Gaia Community: Jeff Klein's Blog

The Essential Role of Marketing in Working for Good

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:11:14 GMT

I just completed this draft of an article at the request of my collaborator in marketing at Sounds True, Shelly Vickroy. Comments and questions welcome!

Working for Good is an orientation towards business and work focused on serving the greater good, contributing to create a better world in some way, with more sustainable, healthy, and fulfilling lives. In my definition of Working for Good the process is the product. That is, the way we conduct ourselves and treat each other and the world around us is as important as what we produce. We can work in a green business, a social service organization, or some other endeavor focused on making the world a better place, but if we treat others and ourselves with disregard or disrespect in the process, we end up creating something far short of our intention. The Working for Good approach cultivates embodied awareness and fosters connected collaboration, deepening our humanity and facilitating shared vision and aligned action to address pressing social and environmental issues, and to realize opportunities to enhance life. Working for Good fosters conscious business.

This is the context for considering the role of marketing in Working for Good, and how marketing can be a conscious act in service to the greater good.

What is Marketing?

Based on the blatant manipulations of mass market advertising, the astounding waste of direct mail and promotional trinkets, and the barrage of messages we receive everyday from marketing channels through all of our senses, many people who want to create a better world, with sustainable peace, prosperity, and happiness for all, think marketing is irrelevant at best, evil at worst.

In the context of Working for Good and conducting a conscious business, marketing serves an appropriate, necessary, and generative function. We can consider marketing as a process of communications focused on cultivating relationships. It is a process of representing who and what you – your company, your brand, your product or service – are: what you stand for, what value you promise to deliver to others, how you will relate to others. Conscious marketing let’s others know you exist and that you have something valuable to offer to them and to the world, and gives them an opportunity to consider engaging with you and your product or service. It doesn’t force them to, but makes the option available to them.

Marketing is like skin: it is the membrane that connects the inner business with the marketplace. To continue the metaphor, marketing is a function that covers and provides a window into the entire spectrum of a business. By representing and communicating what a business stands for and what it sells, marketing calls on everyone within it and every communication emanating from it to be clear, connected, and true to the essence and identity of the company. As a pervasive membrane, marketing serves an integrative function, holding a company together and reflecting its integrity. Just as healthy, radiant skin reflects a healthy person, healthy, radiant messages emanating from a business–through its employees, its communications materials, the way it produces, packages, and delivers its products and services, etc.–reflect a healthy business.

Marketing provides a platform for a business’ stakeholders—investors, customers, new team members, vendors, and others—to assess the integrity of the company. Does it deliver what it promises? Do its practices–such as the way it treats people, the environment, the communities where it conducts business–align with its stated intentions, values, and communications? As a permeable membrane, marketing facilitates two-way communication and exchange, inviting customers and other external stakeholders to inform and influence a company and, in some ways, to co-create it—refining its products and services, deepening its relationship to its stakeholders, and evolving its purpose.

Marketing in the Age of Transparency

Marketing takes on a whole new life in a world with universal access to instantaneous, global mass, communications and in which billions of people have immediate access to nearly infinite information, where secrets are quickly revealed to all. Through the blogsphere and videosphere, one person’s experience with a product, service, or company can become common knowledge overnight. The previously secret art and science of product development is now increasingly done in the open marketplace, engaging outsiders and even customers openly in the process.

ebay has built the web’s premier commerce site based on its reputation system and the transparency of transactions. Similarly, the performance ratings of third party sellers through amazon.com are visible to all.

George Holliday’s videotape of the Rodney King beating in 1991 demonstrated the power of transparency and sparked major riots. The revelations of the Enron, Tyco, Worldcom and other accounting scandals of the early 21st century catalyzed a new era of corporate transparency, enforced in part by the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation of 2002, but more powerfully fueled by growing demand from consumers, investors, and other stakeholders, and from an emerging recognition of the absolute necessity and competitive advantage afforded by voluntary transparency.

Consumers can now more effectively purchase in alignment with their values, as information about products, sourcing, ingredients, etcetera are readily available. And investors can invest in alignment with their values, as various indices track corporate behavior with respect to various social and environmental indicators.

The emerging ubiquity of transparency provides conscious entrepreneurs, who are building conscious businesses, with a competitive advantage. The marketplace increasingly rewards companies with an underlying embodied commitment to transparent, purpose-driven, relationship and collaboration-based business, through greater trust, loyalty, and engagement, as long as the company delivers quality products and services.

“Markets are conversations.”

The wired world has other significant implications for marketing in addition to transparency. As the authors of the 1999 treatise, The Cluetrain Manifesto, observed, “Markets are conversations” not monologues from companies to consumers–enabled by mass media–and the new social media technologies are facilitating global networks of informed and empowered consumers and employees. Companies are no longer the sole or even principal generator of ideas and information relating to their own business. “People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors. So much for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized products. There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.”

Another reflection of the organic stakeholder system is the powerful phenomena known as “crowd sourcing,” which catalyzes the wisdom of groups to inform decisions. In We are Smarter than Me, Barry Liebert and Jon Spector “and thousands of contributors” tell the stories of dozens of businesses – from large corporations like Proctor & Gamble, Eli Lilly, IBM, and Virgin Mobile to smaller companies like Australian brewery Brewtopia – that are designing their products, creating marketing campaigns, delivering customer service and more, by tapping into large groups of people, online, around the world. Crowd sourcing deepens the interconnectedness between stakeholders and illuminates the reality that businesses exist in complex interdependent system of stakeholders.

Principles and Questions for Conscious Marketers

Here are some principles to guide conscious marketers, who operating in the context of marketing as a reflection of who we are and what we do–as a membrane, which fosters integrity and facilitates exchange between our inner and outer environments in a transparent, networked system. These principles are intended to guide our actions to foster deep connection and collaboration, learning and growth for yourself, your business, and your stakeholders.

The process is the product: assess your whole business system through this lens.

Is our product or service fully aligned with purpose, values, and commitments?
How does this communication–its process and content–reflect our purpose, values, and commitments?
Are our internal processes–stakeholder relations, production process, waste management, etc–aligned with our purpose, values, and commitments?
How are we considering the value of and the value we deliver to all of our stakeholders?

