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2012: Economic Sustainability and Evolution

January 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

The first thoughts of 2012 are concerned with sustainability and evolution. Big challenges lie ahead for retailers, manufacturers and service providers. Scarcity of resources and lower spending power, coupled with easier search and information gathering are leading to changes in the way we consume.

It seems obvious that companies cannot be sustainable if they are producing more than they can sell, or if they are spending resources in areas where there is less return than they are spending, they are not going to be able to sustain themselves. Yet so many are pouring money into attempts to maintain a leadership position in the wrong race.

Many large successful companies became large and successful because they paid attention to the fundamental principles of economics. They invented and perfected processes that maximized the return from every business unit. Many have become entrenched and part of the fabric of the organization. Yet these processes and entrenched methods can take the focus away from adaption and adoption. The processes and methods were produced within a time of relative stability, where resources were deemed plentiful and the markets were in a constant state of growth. Twitter chats such as #innochat explore this topic in greater depth and talk of the need for optimal conditions for innovation. The leading voices in this chat are well worth listening to, as they discuss how legacy thinking and systems can often create blocks to innovation.

2012 brings with it an interesting junction for business and entrepreneurship. It is almost Darwinian in that the nimble and quick can adapt to changing conditions faster and become the new dominant force. The large and cumbersome driven towards extinction.  Change cannot be effective if it does not permeate the entire DNA of an organization. Especially when thinking about sustainability during difficult economic times.

2011 was an incredibly interesting year for us. We, ourselves, have had to look at our structure. In terms of our clients, we have had to look deep into their DNA, understand what they need to retain, what needs to be adapted and what needs to be changed or adopted. Some have resisted change. Others have embraced it. It is not an easy process to go through.

We have also seen the collective unconscious come into play. We have been involved in the early thinking stages of a number of people who have approached us with ideas around new commerce. There is no link between these people other than a commonality of their ideas, their drive and vision and the fact they have chosen to talk to us. When enough smart people take an idea and run with it that it becomes a collective movement, it is not long before it infuses itself into the mainstream.

2012 will require a lot of energy -  physical, emotional and transformational. Yet, those who choose to spend that energy will be rewarded. We have not seen so much open opportunity and a leveling of the playing field for a long time.

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What can Africa teach the World about Technology?

April 26, 2009 By 8 Comments

321px-terrestrial_globesvgAuthor: Alasdair Munn

tcg: The Communication Group

After attending Africa Gathering this weekend, the central key words and phrases I gained were:

  • Relevance
  • Solution based approach
  • Context
  • Understanding your stakeholders.
  • Sustainable (All four cornerstones)

In the West, particularly the US, the most publicised and most visible business model for the development of collaborative and people-connecting technologies have been the social network models.

There is a perception (right or wrong) that the model to replicate is the one that is built on ‘the great idea that takes off’.

  • Have a great idea
  • Obtain funding
  • Build it using smart technology
  • Gain user buy in and critical mass
  • Figure out the business models later
  • New, unexpected business models will appear as you go along.

What these models have proved to us is that there is power in connecting people, in collaboration and allowing people to add value and perspectives. Some amazing technologies have resulted from this and new ways of looking at how we can use these tools have been unexpected by products. There is no denying that these have changed the way we do things, and have a huge capacity to ensure the way we do business changes for the better.

These models came about in a time of comparative wealth and excess. As resources become increasingly scarce, people are looking towards business models based upon relevance and context.

It has always been the case within Africa that development resources have been scarce. One thing the people of Africa understand is how to make the most of their limited resources. AfriGadget, a blog that explores the way in which the people of Africa solve everyday problems with ingenuity illustrates this very well.

In the West there is a tendency to try and replicated what is out there. There is a preoccupation on talking about the various ways in which existing platforms or networks can be best “leveraged”. Hands up those who have not written or read numerous blogs on how to get the most out of twitter?

Technology solutions coming out of Africa are built with purpose, against objectives and within the boundaries of their resources. It is a solutions based approach. It is also a stripped down approach where only the relevant resources and tools are used. Simple works because less can go wrong and if it does go wrong, simple is easier to fix. There is a shift in the way tools and technologies are looked at.

