“We need a national energy policy,” Ritter.  Ritter states the clean energy agenda is really about emissions for example natural gas emissions.  Questioning what forms of energy are most efficient has several factors such as the natural environment of a location.  The factors are numerous however the Feds have some legislation on clean energy.

In the U.S. Federal government the clean energy agenda is basically looking at two issues; one is Property-Assessed Clean Energy, (PACE) financing and two the extension of the production tax credit which the wind energy industry relies upon.

At the state level best practices in extraction and efficiency are being discussed.  The CNEE has worked with about 10 states in advancing clean energy policies.

“What’s really interesting is one size doesn’t fit all, so it is important to tailor our work in states to the resources available in the state—to the economic landscape to some extent—to the way that they are generating electricity, to think about that and what that transition is going to involve.  Interestingly transmission—it’s very difficult and sort of a sophisticated topic but the transmission infrastructure matters a lot because of interconnection—pulling renewables onto the grid can be a very difficult thing to do,” Ritter.

“I think energy is one of those things that should not be all about politics but somehow this debate over whether climate change is real or not, is sort of sucked into it, the whole conversation around clean energy including things like energy efficiency.  It’s about saving energy and good business practices,” Ritter.

Clean energy policy groups such as the Energy Foundation out of San Francisco, Hewlett Foundation, Packard Foundation and the McKnight Foundation fund CNEE.

To read more about the Center for the New Energy Economy, visit; http://cnee.colostate.edu/.

To view the full interview, visit; http://youtu.be/JrnCbJBsEro.

Karen Newman

Karen Newman professor & former Dean at the University of Denver, Daniel College of Business shared with ICOSA her expertise in organizational behavior.  Knowing how groups work together makes for manageable and sustainable careers.

Company’s employees range from the Baby Boomer generation to the Millennial generation so focusing and appreciating all the skills each generation can bring to the table is needed.

Newman has seen that younger people are not as comfortable supervising older generations.  This stems from the American culture of wanting to respect people who are older.  Difficulties go both directions.  Baby Boomers regard Millennials as needing too much guidance, supervision and lack of follow through.  And so the positive mindset of looking at what each generation can bring to the table is truly needed.

Newman states that to engage the Baby Boomer workforce companies need to consider the three features; renewability, flexibility and integration.  Renewability is building the human capital for example mixing up assignments that allow for re-charging.  Flexibility does sometimes mean working less than the 40 hour work week while at the same time embracing re-education such as technology training.  Integration is providing employees with engaging and meaningful work.

A prime example of a company who practices this is CH2M Hill.  They meet the needs of both the company and employees by crafting a balanced work life that is sustainable.

For more information on sustainable careers, read; http://www.theicosamagazine.com/sustainable-careers

Or email Karen Newman at; Karen.newman@du.edu

Berkeley Information Center

As local governments continue tightening their belts in the face of economic realities, the prior funding to address community problems is becoming scarce. Communities are faced with finding new ways to finance solutions until the economy recovers. The Sullivan Chair for Free Enterprise at Regis University is advancing an idea for funding a variety of community projects: a Community Impact Investment. This idea attracts private funding resources from within the community and utilizes those funds within a business investment model, monetizing the solution and paying back the money. Successful execution of this approach may prove a renewable, repeatable way to answer the pervasive question of “Where’s the money?”

“We know that there are more than 535,000 locally owned businesses fueling our state’s economy, and employing more than 1,632,000 Coloradoans. Local community investment is how we can leverage that investment and multiply it, creating a dramatic change in communities,” said Karl Dakin, executive director of the Sullivan Chair. “My backyard is becoming the center point for economic planning. And entrepreneurial approaches are needed. As the largest economic force within the Berkeley community, Regis University is making available the knowledge and creativity of its faculty and students to develop new economic models that are free enterprise approaches for communities,” he went on.

Work is currently underway on the pilot project Community Impact Investment—the Berkeley Information Center. The center is intended to provide a broad range of local information to the citizens of the Berkeley District of Denver, Colorado.  At present, there is no single, central depository of information regarding the many recreational, professional, civic, and domestic activities needed in daily life by individuals, families and businesses within the community. The Berkeley District Merchants’ Association identified a lack of information as the major obstacle to economic development, and as a clear limitation on the district’s quality of life.

