“Ethically-produced” will become the norm, soon enough

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece today about social responsibility asking, ‘Does being ethical pay?‘ (subscription required). There are a couple of bits worth repeating here. The first is a succinct definition of “ethically produced” goods:

“For our purposes, “ethically produced” goods are those manufactured under three conditions. First, the company is considered to have progressive stakeholder relations, such as a commitment to diversity in hiring and consumer safety. Second, it must follow progressive environmental practices, such as using eco-friendly technology. Finally, it must be seen to demonstrate respect for human rights — no child labor or forced labor in overseas factories, for instance.”

This definition underpins a broader shift towards a more conscious/benevolent capitalism here in America, which comes as a welcome change after a long, myopic focus on profit only…

Mix it up to spark personal growth and innovation

Here’s an illuminating snippet from today’s IHT about the importance of forging new habits to foster personal growth and innovation:

“… Brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.”

Poking around Flickr

Manhattan bridge 2 - Originally uploaded by Oliver Sweatman

I spent the afternoon poking around Flickr, checking out other power Flickr users and Flickr groups to see how IBC might partake in the magic.

I started by cleaning up my personal Flickr “photostream”, including creating several “sets” to aid navigation (Vermont, NYC, etc). This took some time, but served as a good Flickr immersion session.

Next, I’m thinking about how Indie Breakfast Club (this riveting blog) might benefit from having a Flickr pool. For example, it might be fun to see images of emerging brands from around the world… stay tuned.

IBC recommends | Venture Hacks for entrepreneurs

Here’s a tip while you chew on that chocolate croissant: if you’re an entrepreneur raising money for your startup/emerging brand (from VCs or angel investors), spend some time on Venture Hacks.

The straight-up funding tips at Venture Hacks are spot on and will save even finance-savvy entrepreneurs lots of headache, time and $$.

I also recommend the site for angel investors seeking practical investing tips and insights into both the entrepreneur and VC mindset.

What’s your apple pie?

Recently I was sitting with a friend having lunch in a café in Amsterdam (a “café” in the French sense, not a coffee shop in the Dutch sense).

It was a cute little place in the Jordaan neighborhood…

Why am I telling you this?

Here’s why: about half-way through lunch we noticed lots of slices of apple pie, topped with whipped cream, being served to the café’s eager patrons.

Literally, everyone in the place (except us) was wolfing down apple pie!

Of course we had to try some, and it was excellent. Well worth a 20 minute bike-ride through the pouring rain.

Turns out people come (or bike) from all over Amsterdam, rain or shine, to this little café, mainly for the apple pie.

Have you ever noticed how every great business has an apple pie?

Now you knew this was coming: what’s your apple pie? I think it’s a productive question to think about and answer…

Nau is dead. What does this mean for the “green style” market?

Wow. Nau, darling of the green apparel sector (judging by the torrent of media coverage since its launch about a year ago - WWD, Coolhunting, etc), is dead. This, according to one of my favorite marketing/brand blogs, murketing.com. A quick visit to Nau’s website confirms the news.

I first heard of Nau when one of the founders made an presentation at the Lohas 12 conference one year ago. Lots of pizzazz. Very impressive. Attendees couldn’t get enough. One year later, with dream-team management, tons of buzz and a large chunk of capital raised ($20mm? $40mm?), they’re gone.

What happened?

Beyond the shopping fix towards a healthier value system

Here’s an insightful if depressing snippet via WWD this week about the psychology of shopping:

“The irony is when times are tough, people often become more victims. They may take themselves deeper in a hole and keep spending. They rely on shopping is a quick, easy coping mechanism instead of doing the hard work to dig in and fix what’s really wrong.” Terrence Shulman, founder and director of the Shulman Center for Compulsive and Theft Spending.

Much has been written about our hyper-consumptive culture and its possible long-term, negative effects on both individual well-being and that of society at large…

Self-appointed salons aim to raise the consciousness

Still trying to figure out how to incorporate images into this blog to enhance the overall experience.

So this is a test post from Flickr… and you, lucky readers, are my guinea pigs.

This magazine spread (displayed in the window of a little wine bar in the West Village) caught my eye this morning as I biked past.

The caption (lower left) reads:

The eclectic group of artists and writers form Artistes Sans Hollywood-X, a salon that meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the West Village. “It is our responsibility as the cultural conscience of our nation to work toward consciousness-raising,” says Cintra WIlson (front right), the group’s leader.

