Friday, November 20, 2009
E. Bruce Harrison - Corporate Greening 2.0 - Author interview
Business owner and corporate communications expert E. Bruce Harrison of EnviroComm International, and author of the important and corporate policy changing book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his book. He also shares his thoughts on corporate environmental strategy and communications.
Thanks to Bruce Harrison for his time and to Carol Corbett at Publishing Works, Inc. for arranging this interesting and informative interview on a very timely topic.
What was the background to writing the book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies?
E. Bruce Harrison: My purpose was to answer questions and clear up confusion that company managers have—especially when it comes to their business success and their stakeholder relationships—regarding the rising issue of climate change and carbon constraint.
Has thinking green come to the forefront of corporate thinking?
E. Bruce Harrison: It has risen in importance as a top management issue because of the attention given to global warming and carbon constraint.
How has the issue of carbon been been brought into the equation?
E. Bruce Harrison: For the first time in history, scientists, environmental activists and politicians have encouraged companies as well as the public to consider carbon dioxide emissions as a major contributor to global climate change.
How has political activism affected thinking on corporate greening?
E. Bruce Harrison: Political activism moves toward government requirements. Companies are motivated to think through the government endgame and to work with the politicians, or office holders, toward rational achievement of green goals.
Are investors placing more pressure on companies to become more green and to become more aware of sustainability?
E. Bruce Harrison: Investor groups, stimulated by green advocates, have introduced many dozens of stockholder resolutions pushing management toward climate change and sustainability positions. Investors in some companies are at the same time cautioning management about political commitments and costs that can hurt the viability of businesses.
E. Bruce Harrison (photo left)
How are environmentally aware executives making a difference?
E. Bruce Harrison: One general example is the involvement of executives in the political process, working with environmental groups and Congress on proposed climate change legislation. Within specific companies, a great many examples of top management commitment and actions are out there; I give details of 42 “benchmark” companies in my book.
Is the public expecting more sustainability from corporations, and are the companies better communicating that message?
E. Bruce Harrison: Yes to both questions, but here’s the problem: Sustainability has become such an overused word that it has lost a lot of precision and relevance. I talk about corporate sustainability and I define it as balancing three accountabilities—economic, social and political. A company has to do all three to stay viable. The book is largely about how corporate greening works into all three.
What is the next frontier for corporate greening?
E. Bruce Harrison: Let’s just consider the war on carbon as the new frontier. Company management must deal with the fact that carbon constraint will put greening into new contexts, linked in new ways to essential energy economics, and to new technologies, products, processes and markets. The big question, which I try to make very practical in the book, is how does the company deal with risk as well as opportunity as it steps onto this new and largely unexplored landscape?
What is next for Bruce Harrison?
E. Bruce Harrison: As an adjunct professor at the university level, I’m interested in what’s happening with crises in business. Every day there seems to be a new crisis. Social media seems to be changing public perception and raising management communication challenges. I’m thinking there may be a book in there—along with two other areas that I’m not ready to get into just yet.
Wayne, thanks for asking!
***********
My book review of Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison.
E. Bruce Harrison, (photo left) author of Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies (2008) and Going Green: How to Communicate Your Company's Environmental Commitment (1993), has been called the pioneer of corporate greening.
Bruce has provided counsel on greening/sustainability matters to more than 50 Fortune 500 companies over the course of his career as vice president of Freeport-McMoran, CEO of his Washington-based consultancy, and founder/franchiser of EnviroComm International in the U.S. and Europe. He was the first executive director of the Arthur W. Page Society, comprising senior corporate communications executives, and has since 1998 worked as a team member creating Green Diesel Technology® products at Navistar International. Bruce assists companies in connecting with effective EnviroComm professional counselors.
Bruce is a frequent speaker on greening and sustainability. His lecture, "Factors Favoring Chief Communication Officers Involvement in Climate Change and Sustainability Issues", was recognized as the best paper presented by a practitioner at the 2008 Corporate Communication International conference at Wroxton College, England.
He was recognized by PRWeek in 2001 as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential PR People of the 20th Century" for his work with companies in environmental and social responsibility.
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Corporate Greening 2.0 by E. Bruce Harrison - Book review
Corporate Greening 2. 0
Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies
By: E. Bruce Harrison
Published: September 2008
Format: Hardcover, 232pp
ISBN-13: 9781933002705
ISBN-10: 1933002700
Publisher: Publishing Works, Inc.
