1. What is Sustainability? As the conversation around the role of sustainability in business matures at different paces around the world, the definition of sustainability invariably becomes an issue. For many companies its starts off being understood as merely the green initiatives of a company. Over time, it expands to approach a comprehensive program of environmental responsibility that extend from the production of raw materials, to the supply chain to distribution and marketing. Ultimately, however, sustainability needs to be understood as even broader than the environment. Businesses cannot survive in societies that fail and our planet need greater social responsibility from business, and so I believe we must so we must work towards a sustainable practice of capitalism that is economically, socially, ethically and morally, as well as environmentally, responsible.

2. Is bigger better? The was much discussion around the contrast between sustainability efforts by national brands and efforts made of offices of multinational corporations. In a sense being a multinational is a double-edged sword for many multi-nationals are now readily embracing sustainability which is being driven by corporate communications in the head office. While such efforts are to be applauded, it often means that regional offices are left without sufficient sustainability support because the presumption is that this has already been handled by HQ. In contrast, these regional offices need the direct support of their headquarters both in terms of translating the company’s sustainability vision consistently around the world but also in terms of bringing that vision to life specific to the region, its industries and audiences.

3. Who’s in Charge? There was a lot of fascinating discussion around whether Corporate Communications, often responsible for the thought leadership of a company, or Marketing, was ultimately in charge of sustainability efforts. To my mind it is a false separation for when sustainability is an extension of the mission of a company and the core values of a brand, it should be a seamless and shared responsibility between leadership and employees in all departments. I suspect the issue arises because in many cases sustainability is still misperceived as a separate initiative within a company rather than a fundamental part of doing business. Once that is accepted, such confusion quickly dissipates.

Seen togther these issues paint an encouraging portrait of a business sector that is increasingly engaged and committed to the issue of sustainability. No longer dismissed as mere good intentions, sustainability is now rightly recognized as a key business and profit driver, as well as a way to inspire greater employee, shareholder and customer loyalty.  (For a great example of the bottom line benefits of sustainability see Unilver’s 2nd Sustainable Living Progress Report here.) Even more encouraging is the fact that the pace of technology is propelling this discussion around the world ever faster, and sufficiently rewarded by customers, business can one day play a powerful role in the transformation of our planet and the lives of millions of people around the world.

Are there any other major issues around sustainability that are impacting your company? What major internal roadblocks do you see sustainability efforts facing?

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While most people are aware of the foundation, they may not have been able to articulate precisely what LIVESTRONG does. They know it’s something to do with cancer and helping those affected, but just how the organization helps may have been unclear. As well, some people were questioning whether LIVESTRONG could continue without Lance. But today LIVESTRONG is asking its passionate community to help share exactly how their free services have helped over 2.5 million people over the last 16 years, and how they are Still Strong and committed to helping millions more.

For example, did you know:

- 82 cents of every dollar donated goes to supporting LIVESTRONG’s programs.

- LIVESTRONG provides free emotional support to anyone affected by cancer- that means not only those fighting it but also caregivers, friends, and family.

- LIVESTRONG can help navigate insurance and financial concerns and coordinates fertility service discounts to help survivors still have families after cancer.

You can learn more at LIVESTRONGDay.org where they have made it easy to share these important facts.

LIVESTRONG has so many powerful stories to share, about survivors, families, and the heroic members of its own staff.  As LIVESTRONG Foundation CEO and three time cancer survivor Doug Ulman says:

“We at the LIVESTRONG Foundation will always be listening to and communicating with survivors. We have a lot of work to do. And we cannot do it alone. Fighting cancer requires collective action from everyone.”

Support LIVESTRONG and cancer fighters and survivors by re-tweeting their messages today to raise awareness and support for those that need it and to empower LIVESTRONG to continue to provide such invaluable free services.

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With a persistent European economic crisis and philanthropies facing continued funding challenges since 2008, it’s time for the private sector to step up and become a third pillar of social change. Business is slowly emerging as such an entity, and those leading the charge are driving successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives and embracing models of “contributory consumption” (putting a small portion of the proceeds of every sale towards a cause) and the “one-for-one model” pioneered by TOMS. But really impacting the world’s most serious humanitarian problems requires scale and speed that only a collaborative Global Brand Initiative (GBI) can deliver.