A good example of this is what Ushahidi did in Kenya. Ushahidi is an opensource platform that crowdsources crisis information. They took a widely used and available piece of technology, texting on mobile phones and applied it to a Google Maps mashup. This was built in Kenya using local knowledge and technologists in response to post election violence. This provided a real time map of violence hotspots with an understanding of the types of violence in those areas. The interesting part is they quickly recognised that citizen reporting leads to an overload of incoming information. Using social media tools most people take for granted, or seldom consider outside the context of specific social networks, they are creating a crowdsource filter. Using tools such as rating, both content and people and word, language and phrase filters, for example, sense can be made out of this overload. Considering profiles to have a deeper significance than a means to tell people who you are, real value can be added to content. Check out Erik Hersman’s TED talk here. 

As the West, and the developed world continue to struggle against scarcity of resources, they can learn from Africa’s approach. Shifting the way resources are looked at and challenging old business models are essential. Context and relevance are no longer just buzz words.

I have just found these links to blogs on Africa Gathering thanks to Juergen Eichholz

Filed Under: Africa Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Sustainability of Social Media

January 28, 2009 By 4 Comments
I have always expected people who truly understand social media to also get sustainability. The two, in my mind are based upon the same principles. Being sustainable is not as simple as using low energy light bulbs, just as having a social media strategy is not a simple case of opening a Twitter account.
Indeed a sustainability strategy for a community of poor sighted people might avoid the use of low energy light bulbs, as their needs require brilliant light. A social media strategy for a technology firm engaged in proprietary systems for a narrow niche may not use any overt social media tools such as Twitter. Their NDA requirements and narrow focus might be better served through using social media tools that assist their customers find, prioritize and personalize their content needs through tagging, bookmarking, rating, and permissions based profiles.
Sustainability involves whole systems thinking. It is based upon four pillars
  • Environment
  • Economic
  • Social
  • Cultural.
A sustainable strategy needs to be infused into every aspect of an organization. It requires integration with existing strategies and it absolutely needs stakeholder buy in, internal and external.
As with sustainability, social media and social media strategy involves the process of whole system thinking and integration. The same four pillars of sustainability can, and indeed should apply.
The open, collaborative and responsive approach found in social media is the same shift in approach that dominates organizations that embrace sustainability. So when I see so many people who truly get social media dedicating a good percentage of their time to sustainable topics, I am not surprised.
I am sure many of you can think of other ways they are aligned, or perhaps you disagree?
Filed Under: Social Media, Sustainability Tagged With: , , ,

tcg’s 10 ways Social Media and Sustainability Align in the Corporate World.

September 19, 2008 By 6 Comments

I would first like to thank Max Gladwell for his blog entitled, Ten Ways that Social Media and Sustainability Align, which sparked the idea for this blog post.

At face value, social media and sustainability are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Social media is inherently intangible and lives online, while sustainability is concerned with the very real and tangible environment and earth. Yet when we drill down and examine these as human concepts, we get a sense that they are both involved in the same paradigm shift.

Most definitions for social media focus on its technologies; however this is a very static and limited view. At tcg we acknowledge that social media is a growing phenomenon enabled through adaptable technology; however, it is also about connecting people and facilitating collaboration, engagement, learning and the progression of ideas.

When it comes to defining sustainability, there are a number of definitions out there, which widely vary depending on who is talking and what their objectives are.

The World Commission on Environment and Development suggests that sustainability is defined as forms of progress that meet “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

I rather like the definition of environmental sustainability by Griffith University:

“Environmental sustainability refers to the environmental actions or impacts of what we do. In moving towards sustainability, we are attempting to reduce our ecological footprint or to tread more lightly on the Earth. This equates to reducing the amount of resources we use (and buy), the waste we produce and the emissions we produce. With every action impacting on the planets ecosystems, from the local to the global, the world is changing and it is not just the climate.”

Here are 10 ways in which we believe that social media and sustainability within organizations are aligned:

1. Shifting in the way we do things

  • We are in the process of a global paradigm shift. The way in which we think about and approach business is changing. As with any paradigm shift, the process is gradual involving conflict between the new paradigm thinkers and the holdouts of the old paradigm.
  • The rapid growth and change of social media has opened it up to scepticism, with protagonists suspicious of the technologies and the idea of open collaboration and the sharing of thoughts. This is a far cry from the closed, exclusionary and suspicious practices from the last century.
  • The sustainability movement is gaining in momentum, yet it does not make sense to individuals or institutions that are heavily invested and ensconced in their industrial mindset.

