leadership

In the previous post in the series, we talked about measuring a supply chain’s carbon footprint and few ways to reduce it. Today, I’d like to expand upon that, and discuss the importance of logistics in achieving substantially reduced greenhouse gas emissions while saving money at the same time. Deutsche Post DHL, a well known [...]

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Apple Skin Skies examines the idea that our atmosphere is thin relative to the size of the planet and the number of humans on its surface. A connection is drawn between the thickness of an apple skin relative to its diameter and how with this simple mental exercise it becomes more clear how human activity could bring about global warming.

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Investors Urging Governments to Enact Comprehensive Climate Change, Clean Energy Policies Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from energy production reached the highest level ever recorded in 2010, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), yet investment and spending in low-carbon and clean energy systems are falling far short of what’s required to address climate change. [...]

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GET PAID MORE without costing your company a cent
Negotiation tips to make work more enjoyable while reducing expenses

In a climate of high unemployment and decreased revenues, companies are trimming salaries and cutting bonuses. This opens the door for employees to negotiate a comprehensive compensation package that maximizes social value rather than simply economic benefits.

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The environmental movement is, and has been, well aware of the fact that it needs to work on increasing ethnic, age, and income diversity. Mark Tercek, the CEO of The Nature Conservancy, contemplates in his April 7th Huffington Post Green article a study in which EPA officials challenge the movement to become more racially diverse.

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Australia is poised to pass a historic national carbon tax. Narrowly passed in the Australian government’s lower house, the carbon tax bill is now due up for vote in the Senate. Conservation and climate science groups, along with labor unions and the Greens Party, are urging the Senate to pass the legislation quickly, while Australia’s big business interests continue to oppose its passage.

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By Jeff Klein Facilitate means “to make easy.” Facilitation is the art and practice of making things easy (or easier), and facilitative behaviors foster ease of movement. Facilitation may be one of the most essential skills of a Conscious Leader – it’s up there with Conscious Awareness, Social and Emotional Intelligence, and a few others. [...]

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Could this be the beginning of a new kind of investing, something as powerful, in its own right, as protest? As powerful as conscientious objecting? Can we call it conscientious investing?

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GE’s 2010 Corporate Citizenship  Report makes the following statement early on: “GE businesses depend on the infrastructure, skills and institutions of stable, prosperous societies and healthy environments. To succeed as a global business, we need to be a part of building these societies where we operate. We do this through the products and services we [...]

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Look past the macroeconomic statistics and Milwaukee has become a hub of entrepreneurship. 3p profiles a few trailblazing green and local businesses.

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The press is happy this week. They love a good fight and President Obama has finally come out swinging. He’s accused Republicans of deceiving the public, working against the good of the country and unpatriotic behavior.

President Obama’s supporters call him a wimp. His enemies are delighted with his weakness. Is it possible we are so addicted to violence that we can’t let our president be reasonable?

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By Jeff Klein Writing this piece is an exercise in deepening. It demands attention and raises questions, such as “What does it mean?,” “How is it relevant to business?,” and “What are some examples of deepening at work?” Deepening is a process of inquiry, exploration and discovery. If we look beneath the skin, we find [...]

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I thought I would run this piece as a follow-on to last week’s story about Method and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Sustainable Minds (SM) is a widely recognized company that makes software tools to help engineers evaluate design options from a sustainability perspective. Spartech is a leading producer of plastic products with a commitment [...]

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By Jeff Klein Short Answer: Learning, growth and development – for individuals, teams and organizations – are essential to resilience, adaptability and sustainability. Definitions There are some meaningful distinctions between the three.

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Individuals and businesses across Germany are embracing the transition to renewable energy sources as the country moves ahead with its plan to shut down all 17 of its nuclear power plants by 2022. The impact of the shift is increasingly evident across the country and its economy, already a world leader across the spectrum of renewable energy technologies and markets.

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By: Joe Lawless What is corporate social responsibility and why should any business care about it?  Corporations have been debating about social responsibility since the 1950s.  What has changed in the intervening 60 years is consumers’ access to information – the good, the bad and the ugly.  Good information about the noble acts of firms [...]

