Does it matter whether we like ourselves when we go about doing business? [Not ‘Like’ in the Facebook sense, I hasten to add; like, in the appreciate and respect ourselves, sense.] It used not to matter whether we like ourselves in business. In fact – whimsically – the more ‘unlikeable’ we were, the more likely we were to get ‘promoted’. Being ‘tough guys’ and ruthless was ‘sharp business’. Turns out – that’s proven to be pretty unsustainable business.

Connie Comber Re-Imagine Business Sydney Australia

But adopting sustainable practices in business [broadly defined from ethical to ecological considerations] is routinely being questioned and criticised as an impost on businesses.

We hear: Is it a cost – or a value-add? Does it make money, or take money? If it takes money – does it return it, if so, when and to what degree, etc?

This is the classic picture of a business-culture in transition. These are the same anxieties that came up when businesses were required to act on their responsibilities in OH&S, or developers were ‘imposted’ with contributions to community services. In the end, have these proven to be imposts or business improvements?

Those answers lie in the perceptions and values of the businesses (owners/managers) themselves. They lie in the value system of our surrounding society. On reflection, do we really want to go back to hazardous work practices that lack care? Would we go back to the days when developers were not expected to take some responsibility for the impact of their projects on the surrounding community?

Many developers, nowadays, pride themselves on their engagement with the surrounding community and their literal, and visionary, contributions. Most businesses would keep their OH&S standards in place if you took away the legislative requirements – now. They like themselves as a safe and caring employer.

So how do we value the qualities involved in becoming sustainable businesses? Because, ‘liking ourselves’ has a value; both intrinsically, and as a culture-base to the operations of a business.

It is well documented, businesses that have positive, proactive cultures have better customer service responses and are likely to be more innovative and responsive in a changing environment. They are more likely to thrive.

A dog-eat-dog, competitive-at-every-turn business is looking to win ‘against’ others and is eroding the suppliers’ and customers’ value-relationship to their company. That used to be common.

Things are changing. Customers, (the community) now, want to see businesses ‘caring’. They don’t have a clearly articulated definition of that caring – but, businesses having a conscience, and a socially responsible basis to their decisions in business – ‘matters’, now. Increasingly, this is a fundamental component of any definition of sustainable business.

New methods of doing business sustainably are being posed by luminaries such as Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter and Mark Kramer. They espouse creating shared value as a next-step in sound, enduring commercial practice. In their article in HBR [http://ow.ly/fmy64] ‘Creating Shared Value’, they point out that “no company is self contained” … so, they affirm that the ties between societal and economic needs are inherently interconnected. Shared value, they believe, is about breaking through “a narrow conception of capitalism [which] has prevented business from harnessing its full potential to meet society’s broader challenges.

“The opportunities have been there all along”, Porter says “but have been overlooked … society’s needs are large and growing, while customers, employees, and a new generation of young people are asking business to step up.”

Porter and Kramer see the new business methods stemming from, for example, “reconceiving products and markets, redefining productivity in the value chain, and enabling local cluster development”. These methods require behaviour qualities like collaboration, cooperation and mutuality.

These reframed behaviours create a very different kind of ‘competitive advantage’ from past teachings. As they, also, point out “there is nothing soft about the concept of shared value”, it does not depart from economic value creation.

So, while we’re formulating new ways of doing business – let’s not forget the value of ‘liking ourselves’ and liking the way we do business.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen some people – otherwise perfectly reasonable, decent people [mostly], do some terrible things in business: ‘rip others off’; even determinedly ‘push another business over’ out of an aggressive need to ‘win’, (or a desperate need to stay in business); treat suppliers [or lessees] poorly to ‘get the best out of them’. It’s pretty ugly stuff.

We used to call it ‘clever business’ – until we called it the GFC.

Now we know there are downsides to ‘clever business’, and, now, we’re waking up to how we felt doing business that way. Fairly ugly.

Here’s the upside we usually forget to talk about when it comes to implementing sustainability in business; we like ourselves better – naturally.

That is, it’s ‘built into our DNA’ to feel better when we do good.