Utilizing its vast resources, expertise, management, and distribution networks, a unified and well-organized Global Brand Initiative has the power to tackle the world’s most serious humanitarian crises: poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality, ignorance and illiteracy, and joblessness. In order into move the needle, there are two elements that business must embrace to become a coalition of purpose-driven brands that build their bottom line and a better world:

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Guest post from Gary Schwartz

I was speaking with David Epstein, the founder of The Unreasonable Institute, the brainchild of Unreasonable at Sea, the Google sponsored innovation ship that is presently sailing from port to port globally.

Mr. Epstein’s mission statement is borrowed from George Bernard Shaw who in 1903 wrote in Man and Superman:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

The Unreasonable Institute is based in Boulder, Colorado and is working to bring entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, and investors together for social change. He now has these same folk on a ship sailing the world with that disruptive mandate.

What Mr. Epstein is championing, and what Mr. Shaw posited over 100 years ago is applicable, if not essential, across all verticals today. In the 2010’s, when industry after industry is being rudely disrupted, we may need to be more unreasonable about our search for solutions and our adaptation to the new status quo. We have to become superbrands.

Man and Superman

Music, retail, media buying, broadcast, publishing are all incumbent industries that have, or are, about to pivot in a profound and irreversible way. Many extant business models will dry up. Many old revenue streams will become commodity channels or be circumvented over-the-top by new technologies or new business models.

Telecommunications, more than any other industry, has profoundly impacted businesses. Some bemoan that “mobile” innovation has horizontally cut many companies at the knees.

Telecommunication innovation and disruption is not new. The history of telecommunications is the history of open systems and the invisible hand that attempted to close these systems: From RCA closing down FM Radio and early television. It is the same recent history of Apple disinter-mediating the wireless carriers with an “internet device” and then turning around and using the same iPhone to shut down the Mobile Web with a closed App Store.

What is new about telecommunications in the 2010s is the pervasive nature of the technology, the democratization of information and access, and the liberation of the consumer.

The new entrepreneurs, innovators, thinkers, and investors that are sailing on Epstein’s ship are the crew of innovators that needed to rethink the way we communicate with this new consumer. And this requires a motley crew.

Chief Unreasonable Officer

Labels, Retailers, brands, publishers, and broadcasters cannot simply open innovation labs in the vain hope that they can reinvent their business from within. Forces are at play in the mall and in the media houses that will require some unreasonable thought. The walls of our store are porous (Mike Duke) and the internet cloud is in our malls to stay.

To paraphrase Mr. Shaw: The reasonable person adapts to the world; the unreasonable person proactively turns the tables.

How do new-age brands become unreasonable?

- Industries need to understand their new world and their new consumer. This world is made up of consumer moments across their connected-screens during the course of the day. Ten years ago, you never needed to follow these consumers; now you need to plot their screen journey in minute detail.

- The value may not lie exclusively on the screen but in connecting these screens. In a world where (according to Google’s Multi-screen Report) over 90% of people use more than one screen to accomplish a single task, brands need to focus on the “digital Velcro” to connect these screen experiences. One screen + another screen = a multiple of value: (1+1=3)

- Stop relying exclusively on third parties and social networks to find your consumer. “Dating services” are important . . . but you need to get out more. Forge a direct relationship with this new connected consumer.

- Be unreasonable. Believe that your consumers can love your product and can share a common dialogue with your brand on their private and personal screen. This maybe simply the ability to shop for a brand seamlessly across their screens understanding the needs of the consumer at that moment of the day on a particular screen form factor. This maybe establishing a common interest (wellness, nightlife, etc.) and become part of their multi-screen narrative.

The new Chief Digital Officer needs to create superbrands, and to do that she needs to be unreasonable across all her consumers’ connected screens.

Gary Schwartz is author of The Impulse Economy and content chair of the Multi-Screen Summit in NYC, June 11^th and 12^th. For information on the event, click here.

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Many people didn’t know what to make of it, or found it a little ironic coming from the world’s richest man. The issue was hotly debated but by 2013, this vision can no longer be called idealistic, unrealistic, or naïve. It’s fast becoming a reality and momentum is building every day. So what changed?