"Green is the comeback kid of American corporate sociopolitical issues", writes business owner and corporate communications expert E. Bruce Harrison in his important and corporate policy changing book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies. The author describes how companies can address the issues of carbon emissions, climate change, and sustainability through a corporate environmental strategy and communications plan.
E. Bruce Harrison has long been on the forefront of environmental issues, and their effect on corporations, and on society as a whole. He understands the pressing issue of carbon emission, and how green thinking within companies has become part of the issue of energy. He goes far beyond that basic corporate concern, and examines how shareholders, customers, and society in general view the company's long term sustainability. Without an environmental strategy, the author thinks many companies will lose profitability, decline, and even go out of business. Company management must think beyond short term profits, and examine the impact on the longer term sustainability concerns of society if the corporation expects to survive. Environmentally concerned investors and customers will cease to support unsustainable companies, that fail to create a green strategy, and to communicate it effectively to all stakeholders.
E. Bruce Harrison (photo left) recognizes that creating a green strategy is only part of the process toward building a sustainable company. The management of the corporation must act on that plan and also communicate their actions to stakeholders both inside and outside of the company. By developing a positive carbon program, and understanding the importance of global warming concerns, a corporation can build a strong level of trust from investors, customers, and the general public. Building a clear business case for sustainability places a company in a leadership role on environmental programs and issues. At the same time, communication within the organization must work both ways so that full workforce involvement and operational accountability remains both viable and positive. The corporate green strategy needs to take a holistic approach, that considers businesses, society and public opinion outside of the company as well, to build alliances and support.
For me, the power of the book is its practical approach. to the issue of corporate sustainability. within the larger societal context of carbon emissions and global climate change. E. Bruce Harrison looks both within the walls of the company, and outside of the organization, as critical to success of a green strategy. The author offers the powerful advice to corporate CEOs and CCOs to work with local communities, other trailblazing companies, and community organizations to find common cause and mutually beneficial programs. At the same time, the author advises corporate communicators to not get their talk ahead of their company's green actions, but instead to provide open and transparent discussions with all stakeholders. E. Bruce Harrison shares the wisdom of not dividing the environmental and carbon issues between potential winners and losers. Instead, he recommends a company understand that all businesses will be affected in one way or another, and to choose long term sustainability as a corporate mission.
I highly recommend the timely and corporate strategy building book Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison, to any business people who seek to create and act upon a sustainable environmental strategy for their company. With ever increasing public, investor, and government scrutiny of corporate environmental behavior, a viable and well communicated green action plan is critical for short and long term company profitability. Organizations that fail to consider the environment, will be seen as unsustainable and lose public and customer support, becoming less profitable and viable businesses.
Read the outstanding guide to creating a green corporate plan Corporate Greening 2. 0: Create and Communicate Your Company's Climate Change and Sustainability Strategies by E. Bruce Harrison, and discover how to develop an industry leading environmental strategy for your company. The very sustainability of your business and your profitability depend on it.
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Thursday, November 19, 2009
Mick Ukleja & Robert Lorber: Who Are You? What Do You Want? - Blog Business Success Radio
Listen to Wayne Hurlbert
Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life.
Mick Ukleja and Robert Lorber are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.
The show airs live on Thursday, November 19, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.
Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. You will learn:
* The four critical questions and how to apply them to your own life
* Why people feel trapped and stuck in their lives and careers
* How to take leadership of your own life and empower yourself
* How to use the self awareness to overcome anything that happens in life
Mick Ukleja (photo left) s the founder and president of LeadershipTraQ, a leadership-consulting firm based in California. He hosts LeadershipTraQ, an interview-format talk show in Southern California that profiles outstanding leaders. He helped found the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at California State University, Long Beach, the second largest university in the state. He has worked with entrepreneurs and corporate executives of businesses and organizations ranging from Boeing to the Special Olympics.
Mick also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center, which oversees the Center for Space Education. He is a principal in Bonita Bay Group, one of the largest developers of master-planned communities in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ukleja holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a master's degree in Semitic languages, and a Ph.D. in theology.
Robert L. Lorber (photo left) is President of the Lorber Kamai Consulting Group formed in Orange County, California. The organization has developed and implemented productivity improvement systems for companies on five continents. Its client roster includes Kraft Foods, Teichert Inc., Occidental Petroleum, Gillette, American Express, Mattel, AlliedSignal, Raley's, VSP, Wells Fargo, Pillsbury, Pfizer, and many other medium-size and Fortune 500 companies. Robert is an internationally recognized expert and published author on executive coaching, performance management, teamwork, and strategy development.
