Whole System Innovation: the Blog

CONSCIOUS LIFESTYLE OFFERS $1,000 TO STUDENTS WITH SOCIALLY INNOVATIVE IDEAS

January 7, 2007

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT—Conscious Lifestyle, a nonprofit organization concerned with socially responsible consumerism, is now accepting grant applications from high school and college students. Students who exhibit interest and commitment to social entrepreneurship and consumer responsibility in areas such as socially human rights, animal welfare, and environmentalism will receive up to $1,000, web space, and other pertinent resources to complete projects of their choosing. In the past, such projects have included:

• An environmental organization that converted school vehicles to run on biodiesel.
• A socially responsible product-design firm run by engineering students, which provides high-quality services for nonprofit organizations at affordable prices.
• A initiative committed to socially responsible investing on campus.

Students with similarly innovative ideas should download an application from www.consciouslifestyle.org/2008ventureapp and submit it by February 15, 2008. Winners will be chosen by an executive committee of Conscious Lifestyle staff members and announced April 1.

Today’s students are passionate about addressing societal problems, and they want to make sure their hard work will lead to long-lasting change. Fortunately for these students, Conscious Lifestyle has created a program to support their efforts.

Conscious Lifestyle is a non-profit organization that empowers students and schools to be more socially responsible. With a strong emphasis on social entrepreneurship, Conscious Lifestyle trains high school and university students to make lasting contributions to their schools and fellow students. For more information, please visit www.consciouslifestyle.org or call Mike Del Ponte, Executive Director of Conscious Lifestyle at 925-360-4149.

Contact: Michael Del Ponte
Phone: (925) 360-4149
Email: mike@consciouslifestyle.org

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This is a great article. I like the authors that counter an anticipated perspective based on their status; in his case, as a scientist. I agree with Botkin’s perspective here. Note that the author’s points do not counter any of my other social-intellectual points made earlier.

I too have as much concern for the exaggeration of our isolated focus as I do for my sense that humanity is a major instigator in the break-down of the earth’s eco-system. It reminds me of how humanity clings onto particular points rather than to perceive an ‘ecology’ of relationships. We then make decisions based on a mono-nucleic or single-pointed view, while somehow (unconsciously?) assuming that our choice has integrated all the problems within one neat little package. We are a society that reacts to the immediacy of singled-out emergencies that trigger a fear of our own death, rather than to be responsive to the very real intuitive callings within us, of which by the way actually emphasizes life rather than death. In the global warming case, humanity’s inner ‘call’ is signaling us to change the way we interact with the planet’s resources and life systems. Yet that calling has gotten pulled into an outdated learning methodology that encourages the selection of a certain part within the greater whole so that we can adjust it in order to ‘fix’ the whole, all while dropping the other parts in the process. Ironically, a relatively recent advancement of science through complexity theory; more specifically: the butterfly effect, suggests that we must take into effect sources of small changes too, as they are just as important as the big sources of system change. Thus, it’s the ecology of our science that seems to be lost or forgotten (or maybe still emerging?) right now. In part, I believe this is due to our (also outdated) economic model, which reinforces big payouts of fame and money going to those who come up with the best (so-called) right answer. This is a flaw in today’s human(e) management model and directly impacts scientific progress, even if science theory suggests otherwise. That is, the original science model is based in the separation of matter in order to see how it got put together and works. Although this process is important, I believe that it is valuable only when balanced with other scientific procedures that incorporate (w)holistic applications which seek to understand how a system works as a whole without separating it into parts.

All that said, can the global warming movement trigger an ecology of understanding that is sorely missing? In the name of generating deeper forms of innovation (rather than shallow), this is both my hope and my concern.

Vic

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On 10/17/07 10:09 AM, From Dan J. who wrote:

Another point amongst the discourse on global climate change that leads me to ponder the (science+belief=action) model. So is Botkin one of the naysayer conspirators, of the believers but a concerned observer, or just misguided? What should we believe about the truth from this? He's reputable enough to get into the WSJ, but then that paper has a pro-business bias.

So having read this, what do you make of his factual points? What will you do with it within your social-intellectual construct of climate change?

Dan

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Global Warming Delusions

10/17/2007 The Wall Street Journal
By Daniel B. Botkin

Mr. Botkin, president of the Center for the Study of the Environment and professor emeritus in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is the author of ”Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century” (Replica Books, 2001).

Global warming doesn't matter except to the extent that it will affect life -- ours and that of all living things on Earth. And contrary to the latest news, the evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life is thin. Most evidence suggests the contrary.

Case in point: This year's United Nations report on climate change and other documents say that 20%-30% of plant and animal species will be threatened with extinction in this century due to global warming -- a truly terrifying thought. Yet, during the past 2.5 million years, a period that scientists now know experienced climatic changes as rapid and as warm as modern climatological models suggest will happen to us, almost none of the millions of species on Earth went extinct. The exceptions were about 20 species of large mammals (the famous megafauna of the last ice age -- saber-tooth tigers, hairy mammoths and the like), which went extinct about 10,000 to 5,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, and many dominant trees and shrubs of northwestern Europe. But elsewhere, including North America, few plant species went extinct, and few mammals.