“The greatest challenge that we have as a business is getting our information out to our potential local customers. In this age of social media, the web, and other forms of information dissemination, there are too many outlets for information, all with varying degrees of credibility,” points out Dan Taylor, Merchants’ Association president. “Trying to use just a couple of these methods of communication is not only time consuming, but fails to reach a broad enough audience. What is really needed is a hub to allow access to local information and a central location to disseminate information.”

Community Impact Investment is a community development and revitalization activity that is conducted to address a community problem.  Funding for the activity may be provided through a social investment model without government monies or charitable gifts. By looking to local money and providing a means for repayment, a community can achieve a level of self-determination.

The Berkeley project will use a two-stage process of planning and action. Regis University will lead the first stage supported by the Berkeley community. In the second stage, the Berkeley community will lead the start and growth of the information center, while Regis University provides support. “Working together we can build a more durable, healthy and connected local economy,” says Rebecca Saltman, project manager for the Berkeley Information Center. “The more we can do in our own backyard, the more stable our local economy will be.”

During the planning process, information will be gathered from citizens and businesses within Berkeley as to their common information needs.  Information in this context could include anything from soccer game schedules and field usage, to merchant coupons, or police reports, government forms, real estate listings and virtual tours, community billboard postings, Regis University activities, and entrée to all forms of social media. After completing an inventory of all types of Berkeley community information, the citizens of Berkeley will be surveyed to determine what information is most important. Then, different delivery options will be considered based upon available technology. The Berkeley Information Center will make use of the latest Wi-Fi and smartphone systems for collection and distribution of information.

The Sullivan Chair will present the Berkeley Merchants’ Association with different funding options on January 5, 2012.  The plans will provide for the operation of the center to generate revenue from which investors may be paid back. This monetization of the Berkeley Information Center may include advertising fees for banner ads, tag ads, and coupons, transactional fees on sales of products and services, subscription fees by members of the Berkeley community, and information distribution fees by government agencies. Total fees need to be sufficient to cover operational costs and recover investment dollars.

Regis University students will be integrally involved in both the planning and launch of the center so that they can learn entrepreneurship. The immersion-based educational approach allows students to learn entrepreneurship by engaging in entrepreneurial activities. “To best prepare students to enter the workforce, they must learn entrepreneurial practices for managing constant change,” stated Marilynn Force, an adjunct faculty member at Regis University and an educational consultant to the Sullivan Chair. She offered a quote by Chris Lowney from his book “Heroic Leadership,” “Only those with the deeply ingrained capacity for continuous learning and self-reflection stand a chance of surfing the waves of change successfully.” Regis University advocates this kind of surfing regularly by applying the principals of Jesuit education, inculcating the characteristics of a modern entrepreneur. The measure of their personal greatness is less what they found at journey’s end and more the depth of human character that carried them along the way: their imagination, will, perseverance, courage, resourcefulness and willingness to bear the risk of failure…”

Force goes on, “Regis University strives to instill in students the discipline of continuous self-reflection that the Ignatian process demands. For in that process one can define order to one’s life and know self-awareness as the foundation of leadership. Entrepreneurs, if not self-aware, are subject to a loss in understanding of their market place/demographic, community and self-actualization which connects them to their customer base.”

If the Center can meet the needs of the Berkeley community and achieve sustainable operations, the Sullivan Chair will package the Center’s plan in a kit with lessons learned from the plan’s implementation.  The kit will be offered for sale to other communities.  In this manner, a single project may be widely replicated and locally funded across the nation.

John Reed is a volunteer at Regis University with an interest in rural economic development.

