Building transparency builds trust

/in , /by

“Trust your people.  No matter what happens. When you give trust you get trust.” -Howard Behar, Former President, Starbucks

Howard said it referencing internal transparency, but of course he was standing on the shoulders of giants before him who said it many times over about the importance of honesty among colleagues.  What happens when you build trust and transparency in the marketplace as well?  Now, possibly more than ever in free trade commerce, consumers are asking discriminating questions about the source and visibility of the product chain.  A couple years ago Michael Pollen’s Omnivore’s Dilemma was one of many shots over the bow of comestible providers to say out loud that not only should food providers be more transparent in their sourcing and growing process, but that the consequences were market loss due to loss of trust.  Apply that principle to your t-shirts, or XBoxes, or even consulting or intellectual efforts – the market has a heightened bullshit detector and it has become increasingly difficult to hide as a provider.  If you have been able to stomach watching Food Inc., you’ll walk away with another insight altogether.

The Organic Exchange, with Historic Futures, has pioneered a track and trace program which validates the materials sourcing process to assert to the market that the end product has integrity.  The key idea is that, while providers do not “own” their supply chain per se, they must be accountable in building value along the way, and are ultimately accountable to the consumer that their product created value at all points along the chain.  Wouldn’t you feel better knowing your killer flash new sneakes weren’t stiched by child labor?  In this interview, David Bennell, Executive Director of Organic Exchange explains what this is all about.

The Great Convergence! Cornell Global Forum June 1-3 NYC

/in , , /by

Last week we had the opportunity to spend three intense days filming and working with delegates at the Cornell Global Forum on Sustainability.  Representatives from Google, Intel, GE Healthcare, Cascade Engineering and many more, converged on NYC for three days dedicated to understanding the immense opportunities at the Base of the Pyramid, and to participate in closed working sessions to build disruptive innovations aimed at creating products and services to serve the BoP and build sustainable business models for global multinationals.

The concept is this: While there are nearly 7 billion people on the planet, historically business has created products and services catering to the very top of that pyramid – the wealthy communities and populations.  And the “Base of the Pyramid” has been largely relegated to unsustainable philanthropic activities.  While charitable donations and efforts from first world nations to aid emerging nations certainly has a welcome and important role to play, the challenge and fantastic opportunity available to both corporations and entrepreneurs, is to build effective, inexpensive services and products which both serve the BoP and unapologetically make profits for leading innovative groups.  For example, hand held cheap and readily scalable water purification systems selling for as little as $50 can purify local water sources and remedy dysentery and water-borne illnesses that incapacitate millions around the world.  Such a simple purification device can be built and deployed in markets of need numbering in the millions, even billions.  This simple device can then be improved and innovated up the pyramid long before (for example) a full-scale cost-intensive desalination plant is required.  Of course a full blown desalination plant and requisite distribution system is both expensive and requiring immense infrastructure to deliver the needed clean water.  Think of it!  Instead of competing for the narrowing markets at the top of the global population pyramid, companies and entrepreneurs can address the needs of immense markets.

While at the conference, we had the privilege to conduct video interviews with the leading environmental engagement and sustainability practitioners from Google, SC Johnson, Whirlpool and others.  Our interviews were conducted by David Bennell, Executive Director of the Organic Exchange.  And the entire event culminated at the 92nd Street Y in a panel discussion with Fisk Johnson, CEO of SC Johnson, Stuart Hart, Vice President Al Gore, Ratan Tata, and hosted by Charlie Rose.

During the course of the conference we filmed the proceedings and built a real-time video narrative to capture the intent and ideas generated.  Enjoy!

Create a legacy

/in /by

I witnessed some wonderful things this weekend, including my six and eight-year olds out-maneuvering me through double-black glades and sheer-pitch head-walls while I take up the rear.  I swear, youth can’t be found in a pill or a bottle but by chasing single-digit kids through five gnarly peaks for two days.  Glorious indeed.

But what I want to translate is this:  We spent the weekend skiing with a friend Erich and his two boys 7 and 9.  Erich is a long-time ski patroller at Sunday River and well-connected to the ski community there and the mountain.  He was off-duty sharing his weekend with us, but responded immediately after we watched a woman crater into the snow before our eyes (later down on a sled).  And then within 45 minutes he responded to a variety of collisions (stretcher) and crashes (again back-boarded on the sled) which kept him focused and engaged while the boys and I bombed the mountain.  So in real time I was witnessing Erich doing his patrol thing and saving the world and all that.

