While shopping at my local grocery store this week, I was confronted by a member of TESCO's staff who would not accept naked fruit. Everything had to be bagged to be weighed. When I mentioned the fact that he wasn't thinking about the environment, he said: "only foreigners care about the environment." It was one of many failed systems. One that Ray Anderson, former CEO of Interface flooring,…
One of the things about corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives is that the best programs are those that are part of the core operations of the firm, align to the greater goals, and do not require a constant champion. It is simply embedded into the economics and actions of the firm, and while the firm certainly benefits, the overall benefits are far wider. The Walmart Direc…
Last month while being interviewed for the New York Times piece China's City of the Future Rises on a Wasteland, I was asked about the importance of planning China's eco-cities... What should be the goal of an eco-city and why are they important to China? To me, this was perhaps one of the more important and interesting questions I have been asked on the topic, a topic I have been interviewe…
One of the biggest issues that underlies the problem we face is the belief that we cannot act alone, or that when we something it "isn't my problem", however the recent Foreign Policy article China's Missing Children highlights the role of the individual, the personal. More specifically, the respnsibility that exists at the individual level to act. Dealing with the kidnapping of children in…
The other night while speaking with my wife about achieving goals, she made the comment that I needed to think more like a rocket than fireworks. That, in the interest of achieving my "goals", I needed to have a trajectory with a goal as the destination... versus shooting straight up in the air, looking pretty, and then blowing up. It was one of those conversations where a simple visual…
Following up from my post last week where I said "there is going to be a HUGE market for providing that capacity ", I was asked for a few examples of where I saw opportunities for products / services. 1) Urbanization and migrants With over 200+ cities with more than a million people, and a few hundred million expected to make a move to the city, this is one of the largest opportunities for…
At about the 5th minute of the above clip, Mike Daisy, who is being interview on TechCrunch TV about his observations of a visit to a number of Apple's China suppliers, says something that I felt was HUGELY profound: "I think that there is a great responsibility. That when you export your jobs around the world, you should be exporting your values with your jobs. And if you do not.. and if you…
There was a time where China could legitimately stand up and say that they were "cleaner" than everyone else, and use a per capita statistic to back that information up. Over the years though, it has grown tougher because the audience (1) began adjusting for the fact that China had hundreds of millions of farmers who had 0 footprints, and thus China was able to game the numbers a bit and (2) milli…
A couple of months back while speaking to a group of 200 international students at the Global Youth Leadership Conference in Shanghai, I was asked to speak about leadership and the next generation. A keynote that I have delivered to other groups before, I decided to focus less on the intangible "leader" and "organization", and focus more on the role of the individual leader. The importance…
If there is one thing that the recent rash of scandals in China's charities proves, it is that China has a long way to go with developing a credible and robust culture of philanthropy. A few weeks back there were the pictures of a woman named Guo Meimei caught posing with luxury cars and accessories, while talking about her connection to China's Red Cross. Not the first time that the Red Cross…
When charged to keep an economy running at 10+% economic growth year in and year out, there are going to be times where shortcuts are going to be taken, and accepted. At times, the shortcuts are (fortunately) benign enough to not have a wider impact on the economy, community, or environmental, but in China the issues of financial malfeasance, environmental destruction, and consumer safety have beg…
With the conversations around systems and sustainability still largely a moving a target that bounces between emotional polar bears and destructive weather systems, I honestly cannot think of a better time for a focus on understanding the systems that exist in our economy, the impact of our economy on our environmental systems, and taking steps towards applying an economic value to those externali…
For many startups organizations, particularly those in the non-profit sector, finding support from volunteers can be vital. Website developers working in their spare time... An accountant to help close the monthly books... an HR Director willing to help develop HR structures and hiring practices... are all (at times) necessary engagements that can have a profound impact on the success and stabilit…
By now, if you are at all exposed to the world of nonprofits, then you are mos likely aware of the recent news surrounding Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea” and Founder of CAI. IT is a story that in short has “shocked” many, crushed the dreams of some, and have lead to a lot of questions of “how could this have happened”. There has been a lot of commentary about the events, and one of…
When thinking of the issues we face environmentally, and the recent links to climate change, we often speak about issues on a global level without considering the local issues/ impact of those discussions. A condition I think about often as the discussions around climate change and environmental protection continue to be hobbled by issues of ecology vs. economy. On a recent trip through the Ya…