Executive Director Iowa Business Council

The Person I became the third executive director of the Iowa Business Council (IBC) in September 2005. I was professionally educated and socially tutored at the University of Iowa (business degree, 1981) and Vermont Law School (Juris Doctor, 1991). I served as a law clerk for the Honorable Donald P. Lay, Chief Judge of the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota. A move to Chicago ensued where I worked as an associate attorney at two law firms, practicing primarily in commercial civil litigation. I then returned to Iowa in 1995 as the legislative liaison and a policy planner for the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Subsequent positions included serving as Vice President of Government Relations at the Iowa Association of Business & Industry and as President of the Iowa Taxpayers Association. Immediately preceding my arrival at the IBC, I spent four years as a member of the Iowa Utilities Board, appointed by then-Governor Tom Vilsack. I’m a native of Iowa City, Iowa. My beautiful wife and mid-state New York native, Kay, and I live in Des Moines with our two terrific auburn-haired kids!

The Work

The Iowa Business Council (IBC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose members are the top executives of the largest businesses in the state, the three Regent university presidents, and Iowa’s largest banking association. Founded in 1985, the IBC’s purpose is to focus the personal commitment of its members in active leadership roles on major initiatives that offer opportunity to enhance Iowa’s economic vitality and improve the lives of its citizens. Council members identify economic issues, evaluate options, and assist in implementing solutions through collaborative public/private partnerships. Collectively, these companies and institutions employ over a quarter million Iowans and have committed billions of dollars in capital investment to the state. On an annual basis, several hundred million dollars in financial contributions and thousands of volunteer hours are directed to numerous charitable causes around Iowa. IBC members also lead in technology innovation and grants procured for research and development. The Business Council focuses its efforts primarily in areas related to advanced technology, continuous process improvement, economic and workforce development, education excellence, health care and wellness, and operations continuity and security.

Toughest Part of My Job

Remaining civil and respectful to those who, during political discourse, ignorantly engage the disoriented popular fashion of universally vilifying everything that capitalism and free enterprise is about.

Biggest Career Breaks

When the late Serge Garrison took a flier and hired me in 1983 as a bill drafter for the Iowa Legislature; when the late Don Lay mercifully took me on as one of his law clerks in 1991; and, when David Lyons brought me back to Iowa to serve as the Department of Economic Development legislative liaison in 1995.

Personal Hero

Nile Clarke Kinnick, Jr.—college football’s Heisman Trophy winner in 1939. University of Iowa Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude Senior Class President, ranked third in his U of I law school class 1940. Grandson of an Iowa Governor, Kinnick’s Heisman Trophy acceptance speech is considered one of the most eloquent ever given (the Marion Sentinel endorsed a presidential run for Kinnick in 1956, the first year in which he would be eligible). 1939’s Walter Camp Award winner, Maxwell Award winner, Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year (finishing ahead of Joe DiMaggio, Byron Nelson, and Joe Louis), consensus All American, and Big Ten MVP. Kinnick was a U.S. Naval aviator who reported for duty in 1941 three days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. He perished in 1943 when his F4F Wildcat developed a serious oil leak that prevented him landing on the USS Lexington lest he endanger the crew. Though he executed a perfect emergency water landing in the Caribbean Sea in view of the flight deck, the plane sank with Kinnick on board before rescue boats arrived eight minutes later. Shortly after his induction Kinnick wrote, “There is no reason in the world why we shouldn’t fight for the preservation of a chance to live freely, no reason why we shouldn’t suffer to uphold that which we want to endure. Every man whom I’ve admired in history has willingly and courageously served in his country’s armed forces in times of danger. It is not only a duty but an honor to follow their example the best I know how. May God give me the courage and ability to so conduct myself in every situation that my country, my family, and my friends will be proud of me.”

Something About Me Not Everyone Knows

My great-grandfather, Fred C. Gilchrist, served seven terms in Congress representing northwest Iowa (1931-45). I caddied for baseball great Billy Martin once. And I was on a tour of the White House when the attacks started on September 11, 2001.

Recent Good Books Read

Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin – a fascinating examination of how President Abraham Lincoln became a master politician, primarily by holding his allies close and his enemies closer.

Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, by Bill Bryson – a delightful, humorous, insightful recounting of childhood innocence and optimism growing up in a Midwestern town during the 1950s, wistfully revisiting the broader social and cultural mores of days gone by.

Best Books Currently Reading

Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose – a remarkably detailed account of the epic journey made by the Lewis & Clark Expedition in President Thomas Jefferson’s desire to find a water route from the U.S. interior to the Pacific Ocean.