Marketing is conversation: in those actions that are specifically outward facing and intended to communicate about your company, brand, product or service, ask yourself:

Are our communications honest, open, and engaging, rather than manipulative?
Are we inviting our stakeholders into a conversation through the content, tone, and channels of our communications?
Are we willing to really listen to them and learn from them? And do they believe us?

Interdependence Facilitates Co-Creation: if we recognize the essential interdependence of life on earth and how this is reflected in what we do through our businesses, and if our deepest purpose is to participate in the evolution of life on earth and to contribute to creating sustainable peace, prosperity, and happiness for all, then…

How does the principle of interdependence inform our thinking and decisions?
Are we developing or employing systems, processes, and channels that facilitate collaboration and co-creation?
Do we cultivate an internal culture of collaboration, and does this culture of collaboration extend outwards to our external stakeholders, somewhat blurring the distinction between internal and external?

By employing the insights and skills of Working for Good, conscious marketing can become an art form for cultivating awareness, connection, collaboration, and co-creation in business. And it can become a tool for building a healthy, sustainable business, with deeply engaged stakeholders.

Tags: Cluetrain Manifesto, Collaboration, conscious business, conscious marketing, Principles, sounds true, We are Smarter Than Me, Working for Good

Creativity

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:10:55 GMT

I love creativity - seeing things differently, finding new ways to do old things, discovering new ideas or new approaches to challenges and opportunities. Creativity is one of the hallmarks of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, and one of the great benefits of engaging in the process of Working for Good - cultivating embodied awareness, engaging in dialogue and collaboration, and fostering integration – as it unquestionably contributes to creativity. My colleague Julie van Amerongen has further reflections on the principle of Creativity below, which you will also find in the 26 Principles of Working for Good eBook at workingforgood.com.

I may jump to the end of the alphabet (we've been working our way from A to Z - with Monday's posts) next Monday with the Principle of Vulnerability, which I keep challenging myself to write - as I am marveling at the power of vulnerability.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

“Creativity is the sudden cessation of stupidity.” ~ Edwin Land

Creativity in the work environment is all about finding the sweet spot in the middle of your right brain’s wild impulses and the left brain’s practicality. From time to time, some of us need a little nudge to get out of the cube and move over to the right side. Here are some ideas you might want to try to stimulate your creativity:

Drive a different route to work tomorrow, or better yet, bike or walk a different way.
Collaborate and brainstorm – Fastest way to get unstuck and come up with loads of brilliant ideas (and some wonky ones too!).
Go for a walk. Moving stimulates our mind. For that matter, stretch, hula hoop, dance… just get moving.
Combine the above and go for a brainstorming walk!
You don’t have a problem, just a solution waiting to happen. Meditate on it.
Solicit advice. How would your hero solve the problem? A child? Someone already Working for Good?
Start work really early. Or really, really late.
Use color. How come we all write or type in black or blue? Boring! And while you’re at it, doodle throughout.
Stay awake! Combine your rational thought with your creative explorations and watch the magic unfold.

“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” ~ Alan Alda

LINKS
Want More? Ten Ways to Get Creative at Work
The Corporate Mystic: A Guidebook For Visionaries With Their Feet on the Ground by Gay Hendricks
Creativity in Business by Michael Ray

Tags: awareness, Collaboration, conscious business, conscious entrepreneurship, creativity, Working for Good

Women Weaving Worlds

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:24:36 GMT

Last night I had the great fortune to attend a benefit gala for the Women's Earth Alliance - an incredible organization that (in their word) "unites women on the front lines of environmental causes coordinating resources, training & networks to support thriving women, communities and earth."

The theme of the event - Women Weaving Worlds - could not have been more appropriate as WEA is a true alliance - born as and out of a network of collaboration and embodied through a collaborative network. And their rapid and substantial growth reflects the network effect. Just as WEA is a living embodiment of the spirit of interdependent connectedness, the event was like moving through a warm, rich tapestry of music, food, drink, beauty, conversation, and the radiant energy of purpose, passion, and action. As you may detect, it was highly inspiring, as were the people who attended.

The metaphor of Women Weaving Worlds is one I am coming to understand and deeply appreciate as I spend more time working with women on "women's issues." In late April, I had my first meeting with both Amira and Melinda (I had briefly met Melinda before), with three other women. Our meeting was a long hike to and from the beach, punctuated by a "meeting" on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

This weekend I head to Austin for Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) meetings with FLOW colleagues, Nitsan Gordon of Beyond Words-Women in the Center in Israel, Joyce and Ken Beck of the Crossings, and others, for a couple days of "women Weaving Worlds." And the following week I travel to Vancouver at the invitation of Laura Mack of the International Leadership Association, Women of Worth, and more, who - in collaboration with other women who support women - is convening a progression of meetings to explore collaboration in the context of AWE, that reflects this same spirit of Women Weaving Worlds.

I must say I am delighted to be invited into these tapestries and find great inspiration and joy working with powerful, purposeful women. I am also delighted that my 10-year-old daughter Meryl Fé will be accompanying me on the trips to Austin and Vancouver and, while she will be occupied with play mates her age, I trust she will feel the power of the fabric and will learn much from the experiences and this is a very good thing!

Here's to women weaving worlds. May we all join in the process and create a beautiful, sustainable, and gigantic web.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

www.workingforgood.com

Tags: Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs, Beyond Words, conscious entrepreneurship, Laura Mack, Social entrepreneurship, The Crossings, Women's Earth Alliance, women's empowerment, Working for Good

Courage

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:24:34 GMT

Without question, courage is essential to the work of entrepreneurs and change agents, and anyone Working for Good. The journey to creating something new and changing something old is not easy and continually calls for courage to face the unknown, the uncertain, the never-been-done before, the "how the heck are we going to make it through this passage" passages.

Here are some more reflections on Courage by my friend, colleague, and collaborator, Elad Levinson. And remember, it takes courage to ask for help!

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff
www.workingforgood.com

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” ~ Winston Churchill

Courage comes from the French word coeur, which means the heart. To have courage means to have heart.

What is the relationship between having heart and Working for Good? Without heart, work becomes meaningless. Heart infuses the act of working with life-blood, which animates and infuses us with vitality and intent. With heart, anything can become a heroic journey; without heart it is just going through the motions.

When does heart show up as a principle? Everywhere in the process of conceiving, connecting and collaborating to produce the big idea that is behind the product or service you want to bring to life.

