using a market-proven process.

Companies are full of transformational moments and people who put goodness first as part of their business strategy. Connecting these to market imperatives, product innovation, business realities and stakeholders is the way to create and communicate an authentic, purposeful brand.

Interested in having your company featured at our Uncovering Your Unique Brand of Good session?

Just email me the answers to these questions….

What is your company mission?
What are the company’s core values?
What products/services are you selling?
What markets are you serving?
What are you doing about sustainability?

We'll choose the most interesting case to work with in our session!

Sandy Skees, Communications 4 Good: sandy@communications4good.com OR
Cheryl Heller, Heller Communications Design:
cheller@hellercd.com

Green for All

2008-11-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

My first introduction to Van Jones was at a Pachamama Alliance Awakening the Dreamer Symposium a year ago. Watching a video interview of him, hearing his commitment to social justice AND the environment changed my point of view and shaped the language I use to frame and understand sustainability. His organization, Green for All is a remarkable grassroots organization that has already linked its future to the world we all can now see taking shape.

One program that I am particularly interested in is ShoreBank's campaign. After watching the world's biggest (and "best!?!") banks implode, I have begun thinking there must be a different solution. Here's a way to try a different, more locally focused and sustainable solution.

ShoreBank will make a $25 donation to Green For All for each person that funds a ShoreBankDirect Online High Yield Savings Account through the end of November. Here's what Green for All says:

At Green For All, we know that the extraordinary task of building an inclusive green economy will require a broad and powerful range of allies and partners. Our elected leaders and the public sector, climate change and social justice activists, venture capitalists and businesses, and many more will have roles to play in this transformation from a pollution-based economy to an economy that it is good for both people and the planet.

ShoreBank has a lead on all of us when it comes to a sustainability story -- they have been protecting the environment, building community and providing a social and financial return on investment for over 35 years. The bank’s motto is "Let’s Change the World," and they make loans that strengthen communities and preserve the environment.

Business' Purpose Must be Sustainable

2008-11-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

Professor Vogel of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business states in a recent Forbes.com article that corporate social responsibility does not ensure that a business will be more profitable. He states that, in spite of the clamor for business to make CSR a business imperative, the data suggests that such attention to the environment and humanity does not mean greater profits.

Ray Anderson of InterFace makes a compelling response in his recent post at Sustainable Life Media when he suggests that Milton Friedman was wrong. I have believed this for some time now. The current economic crisis is a natural and logical consequence to the untrammeled risk and excess we have experienced. It is the necessary dismantling of a flawed system and the beginning to creating a new way of doing business -- with a higher purpose,

Ray describes how the two are intertwined:

"How about concern for the common good as a higher purpose? How does the common good relate to sustainability? The answer is, in countless ways. A big, profitable factory that spews toxic chemicals into the biosphere is pretty much the same as a big profitable investment bank that spews toxic mortgages into the global financial community. Each of them can show a healthy balance sheet for a while, but the bill always comes due in the end."

The question of our times was framed by Buckminster Fuller more than 25 years ago, "How do we make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?"

The answer is sustainability. Not "green" anything. Not corporate social responsibility.

Sustainability.

Blog Action Day 2008

2008-10-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

The theme for today's Blog Action Day is poverty, a prescient topic given the economic meltdown and the reality that many more people are facing poverty. Lose a job, watch savings evaporate, foreclose on your home -- these are the first milestones to new poverty. Those with safety nets of family, friends, a place to live, are the lucky ones. On NPR yesterday, a story described the struggle Boston agencies are having with increased demand. Massachusetts has a law that requires sheltering every homeless person and they are already overwhelmed with new families and individuals who are entering the system for the first time.

Over the last week, I watched "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Wall Street" and was struck by how little we have changed, how a pattern of systemically enabled greed destroys lives and hope. In the Sunday New York Times, Thomas Friedman postulates that markets are "propelled by fear and greed." These immutable forces were compared to the laws of chemistry, biology and physics that govern Mother Nature. He asserts that these driving forces, whether for weather or economics, are immune to spin, to bribes, to sweet talk and cannot be ignored. Mother Nature will do what she is going to do, Friedman says, and so will markets.