Continue reading "Innovation and the Great Global Warming Debate" »

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Sustainable Innovation and Innovation for Sustainability

From Webzine and the New York Academy of Sciences

A corporation's organizational framework must facilitate and encourage employee innovation and risk-taking. Frequently, integral decision making must occur at lower employee levels where people have the greatest information on products, markets, customer feedback and relationships. It is critical that innovation across employee levels is encouraged and supported, but how can a corporation ensure innovation and more importantly, sustainable innovation? How do companies internalize a culture and process to ensure consistent innovation?

GE's 'Ecomagination' initiative to double global revenue from environmental products by 2012 has radically shifted public attention from the company's reputation as an environmental laggard to a new role as an eco-innovator. Other companies such as Pfizer (green chemistry) and Toyota (hybrid technology) claim growing markets for their products among both consumers and businesses.

Arthur D. Little's recent report, The Innovation High Ground, finds that as many as 95% of companies believe that such 'sustainability-driven innovation' has the potential to deliver business value and almost 25% believe it definitely will. Where are sustainability-driven innovators headed and what can other companies learn from them?

More ...

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I have long awaited the day when business and technology would begin to use principles of sustainability as the foundation for how we create and pay for our products and services. Well, the future has arrived with the concept of triple bottom line and socially responsible investing, which holds a whole new framework for innovation to emerge.

If you like to watch your money AND the planet grow green take a look below. Thank you Cliff for all of your years of persevering with GreenMoney Journal. You have helped make a once future idea (green investing) become a growing present day activity.

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In GreenMoney Journal’s special 15th Anniversary issue (Summer 2007) they are looking ahead at the next fifteen years through the eyes of several visionary leaders who have shaped today’s green investing and business world.

GreenMoney forecasts offer a greener future, to be sure. Be prepared to see a “green print” for a more sustainable world in which both challenge and opportunity abound. If fact, the next 15 years will be more critical then the last as we shift our attention from global war to global warming.

How will we evolve? Petroleum wars will end as people more fully realize the human and environmental costs associated with the finite commodity. The evolution will continue as the clean green energy revolution builds momentum. Issues of political justices and socio-economic justice will become even more closely tied. Higher environmental standards, clear market incentives and the laws of supply and demand will drive the culture of sustainable innovation.

Patriotism will be demonstrated not by SUV bumper stickers, but by responsible ecological behavior. As New York Times columnist Tom Friedman says, “Green is the new Red, White, and Blue.”

But this rapidly approaching future for our country is also global. Internationally, corporate accountability will include Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors as corporate management come to the inescapable conclusion that any financial analysis that excludes these factors cannot safely predict a company’s long-term profitability. According to several of our writers, the next 15 years will see the full integration of ESG into financial analysis and corporate decisions to reflect a triple bottom line.

As more individuals understand that their shopping and investing choices have impacts, they will want to make those impacts positive and sustainable. How will that happen? GreenMoney will continue to provide the answers.

In the special Summer issue: Amy Domini of Domini Social Investments shows us how the “culture of capitalism” will be fundamentally transformed; Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm outlines a dynamic future from food to technology, examining the challenges and opportunities of climate change; our favorite futurist Hazel Henderson spells out future global trends and counter trends; Spencer Beebe of Ecotrust keeps it green with an environmental discussion on advantages of Bioregions; and Joe Keefe of Pax World Funds shows us the road from Socially Responsible Investing to ESG and sustainable investing.

And if you want to get the 32-page print version (with exclusive features like the socially responsible mutual fund performance chart) of the special 15th Anniversary Summer ‘Visionaries’ issue for the Special Anniversary Rate of just $15 ( discounted from $50 ), go to the GreenMoney Journal via our website at- www.greenmoney.com . See details below.

You can also find an extensive set of 'exclusively online' articles on our web site by sustainability leaders, including Joan Bavaria of Trillium Asset Mgmt, Barbara Krumsiek of Calvert, Woody Tasch of Investors Circle, Allan Savory of Holistic Mgmt. Intl., Jean Pogge of ShoreBank, author and vegetarian chef Deborah Madison, as well as Tessa Tennant and many others.

SUBSCRIPTION Information
Online at- www.Greenmoney.com
US - $15 a year, Canada - $20 a year, International - $25 a year
Cliff Feigenbaum, Founder and Managing Editor,
GreenMoney Journal and greenmoney.com
Co-author, “Investing with Your Values” with Hal Brill and Jack Brill
Subscriptions - (800) 849-8751
Email - cliffgmj@gmail.com

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Which of you are familiar with the concepts of creativity, innovation, and sustainability?

I seek direction from you on how to incorporate ‘deep creative’ processes within inKNOWvate's emerging ‘sustainability reporting’ CoLaboratories.

The sustainability reporting phenomena is a rapidly growing trend within organizations world-wide and covers all sectors including business, NGO’s, communities/cities, education, and government. These reports help to clarify and monitor how well companies are improving their ecological, social, AND economic objectives (otherwise known as the triple bottom line); things such as material and energy usage efficiencies, as well as employment and customer satisfaction. These reports are also becoming powerful marketing tools for addressing the rapidly growing 'cultural creatives' marketplace by providing authentic and transparent responses for the consumers who are asking for more value and ‘greenness’ in their purchases.