It takes heart to motivate us to do good – heart is what initiates us wanting to solve an environmental or social problem and to make a difference through our work.
Courage – the strength of our heart – binds us to the task when the going gets rough and connects us with others with whom we share the journey.
Courage is required to have the difficult conversations and to engage in authentic dialogue.
Courage supplies the fuel for sustaining our effort when we are tired and dispirited. And courage is contagious. The heart-based power of others – can lift our heart and make us recall once again why are doing what we are doing.

Courage is the fuel for persistence and catalyst for decisiveness.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

LINKS:
Lovetta Conto and Akawelle: life emerging out of war.

Tags: akawelle, Authentic leadership, conscious business, conscious entrepreneurship, courage, Elad Levinson, lovetta conto, Principles, Social entrepreneurship, Working for Good

Conceptualizing Conscious Capitalism

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sun, 31 May 2009 05:28:42 GMT

I spent the past two days (May 28 – 29) at Bentley University outside of Boston attending the first Conceptualizing Conscious Capitalism conference, which is intended to be a precursor to the Conscious Capitalism Institute. The event, produced by Professors Raj Sisodia of Bentley (co-author of Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion & Purpose) and Ed Freeman of University of Virginia (“author” of the stakeholder model of business management), with Shubrho Sen, serial entrepreneur, outsourcing pioneer, and visiting professor of marketing at Bentley. In addition to providing an enlightening survey of work being done in diverse academic disciplines at universities throughout the country and around the world, the event convened an inspiring and energized group of academics and others dedicated to transforming business and business education, and making meaningful progress towards these ends.

Among the highlights were inspiring presentations by pioneers in the practice of Conscious Business Roy Spence, Chairman and CEO of GSD&M IdeaCity and co-author of It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For, and John Mackey, Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods Market, author of the new audiobook, Passion & Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism, and co-founder of Conscious Capitalism, Inc (aka FLOW), and a conversation between John and Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline (among other books) and founder of the Society for Organizational Learning.

In addition to exploring the implications of applying consciousness to business in general, marketing, leadership, and other aspects of business in particular, Raj began the conference be setting outlining the frame of Conscious Business, which John powerfully articulated in his presentation. The core principles of Conscious Business are:

Purpose: Finding and focusing on the higher purpose of the business.
Stakeholder Orientation: focusing on the health of the overall system, rather than singularly on the return on shareholder investment.
Servant Leadership: through which the management plays a role of steward to the company’s deeper purpose and stakeholders, focusing on fostering a harmony of interests.

You can watch a brief video of John talking about Conscious Business on the Sounds True web site and you can order Passion and Purpose from the FLOW website, where you can also order Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems, by FLOW co-founder Michael Strong, which also features a chapter by John on Conscious Capitalism.

Earlier this month, Conscious Capitalism, Inc. launched the Conscious Business™ Alliance and began design and development for the 2009 Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism event in October in Austin. Both the CBA and CCC event are by invitation, so please let me know if you are interested.

I am honored to serve as Executive Director of Conscious Capitalism, Inc and on the Governing Circle of the Conscious Business Alliance. In both capacities, I encounter people everyday who are applying the principles of Conscious Business, studying, and promoting their positive impact, to cultivate and advance new ways of thinking about and practice “the art of business.” While we certainly have a long way to go before this new approach is predominant, the journey of a thousand miles is definitely well under way.

Here's to the movement!

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

www.workingforgood.com

Tags: conscious business, conscious capitalism, John Mackey, Michael Strong, Peter Senge, Raj Sisodia, Shubrho Sen, Whole Foods Market, Working for Good

Commitment

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 02:18:59 GMT

My favorite commitment quotation is Goethe's, which goes like this :"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.

What ever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!"

Commitment is a powerful force, that moves or, perhaps, aligns with providence . Below are some reflections on Commitment from my friend and collaborator Julie van Amerongen, followed by some more by me.

May the force (of commitment) be with you!

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

“If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?” ~ Harvey Fierstein

Most of us are committed to something that requires mutual commitment from others – relationships, an organization, our Monday night poker game… But commitment in terms of Working for Good is a commitment first and foremost to yourself, to your values, principles, and personal growth. It requires clarity, consistency, and persistence, and is, in its very nature, active, hard work.

Once you are clear about what you want to commit to, commitment can be profoundly liberating. It frees up your energy to focus on your work and sometimes it seems as if things start lining up to support you in your action toward your goal/s. Commitment catalyzes action a whole lot faster than hoping, wishing, dreaming, or praying.

Do your commitments line up with where you want to go? If not, better get committed to making some commitments!

“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

Jeff: Keeping commitments is one of the most powerful building blocks of integrity—the ability to congruently hold together, the way a tree holds together with its roots seamlessly connected to its trunk, which seamlessly connects to its branches and out to its leaves. If our intention aligns with our expression, which aligns with our actions, we cultivate integrity—and others recognize us for it. Keeping our word to ourselves is the initial step in keeping our commitments. Keeping our word to others ensues from there. Holding each other accountable for our commitments is a great service we provide to one another. A short list of core commitments for Working for Good might include: continually cultivate awareness, stay on purpose, act according to principles, and support one another in doing all three of these.

LINKS

Commitment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDnPeZoaVno

Tags: Commitment, Goethe, Working for Good

No Lost Cause

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:54:16 GMT

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Thursday night my daughter Meryl Fé and I watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It had been decades since I watched this Frank Capra classic with Jimmy Stewart. Sometimes we all feel like Jefferson Smith, facing the seemingly insurmountable sustained by our sense of purpose, principles, and passion, and will power. As he says towards the end “… and you know you fight for the lost causes even harder than for any others. You even die for them.”

At his commencement address this week at University of Portland Paul Hawken observed… “When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world.”

My experience is very much like Paul’s; everyday I meet, hear about, and communicate with countless people who are working for the lost causes and, by virtue of their work, the causes are far from lost. I recall an article I read in the CoEvolutionary Quarterly in the early 80s by Paul, in which he calls human creativity the most powerful anti-entropy agent in the universe. We can create order, beauty, reason, peace, where there is chaos, decay, and irrational violence, by the purposeful engagement of our hearts, minds, and bodies – envisioning a new reality and a path to manifesting it, bringing our intention into action, to pursue the path, and creatively evolving our generative process to reflect new information and circumstances. This is what we evoke with Working for Good.

