Going Green Will it Be the Business Practice of the Future

Kathy Sacks recently discussed how important it is to be environmentally conscious. Which led me to ask? “Is going green just a trend? Or will it be an accepted business practice of the future?”

Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” mixed with Earth Day this past Sunday meant that businesses across the country were bragging about how eco-friendly they are and will continue to be in the future.

Yet, the attention on businesses/people making an effort to become more environmentally conscious is no surprise, given that the public and the media have been captivated by the environmental warnings.

Recently, Yahoo! announced that it will become carbon neutral by year end. And Yahoo!’s Co-founder, David Filo was quoted as estimating that it would cut air pollution just as much as turning off the electricity to all San Francisco homes for a month or removing 25,000 cars from the streets for one year.

So what’s next? Will other business follow? Will Google suddenly announce it too will be carbon friendly? Or will the trend simply fade out?

Yahoo!’s dip in its stock price on Wed. shows the sign that going green is a fad that will die out.  

As PR Practitioners we serve as trusted advisors to our clients. Let’s pull together and encourage them to become more environmentally friendly, even if they agree to something as simple as buying recycle bins for everyone’s desk. Think about the impact we could make if just one of our clients pledged to do more in the name of Mother Nature.

by Daniel Moran

How big is your environmental footprint?

Posted by Kathy Sacks
If you missed it this past Friday, 20/20 aired an interesting and sobering special called Planet Earth 2007 – Seven Ways to Help Save the World.  If you’ve seen Gore’s documentary, then the message is a familiar one. But this was on nat’l TV–for the masses across the country. What a beautfiul thing?! And yesterday being Earth Day, their message is sure to strike a chord with many.

Diane Sawyer, along with several reporters dispatched across the world highlighted developments in the war on global warming–the harsh realities and some solid solutions. Arizona was recognized for solar, with reporter Nick Schadler high atop a ladder perched among a sea of big solar panels situated in Tucson. Along with the solar angle, another Arizona company was mentioned–a new startup called Global Research Technologies (GRT) got major ink being hailed for its breakthrough technology and process around removing CO2 (aka greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere. Therein lies a big part of the problem behind global warming–from gases created by automobiles to cow manure.

Seeing this show reminded me that Arizona’s tech community really has an enormous oppportunity to take the world stage and save the planet. There are plenty of other neat companies working on solutions to today’s environmental problems.  Bravo to the PR person who pitched ABC TV the story on GRT.

Little things count when you multiply the entire population making the same changes.
I have offically kicked the nasty habit of brushing my teeth with the water running. I’m actually looking into the solar tax credit for our historic home too–it’s more of an investment that I originally thought, but it’s a worthwhile one.

It’s all about reducing one’s environmental footprint in the world.

if you can’t beat ‘em dig through their stuff

Posted by Celeste Johnson
In the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech University I can’t help but recognize the role social media has played in the tragedy. One might think it’s interesting how friends of the victims have been contacted so quickly by the media — I would think it would take some time …
 
So I thought about MySpace, so I did some investigating. I found that some of the victims had they’re own pages, where friends were just clicks away. Then I read article after article over the past few days from the AP to the New York Times. And what sources did they use? Bloggers—friends, families, teachers and other students.
 
Following the video release of the gunman Cho Seung-Hui , the footage saturated social media sites from YouTube to AOL, which also published two plays he wrote in college.
 
Yes, there are many complaints from professional journalists about the role of social media –– mainly citizen journalists –– but it looks as if social media is proving to be a part of daily life –– evident by blogs such as this that hit the Web every minute…

Is there a moment when PR can’t help?

Posted by Daniel Moran
As a PR fanatic I firmly believe that we can help anyone and their businesses out of a crisis. But the recent controversy around Don Imus’ comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team has me questioning if there is a limit to what PR can do. In this week’s Phoenix Business Journal David Eichler of David and Sam PR was quoted as saying “Simple things like substantial amounts of community service and lobbying on behalf of organizations like (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) will help,” to rebuild US Airways Chairman and Chief Executive Doug Parker’s image.