Scientific studies [examples below] have shown the link between acting with generosity – and achieving greater feelings of well-being, better physical health, and an increased tendency for further generosity. Similar results have been found for kindness, happiness and social connectedness. Some studies showed remarkably improved life expectancies as a result of increased socially-positive behaviours.

There are measurable hormone changes in response to acting generously, or kindly, which enhance well-being. These changes are self-fulfilling; they induce further actions of generosity, kindness and connectedness. This author believes that is a fundamental anchor in the success of shared value methods in business; why they are proving highly effective commercial strategies. We like to like ourselves and we like to like the way we do business.

So the notion that the business world is a ‘natural jungle’ and aggressive, dominating behaviour is our ‘natural instincts’ – is rapidly being debunked. The appearance of winning against others – may have shown immediate rewards but we know, now, those gains had long-term erosive qualities that have caused huge destabilisations across most economies. We thought it was ‘OK’ to ‘not care’ – that it ‘wasn’t our problem’ – until it is.

As Porter and Kramer demonstrate so capably, the time to say ‘it is our problem’ has come – and, more to the point – we can respond to it positively and in mutually-connected ways that “has the power to unleash the next wave of global growth”.

While we’re doing that – we get to swap feeling stressed, dog-eat-dogged, one-upped/one-downed, and kind of ‘going through the motions while you leave your heart and soul at home’-ed – for feeling generous, kind, socially connected, and healthy!

There’s value in that, I would argue – what’s not to like?

(This blog was first published on the Differencemakers Community blog )

Contact Us

Part 2

In Part 1 of this blog, “Village Life: the new future for retail?”, we discussed rapid and stunning changes to retailing which left business owners asking  “Where and How do we ‘fit’ now?”.

Connie Comber, Re-Imagine Business Sydney Australia

The answer to that must include a customer perspective. In Part 1, I referred to the ‘High St’ Revitalisation Project I designed and work on – which has clearly identified consumers have changed; the way we ‘consume’ is changing.

Some of the research behind that finding, by the way, has come from my reviewing academic and international market research and the rest comes from direct consumer questioning carried out within the project locality itself.

It’s essential to remember that the changes to retail businesses have, not insignificantly, resulted from the shake-up consumers have experienced in their own lifestyle patterns. The GFC (and its persistent after-shocks) didn’t just cause economic downturn, it exposed ‘bad’ behaviour that’s seriously damaged millions of people. There’s been the turmoil of a ‘roll-on’ of natural disasters. There are power shifts changing the balance of international economies and creating instability in national currencies; and so on and so forth.

Within all that change, consumers are re-evaluating their priorities and lifestyle decisions. They’re taking a fresh look at the value systems they’ve previously held in, all but, biblical esteem:

The all-consuming accumulation of wealth (dare we say greed) is no longer looking so good & ‘affluence’ isn’t so “cool”, anymore.

Social good matters. That said; how, what, where, when -  we’re still working out.

Personal needs – “me, me, me” isn’t so interesting – our sense of belonging, community, sharing, collaborating, is in come-back.

This widespread values and lifestyle review is rejuvenating a desire for “Village-life”; but the appeal is not “shop till you drop”, it’s a search for social belonging, feeling socially engaged and sharing ‘common space’.

People are also craving convenience, which results from escalating transport costs, the limitations of time-poor schedules and a shrinking fascination with ‘keeping up with the Jones’. Convenience includes ‘local’ and it means basic ‘everyday’ convenience.

So here’s the opportunity: the local village hub, or ‘High St’, MAY be able to satisfy all of this new consumer ambition IF the local ‘High St’ business community responds to these changing needs.

That response must, of course, include – affordability. Research also identifies a distinguishing point of appeal of ‘High Sts’ over shopping malls: that is, where a good village hub features unique, quirky, arty, ‘character-filled’ ‘High St’ retail outlets, it can offer an interesting shopping experience which enriches people’s enjoyment of local ‘Village Life’.

