Agents of Change @ Work

Restoring the Garden of Eden

It took a monster to destroy one of the world's richest wetlands and a hero - a true agent of change - to attempt to restore it. Dr. Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi-American engineer is dedicating his life to regenerating a wasteland. It's a complex and vast undertaking - as outlined in this 60 Minutes program a few days ago. Dr Alwash has created Nature Iraq to continue his work. Where water has returned both wildlife and indigenous cultures have returned, but now they face another threat - drought, associated with climate change. I wonder how the west would be perceived by the people of the Middle East if we collaborated to restore this ecosystem. Money is being spent here but it is a fraction of the cost of either war or corruption...

Pure Lucidity on Climate Change

Here’s 27 of the most lucid commentary on climate change you’ll hear anywhere and it is tailored to a Canadian audience. 

Sir Nicholas Stern has been a powerful agent of change. He was one of the first establishment figures to dare to cite market failure as the cause of the problem; and now he is rightly explaining why the developing world has to shoulder responsibility for solving it. Here's the link.  A summary follows

Addressing Climate Change will enable us to addresses Global Poverty
 He makes the linkage between climate change and world poverty stating that the two issues represent humanity’s greatest threat.  Failure to manage climate change will worsen poverty but if we try to manage the environmental problem by blocking growth we’ll never get the coalition we need.  He sees the transition to low carbon economies as offering the best opportunity for economic growth available today and the recession as the best time for making the investments necessary. 

Taxation Policy
 Putting a price on carbon will not be enough, however. Where governments raise more money from taxation (eg British Columbia’s carbon taxes), going “revenue neutral” is to miss the opportunity to hasten a transition that can only generate more prosperity and security for a community in the longer run. (Note in the UK our enlightened government is using the extra revenue from Air Passenger Duty to continue to bail out the banks! - my comment, not Stern's)

The Scale of the Challenge
 Finally, here’s someone able to explain the scale of the problem in a language that makes sense. Instead of percentages, he talks real numbers. Today’s reality is that we generate 50 gigatons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) each year. To avoid catastrophe we have to reduce that to 20 gigatons, equivalent to a global average of 2 tonnes per person. Bear in mind that the rich countries like Canada are averaging 20 tonnes per person and you can see the challenge. 

But Stern also points out that the low carbon future can be so much better than the one we have now. The act of getting from here to there can generate jobs and profit but it will take leadership and political will…

Country Reputations
Finally, Stern has a stark warning for Canada, a country, he believes could be leading the way on international development, forestry, car technology and renewable energy. But if Canada continues to plead for special favours – suggesting the transtion can’t be done, or it will cost too much and suggest that developing countries should do more, then, as one of the world’s richest nations it will lose trade, credibility, prestige and reputation and its politicians will be perceived as failing the electorate. 

Stern but also inspiring stuff indeed!

Leadership 2.0 - Essential Steps to Changing the World

You can read the business and academic literature all you want but to learn how to change the world in 2009, you’d be well advised to listen to two contemporary change agents: Seth Godin and Chris Brogan. Both understand how the rules of engagement and leadership have changed as a result of connectivity. 

Seth started life as a marketer. In his current incarnation, he acts as interpreter and popularizer of modern culture with a gift of the gab and a knack for attention grabbing titles. He has recognized that the art of persuading people to buy a product is remarkably similar to persuading them to follow you. In both cases, the task is not so much about selling but in enabling people to do what they yearned to do – achieve a personal goal and feel a part of something bigger than their individual selves. Seth’s most recent book is Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

Chris Brogan describes himself as a ten year “veteran” of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Brogan learned the art of leading by accident when he started Podcamp – an event designed to help others learn about how to use social media.  Podcamp spread as a concept and now operates in 90 countries. Brogan recently published Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust that, partly thanks to his own tribe, just entered the New York best sellers list. FastCompany are publishing excerpts here. 

