Cradle to Cradle Wisdom

Here’s a couple of perspectives from Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart taken from Cradle to Cradle:

If we were to have intentionally designed the industrial revolution here are some of the specs we would have needed to follow:

• put billions of pounds of toxic material into the air, water and soil every year
• produce some materials so dangerous they will require constant vigilance by future generations
• create gigantic amounts of waste
• put valuable materials in holes all over the planet, where they can never be retrieved
• require thousands of complex regulations-not to keep people and natural systems safe, but rather to keep them from being poisoned too quickly
• measure productivity by how few people are working
• create prosperity by digging up or cutting down natural resources and then burying them or burning them
• erode the diversity of species and cultural practices

Now, if we were to do a redesign around eco-efficiency and other current definitions of doing less harm the specs would look like this:

• release fewer pounds of toxic wastes into the air, soil and water every year
• measure prosperity by less activity
• meet the stipulations of thousands of complex regulations to keep people and natural systems from being poisoned too quickly
• produce fewer materials that are so dangerous that they will require future generations to maintain constant vigilance while living in terror
• create smaller amounts of useless waste
• put smaller amounts of valuable materials in holes all over the planet, where they can never be retrieved

A couple of key points here. No one designed the industrial revolution and, really, we aren’t doing a very good job of designing for a sustainable, much less an abundant future. No one intended to flood their communities with toxic compounds, create large whorls of plastic trash in our oceans, collapse the banking system and kick off a worldwide recession or alter the climate of the planet on which we depend for existence.

We, all of us, just drove on oblivious to the signs warning that a pretty precipitous cliff lay dead ahead. Now we are flailing around with a lot of our energy being expended on figuring out how to drive toward (and off) the cliff more slowly. Not good.

It’s hard. Just ask Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, the rest of the House of Representatives and legislators, policy makers and leaders all over the world as they wrestle with climate change legislation and regulations. Let’s face it, most of us, in some way, depend on the current state of things to get by.

Yet, the question I think we should be asking is not “How to we keep what we’ve got?” but “How do we give up what we’ve got in order to get more for all of us in the future?” In aikido (thanks to the late Terry Dobson)  we call this “giving in to get your way”

So, what to do? We’ve got to get everyone involved. Less bad is still bad. Less bad is unsustainable. As we continue to meet the needs of the present we’ve got to come together and design for a future that is not less bad but more good. While meeting the needs of the present we need to collectively imagine, design and implement a future that gives us, our children and grandchildren our best shot at living lives of sustainable abundance. 

This goes beyond ideology, industry and ego. It is at the heart of community and living and working together well. This is a game we all can play. The rules? Design, develop and implement for a sustainable present and abundant future. Do it together. Do it well. Be present, build resilience. Be disciplined. Do it ASAP. Have fun!

Tags: aikido, banking system, Bill McDonough, climate change, climate change legislation, collapse, Cradle to cradle, design, eco-efficiency, Ed Markey, Henry Waxman, Michael Braungart, recession, resilience, Terry Dobson, toxic material, waste

Six Levels of Sustainability: What You Be is What You Get (6)

“Sustainability” is not always sustainable. Simply, doing and describing what you do as sustainable does not make it so. For organizations (and us, personally!) to be sustainable in what we do, we have to be sustainable in who we are and how we see the world. This gives us our best shot at doing something that is actually going to get or generate sustainable results. In the following series of six posts I will introduce the six levels of engaging in sustainability:  Compliance,  Conformity, Cooperation, Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation.  We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact.

Constellation is characterized by reaching across industry, sector and national boundaries to create “constellations” of organizations capable of making systemic level change that benefits a multitude of stakeholders including, of course, the constellation members. These constellations are characterized by high degrees of transparency and innovation in a rich learning, rich opportunity environment. They are driven by a strong sense of purpose to build systemic capacity wherever they may be operating.