He is the coauthor with Ken Blanchard of the New York Times and international bestseller Putting the One Minute Manager To Work. He coauthored Safety 24/7 with Gregory Anderson and Doing What Matters by Jim Kilts, former CEO of Gillette, and John Manfredi. Dr. Lorber received a master's degree in sociology and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology.
My book review of Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber.
Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.
If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.
To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832
Let's talk with executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber as they share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life on Blog Business Success Radio.
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Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life.
Mick Ukleja and Robert Lorber are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on Blog Talk Radio.
The show airs live on Thursday, November 19, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.
Executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. You will learn:
* The four critical questions and how to apply them to your own life
* Why people feel trapped and stuck in their lives and careers
* How to take leadership of your own life and empower yourself
* How to use the self awareness to overcome anything that happens in life
Mick Ukleja (photo left) s the founder and president of LeadershipTraQ, a leadership-consulting firm based in California. He hosts LeadershipTraQ, an interview-format talk show in Southern California that profiles outstanding leaders. He helped found the Ukleja Center for Ethical Leadership at California State University, Long Beach, the second largest university in the state. He has worked with entrepreneurs and corporate executives of businesses and organizations ranging from Boeing to the Special Olympics.
Mick also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center, which oversees the Center for Space Education. He is a principal in Bonita Bay Group, one of the largest developers of master-planned communities in Southwest Florida. Dr. Ukleja holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy, a master's degree in Semitic languages, and a Ph.D. in theology.
Robert L. Lorber (photo left) is President of the Lorber Kamai Consulting Group formed in Orange County, California. The organization has developed and implemented productivity improvement systems for companies on five continents. Its client roster includes Kraft Foods, Teichert Inc., Occidental Petroleum, Gillette, American Express, Mattel, AlliedSignal, Raley's, VSP, Wells Fargo, Pillsbury, Pfizer, and many other medium-size and Fortune 500 companies. Robert is an internationally recognized expert and published author on executive coaching, performance management, teamwork, and strategy development.
He is the coauthor with Ken Blanchard of the New York Times and international bestseller Putting the One Minute Manager To Work. He coauthored Safety 24/7 with Gregory Anderson and Doing What Matters by Jim Kilts, former CEO of Gillette, and John Manfredi. Dr. Lorber received a master's degree in sociology and a Ph.D. in organizational psychology.
My book review of Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber.
Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.
If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.
To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832
Let's talk with executive coaches and authors of the practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life, Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber as they share a new approach to achieving goals and reaching success. Through asking a series of simple, yet provocative questions, the authors demonstrate how an understanding of one's motivations and goals can be realized. At the same time, the questions can help others refocus their goals, achieve success, and live more enriched lives. The authors move far beyond standard personality tests to help create a more purposeful and happier life on Blog Business Success Radio.
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Who Are You? What Do You Want? by Mick Ukleja & Robert Lorber - Book review
Who Are You? What Do You Want?
Four Questions That Will Change Your Life
By: Mick Ukleja, Robert L. Lorber
Published: September 1, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 176 pages
ISBN: 9780399535437
Publisher: Penguin/Perigee
"On the journey to success and happiness in life, it's easy to become frustrated at the inevitable crossroads and detours", write best selling authors and leadership consultants Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber, in their practical and innovative book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life. The authors offer a powerful new approach to achieving goals and reaching success through asking a four simple, yet revealing questions. The questions reveal motivations, passions, values, and one's own true purpose in life.
Mick Ukleja (photo left) and Robert L. Lorber understand that people often feel trapped or stuck in an unpleasant situation in their lives or careers. The authors define this feeling as a regression of the imagination where a person loses all sense of adventure in life, and sees no way of escaping the problem. The program outlined in the book empowers a person to take back control of their lives and their personal destiny. Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber share the necessary tools, so that even if something happens to a person or organization, no crisis will be wasted as an opportunity to create and implement positive change. As the authors suggest, becoming what they term as unstuck, is both freeing and liberating for any individual or company.
Robert L. Lorber (photo left) and Mick Ukleja help people become more empowered and to discover their own unique goals, passions, and motivations in life. The simple, yet very powerful and insightful questions outlined in the book, are the basis for generating a plan for personal examination and life planning.
The four questions are:
* Who are you and what do you want?
* Where are you and why are you there?
* What will you do and how will you do it?
* Who are your allies and how can they help?
