TomorrowTime

A Change Avalanche

2011-09-03T18:41:00.001-07:00

Pushing an avalanche down the mountain.

When you push an avalanche down the mountain you provide leadership for something that takes on a life of its own. An avalanche is like a tipping point. When your idea spreads, things scale up, something happens.

The mountain.

The mountain is organization. Most organizations were developed in an era when energy was cheap and information was expensive. In the 1900’s, before modern management, most business consisted of less then 6 employees. People lived their work, which was often serving a specific function, like a baker or miller. The culture celebrated apprenticeship. During the industrial revolution corporate managers made great strides in expanding the size of organizations. Most of these 20th century companies made a universally desired product, with cheap resources (energy, materials and labor) and yelled a consistent message from the roof tops. The masses came running. Capitalism went global. Business executives and finance professionals profited massively has they presided over the consolidation of industries. Economies of scale ruled the day.

The Internet has changed the snowpack.

The Internet has changed mass communications into mass conversations. Messages now flow freely in both directions. How effective is your interactive campaign? Well it depends what you measure. Traditional media estimates impressions and focuses on consistency of message, in a web 2.0 world interactions are important. Is your message spreading across social media platforms? Do people contact you with ideas? Do your customers feel like they own your brand? The point of interactive market is to interact. Have real people answer the phones. Publish useful and interesting information. Collaborate to create remarkable solutions.

This is the avalanche.

When you co-create something remarkable, the idea will spread. This is the power of the transparency and collaboration. That they are contributing to the greater good just by participating with the brand.

No own can own an avalanche.

Someone may create an avalanche, but it will take on a life of its own. Everyone knows that an avalanche is going down the hill but no one can mange it. This is both the risk and opportunity. If you are successful it may be a result transferring power to a distributed group of stakeholders.

Gold'n Plump is working with WRI to determine the lifecycle impact of its Just BARE line.

2010-01-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

In a huge step towards creating a more sustainable food system, Gold'n Plump is now working with the World Resources Institute to develop a product life-cycle standard. This standard will help determine the environmental impact of the Just BARE line of fresh chicken products.

Nice Ride: a bike sharing program in Minneapolis

2009-10-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Nice Ride is a bike sharing program scheduled to roll out next summer in Minneapolis. 80 kiosks will be placed around the city; people will be able to rent bikes at one location and return them to another. The ability to use bikes in this manner encourages fewer people to drive, which greatly improves the sustainability and livability of urban life, as explained is this B Cycle video.

Bike sharing has been around since the 1990's. Copenhagen Denmark pioneered this concept (they had a system up and running when I was there in 2000) and Paris launched a similar system with over 10,000 bicycles in 2007. Other America cities, such as Denver, Portland, Washington DC, are also rolling out bike sharing programs.

Data Visualization: Stories for the Information Age - BusinessWeek

2009-08-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

Data Visualization: Stories for the Information Age - BusinessWeek: "Ultimately, data visualization is more than complex software or the prettying up of spreadsheets. It's not innovation for the sake of innovation. It's about the most ancient of social rituals: storytelling. It's about telling the story locked in the data differently, more engagingly, in a way that draws us in, makes our eyes open a little wider and our jaw drop ever so slightly. And as we process it, it can sometimes change our perspective altogether."

Joshua Foss Thrives - Design Green - Blog on Interior Design

2009-07-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

My business partner at Thrive Design Studio was recently featured by Penny Bonda on her blog.
Joshua Foss Thrives - Design Green - Blog on Interior Design

Save antibiotics for people, not poultry. - STLtoday.com

2009-07-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

"Pop quiz: Most antibiotics in the United States are used for (a) healthy farm animals or (b) people with potentially life-threatening infections?

The answer, by a long shot, is healthy farm animals. Over the past 60 years, antibiotics have transformed once-deadly infections in humans — tuberculosis, pneumonia and typhoid — into treatable, mostly survivable illnesses. But some 70 percent of the antibiotics consumed in this country are used on healthy farm animals."

To read the full article go to Save antibiotics for people, not poultry. - STLtoday.com

Corporate Citizenship Study

2009-07-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

This study on CSR show that people think people are more important than the planet.

Debate over using anti-microbials in livestock

2009-07-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

From the San Francisco Chronicle

Debate over using anti-microbials in livestock:

"Calls for transparency...Consumers shouldn't need a degree in zoology to read labels,' said Charles Hansen, the executive director of the Truthful Labeling Coalition, an organization representing the natural chicken industry. The group spearheaded a successful lawsuit against Tyson Foods for advertising that its poultry was raised without antibiotics, despite the fact that the company was injecting its chickens with ionophores before they hatched."

