Special Announcement: The Green Marketplace Forum

For those of you in Japan or going to Japan at the end of September we are co-sponsoring this landmark event:

The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Presents:

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GREEN MARKETPLACE FORUM: THE FUTURE OF WORK, HOME, & HOW WE GET AROUND

Wednesday, September 30th, 9:00-18:30

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKER LIST INCLUDES:

• Mayor Hiroshi Nakada of Yokohama
• Paul Sands, General Manager of Virgin Airlines
• Kiyotaka Fujii, President of Better Place Japan
• U.S. Govt. Expert on emerging GOJ policy around carbon reduction targets and how that is shaping the business environment

PLUS:

Interactive “stakeholder dialogue” session: Your opportunity to connect and catalyze business opportunities with other individuals and organizations, and add your perspective to the discussion on emerging government policy around carbon reduction targets and how that is shaping the business environment

EVENT OVERVIEW:

The Green Marketplace Forum (GMF) is an interactive event that explores the future trends and business opportunities of Green Design/Building and Green Mobility/Transportation as they relate to our lifestyle and the many changes resulting from efforts to achieve a Carbon-free society. The US Embassy will also present an update on the Government of Japan’s carbon reduction targets and how this may affect the business environment and business opportunities. The GMF allows you to hear from and interact with policy-makers, thought leaders, organization leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs; and provides event participants with a process to begin moving from dialogue to action in these core areas of our lives and work.

DATE: Wednesday, September 30, 9:00 to 18:30

VENUE: Four Seasons at Chinzan-so in Tokyo

MAP: <http://www.fourseasons.com/tokyo/directions_and_map.html

<http://www.fourseasons.com/tokyo/directions_and_map.html> >

COST: (All fees include a buffet lunch)

Morning Session: Members: 7,000 yen; Guests: 8,000 yen

Afternoon Session: Members: 7,000 yen; Guests: 8,000 yen

Full Day: Members: 10,000 yen; Guests: 11,000 yen

Contact: Chad Stewart (chad@ikan.biz) to register

REGISTRATION AND CANCELLATION DEADLINE: 5 p.m., Friday, September 25

Tags: American Chamber of Commerce Japan, Better Place, carbon free, Green Building, Green Design, Green Mobility, Green Transportation, Hiroshi Nakada, Kiyotaka Fujii, Paul Sands, Virgin Airlines

So, How Sustainable is the Wal-Mart Sustainability Index?

To quote Eric Clapton: “It’s in the way that you use it.”

The Wal-Mart sustainability index is measuring whether suppliers are measuring their impact on energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, resource depletion and the communities in which they operate. Essentially it’s binary with annotation. Are you or aren’t you? If you are, please describe what you are doing.

Wal-Mart is gathering data. The key question is “What for?” Wal-Mart has sustainability targets and standards. They can be found here. They are doing good work. Of particular note are their Sustainability Value Networks. In these networks they’re bringing together “leaders from our company, supplier companies, academia, government, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)” to work in categories that are core to Wal-Mart’s business. It is a matter of course that they will compare what they are learning from their suppliers with their own progress, most likely incorporating best practices along the way.

So, how will they use it with the suppliers? In the answer to this question lies the answer to the question in the title of this post. And, to really uncover the meaning in that answer requires us to look at the quality of relationships Wal-Mart forms with the suppliers and the quality of relationships the suppliers form with their network.

What do I mean? First, sustainability is something we do together. Fundamentally local and place based, sustainability depends on the quality of our relationships with the world around us. Reducing impact is good, however, relationship-wise this creates a less bad quality of connection. Imagine a spouse telling you that to strengthen your relationship he/she was still going to be bad but, from now on, less bad than before. A start? Yes. A strong foundation for a long-term relationship? No.

Second, sustainability is long term. What are we trying to sustain? Us. How do we do that? By sustaining what sustains us. One way to conceptualize this is a Value Web. Incremental reduction, though currently necessary is not sufficient. We become the slowly-boiled frog. The quality of relationships in our value web slowly erode, the web disintegrates and less bad leads to very, very bad. Simply, we need more good.

So, back to Wal-Mart and their suppliers. Moving forward, the better they are able to build networks of Collaboration that strengthen and enhance the Value Web the more sustainable the Wal-Mart sustainability index becomes. This is where those Sustainability Value Networks could really become value-abling. And, the more coherent their approach, the more effective the networks become at being sustainable. Again, it’s in the way that they use it.

So, now, think about this: For a retail giant like Wal-Mart this is a big hairy audacious undertaking that will touch pretty much all of us for generations to come. This matters. So do we.