An American Life: The Autobiography, by Ronald Reagan – the candid, insightful, sometimes witty accounting of a private and public life that led to an historic presidency.

Personal Interests & Hobbies

Family, bogey golf, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Chicago Cubs, collecting old sports cards, presidential biographies, and good music – as long as it’s ‘70s era or jazz.

First Job

Selling soda in the stands at Iowa Hawkeye football and basketball games during the late 1960s (pre-child labor laws).

Favorite Vacation Spots
The Cascade Mountains in Oregon, anywhere in Scotland, and Wrigley Field.

If I Had a Different Job

Golf course architect – creating layouts with no rough, hazards, or out-of-bounds on the right.

If I Could Wave a Wand and Change Something

Require civility, propriety, and respect in all public discourse and private interaction. Make personal responsibility, accountability, discipline, civic pride, virtue, and professional integrity the bedrock foundation for all U.S. citizens. If you can’t handle that, out you go.

Founder, President and JourneyWoman

Dafna Michaelson is the founder, president and JourneyWoman for the 50 in 52 Journey, a project for which she traveled across America to all 50 states and Washington D.C., spanning the 52 weeks of 2009 to find America’s problem-solvers and idea generators. Through this journey, Michaelson has been sharing the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for their communities throughout the country, with the goal of changing the mirror we use that reflects who we are as a society and thus inspiring others to action.

The project received national attention from “CBS Sunday Morning,” NPR, CNN as well as KUSA-TV, Denver’s NBC affiliate, the Denver Post, 5280 Magazine, multiple radio stations, local news outlets, countless blog recognition, and social media for social good awards as the country became motivated by the Journey.

In 2010, Michaelson launched the Journey Institute and Journey Productions to help others mobilize their communities to action including through her radio show, conferences, social media engagement and her upcoming book.

Through her contract with the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation, Michaelson has been developing workshops and classroom materials based on her 50 in 52 Journey to elevate youth to the role of community problem solvers and to create safe social and emotional learning spaces by working with faculty, staff and students to develop a base level of the workings of productive kind communities.
Additionally in 2010, as founder of the Women as SOCIAL Entrepreneurs group, Michaelson brings together women in a supportive environment to grow business ideas that benefit the community.

Most recently, Michaelson joined the TED family first as a presenter for TedxDenverEd and now as curator of TedxCrestmoorPark: Breaking Boundaries, Building Community and TedxCrestmoorParkWomen.
Local community achievements include: Leadership Denver 2008, Denver Health Foundation’s Level 1 Society Board, Downtown Denver Partnership Leadership Program 2007, Mayoral appointment to the Denver Women’s Commission, Current Board Member of the Colorado Women’s Lobby, Past President of Denver Chapter of Hadassah, Current Member of Commerce City Economic Development Committee, Adjunct Faculty Member of Metro State College of Denver Center For Innovation Teaching “Entrepreneurial Promotions,” Youth Mentor: Metro State College of Denver Center For Innovation Young Entrepreneurs Challenge.
Michaelson has been recognized nationally, as well as locally, for her achievements. She was awarded the 2010 Person of the Year award by “Conversations Magazine.” More recently she was recognized by “ColoradoBiz” magazine as a “Trendsetter” for being a social entrepreneur and “making a difference in business and beyond.” As well as by David Siteman Garland of the entrepreneurial business series The Rise to the Top amongst “35 Female Visionaries You Need to Know.”

In 2011, Michaelson was presented the Go-Giver award personally by Bob Burg, author of the international best-selling series Go-Giver books, in recognition of her national and global achievements in community building.

Michaelson shares a beautiful Colorado lifestyle with her husband Michael Jenet, and their combined children Ryan 17, Gavriella 11, and Eytan 9.

Chief Executive Officer Business Genetics

Vic Ahmed is a hands-on, results-oriented executive with a proven track record of building and funding companies from the ground up and for growth. Over his 24 year career he has established multiple startup companies by providing the vision and strategy for each. This includes getting funding, executing tactical and operational plans, and recruiting management teams to lead the companies to success.