Presently, these reports are inspiring - yes, but they are usually organized using self-determined indicators development, which help to monitor company direction. This is wonderful and important, yet the reports can be rather dry in terms of their creation, implementation, and delivery. Staff may step into their reporting process feeling overwhelmed by the additional responsibilities that are generated to deliver a good report; thus adding more weight to their already daunting work load.

That said, these reports can enable so much more. They actually become touch stones for organizational and global transformation. They are a place where organizations can get swept into new realms of design and innovation; a way to expand their understandings of how to architect richer forms of innovation.

Additionally, outcomes from entering the sustainability process are: improved human(e) communication, enhanced product design and development processes, and a renewed awareness of the company's impact on our Planet

Furthermore, the collaborative process that is necessary for creating these reports opens the door for deeper forms of creativity, thereby helping organizations realize unexpected forms of social and technical innovation, while also building a high sense of meaning among stakeholders and participants.

inKNOWvate coLabs provides delivery on this vision. Presently, I am in need of more tools that generate brain-shifting, playful, and creative processes for making the reporting process more engaging and satisfying, so that organizations can 'sustain' the process of annual reporting. I seek tools that can accommodate specific organizational needs, covering everything from designing amazing new forms of products and services (technical innovation) to changing the way companies greet each other and customers at their doorstep (social innovation).

Got ideas? Post them or email me.

Vic Desotelle
inKNOWvate Principal

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Here is a posting about creativity from a guy who's making $500k per hour. Actually, I'm rather impressed with what Mr. Microsoft is doing with his money. He's spending it to make a difference today, not tomorrow. Guess even his kids aren't going to get much of it after he's passed on.

Anyway, I have been spending time with a few experts in the consulting field of creativity. Yes, that nebulous subject that's tough to pin a buck onto. However, I believe that the issues these 'creativists' are mashing with are critical to what NEXT-GENERATION INNOVATION will look like (a favorite subject of mine). Thus, you'll be seeing more from me regarding THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREATIVITY and INNOVATION. Thanks for the article John.

Readers, see if Mr. Gates creativity principles work for you.

Also, check out John's blog on picturing big. He's onto an interesting big solution for global warming.

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Gates-ian ideas work in ad biz
Clear direction, time to think are elements of
winning system at Microsoft
By John Emmerling
Advertising Age
September 23, 1996

Back in 1990, while researching a book about creative ideas, I spent an hour chatting with Bill Gates at his home (the old small home, not the new huge one). Conducted across the dining room table, the interview boiled down to one question: "How do you inspire creativity at Microsoft?" Recently, I came across the cassette of our conversation and listened again to Bill's words. It was a bit of a surprise, because the six principles he talked about—the ones that inspire the software developers at Microsoft—would also work magic in any agency's creative department.

1. Hire the best people. In Bill's words the best hires should be "fairly smart, broad people who have interests in a lot of areas, and are willing to work intensely on our stuff." He looks hard for those people who—in addition to having superb skills in their special area of computer technology—are also interested in the market... and in the users. (LESSON: Look for stunningly talented art directors and writers who are familiar with both Wired and The Wall Street Journal.)

2. Crystal clear direction. At Microsoft, the eight-word company mission is "Put a world of information at everyone's fingertips." According to Bill, that means a customer can "sit down and get any information they want—it's very easy to see." (LESSON: Can you write your agency's creative philosophy on a matchbook cover?)

3. Give them time to think. "People must have time to think about things," said Bill. The architects of the company's buildings must have gotten the message—all offices are private and whiteboards are mounted on the walls, ready to receive scribbled notations, diagrams and concepts. (LESSON: The client called this morning and insists on seeing the new ad tomorrow? Beg, borrow and steal—but push the deadline till Friday.)

4. Shorten the feedback loop. Even back in the dark ages of 1990, Microsoft was aggressively pushing the creative use of e-mail. Developers were expected to send e-mail describing their ideas to the reigning software experts. The feedback responses would come zapping back in minutes. Instead of a couple of face-to-face meetings a day, there could easily be 20 electronic consultations. (LESSON: Don't use e-mail just to send memos. Toss a creative idea into your agency's electronic pot—and ask for comments and tweaks.)

5. Let people feel their impact. Gates wants people to feel important. If anyone starts to get the sense they are plowing old ground, doing something that's been done before, they are quickly given something else to do. Or they are given a clear understanding of how "we haven't yet achieved what we want to achieve." (LESSON: When is the last time you asked yourself if your creative people "feel important?" Ask it. Then act on it.)

6. Allow unicycles. Good people like to work with good people—and Bill helps set a tone that is "individualized and interesting." At Microsoft, ties are an oddity. It's OK to play Friday night golf in the hallways or mount your unicycle and hold a jousting match under the chairman's windows. Stay loose—the ideas flow faster. (LESSON: Allow unicycles.)

Bill Gates' creative stimulants must be working. Worth less than $4 billion back during that summer of 1990, he's now topped $16 billion. That means—even if he puts in 70-hour work weeks—he's been pulling down more than $500,000 an hour. So if you're reading this, Bill, thanks again for the half-million dollar interview.