And so history repeats itself… Hey, the Flickr thing worked!

Six lessons learned, from a business master (Pat McGovern, International Data Group)

I’m trying to mix up my media diet these days and recently rediscovered the Financial Times web site. I must say, the quality of the FT’s articles is excellent, giving the Wall Street Journal and New York Times a run for their greenbacks any day of the week.

For example, there’s an excellent article today by Richard Waters with some incisive business tips from Pat McGovern, the 70-year old founder & chairman of International Data Group, one of the world’s most successful publishing concerns. Here are the key takeaways (with verbatim excerpts):

Don’t undersell yourself

“Double your price, make it $80,000, and then people will take it seriously”.

Stay focused on (and as close as you can to) your customers

“When we presumed our competition knew what the market wants and we imitated them, we typically had problems.”

Does reading Shakespeare make you a better blogger?

Here’s something funny: blogging makes me think about Shakespeare. Well, not exactly… but it does make me think about being a better writer.

When I first started blogging a year or so ago, I used to agonize over each post, even printing out drafts for a rigorous self-edit.

As you know, I’ve moved on, routinely blasting out posts after a quick scan or two (I don’t think I’ve printed anything in six months).

My hope of course is that the whole experience (writing included) is better this way — more natural, heartfelt and flowing (even with a typo or too).

This is the blogging way… The hours I once spent agonizing over meaningless edits, I now spend reading, scanning the web and hopefully, creating my own stories.

I also try to put more thought into each post, before I start writing (you seem surprised?). Which brings me back to Shakespeare…

Young CEOs have sustainability high on the agenda

I’ve got sustainability on my mind today… it must be all this nature sprouting forth here in the Big Apple:

“Sustainability: meeting humanity’s needs without harming future generations. It’s an old ideal, broadly endorsed by economic development experts, environmentalists, and human rights activists, but formerly too touchy-feely for many American business leaders. Now, however, it’s at the top of the agenda of growing numbers of US CEOs, especially young ones.” — Business Week, Beyond the Green Corporation 1.29.07

Especially the young ones is right, indeed….

Note | green design conference in NYC

This looks like an interesting conference (NYC May 19)… I will try to attend and post some notes here for those of you that cannot make it.

It’s billed as: “two conversations on the greening of architecture and design and the future of sustainable materials” and being hosted by materials group Material ConneXion and trend forecaster Li Edelkoort.

I learned about the event on Dezeen (one of my favorite design blogs and probably the best-looking blog on the planet).

We need to make time for our own stories

Stories are important, right?

Yes, they are; we, as humans, crave/need them for meaning and context.

A while back, you might have heard a story now and again around the campfire… odds are that it was a good story, and that you remembered it, and re-told it to keep it alive.

Today, countless stories come in over the transom every second… new brands, e-mails, RSS, TV, random people on the street.

We so desperately want to hear them, at least the good ones, craving that meaning and context again, so we try to process it all.

But we cannot. Even if we read for 24 hours straight, we would catch about .0000001% of the day’s dump (I heard yesterday that 150,000 blogs are created each day).

So, of course, it’s absurd to even try.

By all means, we should be on the lookout for good storytellers, but we should limit your intake and make time - lots of time - to create our own stories, with friends, family, co-workers…

Career tips from Dan Pink (and some other folks)

There’s a lot of media buzz around Dan Pink’s new book, ‘The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need‘, a career advice book, presented manga-style.

The author must be in cahoots with Garr Reynolds, from Presentation Zen (one of the blogs I follow), because Mr. Reynolds is promoting the book via a 184-page summary (!) on slideshare.

Here’s the copy from the money slide, summing up the book’s advice (my elaborations in parens.):

1. There is no plan (except your own)
2. Think strengths not weaknesses
3. It’s not about you; it’s about adding value (help people or solve a problem)

Which place will inspire you the most?

My friends and I are brainstorming on where to go for vacation. The beach? The woods? A road trip? We’ve narrowed it down to three choices, all very different.

Soon it’ll be time to decide…

The cultured whip-cracker among us has posed an excellent question to help forge consensus: “which place is most likely to inspire us?”.

All of a sudden, sitting on a beach for a week doesn’t look so hot…

(David Whyte touches on this in one of his CDs. He says something like: “the answer to exhaustion is not rest, but the whole-heartedness”.)

Something to consider next time you go on holiday…