Constellation

• Sustainability is internally driven and collaboratively realized in multi-stakeholder interventions
• Example sustainability activities: Kalundborg, a workable, meaningful approach to changing climate change, expanding Burgerville’s quality of supplier relationships throughout Cascadia, the “Integral Cities” movement.
• Being at Constellation innovating and organizing from an abundance mindset.
• What we see at this level is our capacity to effect systems level benefit and change with an array of other capable stakeholders.
• What we are doing is creating long-term value and resilience in the systems in which we do business thus making them and us more sustainable.
• What we get from Constellation is a strong, healthy, positive-value, business opportunity generating Value Web.
• Operating at Constellation is our best bet at sustaining the systems that sustain us and allow us to economically innovate and ecologically flourish.

We are just beginning to see Constellation level work emerge. The simplest way to imagine it is collaboration at a systems level. The project, instead of being clean tech. development project would entail a focus on a node or multiple nodes of the value web. Again, if the way Burgerville develops and maintains relationships with suppliers was expanded and implemented with a number of restaurants and suppliers across Cascadia we would be looking at a constellation-like scope and impact.

Tags: abundance, Burgerville, Cascadia, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, Country Natural Beef, integral cities, Interkannections, Kalundborg, resilience, sustainability, systems level change, systems thinking, transparency

Six Levels of Sustainability: What You Be is What You Get (5)

“Sustainability” is not always sustainable. Simply, doing and describing what you do as sustainable does not make it so. For organizations (and us, personally!) to be sustainable in what we do, we have to be sustainable in who we are and how we see the world. This gives us our best shot at doing something that is actually going to get or generate sustainable results.  In the following series of six posts I will introduce the six levels of engaging in sustainability:  Compliance,  Conformity,  Cooperation, Collaboration, Coherence and Constellation.  We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact..  We use these at Interkannections to help our clients clarify their current goals around sustainability and map out their paths for deepening their practice and impact.

Coherence is signified by an organization or reorganization around a clear sense of purpose and deeply embedded principles that promote sustainability beyond the scope of simply doing business in the conventional sense. The organization and its people begin to fulfill an intentionally larger role in the communities and ecosystems in which they operate.

Coherence

• Sustainability is generated from clearly articulated and realized principles and purpose.
• Example sustainability activities: Intentional long-term and multi-win relationships with suppliers that connect with developing and implementing community enhancement programs internally and with community stakeholders while creating and enacting related business practices that create zero waste and actually restore land and stream quality that significantly lowers risk and increases revenue and value for the business, suppliers and local communities.
• Being at Coherence is striving to be the change you want to see in the world while being successful.
• What we see at this level is a multitude of business opportunities and potential through engagement with the value web.
• What we are doing is “walking” our sustainable “talk” by leveraging value web relationships to generate multi-win, interconnected value as the example activities cited above demonstrates.
• What we get from Coherence is excellent risk management, long-term stability through a healthier, more robust relationship with the world.
• Remaining at Coherence has little in the way of negative consequences unless the culture becomes stagnant, insular or arrogant.. As the company evolves it is highly likely that opportunities to begin doing Constellation level business will appear. To seize these opportunities the role of proactive leadership throughout the organization, high levels of awareness, communication, innovation and resilience are necessary.

When we think of companies at this level, Burgerville, a Portland, Oregon area quick service restaurant chain comes to mind. Their mission is simple: To serve with love.  Their inter-relationship with the communities and market in which they operate is complex. In terms of engagement with the value web they are actively generating positive, clearly visible interconnected returns in nearly all of the nodes. They don’t so much have suppliers as they have deep, mutually enriching, value generating relationships. More on Burgerville coming soon.

Tags: Burgerville, Coherence, collaboration, Compliance, Conformity, Constellation, cooperation, innovation, Interkannections, Oregon, Portland, principles, purpose, resilience, risk management, sustainability, walking the talk, zero waste

Sustainable Performance Reviews

On the thread of performance reviews, it occurred to me that one key area in which sustainability is often not embedded in the organization is in the performance review.