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Do the above Bill Gates principles work for you? In the scheme of sustainable innovation: What's impressive about them? What doesn't work for you?

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The principles of sustainability carry the seeds for next generation innovation. It matters less which principles you have and more that you have them. Here are a few principles worth reviewing to get you started on your own. What are your organization's principles and how do you think they can help to trigger new forms of innovation?

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From Guiding Principles of Sustainable Design

THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY

The concept of sustainable design has come to the forefront in the last 20 years. It is a concept that recognizes that human civilization is an integral part of the natural world and that nature must be preserved and perpetuated if the human community itself is to survive. Sustainable design articulates this idea through developments that exemplify the principles of conservation and encourage the application of those principles in our daily lives.

A corollary concept, and one that supports sustainable design, is that of bioregionalism - the idea that all life is established and maintained on a functional community basis and that all of these distinctive communities (bioregions) have mutually supporting life systems that are generally self-sustaining. The concept of sustainable design holds that future technologies must function primarily within bioregional patterns and scales. They must maintain biological diversity and environmental integrity, contribute to the health of air, water, and soils, incorporate design and construction that reflect bioregional conditions, and reduce the impacts of human use.

Sustainable design, sustainable development, design with nature, environmentally sensitive design, holistic resource management - regardless of what it's called, "sustainability," the capability of natural and cultural systems being continued over time, is key.

THE PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/phg/intro.html
Sustainability does not require a loss in the quality of life, but does require a change in mind-set, a change in values toward less consumptive lifestyles. These changes must embrace global interdependence, environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic viability.

Sustainable design must use an alternative approach to traditional design that incorporates these changes in mind-set. The new design approach must recognize the impacts of every design choice on the natural and cultural resources of the local, regional, and global environments.

A model of the new design principles necessary for sustainability is exemplified by the "Hannover Principles" or "Bill of Rights for the Planet," developed by William McDonough

1. Insist on the right of humanity and nature to co-exist in a healthy, supportive, diverse, and sustainable condition.

2. Recognize Interdependence. The elements of human design interact with and depend on the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.

3. Respect relationships between spirit and matter. Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry, and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.

4. Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.

5. Create safe objects to long-term value. Do not burden future generations with requirements for maintenance or vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creations of products, processes, or standards.

6. Eliminate the concept of waste. Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes, to approach the state of natural systems in which there is no waste.

7. Rely on natural energy flows. Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate this energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.

8. Understand the limitations of design. No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not an inconvenience to be evaded or controlled.

9. Seek constant improvements by sharing knowledge. Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers, and users to link long-term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and reestablish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

Read on for other a list of other sustainability principles ...

Continue reading "Sustainability Principles Catalyze Innovation" »

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I often like to dabble in the abstract. There, I am taken to transitory state that help me feel closer to the Creative Source. For example: below consists of two intertwined trinity models, of which I like to play with when considering the architecture of 'whole systems'. These models help us to both 'look at' and 'particapate in' wholistically oriented organizations and communities: "structure-pattern-process" and "principle-practice-policy". Note the principle of 'three' shows up in my work a lot. Why? Because I believe it helps to expand our consciousness while, at the same time, providing a simple enough framework to contain the complex nature of creativity and innovation. You will see more discussions relating to these concepts from me over time. Let me know what comes up for you when you read through it.

Vic Desotelle
inKNOWvate

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Transformation (deep innovation) occurs through a three phase evolution:

I've been thinking about the potential for progressing toward a global mind: My experiences with group emergence have noted that a majority of efforts collapse before the desire is sustained and self-propelled; a progression toward the vision that initiated the group in the first place. I propose the reason for this is that there is only a one or two level strategic plan in place made up of immediate context without the anticipation of collective content; a synthesis from which the incredible happens.

What if we instead provide a guiding framework that allows group migration into deeper forms of connection with each other? Eventually this connection moves into behaviorial forms of change and action. I believe this can be done using a 3-phase framework for processing together; thereby allowing a group to consciously see itself go through deep transformation. This would mean for each phase of processing together, there is a SYNTHESIS of its content - a summarizing of what has been done. This would occur as a part of all three phases; thereby generating a thread of synthesis that allows integration.

These three phases are as follows:

1- Establishing Group Intention:
This phase's nature is chaotic. It is expressed by conversations of desire and passion which drive an unfolding *PROCESS*. A focus on creating +PRINCIPLES+ based on diverse values, which opens of new level of awareness; thereby setting the stage for a loosening of existing physical *structure* and allowing change to occur. Vibrational activity is disonant (unconscious) and non-geometric.

2- Building a Value Network:
This phase's nature moves from chaotic to chaordic. It is expressed by individuals linking and clustering around collective ideas - a virtual *STRUCTURE* emerges. A focus on creating +PRACTICES+ sets the stage for individual changes in behavior and an early forming of group identity to occur. Vibrational activity is recognizable (awakening consciousness) but not stable.

3- Experiencing a Community of Practice:
This phase's nature moves from chaordic into order. It is expressed by the emergence of community (collective) identity PATTERNS to be realized and an acceptance of participatory-oriented activities are in place. A focus on creating +POLICY+ is empasized; thereby a change of governanace occurs.