Are solutions like these possible for Don Imus? Or is there no hope even if he had the help from savviest of PR Pros? In my opinion there are some mistakes that can’t be fixed and as much as I believe in PR I don’t see a solution that could save his career.

What are your thoughts? Is there hope for the Imus of the world? 

Do you want to “Own” an Entrepreneurial-minded Employee?

Posted by Celeste Johnson
In chatting with another pr person today, an interesting topic came up: who we are as employees–entrepreneurs. We both agreed on what we want out of a job. Those characteristics include:   

• To Be Part Of Something Significant

• Variety

• Challenge

• Diversity

• Action (STIMULATION !!! )

• High Compensation – Investment Capability

• To Be Involved In Defining Their Own Job,

• Work and Development

• 24 X 7 Access

• Work & Learn In SHORT CHUNKS

• A 1-on-1 Connection With Authority Figures

• State-of-the-Art Technology

• Clear Expectations – Respectful Feedback & Rewards

• Opportunity To Balance Work w/ Other Interests

These characteristics are what an entrepreneurial employee needs to succeed. All companies out there are looking for entrepreneurial-minded people but few know what they really need or want. 

There is a new book out by CEO Robert Beyster of the Technology based company, SAIC,. Employers can learn a great deal from this CEO on how he took his Technology Company to an $8 billion dollar, EMPLOYEE owned company. Through Employee Ownership his company was created where success was valued and rewarded.  

I have just placed an order on this book to ship and advise others to do the same. In addition, SAIC used a meritocracy to show its employees how their performance was valued not with a big cash bonus but with ownership of the Company. This business system allowed employees to gain shares and wealth within the company.  

So when you interview each new employee look beyond the mere facts of the resume and ask yourself if thecandidate is an entrepreneurial employee such as Beysters?  Put the resume aside and focus on good questions but remember your company must offer what this new breed of entrepreneur is looking for… 

My new best friend Jott

 I’ve jotted myself about 10 times in the last 20 minutes.Seth Godin recently wrote about the most fantabulous service ever–it’s and I am officially an addict as of tonight. Totally going nuts over it. It’s called Jott and it just may change your life. I agree with Seth–how the heck are they making money with it…
Try it now. Way cooler and more useful than Twitter in my opinion. I just don’t see the attraction with this Twitter hype. What’s the point.  –Kathy Sacks

Who’s Innovative?

I am scanning The Wired 40, Wired’s annual list of the most innovative companies in the world thinking could they at least have started with a bigger surprise than Google? Wondering who didn’t make the list this year? 

Who’s Out

Citi
Mirroring the global economy is a nice business – but the temptation to play it safe is overwhelming.

Costco
Where’s the innovation? Warehouses are not museums. DuPont
Two cheers for eco-plastics , but the “science company” needs fewer products and more vision.

InfoSpace
The action is in search and mobile content. Unfortunately the numbers aren’t.

JetBlue
Never mind the blizzard debacle. Low-cost point-to-point air travel was already old news.

L-3 Communications
Zippy battlefield comms gear is cool, but it doesn’t win wars.

Li & Fung Group
With China making the leap to exporting computers and cars, T-shirts are unimpressive.

Pfizer
Biotech was going to keep Big Pharma’s product pipelines flowing. Instead, the arteries are more clogged than ever.

SAP
Selling online enterprise software is harder than it looks. And Oracle’s take-over pirates are sailing rings around SAP’s “organic growth.”
 

Top Ten Tech Trends

I was reading Text 100’s blog after reading about the global PR firm for the first time in a recent issue of PR Week. Check out their recent post Silicon Valley looks beyond Silicon (and the Valley) for 2008. ”Top Ten Tech Trends” event. The first one is a surprise… not sure I am buying into it. Here’s the first one.

1. The proliferation of single-use mobile devices – gadgets will become like shoes. We’ll have lots of them and regularly change them based on where we’re going and what we’re doing. The converged device will die! (My verdict: please…don’t make me hang anything else off my belt.)

Multiple devices–say it isn’t so?! I can barely find my Treo at the bottom of big sack of a purse when I need to.
 

Better late then never.

Let the blogging begin.