2. Grew from grassroots movements into having mainstream application

  • Social media tools and sustainability practices both started as grassroots movements. For example, social media tools and applications, developed for social networking sites, have grown to have wider commercial uses. Think about how Facebook radically changed how organizations aggregate news stories and information through the introduction of news feed. The sustainability movement started out as a co-op for sourcing bio diesel fuel or sustainable produce and has escalated to achieving mainstream attention and buy in.

3. Real gains/viable alternatives

  • In order to achieve buy in, both social media and sustainable practices have to prove they will provide real gains and provide viable alternatives. Organizations exist to achieve a return on investment (ROI), be it profit, achievement of social causes, etc. Both have the potential to achieve these objectives; however, this potential is largely misunderstood and miscommunicated.

4. Whole system thinking

  • Social media strategies and corporate sustainability programs only work if there is whole system thinking. Merely adding a blog to your website does not constitute a social media strategy. Changing products’ packaging and labelling without addressing the whole value chain equally does not equate to a sustainable program. Also, for a sustainability program to work it needs to touch every aspect of a corporation. The authors of a program will be remiss if they did not take a whole system philosophy. The same applies to social media.

5. Specific problems, specific strategies, specific executions, specific resolutions

  • There is no one size fits all strategy for corporations when it comes to developing a sustainability program or a social media strategy. Each organization has its own business rules, methods and objectives. Trying to reshape an organization to fit a predetermined strategy or set of tools and processes cannot lead to efficiencies or congruence.

6. Integration

  • Once a strategy is put in place, all elements need to be integrated to allow for a flow of information, efficiencies of resources and a clear action path.
  • Social media is a phenomenon enabled through adaptable technology. It is about connections, facilitating collaboration, engagement, learning and the progression of ideas. It also uses tools such as CMS, LMS, tagging, intelligent search, wikis, communication tools, etc. to connect and integrate all elements of an organization.

7. Internal buy in followed by external roll out

  • For any social media strategy or sustainability program to work it has to be embraced internally by the entire organization before it can be rolled out externally. This includes education, discussion, participation and belief that both projects will bring real value. Once there is internal buy in, the program can be rolled out publicly with the benefit of sincerity and purpose.

8. Integrity

  • Openness, transparency and a true belief and commitment are essential to both sustainability programs and social media strategies. An increasingly sceptical public are increasingly capable of spotting opportunists.

9. The future

  • Both sustainability programs and social media strategies are about changing the way we do things now so that our organizations survive and flourish in the future. Adapting the way we use our resources so as to ensure we allow for the regeneration of resources for future production makes sense, as well as the way we communicate, learn, share and disseminate information so we keep up with people’s learning styles, expectations and technology usage ensures we are heard, now and in the future.

10. Mutually enabling

  • Rolling out a sustainability program within a corporation takes hard work, determination, communication and commitment. Social media tools and applications help with the integration, communication, learning, participation and momentum. Once these elements are sorted out internally, the same social media tools and applications can be used to externalize the message and objectives. Adopting a social media strategy within and organization so that it truly integrates all elements only works if it follows a sustainable model. Tagging on bits of technology, or trying to participate in social media externally to the organization cannot lead to lasting or holistic results.

http://twitter/ajmunn

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Mainstreaming Sustainability

September 10, 2008 By 2 Comments

Sustainable Life Media has a great article about Tesco’s (UK’s largest supermarket chain) CEO Sir Terry Leahy wanting to “create a mass movement in green consumption” by making it easier and more affordable for customers to buy green products.

A few years ago I would have put this down to a publicity stunt. I was verging on anti consumerism and toying with the idea of boycotting large companies. Now, I applaud this initiative whole-heartedly.

For every person who decides to boycott a company like Tesco’s, there are tens of thousands who choose to shop there. The only way people are gong to change their consumption habits is if they are given viable alternatives to the way they consume now. The greatest opportunity to do that is through organizations that touch the greatest amount of people. The single most effective method of changing the way we consume is to change the way we produce.