Finnegans Featured in the Star Tribune

2009-06-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis based Star Tribune finally ran an story on the social entrepreneur Jacquie Berglund Beer firm brews funds to help troubled teens. Her company Finnegans gives all its profits to social causes and is ran (with the exception of Jacquie) by volunteers and interns. I have a had the privilege to her speak a few times at Net Impact events and am delighted to see her getting some media coverage.

Op-Ed Columnist - Betraying the Planet - NYTimes.com

2009-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you Krugman for explaining my contempt for the climate deniers

Op-Ed Columnist - Betraying the Planet - NYTimes.com

New Urbanism

2009-05-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

At Thrive we are strong supporters of New Urbanism and here is a great video break'n it down.

The ripples of Twitter

2009-05-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I was catching up on my Twitter feed and came across the following article from HarvardBiz.

Why Business Leaders Need to Get Over Al Gore - Andrew Winston:

The article starts off "I saw an interesting piece by Michael Graham Richard on treehugger titled, 'Let's Put This Meme to Rest: Global Warming ≠ Al Gore' (thanks to Will Sarni for tweeting it to me)."

Wow, just a few months ago I had lunch with Will Sarni where we breifly discussed Twitter. I gave him a few generic pointers and pat on the back.

The Great Ethanol Scam - BusinessWeek

2009-05-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

The Great Ethanol Scam - BusinessWeek: "The Great Ethanol Scam
Not only is ethanol proving to be a dud as a fuel substitute but there is increasing evidence that it is destroying engines in large numbers"

Norway Thrives by Going Against the Tide - NYTimes.com

2009-05-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Socialist Noway sounds like an economic nirvana, but then again with $65 Billion in profits from oil you'd be in economic nirvana too.

Norway Thrives by Going Against the Tide - NYTimes.com

trendwatching.com's May 2009 Trend Briefing covering INNOVATION JUBILATION

2009-05-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

Another trend forward article from the folks at trend watching

May 2009 Trend Briefing covering INNOVATION JUBILATION

Overweight People are creating a gigaton of extra CO2 emissions per year

2009-04-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Stay slim to save the planet | U.S. | Reuters: "They estimated that each fat person is responsible for about one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions a year more on average than each thin person, adding up to an extra one billion tonnes of CO2 a year in a population of one billion overweight people."

Billboard Tent - Offering custom and prefabricated tents in Huntington Beach California

2009-04-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Billboard Tent, custom and prefabricated tents from old vinyl billboards, another sustainable solution the mind that brought you 02 Treehouse.

Thrive Newsletter _ April 2009

2009-04-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Boulder Office is mentioned in April 2009 publication of the Thrive Newsletter

Hulu - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Baracknophobia - Obey

2009-04-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

Procrastination is so much better than actually doing your taxes.

Hulu - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Baracknophobia - Obey: "Republicans might be confusing tyranny with losing."

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? - NYTimes.com

2009-03-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

Is a Food Revolution Now in Season? - NYTimes.com: "“This has never been just about business,” said Gary Hirshberg, chief executive of Stonyfield Farm, the maker of organic yogurt. “We are here to change the world. We dreamt for decades of having this moment.”"

The Fuel Film: the most hopeful film of the year

2009-03-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Fuel: the most hopeful film of the year: "'Fuel' is a vital, superbly assembled documentary that presents an insightful overview of America's troubled relationship with oil and how alternative and sustainable energies can reduce our country's -- and the world's -- addictive dependence on fossil fuels."

Egg Module Partner Featured in Ugandan Press

2009-03-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

Dorthy Tuma, the founder of Women's Center For Job Creation (an Egg Module partner) was featured in the Daily Monitor. Here are a few quotes from the article Her passion is to empower women financially:

"“The nice thing about doing projects in Uganda is that it doesn’t take a lot to transform someone’s life,” she said.

Ms Tuma hopes, 10 years from now, the business model that her centre has developed will be used all-over the country and even beyond the borders of Uganda.

“What we are trying to do now is figure out what kind of models work with rural development in rural communities and how we can increase economic empowerment amongst women and improve their standard of living,” she said."

