Sustainability - Personal Application of a Very Large Concept

Sustainability is a word we often hear these days and yet, I suspect that you, like me, may easily dismiss whatever comes after that word because we do not know how to personalize the meaning. I certainly did not know how to get my head around the term until very recently. Now I see the meaning and application in almost every conversation, almost every situation, almost every day, much like you notice all the red vehicles after you buy one, when you did not notice them before.

As I continue to ponder and reflect on what sustainability truly is for me, one of the first realizations that I come to is that true sustainability requires thinking way beyond ourselves. Three recent yet seemingly unrelated events shape my thoughts in this regard. First was the passing of my father and my brother this year. Second was the opportunity to sit quietly on the family farm, some 15 feet up in a tree stand, for two days and look over the farm that my parents bought in 1950. The third event was this past Friday: we received a call that my mother-in-law was hospitalized in New Jersey and spent the weekend traveling and sitting with her. It was from the hospital that I wrote this article in quiet contemplation. As I reflected, it became clear to me that in order to even begin to think and act in ways that are sustainable, we must first think beyond ourselves and our current situation, then act in the present, in ways that support that much longer term thinking.

My parents did that as they bought and worked the farm. As they thought beyond themselves, they created a family farm trust that ensured the farm could remain in the family for generations to come. They thought beyond the current season, and each year they made long term decisions coupled with short term action to build up the nutrients in the fields to support the various crops we grew. I became acutely aware of their prior actions as I sat in the tree stand and looked over what they worked hard for and what they provided to their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

As we traveled to New Jersey, I seemed to be more aware of not only the physical environment, but the activities of so many people who were both contributing to and detracting from true sustainability for future generations. I was reminded again of two organizations whose collaboration embodies sustainability: The Natural Step and Comparison International.

The Natural Step (www.naturalstep.org) is a non-profit organization with the vision of creating a sustainable society. It was founded in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt in Sweden, The Natural Step has offices in 11 countries and a list of partners that includes some of the world’s leading brands. They have developed a lexicon and framework for understanding the basic principles of sustainability.

Comparison International (comparisoninternational.com) is a benchmarking consultancy based in the UK. With offices in the United States and Australia, Comparison's benchmarking tools are used globally in industries across the board. Their PROBE (PROmoting Business Excellence) methodology for benchmarking supports business development and growth by improving performance through the transfer of "Best Practices." PROBE tools are utilized by governments, industry specific organizations, research collaborations, individual firms and global institutions. Over the last 5 years the company has become one of the leading suppliers of "Best Practice" benchmarking in the world.

These two organizations are collaborating to provide education, training, and perhaps most importantly, assessment and action planning tools to help individuals, companies, organizations, and governments understand the underlying principles of sustainability and build implementation action plans to implement practical sustainability practices.

The Natural Step has approached sustainability from a perspective of science and systems thinking. They have developed a framework and four system conditions for understanding sustainability. In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing:

1. concentrations of substances extracted from the earth's crust;
2. concentrations of substances produced by society;
3. degradation by physical means;
4. and, in that society, people are not subject to conditions that systemically undermine their capacity to meet their needs.

Comparison International, in its collaboration with The Natural Step, has developed practical assessment tools which any organization can apply to determine the current level of sustainable practices, processes, and performance. These tools are comprehensive as they examine the four critical best practices aspects any organization must consistently evaluate if it is to survive in the long term:

1. Mission, Vision & Context;
2. Leadership & Mobilization;
3. Products, Services, & Business Processes;
4. Business Continuity.

These tools enable the forward thinking and action planning today that truly support sustainability for the organizations for generations to come.

The combination and collaboration of these two organizations provides an extremely scalable thinking process that we can apply to our personal and business life by thinking of the four system conditions and the overarching aspects. This model gives us a practical way to routinely assess and adjust our business actions and performance in support of business, community, and global sustainability for generations beyond ourselves. Just as my parents did for us, and generations before them, so we can do for generations that follow us, but only if we think and act with that view in mind.

To learn more or have Ray speak to your group or organization, please email or call him at (518)227-0224.

Collaboration Tools

Over the years (the last 10 or so), I've been very interested and active in searching out a number of web based collaboration tools to support and facilitate working together across distance and time.