And like Jefferson Smith, as much as we emphasize the object of our attention, we focus on the process by which we engage in our pursuit. There’s only one rule, he proclaims to the congregation of Senators and bystanders “love thy neighbor….”

How we pursue our causes is as, if not more, important that what we pursue. The process is the product!

Wishing all a happy Memorial Day weekend; ideally filled with time with loved ones, and time for yourself–to rest, reflect, and rejuvenate.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

Tags: entrepreneurship, Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewat, Paul Hawken, Social entrepreneurship, Working for Good

Collaboration

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:34:04 GMT

It is highly appropriate that this posting is principally written by my friend, colleague, and collaborator Elad Levinson. If it weren't for Elad, I doubt I would have written Working for Good: Making a Difference, While Making a Living last year. Elad's insights, support, guidance, and encouragement brought out the best in me. And working with Elad and Julie (van Amerongen) made the process of writing the book an integrated one for me, as one of the essential elements and skills of Working for Good is collaboration.

Designing and facilitating the first Working for Good workshop (May 2nd in Mill Valley, CA) as with our previous collaborations on events and meetings, was a rich a enriching experience, deepening my understanding and practice of Working for Good. Without further ado... here is Elad on Collaboration.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” ~ Charles Darwin

Once upon a time it was thought in the world of business and all things results-oriented that the way you got to your desired outcome was through hard work and will power. Or just simply power – the ability to impose your desires on others by force, skill, or guile.

Over the past twenty years that fantasy has been deflated by examples that demonstrate both the limits of power over and the limits of individual contributions to success of any endeavor. Today it is widely accepted that collaboration is the principle means by which good things come to fruition.

True collaboration is the process of co-creation, tapping into the knowledge, wisdom, experience, and skill of all of the participants to create a group mind – smarter and more capable than any individual. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

In collaboration, groups of people find the best ways to solve problems and to cause results via a robust process of dialogue and synthesis that leads to new insights and innovations. Dialogue is not debate – it is not the “I can prove that I am right to you by the force of my logic, will or loudness of voice.” Rather, dialogue is thoughtful assertion and careful listening with curiosity inspired by a sincere willingness to learn and synthesize with others’ conceptions.

The content of collaboration can be anything that we are out to explore or create together. The keys to collaboration are the factors of human performance, including communications, commitment, trust, and performance.

Collaboration begins with a sincere desire to establish a consensual understanding of the issue (i.e. goal, objective, or problem) to work upon together, the definition of success, an agreement on process, and a commitment to work together. Collaboration is fulfilled by following through to produce the results the group agrees upon, through the process defined.

Collaboration is at the heart of all new product and service innovations and for that reason it is imperative that collaboration be treated as a skill set that is learn-able and worthwhile taking the time to develop.

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” ~ Edith Wharton

LINKS

Interaction Associates

David Straus’s excellent book How to Make Collaboration Work: Powerful Ways to Build Consensus, Solve Problems, and Make Decisions

Tags: Authentic leadership, awareness, Collaboration, conscious business, Elad Levinson, Principles, Working for Good

Peace Through Commerce®

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:20:56 GMT

In the context of my work with FLOW and my collaboration with FLOW co-founder Michael Strong (author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems), for the past three years I have been deeply engaged in advancing the idea of Peace Through Commerce.

This coming week I will be moderating the last week of a two-month long Peace Through Commerce eConference at BusinessFightsPoverty.org, the focus of which will be “Where do we go from here?”

Among FLOW’s responses to the question of where do we go from here? Are: to catalyze a Peace Through Commerce Alliance, focused on facilitating collaboration on-the-ground in various places around the world to cultivate Peace Through Commerce projects and systems and on spreading the word about the importance of Peace Through Commerce to advancing peace and prosperity. In collaboration with PTC Allies, FLOW will be co-producing the next Peace Through Commerce conference early next year at Thunderbird School of Global management.

The idea that economic opportunity leads to peace is long-understood on some level, as people who trade together tend to build relationships and dependencies that preclude conflict, and when people have basic needs addressed, opportunity to enhance their conditions, and hope for the future, they tend to be more peaceful that belligerent. Various indices validate this understanding, including the Fraser Index of Economic Freedom, the World Bank’s Doing Business Project, among others. This week my friend Haley Rushing (Chief Purposologist of the Purpose Institute and co-author of It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For) introduced me to the Gallup Organization’s World Poll and Global Migration Report, which strongly reinforce the idea that economic opportunity is the key to peace. “What the whole world wants is a good job. That is one of the single biggest discoveries Gallup has ever made.”

While, clearly, people need to have their basic needs met and have to be and feel safe and secure, to venture into enterprise development and trade, having meaningful work and feeling a sense of opportunity are key to establishing an orientation towards peace.

Please join the Peace Through Commerce eConference next week, and consider how you can support the Peace Through Commerce movement.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

Tags: conscious business, entrepreneurship, Gallup Organization, Inspiris, Michael Strong, Peace Through Commerce, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Working for Good, World Bank

Authenticity

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sun, 10 May 2009 21:55:08 GMT

This posting, written by my colleague and collaborator Julie van Amerongen, celebrates Authenticity as a core principle of Working for Good.

Authenticity is certainly worth cultivating. Like happiness, profits, and other such things, it tends to be the result of focusing on other things, rather than something you can accomplish by focusing on it directly. And, ultimately, others will be the judge of whether or not we are authentic.

Yours in Working for Good,,

Jeff

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Can you sense when you are truly being authentic in your work? For me, it’s when I’m really connected with my passion and working actively in that direction. I feel confident and energetic, focused, creative, light and productive. I am honoring my inner world, while expressing myself in my outer work world.

Applying the Working for Good skill of Awareness, we can tune into our passion and purpose, and what our unique offerings really are. And, when we carry our purpose through Embodiment to Integration we activate the power of being evermore deeply authentic and witness the results, such as taking better care of yourself, more connection with your office team, or experiencing more success overall. It just feels right.

Before attending the Working for Good workshop, participants are asked to take the Keirsey Temperament Sorter - a personality questionnaire designed to help people understand themselves better. Inquiring into our deep-routed behavioral patterns and understanding our tendencies, supports us to align with and express our strengths, address our weaknesses, and be more authentic. When we can see ourselves, we are more likely to be ourselves.