Disney Unveils its Green Strategy : TreeHugger

2009-03-10T23:34:00.000-07:00

Disney Unveils its Green Strategy : TreeHugger: "Disneyland may not be the greenest place on earth but within 3- to 5-years the company plans to minimize Mickey's footprint, cutting emissions in half, reducing electricity consumption by 10 percent, and halving the garbage at its parks and resorts by 2013. Long-term, the aim is net zero waste and emissions, states the Walt Disney Company’s first comprehensive environmental plan from its new corporate responsibility report. Perhaps shareholders at the recent annual meeting are buoyed by the financial impact that reducing energy costs may have on the bottom line."

Integrating Sustainability: my presentation at CU Leeds School

2009-03-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

On March 10th 2009 I presented to a CU MBA class on integrating sustainability with corporate strategy. My multi-media presentation focused on the work I've done at Gold'n Plump.

Here is a video feed of my presentation. I take the stage at the 46 minute mark and run through my power point deck until 1:27 when the class takes a break. Things resume at 1:42 when I take a few questions and finally at 1:55 I walk through a case study with the professor.

During this presentation I took advantage of many different multi-media technologies including:

Google Docs with links to additional resources.

I also set up a projector to broadcast Twitter tweets. You can comment using the hash tag #gnpmba

Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Neither is Sustainable. : TreeHugger

2009-03-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

Organic vs Local? Who Cares. Neither is Sustainable. : TreeHugger: "While dreams of our future food system may rely on the romantic image of local farmers, the reality is: this model can't do what we need it to do, that is, feed billions of people."

A 1,474-Megapixel Photo of Obama’s Inaugural Address

2009-02-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

David Bergman created a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address. It is amazing how much you can see the individual faces in the crowd. Its almost as is if I had superhero vision.

State of Green Business 2009 from GreenBiz.com

2009-02-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

62 pages of green goodness from greenbiz.com
State of Green Business 2009

YouTube - Rights for Chickens | ZapRoot

2009-02-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

YouTube - Rights for Chickens | ZapRoot: "Rights for Chickens"

Climate Change Legislative and Regulatory Trends to Watch in 2009

2009-02-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

Climate Change Legislative and Regulatory Trends to Watch in 2009 · Environmental Leader: "President-elect Barak Obama recently reiterated his commitment for a federal cap-and-trade system to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, followed by an additional 80% by 2050, and has put together a team that is well-equipped to follow through on his promise. In 2009 companies should expect: (1) a U.S. mandatory GHG reporting proposal for all sectors of the economy; (2) to participate in a spirited debate on cap-and-trade policy with a moderate, but very real chance for successful passage; and (3) the U.S. to vigorously re-engage in international climate negotiations."

25 Stretch Goals for Management - Gary Hamel - HarvardBusiness.org

2009-02-03T15:18:00.000-08:00

25 Stretch Goals for Management - Gary Hamel - HarvardBusiness.org
"In May 2008, a group of renowned scholars and business leaders gathered in Half Moon Bay, California, with a simple goal: to lay out an agenda for reinventing management in the 21st century.

The two-day event, organized by the Management Lab with support from McKinsey & Company, brought together veteran management experts such as CK Prahalad, Henry Mintzberg, and Peter Senge; distinguished social commentators including Kevin Kelly, James Surowiecki and Shoshana Zuboff; and a number of progressive CEOs, including Terri Kelly from WL Gore, Vineet Nayar from HCL Technologies, and John Mackey from Whole Foods."

LinkedIn: Barack Obama

2009-02-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

Green Business is Jump Starting the World Economy

2009-01-27T21:12:00.000-08:00

Future of Business: "This video from Linktv.org brings together news footage from around the world. It showcases how governments such as Turkey and Germany are investing in green technologies and products to help jump-start their economy while helping save the environment."

Op-Ed Contributors - The End of the Financial World as We Know It - NYTimes.com

2009-01-05T21:59:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed Contributors - The End of the Financial World as We Know It - NYTimes.com: "The American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General Electric and the municipal bond guarantors Ambac Financial and MBIA all had triple-A ratings. (G.E. still does!) Large investment banks like Lehman and Merrill Lynch all had solid investment grade ratings. It’s almost as if the higher the rating of a financial institution, the more likely it was to contribute to financial catastrophe. But of course all these big financial companies fueled the creation of the credit products that in turn fueled the revenues of Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s."

Only at Target: Excessive Packaging

2009-01-05T12:35:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine received this Nikon Digital Camera for Christmas. The amount of packaging is simply irresponsible. The box is literally 6 times larger than it needs to be. Come on Target, even Wal-mart has a greener reputation.

Rypple - A little feedback goes a long way

2009-01-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

Rypple is like a mash up between twitter and survey monkey. Simple short questions, immediate feedback. Super fun and productive.