Think about it, if your performance review is the demotivating debacle described in my previous post, in terms of valuing and respecting resources it is a barrier to building a sustainable organization. The workforce and even the executives are trapped in a Dilbert like world of double entendre, undiscussable issues and tragicomedy. This is the waste generating opposite of generating value, developing capacity for innovation & implementation and building resilience & responsiveness-let alone holding a space for people to be whole and develop presence.

So…what would sustainable performance reviews look like? In my thinking they would:

•  Inquire into the health of the employee. How are you doing in this organization? How is your manager / the organization doing for you? What do you do to take care of your self? How could your manager / the organization take better care of you?
• Have a clearly designed, defined and operable approach to sustainability. This should be done in a way that engages “the whole system” of internal and external stakeholders to help the organization and leaders see what needs to be done, who needs to do it and what competencies and capacities are necessary to make it happen at all levels of the organization.
• Make the employee a partner in sustaining the organization. What are you doing to sustain and grow this organization? How well is this organization helping you sustain your self and your family? What would it take for you and us to flourish?
• Set targets and goals that blend the following:
  • The corporate bottom line and the necessary efficiency and effectiveness to support it.
  • The employees needs and the necessary work/support, achievement, recognition & development to achieve it.
  • The values and principles that will allow both bottom lines to co-exist and grow.
  • The needs of other internal and external stakeholders that either affect the above or are affected by the above.
• Make goal/target setting and performance reviews something to look forward to. What would an engaging, appreciative, empowering and uplifting review look and feel like? Ask your self. Ask your friends. Ask your team. Ask your subordinates. Ask your mentors and leaders. 
• Be the change you all want to see.

Tags: be the change, capacity, Dilbert, generate value, goal setting, implementation, innovation, performance review, presence, resilience, responsiveness, sustainability, sustainable leadership

Sustainable Leadership: Resilience and Responsiveness

「勝って兜の緒を締めよ」(katte kabuto no o wo shime yo)

When you win, it’s time to tighten your helmet straps. So goes a proverb from the samurai. It relates to the practice of 残心 (zanshin), lingering awareness. After overcoming an opponent, one still remains alert, attuned and ready for more. It is the embodiment of Presence in the midst of the din and confusion of uncertainty, stress and struggle. 

The principles of Resilience & Responsiveness mean, essentially the same thing. In Engaging the Core I wrote:

“Stewardship, support, service, maintenance & improvement. Building and maintaining flexibility. Everything changes. At the core of eco-centric, sustainable action is the heart of flexibility and the perceptive wisdom to respond with change.”

In the automotive industry Toyota has exemplified this practice, relentlessly expanding their market share, celebrating milestones and remaining alert, attuned and focused on maintaining, improving and exceeding the excellence already achieved.

In politics Obama took little time to celebrate or rest from his victory. He and his team are vigorously responding with the changes that are taking place on a weekly and, sometimes daily, basis.

What are we doing?

Whether we’re celebrating Obama’s victory or disheartened by it are we remaining alert and attuned to the promise of opportunity in hard times or are we distracted by our feelings of elation and despair?

Are we stuck in our industrial age mindsets or are we building the capacity for flexibility, responsiveness with change and sustainable work and life styles?

Are we waiting for someone else to do something for us or do we have the desire, commitment and accountability to do for our selves and others in the spirit of sustainable stewardship, support and service?

The times they are a changing, my friends. They’re going to continue to change. Get used to it.

Reacting or resistance to change puts us consistently a day late and a dollar short. Ever tried to fight a wave? Just ask the American auto industry.

We win some. We lose some. Do we have the capacity to respond with loss and victory, to tighten up those helmet straps? Are we building the capacity for Presence, opening our selves to possibility, flexibility and opportunity, remaining alert and attuned to what’s next? Can we place our selves in a way to influence what’s next?

Can we be what’s next?

Tags: obama, resilience, responsiveness, sustainable leadership, Toyota, zanshin