“That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.” ~ Meredith Monk

LINKS

Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, by Bill George

Keirsey Temperament Sorter

Tags: Authentic leadership, authenticity, awareness, Bill George, keirsey

May Flowers

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:42:55 GMT

As I reflect on the first week of May 2009, the idea blooming come to mind. As Walter Robb (President & COO of Whole Foods Market) commented to a group of friends tonight, with good soil, you get strong plants, which produce good fruit, and it takes years to build good soil.

It seems like the many years of soil building is bearing fruit on many trees right now. All three of the FLOW programs are experience growth spurts. Planning for the 2009 Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism event are well under way and the related Conscious Business Alliance is forming quickly. A great group of allies is coming together (including Intellicap, Inspiris, the Global Peace Index, and a Multi-agency Task Force on Security, among others) to plan and produce the next Peace Through Commerce conference at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona early next year. And women entrepreneurs in the Middle East, Africa, and South America, and others who support them are converging to bring AWE (Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs) to life.

My colleague Michael Strong, co-founder of FLOW and author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s Problems, was interviewed on the Freakonomics blog this week, stimulating lively conversations. And I see John Mackey’s 2-CD set Passion & Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism at all of the local Whole Foods Markets.

Michael just sent me a link to our friend Chris White’s CSR for CEOs blog, with great information about poverty alleviation and peace-building through commerce, economic development, and conscious globaization.

On a personal note, I am deeply appreciative for the endorsements I received for my book, Working for Good, and am encouraged by the response. In addition to the glowing endorsements i received from John Mackey, Patricia Aburdene, Brian Johnson, Michael Strong, and others, I received this reflection yesterday in a note from Anna Madrona, a writer who works with John at WFM: I am impressed with the practicality of your book. Many business books err on the side of theory and grand statement. You have a graceful, lyrical style, as well. Nice work!

We continue to get great feedback on last weekend’s workshop. Most meaningful are the comments of various participants who reflect that as time goes on, the effect increases, rather than decreases. This is certainly inspiration to do it again, soon!

I look forward to the unfolding of May and the flowers that will reveal themselves as it proceeds. May you witness many beautiful blossoms, literally and figuratively.

Tags: conscious business, Global Peace Index, Inspiris, Intellicap, John Mackey, Michael Strong, Peace Through Commerce, Social entrepreneurship, Whole Foods Market

Audacity

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:22:18 GMT

Audacity is essential to entrepreneurs, artists, inventors, and other creators and innovators. This posting, written by my colleague and collaborator Julie van Amerongen, celebrates Audacity.

Jeff

Think Different

“Success is the child of audacity.” ~Benjamin Disraeli

I hope that whoever writes my eulogy will include the word audacious. Audacious! It makes me want to throw my head back and laugh. However you want to define it, it’s juicy! Full of fearless daring, willing to take risks, adventuresomeness, intrepidity, heedless of restraints, marked by originality and verve, vitality, vim, vigor, dash, spirit, life, animation, get-up-and go… Audacious people know who they are and they act “as if…,” creating a persona that is matched with action. I certainly aspire to be more audacious more of the time. Don’t you?!

I’ll readily admit that I can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie with activities like jumping from bridges, cliffs and planes, running marathons or backpacking in remote locations. To me though, those things fall under a narrow piece of the audacious umbrella. What’s really audacious is taking risks every day. Audacious people are marked by their motivation and confidence, making bold moves and letting their original and creative selves shine. They are firmly on the road to where they want to go.

Some lessons on embodying audaciousness:

Think of someone who has inspired you and say to yourself, if they can do it, then so can I. My friend Chelsea says she thinks of me when she runs on her treadmill. I think of Greg Mortensen from the Three Cups of Tea story in my work. There are so many more!
Think about something that makes you feel confident every day. It will help loosen the stranglehold that fear has on your audacious impulses.
Laugh more. Find some jokes online or go to a comedy show. I’m not actually sure this will make you more audacious, but I think audaciousness is about claiming what is authentically you. Laughter triggers my intuitive joy so it must be good for building the audacity muscle.

“I look forward to growing old and wise and audacious.” ~ Glenda Jackson

LINKS:

Barack Obama’s #1 best selling book: Audacity of Hope

Greg Mortensen’s audacious adventure: Three Cups of Tea

Audacious Film about Audacious Gathering.

Jeff: In their best-selling business book Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras identify one of the keys to great companies is that of having a “big, hairy, audacious goal.” While having such a goal does not ensure success, it does set the stage and open the possibility for making a profound difference.

Tags: audacity, conscious business, entrepreneurship, Principles, Social entrepreneurship, Working for Good

Container

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:22:33 GMT

Today my colleague and collaborator Elad Levinson of Noble Purpose Consulting and I facilitated the first Working for Good workshop, which we co-designed over the past few months. It was quite an experience.

Thanks to all who participated. I am heartened by the participants' presence deep engagement, and their open appreciation for the experience. I am especially encouraged by the positive response from all involved to the "container" for inquiry and exploration we created. Like the book, Working for Good (Sounds True, September 2009), we focus on creating the conditions and providing structure that foster awareness, embodiment, connection, collaboration, and integration, rather than a simple formula.

Based on the response to the workshop and the early response to the book, it feels like many people are open to the inner exploration and dialogue that facilitate true Working for Good. And it feels like creating containers that support this exploration and dialogue is a valuable and viable service.

Elad and I will announce the next Working for Good workshop soon, and we look forward to collaborating with Ted Robb (of InHouse Creative Studios) and others to develop a more richly textured, multi-media Working for Good experience.

Stay tuned, and be well,

Jeff

Tags: conscious business, conscious capitalism, entrepreneurship, Social entrepreneurship, Working for Good

Working for Good Principle: Arriving

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:07:08 GMT

“We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.” ~ T.S. Eliot

Today is my 51st birthday, another pause for reflection. One way of looking at it, is as the first day of the second half of my life. Pretty encouraging! This feels like a good opportunity to reflect on the principle of Arriving.