Ahmed understands people and skill sets. He built an entrepreneurial culture within the companies that he has worked with to promote initiative and results orientation among employees by goal setting, coach-oriented oversight, and by establishing an environment that provides the tools to get the job done right.

Ahmed currently serves as the CEO of BusinessGenetics the world’s first scientific method for describing business. Its revolutionary business modeling approach is based on its proprietary Business Modeling Language which enables users to gain an exact and complete understanding of all aspects of the organization.
He is also a Managing Partner at Cast in Green, a Denver-based incubator and consulting organization that assists companies in “getting off the ground,” by putting together viable and achievable objectives and plans, assembling top notch management teams, and getting the organization funded.

Finally, as CEO of the most successful incubator in the U.S.—Plug and Play Tech Center (www.plugandplaytechcenter.com) has helped 600 companies by raising $750+ million. In June 2011 the first Plug and Play incubator outside of Silicon Valley opened in the Denver Tech Center. Plug and Play Tech Center is part of a thriving Silicon Valley community of more than 300 startups from all over the world. The Plug and Play Tech Center has a number of strategic partnerships, including 170 investors who participate in regular screening sessions exclusive to member. International, university, and corporate divisions create an ecosystem of innovation that goes beyond just startups.

Wearing many hats across various organizations, Mr. Ahmed participates in many boards. He is the Founder, Board Member and Chairman of The Indus Entrepreneurs, Rockies Region (TIE-ROCKIES); Board Member of the Colorado Secretary of Technology IT Commission; Board Member of the Colorado Governor’s Innovation Initiative; Member of the Advisory Board for the Bard Center of Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado; Board Member of ICAST which is a sustainable development for underserved communities; Board Member of ACET Park which is a joint venture between NASA, NREL and CAMT.

Ahmed graduated from Washington University in 1987 with a bachelor of science in Computer Science and Systems Science and Mathematics. He also took graduate courses at Lahore University of Management Services for Information Systems and at Stanford University for Market Strategies for Technology Based Companies.

A visionary is defined as one who is given to impractical or speculative ideas; a dreamer. They come in all shapes and sizes. Oftentimes, needle-moving vision has no definition—it is something that is characterized in the brain of the visionary and few others. However, our lives would not be what they are without amazing visionaries leading the charge into the great unknown. Historical visionaries include the likes of Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin, Henry Ford, and Thomas Edison. But the amazing Steve Jobs former CEO of Apple Inc. and of Pixar Animation Studios, is someone in recent history that changed life as we know it, and succinctly shared his thoughts on vision.

VISIONARIES CAN CONNECT THE DOTS

In his commencement speech at Stanford in 2005 Jobs talked about connecting the dots. He recounted his college years saying, “After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out ok. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.” While not an easy living, sleeping on the floor, and trading coke bottles for the 5₡ deposit to buy food, Jobs learned to follow his curiosity and intuition—something that would be priceless as he and Steve Wozniak started Apple.

During his speech, Jobs told of how his college offered one of the best calligraphy classes in the country, so he decided to learn, believing there was not practical application. Wrong he was. Jobs said, “When we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life,” he declared.

GOOD OR BAD—VISIONARIES LOVE WHAT THEY DO

The next part of his story really addressed success and failure. In his Stanford speech he shared the journey to success with Wozniak and Apple, the release of the Macintosh, and the devastating public firing by someone, whom he had brought in, when their visions no longer jibed. While considering leaving Northern California, Jobs realized he loved what he did. So he started again.
“It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life,” he said. And, during the next five years, he started NeXt, a workstation company and acquired Pixar Animation Studios from Lucasfilm in 1986, and sold it to Disney in 2006 for a valuation of $7.4 billion.

“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle,” he urged.

At his speech to the graduating seniors at Stanford, Jobs reminded them to live each day to the fullest—to remove the external expectations, the pride, the fear of embarrassment and failure—because just as surely as they were born they are going to die. He shared his story of learning about the cancer that would later claim his life and he said, “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

He urged the audience to embrace life. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition,” he said.