But are there other forces besides greed and fear that can move markets, can motivate people? What happened to the belief that people are motivated by fear or love? Can love be a market force? Can it prevent or solve poverty?

It is time for each of us to accept the reality that we are our brothers/sisters' keeper. I believe that we are all required to extend a hand, however small, to someone else. and, this goes beyond doing what we think we can do, it must be doing what is asked of us. This is an important and subtle distinction. It is one thing to give what we have that's leftover after we take care of ourselves and our families. It is another thing to first, really see a person in need, then stop to actively listen to what THEY say they need in their lives. Only then can we meet their need in a way that respects both of us.

So, I challenge each of us to begin looking around at those we meet, talk to, interact with to truly see need and respond with quiet, open hands and hearts.

Shared by All

2008-09-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Community and communications share the Latin root - communis, "in common, public, general, shared by all or many."

This permeates my views about my profession these days. Shared by all. That's how we should view this earth, people, our resources, our efforts. It's no longer "me." It must become "we." Communications then becomes the effort to get a shared view about sharing. Caring about more that just my profits, my customers, my returns. Those matter, yes, but in context of the greater community.

Community is the Answer

2008-09-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."

In quoting this African proverb at yesterday's West Coast Green keynote, Al Gore summed up for a Civic Center audience of more than 10,000, the theme that resonated throughout the conference. Jerry Brown opened the morning with his enthusiastic call to change the world together. He exhorted us to be "deviants" together, unafraid to challenge the centralized institutions whose premises are proving unwieldy and that are failing under the weight of their own inability to care for the environment and people.

I see the pattern in every conversation, presentation, speech, debate or client problem within my life. We cannot do this alone. In fact, the problems are so big and the prospect of failure so daunting that it is tempting to be frozen by it all. To feel too small. But we are all pioneers in re-imagining and rebuilding our world.

Michelle Kaufman, an amazing visionary in beautiful prefabricated green homes led a panel discussion yesterday with her friends Sim Van der Ryn, pioneering ecological architect, David Gottfried, the co-founder of USGBC and a self-avowed reforming developer, along with Bill Reed, city planner and president of Interactive Design Collaborative. Each of them talked freely about their life's work, the challenge of balance, the search for connection and the need for each project, task, thought to add up to purposeful creation of community, of wholeness.

It's clear to me that the fragmentation of our world is in the process of being healed. Slowly, people are reaching out to each other, are looking around for others who see the same truth -- that connections and community are the stronger reality. The energy and sense of rebirth was palpable at West Coast Green. We are part of something amazing that is beginning to get traction in our world.

2008-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

I am finding that social media like Twitter is most useful to me as a way to keep tabs on the pop culture I'm interested in (food, green, politics), technology or sustainability announcements, interesting speakers at conferences I can't attend, and musings from people whose backgrounds (judging from their profiles and postings) are both similar and very different from mine. Their thoughts and updates, many times, are an eerie mirroring of a nebulous sense of mine -- they just articulate it with more alacrity, wit and pithiness than I do!

culture and communication

2008-09-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

For sustainability to be understood, we need to see that culture and communications are intertwined in a system with brand and operations. No one dimension of a business can be viewed, changed, expanded, reduced, elevated to a higher vision or be forced to succumb to market forces without effecting all other aspects. In systems thinking and its biomimicry foundation, we can look organizations within ecosystems to best understand behaviors, patterns and predict outcomes. That works when examining organisms, but how to extract meaning and purpose FOR a company, FROM a company? There must be a serious of answers to astute questions, milestone events, significant people or products that shape an organization and set in place an underlying meaning and purpose that can inform future decisions.