At the heart of the issue is social technology, including social media and smart phones. Both have given citizens and consumers an unprecedented power, voice, and ability to organize themselves around shared values. Armed with up to the minute information through posts or tweets, consumers now use their broadcasting power to spread the word about not only those companies that produced bad products, but also those guilty of inauthentic messaging, false promises, and unsustainable and irresponsible social behaviors. According to Edelman, 86% of consumers think businesses should place equal weight on society’s interests as on their own business interests, so in today’s world, impact royally trumps image.

We are witnessing a historical transformation in which the private sector is slowly emerging as a 3rd pillar of social change. So what can we learn from those companies leading the charge and how they scale their business success and impact? Here are three key elements that businesses must embrace to become purpose-driven brands that build their bottom line and a better world:

Read more >>

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We’ll be live on-air with Dave Cobban, Nike‘s Citizen Mobilization Director of Sustainable Business & Innovation, and Jay Coen-Gilbert, the Co-Founder of B Lab, to chat about how business can become a force of good by partnering with customers to co-create lasting social impact. You’ll hear from:

• Simon Mainwaring, CEO of We First, will lay out a new sustainable vision for purposeful capitalism.

• Jay Gilbert of B Lab, will share how the B Corporation movement, now encompassing more than 700 companies across 60 industries and in 26 nations, is using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

• Dave Cobban will talk about how Nike is changing “the making of making” and give an inside look into Nike’s collaborative innovation approach and their partnership with NASA, USAID, and the US Department of State called LAUNCH.

We’ll then have a live Q&A, so please submit your questions directly on the G+ Hangout RSVP page and start tagging them on social media with #ProfitToPurpose.

This will be a fun event and great way to connect with other change agents from all over the globe, so please share with others who are passionate about building business while make a difference in the world.

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It was three years ago that I was working on a side-project, really a passion project, with my agency, SWIRE. It was one of those situations where an idea stuck with me and just wouldn’t go away. You see, I had been working on growing our small ad agency since 2005. We made incredible strides, becoming a key player in the telecommunications industry, and went from a smart direct marketing firm to a full scale agency. We won awards, sold lots of our clients’ products and built a pretty awesome team. Yet, it wasn’t enough.

We found a great deal of enjoyment and love of working on projects that mattered. Projects like FGUS and Eden Projects, a local and global cause. Our small efforts added up to big changes, which got us wondering — how could we better use our talents? That’s where the story begins. And, since we started filming a blogumentary along the way, I’ll spare you the details – you can watch the start of our idea here. It’s called eGood.

It was at this time that I saw the We First Manifesto. Three points from the manifesto really hit home with what we were building with eGood.

1. We cannot separate living and giving if we hope to build a better world.

2. Consumers want a better world, not just better widgets.

3. The future of profit is purpose.

These concepts weren’t totally new to what we were going after with eGood. Instead, they validated why and showed us a entire new world was forming around these ideas.

We’re still in the early stages of launching eGood.com, our platform that we hope sparks a movement, or greater yet, a revolution in ‘Choosing Good’. We believe in principles that build a better world, and we’re already starting to see them in action. Take this recent comment from one of our eGood businesses:

“A member of our community was so excited eGood was supporting The Claremont Educational Foundation that she quit going to a rather well known coffee shop and joined the The Last Drop Cafe family.” – Last Drop Coffee (April 2013)

That may not sound like much to you. But, to me, that single comment summed up why we’ve set out to launch eGood. This one customer chose a small neighborhood coffee shop over the big name shop simply because they were supporting a cause she cared about. Not because they were giving her a special deal. Not because of a fancy, gamified loyalty program or app. Just because they care enough to give back to their community and she cares enough to make that choice.

This is only the beginning of how eGood plans to live out principles that serve all our well-being. Much more is in store. And, we hope you’ll join us. If you want an invite to help build the eGood community, go to eGood.com and request and invite by entering your email on the homepage. If you find me online, I’ll be happy to personally send you and invite now.

I’ll leave you with a few words that inspire us.

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We had a lively Q&A session and gave an exclusive offer combining both an online and live learning experience with the We First community. If you missed it you can watch the replay here and download the slides below.

Key takeaways from 8 Steps to Becoming a Contagious Social Brand:

1. It’s a new marketplace. We’re at the center of a new economy, new customer behaviors, and new social technology- and the speed of change can be dizzying. But that means we all must develop an enduring curiosity for new technology that can build engagement and profits. Stay educated by reading the latest tech blogs like TechCrunch or Mashable , and have some fun experimenting with new channels like Instagram or Vine. Most importantly, observe how your customers relate to their peers and ask them how they’d like to interact with your company.

