Thursday 29 April 2010

Star of Sustainability - Jacqueline Novogratz

The Blue Sweater story of Jacqueline Novogratz, the Founder and CEO of Acumen Fund is a great story about interconnectedness. Understanding our interconnectedness with each other and our planet is a key to leading sustainable lives and building and growing sustainable businesses.

Watch a 2 mins 45 secs video of the story here.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Leadership - the forgotten people

Nan Gu is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Physics at MIT. He has written a great article on leadership here.

It is an article about the so-called ordinary people who lead and hardly ever get recognised. It is these folk who inspire me to get up every morning and I trust that Nan Gu's article will inspire you to appreciate others more and to celebrate your own leadership more as well.

Personal leadership and empowering people to bring everything they are to everything they do is a key theme of this years differencemakers tour master-class. Please find out about the tour here.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Monday 26 April 2010

Star of Sustainability - Adam Werbach

Adam Werbach the CEO of Saatchi and Saatchi S is one of my sustainability stars.

I would highly recommend a visit to his website and download his The Birth of Blue speech or watch the video introduced by non other than Paul Hawken.

Also on Adam’s website there are many great tools and a PSP (Personal Sustainability Practices) White Paper that has some great insights. As all politics is local so to is sustainability firstly personal.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Friday 23 April 2010

Live recording by Seth Godin on Linchpins

As anyone who knows me will tell you I am a big fan of Seth Godin and his work.

Subscribers to Seth's blog like me were given this link today to a 45 talk by Seth on linchpins. I hope you enjoy it.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Monday 19 April 2010

Farewell C.K. Prahalad by Toby Webb

Toby Webb writes an excellent blog called Reflections on Ethical Business.

His 18th April tribute post to a hero of the modern era in ethical business C. K. Prahalad is worth a read here.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Saturday 17 April 2010

Seven special steps to successful collaboration

A few times in my life I have felt let down by what I perceived was betrayal by others of perceived agreements to do certain things.

The last time this happened I allowed myself to feel hurt for many months. The positive consequence was that I developed a process for reaching agreement with others. I trust you will find it valuable in making your collaborations successful.

There are three worlds. The one in here - that’s my world; the one out there - that’s your world; and the one that is vital when it comes to collaboration - the world we share.

I find that there are three main reasons for human conflict:

1) disagreement about the goal/s, objective/s, or aim/s.
2) disagreement about how the goal/s, objective/s, or aim/s will be achieved.
3) assumption of agreement in 1) and/or 2), and a negative response when such assumptions result in perceived betrayal.

Seven special steps to successful collaboration

1) Establish that there is agreement concerning the goal/s, objective/s, or aim/s. Don’t move on until you are absolutely certain there is agreement.

2) State what you can and will do to achieve the goal/s, objective/s, or aim/s.

3) Ask the other person or people involved to state what they can and will do to achieve the goal/s, objective/s, or aim/s.

4) State what you feel are the milestones or measurements that will indicate you on on track to achieve what you say you will in 2).

5) Ask the other person or people involved to state what they feel are the milestones or measurements that will indicate they are on on track to achieve what they say they will in 3).

6) Agree on dates and times you will be in touch with each other to discuss progress and celebrate achievements.

7) Confirm in writing via email or letter your agreements in 2) through 6) and ask for a confirmation response from the other person or people involved.

Be remarkable
Ian

Thursday 15 April 2010

Lack of collaboration = lack of leadership

At the moment the Federal Government in Australia is attempting to take over the running of the health system and the State Governments are resisting. Petty behaviour on all sides is on full display every day in the media. It's pathetic; spin, posturing, huffing and puffing, all resulting in a lack of collaboration which in my view = a lack of leadership. And of course the people, everyone involved is claiming to serve, lose. The same thing happened in the USA. President Obama succeeded but at what cost to the people and in the end will the compromise really deliver the good that was intended!

It seems opposition to government parties all over the world, and even those in the same political party as is the case with the current health system debate in Australia, are driven by self-interest rather than enlightened self-interest.

Real leadership is not about compromise, it is an ability and a willingness to achieve a co-promise and that means we need to leave out our egos and truly serve for the common good.

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Friday 9 April 2010

Significant shifts of the new world we are building

Much thanks to my colleague Roshanna Evans who posted the following on our differencemakers community site.
The list comes from PEERS.com another tribe Roshanna belongs to.

It is a list I plan to ponder a lot and take action accordingly.

Old: Man is born into sin, essentially corrupt at the core.
New: All people in their core essence are beautiful and worthy of love.

Old: Hatred and vengeance are justified for wrongs suffered. An eye for an eye.
New: Love is the most transformative force. Forgiveness is an act of courage and compassion.

Old: Don't show real feelings, or you will get hurt. Create a convincing persona to present to the world.
New: Welcome authenticity and vulnerability. It's all about being honest and real with each other.

Old: Emphasis on hierarchies. Focus on competition so that the best rise to the top of the hierarchy.
New: Emphasis on equality. Focus on cooperation in order to support the greatest good for all.

Old: Tend to avoid personal responsibility by blaming those above or below them in the hierarchy.
New: Take personal responsibility for actions and learn from our mistakes.