So, for individual retail owners the ‘take-home’ messages seem to be:

• highlight the special interest your products can appeal to, e.g. books, kids, markets, food, unique fashion
• angle your products/service to everyday convenience
• think up new ways to add to convenience e.g. delivery/online
• make the business sociable – enhancing a local customer’s ‘belonging’ to their community/village
• be entertaining – make your store an ‘experience’: touch people’s special interests
• keep some things AFFORDABLE, offering premium quality is a delicate mix to get right these days
• INCLUDE your customers, in clever ways, as you design responses to the above – never forget it’s about them
• become an INTERACTIVE business – changing, adaptable, creative, fluid

Discovering ‘the tricks of the new trade’ and sharing the latest know-how is how the retail sector will ‘reboot’.

Do these findings ‘fit’ with how retail store owners’, suppliers, or customers are experiencing the trading ‘climate’ out there? What other features have worked? Add your comments to the discussion and let’s keep enriching the shared know-how.

[The final part (3) of this blog will conclude with a review of the where-to-from-here findings of the ‘High St’ Revitalisation Project. We’ll discuss ‘the new tools of the trade’: how ‘social’ can be the new way-to-go; not just for consumers but for business owners, too. And – how collaboration as a business community can add that all important ‘Ummph’.]

[This blog was first published on the Australian Gifts and Homewares Association blog site] 

Contact Us           

Part 1  [see Part 2]

By now, we all know about the radical changes in retail:

• web-world revolutions
• the explosion of e-commerce
• changing consumer spending patterns

The same changes have also had a shocking impact on local ‘High Streets’. But there are some upsides.

As part of a local Business Chamber initiative I’ve been the designer and project manager, this year, for a ‘High St’ Revitalisation project in inner Sydney. I’d love to share that journey with you and hear your own experiences and thoughts.

The project captured one key issue over and over: these changes in retail are here to stay so how do local business owners respond and “where do we fit now?” Tough question: some owners with a long-term iconic presence in their ‘High St’ are clearly stunned at the turn of events.

It became evident, almost immediately, though, that if you give businesses a sense of support, foster collective optimism and build in some practical ‘can do’s’, you can’t keep a good owner’s ‘fighting spirit’ down! There can be positive news in the turnaround.

There are distinctive opportunities in the transforming scene.

[“Where and How do we ‘fit’ now?” can’t be answered by a business owner, alone. A significant proportion of that answer comes from, of course, ‘the customer’ – but who is that now? Have consumers changed; is the way we ‘consume’ changing? From research done during this project, the answer to that is definitely ‘yes’, but more on that in Part 2 of this blog topic.]

For now, when local retail owners were asked what they saw as the key ingredients for responding to these new conditions, it was identified:

• focus on what can be done not what’s ‘wrong’ (while still being ‘real’ about problems and issues)
• focus on the talents and uniqueness in any ‘High St’ business that makes “that” store somewhere different to be
• working in bunkered-down isolation isn’t going to pull any business through – there is a need and a huge opportunity for collaborating with collective networking and marketing
• the ‘marketing’ conversation isn’t with ‘customers’ alone, anymore – it’s with the community; local residents and interest’ communities that relate to the ‘High St’ – for whatever reasons
• the solutions are complex and businesses need community support (many different stakeholders within that) to restore their ‘village’
• business owners need to ‘own’ that ‘new times are here’ and respond in new and different ways.

I’d love to know how those conclusions relate to retailers’ or village dwellers’ own experiences,  in all sorts of other locations? (And more in Part 2).

[This blog was first published as a blog on the Australian Gifts and Homewares Association blog site]

Contact Us        

This blog, by Connie Comber, Re-Imagine Business, was first published on the Australian Gift and Homewares Blog,  for AGHA – http://ow.ly/cxhTU

Sustainable Shamainable – does it help my business?  

When it comes to our own businesses – there’s one key ‘test’ for anything we adopt or change in our business; does it help, or add to the well-being of my business, and does it add value?

So, what then, is ‘sustainable’ business? Is it about carbon and trees and all things green? And/or, is it about doing business in enduring, wholesome ways that help our business thrive into the long-term?

I’m keen to hear your response to those questions … so please comment.

I know, for my own definition, sustainable business covers a lot more than environmental factors. It starts with the value system and culture of a business; its management practices and its ways of building relationships within and without the business. It also factors in the economic health of the business (that has to be sustainable) and the environmental impact of the business.