I vividly remember one day when my daughter Meryl Fé was 8. As was often the case, I was in somewhat of a hurry, and needed to get her moving, out of the house, to the car, and on the road. The more anxious I was about leaving, the slower she moved. The more I beseeched her, the more belligerent she became. Until she finally said something to the effect of, “Dad, if you want me to move, then connect with me first. Don’t just try to pull me along.” Needless to say, that was like having a bucket of ice cold water dumped on my head. I immediately stopped, took a breath, got down onto my knees so I could be eye to eye with her, apologized, then told her how I was feeling, and that we needed to get going for very specific reasons. I then asked her if she understood and if she had any questions, thoughts, or feelings. She responded that she didn’t, and said, “let’s go!” which we did, with ease, joy, and great flow.

To go somewhere, you’ve got to start from somewhere. The place we start from is always the same. Right here. And the time of our departure is always the same. Right now. We can only start from right here, right now. And while we may be able to fool ourselves that we can begin without arriving here and now first, as my experience with Meryl Fé illustrates, this illusion is easily shattered when we try to do so with others.

Connecting with our breath, our bodies, other people; welcoming, greeting, acknowledging; clearly articulating our intentions, objectives, and agendas can support us to arrive to right here and right now, and prepare the ground for moving with flow.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” ~ Lao Tzu

Wishing you a rich and rewarding journey!

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

www.workingforgood.com

Tags: working for good, principles, conscious entrepreneurship, conscious business, conscious capitalism

Humanity at Work

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:59:15 GMT

One of my principal interests and intentions relates to the issue of how we can cultivate and express our humanity in and though our work. By humanity, I refer to the essential human attributes of love, compassion, forgiveness, empathy, and other qualities that foster flow, connection, and generative energy.

Typically, these attributes are not a principle focus of attention in the context of business and work, but they seem to be increasingly relevant and recognized as essential to the success of our businesses, the well-being of our society, and the sustainability of our ecosystem.

Through my work as Executive Director of FLOW, I am fortunate to encounter “conscious entrepreneurs” every day who are bringing humanity into the workplace and into the DNA of their organizations. This week I learned about Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes, which has donated over 115,000 shoes to children in need around the world through buy-one-give-one-away model. For every pair of shoes he sells, he gives one away. Building a profitable company, while providing a broader service to society, and, in his words proving that “entrepreneurs can focus on being ambassadors of humanity.”

Last weekend I was honored to be a Change Agent in Residence at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute on Bainbridge Island, WA. I was deeply impressed by the well-rounded and rigorous curriculum, the intellectual rigor and emotional intelligence of the staff and students, depth of passion and purpose, and the palpable embodiment and expression of humanity that permeated the community and its culture.

I just returned from a walking meeting with Melinda Kramer and Amira Diamond from the Women’s Earth Alliance, a non-profit that provides capacity-building technical and entrepreneurial training to women in developing communities. While expressing humanity is something we expect non-profits to do, what was exciting for me to find, and which is something I am finding more and more of, is their grounded and balanced humanity, which emanates from a place of wholeness and idealism, rather than scarcity and fear. They understand the essential need for self-care, and for acting in ways that a congruent with their mission.

And this recognition and expression of humanity is not simply the domain of start-up entrepreneurs, sustainable MBA programs, and social entrepreneurs, but is beginning to blossom in substantial companies, even during this time of economic adversity. Companies like Whole Foods Market, REI, the Container Store, and others sustain their commitment to a higher purpose, their recognition of and full engagement of their interdependent stakeholders, and lead from a place of service, rather than greed.

While this is not an easy time for any of us, I think that the extent to which we can reside in our humanity, and conduct ourselves in business and our work from our humanity, we can establish a new, more sustainable fabric for our economy and for the lives that it sustains.

For those of you in the SF Bay area, please join Elad Levinson and me, and the 20 or so people who will be participating in the first Working for Good workshop in Mill Valley on Saturday May 2nd. You can find more details here.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, and encouraging you to feed your humanity.

Yours in Working for Good,

Jeff

Tags: TOMS Shoes, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Women's Earth Alliance, Conscious Capitalism, Whole Foods Market, REI, Container Store, Working for Good

Stating My Intention

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:40:31 GMT

While life is a magical and mysterious journey, with more questions than answers, I do find ground for my being, and purpose and passion to fuel my doing, in timeless principles, time-tested practices, and in the process of co-creation and collaboration with others.

My intention with this blog is to share experiences and insights into the process of Working for Good. Specifically, I intend to post principles of Working for Good every Monday and to post reflections on the week every weekend. I share these experiences and insights, and those of Elad Levinson and Julie van Amerongen, my colleagues in Working for Good, to stimulate your thinking, support your actions, catalyze conversations that can deepen our understanding, and, ideally, establish new relationships and collaborations.

I will soon publish a free eBook with a collection of Principles of Working for Good and will similarly publish free audio streams of exercises to cultivate the skills of Working for Good, which come from my book, Working for Good: Making a Difference, While Making a Living (Sounds True, September 2009).

I look forward to sharing this conversation with you and to supporting each other in our journey in Working for Good.

Namaste,

Jeff

Tags: Work & Life, Principles, Social entrepreneurship, conscious capitalism

Reflections on June - Spring

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:30:58 GMT

I don't know about you, but June was like a catapult for me. A real Spring, into Summer. I suppose it is the times in general, and a certain time for me and others I am around, but the movement is unquestionably accelerating, which is evoking various responses for me, including:

Finding ways to reduce friction and to let things flow, which include
relying on trust built over time and encouraging people to take more responsibility for making decisions
engaging more allies, collaborators, and partners to share creation and production
moving through conflicts faster and smoother (by not holding onto positions and fostering a context for communication)
Slowing down while speeding up... meditating, walking, and taking breaks during the day to pause, breath, and reflect

Overall, it all seems to be working, but I must admit, I still find myself banging into things (like door jams) a little more than normal.

Here are a few other reflections...

Working for Good

I've conducted a handful of interviews with friends and colleagues who are working for good, including Anne Marie Burgoyne (Portfolio Director for the Draper Richards Foundation), Elad Levinson (Pounds for Poverty, and with whom I am designing a W4G workshop - great fun!), Magatte Wade-Marchand (Adina for Life and Diama Foundation), Cheryl Fields Tyler (Fields Tyler Consulting), and Yasuhiko Genku Kimura (Vision in Action). What a blessing and a gift. So much passion, wisdom, intention, and commitment. Working for Good is definitely alive and well.
Among the many questions I asked each of them, I pose a couple to you here now, and welcome your response:
- What does "working for good" evoke for you?
- How do you define success?