The questions appear simple on the surface, but taken together they discover self awareness, understanding your current situation, creating a plan of action, and who can help in achieving that plan. That process is a very powerful one that can work for every individual and organization in self examination.
For me, the power of the book is in its empowering simplicity. Through the open and honest self examination provided by the four questions, a person can regain control over their own life and destiny. The questions help to set personal goals, that are in accordance with one's own personal desires and passions, and helps develop a plan for reaching those goals. Another strength of the book is how Robert L. Lorber and Mick Ukleja provide the questions as part of the book. The reader can utilize the self assessment format to create a personalized set of goals and a plan of action. The same system that works well for individuals can also be applied to taking an organization or business to the next level.
I highly recommend the empowering book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Robert L. Lorber and Mick Ukleja, to anyone who feels stuck in their life, career, or their business. The four questions, as presented in the book, form a valuable guide to help get one's life and work back on track, while remaining the balance so crucial to life satisfaction and happiness.
Read the exciting and transformational book Who Are You? What Do You Want? Four Questions That Will Change Your Life by Mick Ukleja and Robert L. Lorber, and learn how the four critical and life changing questions can help you take back control over your own life and career. Through an open an honest self assessment, anyone utilizing this book can achieve a happier and more satisfying life.
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Fresh Air Fund - Jenny Morgenthau - interview
Jenny Morganthau, Executive Director of The Fresh Air Fund was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about the organization, its mission, and some of its programs, She shares ideas about how people and businesses can participate in achieving the goals of this worthwhile organization.
Thanks as well to Sara Wilson of The Fresh Air Fund for arranging this wonderful interview.
What is the mission of The Fresh Air Fund?
Jenny Morgenthau: Our mission is to provide free summer experiences in the country to New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend one of five Fresh Air Fund camps.
Is the programs funded through donations?
Jenny Morgenthau: Yes, the success of our programs relies on the generosity of individuals and corporate sponsors. Seventy-five percent of our funding comes from individual donors, in fact. It costs The Fresh Air Fund $923.00 for a visit with a volunteer host family and $1,563.00 to send a child to Fresh Air camp.
How many children does The Fresh Air Fund help send to camp each year and how are these camps helping with the vision initiative?
Jenny Morgenthau: Three-thousand children attend our Fund camps and an additional 2,000 children participate in our off-season camping weekends. We work with OneSight, which so generously brings up its mobile “Vision Van,” to camp and screens the children for glasses. Many of the children don’t have access to free vision screenings, and if needed, free glasses.
How does The Fresh Air Vision Program and alliance with OneSight work and how many children in need receive assistance?
Jenny Morgenthau: All of the children at camp are screened. If a child needs glasses then OneSight provides them free of charge to the child.
How can individuals and families get involved in helping The Fresh Air Fund achieve its goals?
Jenny Morgenthau: Families can get involved by volunteering to host this summer, making a donation, volunteering in our New York City office, etc. Check out our Web site for more information on how to get involved.
Is there a role for the business community to play in supporting this worthwhile program?
Jenny Morgenthau: Businesses can also get involved; again the best thing to do is look at our Web site. Businesses make donations locally to support our Friendly Town hosting program, contribute to events, volunteer at events, and so on.
What is next for The Fresh Air Fund?
Jenny Morgenthau: We’re looking forward to a fun-filled summer 2010!
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Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Week - Jonathon Ortmans - interview
Thanks to Jonathan Ortmans, head of GEW initiatives, at The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and co-founder of Global Entrepreneurship Week, for taking the time to answer a few questions about this tremendous worldwide inititive in support of entrepreneurship. He shares some insights into the importance of young entrepreneurs in the global economy, some of the people and organizations who support this cause, as well as how you can get involved with Global Entrepreneurship Week activities
What is the background to the Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Week?
Jonathan Ortmans: Global Entrepreneurship Week was co-founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark, a business-led government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom. It was designed to harness the power of entrepreneurship in young people and prepare them to be innovators and business owners while increasing their networks their through local, national and global activities and events. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and others participate in a host of activities that include virtual and face-to-face events, large-scale competitions and intimate networking gatherings.
What entrepreneurs does the Global Entrepreneurship Week honor?
Jonathan Ortmans: With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week honors anyone interested in, getting started in, pursuing and/or promoting entrepreneurship. This year, Global Entrepreneurship Week will be celebrated by more than 3 million people and 8,800 organizations in 87 countries from Nov. 16-22.
