LEADERSHIP -
Last month, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon named Claus Stig Pedersen, Head of Corporate Sustainability at Novozymes, one of ten 2016 Local Pioneers of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
I’ve just arrived back from Australia, where I was sharing Forum for the Future’s work at the first Sustainable Brands conference in the region.
I left London on the day that 52 percent of the UK population voted to leave the EU. I left with a very heavy heart, dumbstruck that such a body blow to one of the most important integration projects since WWII had been delivered. For the next few days I would wake (admittedly, at totally the wrong time for my UK-based body clock), with a profound sense of loss, which took a few seconds to pin-point to the outcome of the vote.
PRESS RELEASE -
Ford of Europe has achieved zero waste-to-landfill at all of its European manufacturing plants. Eliminating 6,000 tonnes of waste per year, that was previously sent to landfill, compared with 2011 – equivalent to the annual waste discarded by a town of 12,500 people, for the 1.2 million vehicles that Ford produces in Europe each year.
Innovative measures employed to achieve zero waste-to-landfill include the briquetting of grinding sludge from the Dagenham engine plant, in the U.K., so that the oil can be re-used in the production process. At the Valencia plant, in Spain, Ford pioneered generating alternative fuel from waste that could not be recycled.
CLEANTECH -
In the spirit of "showing your work" in progress, I'm posting some info on the big new clean economy agreement announced by the so-called "three amigos" -- i.e., the leaders of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
PRESS RELEASE -
America’s largest corporations are increasingly turning good intentions into sound business practices. That’s the promising bottom-line from an analysis of the 2016 Civic 50, the annual Points of Light initiative that recognizes and honors the 50 most community-minded companies in America. In the continuing shift to go beyond checkbook philanthropy, this year’s Civic 50 honorees affirm the trend that companies are supporting community engagement through policies, core business functions, and incentives that indicate sustainable long-term commitment to addressing community challenges.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
“If you want to get people engaged, inspire them - don’t require them ... The most lasting changes people make are the ones they make themselves.” — Daniel Alvarez, Pixar Animation Studios
Research increasingly shows that purpose-driven employees are more productive and more deeply engaged, as well as more satisfied at work.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
I used to work in an office where the technical writer, a former environmental scientist, was so passionate about sustainability that she went out of her way to encourage and educate others about recycling. She even started a k-cup recycling program in the break room, and she personally carried home the bag each week and included it with her own recycling.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
“Failure is temporary but change is real,” said Sophia Mendelsohn, head of Sustainability at JetBlue Airways, during the Wednesday evening plenary at SB'16 San Diego.
While many Silicon Valley tech firms wear failure as badges of honor, many brands shy away from admitting their defeats. But this is beginning to change, as companies learn that confessing and even celebrating failure is is key to building sustainability strategies and purpose-driven innovation.
“We need to communicate more about our failures,” said Monique Oxender, Chief Sustainability Officer at Keurig Green Mountain. However, this is easier said than done.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
Tuesday’s morning plenary started with Raphael Bemporad, co-founder and principal of BBMG, sharing the thought, “What makes us the most human and what the world needs most is exactly the same.” That is, to build more sustainable brands, companies and people alike must set the intention to have more courage, wonder, empathy, connection, and joy.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz, founder and CEO of Sustainable Life Media and Sustainable Brands, kicked off the 10th annual Sustainable Brands conference Monday evening by going back to when she first asked the question, “Why Sustainable Brands?”
SUPPLY CHAIN -
What could be a dry technical presentation on supply chain metrics is immediately derailed, as presenter Scot Case, Training Developer for the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), elects to depart from the predetermined slide show, and instead deliver the content in a workshop-style format. So much for a nice, easy-to-write post.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Think back to when you were a child daydreaming about what you wanted to be as an adult. Did you imagine dancing across stages as a ballerina? Flying into space as an astronaut? When I was little, I daydreamed about becoming a best-selling author, just like my idols Beverly Cleary and Roald Dahl. Generally, children don’t daydream about their actual future careers - as accountants, operations managers, marketing executives or business leaders. I personally never daydreamed about becoming a communications consultant!
What makes these youthful daydreams about “when I grow up” different? They are purely purpose-focused. We imagine realizing our dreams – as performers or trailblazers – and in those imaginings, feel fulfilled.
LEADERSHIP -
In her Monday morning workshop at Sustainable Brands’16 San Diego, psychologist Laura Delizonna, PhD, provided an introduction to positive psychology, how it fosters success, and how it can be leveraged in the workplace.
“Positive emotions help us broaden our vision, build resources, and grow as individuals,” Delizonna explained. Practicing mindfulness and building emotional intelligence, she added, have been proven to boost memory, ability to collaborate, and altruism.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Some time ago I was on a business trip, and an acquaintance presented me with a box of cookies as a welcome gift. It was beautifully presented, featuring a large and beautifully intricate bow. I thanked my companion and expressed that I would open it later.
Later in my hotel room and hungry for a snack, I pulled at the bow to unravel a layer of ornamental wrapping swaddling a basket. The basket was cradling a box enveloped in paper, the box containing decorative packing confetti, which nested exactly three (3!) individually wrapped cookies encased in colored cellophane. The cookies were each a very small fraction of the overall size of the package — a handful of food product enveloped by layers upon layers of packaging with different material components.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
As Sustainable Brands marks its 10th anniversary, many of us find ourselves in a reflective mood. We can recall the decade’s pivotal milestones like they were yesterday as we also consider the challenges that lie ahead.
Despite the countless amazing achievements and major advances in embracing sustainable practices among corporations, what strikes me is the continued widespread lack of visibility and business integration that exists between governing boards, shareholders, and their supply chains. They still seem to exist in different universes – which can’t be good for our economy and even worse, I imagine, for our climate.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
You’d be hard-pressed to find a “kindness” pillar in any company’s strategic plan — it’s not exactly part of the corporate lexicon. But that’s just what the Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Foundation was promoting when it dominated social media with a coordinated campaign designed to fulfill its mission: encouraging the spread of kindness worldwide.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Early on in the Embedding Project, one topic came up more than any other: storytelling. While many companies are experimenting with sharing stories about sustainability as a way to shape their cultures, we also heard that their attempts to do this sometimes fell flat. It turns out that leveraging storytelling to help employees arrive at their own learning moments about sustainability takes some planning. Over a two-year period, we worked with companies, reviewed research, and interviewed storytellers in a range of roles. Here’s some of what we learned.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
How can you taste sustainability? How can sustainability bring more quality to a cup of coffee? The answer is found in one word: ALIGNMENT. When a farmer remains partner with his coffee, his interest in a thriving coffee business aligns with the interest of the consumer to have a high-quality cup of coffee with a positive impact on the world.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
From a veg-loving hip-hop family from Atlanta, to butchers who support ‘Meatless Mondays,’ the new docu-series The Veg EffectTM features five unique, personal stories from across the United States. Through the series, frozen veggie foods brand Morningstar Farms aims to demonstrate how people making small changes to their eating habits “can lead to a world of difference.”
PRESS RELEASE -
NEW YORK, April 29, 2016 -- RF|Binder today announced the appointment of Aman Singh as Senior Managing Editor, Content Strategy in the firm’s corporate and brand purpose practice in New York. Singh, who most recently was a vice president at Edelman focused on sustainability, will work closely with Scott Beaudoin, RF|Binder’s Chief Strategy Officer and practice leader for corporate and brand purpose.