Peace Through Commerce

Michael Strong and I had an amazing meeting Wednesday with Evan Anderson, Deputy Director, International Reconciliation and Peacemaking, at the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation at the National Cathedral. Among other things, Evan is working deeply on a project to foster reconciliation between the US and Iran. He contacted me after I presented at the National Cathedral during the Women, Faith, and Development Breakthrough Summit, and is fascinated and excited by the idea of peace through commerce and sees the critical role it plays in establishing a foundation for dialog and other communication and relationship building processes to work. We have actively begun exploring ways to work together to engage the faith community in Peace Through Commerce initiatives.
Thursday we convened with our collaborator Tim Fort, Executive Director of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at GWU and a leading academic authority on the relationship between peace and commerce, and representatives of other organizations which will be collaborating to present a PTC conference 13 - 15 November at GWU, and to explore a deeper and ongoing alliance, which we have been cultivating and designing. Incredible meeting and great energy moving forward.
Will soon have a PTC promotional video to share with you, produced by Free to Choose Media on behalf of FLOW.

Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs

Michael Strong, Julie van Amerongen and I met with Cheryl Fields Tyler and four others from her team (including Diana Arsenian) last Monday to catalyze a deeper collaboration between us all to "build out" and activate the plan for the AWE campaign. Lots of great energy, focus, and strong intention.
Monday I convened an AWE meeting in NYC, which was great. Among other things, it deepened our connection to the group producing the Women's World Conference in Sophia Bulgaria in 2010. There will be an ongoing collaboration between our AWE alliance and the SWWC.
In addition to institutional partners, we are beginning to engage individual "talent" as part of the AWE Alliance, beginning with dynamic women entrepreneurs and brilliant women development economists.

Conscious Capitalism

I have to admit, this is a lively one. Facilitating collaboration and an alliance here is multi-dimensional, beyond anything I've encountered before, but the ball is definitely rolling. I am about to sign up 5 or 6 companies to serve as initial collaborators, in connection with the fall CC "event." Specifics to follow, but suffice it to say that these are incredible organizations.
By engaging these companies, we have booked nearly half of the spaces for participants at the event, so please understand if I cannot invite you this round. I suspect we will convene a much larger event next year, while still designing for collaboration, engagement, and an intimate experience.

Collaboration Technology

Elad invited me to work with him to design and facilitate a session during a SF Bay Area YPO conference (Elad will be on his honeymoon, so I will get to facilitate without his noble support). The focus of the event is How Social Networking and Collaboration Technology is changing business. This opportunity, as well as the process of designing the CC and other events, and exploring new tools to build the FLOW and other websites, is exposing me to a panoply of new tools, and to explorations of the relationship between tools and consciousness, and behavior. A couple I like are www.openteams.com and www.mindjet.com.
These technology tools also raise questions about collaboration practices and culture, and how the tools embody and facilitate practices and cultivate a collaboration culture. I welcome any insights or information you have on this issue and any tools you recommend.

That's all for now....

"Work is love made visible." ~Khalil Gibran

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and beheld that service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore

Tags: working for good, peace through commerce, conscious capitalism, flow

Reflections on May - Movement

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:47:17 GMT

May was quite delightful and, in spite of its 5 weeks, fast! be fore I look back, here's a quick look ahead.

Coming up...

If you will be in Austin this coming Thursday, June 12th, don't miss "A Conversation on Conscious Capitalism with John Mackey," which I am producing at St. David's Episcopal Church, downtown. Sounds True will be recording the event for release on a multi-CD set next year, and we will be video taping the event too.

And if you want more good content, in a somewhat less ideal location, John, Michael Strong, and I will be at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, July 10 - 12. John will be participating in several panels and debates, and Michael and I will be presenting Friday morning (the 11th) on FLOW's Peace Through Commerce and Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs programs.

Working for Good

The biggest news for me right now, which bridges both May and June and beyond... I have a greed to publish my first book, entitled Working for Good, with Sounds True. I began working on Working for Good in the context of my work with Peace Cereal, three years ago, and engaged FLOW to create a curriculum for the initial W4G program, which I produced in collaboration with the Global Nomad Group, Zaadz.com (now gaia.com), and others. The book reflects my experience and insights into, well, working for good, as well as those of others, and will support others in their quest to successfully engage in working for good. I will be delivering the manuscript at the end of the year and we are targeting September 2009 for publication.

The book and related publishing deal is catalyzing a whole array of activity related to W4G. Among other things, my friend and colleague Elad Levinson and i are designing a W4G workshop, which we will begin delivering later this year. More to come...

On the Home Front

Those of you who know me well, know that my number one "project" is that of being "dad" to Meryl Fé. May was a big month for us in many ways. Among other things, after a year and a half of living together full time (as I had been granted temporary sole custody), Meryl Fé's mom has left and temporary has essentially become permanent. The liberation (from anxiety of not knowing) this has lifted from Meryl Fé is profound. I nearly have to tie her down to keep her from flying off (in a good way).

FLOW

After 2 1/2 years of building the channels, so to speak, FLOW is flowing without a lot of heavy lifting. Now the challenge is to keep up with the accelerating flow! Without going into full detail, here are some highlights:

Wiley & Sons wants to publish the first FLOW book (and a series of FLOW books). This is a very good thing.

The FLOW programs are rolling. Since the beginning of my tenure as ED and Chief Activation Officer, I have been applying the Cause Alliance Marketing model to the FLOW programs, and refining the model in the process. The alliances and programs are kicking in:

Peace Through Commerce®: We are catalyzing a deep partnership with the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at george Washington University, and will be co-producing a PTC conference there this November. We've just completed (after a few minor edits) a promotional video and finishing up a treatment for a full length documentary. We also have a curriculum and game in the works. FLOW has just engaged our friend and colleague Chris White of 3G to work with us to cultivate and engage corporate partners for the conference and program overall.