So much depends on how we are, what we see and what we do now. As we do as we do we get what we get, becoming what we become. These are interesting times…

Tags: best practices, Coherence, collaboration, Eric Clapton, greenhouse gas emissions, NGO's, Sustainability Index, Sustainability Value Networks, value web, Wal-Mart, waste reduction

The Wal-Mart Sustainability Index: An Overview

Retail giant, Wal-Mart, debuted their Sustainability Index in July. You can download Version 1.0 of the Index here. The latest list of questions on the survey is here.

The survey is divided into four categories: Energy and Climate, Material Efficiency, Natural Resources, People and Community. In essence, it will function as an baseline measurement tool that sorts suppliers by having them demonstrate they are in control of their energy (GHG), waste (solid/water) management and reduction initiatives, material sourcing (production/certification), and community engagement (awareness of impact). At best, it points toward Cooperation. Basically, though, it sets a bar of Compliance for companies that want to do business with Wal-Mart

Though the first category is titled “Energy and Climate” a more appropriate heading would be “Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” The four questions in the category are focused completely through the lens of reporting and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The second category, “Material Efficiency”, is dedicated to reduction of solid waste and water use. Linked closely to Wal-Mart’s Packaging Scorecard and their Zero-Waste initiative, it is asking companies to demonstrate how they “reduce waste and enhance quality.”

Category three, “Natural Resources” focuses mainly on sourcing and certification, asking companies to report on origin of materials, purchasing guidelines and 3rd-party certification.

The fourth category is “People and Community” and centers on corporate awareness of and engagement with the communities in which they operate. The first question is telling. It asks if companies know where all of their production and manufacturing facilities are. It’s a start…

Relatively unexceptional in its content it still has very strong potential to be a game-changing move. The reason is simple: as a supplier, to do business with Wal-Mart means doing business their way. Though they are not setting any baseline requirements at the moment, nor are they auditing suppliers (answers to the 15-question survey are received in good faith) they are asking suppliers to complete the survey. To do so means you want (and really need) to have policies and controls in place or risk getting pushed out by companies that do.

Ultimately, this points to the development of an embedded system of and processes for sustainable business. The question suppliers for Wal-Mart have to answer is: “How far do we want to go?” Simple Compliance or Conformity? Cooperation? Collaboration and Coherence? Or, systemic Constellation?

Up next: How sustainable is the Wal-Mart Sustainability Index?

Tags: Climate, Coherence, collaboration, Community, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, Energy, GHG, greenhouse gases, Material Efficiency, Natural Resources, Packaging Scorecard, Sustainability Index, Wal-Mart, waste, zero waste

What Do CEO’s, Government, the General Public and Girls’ Softball Have in Common?

Check out this article at the Wall Street Journal. I’ve been hearing this a lot lately. Company heads are waiting for governments to give them clear signals on where they should be placing their R&D, development and marketing bets. In essence, they’re asking for regulators and policy makers to tell them the future. It’s a tall order

Still, that is exactly what regulators and policy makers need to be doing. Yet, signals remain mixed. The reason seems to be that our government leaders are looking for signs as well.

Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, the Japanese government, facing a seemingly intractable showdown between business interests (cap GHG emissions at +4% above 1990 levels) and environmentalists (reduce GHG emissions to -25% of 1990 levels) asked the public to help decide. The Japanese public, not surprisingly, chose the middle path option they were offered (-7% from 1990 levels). Let’s remember that under the Kyoto Protocol Japanese GHG emissions rose roughly 6%. Things are not what they seem. Ah, where is the Oracle at Delphi when you need her?

We are at a time where our conventional decision-making capacities are failing. Too many choices, mounting and multiple risks, way too much uncertainty. Business leaders want to move but are looking for direction. Governments wants to act but, they too, are looking for direction. Public opinion is all over the place. 

So, what to do? Let’s begin with another question: What sustains? We need to take a look at what holds us together. What supports us? What do we need? What sustains?

We need to look at the Value Web and begin boldly designing from and for abundance. Big business, small business, venture capital, entrepreneurs, NPO’s & NGO’s, school principals, teachers & professors, doctors & nurses, housewives & househusbands, village councils, state, provincial & prefectural assemblies, mayors, city directors, governors, presidents & prime ministers–all of us need to be doing this together. NOW. 

Otherwise, we will end up like the three middle school girls’ I remember from my English teaching days in Japan. They were members of the softball team and I was watching their team practice. The coach would line a ball to the shortstop and she would deftly field it and sling it over to first in accordance with her teammates shouts. The girl minding third base did the same. When the coach hit the ball deep to left field, the left fielder chased it down and relayed the ball to the shortstop who then, at the behest of her teammates spun and slung the ball home, to the catcher.

Then, there was this pop fly. A little Texas leaguer that either the girl at third, the shortstop or the left fielder could have called and caught. Instead they all tracked the ball on it’s upward arc and, as it descended, they formed a neat triangle into the middle of which dropped the ball. There was no tried and true response for this situation. The three girls looked at each other. Their teammates stood in confused silence. And, in that moment, nothing happened.