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In the past, innovation has been driven by need. Need is still a major driver of innovation today; except that the need for innovation is no longer situational and isolated but is instead all encompassing and omnipresent.

Below is a sample of how need has created challenge markers that make innovation not only awe inspiring but also accountable. Guidelines like below are being placed before every organization on the planet as guidelines for their own success - as well as humanity's 'success'.

Take the test. How does your company compare?

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From SustainAbility

The Global Compact Challenge (download pdf)

What is ‘The Global Compact Challenge’?

The Global Compact Challenge is a tool aimed at stimulating Global Compact participants to scrutinize their approach to corporate responsibility (CR). The focus of the tool is not on the UNGC principles themselves, but on the need for participant companies to mobilise wider improvements in performance across industry sectors, along value chains and through links with public policy. In this way, the challenge represents a companion piece to the UNGC publication Raising the Bar.

The original challenge is set out in the report Gearing Up, which was prepared by SustainAbility at the request of the Global Compact Office. This report concluded that while CR initiatives have the potential to bring about positive change, this will only be realised if such initiatives focus on achieving critical mass across all industry sectors, and are connected to wider public policy efforts that address the root causes of the problems. For more information on Gearing Up including free copies of the report please see www.sustainability.com/publications/gearing-up.1

The Corporate Responsibility Gearbox

To help companies review their approach to corporate responsibility generally, the report sets out a ‘CR Gearbox’ that describes the different approaches or ‘gears’ that companies can take to CR.

The report concludes that most companies should be operating in the higher gears.

1st Gear: Comply
2nd Gear: Volunteer
3rd Gear: Partner
4th Gear: Integrate
5th Gear: Re-engineer

Continue reading "Innovation Driven By Challenge" »

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There are many factors that underlie innovative action. Most come from underlying factors that are based in prevaiding cultural belief systems; yes .. more specifically how you believe in gGod. What is gGod to you, and how does the way you bring design into the world reflect your belief in that higher power? You're right, this is not a short essay. For now, I urge you to consider how your innovative nature relates to humanity's greater "Nature" and its understanding of who we think gGod is.

Case and point below, which is a reference to something that I have been waiting to come for a long time ... HA!; some may even call it the 'second' coming! The most powerful religious forces in the world - the Catholic Church - is announcing its position on 'green'. They are one of MANY religious systems that are stepping forward to announce there position on the Planet's wellbeing; in the name of their gGod. Do you think all this will change the way you innovate? You can bet your belief in your gGod that it certainly will. As John Luke would say, "make it so".

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PROTECT GOD'S CREATION: VATICAN ISSUES NEW GREEN MESSAGE FOR WORLD'S CATHOLICS
By John Vidal and Tom Kington in Rome
The Guardian
April 27, 2007

The Vatican yesterday added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches around the world that climate change and abuse of the environment is against God's will, and that the one billion-strong Catholic church must become far greener.

At a Vatican conference on climate change, Pope Benedict urged
bishops, scientists and politicians -- including UK environment
secretary David Miliband -- to "respect creation" while "focusing on
the needs of sustainable development".

The Pope's message follows a series of increasingly strong statements
about climate change and the environment, including a warning earlier
this year that "disregard for the environment always harms human
coexistence, and vice versa".

Observers said yesterday that the Catholic church is no longer split
between those who advocate development and those who say the
environment is the priority. Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, head of
the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, said: "For environment
. read Creation. The mastery of man over Creation must not be
despotic or senseless. Man must cultivate and safeguard God's Creation."

Continue reading "Innovation and Religion" »

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The emerging 'sustainability reporting' movement has begun and is growing in leaps and bounds. This process can be much more than a way to report how a company is doing regarding sustainability. More so, it becomes the anchoring point for defining what and how new forms of innovation witll emerge within the organization. Sound strategic methods for managing and accessing sustainability reporting information will become crucial for generating 'whole system' innovation within and across organizations.

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From GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)

Sustainability reports are produced in so many different formats – hardcopy, web based, PDFs and others – that it is sometimes hard to immediately find the data you’re looking for. Common application of the XBRL taxonomy will change this and means information can quickly and effortlessly be exchanged.

Podcasts on XBRL and Sustainability

Sustainability Reporting Resources Below -

Registers:
Sustainability Reporting Management
CSR Reporting Register

Case Study Reviews:
Case Studies

Reporting Notices/Alerts:
CSR New Reports Alert
CSR conferences & events
GRI (global reporting initiative) enewsletter

Climate and resource dependencies:
California Climate Action Registry
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Oxford Health Alliance

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Youth are the receivers of today's innovation. They are also the carriers of humanity's future. Engaging them is crucial to realizing deeper forms of innovation - both for ourselves and for the wellbeing of this small little planet we call Earth.

When is the last time you asked anyone under the age of 25 what innovation means to them? Michael DelPonte of Conscious Lifestyle is 'making it so'. Read up and tell the young ones in your life to check it out. Maybe they will become the next recognized "social innovator".

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By Michael Del Ponte of Conscious Lifestyle

Conscious consumerism is a growing trend that allows people like you to
vote for the environment and human rights every time you open your
wallet. But we need your help to spread the movement! That’s why
Conscious Lifestyle is offering up to $1,000 to high school and college
students with socially innovative ideas.