When all those factors combine, and interact, you get an exciting and really interesting business: a business that works well with people within the business, its customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders; a business that is well-tuned financially and is, therefore, going to be effective in its use of energy, waste and resources.

Even two years ago, I was scolded by serious business people that such a ‘soft’ definition of business performance was ‘pie-in-the-sky’ stuff. Nowadays, it’s being promoted by the Harvard Business School and the top corporate performers, so I’m sticking to my guns!

The former Chairman of Marks & Spencer, Sir Rick Greenbury, was proud of the reputation his company had for employee benefits: “We look after our staff well, but look at how well they look after our customers.”

This was quoted in an article, titled, Happiness, The Key to Company Sustainability, [ http://ow.ly/cbpOS ] by Sir Stuart Hampson, the Chairman of one of the leading UK retail groups John Lewis Partnerships (JLP). He goes on to say, “in the same way, employees who feel a commitment to the success of their business will be better motivated to develop innovative products and processes, get the best out of supplier relationships and nurture a sound reputation in the community – all key ingredients to sustainable success and even to that goal of creating [company] value.”

Neither Marks and Spencer, nor JLP, are considered ‘soft’ performers, so there has to be something in this new way of doing business sustainably. It is a different way of doing business, though, and in times of reduced consumer spending and tight lender funding it may feel counter-intuitive. Traditionally, during these kinds of times, the advice has been to reduce costs, limit staff, ‘stick to the knitting’ or … change less – not more!

These new methods in business, instead, encourage experimenting with the business model, innovating with suppliers, creating new operations and systems and asking the customer what key ‘needs’ they’d most like attended to. That is – opening into the conditions – not closing against them.

I don’t mention these methods, as ideology or ‘niceties’ – my belief in them is hard-won – in my own businesses; different businesses over the years, and in one, in particular, a time when push – absolutely -came to shove.

These different ways of doing business aren’t always obvious and aren’t routinely understood by accountants and more traditional advisors.

This blog space is a good opportunity to toss your thoughts, questions and ideas around.

What’s your experience of these current conditions and a sense of if/where/how sustainability fits?

Please Contact 

It’s inspiring to read about the the exciting new business methods coming through from the aftermath of major economic changes. For instance, shared-value concepts highlighted by Michael Porter and Mark Kramer at the Harvard Business School (Creating Shared Value, HBR, Jan 2011).

Terms such as ‘shared value’, ‘social return on investment’ and ‘socially networked economy’ are now heard throughout boardrooms, and management is under increasing pressure to adapt to thrive. These are emerging trends and techniques, though – and it’s not easy to find the place to get the ‘easy to apply’ know-how and ‘here’s how’ version for a SME business owner or manager.

All the same, the pressure is on. Large global corporations across most sectors are making operational changes based on sustainability principles and finding efficiencies that are markedly improving performance. They are now applying huge pressure to their supply chains to ‘fall into line’. In short, this ‘train has left the station’. SME owners need to get up to speed – now.

I’m very pleased therefore - with my colleagues Grant Young from Zumio and Allison Heller, Urban Affect - to be presenting a new workshop  that incorporates these important new trends AND the how-to’s; many business owners are ’getting’ that we need to do things differently – few, though feel sure of the ‘how’ – this workshop fills that gap.

Participants will gain insights into:

• the growing trends around social media
• changing consumer values, and value-perception shifts
• shared-value approaches
• collaborative supply chain models, and more.

But most importantly, they will have an opportunity to explore how these apply to their own business.

ONE OR TWO DAYS, IT’S UP TO YOU (March 28/9, Sydney)

Attendees will work through these issues in a very hands-on, practical way. We’re offering the option of a one-day workshop or a two-day package:

• Day one identifies – in new, positive ways – what’s driving the changes in today’s business environment, and a ‘top-line’ of how these apply to participants’ businesses;
• Day 2 is optional, focusing on how participants can directly apply the principles and revelations of Day 1 – to their own business.

TAILORED TO PARTICIPANT NEEDS

Workshop content will be tailored to participants’ particular interests. Registrants will be contacted by phone – for a “getting-to-know-you” conversation prior to the workshop – in order to ascertain their interests and own business circumstances.

REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN

We’re really excited about the workshop and would appreciate you forwarding this to friends, colleagues and associates who may be interested in attending.

More information can be found in the attached flyer, or on the event registration page: http://zum.io/stepup

If you have any comments or questions about the workshop program, we’d love to hear from you.

              Please Contact Us  

Late last year it was reported: Global 500 companies, that have demonstrated leadership in carbon disclosure or performance, yielded twice the average return as the index as a whole, between January 2005 and May 2011.  

This wasn’t headlined in the Australian Financial Review, or such. It was headlined, though, in an online publication called GreenBiz.com (Sept.14, 2011), which has a surprisingly high readership in, for instance, Fortune 500 management.

The article announced the release of the Carbon Disclosure Project’s, CDP Global 500 Report 2011, and quoted CDP’s CEO, Paul Wilson, as saying “it’s not yet widely accepted or integrated in investment that being sustainable is going to deliver better returns.”

Yet, the companies exemplified with stellar sustainability performances were not your predictable ‘greenies’; we’re talking BMW, Unilever and Novartis, for example. We’re also talking about 68% of the Global 500 companies reporting they have integrated climate change action into their overall business strategy, compared to 48% in 2010.

The same report also demonstrated how much pressure these large companies are placing on their suppliers to ‘line-up’ with similar actions and transparencies – or, lose out.

The movement towards sustainability is no longer a side-line in a company’s activities. The days of a company playing at CSR (corporate social responsibility) are over, if CSR is defined – loosely speaking – as pasting on a respectable do-gooder project over a company’s ‘old ways’. The evidence is that this kind of CSR not only doesn’t ‘win over’ the consumer but adds nothing to the bottom-line. High performing companies are finding huge performance and/or cost reduction boosts through innovative approaches to improving their sustainability performance.

Enhanced performance is not limited to environmentally based activities. Companies are increasingly collaborating with communities, governments or not-for-profits to enhance social goals. Microcredit programs being an obvious example, with ANZ’s programs in Cambodia clearly showing innovative approaches to opening new markets – for the long-term growth outcomes.

Many of the sustainability ROI’s will peak in the longer-term. That’s why accounting methods are also being rapidly revised to include triple (plus) bottom line measurements of a company’s value, returns and performance. 

Interestingly, for all these substantive changes, if you read the mainstream business press, you’d still be searching fairly hard to notice them. Regardless, the fact remains, the momentum for change is building so fast that it is undoubtedly heading for the tipping-point. It’s not too far away where sustainable business practices will be business-as-usual; where non-sustainable business practices will not just be unsustainable but unacceptable.

So what do these changes mean for ‘seeing round corners’ and predicting investment outcomes if the emphasis continues to be on traditional measurement and performance indicators for investment returns?

We could all pretend there is a ‘quick fix’ answer to that question and a ready-to-hand ‘Top 10 Tips’ list will display it. No such falsities will do. The truth is we don’t know exactly what this means and how the future will unfold. We don’t know which companies will evolve the best ways to capitalise on new innovative approaches. Those answers will open out over time. There will be valid markers along the way but ‘secure’ predictability of outcomes is a myth of the past.

So, what does this mean when listening to professional advice about investment choices? How do you know whether they’ve factored in new trends and new ‘value-calculations? Do they have their eye on the ball of the new performers factoring in sustainability improvements? Maybe this means that no matter what the advice the investor has to accept that nowadays predicting even reasonable certainties is not ‘under control’. So, choices must reflect the true ambitions of the investor because they are the ones who live with the outcome; good, bad and everything in between.

That begs a whole new set of questions, as well; what purpose does money hold for you? What kind of relationship do you have with ‘money’ – because that’s as important as any relationship any of us have with the primary people/anything in our lives – and THEN, let’s plan from there?

In truth, I don’t know what this means for the future of investment but I know we should be thinking about those answers and starting to do all sorts of re-imagining for our investment predictors, the  knowledge base of advisors, and their client conversations, in the reality that a turning point is coming?

Love your thoughts …  please leave a comment below

 About Connie Comber          Contact  

First published and featured as Blog of the Day on Open Forum – http://bit.ly/uY4keH

Business is changing. Multiple ripples of the GFC later - business is changing. Inevitably, therefore, the way you manage a business has
to change.

It’s not so clear where these changes are heading which  can make operating a business pretty difficult.

Some clarity is emerging – whether you’re reading the  Guardian, Harvard Business Review, or any number of business blogs, there is an  increasing focus on sustainable business. It’s true there are a vast spectrum  of definitions of ‘sustainability’ but the meaning of the concept boils-down,  in essence, to a set of shared values.

Doing business has always required a set of shared values  e.g. ‘dog-eat-dog’, ‘survival of the fittest’ and ‘anything goes as long as you  win’ were all agreed value positions that operated a win-lose business system. It’s the value set that was personified in the Godfather and Wall St’s Gordon Gekko character.

By the time we’ve experienced the GFC and its subsequent  after-shock waves, there is some review of that credo. As it turns out – new  thinking is also turning out to be good business.

Details are still forming but there is increasing acknowledgement  that providing shared, or mutual reward/return throughout the value-chain is a  more enduring and beneficial way to do business. The shared values of sharing  value, if you will.

Revenue-sharing models and collaborative cost-reducing efforts  are shifting the ‘old school’ mechanisms between customer and supplier. As one  ‘for instance’, an article in the Guardian’s Sustainable Business Blog  (26/10/11)  http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog
provides profound examples of these changes in the major car manufacturers in  Asia; Toyota, Hyundai Motor Company (HMC) and Samsung. PepsiCo, Microsoft, Birkenstock, Zappos are examples of many companies adopting different value  propositions for their stakeholders.

This shift in the business mind-set is coming pretty fast.  One key issue is that we aren’t all ‘up-to-speed’ with the skills needed to do
business differently – with more sustainable business practices. Most of us  weren’t trained in collaboration techniques, shared-value mechanisms,  mutual-growth strategies and the like.

Our default button still tends to be ‘get-in-first-and-win’  (or we’ll lose out), or, due to the fear of  ‘losing out’, we become fiercely competitive, and top-dog/underdog hierarchies  continue to underpin most of our organisations.

Closing the skills gap is a lot easier than we might think –  fundamentally it’s all Good Values, applied to business imperatives. It’s not
naive or ‘fantasy-land’, after-all. It’s turning out to be very good business.

As an added bonus – there is scientific  proof in psychological research that ‘sharing’ improves people’s happiness and
well-being (e.g. http://shar.es/bCxs1 )

Turning good values into good business value is an example  of creative adaptation that can be wholesome and renewing for businesses – and the  people in them. It will require some new skills training and mentoring support  but that is also emerging. Maybe saying farewell to Gordon Gekko is all good  news.

 Contact Us …

I recently ran a workshop with a colleague, Stephen Robertson (Speaking Up) , called ‘Social Media or Social Madness?’

The general idea is – Social media is ‘Here’  and here to stay - whether we like it or not. Given that: is it business magic or a minefield? Today’s business world is rapidly changing and unpredictable.

How do we find the pathway for our business that will create sustainable business? How do we handle the good and the bad of this new media – where every one’s an ‘instant expert’ and very few people know what really works? What are the sustainable business methods and outcomes when using social media? Every business operator needs to know how to make effective decisions around this new communication. In this seminar we pointed out it doesn’t start with technology – it starts with YOU.

We asked; “What do you really feel about it?   What’s working for you, what isn’t? How can you make what you need happen – and manage any downsides?”

This discussion was designed to take business owners to the next level of feeling ‘in command’ of their needs and requirements when implementing these new tools in their own business. Not be at the mercy of the latest ‘dictates’ from the experts and the most recent ‘top-10-rules’.

We wanted business owners to leave knowing THEIR choices in regards to their principles and priorities with the use of these new media. And feel strong in deciding what is true and right for their business when it comes to modern social media tools.

It was good lively and robust debate on the day. Even business owners not yet participating in this new media [much] recognise the importance of making these kinds of decisions – social media is rapidly becoming as ubiquitous as email and mobile phones and could well, predictably, in time, overtake them.