All of this, once extracted from under the surface, can be used by a company to define its goodness, to form its narrative, to help guide decisions that impact materials sourcing and supply chain decisions, that inform labor practices and personnel decisions, that shape product design decisions and set market expansion in motion.

The challenge for brand builders and communicators is to bring these heretofore unspoken patterns to the surface so they can drive business intentions.

A new language to drive change

2008-08-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Green is part of the bigger sustainability shift that companies are facing today. 86% of consumers now say that companies must stand for something other than profitability, proving that there is a groundswell of requirement from customers and employees for companies to be part of a better-world solution. This will not go away. What will end is the generic "green talk" that pervades the marketplace today. A new vernacular for describing how companies -- in alliance with NGOs and governments -- are meeting health and service needs, exceeding governance requirements, and innovating product design and brand relevance is required. And THAT is the perfect place for PR professionals, with their sophisticated understanding of interrelated stakeholder needs, to play. Sustainability is an innovation driver in new green/clean technology, in creative business models like for-benefit companies, and in customer experiences that meet growing demand for a sustainable lifestyle. These are exciting times.

Goodness speaks

2008-08-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

In a simply profound / profoundly simple way, I have connected my head and my heart. This affects every dimension of my life. I realized that I could no longer peddle products (as I had been doing for 20 years) but I need to promote passion, ideas and solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. So, I left my job as a partner at a global public relations agency, leading a team of over 200 in product PR for a Fortune 50 technology company, to start Communications4Good.

Creative capitalism, triple bottom line, and sustainability are all answers to the world’s hunger for meaning. My search for meaning was part of a greater awakening that is happening everywhere. I see it in Time Magazine and the Harvard School of Business. It’s at eBay and Wal-mart. Kiva and EcoFabulous.

I believe profound change is underway in humanity. The world is suffering from a gluttonous exploitation of the planet’s bounty and we are finally waking up to an excess hangover.

Humanity’s response to that over-indulgence is the current resurgence of the quiet whisper of heart. Beginning small, over and over in the world, we are hearing the voice of the world’s heart, heard in the voices of people, organizations, and even corporations who are saying – enough -- I need to find meaning and purpose, I need to be doing good.

That voice, that steady and growing drumbeat of change is the space in which I want to spend my talents and life’s work now.

So I have created Communications4Good, a public relations agency focused on creating a language of goodness that gives business a way to create, talk about, share, motivate and implement change in the world that values people, respects planetary resources and fosters prosperity.

This will become a language that is as pervasive and recognized as the financial dimension we all understand so well. I am working to unlock the goodness inside of business through the power of language, stories, and communication.

People are confused and hungry for more/different information. In spite of what many think is a cascade of news, claims and ads, the average person feels unclear about what’s being done and what s/he can do to help.

I now have the space and the tools for discovering and creating strategic stories that build consensus, energize enthusiasm, establish credibility, create connections and drive true collaboration between a company and its stakeholders in order to create goodness in the world.

"Lost" a poem by David Wagoner

2008-07-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

David Wagoner is an award-winning poet and novelist.

Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.

Career changes4Good

2008-07-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today's news that P&G's renowned Global Marketing Officer Jim Stengel is stepping down to pursue other interests was explained this way by a P&G spokeswoman, "One personal goal that he's yet to achieve, that he now wants to focus all his personal efforts against, is he has a very personal passion to influence all marketers to embrace the power of marketing as a positive force in the world. He now wants to focus 100% on that, and feels the time is right to do that."

According to AdAge, this news comes just one month after Stengel reached the pinnacle of his professional career by the awarding of "Advertiser of the Year" honors at the International Advertising Festival .

Another successful leader exits business-as-we-know it to take a different path.

Another whose career change 4good made the news is John Doerr at Kleiner Perkins. Alright, so he hasn't exactly changed jobs, but he has fundamentally shifted his focus and energy on those ventures that will solve some of the world's most pressing problems (see the latest Fortune).

Two high profile people who see the need to focus their greatest talents as a positive force in the world. Now that's change4good!