Sound familiar? Who wants the ball?

Catch…

Tags: CEO, climate change, government regulation, greenhouse gases, Japan, Kyoto protocol, the Value Web, Wall Street Journal, what sustains

Economy + Ecology

In case you haven’t been there already, I recommend checking out The Inspired Economist.

They do a great job of sourcing stories that have that special eco-centric mix. They matter both ecologically and economically.

Tags: eco-centric, ecology, economy, Inspired economist

Nike, Creative Commons and Best Buy Building Collaboration

Interesting post at Worldchanging details an approach by these companies to open up their sustainability innovation using Green XChange:

Combining technology and the Creative Commons licensing structure, Green Xchange provides a platform where companies are able to issue licenses to other companies, allowing them to access patented research. The patent owners determine the terms for use, creating a contract that other interested parties accept before accessing the information. Patent holders can protect sensitive information by screening which types of companies may access it, and they can also set the cost for its use. The funds generated would theoretically provide a revenue stream to fund further research.

Like it. This is the kind of thinking and practice that can make sustainability sustainable. Now we need mindsets to follow practice. As they say at Worldchanging:

The main obstacle in persuading companies to share their valuable knowledge is fear…Green Xchange challenges companies to view them as something transferable, and potentially profitable when shared. 

…If Green Xchange succeeds in changing the way we think about transferring intellectual property and benefiting from shared ideas, it could usher us into a new realm of thinking of sustainability (and potentially other fields like medicine) as a truly collaborative endeavor.

Could not agree more. An abundant world awaits.

Collaboration is where we start unlocking our potential to solve the problems we’re facing at a level higher than the thinking that got us into them. Compliance and Conformity just are not sustainable. Cooperation, though good, is not going to be enough either.

Coherence, a step beyond Collaboration, is where it all comes together-we start being the change we want to see in the world. And if we can start to act in Constellations, our unfolding present and our children’s futures may really begin to shine, brilliantly.

Tags: Best Buy, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, Creative Commons, Green XChange, innovation, intellectual property, Nike, patents, Worldchanging

Sustainability Leadership Abounds

We are pleased to announce the launch of our global sustainability leadership organization: Abound.

Commitment      Connection     Opportunity

Who We Are

We are leaders in businesses, non-profit organizations and institutions with a mission for sustainability who want to accelerate the pace of change. We believe it is time to re-imagine, re-design, re-organize and re-align to create a present that carries us through sustainability to a future of abundance.

We are all over the world. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, we have chapters developing across the US and Canada, Japan and the Asia Pacific region. Our global mission is to:

• Strengthen and enhance sustainable leadership
• Develop powerful and deep connections between leaders
• Create sustainable abundance

What We Do

Abound is a membership supported, driven and defined non-profit organization. We provide:

• Leadership Circles: Peer to peer learning groups  committed to helping members deepen their individual, organizational, community and national leadership capacity.
• Learning Events: Integrated into the Leadership Circle experience, these learning sessions  provide participants with the hands on  expertise and learning they need to take their organizations beyond sustainability to abundance.
• Individual and Organizational Assessment: Every member will receive free initial assessments of their leadership capacities, strengths and styles.  After a year, follow up assessments will be made so each member can account for their growth and development.  Abound will also provide assessments of the member organizations to  determine the level  of sustainability the organization has achieved upon joining and over time.
• Knowledge Net: A repository of individual member, sponsor and supporter capabilities and knowledge which any member can access and harness for support.
• Research & Publishing: Thorough, relevant and leading edge research into sustainable practices and their connection to helping member organizations grow and thrive.
• Projects: Supporting members and gathering member support for community, educational and sustainable development projects.

Stay tuned for more…or check out our the Abound website at: www.aboundglobal.org

Tags: Abound, Canada, Japan, leadership, Leadership Circles, Portland Oregon, sustainability

P&G, Microsoft & Sustainability

P&G and Microsoft have both recently strongly committed themselves to “sustainability.” P&G’s Lafley saying:

P&G’s commitment to sustainability is strategic. It is how our company conducts business. [Specifically]

• Develop and market at least $50 billion in innovative and sustainable products, up from a goal of $20 billion.
• Reduce carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, water usage and disposed waste by 20 percent, leading to a 50 percent reduction over the last 10 years.
• Increase use of rail transportation from 10 percent now to 30 percent by 2015.
• Increase the number of children benefiting from P&G’s Safe Drinking Water Program to 300 million, up from the original goal of 250 million.

 

and Microsoft’s saying:

Recently our CEO, Steve Ballmer, sent out an e-mail to all 90,000 Microsoft employees. He made clear that environmental sustainability is a core value for the company that is embedded in all we do,” Robert Bernard said in an interview with CNET News. He added that Ballmer talked about the topic as a corporate belief, “as opposed to a green campaign or a marketing campaign or a marketing issue.

