Thursday 31 December 2009

My top 10 predictions for 2010

1) Politicians will be less seen as world leaders due to their monumental failure to lead in Copenhagen. World Leaders will be the social entrepreneurs and business people who actually do things that make a difference. I call these folk insightpreneurs™ and differencemakers™. Insightpreneurs™ are experts at turning information into insight into inspiration into ideas into innovation, fast. Differencemakers™ are folk who innovate for the good of people and our planet.

2) Social media will continue to evolve and grow and influence us. The movers and shakers will be those people who turn conversations online into real world collaborations that make a difference.

This is what we do at differencemakers community. Please join us here.

3) Greed and stupid business practice will continue in some sections of the financial services sector. Some folk haven’t learnt their lesson. People with demonstrable ethics, genuine corporate responsibility, and general good business practice will thrive.

4) The number of double (social and environmental) and triple bottom-line (social, environmental, and economic) businesses will continue to grow.

5) Sustainability will still be the zeitgeist of our time.

6) Business leaders who have sustainability and innovation linked and as a core of their growth strategies will thrive

7) Local Government and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) will continue to be the non business places were things that really matter get done.

8) There will be more meetings held online that ever before however savvy people will also begin to reinvent how face to face meetings (1:1, teams, and conferences etc) work and they will do very well.

9) Twitter or something similar not yet invented will replace email as the main means of staying in touch online

10) ebooks and other means of online learning will thrive in 2010 particularly those that focus on self development that is practical and real, making social media work for business, sustainability, innovation, leadership.

I wish all of earth's citizens your best year yet in 2010.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Tuesday 22 December 2009

Avatar - a must see movie for our time and our future

My wife and I were thrilled to watch the Avatar movie today, our 36th wedding aniversary.

James Cameron is one of the great storytellers of our time. This is a story from humanity to humanity and I trust we will heed its profound messages and together build a better world.

Happy holidays to all taking them and may 2010 be the year when our new world really comes to life.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Sunday 20 December 2009

Copenhagen climate change conference was a monumental messup however there is hope

A statement of intent was all the politicians could come up with after 2 years of talk and a failure to collaborate and agree on a legally binding agreement over the past two weeks in Copenhagen.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development President Bjorn Stigson issued a stark warning to ministers on 17th December in Copenhagen: "You will not solve climate change without business at the table as an engaged, involved partner - Governments cannot deliver on the targets which are being talked about without business." I agree with Mr. Stigson.

Social entrepreneurs (I call them insightpreneurs and differencemakers - see my article here) are the business leaders leading the change for good. I have written about many of them on this blog and will continue to do so. Become such a leader yourself. You could do a lot worse in getting started that adopting some of the 142 actions I recommend in my book which you can download here.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Thursday 17 December 2009

Post Copenhagen action regardless of the end result of the conference

I don't need any scientific evidence for climate change and the human contribution to it.
I have seen it with my own eyes.

I think the wrong people by enlarged have been at the Copenhagen conference. I think we need to take away the perceived right of politicians and bureaucrats to be making the kind of negotiations that are being attempted at the Copenhagen conference on climate change this week. Why? - because self interest tends to rule among these folk rather than enlightened self interest.

We live in age of collaboration and with one day to go collaboration for the good of all is a long way from being achieved. I am hoping for the best. It seems to me world leaders, again this is a self-proclamation, believe in collaboration, however as yet haven't found a way to turn belief into real action.

Whatever happens in the next 24 hours and way beyond that, entrepreneurs and differencemakers who change what's normal or innovate for the good of people and our planet need to take charge of the agenda and make it happen and politicians and their sidekicks need to get out of the way except for making laws that protect what matters and enhance our innate human ability to collaborate for the common good.