Does PR have a role in sustainability?

2008-06-25T15:11:00.000-07:00

When you look at the recent writings about sustainability, all pundits clearly state the importance of communication as a key component to the successful development, implementation and reporting of sustainability. But, let's take a step back and make sure we all use the same definition of sustainability -- as I believe it is different from corporate social responsibility (CSR). Sustainability is the systemic approach to programs that enhance social and environmental outcomes while building financial value for a company. This is more than compliance, philanthropy or other programs that measure a company's influence on select publics, as I see CSR.

Sustainability includes the business, environmental and social impact goals that a company sets for itself. It also includes the structures, systems, processes, decisions and metrics that must then be interwoven throughout every dimension of a company. All of business then becomes sustainable -- every decision must take into account social and environmental impacts in addition to the financial performance. Balancing company resources, determining asset allocation and prioritizing are seen through a new lens.

So how does this include public relations?

I see a troubling trend that tries to separate true sustainability from "charitable donations or public relations," thereby relegating PR to fluff or disingenuous behaviors. This is not the true use of the term nor a complete and accurate view of the profession.

According to Wikipedia, "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations).

Given this definition, PR is not just posturing and positioning. It is the two-way conversation an organization needs to have with all its stakeholders as it goes about its sustainable business. Good communications, listening, feedback loops are all components of public relations and have a critical component to play in the sustainability market.

Sustainability in Spite of Recession

2008-06-10T17:26:00.000-07:00

Sustainability is a key business driver, even as talk of recession looms and people are challenged with rising gas and food prices. Following last week's Sustainable Brands '08 conference, with speakers from top consumer and B2B brands like GAP, Yahoo, Johnson Controls, New Belgium Brewing, Dow Chemical and others, I am more convinced than ever that sustainability is the engine that will energize innovation and change our industrial complex over the next 25 years. From every company, we heard that the interplay between environmental stewardship and social justice is the critical component to business success. Every company discussed multiple bottom lines that are determining decisions and informing product design, policy decisions and company initiatives.

According to Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, speaking recently at the IGD Global Retailing conference in London, retailers must not back away from sustainability during the looming (already here?) recession.

“Sustainability is about making your business future-proof. There is a massive transformation taking place and we urgently need to use the world's scarce resources carefully,” she says.

2008-06-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

The pre-conference workshops begin today and I started the morning attending Cheryl Heller's session on Design your Sustainable Brand: a Workshop in the Creative Process. She demonstrated, through all of our team work, that sustainability will not be a bolt-on attribute to a company's offering, but a systemic commitment that a brand makes to its stakeholder, one that impacts every dimension within a company.

A great start to a remarkable, sold-out conference. Over 550 people are gathering in Monterey and the energy is palpable as people buzz about sustainability versus green, people and social issues, credibility and transparancy, great product design and effective take-back programs. Communications4Good is launching a client, Sustainable Minds LLC at the conference. introducing a software suite for ecologically sustainable product design using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in a collaborative workspace. The on-demand service gives organizations sustainability knowledge and tools for rapid, iterative assessment of greener product concepts in early stages of design.

Sustainability measurement

2008-05-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

How do we talk about sustainability in a shared language of business that everyone understands? Triple bottom line reporting of a business's financial, social and environmental performance is under development by organizations such as the Center for Sustainabile Innovation (CSI). I've been working with executive director, Mark McElroy, as part of my involvement with the upcoming Sustainable Brands 08 conference, and believe their work on social footprint measurement to be at the forefront of sustainability measurement -- as opposed to ecological tracking.