P&G’s commitment is wide ranging and touches on a number of nodes of the value web, including resources and trade, atmosphere, energy, water, transportation, and family and community. They seem to be systematically working sustainability into their value chain.

Microsoft’s statement, though bold, is a little more confused, referring to “environmental sustainability.” Not quite sure how Microsoft is sustaining the environment. Rather than “environmental sustainability” I would recommend something like “environmental awareness is a core value”. 

Sustainability is bigger than you, me, the environment, climate change and renewable energy. It’s what links all of the essential nodes of the value web together. 

I applaud both companies for their concern and commitment. However, I believe both have a way to go before they fully embrace and embed sustainability in their organizations. They need to take the lead by leaping from focussing on discrete parts to developing strategies that link these parts holistically to what they do. 

Sustainability is about relationships and connections and not disconnected metrics. The sooner we see this the sooner we can start doing to get sustainable results.

Tags: A. J. Lafley, carbon dioxide emissions, climate change, core value, Microsoft, P&G, renewable energy, safe drinking water, Steve Balmer, sustainability, sustainable products, value web, waste reduction

The Discipline of Leadership

Interesting article in Business Week on measuring body language:

Using high-tech badges that transmit data on an individual’s gestures, eye movements, voice levels, and even proximity to other people, MIT is parsing the physical traits of leadership. Along with highlighting effective managers, researchers hope the data will help train workers to be more effective at everything from networking to dealing with customers.

Intriguing idea but it seems to me it could easily become one more way to distance our selves from the hard work of becoming our selves. Becoming an effective leader or a manager is about learning how to engage with the people around you. Accreting a few non-verbal tricks is no substitute for developing your own capacity for leadership.

I remember a discussion with one potential coaching client where he told me he wanted me to teach him techniques to “make people like him.” Our relationship ended shortly after I told him there were no techniques for this.

If you want to be a leader you need to spend the time and energy and develop the discipline to become a leader. If you want to engage more fully with people or the world in general you have to deepen your capacity to engage.

There are no shortcuts, secret techniques or weekend courses that are going to do this for you.

Tags: body language, Business Week, discipline, leadership, MIT, non-verbal communication

Beyond CSR: Being Sustainable

There is growing evidence that CSR as commonly practiced is not an effective use of corporate resources.

In a recent McKinsey poll of 391 CEO’s whose companies participate in the UN Global Compact, the CEO’s listed “competing strategic priorities” as the most significant barrier to implementing an integrated strategic approach to CSR. This was followed by:

• complexity of implementing their strategies across diverse business functions and divisions
• lack of recognition by financial markets
• differing definitions of CSR across regions and cultures

…companies aren’t using that tool [CSR] as well as they could. Executives doubt that their philanthropy programs fully meet their social goals or stakeholders’ expectations for them.

their corporate philanthropy programs are very or extremely effective at meeting social goals and stakeholder expectations. Their companies take a somewhat different approach than others do: their programs are more likely to address social and political trends relevant to the business and to be influenced by community and business needs. Executives…say that efforts are already more likely to involve collaboration with other companies. Finally, these companies are much likelier than others to say they are achieving any business goals they have set for their philanthropy programs in addition to social goals.

So, what’s happening here?

We are seeing a clear difference between companies that see CSR as a “tool” or one of many competing strategies and those that are embedding CSR priorities into the business. It is a story of commitment. Or, as Charlie Parker said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your horn.”

Companies that aren’t “living it” are doing CSR for other reasons. Generally they fall into one of three categories: Compliance, Conformity or Cooperation. What these categories have in common is fragmented, frequently externally driven, adoption of CSR behavior. 

Organizations that are “living it” have found a way to integrate CSR and their business. They usually show up in the categories of Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation.

Further, organizations that are “living it” frequently aren’t doing CSR at all. They are being sustainable and, at best, targeting abundance. By “being sustainable” I mean generating value for a wide range of stakeholders within the company and in the communities, regions and countries in which they operate.

This is a big difference. What the McKinsey polls point to is this: being the change you want to see in the world is good business. Doing CSR, while not a bad thing, as a strategy (competing with other strategies) is ineffective, inefficient and, basically, not good business. 

Don’t get me wrong. Giving and philanthropy are good. These acts help people, communities and the environment, a lot. Doing philanthropy and CSR as a strategy is good. Being sustainable is better. Better return on investment, better use of resources, better, bigger impact.

Beyond strategy, being sustainable is a way of thinking, seeing and doing business. Being sustainable is living it and enjoying the value we create. Being sustainable is, simply, better business.

Tags: CEO's, Charlie Parker, Co-operation, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, corporate philanthropy, csr, McKinsey, stakeholders, strategy, sustainability, UN Global Compact