Conscious Lifestyle is a nonprofit organization that helps people become
socially conscious consumers. We educate people through our student
chapters and our website (consciouslifestyle.org). We are looking for
social innovators who will educate students about the importance of
conscious consumerism and make their schools more socially responsible
institutions. For example, you can:

• Start a film series and show movies like An Inconvenient Truth, Who
Killed the Electric Car?, The Future of Food, etc.
• Lead trips to local green businesses and organic farms to learn about
innovative practices in your community and conscious companies to support.
• Publish a buyer’s guide that students can carry with them when they go
shopping that includes the best stores patronize and products to buy.
• Organize an art exhibit that demonstrates how workers and the
environment can be uplifted or exploited in our globalized world.
• Lead a campaign to get organic food in your dining halls or
sweatschop-free clothing in your bookstore.

Every social innovator has his or her own idea on how to change the
world. We want to hear yours!

10 Social Innovators will be selected to lead Conscious Lifestyle
ventures and receive up to $1,000 in funding, a web page, t-shirts,
business cards, personalized support, and everything else you need to
make your venture a success.

Apply Now at http://www.consciouslifestyle.org/chapters/index.html.

Application deadline: May 11, 2007.
Contact: Michael Del Ponte
Email: mike@consciouslifestyle.org
Phone: 925-360-4149

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Rebecca St. Martin has started a great network called the 'Cultural Creatives Network'. This periferal concept is now heading for business center stage - otherwise known as "Social Entreprenuership". Thank you Rebecca for helping to create the next level of innovator from a business perspective.

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Creativity & the Entrepreneurial Spirit

I doubt I've ever met an entrepreneur who wasn't also creative. Being able to envision a way out of the rat race alone requires creativity -- not to mention the creativity needed to manifest a new source of income.

But what is the relationship between the Creative Entrepreneur and the Cultural Creative Entrepreneur?

Qualities of an Entrepreneur

Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of Before You Quit Your Job, explores what qualities people need to successfully transition from employee to entrepreneur-- and from entrepreneur to business leader.

Kiyosaki's main ideas are:

1. A successful entrepreneur finds the right idea, the right people to act on the idea and the right money to leverage the project.
2. A successful entrepreneur operates from freedom and opportunity rather than security and resources.
3. The best time to answer the tough questions about starting a business is before starting the business. Some of these questions are:

a. How badly do I want my own business and why?
b. How much will I extend myself to succeed?
c. Am I afraid to fail? If so, how can I make this a strength?
d. Am I willing to educate myself on the essential components of a successful business?

An Entrepreneur Plus Cultural Creative Values = A Social Entrepreneur
Cultural Creative entrepreneurs, more often referred to as social entrepreneurs, are those entrepreneurs who focus on creating innovations and inventions that improve life for everyone.

Bill Drayton of Ashoka, an organization dedicated to supporting and promoting social entrepreneurship as well as transforming the face of social innovation, points out that social entrepreneurs "are not content just to give a fish...or to teach someone how to fish. [Social entrepreneurs] will not rest until they have revolutionized the fishing industry."

Continue reading "Cultural Creatives: The New Innovators" »

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Innovation carries many assumptions. All of us carry an underlying set of beliefs. For example: We often assume that because we can make it and it holds high potential for monetary profit that someonen will make it. Why is this usually the case? The idea of technical innovation being left unmonitored at the design stage can carry dangerous results without necessary check systems.

I propose that we use a cross-over model for creating and assessing innovation: 1-social innovation, 2-organizational innovation, and 3-technical innovation. Each carries their own weight in terms of being able to create cool stuff - to innovate. However, when actively used and considered together at the same time during an innovation process, the triad relationship can help to monitor each other's outcomes by helping the core stakeholders of the innovation to make better decisions. Otherwise, to release an innovative idea that has no interplay such as this, the outcome of an innovation may end up to be detrimental.

Here is an example:

The bees are dying ...
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left”.
Loss of brain cells in children ...
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.

This situation is serious and points directly to the idea of "Sustainable Innovation" processes. Are cell phones the culprit? Don't know yet. But it sure seems to me that something was missing during the innovation stage of this product. What might it be?

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Here's an interesting update on this issue:

Organic Bees Are Thriving While commercial bee populations are plummeting. What's with that? Seems it may not be cell RF but pesicides. The same question arises: Something was missing during the innovation stage of pesticide products. What might it be?

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This landmark article by Thomas Friedman is on how the U.S. can retake its role as a global leader and address the three major issues facing every American today: jobs, temperature, and terrorism. Think there may be a need for new forms of innovation here? : )

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The Power of Green
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (video: meet the man)
Published in New York Times: April 15, 2007

Excerpts from article ...

"... The good news is that after traveling around America this past year, looking at how we use energy and the emerging alternatives, I can report that green really has gone Main Street — thanks to the perfect storm created by 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Internet revolution. The first flattened the twin towers, the second flattened New Orleans and the third flattened the global economic playing field. The convergence of all three has turned many of our previous assumptions about “green” upside down in a very short period of time, making it much more compelling to many more Americans.