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By Jeff Klein One of the key insights that emerged out of writing Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living, was a recognition that my principle orientation to work, business and life is generally process-based and process-focused, as compared with a product or outcome-focused orientation. In this context, the motto – The [...]

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All unhappy people are alike in that they negatively affect a business’ financial bottom line. Several years ago, Gallup estimated that Americans who are actively disengaged with their work – almost 30% of all employees – are responsible for a staggering $300 billion in lost productivity annually. This is in addition to what they receive [...]

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By Richard J. Crespin Last week, President Obama laid out a modest plan to nudge job growth. I don’t fault his modesty.  Given the government’s finances, he can’t do much.  Real, lasting growth has to come from the private sector. “What makes the current situation so hard is that we’re trying to solve a long-term [...]

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Al Gore is mad as hell about his campaign to get the word out about global warming being smothered by a heavily funded doubt campaign and a disinterested media, and he’s not going to take it anymore. But unlike Howard Beale in the 1976 film “Network,” he hasn’t simply gone to the nearest window to [...]

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By Jeff Klein The short answer: A Conscious Culture is permeated with Conscious Awareness. Definitions In the context of business – a form of human social organization, Culture represents and encompasses the array of behaviors expected and accepted by members of the organization. Culture includes shared beliefs and values, rules of conduct and rituals. As [...]

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Mark Twain famously said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” The same might be said of the American solar industry. Solyndra Solar collapsed despite substantial government assistance, and Evergreen Solar and SpectraWatt both went bankrupt due to competition from low-cost Chinese imports. There is certainly cause for consternation. But the DOE remains committed [...]

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Habitat for Humanity is one of the world’s leading builders; in 2010, they built and sold over 38,000 homes. Build 100 ranked them the sixth largest builder in the U.S. Habitat’s primary charter is ‘safe, affordable, decent housing for the poor.’ Yet, the celebrated non-profit is an increasingly important player in the green building market. [...]

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By Jeff Klein While I intended to post a piece on Conscious Culture this week, given that this is Labor Day weekend and given the dismal employment numbers announced yesterday, and the media’s heavy tone in reporting them, it feels more appropriate to reflect on the theme of economic recovery and jobs. Perspectives In the [...]

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So what happens when you put together Sylvia Earle, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Richard Branson, Neil Young and Ted Turner? Apart from a really great dinner party conversation, these are the founding members of OceanElders. OceanElders is basically a group of global leaders organized to promote ocean conservation. Joining them are Jackson Browne, Rita Colwell, Graeme Kelleher, Sven [...]

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It appears that retail giant Walmart is ready to take another step on its sustainability journey. Sources within the food industry are reporting that Walmart is planning to begin collecting data from its fruit and vegetable vendors in order to assess the sustainability of their operations. This is a continuation of Wamart’s initiative rolled out [...]

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By Jeff Klein The short answer: A Conscious Leader is someone who leads with Conscious Awareness. As I outlined in the third installment in this “It’s Just Good Business” series, Conscious Awareness is “a process of recognizing what is going on inside and out, the effects of decisions and actions, and the interaction between a [...]

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By Jeff Klein In my post last week on Conscious Awareness, I defined that concept as “a process of recognizing what is going on inside and out, the effects of decisions and actions, and the interaction between a complex array of factors and forces.” I highlighted its function as a powerful tool for transcending unconscious [...]

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By: Martin Melaver Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc., author of two books on sustainability and a tireless champion for re-inventing business to service the environment, passed away last Monday at the age of 77. Ray was vice-chairman of my company for eight years, a mentor, a guide, and a dear friend. I [...]

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By: David Jaber Many CSR professionals struggle with setting benchmarks, measuring progress toward goals and evaluating past performance. But it doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are some tips to get you started: Good metrics should be: – relevant. If your goal is to ‘improve public understanding of environmental justice,’ the metric needs to be [...]

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