This issue of ICOSA is filled with visionaries of small and large organizations, in academia, across the government, and in community organizations that are absolutely moving the needle. These pages are filled with stories of leaders who can connect the dots, love what they do, have a sense for the future and are planful as to what comes next, and don’t waste time being drug under by naysayers. They have courage, they have foresight, they wisdom, they have dumb luck, they are in the right place at the right time—ultimately, they have vision.

They have a different eye, they have a different mind, they have great leadership skills, and they are on the forefront of change in the world. As Steve Jobs would say… “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

All the best,
- Jan Mazotti

Goal Setting and Vision

Wikipedia defines goal setting as, “establishing specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-targeted objectives. Goal setting and planning promotes long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses intention, desire, acquisition of knowledge, and helps to organize resources.” Vision is a different task than simply establishing goals. Goals are the end-result of a path that achieves something deeply desired. Vision utilizes past experiences, along with the constant presence of ideals, to establish goals, dreams, and ideas for what the future will be. It helps to direct aspirations. A forward-looking vision cannot be achieved without assessing the big picture, while examining the past and present.

Business

Business is a major driver in our world—it is the decisive factor with respect to the success or failure of any societal goal. Vision cannot be achieved without assessing the big picture, again examining the past and the present. An organization’s ability to remember triumphs, as well as hardships, will help determine which paths to take going forward.
Before looking ahead, collaborative teams need to assess the present situation, especially regarding how members of the organization are connected to one another. It is also important to review the resource management system, including resources that have been gathered and what is currently being done with them. These resources, human or non-human, are what keep businesses alive, and as such should be given great attention. This is the point in the process to address any insufficient connections between members or the resource management systems.
One must manage at a 360-degree view to get the full vision and ideas that are being addressed in the organization and focuses on all business units to address inefficiencies. When a company is truly connected, the barriers of doing business are eliminated. Success demands total access and expertise.

Leadership

As a leader, the future must be envisioned, passionately believed in, and people must be inspired to succeed further than they may have ever dreamed conceivable. Leaders look at things from all perspectives and realize that business must keep up with the acceleration of change. The responsibility is on the leader to articulate the vision while making certain the employee comprehends the vision for exciting opportunities and possibilities for the future. As Warren Bennis says, “The leader finds greatness in the group, and he or she helps the member find it in themselves.” Motivation is contagious and seeing people who have this value drives others to want to be part of something greater than themselves. This is the kind of vision that prods us to move mountains if necessary to get things done.

Shared Vision

To achieve coordination among many diverse groups, a shared vision of common objectives and methods is vital to becoming connection-minded. Leaders must identify opportunities and share vision and business strategy, both at a company and departmental level. The better the vision is shared, the greater the possibilities for growth, efficiency, and profits. Multiple perspectives driving the vision can develop shared purpose and action.

Strategies are used as a road map for critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving to attain goals for each area. By communicating the goals, each member of the organization can begin to see a different section of the big picture, what the most successful projects and methods were, future potential, etc., while understanding and upholding the organization’s vision.

Economic Environment

A shared vision of common objectives and methods is vital. Envisioning what your people, your customers, suppliers and competitors are going through is a critical step to making intelligent decisions when the going gets tough. Look at gurus, industry leaders, customers, suppliers, and partners for new and better ways to do business and develop a game changing strategy.

At ICOSA we wish to create a long-term legacy of success, even in periods of greatest financial weakness by creating a standard for business, government and all Colorado colleges and universities to unleash the collaborative power we have at our disposal. We want to help strengthen our state, even in an economic downturn, collaboratively. Creating broad-based leadership and bolstering vital relationships with state representatives, educators, business partners and customers both intrastate and interstate will be a driver in that goal. And, I believe when we network with people and ideas we can help each other create an education format that integrates these values into a practical learning environment for personal growth in real business. Going forward, we must create new statewide core competencies and options while recognizing windows of opportunity to create excellence or new opportunities, products, or services. I believe that great power will be generated by people who communicate a compelling vision of the future.

The most important emphasis must be on today and the future, while learning from the past. The future does not just happen, we create it. The success of a company, department, or organization depends on the people involved being able to identify what is important, make informed assessments of a situation or opportunity, taking action, and then moving on to the next issue.