But here’s the bad news: While green has hit Main Street — more Americans than ever now identify themselves as greens, or what I call “Geo-Greens” to differentiate their more muscular and strategic green ideology — green has not gone very far down Main Street. It certainly has not gone anywhere near the distance required to preserve our lifestyle. The dirty little secret is that we’re fooling ourselves. We in America talk like we’re already “the greenest generation,” as the business writer Dan Pink once called it. But here’s the really inconvenient truth: We have not even begun to be serious about the costs, the effort and the scale of change that will be required to shift our country, and eventually the world, to a largely emissions-free energy infrastructure over the next 50 years. ...

Read more of this New York Times article "The Power of Green"

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From The Independent
12 April 2007 09:52

The dreams of tiny Catalina are, in many ways, the embodiment of what California as a whole hopes to achieve. While the Bush administration in Washington has preferred to kowtow to the short-term interests of the big energy companies and flirt with those who would deny that global warming poses any threat at all, the Golden State has taken matters into its own hands.

Indeed, California has, almost single-handedly, pushed the debate forward across the United States. Since 2005, when he issued his first executive order establishing emission reduction targets over the next half-century, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has staked much of his reputation and legacy on finding ways to roll back the effects of global warming.

Continue reading "California: How the Golden State Went Green" »

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Here is a book that provides an excellent framework for extracting unusual forms of innovation within your company. Below I have posted the book's content, which includes insights on the future of business and checklists for tranforming your company's operations into a sustainable enterprise.

'Ecomanagement: The Elmwood Guide to Ecological Auditing and Sustainable Business'

Written by Ernest Callenbach, Lenore Goldman, Fritjof Capra, and Rudiger Lutz, and Sandra Marburg.

You can purchase the book at Amazon

THEORY AND PRACTICE OF ECOMANAGEMENT

How to plan a full ecological audit based on business, personnel, organizational, human, and psychological considrerations. Checklists dealing with questions of implementation with suggestions on how to set priorities.

CHECKLIST GUIDE FOR THE ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF BUSINESS

ENERGY AND MATERIALS: INFLOWS
CHECKLIST #1 ENERGY
CHECKLIST #2 MATERIALS

DESIGN, PROCESSING, AND MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS
CHECKLIST #3: PRODUCT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
CHECKLIST #4 MANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTION
CHECKLIST #5 RECYCLING

SALES/ MARKETING, VVASTE, AND EMISSION OUTFLOWS
CHECKLIST #6 MARKETING AND SALES
CHECKLIST #7 WASTES AND EMISSIONS

FINANCIAL, HUMAN RESOURCE, AND OTHER SUPPORT STRUCTURES
CHECKLIST #8 FINANCE
CHECKLIST #9 INVESTMENTS
CHECKLIST # 1 0 THE WORKPLACE
CHECKLIST #11 TRANSPORTATION
CHECKLIST # 1 2 THE PHYSICAL PLANT AND ITS ENVIRONS
CHECKLIST# 1 3 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS RELATIONS

Read on for detailed descriptions for each chapter ...

Continue reading "Innovation Generated Through Ecological Management" »

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Below is a concept that validates a vision that I had 15 years ago: The vision was that innovation will no longer be based on IP rights (intellectual property). Instead, inventions will emerge in an open, collaborative, non-secretive way. Of course this is an ideal world - as least for me. However, the concept of innovation ownership and the idea that 'real' innovation only shows up in the bellies of R&D labs, is rapidly fading. Read up below ...

Wikinomics is a new term for harnessing mass collaboration for innovation, growth and profit. The term was coined by Don Tapscott, author of "Paradigm Shift" and "The Digital Economy," and is the title of his newest book. Mass collaboration has created notable breakthroughs like Wikipedia, an encyclopedia with a million authors that's 12 times larger than Britannica; an operating system, Linux; and 150,000 open source applications projects. Mass collaboration means each is constantly updated, revised and corrected by unpaid volunteers. "It's an amazing thing how this organism brings out the antibodies to attack a virus," Tapscott says. The winds of mass collaboration are also changing the way corporations innovate. About five years ago, Tapscott points out, P&G was struggling and its market value had plunged. New CEO A.G. Lafley decided to open the company's R&D to outsiders, tapping their expertise to supplement P&G's staff scientists. Result: P&G is developing deep expertise in what Tapscott calls Wikinomics. "Rather than the 'Not Invented Here' syndrome, P&G has this thing called PFE: 'Proudly Found Elsewhere.' You'd think they'd be threatened by that, but in they actually encourage their researchers to go outside and look for innovations." P&G has even set up reward systems so that their researchers benefit from innovation occurring. They don't have to develop it themselves to reap the rewards. (TomPeters.com)

Read the full interview with Don Tapscott at Tom Peter's blog site. Especially note in the interview that a new approach to creating and/or aquiring innovation has emerged called Innocentive. InnoCentive® is a web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. It provides an online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.

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One of inKNOWvate's guiding frameworks is the triad model for innovation that seeks to balance the outcomes of innovation. This triad seeks to balance social, technical, & organizational forms of innovation. Using this 3-lens perspective, one can balance and monitor effectiveness with efficiency in solutions that emerge. Below is one of the most prevailing applications of this model: SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP, which is becoming a hot movement in world of innovation.