My initial venture in this space was with an early tool called RoundTable which was actually the outgrowth of a DARPA funded project. I and my collaboration partners across the U.S. used this and other tools to share documents and work on projects. As time and products evolved, we have migrated to different tools. Each has their particular niche, strengths and focal areas of utility.

At the present time, I am using a product which I have explored and used both for collaboration with business partners and also to deliver services directly for and with clients. In fact, I know that I have won contracts because I could offer implementation management and collaboration tools when my competitors did not.

While I continue to use a variety of different tools, depending on the particular situation and end goal, the tool that I highly recommend for your business collaboration and project management needs is BaseCampHQ by 37 Signals. You can find out more about them and sign up for a trial subscription at:

I will highlight other tools along the way, but for today - it's Basecamp that gets my recommendation for the bulk of your collaboration needs.

Contact me to share your stories or find out what other exciting tools I am exploring.

Ray

Personal Life Planning Workshop Announced

ARE YOU...

• Thinking about a career change?

• Wanting to move forward in your current career?

• Planning to start your own business?

• Looking forward to moving into the next stage of your life?

This two day workshop designed specifically to assist you to defining what you really want in life and career. Through your participation in this workshop, you will develop your personal Vision for what you want in the future along with an action plan that will identify exactly what you need to do in the short term to begin to get you there!

You will go through a well defined process that is a catalyst for Achieving Your Dreams. This is a structured process that you will learn how to use throughout the rest of your life, and you will be provided access to software to assist you through the process after the workshop is complete.

The workshop will be held at the Hyatt Place hotel at Exit 12 of the Northway (I-87) in Malta. Food and beverages will be provided during the two days.

Three exceptional coach facilitators have collaborated to create this workshop.

For more information and to register for this workshop click on the following link http://www.capconsult.net/pdf/PLP1.pdf (or copy and paste into your web browser)

Contact me with any questions you may have regarding this workshop. Space is limited to 20 participants and there is a $149.00 discount with registration coupon code "EAS-PLP"

Take the first step in creating the life you want! Join us in this exciting workshop.

Organizational Vision - check out the article at:
http://www.capconsult.net/pdf/Ballston_Journal_article_-_Organizational_Vision_-_20090903.pdf
The latest installment of articles for Leadership

Glad the presentation to National Byways Conf. is up and available - check it out. http://vimeo.com/groups/22537/videos/6417047

Stop Lights to Roundabouts - Ballston Journal Article

In case you missed it the linked article appeard in the July 23rd edition of the Ballston Journal. In the event you saw the article there, Thank You for coming here to engage in the "conversation".

I am interested in your perspective on the article and particularly the implications for Leadership and Management. What are your experiences that relate to this article?

Thanks again for visiting and sharing. I believe that it is through this type of dialogue that we can learn and grow ourselves and our organizations to better serve our customers/clients.

Ray

Link to the article is: http://www.capconsult.net/pdf/Stoplights_to_roundabouts_-_Analogy_for_Leadership_rrp_20081121.pdf

A Tribute and View of My Father's Legacy

What follows is the text of my remarks at the Celebration of My Father's Life (March 2nd, 2009)

Deuteronomy 11: 19 & 21 – Teaching your children God’s Word.
19 “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and then thou risest up.”
21 “That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.”

Dad had a particular way of teaching, and that was by example. In my view his teaching was very much like the teaching of Jesus. One focus of his teaching was Love. He would counsel that “You Love your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren (people), and you LIKE everything else.” And he taught this by example.

Another focus of his teaching was about thinking. Here he focused on learning and teaching how to think, not what to think. He believed that if you knew how to think, and did, in-fact spend time thinking, you would come to the right conclusion for the situation. He provided us with the opportunity to make choices, and he loved us regardless of the choices we made because he knew they were our choices, and he trusted that we had thought through them.

Another focus of his teaching was honesty, integrity, truthfulness, honest work, and giving. He taught these values, and he was a living example of them. He taught us these values were of upmost importance in everything we do. He taught us that admitting mistakes and taking responsibility for our actions, while sometimes hard to do, was a way of demonstrating these values.

He also taught us about humor, fun, and enjoying life. During this past year, when asked over and over, “When is your birthday?” He once replied “Same day as it was yesterday!” and another time he replied “May 14th” and when further questioned “What year?” he smiled and replied “Every year”.

Dad and Mom taught us, about Love, Thinking, Honesty, Integrity, Truthfulness, Humor, and Life. In this way his days are truly multiplied beyond his years.