In the United States alone, more than 1,000 partners – including top universities, non-profit organizations, successful entrepreneurs, government agencies and corporate sponsors – have signed up to support and initiate activities for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009. During this week, there are an estimated 1,500 activities and events that will take place in the USA – and an estimated 25,000 across the world.
How important are young entrepreneurs to the growth of the global economy?
Jonathan Ortmans: Entrepreneurship is the key to economic recovery, and the next generation of innovators holds that key. Now more than ever, we need to unleash the creativity and ingenuity of our youth by engaging them in the vast possibilities of entrepreneurship. A number of the events throughout Global Entrepreneurship Week are dedicated solely to educating young people and helping mold their ideas and plans into successful ventures.
How does the Kauffman Foundation help young entrepreneurs succeed?
Jonathan Ortmans: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation works to promote the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. The Kauffman Foundation, through its own research and other initiatives, aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. The Foundation also works to prepare students to be innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders in the 21st century economy through initiatives designed to improve learning in math, engineering, science and technology.
Are there other notable people involved with Global Entrepreneurship Week as well?
Jonathan Ortmans: There are many notable people and organizations either involved with or who have shown support for Global Entrepreneurship Week. Some of the featured speakers and mentors are Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes; Stephen Hanson, founder of B.R. Guest Restaurants; rap music icon Snoop Dogg; Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship; and Dr. Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to jumpstart economic and social development in poor, poverty-stricken regions.
And recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a public statement of support for Global Entrepreneurship Week, praising its efforts to create new opportunities and businesses, encourage youth to pursue fresh ideas and improve the global economy. Secretary Clinton joins an impressive list of world leaders and successful entrepreneurs who support the Week, including: Gen. Colin L. Powell; Charles, Prince of Wales; Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan; Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, Saudi Arabia; Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister; Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France; John Atta Mills, President of Ghana; Mohammed VI, King of Morocco; and Princess Maxima, Netherlands.
Are there other organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week as well?
Jonathan Ortmans: Organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week include Global Sponsor NYSE Euronext; Global Partners Endeavor; Junior Achievement Worldwide (JA); Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO); DECA; the Prince’s Youth Business International; Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills; MIT Enterprise Forum; the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs; and Youth Enterprise and Sustainability.
Visit the website for more information about Global Entrepreneurship Week activities.
Labels: interviews
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Monday, November 16, 2009
You Are What You Choose by Scott De Marchi & James Hamilton - Book review
You Are What You Choose
The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions
By: Scott de Marchi, James T. Hamilton
Published: November 12, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 208pp
ISBN-13: 9781591842866
ISBN-10: 1591842867
Publisher: Penguin/Portfolio
"Choice is at the crux of all social science, and it's a complicated body of research that a large number of very bright people have worked on", write Duke University political scientists and social science researchers Scott De Marchi and James T. Hamilton, in their highly accessible and research based book You Are What You Choose: The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions. The authors make a compelling case that what they term their TRAITS system, derived from their very extensive and groundbreaking research, is a powerful source methodology of why people make their many decisions.
Scott De Marchi (photo left) and James T. Hamilton conducted thousands of surveys, involving test populations covering all income levels, racial groups, and regions of the United States. The resulting findings were startling to the authors, who discovered that much of previous information on how people decide what to buy, where to live, and for whom to vote, was incorrect. Instead, the authors concluded that certain personality and character traits predispose people to make their choices, even if the person believes otherwise. The six core traits or habits of mind, developed from the research surveys were:
* Time
* Risk
* Altruism
* Information
* MeToo
* Stickiness
James T. Hamilton (photo left) and Scott De Marchi recognized that the emphasis and degree of importance an individual placed on each the six TRAITS determined how they made decisions in their lives. These habits of mind, as the authors describe them, carry over into purchasing products and services, to how a person votes or even abstains from voting, to their personal health and eating choices. James T. Hamilton and Scott De Marchi tested their theory against traditional marketing concepts and segmentation tools including gender, income level, political party affiliation, and age. In each case, the TRAITS system was able to at least duplicate or exceed the decision making forecasts made by the traditional marketing techniques. The authors make the strong research proven case that using TRAITS will yield better results for marketers than standard demographic segmentation. The authors make the convincing argument that their system is especially powerful for locating and motivating early adopters of products and services.