Here’s what happened next: I’m solo with the boys while Erich saves the tourists, and Charlie, Will and Ian had skied on ahead and were entering the terrain park (don’t ask) when Owen and I watched a woman crash severely in front of us.  Owen stopped abruptly, then HIKED UP BACK THE SLOPE to ask how she is doing, retrieve her gear strewn about the slope, and make sure she is OK.  Owen is 7.  I don’t even have time to compute what’s happened and Owen has responded.

On the next run, again it’s me with the boys and while shooting through a narrow section, Ian notices the red flags and poles that designate a hazard have fallen over and are no longer obvious.  Ian stops and patiently replants the hazard poles and flags and carries on.  It’s not a quick fix – it takes a few deliberate minutes.  Ian is 9.  I pause to admire this act with Ian, but keep in mind the posse was moving fast and the competition was high while his friends continued the race on to the bottom.  Meanwhile Ian has stopped from the back of the pack, and committed this quiet gesture without any sense of heroism.  It just needed to be done.  Think about that.

Leadership Presence – Focus on the moment

/in , , /by

By now, most folks following the news and the blogosphere have caught the brief perishable news of President Obama’s tone-deaf gift of a DVD set to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

“After Brown presented Obama with a pen holder crafted from the timbers of the 19th century British warship HMS President (whose sister ship, HMS Resolute, provided the wood for the Oval Office’s desk), Obama offered up … 25 DVDs of American movie classics.”

Ok, so not necessarily a quid pro quo, but I suspect President Obama chose this gift personally, without the sage advise of White House Social Secretary, Desirée Rogers.  Or we hope so.  We don’t believe this incongruent gesture will lead to overly upset international relations, but he could be reminded of a lesson from Susan Scott on Taking One Conversation at a Time.

Consistently, in all the interviews and filming engagements we have conducted, leaders who have made a marked difference in their teams, their organizations, have all emphasized the importance of being present and engaging wholly in each interaction.  A common sentiment among people led by people who inspire them is that each time they engage their leaders – internal or elsewhere – is that they feel, in that moment, that they are they only person that matters.  Consistently I’ve heard people say that when they have the rare opportunity to talk to Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Immelt, Al Gore, or (pick your luminary, your killer chance encounter), they feel in that moment as if their interests, their concerns are all that matters, and that they are genuinely ‘heard.’  Although I’m not sure Gordon Brown walked away feeling slighted, the UK media jumped all over it, as well as nations witnessing the transaction.

ET Innovation requires a market signal

/in , /by

Today we had the good fortune to produce an event featuring Thomas Friedman, author of Hot, Flat and Crowded.  Go read it.  In the meantime remember one key message from his talk: If you want to make a measurable difference to mitigate climate change (Hot), build sustainable globalizing economies (Flat) and alleviate the impact of elevating population (Crowded), one of his key messages is change your leaders, not your light bulbs.  Friedman isn’t saying don’t bother switching to CFL bulbs, he’s saying that it’s our government leaders who create the rules, the regulations, which govern the manner in which our economy can grow in a sustainable manner.  And without government-imposed regulation on what we pay petro-dictators overseas, it will be exceedingly difficult for 10,000 entrepreneurs in 10,000 garages to be the change catalysts we need.  Researching his book, Friedman interviewed Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, who was clear that even the greatest MNC and font of ingenuity of our last century will not invest in creating sustainable and available electrons (electric power!) to the world against the moving target of oil at $120 (Sep, 2008) and $42 (Feb, 2009).  How can even the leviathan GE make a conscionable multi-decade, multi-billion investment to compete in this market landscape?

Friedman predicts Energy Technology can be the next .Com innovative revolution to solve what he identifies as the five primary thorny issues confronting us today: Energy and natural-resource supply and demand, petro-dictatorships, climate change, energy poverty, and biodiversity loss.  In an optimistic talk, Friedman challenges us to find that silver bullet which is capable of alleviating each of these concerns.  That is – cheap, renewable, ubiquitously available electron molecules.  His challenge – from entrenched MNCs to garage entrepreneurs – is to help make sustainable and ubiquitously deliverable electric power to the world.  Sound audacious?  It is, but as he states it will start with the policies and regulations we impose on the marketplace.