The majority of people are driven to consume based upon price, availability, convenience and habit.

Organizations such as The Rocky Mountain Institute have known this for years and as a result have spent their energy on engaging producers and researching viable alternatives to the way we produce, yet we are only now seeing the start of the shift.

This idea has been rattling around in my head for a bit, but the person who first articulated it for me in a way that brought it all together was Carl Pope from the Sierra Club. I was attending a talk at the ad:tech conference in San Francisco in April this year entitled Green Marketing in the Digital Age and he was one of the panellists.

Carl was defending Sierra Clubs decision to attach their seal of approval to Clorox’s new Green Works cleaning products label. He asked the audience if they had ever heard of several “green” products that Sierra Club had put their label to in the past. Most people had not. The reason given by Carl was they had all had the best intentions, they were formed on the best principles with the soundest eco practices, yet they had failed to take off because they did not have the backing of mainstream distribution and marketing, nor the muscle or financial backing to produce on a scale that made it a viable prospect cost wise for consumers.

“Green” products have to stop being a sub category. They need to be brought into the mainstream to compete with all other products. For this to happen their case has to be built upon established rules of business offering competitive advantages over other mainstream products. They need to be available, affordable and convenient. These are the principles that Tesco have built their empire on.

 

http://twitter.com/ajmunn

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I Want it All

May 15, 2008 By 1 Comment

“I want it all and I want it now,” written by Queen and released in the late 1980’s, sums up where we are today in the US. We relate everything to self. “What does it mean to me?” “What can I get out of it?”

We apply this mantra to our lives with gusto. This same philosophy applies to our approach to the environment and sustainability. “Yes, I want to be green, but it must not inconvenience me. It must not stop me from living the lifestyle I am striving for.”

Supporters of the environment and sustainable practices find themselves selling the financial benefits of “going green” over and above the obvious moral and global need to change the way we abuse the environment and those third world communities that slave to meet our consuming need for cheap imports. We have found that in order to save the environment, we needed to give it a face. The face we have chosen is the face of the individual consumer. This is an easier sell.

There are many real and compelling added benefits to “going green”. The savings for organisations can be enormous. The reduction of waste, streamlined work practices and supply chains, employee health and moral…. all these make for a compelling argument. The personal or organizational savings have become the “Green Story.” A green revolution is being staged, but the central characters are not the ice caps, the Amazon Forest and global warming. They are profit, corporate efficiencies, and immediate personal and family health benefits.

No wonder there is a growing green scepticism, a green fatigue. The message we are communicating is a self-serving message. Green means money. It is linked to profit and manipulation. Our very principles are being toyed with and not very subtly either. Yet this is the world that we live in: You are not gong to change people’s habits without first showing them a personal benefit.

So how do we counter this scepticism? What should we, as Green Advocates, be doing to ensure that the message gets through? Is it just a means to an end? Are we diluting the message through this cynical approach?

“Going green” should not be a means to an end. Rather, we should direct and formulate persuasive arguments to our audience that are based in integrity. By all means use the economic “hook”—but your audience must truly buy into a holistic sustainability and green practices paradigm.

This is especially relevant for organizations that have already chosen to adopt green practices. It does not matter what their motivation is, the role out of their green practices has to be well executed if it is to be believed by their customers/stakeholders. For that to happen, the organization has to be sincere and they need to communicate that sincerity. Here are a few checkpoints that an organization can look to implement when “going green”. To a lesser degree we could all do well following these principles.

  1. Be Transparent
  2. Define your green story
  3. Create an internal Green integrated communication plan
  4. Crete an external Green integrated communication plan.
  5. Implement your strategy in a phased approach
  6. Have measurable data that can account for the company’s sustainable efforts and green product claims
  7. Above all, do not lie or mislead.
    Here is a link to tcg’s Landmines to Avoid when Going Green one pager that maps this out in more detail.

    http://tcgagency.com/about/LandminesToAvoid_080416.pdf

    There is a tension between our necessity to educate through stealth and the absolute need to keep the green message intact. The messenger has to be squeaky clean or the message gets tainted too.

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