For me, the power of the book is how Scott De Marchi and James T. Hamilton utilize actual field research as the basis for their decision forecasting system. Unlike many books on marketing and buying behavior, the authors don't depend on theory and speculation. Instead, they not only used their survey results to formulate their TRAITS methodology, but they field tested it in the real world against standard, well established demographic marketing based concepts. The authors found that TRAITS was a powerful predictor of buying behavior, and of involvement in the political process. They distilled their research into an easy to use system that can be employed by marketers and by political parties. They even supply a handy self test that readers can take to discover their own TRAITS.
I highly recommend the very powerful book You Are What You Choose: The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions by Scott De Marchi and James T. Hamilton, to any marketers or other individuals seeking to understand how people's already existing habits of mind determine their decision making process. Instead of relying on abstract ideas and unproven concepts, the authors demonstrate their TRAITS system through extensive research, conducted with thousands of test subjects.
Read the important and marketing transformational book You Are What You Choose: The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions by Scott De Marchi and James T. Hamilton, and discover how to put the TRAITS system to work in your own marketing programs. Instead of guessing or being misled by demographic groupings, your marketing plan can zero in on the people who share similar traits, and provide suitable products and services to fit their needs and desires. The book will change your ideas about marketing forever.
Labels: book reviews
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
Ian Mitroff - Dirty Rotten Strategies - Author interview
Ian Mitroff, founder of Mitroff Crisis Management, Inc., and widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of crisis management, was kind enough to take the time for sharing an interview with us.
The topic is the important and thought provoking book Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely, that he co-authored with Abraham Silvers.
Thanks to Ian Mitroff for his time and for his insightful and informative answers.
What was the background to writing this book Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely?
Ian Mitroff: For years, I have worked with decision-makers in all types of organizations, public and private, to help them improve on how they solve important problems and make crucial decisions. While the executives and mangers that I have worked with are intelligent, they have not been educated on how to formulate problems from multiple perspectives. As a result, more often than not they end up solving the wrong problems precisely because they pick the first formulation of a problem that they happen to chance upon. What good does it do to solve the wrong problems? Not much since it is a tremendous waste of time, energy, etc., and it often leads to a crisis, so that you are worse off than when you started. In other words, you end creating worse problems than the original ones with which you started.
You write in the book that we are often lured into solving the wrong problems with the wrong answers. What do you mean by that?
Ian Mitroff: Most of us are the prisoners of our education, profession, job position, etc. That is, our education, specialty, etc., predisposes us to see certain problems and to formulate them in terms of the preferred variables of our chosen field. Thus, engineers naturally see technical variables and focus on technical problems; economists see economic problems, etc; but in doing so, they often neglect the human variables and the broader context in which all problems are situated. As a result, they do not recognize the full dimensions of the problems we face. By solving only a part of the real problem, they thereby solve the wrong problem.
What types of errors do business people, and those in other government and non-profit organizations make?
Ian Mitroff: They don’t examine and challenge their fundamental assumptions about every aspect of their business or organization. For instance, are we pursuing the right business strategies? Are we trapped in an old, outdated mission?
In general, people bound the problems they are attempting to solve too narrowly. That is, they don’t take a big enough look at the problem. And they don’t look at multiple formulations of a problem.
Ian Mitroff (photo left)
You mention health care in the book as being a very difficult problem and that the real problem is being overlooked. What is wrong with how that issue has been addressed?
Ian Mitroff: The problem with health care is that it rests upon a number of fundamental assumptions that, while they certainly have been raised and challenged to a certain extent, need to be raised even more. For instance, it is not true that government run health programs are always less efficient and less innovative than private programs. It is also not true that the private sector is always more innovative, cost-effective, etc. So again, we really don’t challenge our fundamental assumptions systematically and systemically.
Business people encounter many crises in the course of doing business. How can business people be sure they are solving the right problem in the right way that is best for the customers and for society as a whole?
Ian Mitroff: Again, by looking at all problems from multiple perspectives. For instance, consider health care. There are obviously short-term cost considerations, but there are also long-term systemic considerations (how do we reinvent the entire health care system?). Health care is not the elimination (decrease) of disease, but it also the increase of well-being. Thus, you obviously need both, but you need to be taught to appreciate both before you can integrate them into a coherent system. The problem is that people take sides saying that one is more fundamental than the other when they are not.
How has the media contributed to the problem of asking the wrong questions that result in the wrong answers?
Ian Mitroff: By devoting enormous attention to non-events--such as the helium balloon episode--and by creating pseudo-celebrities. By using of all kinds of gimmicks such as computer-enhanced images that are “better than the ‘real thing’,” the media divert our attention from focusing on the really important problems. Because the really important problems are too scary for most of us to face, the media help us to avoid facing them by making everything into a “fun game show” or “reality TV” that sanitizes everything.