Please joining me in taking charge of the change for good agenda by joining differencemakers community as a first step.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Monday 14 December 2009

Green is good regardless of what they do or don't do in Copenhagen

Want to know more about green business, green urban development, green lifestyle, art, and architecture, food and sustainability, wildlife, ecosysystems, and conservation, climate change, and/or sustainable energy? then check out the 100 lectures available here at online college.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

The ever-growing business case for CSR/sustainability

In a report for IBM Global Business Services, George Pohle and Jeff Hittner make some excellent points from a survey of 250 global leaders that clearly advocate the business case for CSR/Sustainability including:

“A growing body of evidence asserts that corporations can do well by doing good. Well-known companies have already proven that they can differentiate their brands and reputations as well as their products and services if they take responsibility for the well-being of the societies and environments in which they operate.

68 percent are now utilizing CSR as an opportunity and a platform for growth.

Today, a surprising number of companies already regard corporate social responsibility as a platform for growth and differentiation. the shift in thinking from CSR as a cost or risk mitigation effort to CSR as a strategic goal that brings in new revenues.

Over two-thirds (68 percent) of the business leaders surveyed by IBM are focusing on CSR activities to create new revenue streams.

Over half (54 percent) believe that their companies’ CSR activities are already giving them an advantage over their top competitors.

The traditional adage, “buyer beware,” has now become “seller beware.”

A company’s most valuable asset is its ability to convert brand power into customer buying decisions. Only the company that shares reliable information can be a trustworthy “partner in sustainability” for customers who are ready to buy.

What happens when a customer walks into a store, a bank, a showroom, or even a factory floor and asks if the products they see are fair-trade or sourced sustainably? Do employees have the information at hand? Can they answer questions about the company’s labor practices and energy consumption as well as product disposal? Not usually. Are they prepared to have a real dialogue, one in which they learn about the customers’ needs? Not frequently enough, according to the respondents of the survey.

All too often in corporate life, the CEO announces a vision and the average employee is mystified or indifferent. With CSR, it can be different."


Please download the full report here.

I would also highly recommend an article published in the New York Times by Jared Diamond, distinguished author and professor of geography at University of California, 'Will Big Business Save the Earth?' You can read this article here.

Is CSR/Sustainability key to your growth strategy?

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Saturday 5 December 2009

Great insights on climate change from Green Economy Post

For some great insights into the issues facing Government and NGO representatives and others gathering in Copenhagen in the next few days please check out this excellent work by Green Post Economy.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Thursday 3 December 2009

Expect More From 2010

2010 will be my 19th year in business. I know it will be my best year yet because like every other year I have plans to execute that will change what's normal.

What are your plans?

If you feel, think, and do like you did in 2009 the most likely scenario is that 2010 will be a shocker (that's Aussie for bad).

To help you avoid this scenario I have prepared an exercise for you in the ebook Expect More From 2010.

My thanks to Gihan Perera of First Step for making this ebook happen for the 4th consecutive year. There are many great ideas from 43 different authors you might consider in this ebook, all designed to help you make 2010 your best year ever.

Please download the ebook here. My exercise is on page 8.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

It seems a majority of politicians don't understand that we live in an age of collaboration

I watched an interview yesterday with Tony Abbott the newly elected leader of the major political party in Australia not in government. He said "our job is to oppose the government." He later in the interview tried to correct himself by saying "our job is to hold the government to account."

Mr. Abbott got elected after extraordinary scenes in his party where one minute they were supporting the governments climate change bill and then they weren't. These decisions and indecision followed 5 weeks of collaborating and the former leader Malcolm Turnbull telling the government our collaboration has been successful, lets pass the bill.

Australia now has egg on its face going into to the Copenhagen summit this weekend on climate change. Our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, unless there is yet another change of mind by Mr Abbott's party, will go to Copenhagen a follower instead of a leader.

Seems to me that Mr Abbott, like most old school politicians, hasn't yet realised we live in an age of collaboration. My hope is that he and everyone who thinks and acts like him will soon come to their senses or we vote these kind folk out and replace them with people who will do what needs to be done for the good of people and our planet.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Partnering passionate people to change what’s normal for the good of people, our planet, and for profit.