The writing style used in both books is so similar I wonder if they shared a similar editor/ghost writer. For those of you with long journeys ahead, they are good reads but the contents of their combined 400+ pages can be summarized thus:

1. Find and focus on a Cause – let's face it, there’s no shortage. Brogan calls this “be the priest or build the church’. In other words find a group of passionate believers and or something worth changing or building and use the web to create and strengthen relationships around a common purpose. Most leaders start out as heretics – challenging the status quo and only later become heroes.  To quote Godin: So three questions I'd offer you. The first one is, who exactly are you upsetting? Because if you're not upsetting anyone, you're not changing the status quo. The second question is, who are you connecting? Because for a lot of people, that's what they're in it for. The connections that are being made, one to the other. And the third one is, who are you leading? Because focusing on that part of it, not the mechanics of what you're building, but the who, and the leading part is where change comes.
2. Sustain curiosity – in the cause, yes,  but, more importantly, in the followers. As Brogan says – “make it about them.” Constantly focus attention on the followers. In Brogan’s words, they are the rockstars. In William Gibson’s words “intelligence is distributed”. The genius emerges from the group but is supplied one bright idea at a time from an individual. It pays to identify and resonate with their autobiographical filters. Successful movements have coherence – their members’ mindsets are in alignment. 
3. Connect –Godin argues that what people want more than anything is to be missed on the day they don’t show up. He's just created an exclusive online community for those who signed up first. Brogan identifies that there’s something huge about belonging, being on the inside and having exclusive access. Sadly, while exclusivity may be the force that binds, it's also the force that separates and look how that works when issues as complex as health care are up for debate. 
4. Charisma – Godin suggests that charisma comes from leading. The quality and power of charisma to attract more followers emerges as individuals exercise leadership – simply because most of us want to be led.  The celebrated psychologist Erich Fromm in the 50s also identified that few of us want to exercise responsibility either so a charismatic leader provides two services for the price of one!
5. Simplicity – Brogan identifies the importance of keeping the message and the platform as simple as possible and I would add as actionable as you can. People want something to do – as well as to believe in. 
6. Commitment – don’t be deflected. Leading change takes time, patience and persistence but remember that you don’t need everyone.  Quality of commitment is better than quantity and a 1000 committed, passionate followers or fans might be sufficient. It was the “few” that won Britain’s air battle in the last war; resistance fighters numbered in the thousands not millions and paved the way for a continent's liberation. 

• What’s your cause?
  
• Who will you lead?
  
• Are there other qualities we’ve missed here
• Who are your heroes and which agents of change have inspired you?

In subsequent blogs, I'll highlight more contemporary agents of change.In the meantime, sit back and enjoy Seth's inspirational presentation at TED last year.

Social media - agent of change

Funny how in an age of connectivity, collaboration and sharing, authors still feel the need to apply a Trademark to a term - Socialnomics - whose lifespan might be a matter of months. He also provides no credits, reference or sources....

Another "shock & awe" video to jolt Boomers out of their lethargy. Gen Y will outnumber Boomers in 2010?? Game's over?  Or is it?

The accuracy of many of the statements is questionable as has been thoroughly explained by Robert Cole in his blog on Voodoo Economics here - do please read. It seems that in the rush to jump on the bandwagon, catch some celebrity glitter,  or be first to publish, authors are  in danger of jettisoning critical thinking. This won't help the cause of changing traditional mindsets and there's no need for it either. The pace and scale of change is great enough - there's no need to exaggerate. Perhaps Robert should have called his post Voodoo EGOnomics.....

PS - beware. Advise you mute or turn sound down before viewing. 

Brands should be "agents for change," says Unilever cmo - WARC News - WARC.com

The big firms are slowly waking up. At Media Week's Media 360 Conference, Simon Clift, the global CMO of Unilever responsible for selling €40bn worth of "soap, soup and tea", said the world had changed more than marketers have accepted or absorbed, and heralded "a new era of remarkable opportunity" - see here

While that may not be earth shattering, what I did find exciting to learn is the fact that Mr. Clift went on to say that "brands should be an agent of change" - a sentiment my colleague Leon Benjamin and I have,  in our own more modest way,  been pushing for nearly a decade as you can see here on an old, homemade site called Business For Good. 