I am motivated by a vision of state transformation where everyone is engaged in creating a better civilization. That vision put into action can extend to us great opportunities—opportunities to learn, to earn, and to care for our families—by simply working together systematically and bringing forth our best efforts.

The evolution process of a properly designed infrastructure, filled with proper resources, shared vision, organizational transformation, and sustainable continuity is the responsibility of each organization and crucial to the long-term quality of life on all levels. Vision is the force that transforms endless possibilities into planned action. The time has come to start following your vision, utilizing your infrastructure and your resources, and transforming your theories into action!

Best,
- Gayle Dendinger

Eve Blossom’s Profitable Social Venture

It is absolutely necessary for both business and design to build sustainable social enterprise. So how do profitable social ventures get started? These are the basic foundations. Start with establishing a business that offers a product or service that is of personal interest and that a customer wants, this takes some experience.

Eve Blossom outlines a profitable social venture system in her book, Material Change, Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement. Taking a visceral reaction from a repugnant social condition, to researching facts, to what is really behind a problem requires a redesign of what leads society to a specific behavior. A social faux pas can be an opportunity for a social venture. Oftentimes, social ventures are structured as nonprofits so they lack equity, rarely become sustainable, and have low if any financial yield. Blossom, a successful social entrepreneur has developed a system for making social ventures profitable. She says, systems designs can be applied to many things like structures in a building, a product, or a business, and as such, a system can be designed to make social ventures profitable.

“Design is now understood as an approach, a way to view the world and create an ongoing lifestyle,” she says. An item’s lifecycle is the most important element in getting a product or service to be desired by a customer. Being a customer is termed more responsible than a consumer, because, she argues, “Being a customer unites people in shared experiences.” The design approach is more than making a product aesthetically pleasing but it’s about, “Building a smarter framework of ecological, economic and social sustainability. It’s about deep systematic engagement,” Blossom asserts. In Material Change she says, “Design can also change the fundamental building blocks of business.” The building blocks are worth consideration because the alternative is uncivil—observing unemployment, human trafficking, and child labor injustices.

One way to go about creating a social venture is to keep in mind the following practices. Consider the entire lifecycle of a product or service from raw materials to disposal. Focus first on developing the most sustainable areas and then address the smaller issues, like designing new products for the end of the lifecycle by ensuring that materials in the product last longer or are reusable. Ensuring the transparency of product development is also important, as customers often want to engage in the larger sustainability experience.
The hidden trade-offs of many products can anger customers—trade-offs like child work houses, slavery, and work for room and board without wages. Balancing an item’s “true cost” to its price is becoming a trend, as well as purchasing value-driven products. Hidden costs can also be dangerous. Take for example finding a terrific sale on a DVD player for five dollars. Parts and labor surely cost more than five dollars. So what are the hidden costs a customer doesn’t see? Is it possible the hidden costs are pollution, increased exposure to carcinogens, unfair labor wages, no wages, or slavery?
There is good news too! An example of a sustainable company is Whole Foods, an international, $8 billion dollar organization with 54,000 employees who work towards creating a better person, company, and world. Their motto is, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet—our vision reaches far beyond just being a food retailer. Our success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, team member excellence and happiness, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment, and local and larger community support.” They are a prime example of a truly sustainable enterprise. They are a great example of how companies can encourage and ensure ethical production.

Blossom’s book also tells the story of collaboration between designers and artisans working in a for-profit social venture. Lulan is that for-profit social venture which employs artisans in Asia and India to prevent human trafficking. Blossom identifies six components that create sustainability at Lulan including ecological, economic, social, cultural, communal and personal elements. Lulan also allows employees to choose benefits that suit them best such, like giving housing allowances or educational opportunities. Material Change takes an in-depth look into all six components and their success.