Check out this radio interview with Mark on "Tomorrow Matters" as Deborah Lindsay discusses the work CSI is doing in more than just environmental measurement

More ways for individuals to get active

2008-05-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

A noticeable trend is the increase in individual commitment and participation in actions. The launch of the beta Creative Citizen site plays to this growing interest. It allows people to create, share and adopt creative solution for living more sustainably lives. It's a wiki that allows the community to track and manage its impact in the local and global community. it will be interesting to see if this helps connect previously disparate people and actions into a growing adoption of smart ideas. So far, the posted ideas are simple and well known -- reusable grocery bags, stop buying bottled water, etc. I'll keep checking to see if there are new practices posted that go beyond what most people already know to do. An interesting section to add will be how to affect change in the workplace...

Reusing is the next big thing

2008-05-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

In the Sunday Chicago Tribune, an article on clearing clutter and reducing consumption caught my attention. The story of Tamme Winsinki and her change in purchasing habits typifies what I am seeing as a major trend. She lost her job in January and is now down sizing, de-cluttering and rethinking her consumption habits. She states that, even when reemployed, she has no intention of going back to her old buying habits. There are numerous trend watchers and researchers who have studied this emerging mindset. Benjamin Barber, author of Consumed, has outlined his view that selling and buying unnecessary stuff is unsustainable. Retail stores are closing, planned expansion of Starbucks locations have been halted. Retail sales are off. Are these linked? I believe that they are the harbingers of a shift in attitude and behaviors.

The slowing economy is not simply the effect of high gas and food prices and talk of recession. It's subtle, but I believe in someway, the slowdown is a reaction to an over-heated over-spending, over consuming culture. Let's look at the trend markers that add up to a greater shift -- the slow food movement, cocooning as entertaining, localvores, farmers markets, greening of everything, ecological fashion, and others.

The buzz is not just about recycling, but reusing and reducing as the next trend wave.

Businesses must find ways to enlarge this cycle of reused materials by seeing how early in their supply chain they can introduce another industry's by-product (as long as all other safety and financial requirements are met).

People are beginning to reuse in their personal lives and are hearing the truth about where the greatest waste is being created -- industry. Look for an increased interest in how sourcing of original material is being handled as a green topic in the near future.

2008-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

The Story of Stuff is a remarkable 20 minute video, written and produced by Annie Leonard, that describes how manufacturing and production, seen as a linear process, must be recast as a interdependent cycle. Her premise, that we cannot keep using third world assets and people to provide cheap goods is clearly communicated. Interesting to see how this has translated into a movement -- over 2 million views of the video, awards and a continued presence on the web around these issues, demonstrates the power of viral communication and one person's passion.

Green Dimes

2008-05-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

The contents delivered to my mailbox are shrinking everyday, thanks to GreenDimes.

Who knew that a simple to use web site could be such a beautiful thing? Here's a tip for how to use it. When you get your mail each day, tear off the covers of the countless catlaogs you recieve and start a pile near your computer. Then, sit down once a week, log onto GreenDimes and type in the titles to your list. I am amazed at how many different versions of my name, and those in my household, are used to keep sending catalogs and junk mail. Since joining 5 months ago, I have seen my mail cut in half.

Now if I could stop the endless credit card offers.....

What is sustainable business?

2008-05-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

I met with a colleague who heads global consumer public relations for an international software company. Her job takes her to all parts of the world and is focused on creating a relationship between consumers who have a arm’s length distance with the software loaded on their computer. But she begins to hear the sustainability drum beat – from her CEO who heads the company’s green initiative to consumer questions about packing waste. We agreed that helping shape the conversation throughout every dimension of the company is a daunting challenge.

As I work with companies, I am curious about how this change is being talked about internally, what challenges and obstacles are they facing and where the impetus/passion for change is coming, internal and/or external?

- Does your company have any sustainability or green initiatives as a part of their strategic business objectives? What is your understanding of sustainability: Green, eco, triple bottom line, CSR and other terms and programs exist in corporations and are overused and mis-used.
- Are these initiatives internally focused (i.e. using recycled materials or lowering energy consumption) or is it externally focused (i.e. producing products to sell) that will have an eco/green or sustainable dimension to it?
- If it is external, what are the objectives and/or how do you define success?
- What are the major obstacles/hurdles to achieving those objectives?
- Do you currently feel you have the right insights to help guide your decisions to achieve your objectives?

