13 take-aways from Lohas 11

For those of you who like lists, here are 13 takeaways from Lohas 11.

I compiled this list from notes I took attending talks by the following individuals:

Paul Ray - Founder, Cultural Creatives Research and Co-Founder, Integral Partnerships
Dixon de Lena – Co-Founder, Integral Partnerships
Peter Russell – Futurist, Author, Philosopher
Chris Van Dyke – CEO, Nau
Gary Hirshberg – CEO, Stonyfield Farm
Joel Makower – Founder, Author, Greenbiz.com

It was a mad scribble, so I may have misquoted folks here and there. Please let me know if this is the case and I’ll do some clean-up.

1. “Green”, “sustainability”, “corporate social responsibility” and “values-based purchasing” are part of much larger, multi-faceted cultural shift towards more conscious living (being not having, belonging not longing…)
2. Lohas consumers are worth studying because they are leading indicators; they are more “lifestyle intense”, meaning they demand that brands sync with their value systems and enhance their lives in subtle but important ways
3. A growing number of consumers (30 million Lohas consumers + 100 million other fence-sitters) increasingly expect businesses to partner with them to deliver lifestyle solutions around key environmental, social and health issues
4. US cities like Portland, Seattle, SF, Chicago, etc. are epicenters of the cultural shift described above, offering infrastructure and communities with built-in support networks for Lohas-minded consumers and businesses; most of the green action will play out in 10 key cities over the next five years
5. We must accept the brutal fact that climate change is here and is the #1 challenge of the century (e.g. the city of Chicago’s Climate Change Agenda is planning for Chicago’s climate to be like Houston’s by 2050); this serves as a useful focal point to motivate all parties, especially unconverted non-Lohas consumers
6. Sustainability is not easy and you can’t fake it (e.g. buy only buying carbon offsets, what Hirshberg describes a “morning-after pill”); you need to integrate your efforts in a way that embraces and “creates value for all core stakeholders” (Makower)
7. The only way to affect real change is to lead by example and build a superior economic engine which creates more value for the consumer (e.g. a better, more virtuous product at the same price with lower COGS) vs. getting fixated on the moral imperative of green/better business (Hirshberg)
8. Successful green companies have a comprehensive understanding, a bold vision, benchmarks for success and a desire to collaborate (Makower); they are seamlessly “weaving a triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) into their DNA” (van Dyke) or vision, culture, strategy and tactics
9. “Lots of big companies will try to fake it” (Ray) as the Fortune 500 pile try to capitalize on the green surge, leading to an inevitable wave of “green-washing” and possible consumer overload
10. In light of this, indies “need to work hard to define who they are” (Barber), simplifying and honing their stories for maximum resonance in an increasingly cluttered marketplace (“marketing is education, not selling; it’s a chance to share your values” – Hirshberg; “make customers your friend vs. pushing product their way; showing who you are is as important as talking about your product” – Ray)
11. Going green is a mindset, a commitment, part an ongoing journey (“this is a rapidly growing market with lots of ignorant consumers who have no clue how to fit green into their lifestyles… think of your consumers as being 1 – 2 years into a 10 to 15-year journey and how you can help them along the way” - Ray)
12. Success in the conscious economy requires a new way of thinking, or what Dixon de Lena referred to as the “emerging wisdom culture” – e.g. how we lead, manage, organize (“allow yourself to see things as part of the whole…. we need much better relational skills… always seek to expand the context”)
13. The mainstreaming of Lohas values and agenda is accelerating due to a global, interconnected media, our “collective learning system” (e.g. Wikipedia, web 2.0) and today’s empowered consumers, entrepreneurs, city officials, artists and activists (Russell* refers to this as “the leaderless revolution” driving the “acceleration towards self-awakening”)

I was only able to attend about 1/3 of the programming at Lohas 11, so these notes are incomplete and represent only some highlights from my personal notes.

* Russell is an interesting cat and his sublime talk warrants a separate post. I’ll hit that tomorrow.