Environmental Concerns and Retailers Reputations

2009-01-04T17:04:00.001-08:00

A recent research report covered by both Environmental Leader and Treehugger shows that "Retailers Find Environmental Concerns Playing Larger Role In Reputation"

The chart shows UK based Marks and Spencer in a strong lead, followed by Home Depot. Note Wal-mart's rapid ascent from last place. Target comes in near the bottom of this select group, which is not surprising given the excessive packaging they use on some digital cameras.

The Reckoning - Bush’s Philosophy Stoked the Mortgage Bonfire - Series - NYTimes.com

2008-12-22T10:07:00.000-08:00

The Reckoning - Bush’s Philosophy Stoked the Mortgage Bonfire - Series - NYTimes.com: "Today, millions of Americans are facing foreclosure, homeownership rates are virtually no higher than when Mr. Bush took office, Fannie and Freddie are in a government conservatorship, and the bailout cost to taxpayers could run in the trillions."

Eco-Friendly Treehouses

2008-12-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

Eco-Friendly Treehouses:
"Dustin Feider challenges anyone to give him a tree where he can't build a treehouse. He's designed and constructed his eco-friendly 'O2 Treehouses' in four different states, and now clients in Southern California are keeping him busy building his innovative all-green structures. Asha visits the treehouse visionary on the site of his latest masterpiece and learns how he adheres to eco-conscious design...and why treehouses aren't just for kids!"

Ethical Corporation: Columnists - Stakeholder engagement – Judge by actions not words

2008-12-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ethical Corporation: Columnists - Stakeholder engagement – Judge by actions not words: "An important first step in the process is for a company to assume ownership of the negative impacts of their business rather than being in denial or steering public attention elsewhere through unrelated corporate responsibility initiatives. Before spending time and resources on stakeholder processes, a company must determine how committed it is to getting something done, and state this very clearly."

Forbes: Boulder is country's smartest town : County News : Boulder Daily Camera

2008-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Forbes: Boulder is country's smartest town : County News : Boulder Daily Camera: "Forbes Magazine this week released its top 10 list of America's best-educated cities, with Boulder earning the top spot. The magazine said it based its rankings on the proportion of people older than 25 with bachelor's, master's, professional and doctoral degrees"

Best Buy CEO Interview on Use of Social Media

2008-11-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

Is Best Buy a technology company? Obviously they are a retailer, but their innovative approach to the social web is developing a new set of information age competencies.

Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson in conversation with Peter Hirshberg at Google Zeitgeist from peter hirshberg on Vimeo and Minnov8: Minnesota Innovation in Internet and Web Technology

How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power - NYTimes.com

2008-11-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

The Media Equation - How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks’ Power - NYTimes.com:
"Special-interest groups and lobbyists will now contend with an environment of transparency and a president who owes them nothing. The news media will now contend with an administration that can take its case directly to its base without even booking time on the networks."

Online Communities: The Tribalization of Business

2008-11-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

O'Reilly Radar, which is a great Web 2.0 resource, recent did a post on online communities. Online communities are groups of people wth shared interests, beliefs or values. And in terms of sustainability, you could say that these online communities represent different shades of green. Your actions and contributions authentically relate to these online communities. Its important not to have ulterior motive, this is where autheticity and transparcy provide the context for engagement. Corporate contribution to online communities need to provide real value to their members.

Eco-Products Environmental Transparency

2008-11-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

There are many shades of green so how does a company called "Eco-Products" prove its dark green? Well, by showing in real-time energy production of the solar panels on their Boulder CO office.

Clario Webmercials, my acting début

2008-11-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

A few years back I was in a online commercial (webmercial) for Clario Analytics

Video of Jason Fried 37Signals

2008-11-06T23:00:00.000-08:00

Jason Fried of 37Signals has an innovative and provocative presentation on work and project management.

While is his focused on the software industry, I think there are many relevant concepts to all companies competing in today's information economy. Here are few take away items:
# Less is more.
# Meetings are useless.
# Working remotely and collaborating is better then being in an office and interrupting each other.
# Break large projects into smaller bits which can be completed quickly.
# Progress feeds morale
# Don’t do specification, wireframing or usability studies.
# Invest in what doesn’t change like speed and customer service.
# Roadmaps and planning are useless.
# Focus on speed rather then perfection.
# Avoid large problems and focus on small problems and simple solutions

The_Social_Web_Analytics_eBook_2008.pdf (application/pdf Object)

2008-11-06T15:47:00.000-08:00

Below is a link to a great Web 2.0 reference report in PDF format

The_Social_Web_Analytics_eBook_2008.pdf (application/pdf Object)

WorldChanging: Solutions Twin Cities

2008-11-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Featured on WorldChanging, Solutions Twin Cities showcases solutions in media rich 20 slide presentations. Previous presenter include Peter Rich with the Micro Finance Alliance. Its great to see my friends getting recognized for making Minnesota a better place.