How can the education system be improved to teach students how to ask the right questions and to insist upon the right answers?
Ian Mitroff: By getting away from canned exercises at the end of textbooks and giving students real problems that they have to formulate from multiple perspectives such as “Should we stay in Iraq?”
Exercises are not problems. First of all, they are already pre-formulated for the student so that he or she doesn’t have to go through the difficult process of formulating the problem. For another, exercises have a single “solution,” which real problems never do. Thus, we have to educate students on how to formulate problems correctly, and that problem formulation comes before and is an integral part of problem solving.
How can changing the type of questions asked in our society improve the life of all citizens?
Ian Mitroff: By not wasting our energy on solving the wrong problems that only create worse ones.
What is next for Ian Mitroff?
Ian Mitroff: I want to write a book of fables to get the ideas across in an even more powerful and accessible format.
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My book review of Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely by Ian I. Mitroff and Abraham Silvers
Ian I. Mitroff (photo left) founded Mitroff Crisis Management, Inc. in 1995. MCM draws upon a nationwide network of associates and specialists who are available for crisis management projects.
Dr. Mitroff is widely regarded as the founder of the discipline of crisis management. He specializes in crisis prevention, strategic planning, and the design of ethical work environments. Known for his thinking and writing on a wide range of business and societal issues, Dr. Mitroff has published over 350 papers and articles and 26 books, including Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger And Better From A Crisis, A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, and Managing Crises Before They Happen.
Dr. Mitroff is a University Professor at the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management, Alliant University, San Francisco, a Visiting Professor at Institute of Business and Economic Research, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, and an Adjunct Professor of Health Policy, School of Public Health, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri. He is also a Senior Investigator in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, University of California, Berkeley.
He is Professor Emeritus from the Annenberg School for Communication and the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, where he was the Harold Quinton Distinguished Professor of Business Policy and the founder and director of the USC Center for Crisis Management.
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Dirty Rotten Strategies by Ian Mitroff & Abraham Silvers - Book review
Dirty Rotten Strategies
How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely
By: Ian Mitroff, Abraham Silvers
Published: November 2009
Format: Hardcover, 192pp
ISBN-13: 9780804759960
ISBN-10: 0804759960
Publisher: Stanford University Press
"What we need are the right answers to the right problems, and not wasted effort on getting the right answers to the wrong problems", write authors Ian I. Mitroff and Abraham Silvers, in their important and thought provoking book Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely. The authors demonstrate how people convince themselves that they are solving the right problem, when the opposite is true. At the same time, the book describes how various interest groups, governments, academia, the media, and corporations attempt deliberately to impose the wrong questions for solution.
Abraham Silvers and Ian Mitroff provide both the philosophical and logical background to the difficult and often messy issues of problem formulation and solution. They point out that what they call Type Three Errors and Type Four Errors are prevalent in business, government, and in society as a whole. A Type Three Error is one where the person deludes themselves that they have found the right problem, even if it's precisely the wrong one. The more serious Type Four Error is very often seen in business and government, and involves imposing the wrong problem and solution on others. The authors believe that people are susceptible to these dangerous errors through social conditioning caused in large part by the educational system, the media, and political biases. The very nature of these institutions, and how they perceive problems and solutions, leads people to solve the wrong problems very well.
Ian Mitroff (photo left) and Abraham Silvers delve into detail as to how the education system presents simple exercises as if they were real problems. The result is students leave the academia believing that complex problems have one correct and easy to discover solution. The authors consider the media to be turning reality into a version of unreality, where false problems are given neatly packaged solutions, that feed into even more lack of reality. At the same time, science and religion are misused to formulate the wrong problems and to result in the wrong solutions. The framing of problems by business leaders and politicians are also Type Four Errors, as their often incorrect assumptions about the nature of a complicated problem, into a simple yet wrong solution. The authors warn against listening to anyone who attempts to define a problem in only one way, that results in only one solution, as all real problems contain many issues and involve many people.
For me, the power of the book is how Ian Mitroff and Abraham Silvers understand the critical importance of properly defining the right problem, and provide a powerful set of criteria for doing so, in a logical and unbiased way. Solving the wrong problem well can very very often make the real and more fundamental problem even worse. The authors recognize how institutions from schools and the media, to business and government, create the social, institutional, spiritual and ethical framework of assumptions that lead to solving the wrong problems. The authors take the position that very often these framing and imposing of the wrong questions are intentional, to serve an agenda. Ian Mitroff and Abraham Silvers guide the reader through an intensive study of how these wrong questions are formulated, and how to ask the right questions to solve the right problem.
