Say What You Are Not What You’re Not

“In the United States of America, we don’t practice guilt by association,” said Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor to President Obama, “we will not stigmatize or demonize entire communities because of the actions of a few.”

This was part of the statement made by the White House in response to the New York Representative Peter King’s announcement that he would hold Congressional hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. The problem with McDonough’s comment, though well intentioned, is that it actually communicates the exact opposite of what McDonough is trying to say. The reason is not political, it is a simple inconvenient detail about how our brains absorb information.

What words do you remember from that opening statement? What ideas stuck with you? For better or for worse, our brains can’t deal in negatives. We can’t tell someone not to think something. “Don’t think of the color yellow,” for example. We can’t do it. Our minds immediately go to the words and not the intention of the words.

When McDonough tells us America doesn’t “practice guilt by association” or that we will not “stigmatize or demonize,” those are the words we walk away with. Those are the things that we associate to America for no other reason than because his statement told us to.

Leadership never defines itself, its cause or its vision by what it is not. Great leadership always tells us what it is, where we’re going or who we are. Kennedy didn’t tell us we’re not going to stay on the earth, he told us we’re going to the moon. The founding fathers didn’t define America as a country that would not subjugate, coerce or cause unhappiness. They said the country was founded to guarantee certain unalienable rights among those being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Though the negative statement is technically accurate, it does not inspire. Negative looks backwards and positive looks forward. Vision, if it is to inspire, always looks forward.

Companies make the same mistake. It is amazing how many businesses define themselves by what they are not instead of who they are.  Too many jump at the opportunity to tell you what they don’t do instead of what they do do. Meet a small creative agency, for example, and ask them what makes them better and they will tell you that they are not subject to the whims of a large holding company. Ask one retailer what makes them superior and they will tell you that they don’t treat their customers like numbers. Words like “don’t,” “aren’t,” “won’t,” “isn’t” or “doesn’t” do not belong in any statement that is supposed to tell people who you are or what makes you special or different.

If you want people to go where you’re going, if you want to inspire people, tell them what you believe, not what you don’t believe. Tell them what you do not what you don’t do. Tell them who you are not who you’re not.

As for Mr. McDonough, if he has to make any more public statements about what America believes, may I suggest this:

“America believes, first and foremost, that all men are created equal. Whether our differences are based on gender, sexual orientation, race or religion, we see all Americans as equal players in the pursuit and preservation of the American Dream. In fact, we, more than any other nation on the planet, defend the rights of those who may look or sound different or practice a faith unfamiliar to the majority.

The hearings proposed by Representative Peter King run completely counter to our founding values. We ask of all Muslim Americans who are as offended by the idea of these hearings as we are to come together, stand firm and know that the vast majority of our nation sees you for what you are – just like us. We are all American.”

Look forward, tell us what you believe and where you want to go and you’ll be amazed how well your positive words will inspire those around you.

SOURCE HERE

Πετώντας τρόφιμα στέλνουμε τα λιγοστά υδάτινα αποθέματα στην αποχέτευση

Οι Βρετανοί πετούν εκατομμύρια τόνους τροφίμων κάθε χρόνο, ένα έγκλημα που συνδέεται με την τεράστια ποσότητα νερού που απαιτούν για να αναπτυχθούν.

Κι ενώ οι καταναλωτές ρίχνουν εκατομμύρια τόνους αφάγωτα τρόφιμα στα σκουπίδια κάθε χρόνο, λίγοι σκέφτονται το κόστος των εν λόγω αποβλήτων και το νερό που χρειάστηκε μέχρι να αναπτυχθούν και να καταναλωθούν αυτές οι τροφές.

Έρευνα δείχνει ότι πετάμε, κατά μέσο όρο, το διπλάσιο νερό ανά έτος, με τη μορφή αφάγωτων τροφίμων αλλά και με το πλύσιμο και το ποτό. Το χειρότερο είναι ότι, αυξάνοντας την ποσότητα των τροφών μας που προέρχονται από χώρες όπου το νερό σπανίζει, δημιουργείται τεράστιο αντίκτυπο για την επάρκεια των πολύτιμων υδάτινων πόρων σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο.

Σύμφωνα με την πρώτη ολοκληρωμένη μελέτη για τις επιπτώσεις του “ενσωματωμένου στα τρόφιμα νερού” που χάνεται στα απόβλητα τροφίμων του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου, διαπιστώνεται ότι περισσότερο από 5% του νερού που χρησιμοποιείται πετιέται με τη μορφή υπολειμμάτων τροφίμων.

Η έρευνα διεξήχθη στο πλαίσιο του κυβερνητικού προγράμματος Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) σε συνεργασία με το WWF και δημοσιεύεται με τίτλο: “Νερό και Ανθρακικό Αποτύπωμα των τροφίμων στα νοικοκυριά”.

Το νερό που χρησιμοποιείται για την παραγωγή τροφίμων και πετιέται από τα νοικοκυριά στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο ανέρχεται σε περίπου 6.2 δισ. κυβικά μέτρα ετησίως. Αυτό αντιπροσωπεύει το 6% της συνολικής δυναμικότητας νερού του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου, το οποίο περιλαμβάνει νερό που χρησιμοποιείται στη βιομηχανία και τη γεωργία.

Περίπου το ένα τέταρτο του νερού που χρησιμοποιείται για την καλλιέργεια και επεξεργασία των τροφίμων προέρχεται από το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, αλλά μεγάλο μέρος προέρχεται από τις χώρες που αντιμετωπίζουν ήδη προβλήματα έλλειψης νερού. Καθώς ολοένα περισσότερες χώρες υποφέρουν από λειψυδρία, οι εξαγωγές αυτές μπορεί να μειώσουν περαιτέρω τους φυσικούς πόρους και να προκαλέσουν περιβαλλοντικά προβλήματα.