Privacy vs publicity was a persistent dilemma. For example, do you leave yourself open to vexatious complaint on facebook – to the whims and deliberate misunderstandings of a disgruntled customer – who’s disgruntled in their life but you’re a handy target? Versus; “we asked our customers to give our business feedback, on the website – they did – (feedback they’d never given before even though many were regular customers) - and it was great, we really improved our service as a result.”

Is it de-humanising business by making the message SO universal people forget how to have an ACTUAL real-time conversation with a colleague who’s only down the corridor after-all! Or, is it people-power like we’ve never had before – giving each and every one of us a voice – an informal vote in shaping how we want this society to ‘shape-up’ for the future.

Is it holding business accountable - and is it holding people in business accountable for their behaviour in transparent, consistent ways? Do the ‘wrong thing’ and you will most likely get caught short somewhere?

I’d love to report that we solved it all in a breakfast seminar – as you can guess – that’s not the case. What it did was explore some key issues and points for attention. The outcomes highlighted the need for ‘rules of etiquette’ – some agreed codes for conduct – or, in short, some transparent common values statements around the business use of social media.

For this audience, the ’rules’ were all around ‘good values’. Frequent themes were words like:

Discipline; don’t post any and everything and bore and bother people, have some respect for making the communication purposeful, strategic, targeted, useful.

Check your own personal filters; is the message, and the way you are communicating it, valid, truthful, respectful, responsive?

Authenticity of the message, and the sender, came up over and over. And plain good old manners – e.g. is your phone off in company? Or, if the message your communciating isn’t ‘getting through’ on 16 attempts at 10-second-grab tweets and sms’ – then Pick-up-the-Phone and talk to a real person! Not to mention – have a face-to-face!

There’s ‘nothing new under the sun’, really – every which way you turn, the business world is being confronted with the task of ‘cleaning up its act’. Whether it be ecological or cultural, people are longing for the sense of goodness and good-heartedness in their business day.

I think the real message is – we need seminars on remembering how to be authentic, real-time, transparent, respectful and self-responsible humans - being business people!

It really comes down to the reality that for every upside of social media there is likely to be a counter-acting down-side – as there is with new technology of any kind. It is a new emerging arena full of conundrums, contradictions and dilemmas. The technology itself is pretty neutral – its the users that overlay the positive or negative.

When all the specific debate about social media is said and done [which it certainly isn't yet!] – I still think that this user-response trend is a reflection of a change in the overall business culture (for the better, I’m thinking). The “anything goes, dog-eat-dog” kind of ‘the Godfather’ business mindset, is transforming. Several rounds of GFC consequences has sobered and straightened things up – somewhat. We are beginning to say – it’s not OK to be harmful in business – and, maybe, social media is giving us the tools to speak up?

I think we don’t quite know, yet – what this new culture will transform into – but we do seem to be shifting, quite palpably, from the old ‘money-first; no-consequences-to-greed-and-selfishness’ culture. Social media is playing an important role in liberating our voice for change – but we need to – somehow – manage the down-sides.

For business to be sustainable, endurable and future-proofed we need to become more authentic, wholly present, and reciprocating human beings?

Love to know your thoughts. Give us a call …

I remember being ‘trained’ in corporate and commercial life to ‘remove the emotion’ and divorce everything from business activities – except - ROI, shareholder [owner] value, and maximising profit margins.

“Nothing else matters; it’s not relevant.”

This kind of thinking goes hand-in-hand with the “not my problem” mind-set – or – the ‘I don’t want to know about the downsides – I just want the upsides. The down-sides are ‘your’ problem and ‘you’re’ not my problem’!

OK – I think we’re starting to ‘get it’ now – especially in the small-medium enterprise (SME) sector – that every time there is a hiccup in the economy, a radical shift in technology, or an election – it affects business flow in some way. If you’re in the right place at the right time - like at present - say, in social media/web services, or latest software, and such – you’re probably getting a boost in your business. If you’re in retail, or publishing, for instance - you’re probably wondering what the future holds – and maybe not in a good way.