Conscious Capitalism®: As mentioned above, next Thursday John Mackey will present a public talk and engage in conversation with Tami Simon, founder of Sounds True. On November 7 - 9, FLOW is convening a CC conference (by invitation only) at The Crossings in Austin. Ron Pompei of Pompei A.D. is serving as Creative Director for the conference. Working with him and seeing his work is great fun and inspiring.

Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs®: This program is great fun for me, as collaboration and alliance is core to its very existence, and is flourishing as it unfolds. Coming out of the AWE retreat in Austin in March, we have an array of organizations and individuals collaborating to develop and implement a long term campaign. FYI. As part of the AWE program, we are developing a pilot project (actually various projects) in Liberia, again, as an alliance. I expect to have more specific news to report soon, including a trip to Liberia in the Fall.

The FLOW Activation Circles are flourishing in NYC, Austin, and San Francisco, and about to expand to other cites. Building local community has been a great and rewarding challenge, and it is encouraging to witness community emerging. My FLOW colleague Phyllis Blees, and various FAC participants, have played a pivotal role in the birthing process. Let me know if you are interested in starting an FAC and I will introduce you to Phyllis.

In Closing...

My friend Christiana Wyly sent me this great video on Values Driven Organizations, which I think you will enjoy.

Values Driven Organization

I will be in PA, NYC, and DC later this month and early July. Briefly in Colorado and in Las Vegas. Let me know if you would like to connect if you are in any of these places.

Wishing you a wonderful onset of Summer.

Best regards,

Jeff

Tags:

A Conversation with John Mackey on Conscious Capitalism®

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:48:48 GMT

Here's an announcement of a public talk John will be giving in Austin on June 12th.

28 years ago John Mackey joined with friends to open a small natural foods store in Austin, Texas. Today, he is the CEO of the world's leading retailer of natural and organic foods. Throughout the growth of Whole Foods Market, he has held fast to a mission-driven business model he calls Conscious Capitalism®: motivated by higher purpose and focused on serving all of its stakeholders as interdependent elements of an integrated system.

Join in authentic dialogue with John Mackey as he reflects on the process of developing and discovering the Whole Foods Market business model, and examines the implications – personal, economic, and societal – of building a conscious business.

John will present his view of Conscious Capitalism® followed by an extensive dialog with Tami Simon, CEO of Sounds True, including questions from the audience.

The event will be recorded and packaged into a multiple CD set to be released in 2009.

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to participate in the genesis of the Conscious Capitalism® Movement.

Reception immediately following the conversation, for those who purchase tickets to the reception. All proceeds to benefit FLOW's Conscious Capitalism® Program .

Limited seats available. Reserve yours now!

Tags: conscious capitalism, flow, john mackey

Breakthroughs

http://babajeff.gaia.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:10:53 GMT

I wrote this last night, on my way home (to Northern California) from Washington, DC, where I participated in the Breakthrough Summit convened by the Women, Faith, and Development Alliance (WFDA), held at the National Cathedral Sunday with a leadership circle working session yesterday at the Academy for Educational Advancement. What an amazing and inspiring two days. In addition to representing FLOW and our Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs campaign, I was honored to represent the Whole Planet Foundation and to present their commitment live (one of ten that were presented at the event at the Cathedral; the other 60+ were presented in the program and projected onto a screen). WPF is rapidly expanding their very effective Micro-credit program in countries where WFM sources products.

While I can’t even begin to convey the depth and breadth of impressions I took in (the people, place, and presentations were amazing), a few stand out. First, Her Excellency Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, is one of my new heroes. It is no wonder that Ireland is where it is today. What an amazing person – clear, wise, skillful – a true role model. Madeleine Albright, who gave the keynote yesterday, was superb - straightforward and effective. And the young people (from Jamaica, Uganda, and Kenya) who spoke towards the end of the event were probably the most inspiring and touching, so poised, grounded, and passionate. And Ashley Judd, who introduced and interviewed them, was great.

The work of this new alliance is to advance the position of women in society and, specifically, to do whatever it takes to alleviate poverty and other violence against women. Women Thrive Worldwide, one of the core partners in the Accelerating Women Entrepreneurs campaign I am producing with FLOW, is one of the core partners of the WFDA, and played a central role in organizing the gathering as it is playing in catalyzing the ongoing work of the Alliance. The AWE campaign will be deeply connected to the WFDA.

I was thrilled to reconnect with Linda Higdon, who is now running PEACE X PEACE (she was their partnership director when we worked together three years ago in the context of the Celebrate Peace program I produced for Peace Cereal). Their online portal to facilitate women to make personal connections with other women around the world is taking off.

I also met Kimberly King, who now owns the Peace Company (another Celebrate Peace partner) and is part of the organizing circle for the Women’s World Summit slated for 2010 in Sophia, Bulgaria.

And had a great time last night at dinner at the Egyptian Embassy with Elise Smith, the co-founder of Women Thrive Worldwide and a delightful woman of great service, and with Chris Grumm, CEO of the Women’s Funding Network, who kept me in stitches all evening (I suppose it was an even exchange). I must admit, working with women is great fun.

Hearing stories of rape, murder, HIV-AIDS, and other atrocities and abuses that many of the women experienced directly – themselves, in their families, communities, and in their work – was humbling and motivating. But the overall spirit was one of hope, unity, and determination, with deep commitments to coordinated action.

On another note, last Friday a small group of us were privileged to take a workshop with Jim Costello, who flew up to SF from LA to introduce us to his extraordinary brain fitness program™. Drawing on my experience with Spinning, ChiRunning, and music marketing and business development, I am working with Jim to package his program and take it to a mass market. He is an incredible person, who has worked for years to understand how the brain and body work together – physiologically, chemically, et al – how most of us have gaps in the development of our nervous system, which creates stress and dysfunctional patterns, and how we can re-pattern our system to achieve a profoundly higher level of well-being. It makes so much sense, and the results he produces with athletes, children with ADD, survivors of stroke, high pressured executives and others is quite remarkable.

A friend of mine who participated, who suffers from something called hand-eye dystonia, loved it and wrote:

The thing he is doing integrates several pieces, which I have been experimenting with for the past year and a half to manage the dystonia. I definitely learned a lot and I want to know more! Instead of manage it I would like to FIX IT! I would really like to correspond with him to see if we could do something remotely. Can you persuade him to move to the Bay area!

Stay tuned for more.

Tags: accelerating women entrepreneurs, peace through commerce, flow