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Growing Opportunity: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Insoluble Problems

A growing array of apparently insoluble socio-economic, environmental, and governance challenges presses in on decision-makers — including climate change, the risk of global pandemics, the growing threat to natural resources like water and fisheries, and the ever-present issues of poverty and hunger. Growing Opportunity — the first in an annual series of surveys conducted by SustainAbility in partnership with The Skoll Foundation — explores the potential for more entrepreneurial solutions to such challenges.

Continue reading "Innovation Emerges as Global Transformation and Action" »

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UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Here are links for accessing automated free newsletter and podcast subscriptions that relate to sustainability and sustainable innovation. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU FIND.

GRI news (global reporting initiative) international developments on sustainable business

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By Michael Kaufman (Innovation Labs) and Vic Desotelle (inKNOWvate)

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Ethics/Innovation Relationship
What are Ethics?
Forces Creating Managerial Dilemmas (Principle Forces Creating Practical Dilemmas)
What is Innovation?
Innovative Wholes and Inventive Systems (Fractal Wholes vs Fractured Parts)
The Emerging Global Ethic
Innovation through Ethical Tension
Sustainability: Bridge from Ethics to Innovation
The New Innovation Strategy
Architecting a Regenerative Commerce
Conclusion

Ethics to Innovation Word Map

Ethics to Innovation Article (pdf format)

Introduction
In today’s business climate there are several forces intersecting in such a way as to create a tension that puts business executives, managers and employees into situations where they face an ethical dilemma. This dilemma could be summarized by the following question:

How do we do the right thing while at the same time balance the needs of all our stakeholders (investors, employees, customers and suppliers)? What is the right thing to do?

The recent events involving Enron, MCI/Worldcom, Global Crossing, Quest, Arther Andersen, and Tyco, (to name just a few) are examples of the negative consequences of actions taken by executives that face this dilemma.

These actions and the resulting surge of policies and public outcry to rebuild the faith in business and business people have created the conditions for what we call an emerging global ethic. This white paper explores the concept of this emerging global business ethic and the link between this ethic and innovation.

Continue reading "The Link between Ethics and Innovation" »

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From Space for Ideas ...

Jonathon Porritt, "Creative sustainability" podcast

In today's world, Porritt believes an organisation's cerebral creativity must be grounded in operational creativity to make ideas happen. Necessity is the mother of invention, but if desire is the real driver of human behaviour and creativity, then the necessary has to be made desirable before any kind of change becomes possible. Learning to articulate the essence of human-ness in and through nature is what creativity means to Porritt. It is through the gathering of collective ideas that technologies and processes are shaped - groups of people taking the time and space to meet to share ideas, experiments, dreams and experiences.

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Edward de Bono, "Water is not soup" podcast

"You cannot make soup without water. But a bowl of water is not a bowl of soup. It is what you add to the water that gives the 'value' of soup". Edward de Bono, the father of thinking about thinking, argues that there is no substitute for business competence, efficiency and cost control. But more than this, every business has to deliver a 'value' to customers, just like soup has to deliver a value. Designing these values requires creativity and new ideas. In his essay he argues passionately that businesses need to treat creativity as seriously as they treat capital, labour, machinery and IT.

Continue reading "Creative Sustainability: How to Catalyze Innovation" »

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Jonathon Porritt, "Creative sustainability" podcast Presented by "Space For Ideas"

In today's world Porritt believes an organisation's cerebral creativity must be grounded in operational creativity to make ideas happen. Necessity is the mother of invention, but if desire is the real driver of human behaviour and creativity, then the necessary has to be made desirable before any kind of change becomes possible. Learning to articulate the essence of human-ness in and through nature is what creativity means to Porritt. It is through the gathering of collective ideas that technologies and processes are shaped - groups of people taking the time and space to meet to share ideas, experiments, dreams and experiences.

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As found by an innovation survey done by Innovation Labs, LLC, there are key differentiators that are critical to the success of any innovation efforts. These differentiators include: time, means to communicate, management support, enthusiasm, and ideas. Another dimension that plays a key role is the importance of methodology. iLabs pdf report shows the human dimensions of innovation that emerged as critical.

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Listen to Saul Eisen who is a brilliant innovator with the unassuming demeanor of a gentle mentor. ... He travels the world empowering employees to recreate the institutions they work for. Why is his approach so effective? As Eisen explains, "Just as much as we are a competitive society, we are also a collaborative society. So what O.D. consultants do, in effect, is create a setting in which the possibilities of collaboration emerge more than the tendencies toward competition, subjugation or coercion. And under those circumstances great new knowledge and effectiveness emerge naturally."

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Old ways of doing things most always will stand in the way of an innovative idea. For an innovative idea to be accepted as a social norm, it is often our human behavior and not the innovation concept that needs to transform. Watch this comical video on innovation :)

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1-What do CoP's (communities of practice) and SI (sustainable innovation) have in common?
2-How does CoP cement the foundation for continuous (sustained) innovation within an organization?
3-And why in the world is that important to your business?

Communities of Practice:
Definition
Theory
Knowledge Ecology
Cultivation

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