Old: People need to be led or controlled by those believed to be better or more capable.
New: Each individual is a powerful creator capable of meeting their needs with the help of others.

Old: The mind and science is supreme. The scientific paradigm supersedes God and religion.
New: The heart and personal relationships are of paramount importance. The deepest essence of life is a divine mystery to be welcomed and explored.

Old: Don't question the accepted scientific paradigm. Focus on three-dimensional, five-sensory world.
New: Foster fluid intelligence. Explore the edges of consciousness, especially other dimensions and capabilities not believed to be possible under the old paradigm.

Old: Categorizing and dissecting nature allows us to better control it and to profit from it.
New: Recognizing the interconnectedness of all life leads to greater growth and harmony.

Old: Focus on order, discipline.
New: Welcome flexibility and even occasional chaos and disorder as means to see new possibilities.

Old: Value boundaries, borders, and divisions. These give security, safety, and comfort.
New: While respecting and honoring differences, look for shared vision and ways to work together. Take risks in order to grow. Short-term pain can bring long-term gain.

Old: You can't trust anyone.
New: Surrender to and trust in a divine force greater than our egoic selves.

Old: Focus on defeating and conquering the enemy, us versus them. War against evil.
New: Committed to transforming and integrating life's challenges. The external reflects the internal.

Old: Focus on details, complexity.
New: Remember the bigger picture. Identify simple principles behind the complexities of life.

Old: Look outwards for guidance. Don't trust self. Have rigid rules and beliefs.
New: Look inwards for guidance. Develop intuition. Have flexible guidelines and beliefs.


Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

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Do you do things every day that amaze you?

I very much enjoyed a seminar recently with a colleague Paul Dunn who is known internationally as ‘the wizard of wow’.

I also love getting emails from Paul who often signs off with be sure to keep on doing things that amaze you.

Here are 5 ways you can do things that amaze you:

1. Little things make the big difference:

One of my favourite sayings comes from Anita Roddick, the Founder of The Body Shop. She said If you don’t believe little things make a big difference then you have never been to bed with a mosquito.

Take a look at all that you do for family, friends, and work mates and ask are they saying wow about my actions? And then change what you need to so that all your actions are ones that mean people say wow.

2. Embrace sustainability, it’s actually simple


Governments, as evidenced by the monumental failure of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, the posturing of some big businesses only interested in themselves, and the emergence of more bureaucracies, means sustainability can appear to be complex and out of reach for small to medium enterprises.

Forget what other people are or aren’t doing. Do the right thing by people and our planet yourself! And if you are in business consider that building a business that is good for people and our planet can actually make you more money! Don't’ believe me? Give me a call sometime. I can prove this beyond any shadow of a doubt.

3. Innovation is only possible when your culture allows it

In conducting my research for my conference and event presentations worldwide it is crystal clear to me that most business cultures make it hard for employees to turn information into insight into inspiration into ideas and therefore innovation, the successful implementation of an idea, rarely happens.

Does the culture of your business mean innovation is easy? And how about at home. Is innovation easy there too?

If you are doing what you’ve always done, most likely you are getting what you’ve always got. Is is time to change who you are and what you do?


4. People need big reasons to really be personally responsible

Best-selling author Daniel Pink has proved clearly that most business leaders do not understand motivation which is why a majority of employees do not produce their best work on a consistent basis.

Pink suggests that there are three primary motivators for us all:
Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives
Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters
Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves


In your home and workplace and wherever else you gather are these three motivators being met?

5. Enlightened self-interest is an old idea that can make your life and business new again

The following entries are found at Wikipedia.

Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics which states that persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group or groups to which they belong), ultimately serve their own self-interest.

It has often been simply expressed by the belief that an individual, group, or even a commercial entity will "do well by doing good"

In contrast to enlightened self-interest is simple greed or the concept of "unenlightened self-interest", in which it is argued that when most or all persons act according to their own myopic selfishness that the group suffers loss as a result of conflict, decreased efficiency because of lack of cooperation, and the increased expense each individual pays for the protection of their own interests.


All over the world I have seen ‘unenlightened self-interest’ destroy businesses, families, and lives in general. The good news is that I have also seen productivity and positivity go through the roof when the awesome power of ‘enlightened self-interest’ is at work.

Is enlightened self-interest driving you? Could you do more for your world and therefore for yourself?

Be remarkable
Ian
Founder Differencemakers Community
Sign-up here for a least one free resource per month and to get your complimentary copy of my ebook Differencemakers - how doing good is great for business.

PS Do you live in or near Dubai, Toronto, Chicago, Manchester, Oxford, Singapore, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, or Adelaide? These are the cities for this years differencemakers master-class that I am honoured to be co-presenting with Innovator of the Year Alexander Blass, and a special guest presenter in each city. This master-class explores the incredible impact we can all make by combining sustainability, innovation, and social entrepreneurship. Find out more here.

Thursday 1 April 2010

The New World waiting to be born (my title) - a profound presentation by Jeremy Rifkin

This talk by eminent scientist Jeremy Rifkin is a much watch for all who care about our future and how to make it how it should be.



Be remarkable
Ian