Six strategies for creating system change for a sustainable future | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional There is a huge buzz at the moment about system change. The complexity of the sustainability challenges we face means we require a systemic approach if we are to create the change necessary for the future. Traditionally, academic institutions such as the Academy for Systemic Change at MIT have led the field; NGOs like WWF-UK and Forum for the Future are now modifying their strategic approaches, and businesses like Nike and Unilever are also starting to play their part as their markets and supply chains become ever more complex. People and organisations are increasingly wondering how to find an accessible guide. 1. System change begins and ends with people ready to lead themselves and their organisations. 2. By their nature, systems are complex and we are not always sure where or when they might transform. 3. Many of our actions do not feel as if they are helping us get close to solving the huge sustainability challenges we face – issues like climate change. 4. 5. 6.
How to make an infographic online: five essential free tools Given the popularity of infographics, you’d be wise to consider using them to help achieve your content marketing goals. They can be great for social sharing, blog fodder and inbound links. The last time I created an infographic I used – wait for it - Microsoft Excel. Thankfully there are now some far better options, and they're surprisingly easy to use. I have compiled five of online tools that will help you to create infographics. Hold on a moment! Before you begin, consider that many infographics are often – to quote Econsultancy Research Director Linus Gregoriadis – “high on graphics and low on information”. As such it is important to map out your story / message / goals before starting to work on the design itself. There’s a great post on the LEWIS PR blog that explains how to optimise an infographic, based around three key questions, which are: 1. 2. 3. Sound advice, and it's worth remembering that old proverb about "he who fails to plan, plans to fail". Easelly Piktochart Infogram
Jonathan Reams - Writings Here is a collection of things I have written over time. Some are direct links to other sites, and some are to files in the Downloads folder, where there is also some additonal information. Books I have a chapter in The Transforming Leader: New Approaches to Leadership for the Twenty-First Century titled Integral Leadership: Opening Space by Leading through the Heart and published by Berrett-Koehler. Integral Education: New Directions for Higher Learning is published by SUNY press. Igniting Brilliance: Integral Education for the 21st Century is another anthology I have been involved with. Articles A Brief Overview of Developmental Theory, or What I Learned in the FOLA Course is a recent article I did to help ground my learning about developmental theory. Integral Leadership: Generating Space for Emergence through Quality of Presence is an article I co-authored with Anne Caspari in 2012 that came out in the German Journal of Business Psychology. What's Integral About Leadership? Reviews
The 5 Best Free Tools For Making Slick Infographics It's not enough to simply write about data any longer; the world wants visuals. While there are many professional information designers making a name for themselves, such as Nicholas Felton of Feltron.com, the majority of these digital artists are up to their eyeballs in high-paying work. Where does this leave you? Well, if you want to spruce up your documents, blog posts, and presentations, there are some free tools online that can help. Many Eyes This IBM Research tool gives you two choices: an option to browse through existing sets of data, or use your own. Google Public Data Explorer Like IBM, Google has made a public version of one of its research tools. Hohli There are many occasions when a Venn Diagram is the perfect way to describe a concept or compare relationships among a few different things. Wordle Although this tool describes itself as a "toy" for generating word clouds, it can be an effective service to spruce up your work. Visual.ly Watch more Work Smart: [Images by Wordle]
"Tried" Is No Longer Enough After many sleepless nights watching and praying for the situation in Ferguson, I wrote this piece. In too many ways, it over simplifies the situation going on in Ferguson. I had no idea how much worse the situation would get and how it would captivate the national media. And yet (I hope) this piece points to the deeper truth. Each of us is living in working in places where “those in charge” doesn’t match up to “those who are affected”. And that gap between those “in power” and “the powerless” is to me a central source if not the source for so many issues. If there’s one message I’d want you to read, it’s this: see what you can do in your own community. Ferguson is so frustrating on so many levels.. That’s why the piece is entitled, “Tried” is No Longer Enough … Think of the Chief of Police of Ferguson, Missouri not as a failed cop, but as a failed leader. He failed, and his boss just replaced him. We could view this situation through many other lenses. Is change possible?
mmunicating sustainability: the rise of social media and storytelling | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional As the SMI-Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index documents, big bold campaigns still played an important role in 2012 – Sony's Futurescapes, Siemens' Answers and Microsoft's Youthspark stood out. However, an increasing number of companies, including GE, Renault, Ford and this year's index leader, Levi Strauss, put stock in developing a strong editorial voice. We call it a "magazine mentality", enabling an always on and always accessible channel of sustainability communication with investors, employees, media, NGOs and, yes, customers. This magazine mentality was triggered by a simple yet complicated reality: sustainability is no longer only of interest to niche stakeholders. Social media has been the driving force behind this change of audience and community. Indeed, in 2010, when we first published this index, just 60 companies had dedicated social media channels to talk about sustainability. How has social media driven this change in how sustainability is communicated?
Can 'nexus thinking' alleviate global water, food and energy pressures? | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional With the world population growing at a rate of around 80 million people a year, it is estimated that by 2030 the world will need 30% more water, 40% more energy and 50% more food. That's not just to feed, water and power the new arrivals, but also those currently living "off grid" in developing countries as they rise out of poverty. In the past, water, food and energy have too often been dealt with as separate issues. Biofuels are a classic example. Once the great hope for sustainable energy, bio-diesel's insatiable appetite for wheat saw global food prices spike in 2008 and 2011, causing civil unrest. Panicked into action, the international community spoke out at the German government's Bonn 2011 conference and the water-food-energy nexus. What is nexus thinking? The nexus is a recognition that any solution for one problem, for example water, must equally consider the other two in the nexus. China as a case study China is an interesting case study. But these are not strident solutions.
Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action | The Value Web At the Pegasus Systems Thinking in Action Conference this year, a cross-sector community represented by nearly 500 people from each continent gathered to connect, learn, and reflect in regards to the session theme: “Fueling New Cycles of Success.” We all know in our bones what it’s like to find inspiration from leading thinkers. We follow their books, talks, ideas – seeking to absorb their insights into our own, apply their provocations to our best intent and action. But to recently scribe for some of the people who are most influential to my own facilitation practice brought a kind of mental model and process high. This feeling, combined with a series of truly gut-reaching questions, leads me to share highlights here – so the word can spread and take root in as many concerned global citizens as possible. Here are some threads of particular relevance to the whole of our work: Andy Hargreave presented his thinking on The Fourth Way: The Inspiring Future for Educational Change.
"Systems Thinking" Guru Peter Senge on Starbucks, P&G, and the Economic Power of Trash One of the world's top management gurus is spending a lot of time these days thinking about trash. I spoke with author of The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, because of his work with Starbucks on their pledge to provide recycling in all their stores. But it turns out that his interest in the waste stream goes far beyond that. True to his reputation as the major popularizer of "systems thinking," Senge sees the potential for a whole "underground economy" of great wealth that's literally being tossed away under our noses. "Nobody likes to throw stuff away," he told me. On the Starbucks cup: It’s an archetypal problem and I liked it right away. On the Starbucks "Cup Summits": So you have a compostable cup, so what? On recycling and detergent jugs: My friend from the oil company has a great example: look at polypropolene detergent containers. 100% recyclable. On the "underground economy" and the future of trash: I'm really interested in how you create a whole new economy of recycling.
Learning for a Change It's been almost 10 years since Peter Senge, 51, published "The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization" (Doubleday/Currency, 1990). The book was more than a business best-seller; it was a breakthrough. It propelled Senge into the front ranks of management thinkers, it created a language of change that people in all kinds of companies could embrace, and it offered a vision of workplaces that were humane and of companies that were built around learning. But that movement hit a few speed bumps. To learn more about the evolving landscape of organizational learning, Fast Company interviewed Peter Senge in his office on the campus of MIT, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What's your assessment of the performance of large-scale change efforts over the past decade? Most leadership strategies are doomed to failure from the outset. And that's just the public track record. Why haven't there been more successful change efforts? What's the best way to begin creating change?
Telling stories is great for sustainability marketing | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional For more than a hundred years, advertisers have used stories as their primary weapon for persuading people to make decisions about who they are, what they want, and (obviously) what they buy. In Winning the Story Wars, Jonah Sachs' book on how to be heard in an overcrowded marketplace, he points to Listerine's "often a bridesmaid, never a bride" ad in the 1920s as one of the most successful story-led campaigns of the last century. But for Sad Edna, the ad's unlucky heroine, the story is one of inadequacy. Edna's halitosis, and, her lack of awareness of it, means she's doomed not to marry while other, better sanitised friends bag the man and the life they've always dreamed of. Humans have used story power to remember, entertain and persuade since we used rocks as knives. Stories engage our senses; their fuel is emotion and the journey they take us on is measured in feelings. But there is hope. It made me feel empowered. My advice? • Make me feel empowered, not guilty. • Entertain me.
Finding a sustainable model of economic growth fit for the future | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional Sustainability adoption faces numerous barriers: Jim Harris | Strategy | Executive In October, sustainability consultant and former federal Green Party leader Jim Harris presented the business case for sustainability to delegates of the CIMA Canada Conference 2012. Mr. Harris put forward the argument that sustainable business practices weren’t just a matter of ethics, but also tools for cost reduction and profitability, citing several studies and examples that proved his thesis. However, he also noted that few organizations have adopted sustainability practices because the issue simply isn’t on their radar. He recently spoke with the Financial Post’s Dan Ovsey about why he believes this to be true and what he sees as the biggest barriers to sustainability. Q: I get press releases several times a week from companies looking to get publicity for their sustainability initiatives. Q: Have you pointed these numbers out to the cab companies? Q: What do you see as the biggest barriers to greater adoption of sustainability practices among businesses in Canada?
How CEO Mark Parker Runs Nike To Keep Pace With Rapid Change “The last thing we want,” says Nike CEO Mark Parker, “is to be a big dumb company that feels we can put a swoosh on something and people will buy that.” I first met Parker three years ago, at a quiet lunch in New York. He’s a tall man, a former college track star and competitive marathoner. We profiled Parker two years ago, calling him “The World’s Most Creative CEO.” Parker and I had dinner after my first Generation Flux feature, and he encouraged me to continue the thread of coverage. Business At The Speed Of Swoosh “Things are accelerating,” Parker says. This type of climate, he contends, fits into Nike’s longtime culture. “Companies and people look at the pace of change as a challenge, an obstacle, a hurdle,” Parker notes. How To Be Goliath In A David Market I asked Parker if being a big organization was a disadvantage in an era of rapid change. But he acknowledges that size can have complications. “You have to challenge what’s worked,” Parker observes. Top-Down Vs.