What I see is a rapidly changing conversation that has many layers. It is bubbling up from employees and the HR department, from consumers and the brand/PR people, from product development and supply chain, and from investor relations and financial/fund inquiries.

I see sustainability as a new market, a new industry. It is different from CSR in that it must encompass marketing and brand issues at its core. Corporate social responsibility is a critical component to sustainability, but for a company to embrace and become sustainable, its products, services, partnerships and community interactions must be integrated with its compliance, philanthropic and government relations efforts in a seamlessly intertwined way.

Sustainability is game-changing -- it is an organic, whole cloth way of looking at the world. It replaces our sense of business as a separate system, a linear process, for making products and profits. It includes conscious consumption, climate change, energy creation and consumption, local economies, food politics, human rights, labor practices, new market opportunities, efficiencies, wealth creation, hunger abatement.

Intertwined and interdependent.

New connections and synergies that will foster creativity and connection and lead to business practices that consciously and deliberately merge and balance the myriad needs of many stakeholders. A transformative era - the We Age.

A favorite quote...

2008-05-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

“I don't believe ethical behaviour should depend on its paying. To suggest that doing right needs to be justified by its economic reward is amoral, a self-inflicted wound hugely damaging to corporate reputation... Doing right because it is right, not because it pays, needs to be the foundation of business. If we are to preserve the most effective mechanism the world has known for the provision of goods and services—that is the market economy with the public limited company its main instrument—then it has to be underpinned by principle. Financial failure can destroy individual companies. Moral failure will destroy capitalism."

Sir Geoffrey Chandler,
Former Senior Executive, Royal Dutch/Shell,
and Founder-Chair Amnesty Int'l UK Business Group

Hybrid to plug-in

2008-05-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

As I work with Silicon Valley Leadership Group's OurPower Project, aimed at getting 100 hybrids converted to plug-ins, I have been paying attention to the mileage I get on my Prius hybrid, recent videos on how conversion gets done, and talking with friends who already own electric cars. The best thing I've seen is the new Aptera car.

What a beautiful, streamlined two seater. It comes in either hybrid or plug-in only and represents how innovative thinking can change everything we assume. I'm ordering my today.

The Color of Sustainability

2008-05-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

First, green was the new black, now blue is the new green. Back in February, JWT released a look at 2008 trends that predicted blue as the new symbolic color. The move from green to blue works only if we broaden the discussion to include more than environmental impact by embracing concern for communities balanced against economic well-being. Once the inter-locking concerns of multiple stakeholders get the attention of corporations, NGOs and governments on a consistent basis will we see blue really taking hold.

Changing view of corporations

2008-05-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

When we look at the trends in corporate social responsibility, we are looking at the migration of corporations from institutions to organizations of people. Let’s not forget that corporations, those faceless entities, are simply groups of people trying to hold down a job, make a profit, do good work. Where it goes wrong is when financial measurement becomes the only unit of assessing value and success.

What if, like the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, companies began measuring the happiness of its employees or it customers? Or, if we were able to create a new unit of measure, that was recognized around the world, that demonstrated a positive impact on the world? These questions are at the heart of sustainability and form a basis for conversations among executives, brand managers, product designers, philanthropists, employees, investors, customers and the greater world.

According to a New York Times article, “Bhutan, the king said, needed to ensure that prosperity was shared across society and that it was balanced against preserving cultural traditions, protecting the environment and maintaining a responsive government. The king, now 49, has been instituting policies aimed at accomplishing these goals. Now Bhutan's example, while still a work in progress, is serving as a catalyst for far broader discussions of national well-being.”

These are innovative concepts that have relevance in today’s corporate world. As the groundswell of goodness takes root across certain market segments (Gen Yers and LOHAS), how does this translate into our understanding of what corporations are and what they are to contribute to this world?