Do something

I have just attended a Waster Workshop hosted by Mainstream Green and the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce – enabled by the WDC.

I’ve been a bit flat lately (the concussion didn’t help but that’s another story) but you simply can’t help but be inspired by Nicola Turner talking so passionately and practically about reducing waste.

What really struck me, in addition to all of the sage advice from Nicky, was how easy it is to use the same concepts and energy to support people and communities as well as reducing waste.

If we want a great world to live in, we need to support people, community and the environment. We need all parts to be healthy and sustainable.

Nicky is fantastic and all organisations need to listen to people like her – it’s easy to do better and fundamentally I believe we all want that.

Waste recycle management, energy saving awareness, ecological sustainability and tree planting concept: Elements of this image furnished by NASA

A golden silence

Yes I’ve been slack.

Have the thoughts dried up – absolutely not, but they’re not being tapped into the computer. They’re just drifting around in the space between my ears.

The issue is simple, blogging isn’t enough. Wanting to see change is vastly different to making change happen.

I need to do more. In fact I need to do much more!

So while I’m thinking about what I can do, I’ll also take the time to completely up-date the website.

This pause is really a just golden silence.

Finally – my money follows my mouth

Well I’ve finally put my money where my mouth is – and it’s fair enough to say “about time”.

I have often spread the message about the great work being done by Duffle & Co. A social enterprise that is competing on the quality of their products as well as their purpose. They provide income for village-based crafts people, they proactively do good for the environment but best of all, their gear is top notch.

I’ve been so impressed by what they do, I even referred to them in my book Touch Point about businesses strategies to do good for our communities.

While I have always admired a couple of their satchels, I haven’t really needed a new one. This year however, even though I don’t need it, I decided to splash out and buy myself a Christmas present

Sat hello to Daniel – my sleek new leather friend.

Here we are !

Let’s thump the table about the positives that people with disability bring to our communities.

Hard to believe that this was over three years ago when I first published this – but like so much about disability, things don’t change very quickly (if at all).

It may only be a short post (one of the first I ever wrote) but it’s a powerful message that we need to keep repeating.

Unless we talk and argue, nothing is going to change.

We like to moan and feel like we’re victims. Maybe it’s time we take our positives, slam them onto the table and say…

HERE WE ARE!

Businessman, Man, Afraid, Angry

Your suppliers, your partners

Currently there is a lot of business advice around establishing genuine relationships with your customers.

Really this is a no-brainer as customers are the very life blood of your company. If you have no customers, you have no business.

If this advice is so sensible, why not take it a step further and look to proactively form meaningful relationships with your suppliers? As you are their customer, they have an incentive to join with you in this process.

Just as we all believe that we can offer more to our customers than just competing on price, so our suppliers have much they can offer us.

Good relationships can lead to:
• Sharing of innovation
• Advice on the best use of their products or services
• Improved reliability of supply (ie if there is a shortage/delay, they will first look after those they have good relationships with)
• Leads and referrals
• Early information on changes in markets, products, regulation etc

What can make a good relationship?
• Open and transparent: Sharing strategic plans, market information, new initiatives and the needs of the end customer.
• Innovative: Sharing ideas, new processes or new directions.
• Trust: Good communication and openness can lead to mutual trust. Act in ways that show your suppliers than you can be trusted, and in turn, be prepared to trust them.
Collaboration: Fundamentally, it is all about working together for the benefit of all parties.
• Behavioural maturity: I simply define this as professional, warm and honest

Hand, Keep, Puzzle, Finger, Match

Transforming the world for a better future

Really pleased to have received my ExO Foundations Certification.

Digitise, disrupt, demonetise and democracies – it’s all about exponential growth.

Working through the process certainly made me stop and think about the way we currently do things, and how we really do need to change our thinking if we want to seriously see exponential growth.

Even us old buggers need to up-date our thinking and find new ways to make a difference. Scale has long been an issue with social enterprise in New Zealand so we really do need to find way we can support them to grow the business, so in turn they can grow the difference that they make.

“OpenExO is the global transformation ecosystem with more than 6,000 coaches, investors, consultants and innovation specialists helping organizations, institutions and people unlock abundance to change the world”.

3d bar chart of exponential growth rate