See: Brands should be "agents for change," says Unilever cmo - WARC News - WARC.com.

If Simon Clift or someone at Unilever is reading this (he, he), I would strongly recommend Terry Barber's excellent post on what business leaders can learn from non profit organizations. He gives four suggestions:

1. Inspire customers by helping them believe in something they once thought was impossible. (It worked for Barack Obama)

2. Show genuine appreciation for their business (how many companies have you ever received a thankyou card or email from?)

3. Help him see that he is a part of a bigger community of world changers. One of the most powerful fund-raising terms is the word join. “Join the fight.” “Jointhe cause. “ “Join me”—all indicating that you can be a part of something much bigger than yourself.

4. Communicate how you are making the world a better place - see excerpt below...

I recently met with a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company and saw this principle illustrated in the most dramatic fashion. Throughout the building there were maps with pushpins marking various towns, cities, and villages around the world where this company and its employees were providing clean drinking water for indigent people groups. There was an underlying message there that said, What we are doing as a company is helping to make the world a better place. No matter what kind of business you are in, learn from the nonprofit sector that you can inspire your customers by illustrating how you are making the world a better place.

Do you aspire to inspire your customers? Give them something to believe in that they once thought was impossible. Demonstrate genuine appreciation for their business. Help your customers connect with other customers to illustrate that they are part of a bigger community, and communicate how you as a business are making the world a better place.

Lead and they may follow. Teach and they may learn. Inspire . . . and they will never be the same.

Alot of my work is for destinations - very rarely do Destination Marketing Organizations lead their communities and invest in making the destination a better place. As marketers they feel they can and should leave this to others. New Zealand is different - if you read their tourism development strategy. they believe that tourism should take the lead in ensuring the country lives up tothe highest standards of sustainabiility. They have to, after all, they're 100% Pure.

What Keeps Us Marching?

It was Margaret Mead who said, "never understimate the power of a few to change the world". Imagine if that few had already reached millions in number. Back in 2004,  when Paul Hawken began his research into the number of non-governmental, largely volunteer groups working to achieve environmental sustainability and social justice, he counted a couple hundred thousand. Now he confidently predicts they exceed 1 million. We "change agents" are becoming a new super power as decribed in Paul's latest book: Blessed Unrest. The book title was extracted from Martha Graham's wonderful remark to Agnes de Mille:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.....You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open...There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the other.

Paul's speech at the Bioneers conference in 2004 gives me boose bumps and inspires me every time I watch it so it is appropriate to include here. Enjoy and circulate. The earth's immune system appears to be alive and well...

I'm involved in two such groups: 1. The Change the Dream symposium developed by the Pachamama Alliance is now being lead by over 350 fully trained facilitator volunteers - a remarkable feat given that a year ago there were just 30 such volunteers who had completed a five day program at their own expense. 2. The Icarus Foundation - a grass roots movement starting in Canada developed to help the tourism industry own up to its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

The Power of Passion and Service

Here is a man who has found his passion and now has the power to lead and inspire. This is the second of two talks at the wonderful TED conferences by Al Gore. He's my Hero because he has triumphed over injustice and major setbacks; he has enormous vision (he not only made us aware of climate change but embraced and communicated the power of the Internet very early on as a force that could help educate and democratize); and, finally, because of his commitment to serve his fellow man. There must have been many nights, after the election defeat and while roaming from one airport to another, when it felt really lonely. This is the curse of the visionary - to be able to see what others cannot.

When Europeans first arrived in the Americas, they hired scouts - local people who knew the lay of the land; who could read the signs and get over the mountains to see what was on the other side. Wise colonists listened carefully to their reports and advice - it was the only intelligence they had.

Click here to watch the video here so you can enjoy this man's new found sense of humour and get some practical suggestions as to how to play your part in race to slow the ticking time bomb that is global warming.