I highly recommend the insightful and well reasoned book Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely by Abraham Silvers and Ian I. Mitroff, to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how the wrong problems are given a precise solution that fails to solve the real problem. The authors describe the complexity, and interconnectedness of problems, and how people's underlying assumptions are influenced by society ranging from the education system to the churches to government and business. Through a culture of seeking unreality, people have developed biases that cause the wrong questions to be asked, resulting in the wrong problems being given precise solutions.
Read the brilliant and must read book Dirty Rotten Strategies: How We Trick Ourselves and Others into Solving the Wrong Problems Precisely by Ian I. Mitroff and Abraham Silvers, and learn how to avoid the frequent Type Three and Type Four Errors that are so much a part of business and government activity. Discover how to recognize the deliberate framing of questions to result in an a predetermined and often ideological solution. By understanding how these errors are made, you can help define the right questions, resulting in the best solution for everyone.
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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins - Book review
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
By: John Perkins
Published: December 27, 2005
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN 9780452287082
Publisher: Penguin/Plume
"That is what EHMs do best: we build a global empire. We are an elite group of men and women who utilize international financial organizations to foment conditions that make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our governments, and our banks", writes former economic hit man John Perkins in his now classic, landmark book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. The author pulls no punches, as he describes the sordid and little known behind the scenes world of international debt, and the people who benefit from huge foreign government debts that can't be repaid. He also shares insights into how the misguided economic policies of corrupt business and government people drives the poor into even deeper despair.
John Perkins lived in a shadowy world where the major players were little known corporations, and corrupt politicians from various developing countries. His role was to induce the government of the targeted country to take out huge debt loads to finance hydroelectric projects, telecommunications systems, and energy development. The justification for loans were, according to the author, inflated and unattainable projections of economic growth attributed to the completed project. The main financial beneficiaries were a select group of international engineering and energy firms, a small group of banks, and a small collection of local elites. Any benefits or costs to the general population of the country was never a consideration. At the same time, there was what John Perkins called the larger plan. An indebted government, unable to repay their massive foreign debt, would be ripe for favors and support for any United States government global activities.
John Perkins (photo left) doesn't simply describe the cloak and dagger world in which he lived and worked during his time as an economic hit man. This is also a deeply personal book, and as the title makes clear, it is a deeply personal confession. The author admits that he was torn between doing his job well, and his conscience. He developed serious misgivings regarding the harm he was doing to the people living in the targeted countries. He confesses that he developed several rationalizations to salve his tortured conscience, but over time these artificial balms lost their effectiveness. John Perkins writes bluntly that he sold his soul for the money and other material benefits he derived from being an EHM. The book is an attempt at buying back is lost soul, finding redemption for his past, and eventually receiving absolution.
For me, the power of the book is found on several levels. John Perkins opens up the formerly hidden world of international debt and its role in creating governments subservient to the global empire. His vivid descriptions of his role in the overall plan, and his sharing of important details of his career as an EHM, are powerful and lasting. At another level, he confesses his personal battle for his conscience and his lost soul. His personal love for the people and the countries he was to bankrupt, is poignant and moving, especially given his employers' motive for sending him to those developing nations. Despite the damage done to the lives of the people, their countries and the environment, the book is one of hope. John Perkins believes strongly in the power of democracy and of people to determine their own destinies. He offers powerful advice and ideas for building a better and more ethical and just world, that works for the many, and not just the few.
I very highly recommend the powerful and seminal book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the world than is depicted in the daily headlines. The author describes a dangerous world where power, money, and threats of assassination and invasion are very real. Instead of this dark and deadly globe, John Perkins proposes a world based on freedom, equality, and ethical business and government. The author makes clear that the deliberate economic problems created by the economic hit men have and will continue to return to hurt everyone. For the author, no one benefits from an unjust, unsafe and environmentally ravaged planet.
Read the absolutely must read book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, and discover how the pressing issue of global debt problems and its related global poverty, were created in part through the activities of EHMs. Learn how foreign aid and international debt worked to impoverish countless developing countries, and how that debt was created intentionally to install subservient politicians. John Perkins provides a powerful and eye opening guide book for understanding how the world of international finance really works, and how to replace the system with one that is just, ethical, and beneficial to the needs and aspirations of everyone.
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