Blossom, a “disruptive entrepreneur” describes other disruptive entrepreneurs as spirited business leaders who are redesigning method and models with meaning and profitability. A disruptive entrepreneur is someone who will, “Collaborate, excite, inspire, create, include, modify, adapt, and redefine.” The disruptive entrepreneur erases the singular genius hierarchy and uses collaboration for stronger results. When applied correctly this type of collaboration draws people in, new ideas develop, and profitable partnerships begin. Furthermore, roadmaps are offered in the book, offering guiding materials for social entrepreneurs. Additionally, Blossom is launching a new website offering products made using the profitable social venture system. These items can be found at http://www.wevebuilt.com.

Blossom believes that collaborative social entrepreneurship can build a, “Container of collaboration, a place where rich relationships and partnerships can flourish, a place that becomes stronger than you ever imagined, it’s like an invitation to a really cool party.”

Material Change, Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement is available at bookstores and online retailers.

The Future Is Much Better Than You Think

Doom and gloom is seen all over the news and can be heard in daily conversations. However, this dominant pessimistic narrative ignores the possibilities of the future. Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think is an excitingly optimistic new book by Steven Kotler and Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation that introduces a refreshingly new change in perspective.

Exponential Technology

Abundance introduces the famed inventor Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity University whose curriculum focuses on advancing the state of technologies such as biotechnology, computational systems, networks and sensors, artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing, medicine, and nanotechnology. Kurzweil’s writings describe how technologies are improving at an exponential rate, and understanding what that means for the future.

Sometimes people have difficulty wrapping their heads around the concept of exponential growth—like in the case of linear growth—30 steps will come out to over a billion. It is the reason why the cell phone in your pocket is a million times cheaper, a million times smaller, and a thousand times more powerful than a $60 million super computer was in the sixties. That’s a billion-fold increase in price and performance and miniaturization. Interestingly, the most dramatic increases in an exponential growth curve are in the last few steps.

Similar improvements in other technologies, such as those being studied at the Singularity University, will reshape industry and impact billions of lives. With this book, Diamandis and Kotler present compelling research and expert interviews designed to educate and inspire. Providing humanity with abundance is a great challenge, and Abundance outlines how.

“Scarcity is often contextual,” they pose to the reader. While people are overwhelmed by the scarcity they observe in their day-to-day lives, there also exists a broader historical perspective. Consider this example; Napoleon had offered his most honored guests utensils made of aluminum, while his other guests had to make due with gold. The context of scarcity changes because technology is a resource-liberating mechanism.

Besides the concept of exponential growth in technologies, the book examines how these technologies are and will change the lives of people globally in the near to intermediate future. In fact, they already are.

The Rising Billion

A young person in Africa today with a cellphone has access to better communication technology than the President of the United States did 25 years ago. Abundance explores the concept of the Rising Billion—the phenomenon where the world’s poorest billion people are experiencing an unprecedented rise in global information and economic integration. In fact, mobile phones and the Internet are bringing education and market access to those that never had it before. Previously ignored, they are now becoming a valuable market for businesses. Previously lost, their ideas and aspirations can now be a creative force heard around the world.

DIY… With others

Not too long ago, advances in technology were often the workings of individual inventors. Because of this system, major changes were infrequent and the process wasn’t efficient. Next came organized research and development that was conducted only by well-funded projects within universities, governments, and corporations. Today, the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) movement is empowering and connecting individual innovators with capital and other like-minded individuals. As a result of this shift, new technologies, such as 3D printers, can come about very quickly because of this networked innovation.

Technophilanthropists

Abundance also looks at a new breed of change agents, known as technophilanthropists. As we know, information technology has created some of the richest and most successful business individuals in history who want to make a difference. People like Microsoft’s Bill Gates, eBay’s Jeff Skoll, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are revolutionizing philanthropy by how they give. Referring to technophilanthropists, Elon Musk said, “They are now attracted to the biggest problems facing humanity, particularly in areas such as education, healthcare, and sustainable energy. The result will be the creation of new technologies, companies, and jobs that will bring prosperity to billions on Earth.”

Abundance is a must read for anyone who wants to understand how, “Humanity is entering a period of radical transformation where technology has the potential to significantly raise the basic standard of living for every man, woman, and child on the planet.”

Visit www.AbundancetheBook.com to learn more, buy a copy, and watch the great two-minute video produced by Jason Silva.