Leading By Letting Go

A small group of us are a creating a new grassroots organization to help the travel and tourism industry take their share of responsibility for climate change. As soon as we have a web site, I'll add a link.

We've galvanised a group of individuals with the expertise to speak authoritatively on the subject; we know what we want to achieve and now it's time to think about structure; the business model ; funding and process. We can't do this alone and our resources are limited. It's tempting to try to get it all sorted before we take our vision out into the world.

But I am a great believer in  the truth of William Gibson's statement: "the future's here; it's just not evenly distributed yet". The intelligence and the resources to make our dream a reality exist out there in this huge, complex and amorphous mass called tourism. Our job as visionaries and leaders is

1. to attract that resource and align it around a dream;  and
2. to create the conditions whereby energy and innovation can be harnessed to achieve results.

So instead of approaching this problem from the top down, we're going to seed it from the bottom up.

The following story that came across my e-mail today from the Leaders in London conference helps explain the efficacy of this approach.

When Zander took the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra to Cuba in 1999, they began their concert in
Havana playing two pieces with the National Youth Orchestra of Cuba. An American and a Cuban child shared the music at each music stand.

The first piece, written by Guido Lopez Gavillan, the conductor of the Cuban orchestra, was colourful and brilliant. Ben Zander had decided not to prepare his young musicians in advance; he wanted them to learn the piece from the composer himself.

Maestro Lopez Gavillan began rehearsing his work, but it was quickly evident that its complex Cuban rhythms were beyond the American kids; they'd never seen anything like it, and they simply couldn't play it. After giving it his best, the conductor resigned himself to failure. "I'm afraid this isn't going to work," he said from the podium. "We have to cancel the performance."

Ben Zander couldn't accept this outcome, wouldn't accept this outcome; one of the most important parts of the tour was the opportunity for the Cuban and the American kids to play together. He leapt to the stage and took over.

Through an interpreter, he said to the young Cuban musicians, "Your job is to teach these rhythms to your stand partner." And to the Americans, he said, "Just give yourselves over to the leaders sitting next to you. You will get the support you need."

Then he asked Guido Lopez Gavillan to try again. Imagine what ensued. The focus shifted from the conductor to the orchestra itself. The young Cubans "became fantastically energized, exuberantly conducting with their instruments, each leading along his American stand partner enthusiastically. The American kids, basking in the lavish attention, gave themselves ... to the process, and began to play the rhythms the way they were (meant) to be played." The maestro was well pleased.

Then it was Ben Zander's turn. He had chosen to conduct Bernstein's overture to Candide, a "fiendishly difficult little masterpiece." The music is so tricky to play that he had sent the score down to Havanathree months earlier, to give the Cuban kids a chance to prepare. But asked if they had enjoyed learning it, he got only a blank stare. As it turned out, the music had been languishing at the Havana central Post Office. The Cubans had never seen it.

Maestro Zander felt his panic rise; The American kids had taken months to learn it. Standing before the orchestra, frozen, he suddenly realized that the young musicians seated expectantly before him were smiling. Why not? Now it was the young Americans' turn to lead. Springing to life, they led their stand partners ... and it came off perfectly."

Perhaps an alternative title of this blog post might be "Leadership By Improvisation"?
 

 

 

Young Agents of Change @ Work!

It was a week of serendipity. Just last week, I discovered KIVA - the simple, elegant micro-credit solution started by an amazingly heroic duo - the Flattery's out of San Francisco who decided to do something wildly practical to narrow the gap between rich and poor. KIVA is fast becoming the poster child of "social entrepreneurship" - a disciplined business designed to do enormous good. KIVA links lenders in the developed world with aspiring small business owners in the developing world. KIVA is barely 18 months old but is expanding rapidly from 7 projects in Uganda to thousands of projects around the world. Check out the inspiring film made by PBS here and get started. The most attractive aspect is the way current peer to peer internet technologies link people with people. Lenders get their money repaid but also get a sense of real participation. It's also only a matter of time before lender connect with other lenders to dream up equally creative ideas to make the world a better place.

