Supersizing Responsibility, Not Portions

According to UNEP, 30 percent of global fish stocks have already collapsed – meaning that they now yield 10 percent or less of their previous potential.  I also know full well that some one billion people around the world, most of them from developing countries, rely on seafood as their primary source of protein and a major source of their sustenance.

Responsible fisheries management and improved practices here in the U.S. and around the world are a good start and help alleviate some of my guilt.  Fish farms also have a role to play in meeting the world’s growing demand for seafood, but they are not without their challenges or critics.  And while I’m intrigued by the promise of genetically altered fish, there are many unanswered questions and many associated risks still to be addressed.

Although my concerns about the health and vitality of the world’s fisheries are rooted in a desire for ecological sustainability and preserving biodiversity, a connection between overfishing and societal health and wellness (in America at least) is becoming increasingly clear.  I’m talking specifically about portion sizes and how (and how much) we consume.  The seafood platters I saw this summer were huge – as big, or bigger, than I can ever remember.  This trend isn’t limited to fish, and it certainly isn’t limited to Cape Cod.

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Cause Sponsorship: The New Model

The way corporations sponsor causes is changing dramatically. Sponsors are moving from investing in “properties” that deliver quantifiable ROI in terms of impressions, interactions, and sales to developing proprietary social programs that deliver qualitative ROI such as employee and customer trust and engagement.

Here’s the old paradigm: your corporation identifies a cause property (i.e. an event such as a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure or the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s CIBC Run for the Cure), pays a sponsorship fee to the related charity, and then spends, on average, at least 75 cents per dollar of the sponsorship fee on activating the event through a combination of internal and external marketing and communications.

Here’s the new model: your corporation identifies a social issue that is aligned with its overall community investment strategy and of high relevance to employees and external stakeholders, you develop a proprietary social program and secure one or more charitable organizations as partners, you activate the social program at a much lower cost through direct participation that delivers real engagement and through social media that delivers more reach and is seen as more authentic.

Here’s a great example: This summer, Pepsico’s Frito-Lay division launched a mobile greenhouse designed to help Americans who have never been to a farm learn more about where their food comes from and interact with potato farmers and plants. The Lay’s brand will give away approximately 8,000 individual basil plants to people who participate in the farm experience.  And, at each city stop, the brand will donate potato, tomato, onion, pepper and basil plants to non-profit groups that are creating and maintaining community gardens. The Mobile Farm Tour stopped in New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas.

I’ll be talking more about this important shift at a presentation for the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada on September 23rd.

Vivi’s Pick of the Week – Organic Hero Tee

Go Gently Baby’s Hero Tee! 100% Organic and totally adorable. Perfect for the little hero in your life. Click the image to shop Go Gently Baby on Vivi.

“This little Hero is saying the words, “Faster than a recycling truck, Able to spread peace in a single bound, and on a mission to help children in need”. He is a wonderful little character who has big plans to do good things. Made from 100% organic cotton jersey, screened with water based ink.” – From Go Gently Baby

The “Vivi Store,” as my niece calls it, is a small clothing shop (located in Ho-Ho-Kus NJ) for babies and children, designed around the concept of living green, reducing waste and supporting socially responsible companies. Everything at Vivi is made with natural fibers. We have a mix of lines that are either organic, handmade or made with recycled fabric. And most of our designers are doing something to give back to the global community. Whether it’s in the structure of their company and how it’s run, in their philosophy of giving back or in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, they are all producing fantastic products that are healthy for the planet and for the children who wear them. As consumers, we really do have the power to change the world for the better just by choosing to support the companies that are working to do just that.

Learn more about us…

So You Want to Start a Green Business

According to Glenn Croston, author of “75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference” believes that it’s a combination of business savvy and a commitment to the future that defines the successful green entrepreneur.”Ecopreneurs have got to believe in the importance of working for a greener future and a sustainable economy,” he says. It’s also important to “be a solid business person, someone who knows a good product and can deliver it.”

Within our sustainability consulting, we’re frequently greeted with questions pertaining to starting a green business: 

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Cultivating Talent with Sustainability-Based Incentives

Many believe we are fast approaching a turning point towards economic recovery, yet most businesses will be emerging from these leaner times resource limited.  As a result, engaging and motivating the organization will become even more critical to drive efficient productivity. 

Talent management encompasses the entire spectrum of sourcing, attracting, developing, retaining, and measuring the performance of organizational talent.  Our sustainability consulting has observed talent management leaders utilizing progressive measures to meet employee interests and ensure business sustainability alignment across the organization. 

So what do current and prospective employee’s want?

•    Employees want rewarding and meaningful work
•    Employees want to make a difference
•    Employees want growth and development opportunities

And let’s not forget about pay!  Traditionally the underlying objective of a compensation structure has been to attract and retain quality staff.  With the need to get more from today’s workforce, payment structures have to do more. 

With the myriad of compensation strategies available, how can you be assured your structure is driving the right behavior?  Performance pay is a structure that provides bonus pay based on certain performance criteria. It is a widely used in particular industries, based on the concept that pay can motivate job performance, increase employee effectiveness, and align business goals. Research suggests that pay can do this when it’s linked to actual performance.  This model offers several potential advantages:

•    Ties compensation to performance
•    Rewards the right behaviors and builds business sustainability alignment.
•    Encourages leadership and self-management
•    Encourages innovation

Our professional consulting realizes that there is no one a single incentive structure right for all business.  However linking compensation to specific sustainability concepts, businesses have the potential to align the sustainability goals of the organization and motivate behavior.