Τα απορρίμματα τροφών φέρνουν κι ένα άλλο περιβαλλοντικό κόστος: τις ετήσιες εκπομπές αερίων του θερμοκηπίου καθώς αντιπροσωπεύουν περίπου το 3%, που ισοδυναμεί με το ποσό που παράγεται από 7 εκατ. αυτοκίνητα ετησίως. Ο Liz Godwin, διευθύνων σύμβουλος της Wrap, δήλωσε σχετικά: “Αυτά τα στοιχεία είναι αρκετά εντυπωσιακά και παρά το γεγονός ότι οι εκπομπές αερίων του θερμοκηπίου έχουν συζητηθεί ευρέως, το νερό που χρησιμοποιείται για την παραγωγή τροφίμων και ποτών έχει παραβλεφθεί μέχρι πρόσφατα”.

“Ωστόσο, η αυξανόμενη ανησυχία σχετικά με τη διαθεσιμότητα του νερού στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο και στο εξωτερικό αλλά και σχετικά με την ασφάλεια του εφοδιασμού τροφίμων, σημαίνει ότι είναι πολύ σημαντικό να κατανοήσουμε τη σύνδεση μεταξύ των αποβλήτων τροφίμων, του νερού και των κλιματικών αλλαγών”.

Ο David Tickner, επικεφαλής των προγραμμάτων νερού στη WWF, έκανε στους καταναλωτές μια σύσταση να συμβάλουν στη μείωση της σπατάλης νερού στα τρόφιμα.

SOURCE HERE

Ignore, Copy and Steal. When Ideas Go Public.

When you have an idea and make the idea public, one of three things will happen, and what you should learn from each one…

1. Everyone will ignore the idea – What could this mean… Your idea did not fill a need or a desire. The conditions may not be prime. Learn from this experience by studying current social and market trends, including basic human needs. Every idea must fill a core human need.

2. Someone will unsuccessfully copy the idea – In other words, they end up creating an inferior product and yours remains the better of the two, and gains greater traction. Learn from their mistakes. Other people’s mistakes often give us an insight into the strengths of our ideas, giving us even a greater opportunity to leverage on the strengths.

3. Someone will successfully copy the idea – They steal the idea and make it better. If you have no option for legal repercussion – learn from their success, your failure, and move on.

Takeaway: Learn from each scenario, whether or not your idea was a success.

Source HERE

Greatness Starts And Ends With Passion

Passion is like bookends to process.

Passion starts things. It inspires us to start a business, take classes or take risks. But without some learning, some structure or some process, that passion can quickly run out of steam or find itself fueling a futile exercise.

Process is what helps us get good at what we’re passionate about. It gives us expertise and credibility. It is what gives us the intellectual capacity to solve problems and make advancements. However, if we get stuck in the process, though we can get good at what we do, we can never be great.

Greatness always requires passion.

Source Here

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine

How Storytelling drives Corporate Culture

Good Marketing vs. Bad Marketing

Marketing,per se, is neither good nor bad. It is simply the way a company speaks to us. People use their mouths, companies use marketing. It is objective. However, how companies choose to speak to us is another story. And in that case how they they market to us is mostly bad.

Good marketing offers us a view of the world.
Bad marketing offers you a product to buy.

Good marketing speaks for us.
Bad marketing speaks at us.

Good marketing starts with a cause.
Bad marketing starts with a goal.

Good marketing drives loyalty.
Bad marketing drives transactions.

Good marketing promotes values.
Bad marketing values promotions.

Good marketing tells us exactly what a company really thinks.
Bad maketing tells us what the company thinks they want us to think they think.

Good marekting seduces.
Bad marketing targets.

Good marketing never mentions price.
Bad marketing always mentions price.

Good marketing uses the products to help tell a story.
Bad marketing tells stories about products.

Good marketing is about us.
Bad marketing is about them.

Bad marketing manipulates.
Good marketing inspires.

Source: http://sinekpartners.typepad.com/refocus/2011/02/good-marketing-vs-bad-marketing.html

Nike Better World

DONT TELL US, WHAT WE CANT DO!

NIKE BETTER WORLD

Our Priorities Reveal our Values

It has been said that values are the standards by which we set our priorities.  This means we can understand the values of a person or an organization by examining their priorities.

I listened to a presentation given by top executives of a large firm recently. In their presentation, they listed the company’s priorities:

1.     Top line growth
2.     Enhance shareholder value
3.     Focus on global expansion
4.     Enhance customer satisfaction
5. Our people

I think it’s safe to say, they don’t really value their people. Or at least they don’t put their people before growth. Ironically, the best organizations I’ve ever seen, the ones that are actually more profitable for the long-term, all put people before growth on their list of priorities.

As Lou Gerstner, the man who reinvented IBM, said, “culture is not an aspect of the game. Culture is the game.”

So what of other priorities?

If a company says shareholder value is their main priority how do they value customers?

If an executive has their Blackberry at his kid’s ballgame because work it still a priority, then how much does he value the fleeting time he has to watch his kids grow up?

If the urgent always takes priority over the important, then how much do we value the important over the urgent?

If indeed we value things that we are not prioritizing or prioritizing things we do not value as much, then perhaps it is time to realign our priorities. If we value those kinds of things…

Source : Simon Sinek’s Blog

Small Business: By The Numbers