A key consideration is to recognize that we the U.S. – or any other country – need to have faith that we have the skilled talent and imagination to confront this challenge and we want the bar raised.  We want regulation to dictate the baseline efficiencies of washers, air conditioners, cars, light bulbs, etc. because by raising the barrier to entry in the market we will fuel innovation.  By eradicating environmental impacts or lowering efficiency demands on the products and services we consume, we invite Chindia market disruptors who can build and deploy cheaper and dirtier technologies – which only exacerbate the big five issues shown above.

Demand vision, mission and direction

/in /by


I might date myself to 80’s Sugarhill Gang but this was in my head recently when someone described to me being in a meeting and couldn’t wait to leave…

Have you ever went over a friend’s house to eat
and the food just ain’t no good?
I mean the macaroni’s soggy, the peas all mushed
and the chicken tastes like wood
So you try to play it off like you think you can
by sayin’ that you’re full
And then your friend says: “Momma, he’s just being polite
He ain’t finished – uh uh, that’s bull!”
So your heart starts pumpin’ and you think of a lie
and you say that you already ate
And your friend says: “Man – there’s plenty of food!”
so you pile some more on your plate
While the stinky foods steamin’, your mind starts to dreamin’
of the moment that it’s time to leave

I’ve had numerous conversations with people who loathe the lengthy meeting stew in which every possible topic in granularity is reviewed. Next time you are in a meeting eating food you don’t like – and obviously no one else does either – ask the question, “Why are we eating this?” Or more poignantly, “Where are we going, and why?” That is to say: Why should we care about what we are doing and for what purpose? Demand direction, vision, mission and purpose. It’s not an easy question, and will require your leadership to step up to clearly articulate what change we intend to affect. Sure, this isn’t appropriate when everyone knows the score and the meeting is intentionally tactical to get things done. But I had a conversation recently in which someone confided they wondered the value of their contribution since the bus they were on didn’t seem to have any clear destination.

Change starts with the doers, the creators – those with intention and direction, if not fully-formed concrete goals. Recognize the value and contribution we all create and ask these important questions. Asking these questions is to ask your leaders to reach farther, communicate more clearly, and build the necessary community and environment for you to feel enabled, empowered and part of something bigger than the piece of the equation you are working on.

Here is a snippet of Erik Weihenmayer describing leadership as only he can.

Your Carbon Strategy is a Market Opportunity

/in , , , /by

We recently had the opportunity to film Andy Hoffman, at the University of Michigan Ross School of Management, regarding market opportunities in a carbon-constrained world.  He frames the discussion in a purely apolitical manner – regulation is emerging at the state, federal and international levels that will dictate corporate carbon emissions; the question for you is: do you want to merely react to this shift in the market environment, or do you want to proactively build the next-generation corporate and product innovations that will put you on the leading edge?  Put another way: do you want to be exploiting the opportunities in this pending market shift, or scrambling to catch up?

Historically many people have had a tree-hugger notion of save-the-planet fringe activists asking us to recycle, reduce, reuse and encouraging costly regulation.  Andy asks us to instead, “Think of climate change as a market shift, one that will create both winners and losers. Changes in regulation coupled with shifts in consumer, investor, and energy will change the competitive landscape. How will you innovate to respond to this shifting landscape? ”  He frames the discussion in strictly business terms.

Consider Tom Friedman’s argument that regulation can be an incredible competitive advantage.  If you are a U.S. based multi-national corporation employing the best and brightest engineers, programmers, architects and technical professionals, you want the bar raised. You want your product innovation to be setting the standard in your market, and you want the barriers to entry to be increasingly higher to provide your company with a competitive advantage.  In fact, that bar is already being raised around the world and US business needs the right incentives to keep up.  Make no mistake, we want market innovation wherever it comes from but if you are a market-leader, you want to be defining the baseline to entry in the market

Only the truth sounds like the truth

/in /by

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released their October jobs report and the numbers are pretty sobering – 6.5% unemployment rate, up 2 points from a year ago and a 14 year high – a net employment loss in the U.S. of almost 250,000 jobs.  Here’s Howard Behar’s advice to CEOs and senior leaders out there: “Only the truth sounds like the truth.”

Recently I had the honor of interviewing Howard Behar.  Years ago Howard, former President of Starbucks, was President of a company under siege.  They were under serious economic duress and facing severe cutbacks in resources and people to support their mission.  When someone on the leading team inadvertently left a copy of the draft plan on the copier, Howard found himself inundated with questions about the Executive team’s plans for handling the financial crisis.