Upsides and down-sides are not an either/or choice. For every business that closes there are unpaid bills to another business, a mortgage that doesn’t get paid and heartache that effects many more people. The good with the bad is a fact of life! It’s this AND that.

Either way – it’s personal! Whether you’re planning a holiday or you’re wondering if you can afford the kids’ school fees - it’s affecting your personal decisions.

When you think about it, when wasn’t it personal?

When the Twin Towers went down in 2001, there’s riots in England, when we go to the Iraqi war, or have collapses on Wall St – SME businesses feel the cascading impact somewhere, somehow. That impact is always personal, and it affects our society, community and our cultural values.

Yet, business text books and management advisors have for decades been preaching the ‘rules of profit’ – above all else; nothing matters but the money and how to grow, grow, grow in order to maximise your capacities to make money; organise your systems around cost efficiencies, be zealous about expense-tracking and scrutinise for every deviation from the business model – to keep everything ’on track’. Customers are commodities and employees are cost items. Everything else is factored OUT – we are IN CONTROL.

From anything I’m gathering Lehman Brothers were spectacular at all of the above. And probably News Limited.

By the way, it’s not working so well.

The step towards sustainable business practices is obvious – when you let yourself think in ‘real terms’; otherwise called Life! Life happens in every moment in every way – including in business. People are people everywhere, including in business – and they bring Life with them wherever they go.

Sustainable business practices; ‘socially responsible business’, ‘values-driven business’, ‘purpose-based businesses’ – are all terms to describe business methods  that encompass more than money. They are life-giving business methods. They give life to your business. They stimulate decisions that include the value to everyone in and around the business; customers, suppliers, employees, community, environment and society.

Ah but …. I hear in chorus …. can you make money ??? Yes. Have we heard of Microsoft, Nike, Paul Newman’s Own, The Body Shop and Kathmandu?

In ‘real terms’ – can we afford to keep doing it the same ‘old text book’ way? Hasn’t that always been playing on borrowed time? And aren’t we paying for it now – Big Time.

And here’s the best for last – sustainable business practices revive the passion, fun, creativity and people-power back into your business. That’s not just ‘Good business’ – it’s the best way to make money!

What do we do differently? Is it hard?

It’s surprisingly rewarding, actually – on every level. It isn’t a ‘list’ – it’s a conversation. At Re-Imagine Business we advise on the latest methods and practices for sustainable businesses.

The core values in a sustainable business – as in sustainable living – all focus around authenticity.

It’s that wonderful freedom of being true to your own passions and purpose for being in business – or indeed, for being on the Planet. There’s power and energy in it, there’s fulfillment, and it feels robust. It may feel tough – and like there’s a long way to go – but it also feels like its worth the ride. You want to be there doing it.

If you’re running a business that feels like:

•  its a burden and is weighing you down – or,
• maybe it’s just plain ‘numbing’,
• maybe its paying its way – and maybe even well,
• but it isn’t a pleasure anymore -

(and that is too true for far too many business owners, these days);

Then you need to get back in touch with who you are, why you started the business – and what you truly want to get out of owning it. (And those answers have to line-up on every level, including your financial purposes.)

You need to get back in touch with running an authentic, sustainable and Good Value business.

Lots of things go on inside us that stop us being authentic. Lots of things go on in our society that actively inhibit us from being authentic; – status, success, affluence, being accepted.

They’re all things we need – but to ‘achieve’ them we can ‘trade-off’ parts of our true selves in the process.

Being a business owner is one of the bravest jobs there is – and at various times, especially in tough economic climates, we can feel pretty vulnerable.

We don’t always handle that well – either in our business or ourselves. Take a look at this wonderful video presented for a TED conference by Dr Brene Brown on her ten years of studying the human response and journey into authenticity – and her own. Like it or not, she discovered - that comes through acceptance of our vulnerability.

http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

I’d love your comments on the video.

Re-Imagine Business is here to support you – mentor you - on your journey towards running an authentic business. A journey that brings your business (and you) into its full potential – and breathes new life into it. We’ve been there and we know what it takes.

Give us a call and we’ll work out together how we can best mentor you in becoming an authentically successful - inspired busines owner.