Who's Your City?

2008-10-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

In a globally connected world where we can work form anywhere you'd think place wouldn't matter. Actually it matters even more. Basically, creative people are moving to cool places. And when you have a bunch of creative people together they get even more creative. As a result these cool places are emerging as centers of economic growth. Check out the best cities at Who's Your City? by Richard Florida

Flordia was also on the Colbert Report a few months back

Food As A National Security Issue

2008-10-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Food As A National Security Issue : NPR: In a open letter to the next president, author Michael Pollan writes about the waning health of America's food systems — and warns that "the era of cheap and abundant food appears to be drawing to a close."

Food Clock

2008-10-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

Food Clock Yep, a clock that measures food. It gives you an idea of the scale of the industrial food system. Also linked to an article about how Peak Oil is going to create a food crisis.

Colbert verse Oprah

2008-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to watch Oprah because she did a special on how we treat the animals we eat.

And to my surprise you can't watch Oprah online, except for a few "illegal" copies on youtube. Why isn't Orpah online? I know her audience isn't their known for their Internet usage, but surely a few million people would be interested in watching her show some time other than the middle of the afternoon.

Contrast Oprah's head in the sand strategy with that of the Colbert Report. Thanks to Hulu his show is right here, embedded on my blog, streaming full length episodes.

David Houle: The Shift Age

2008-10-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

This week I had the privilege of attending a presentation by David Houle, futurist and author of Shift Age. The Shift Age is the next stage in human develop, after the Information Age. In addition to 3000 times more change now than at any point in human history, these three forces will define the Shift Age.

1. Global Consciousness: technology is enabling personal connections to all of humanity. Anyone can share experiences with anyone else.

2. Emotional Individual: power is flowing to the individual and people are seeking emotional connections. The best things in life tend to be economically irrational.

3. Sideways Connectedness: unbundling of corporate assets combined with collaborative interactions. The exchange and management of intellectual property (information) will emerge as the new profit centers.

So in addition to globally aware, emotional, individuals, collaborating to create and share information, what other things can we anticipate?

Societal values and economic power centers are shifting from institutions to individuals; from producers to consumers.
Individuals define themselves by joining groups of shared interests and values.
Decentralization and disintermediation: the middle man is out and the network effect may overtake economies of scale and the key to profitability.
Intellectual Property is wealth in the Shift Age.
Media is the message: broadband now in more than half the households: online video is will soon be mainstream
Western Science Proved Eastern Philosophy:
Global (re)organization: The West (winners of WWII) and their institutions (UN, IMF, World Bank, NATO, etc) will shift some hegemony to the global East and South.
Long term economic downturn (3 to 5 years) and a result of a sharp decline in stock market, housing market and consumer spending (on credit).
Cleantech: Wind and Solar next huge market opportunity, long term space based solar.
Peak Oil: Production will sharply drop in 2015 and the world will run out of oil by 2050. Indicators that we are currently at peak oil: price increases, volatility, and demand out stripping supply.

Twittering Bagels

2008-10-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

An one going example of what Twitter is used for is the hypothetical tweet "had a bagel for breakfast".

This type of message is about flaunting technology. Technologies like Twitter have yet to be widely adopted by business so they are being flaunted by current users. It about personal expression and connecting with your network, not the bagel.

Looking for meatier gadgets?

2008-10-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not surprised to find this in Wired's food section.

Heli Skiing in New Zealand

2008-10-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

My buddy AC just spent the last few months in New Zealand and Australia and even managed to upload some cool images. TR: Summer of a Lifetime - Teton Gravity Research Forums

MIMA Summit08: Feeding the conversation

2008-10-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

At this year's summit, Mima presented concept of feed. Information flows of into, across and out of individuals and organizations; people feed off each by sharing information. These information flows were the focus of this years summit as industry experts showcased their respective thought leadership.