My business partner, Ginger Grant,  is a prof at Simon Fraser University. Unknown to me, she had been invited that same week to speak at a fund raising for some of her students who were raising funds for KIVA. They had formed a company  called, coincidentally,   Agentsofchange   and I have just come back from a wonderful evening with them.  Their goal is to raise $100,000 to be invested through KIVA in projects in Mexico and their first project is called “Riding to Break the Cycle”. With more than a dozen riders committed to cycling 3000 km over 5 weeks from Vancouver, BC, to Tijuana, Mexico. 

As is often the case, I was inspired by the vision and energy of these charming young people and equally impressed with their enormous professionalism and capability. Sadly, several spoke of their frustration at work - where their talents and capabilities are overlooked and not harnessed to good effect simply because of their age. It was a delight to be in their company and I encourage any readers of this blog to support them. These are our present and future Heroes!. On your bike!  PS: I loved their logo so I copied their logo onto this blog for you to see  - but it leads back to its rightful home. Click here and donate!

It's also serendipitous to note that I spent new years in Santa Fe and actually went into a KIVA. While down in the semi darkness, I whispered a passing prayer - ' show me what I am to do".  I guess I got my answer!

These Changing Times - Welcome 2007!

One of the influencers in my life is Lance Secretan - a fellow Canadian who has been writing and teaching about the need for conscious leadership for over 15 years and long before it was politically acceptable to be introducing notions of spirit and soul into the business lexicon. In a recent blog, he posted the worlds to Bob Dylan's famous song that illustrate just how prescient and astute Dylan was a lyricist as well as compelling as a song-writer. Lance shares the words of the song The Times They Are a Changing here.

Other personal heroes who have shaped and guided my thinking include:

Willis Harman who founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences and World Business Academy and argued forcefully for the role that business could play in building a better world and shifting consciousness;

Peter Russell who wrote the The Global Brain as long ago as 1982. Way ahead of the internet's boom and termporary bust, Russell observed " if Earth is a collective, self-regulating living organism, what then is the potential of humanity as seen through the eyes of the planet?" His most recent work, From Science to God, is one of the most eloquent and easy to read explanations of the convergence of scientific and spiritual thought regarding the nature and evolution of consciousness. Like  my other heroes, Russell is convinced that mankind is about to make a major evolutionary leap  and that, unless we do, our prospects  are limited. 

It's taken five talented and and extremely articulate women: Candace Pert, Danah Zohar, Meg Wheatley, Elizabet Sahtouris and Lynne McTaggart to really helped advance my limited understanding of the way that modern science - notably quantum phsyics, neuroscience and evolutionary biology (to name but a few of the discipline involved) - is re-shaping our view of the world and our place in it.

But the greatest debt of gratitude goes to Eckhart Tolle  whose two books The Power of Now and, more recently, A New Earth, have been the greatest source of inspiration and peace.  It is Tolle who wrote:

When any species is threatened by insurmountable problems, it either becomes extinct or rises above the limitations of its condition through an evolutionary leap. Such a leap is required of each of us as we face the remainder of this century. Survival depends on the correct understanding of the nature, extent and direction of the leap that needs to be made.

If you have eyes to see and ears to hear, there is overwhelming evidence that literally thousands of people are embarking consciously on that evolutionary journey and re-defining what it means to be human. The speed with which the social entrpreneurship movement is gaining ground is thrilling to watch - just look at www.kiva.org, to name but one of  a growing number of sites using peer to peer internet technology to link "them that hath with them that hath not" but could use a helping hand. Better still, don't just look, lend some money!! Better use than a gym membership and you'll get it back!

So 2007 has got to be one of the most exciting, if challenging, times to be alive.
I have a feeling that 2 double O 7 will live up to its name!
Apparently the new James Bond has more human qualities - perhaps it won't be too long before the character might be proud to say, 007, Licensed to Serve! The times they are a changing and changing fast!