He met with his management team early in the morning and bantered ideas about addressing the pressing questions.  Some of the suggestions from around the table were to dismiss the report as false or inaccurate.  But of course, the truth was that the report was their real intention.  His administrative assistant looked at Howard and said, “Only the truth sounds like the truth.”  Boy, isn’t that the truth.

Watch Howard describe what happened next when leaders offer only hard honest truths to people in the organization.

Save the World at Work

/in /by

Addition – Jan 23, 2009 – you must see Tim tell this.  Click here to check it out.

Tim Sanders mailed me a copy of his newest book recently and you must pick this up.  Aside from providing thoughtful, actionable ideas on how we can all join what he calls “The Responsibility Revolution” it has some truly inspiring jump-into-superhero-action stories.  Try this passage about the Timberland global sales meeting in New Orleans.  Where we enter the story, the team has been touring the Ninth Ward.

…one rep noticed a makeshift community gathering spot constructed of tarps and rotten wood where a middle-aged man in a baseball cap was taking notes on a clipboard.  The sales rep started a conversation with the man and soon discovered that he was a volunteer community organizer who had lived in the Ninth Ward pre-Katrina.

Moved by the moment, the rep asked the volunteer what the community center need most.

“Shoes,” the volunteer replied, pointing to a clipboard that listed shoes at the top of the Please Drop Off list.  “Used ones, new ones – we need shoes.”  He then explained that many of the community service volunteers were working in flip-flops and soleless shoes in an area littered with rusty nails and splintered boards.

The Timberland employee immediately bent down, unlaced his boots, and handed them to the volunteer.  He then walked barefoot back to the buses, where employees were loading up for the ride to the hotel.

A coworker, who noticed the sales rep wasn’t wearing his boots, asked why. “That man there told me that they needed shoes,” the sales rep replied.  “I gave him mine.”

The coworker stood up, left the bus, and gave the volunteer his shoes, too.  The others watched, and acted: In the next ten minutes, the buses emptied out as all two hundred sales reps walked to the community center and donated their shoes or boots to the Ninth Ward, even though, for many of them, these Timberland boots were prized possessions.

The volunteer, overwhelmed, scrambled to keep pairs matched together, tucking laces into boots and organizing them by size.  All he could muster was a repetitive “Thank you, thank you” to every Timberlander.

The trip back to the hotel was silent, as employees reflected on what they had seen that day.  A senior meeting planner later recalled, “It was the quietest twenty minute bus ride I’ve ever been on.”

These are saver soldiers.  And Tim is on a mission to touch as many people as possible and affect positive behavior change in the world.  Thank you Tim.

In a Crisis Address the Immediate, Understand the Implications

/in /by

joker_black_lab_1.jpgMy dog is dying, albeit a slow protracted decline. She is a twelve year old lab who has enjoyed a wonderfully rich life and brought great joy to my wife and I, and later our three young children. Her first seizure was about six months ago, and as you might imagine it was appalling and sobering. Frequent consultation with local veterinarians led us to giving her phenobarbital, which abated the seizures but put her in a semi-catatonic state robbing her of her joyful personality. Just as we were contemplating reducing her dosage and weaning her from the drug, she lapsed into a series of eight or more seizures over a 72-hour period. Her recent battle with the seizures left her fatigued, unable to stand, and us as a family monitoring her twenty-four hours a day and beginning to mourn her passing. That’s the back story – still in progress today. My inspiration comes from our vet who has patiently taken the time to understand Joker’s situation, and helped us tweak her treatment almost hourly to break the cycle of seizures and bring her back to a state of comfort, and relieve the insistent seizure attacks.

With every conversation he asked the probing questions around her diet, disposition and mobility, and never addressed the obvious eventualities that had entered our minds. As a medical pro, he knew a possible outcome of unabated seizures and predicted our private considerations of euthanasia and Joker’s passing. But he didn’t go there. As a compassionate professional he let us – who were emotionally engaged – drive the questions around “what if” and “when it happens” and “what do we do if she doesn’t recover?”

He was empathic and clear in his description of cremation options, but not leading. He never took us to the emotional place of losing our dear family pet, although certainly he understood this as an imminent possibility. This was a powerful demonstration of emotional intelligence for him to gently lead us through the process and allow us to arrive at these difficult conclusions ourselves. There’s a useful message here: as a leader, when in the midst of a crisis, help people work through immediate solutions but always know prescriptions for the worst eventualities.