Business Sustainability

Sustainable Value: How the World's Leading Companies Are Doing Well by Doing Good is a book written by Christopher Laszlo that details how modern companies have incorporated sustainability measures into their businesses. You'd be surprised by the profit revenue generated through sustainability measures - at least I know I was.

One of the main factors stressed through the book is that sustainability will not work if the whole organization is not on board and education practices are not put into place. Laszlo uses an example of a squeaky wheel to drive this point across. For a quick fix, a person can throw water on the gear and solve the noise for a short while. When the squeak comes back, louder and stronger, a person is inclined to use the same quick fix. This cycle will continue until someone investigates the cause of the squeak and delivers a solution that prevents the squeak from coming back.

Personality Check

I'm a fan of Seth Godin's writing. His blog post today is straight forward and accurate. Light enough to make you think and strong enough to make you change your path.

Exploration and the risk of failure

People seem to be in one of two categories:

* Those who seek stability, affiliation, work worth doing and the assurance it (whatever it is) will be okay.
* Those who explore, need to know that failure is an option and quest to make a dent in the universe.

You can be in either category, the world needs and rewards both. But pick a brand and a job and a posture that matches your category, or you'll fail, and be miserable until you do.

Hint: there is no category of: "does risky exploration, never fails."