Morning Keynote Speaker: Rebecca Lieb, ClickZ

Advertising and content are coming together

Either you are content or you are competing with content
Ad agencies need to think like publishers
Campaigns need to create an environment around the product
Things are reverting to early days of TV, Texaco Star Theater

New media needs to be:

Useful: informative and educational.
Playful: interesting enough for your audience to opt in.
Authentic: tell your whole story, yes address the bad stuff, if you don't some crazy blogger will.
Human: show personality and voice, but remember to listen and respond, its about relationships.
Viral: stories that consumers spread, that can take on a life of their own. UGC keeps content fresh and boosts SEO.
Examples

The Great Schlep: note creative freedom is no longer constrained by FCC decency standards.
OPEN: lots of help for running a small business, and plenty of links to open and American Express account
WOOT: one day, one deal. Moving items with creative writing.
Sony Bravo Ads, Recycling content is free!

Ad Networks & Ad Exchanges

Online advertising spend will double in 4 year to $50B

Video fastest growing, with highest CPM and sell out rates
You Tube most popular content is: news, entertainment, music; not UGC

Content is growing faster than online advertising

More impressions than buyers

Online is really about sophisticated brand engagement
Scale and precision are improving targeting and optimization

Re-targeting and behavioural
Site transparency and control of where ads are displayed
BTW Google is all over this

Privacy

No effective government oversight (The feds can't regulate wall street, forget about online)
Google is self policing, (and I'm sure we can completely trust they won't be evil)

About media relationships

Ad exchange customer service is spendy, in house technical competencies can lower costs
Need expertise in managing campaigns
Industry consolidation will occur through relationships, friends will merge

How to be a UX team of one User eXperience Design

Design principals are a combination of business needs and user needs
Opening up the process, generative design

Generate ideas: brainstorming

Structure ideas with conceptual frameworks

Spectrums
2 x 2
Grids
Word associations
Surround your work area with inspirations

Refine ideas: engage a team

Informal secessions
Concept sheet
Present the design, articulate the experience with nouns, verbs, and adjectives
Get real feedback, have the team play devils advocate

Design the solution

Focus on the big things and pick best ideas

Ze Frank

Technology is developing exponentially faster human capacity

"No big break throughs in saying I'm sorry"

System, place, persona

When you are a kid fun was a place, like chucky cheese, and your friends were defined by whoever your parents invited to your birthday party. In tech this this stage translates to being online (system and place), a first step.

When you are a teenage fun is hanging out with the cool kids in a mall parking lot, its about who you associate with. At this stage persona (personality and coolness) is the priority. As technology matures relationships will become more
important: emotional proximity.

Lifestyle and relationships

How do you be cool?
Interactive is like hosting a dinner party, need to respond to social gestures, and people assume different roles.
Brand is a guideline for your manners, voice and personality

Corporate Blogging: Angel or Demon

Conversation Agent: Valeria Maltoni
"Customers want to buy, not be sold"
"Be in the4 channel where your most active customers are."
"They [customers] don't have to like you, but they have to respect you"
Humanly authentix

self awareness
organizational alignment
culture and passion
honesty is the basis for truth
just be real

High touch economy:

Emotional purchases
Educate with rational information

Old media: one message many times
New media: many interactions simultaneously

B2C is now P2P

Listen before you start
Blog Council: a support group for executives that blog
MIMA Blog of this event

Making a Customer Connection

Zappos Slide Share

I didn't actually attend this session but am always impressed with what Zappos does to totally redefine customer service.

PRI: The painful transformation of incumbent organizations

One of my friends worked at PRI spent a couple of years trying to drag them into the new media world. So I attended this presentation to check up on how far they've made it.

What is interesting about the PRI presentation is not what they have done but how they have done it. Interactive is easier when you have a bunch of hipsters collaborating via twitter. But when you need to transform a 40 year old business model with a bunch of baby boomer bosses saying "no, don't and stop", things become a bit more of a struggle. So far PRI's content strategy is not nearly as bleeding edge as the rest of the mima presenters, but to their credit PRI in not a .com startup, they have 40 years behind their current business model. PRI has plated flags in some new media channels (iTunes, You Tube, Yahoo, etc), which is good. Content needs to be in the distribution/technology channels where your customers are. However, they could do a lot more to integrating and innovate. Let users personalize (time shift, embed and edit) the content. As with most incumbent institutions, PRI is reluctant to develop transformational platform because of concerns they may bypass their current business model. So I asked them how do you transition baby boomer bosses into interactive? "Its a constant ducation process" Lunch and learns are effective "New media at noon". Also show them examples from the old media talking about new media: HBR, Wall Street Journal, the stuffier the rag the more creditable.

Wordle + Delicious

2008-10-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Wordle + Delicious =

Chandran Nair: Consumers Cop-out

2008-09-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

Back in 2006 I studied under Chardrand Nair while at HKUST. During his course we tackled many corporate responsibility issues, and I was always impressed by his nuanced understanding of the issues. Mr. Nair is now sharing his expertise with a wider audience as a columnist for Ethical Coportation.

In his article Ethical Corporation: Columnists - Ethical consumers – Cop-out at the checkout Mr Nair calls out the green consumer as figment of our imginations. People love to say they would do the right thing , but when it comes down to it they don't come through. (Like the Bradley Effect, but for consumers) However, this doesn't mean that ethical companies are screwed, quite the opposite infact. Not only are ethical companies better able to avoid or handle negitive PR. They are in the position to capture the benefits of sourcing ethically as regulators continue to increase the price of externalities.

Best Buy opens up

2008-09-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

A recent article Open beats Closed: Best Buy & new APIs - O'Reilly Radar discusses how Best Buy is leveraging information to creating value. In this case is Best Buy is opening all the data that drives www.bestbuy.com for anyone to create their own personalized Best Buy stores or mash ups or whatever. The cool thing is Best Buy is using information to develop a potentially transformational business model.

Chrome Your Industry

2008-09-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

If you think social media has shaken things up wait until Google takes things to the next level of collaboration with their Chrome platform. How to Chrome Your Industry, by Umair Haque details the transformation aspects of this potentially ubiquitous operating system. Be preprepared for the largest knowledge circuit the world has ever seen.

Guatemalan Eco-House

2008-09-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Matt Panetiz, of Long Way Home, just sent me the following update on their eco-house.

"We just finished the the inside of our prototype rammed earth tire house. As you can tell from the photos we have set the foundation for a kitchen to be built with earth bags. We are going to combine these two construction styles to build the vocational school on the new land. Combined with an improved cooking stove, a dry composting latrine, water harvesting gutters, water harvesting tanks, and solar heated water we have quite the eco household...Mateo"

You can see photos of the house on Kodakgallery.com Slideshow

If want to know more about building structure from tires and other recycled materials check out Earthship

Flickr: kkhelgeson's Photostream

2008-09-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

The other night I help my mom post a few photos of her paintings. Check out her artistic talent at Flickr: kkhelgeson's Photostream

DK, making green

2008-08-11T19:30:00.001-07:00

Denmark, a country where I studied aboard back in 2000, is now a renewable energy power house. Not only is wind powering the almost a quarter of the electric grid, its also powering the economy. He's Tom Friedman's with a recent op-ed.

Pizza Farm

2008-08-06T22:45:00.001-07:00

Talk about a food experience. So my friend Mali invited me to the Pizza Farm this last week. I agreed and the next thing I knew I was in a right hand drive Mercadies van (felt like I was in New Zealand again). A scenic hour and half later we were at the Pizza Farm near Stockholm Wisconsin, which really isn't near anything else. However, this remote location did not deter the crowds. When we arrived there was a 2 hour wait for pizza (we were ahead of the game and had a friend place our order). I'm not sure if the ingredients were locally raised or organic, but they were delicious.

If you want more details check out the article in Rake.

2008-07-24T22:26:00.001-07:00

Random thought: couldn't Target effectivly turn all of its stores into supertargets just by hosting a farmers market in the parking lot?

earthsense

2008-07-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

This past week I had the pleasure to hear a presentation from Mark Hardy at Earthsense, a market research company. The presentation broke down consumers beliefs of what makes a product sustainable. There are six key metrics, such as production, composition, distribution and disposal. The really cool thing about Earthsense's research is they can define sustainability attributes by product categories. For example, people care way more about the production and composition of their food than they do for their cars or electronics (for those items the green thing is to reduce energy usage). While some the findings are kind of obvious (like the example above), earthsense does do a great job of presenting the business case for sustainability in a way that can help management make more effective and profitable strategies.

Corn v Crude

2008-07-15T23:32:00.001-07:00

Looks like the folks over at World Changing are taking up the Corn v Crude debate.

Please refer to my post "If mom cared" to get my take on this subject.

Whatever 2.0

2008-07-14T19:22:00.001-07:00

If you need help explaining your Whatever 2.0 strategy try the "Web Economy Bullshit Generator"

T4America

2008-07-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

Today the Star Tribune published an article that mentioned Transportation for America, T4America.org, a group that advocates for "a major multidisciplinary effort to reform transportation policy." They basically want to increased public transit and decreased energy usage. What I found cool, is they invite you to join the conversation. Keep track of them via RSS; read what you want, comment if feel like it, its a conversation!

User Generated Tahoe Ad

2008-05-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

So a few years back GM thought it would be a good idea to let people create their own Tahoe SUV ads. They provided some canned footage and a program to create messages, (read this Wired story for more details). Here is one of my favorite ads.

If mom cared

2008-05-16T14:14:00.000-07:00

So lets imagine Mom drives little Johnny 10 miles to McDonald's in her flex fuel Chevy Tahoe. As they finish their meal mom tells her child “finish your food, there are starving children in Africa”. So little Johnny pops another chicken nugget in his mouth, consuming 40 calories of food energy, which came from 120 calories of corn.

However, if mom cared about starving children in Africa she would tell her political officials to get the corn out of her fuel. Mom’s FlexFuel Chevy Tahoe consumed a whole gallon of E85 for the 10-mile trip to the restaurant.

One gallon of E85 contains more than a 53,000 calories of corn. In other words, it takes 443 times more corn to make one gallon of ethanol (E85) than one chicken nugget. Even if mom fills up with normal gas (which typically has a 10 percent ethanol blend) she is still consuming 6200 calories of corn or 52 times more corn than one chicken nugget.

53,000 corn calories for one gallon of E85, seriously?

A gallon of Ethanol requires 26.1 pounds of corn.
There are 2400 calories in a pound of corn

(26 .1 * (.85))* 2400 = 53,244 calories of corn

And the math for the chicken nugget
There is about a 3 to 1 calorie conversion from corm to chicken meat.

40 * 3 = 120 calories of corn

Process not Personality

2008-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

Corporate America has Darwinist character, the most adaptable thrive. Winning ideologies increase shareholder value. To pull this off companies need to have processes that are scalable. A designed centric business will function with discipline and confidence. Yet, even the best business designs need to adapt to consumers even changing perception of what your brand stands for. To keep up innovation and flexibility are key. Experienced personalities often excel in achieving short-term results. But a company needs to know why it’s successful so it can share that information and reinforce the behavior. This systemization goes against the creative personality, vital for innovative new ideas. Therefore, the key contradiction to overcome is how to balance process control with creative personalities.

Rome & MPR

2008-04-03T11:58:00.001-07:00

So on an early morning in late March my brother gets a call from my cousin inviting him to join my extended family for a last minute trip to Rome. One of the reasons I thought he should go was they were staying with the Brudvig’s. The Brudvig’s have been family friends for as a long as I can remember and Lee has an interesting and successful career with the State Department. Right now Lee stationed at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. Agencies in Rome and is working with the UN’s World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization.

Coincidentally, this morning MPR did a story on the fight against hunger and interviewed Tony Hall. Tony Hall was the previous ambassador of the embassy where Lee works, which is right in the neck of woods where my brother and extended family are traveling.

It’s a small world after all.

The Natural Step

2008-04-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

As a long time advocate I’ve realize sustainability is still a very nebulous concept. Despite all of media hoopla on greenwashing and glossy corporate social responsibility reports, I think very few people really grasp what being sustainable really is. To my relief I attend a class put on by Responsible Minnesota Business on The Natural Step Framework (NSF).

You may ask, why is the NSF such a relief? Because it gives a simple yet comprehensive approach for how individuals and organization can be more sustainable. Its four principals embody basic science and systems thinking to come up with an approach that both grade school kids and corporate executives can understand.

Basically the NSF is: 1 what we take, 2 make and 3 break to meet basic human needs 4. This nifty diagram that shows what I mean (and its linked to where i found it if you'd like to read more.)

Like good design simple, yet sufficient.

Like a Piece of Modern Art

2008-03-26T12:59:00.001-07:00

Comparing green consumer products to local art museums

In Minneapolis we have two prominent art museums, the Walker Art Center
and The MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art). Both museums have respectable collections; the MIA has more antiquities, while the Walker holds a more contemporary assortment. Another way of comparing these establishments, the MIA is more aesthetically pleasing, while the Walker’s surrealist and abstract works often need context to be understood.

Green products can be compared to traditional products in a
similar way. Contrast a masterpiece painting from the MIA to a modern abstract
piece at Walker. Looking a 300-year-old masterpiece, the value and
benefits are immediately apparent. Traditional products are purchased at face
value and the purchase decision is often based on the immediate benefits. While with the modern abstract one may need to know the context or the back-story to fully appreciate why its art.

Green products also derive their value from a back-story. Consumers of green products are usually concerned about where their products come from and where it will go when they are done with it. The similarity between green products and modern art is that one needs to know the societal and environmental context appreciate its significance, and therefore its value.