2. Understand your audience. Here’s the dillemna: “You can’t see the label from inside the jar.” It’s easy to get so caught up in your company’s products and services that you kind of forget what moves your audience. But did you know that, 73% of global consumers say they would switch brands if a different brand of similar quality supported a good cause? That means you must identify your brand’s core values and ask your customers what they care about. Then you can find shared values and purpose to make the authentic mission of your brand.

3. Balance story and telling. Story transcends technology, and the success of your business will be in direct proportion to the emotional impact you have on your customers. In turn, the emotional impact on your customers will be in direct proportion to the social impact of your purpose- so that means your social impact is directly tied to your company’s bottom line. Too many companies rush past telling what they stand for and get lost in all the specific marketing tactics (PPC, Facebook ads, email blasts, etc). But your first concern must be to make sure you’re telling a story worth telling. Enough about your product- tie it to how you change the world. Coke unites around Open Happiness and Starbucks says it’s a Shared Planet. What’s your rallying cry?

4. Define your brand. What’s your company’s purpose, what are its values, what are you the only one of… and why does your organization even exist? If you can’t articulate your company’s vision for the world, it’s very hard for consumers to understand or want to join in and help you. Once you’ve clearly defined your purpose, you need to frame it in the context of the customer. Your customer should be the hero of your story, and your role is to be the celebrant, not celebrity, of your customer community.

5. Align contribution. Only make a contribution in alignment with your company’s core values. If you aren’t transparent and accountable, consumers will easily sense your insincerity and you might be accused of “cause washing.” A good example of aligned contribution is United by Blue -the company will remove 1 pound of trash from the ocean for every product sold. United by Blue has made themselves much more than another beachwear company- they’re a movement for change. You too can turn your company into a badge of honor.

6. Engage customers consistently. Your goal is not just more marketing activity for activity’s sake. Disjointed or conflicting messages can confuse or even alienate your audience. Instead, plan each tactic as a chapter in a longer brand story. Use you and your customers’ common purpose as a guide in your marketing strategy and the channels you choose to leverage.

7. Grow community. As soon as you have an engaged audience you need to reward them and engage them in a new initiative. There’s nothing worse than watching your community slowly wither after the end of one successful campaign. Identify brand ambassadors or mega-fans, and figure how you can inspire them to co-create your brand and share with their friends.

8. Measure and Manage. Stop guessing and commit to pinpointing which tactics work best for your brand. Define your success metrics, create a dashboard to for easy reporting, and adjust your strategies based on data.

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I’m a huge fan of the important work that the U.N. Foundation does and in the TEDx talk, Aaron Sherinian, VP for Public Relations, discusses 5 of the revolutions that he believes provide the context — and build the case — for a new approach to public engagement around social good and global progress.

Aaron cites the impact that social entrepreneurs and a new generation of empowered change makers can have in an era when: 1) an unprecedented generation of young people is alive; 2) the emerging power of mobile phones is changing the face of communications; 3) an increased focus on adolescent girls is forcing a new dialogue around development; 4) a fresh approach to philanthropy is changing the definition of the sector; and 5) a vibrant dialogue around social good offer new channels for global good. For more information on these initiatives, visit www.unfoundation.org

Aaron blogs at www.globalextrovert.com and is on Twitter at @ASherinian (Special thanks and photo credit to Platon for selected images of UN Foundation supporters used in this presentation.)

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Each year we discover new ways in which social media can help give voice to those without support and help create a more just and equitable world. One such opportunity has arisen in the Congo where self-taught musicians playing hand-made instruments  have given peace a voice  and inspired the creation of a new non-profit called Instruments of Peace.

Instruments of Peace was founded on Maestro Armand Diangienda’s dream of utilizing music to teach “peace and reconciliation” and is dedicated to bringing the gift of music to the most volatile regions of the world, especially to those who have limited or no access to practice and study music.

It’s aim is to execute Armand’s vision by building music schools, hosting benefit concerts in the U.S., and distributing in-kind donations such as sheet music and instruments to those in need of hope. Specifically, with sufficient help, they will deliver on 3 fronts: