sustainable development is our business

Sustainable Development Is Our Business

21st Turtle Media Consultants

And it should be yours.

EcoPlan International presents:

This presentation was created in the summer of 1998 in an attempt to provide a lively 15 minute brainstorm introduction to our best thoughts on the relationship between this awkwardly named concept “sustainable development”, and its broader relationship to decision making in the new century. We reproduce it here with only a couple of minor editorial changes. In our view it still holds.

Eric Britton, Paris. 16 April 2006

16 April 2006 Note:

BUT BEFORE WE START

a 100% specialized, high powered,

research-supported, 21st century

media thinktank!

21st Turtle is...

the emerging operational

framework for activity organization

in the 21st Century

Sustainability is...

We are aiming these words and several images at several entirely different kinds of groups (industry, business, government, media, etc), each with very different levels of information on this topic, extremely varied abilities to comes to grips with any kind of new thinking, and of course entirely different basic interests and drives. For some of you this may prove puzzling or a bore. But not to all of you.

Some readers may find the whole topic of sustainable development, unfamiliar, perhaps a bit puzzling, and quite possibly unconvincing. It is after all a very new, complex and still quite muddy topic. The jury is still out in many ways.

Furthermore, the particular angle which we insist on here -- namely, sustainability as an opportunity that can and will yield to leading edge technology and management... when applied with equal doses of wisdom and energy -- is not one that is particularly well known or documented. For now, therefore, you will be left largely to your wits and the few miserable clues provided here to guide you. In the cases that count most here, we are confident that will suffice very nicely.

Who, what, how

Presentation & the notebook metaphor

Since we presume to know something about media, and since the following risks to take at least a half hour of your valuable time, let us share with you a few quick thoughts on the uses and abuses of this particular tool, PowerPoint et al.

When used as anything beyond simple bullet-point visual help for presentations, it can begin to be made into a sort of poor man’s film. For better or worse.

Alternatively, you may think of it as a sort of high-tech comic book: discontinuous panels in which the reader’s active mind provides the missing continuity.

You may also be aware that the level of virtuosity it offers is fast evolving, so if used with the right touch it can achieve a creation number of “film-like’ effects.

The following however is intended to be read by a single person who is comfortably installed before a computer with a first rate monitor. And who has a real interest in our topic. Which is why we have chosen the notebook metaphor.

You will hopefully have few problems in getting around within this presentation, but here nonetheless are some pointers which may be handy for those with limited PowerPoint exposure.

We have left it up to you to decide the timing of the progression of the various panels, rather than lock you into some pre-fixed schedule. Gives you a bit more choice and time to ponder, if you wish. Clicking your left mouse button will advance you one slide. A right click will pop up a menu which then offers quite a few

navigational choices.

If you find anything that doesn’t seem to work or make any sense, the place to go to lodge your complaint or suggestions is right here at:

[email protected]

Navigation note

NOW YOU KNOW.

SO PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Edition of 15 June 1998, # 10 of 75

You’re off...

21st Turtle Media


21st Turtle Presentation Roadmap

1. The business concept in brief2. Introduction & a few definitions

3. Rethinking sustainability4. Sustainability at work

5. Your 21st Century Sustainability Agenda6. 21st Turtle at work

Along with a few very short Think Breaks

Henry Ford in his highly original "My Philosophy of Industry"

published in 1929 wrote that of all the kinds of work he could imagine

the hardest work of all was thinking.

And that's probably why most people do so little of it.


The Business Concept in Brief

I.


21st Turtle Media Consultants

1. A flexible international network of creative independent people and associate groups who stand ready to ...

2. Put their exceptional backgrounds, verve, technical competence, imaginations & energies to work...

3. On the single important task – that of getting the challenging message of sustainable development across to...

4. Companies, communities, schools, and governments around the world -- and of course people who want to know and need to act in light of that knowledge.


21st Turtle has one job:

Sustainable Development


But lots of tools to do it

2nd Opinions * Awards Programs * Beta Tests * Books * Briefings * Cartoons * Collaborative supporting research * Competitions *

Conferences * Content providers to the Web * Creative confrontations * Curriculum counsel * Debates * Demonstrations * Distance

presentations * Exhibits * Fund raising * * Futures Studies * Happenings * Idea mongering * Illustrative graphics * Interviews * Kit

building * Media campaigns * Museum programs * Music & Sustainability * Panels * Partner Searches * Photographs * Play

projects * Polls * Projects focusing on children * Public interest representation * Public meetings * Public recognition * Radio

programs * Rapporteurs * Roundtables * Scenarios * School programs * Seminars * Speakers bureau * Special events * Special

issues of magazines * Speech Writing * Surveys * Sustainability & the arts * Talent scouts * Team builders * Television specials * Tours * Videoconferences * Videos * Virtual Conferences * Working The Web *


Businesses seeking to place themselves in this uncharted, fast-paced new market and production environment

Public sector institutions in search of new policies and practices to move them toward sustainability

Leading-edge innovators needing new levels of support & visibility for their sustainability ideas

Media groups seeking intriguing new content

Four very different sets of needs; requiring very different approaches and partnerships.

We work with & serve:


21st TurtleNot quite like the rest . . .

Deep background & experience in sustainability issues International coverage and competence Fully geared to inter-cultural work Cross-disciplinary by profound, ingrained habit Accustomed to working across public/private interface Hands-on project level implementation experience People skills Communications oriented And you won’t be bored.


Our philosophy of work & life

Tackle socially significant assignments Work hard (when you want to) Work smart (all the time) Make a good living Find strong partners & enjoy great company Have a good time Use best technology to get all this done And try to be sustainable in our own lives.


All of which adds up to...

A rather unusual work mandate & capability In a powerful new area of action & business Which is worth zero if the quality is not there The success of which hinges on...

- Ability to comprehend the underlying issues and trade-offs- The integrity & effectiveness of the advisory relationship - Capability to work closely & efficiently with client - Capacity to understand, surprise, then shift gears, & still hold interest

But only for those who are ready for change.

But are you really ready for change?

Professor Peter Schickele, holder of the Red Guard Chair in Musicolology at the University of North and South Dakota in America, and discoverer of the heretofore deservedly forgotten works of P.D.Q. Bach, found that Bach (1807-1742) had already addressed this matter directly in his powerful choral cantata, “Knock, Knock”.

In the opening recitative the countertenor soloist plaintively asks: “How may psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?”

To which the chorus beautifully responds: “Just one. But only if the light bulb really, really wants to change.”

Refrain taken up and repeated gloriously and endlessly by soloist, choir, and full symphonic orchestra till audience quits hall.


21st Turtle Organization & further information

Individual & team assignments. Associates network developed through decades of

successful international cooperation & execution Track record & full international references. Directed by Eric Britton & Dieter Hagenbach Open to discussion & the coffee’s on us.

Review WWW site and extensions at http://www.ecoplan.org/21t Principals’ Vitae available (contact [email protected]) Pick up the phone, email or write Want to visit 21st Turtle in Paris or Basle (see maps at www.ecoplan.org)

FOR MORE INFO...

mailto:[email protected]


II.

Introduction & a few definitions


21st Turtle Media

Consultant

Sustainability


Why 21st Turtle Media?


Nobody knows.


Media

= the plural of mediummedium: n [L. medium, the middle, neut. of medius, middle]

• A means of expression as determined by the materials or the creative methods involved.

• An agency by which something is accomplished or conveyed.

Or…what you absolutely must have control of to get anything accomplished.

And at 21st Turtle the word is most definitely plural.


Consultantconsult, v,t. [L. consultare, freq. of consulere. to

deliberate, consider, ask advice.]1. to ask advice of; to seek the opinion of, as a guide to one's own

judgement.2. to seek information or facts from.3. to consider; to show regard for; to have reference or respect to in

judging or acting.4. (a) to confer about; (b) to plan for.

This is what we do, and it’s teamwork


Sustainability

= the opposite of profligacy (our definition)

profligate, a, [L. profligatus, pp, of profligare, to rout, to ruin; pro, forward, and fligare, to drive or dash.]

• lost to principle, virtue, or decency.• abandoned to vice. • extremely wasteful.• recklessly extravagant.

Hmmm?

Right enough of course.

But, you must admit, a bit

negative. And a rather

hard sell?

Let’s see if we can do a bit better.


III.

Rethinking Sustainability


Sustainability

Also see our extensive bibliography on this topic

Forget whatever it is you have heard about it in the past. We have a better definition to propose:

Sustainability is the emerging operational framework for activity organization in the 21st Century.

It applies leading edge technology, operations expertise & flexibility to achieve its huge performance edge. It attacks the soft underbelly of today’s prevalent management paradigm: resource waste and associated externalities. One can choose to be earlier or later, but the cost of late entry risks to be considerable.


Probably the best way to make money in the long term in the emerging competitive environment

Early entry can bring multiple advantages Many interesting things already going on (so some

useful “templates” are emerging) Imparts a positive (and deserved) public image for

those who can achieve it In a phrase, a business for its time.

Sustainability -- Why bother?

And, of course, it is environmentally and socially responsible.

Sustainability - Why bother?

A half-dozen eight-year-olds line up to view the moon through the 18 inch telescope. As I watch each teeter on the top of the little stepladder and peer into the eyepiece, something remarkable happens: by the cold moonlight -- a sort of spotlight, painting an ill-focused portrait of the moon on the eye, eye sockets, and a bit of brow and cheek -- each child seems transformed into an adult. Nina, red hair and freckles, becomes a woman in her 40s, the prime of her considerable athleticism now past but her effervescent spirit unsubdued. Nion, a shy and appealing boy, is suddenly a tall and elegantly commanding adult who might be director of a foundation.

My son looks only a bit under my present age. Poised and serious, he offers a vision of a time when I myself have become a memory. I am reminded that everything we see in the sky belongs to the past, and that children in their similarities to us and their differences from us embody our concept of the future. We elders fall away into the past, like leaves from trees in autumn, but the young fall from us, too, their shouts of the glee and apprehension echoing back as they dive the toward the depths of the future.

- Notes from Rocky Hill Observatory Log Timothy Ferris March 23, 1994


Sustainability - A terrific business maybe, but...

The basic concept from the outset (1987) for many people had a negative ring (a la Club of Rome, or go put on a sweater)

Those best placed to make the point (i.e.,the scientific community) have consistently demonstrated poor communications & people skills

Most sustainability statements and propositions still have an unrealistic, hand-ringing quality

Requires a radically different mind set and work organization for all directly involved

An unfamiliar sell (which can also be a real advantage) Control freaks hate it (and fear it)


Sustainability - Several quick examples

The tire industry gets “sustainable” Car sharing works - Believe it or not! The end of kilowatt hours Even elevators do it.

Our topic is so sprawling and varied that it resists compression. But here are a handful of quick examples

to get us going. Perhaps more important than the individual details is the overall story that emerges.


Sustainability - Example 1The Tire Business Heavy truck tires & aircraft tires now being increasingly provided by

"tire service companies" Instead of selling physical products (tires or retreads), they sell tire

services: monitoring tire wear & use, replacing tires as required. Works thus far with vehicle fleets (anyone say “carsharing”) These tires get better mileage, permit more rational retreading and

repair (thus saving resources), offer cost savings for client. And puts any tire group that has refused to spot this pattern in an

increasingly difficult competitive situation. PS. This pattern was clear by 1980 (and our clients got it!)

Here is an excellent example of where you really don’t want to be

last.


Sustainability - Example 2Carsharing

1000 households in a place get together & decide that, By working with a consortium of local planning authorities,

transport operators, cab firms, car rental agencies, They can get by with 70 technology-linked shared cars instead

of 700 individually owned vehicles (as before), In combination with improved public transport, cycle lanes, and

back-up services, And save $2-5,000 each per year. THAT is sustainable!

After years of marginal performance, this template has now been sorted out

& is about to begin to bite.


Sustainability Examples 3, 4, 5... Southern California Edison was among the first energy firms to sell energy

services to their clients, and not kilowatts. This meant that they had to rethink and revise their products and delivery patterns radically. They have made money doing it, and the pattern has spread fast.

Dow Chemical early on began to “rent” some toxic chemicals to clients rather than selling them, thus closing the ecological loop, staying clear of regulators & law suits, & making money in the process.

Some elevator manufacturers now offer "elevator services" (long term contracts for maintenance & operation) in place of old strategy of just selling elevators & leaving the service to whoever.

Again, there are dozens of examples, but are we seeing a pattern yet?


What does it take to succeed in the Sustainability Business?

Radically different mental maps And internal organization Ability to balance production & today's cash flow with

entirely different products & productive environments that are sure to follow (& very quickly)

Information & feedback intensive (so best to be very good at it)

Brainpower & creativity are critical

As is an unslakeable thirst for innovation

And a willingness to try.


Is consistently on the lookout for huge improvements in resource efficiency at every step along value chain

With parallel, anticipated reductions in pollution & external costs (which anyway are increasingly going to be penalized)

Targets service delivery (with higher profit margins), instead of the old physical product (Dawkin’s “lumbering robot”)

Incessantly works to redefine itself Works up, down and across the supply & distribution chain Is an expert battlefield leader, communicator and negotiator Puts the premium on brainpower (intellectual capital) Uses that, and leading edge technology and management

science, to achieve its ambitious objectives

A Sustainable Enterprise


Succeeding in the Sustainability Business

Brainpower & innovation in adequate variety & quantities needed to prosper in this new hot-house environment do not flow from top down

But you may have it already, without being aware of it. You may however need to learn to unleash self-organizing systems Which means constant, meta-controlled experimentation (i.e.,

removing all fear of (early!) failure) And far-reaching dialog & communications: in-house, along full

value chain, customers/users, & well beyond

Which is exactly where 21st Turtle come in.

THINK

BREAK

Have you given any thought to this?• The world will never start to become sustainable until you start to

do so. Yes, that’s right! YOU!• Is that true? If so, where does one start? • Well, what about this? Maybe someone out there can come up with

a “Personal Sustainability Calorie Counter” which at least you and I could begin to apply for ourselves.

• We need some sort of handy metric, so that each of us can begin to get a better feel of how we are doing, sustainably or otherwise. Some sort of measure of, say, our Sustainability Quotient (SQ)

• Maybe our PSCC could start with a base year, for example 1997, and help us to tally our score for that year.

• But what sort of things might go into it?

The Prodigal Son Thesis

# 44 of 75Edition of 15 June 1998,

Typical self-administered questions might be:

How many cars in my household? (look in front of my house) How many kms did I drive last year? (check odometer) What % of the time am I alone in my car? (quick calculation)

Approximate air mileage logged in last full year? # hours I spent in an air-conditioned environment? % I calculate that I am overweight? Am I careful to check the point of origin of the food I buy? How many hours per year do I carry out volunteer or unpaid work for others? How many people did I fire or lay off? Did I give work to? Credit card debt? What % of my average monthly income? What about sorting my garbage? (a little, a lot, none at all?) Etc. (But not a lot more, otherwise we lose too many people. We are, after all, prodigal

daughters and sons, not ready to ascend saints.)

# 45 of 75Edition of 15 June 1998,

Prodigal Son, 3rd and last

• The objective: Not to be perfect today, nor to get perfect overnight. But to see if we -- you & I -- can perhaps do a bit better this year.

• Of course it must be easy to do, otherwise we never will get around to it. It also should be, somehow, interesting and compelling.

• Surely it must not moralize or demean. Most of us are a bit too fragile for that.• Some may want to compare & compete, others not. That’s a personal choice.• If you and I can begin to make a bit of progress ourselves, maybe we then

could share this idea with those closest to us. • Might it make a difference? Start something that might?• Might it give some of us -- as thinkers, innovators, decision makers, policy

types, and role models -- a few new ideas as well?• And, while we’re at it, why not a SCC for cities, with government figuring out

some ways to reward strong performers, & help & encourage the rest?

Steal this idea!


Setting a Sustainability

Agenda

V.

So... IF sustainability is the future,

• or even if it only might be the future,• then it becomes relevant to ask . . .

Is your Sustainability

Agenda ready to go?


Your Sustainability AgendaYour Sustainability Agenda It’s soon 2000 & are you doing this ? Level 3

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this? and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

and this?

Level 2

Level 1

and this?

Opportunities here


The world’s just gonna pass you by.

Sustainability is our business.

Because if not, you can be sure

And it should be yours!


Of course you can always wait.

Hmm?


Toward Sustainability:Step by step


Toward Sustainability:Toward Sustainability: Step...

In the final analysis sustainability depends on people -- their (our!) habits & their choices in daily life.

Sustainable development is thus, above all and by necessity, a bottom-up process

Meaning we have to start with people & very specific, do-able, digestible, ultimately practical things involving everyday life

And understanding that the goal is not to become somehow exquisitely sustainable at some distant ttime, but just a bit more sustainable today

Or waiting for something on the order of “World Government” to come along, take the lead and tell us all what we are supposed to do next.


Toward Sustainability:Toward Sustainability: Step by step...

Thus the bottom line is to understand that to move toward sustainability we must somehow find ways to come to grips with fundamental, deep-rooted, cultural change

But culture is of course in many ways the very antithesis of change

As it is pervasive… whether in public spaces or in the factory, office, school or home

Which in a few words defines our challenge -- How to make this cultural change in a society that seems to be stolidly resisting it?

The answer: Starting with ourselves, in very small steps, over time, and in the knowledge that no one thing will do it.


New behavioral templates needed And new mental maps And new role models And new entrepreneurs (in both public & private sectors) who have got the messageAnd sustainable things for people to do (without having to

starve or go to the moon to find & do them)

The trick (we think) is to define & work with the leading edge

.

Toward Sustainability:Toward Sustainability: Step by step by step...

Which, on a single page, is what 21st Turtle are all about


V.

21st Turtle

at work

The brain pretties things up by paving over the hole with concoction of portraiture borrowed from the immediate surroundings part of the visual field, so in day-to-day life we don't notice that there's a black cold in the center of everything we see. But the trick is exposed when peering with one eye through a telescope at the night sky: dim things disappear if you look right at them. Deep space observers combat this effect by employing averted vision, meaning that they look slightly away from the objects of their attention. Averted vision is the deepest vision.

Averted vision is the deepest vision

As is often the case when you're a star gazing, it's getting cold. An ounce of brandy would be warming, but alcohol is said to reduce the eyes night vision capacity, which in observing galaxies is already severely pressed. One is using not the cones but the rods, which are more sensitive to low light but also poorer at discerning detail. Moreover, the human retina is constructed upside-down... so that the optic nerves, for some evolutionary reason, come up on the light-gathering side of the retina instead of behind it, then converge and drop back toward the brain through a hole near the center of the retina.

- Notes from Rocky Hill Observatory Timothy Ferris, Nov. 1997


How a typical project begins

We listen


21st Turtle A Typical Project?

There is none. Each is unique, sui generis. However they have, at the core, certain things in

common All involve & point up legitimate sustainability issues. All are cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural. Require original thinking. Are team projects, with energetic client participation. And communications intensive. The starting place is you and those around you.


21st Turtle Then we start work at … the end

The next step is to stand back with the client and project team and review, slowly and critically, the precise bottom-line objectives of the venture that is about to get underway

This critical process (not always that welcome) often brings up a fair number of challenges, which may lead to changes to the anticipated or usual way of going about the whole undertaking

This is high energy path and not altogether comfortable process for certain personality types and organizations

Our commitment however is to success, and not to personal comfort levels.


21st Turtle How a project is approached &done

Listen Observe Confer Reflect Play Communicate Organize Write Edit Design

TestAdjustCommission PropagateMotivateNegotiateObserveLearnAdjustMove ahead ahead ahead

1. Why we think it’s a good idea of make the client work hard and involve their staff directly in our assignments.

2. Paul Samuelson has made the point this way:“The best way to convince someone of something is to hand them a half-finished theorem, and let them compete the work.”

3. So then, months later when the dust has settled, our work is done and we walk out your door, the full benefit of all that was done and learned stays right where you need it most.

YOU OWN IT!


21st Turtle Other words for what we do

Specialized consultants Media entrepreneurs Technology mavens Change agents International scouts, networkers & team

builders Dedicated users of market forces Social activists & supporters of innovation Cultural impresarios (whatever that may be) Listeners and negotiators


21st Turtle Media21st Turtle Media

21st Turtle, Clients & Partners

Level 3

Briefings

2nd Opinions

Presentations

Speech Writing

Brainstorming

Television specials

Radio programs

Public interest representation

Documentaries & videos

Special events

Content providers to the Web

Happenings Parades Tours

Newspaper pieces/Op-Ed

Demonstrations

Scenarios

Roundtables

Creative confrontations

Management rethinks

Supporting

research Public recognition & awards programs

Kit building

Level 2

Level 1

Surveys & panels

Futures studies


Sustainable Transportation’s Dirty Secret(Computer-supported challenge to international expert group meeting) End of the Road

(Illustrated book + lecture tour on sustainable transport issues)Preparing for the Nineties(Public lecture series plus book plus strategic project shelf for industrial group) Toward Zero Emissions

(Virtual scientific conference, with United Nations University)Children Look at the City(Drawing program, town hall exhibit & press conference)Turning Point 2000

(Create & maintain Web site for this public interest program.)

The Impenetrable Hexagon(Computer supported challenge to expert group at French Ministry of Environment seeking new ideas for action)

Cafe Mondial(Independent public review of this innovative televillage/virtual learning project in Germany)

Family Mouse Behind the Wheel(Illustrated children’s book. Commercially published version in English. German version for national distribution in school program)

Thursday(A day without cars that incorporates both a demonstration and a vast active research program and public debate. Heavily media supported)

Ciudades Accesibles(A national program for the Spanish Ministry of Environment, involving a cycle of annual conferences, exhibits, demonstrations, and strategic plan for a national ‘pioneer city’ program.)

21st Turtle21st Turtle MediaMediaSome examples (try clicking left mouse button)...

The Cities Business(A 4 month brainstorming program with ample use of graphics, film, audio and guest speakers to provide new activity and product leads for a major automotive manufacturer looking at diversification prospects.)

The Ahmanson Ranch New Town(Strategic & media support over 10 year gestation period for this sustainable town project based on high tech communications, non-motorized internal transport system, low energy housing and local job/housing ratio.)

Bilbao - City of Towers(A one week 2nd Opinion mission involving a small international, multi-disciplinary team to critique a major center city development proposal and offer more sustainable alternatives.)


21st TurtleOur clients, sponsors & partners

Private sector Innovators advancing new concepts & practices Public sector agencies, groups & institutions Media groups


Private Sector:

Wide open brainstorming to identify & cross check target objectives

In-house roundtables to map state of sustainable thinking & practice.

Identify leading players & champions for eventual projects, actions Determine if group “sustainability-quotient” needs more work and

development, and how that might best be done Review eventual in-house S/D projects or actions -- for further

action and/or possible media treatment Organize outreach roundtables with suppliers, downstream

partners, local government, labor unions, etc. to brainstorm, discuss

If needed, help to develop a sustainability agenda

Industry. Financial institutions. Service providers. Small business.


Innovators:

Review operations & plans Provide independent 2nd opinions & counsel Provide independent technical reviews for sponsors/partners Analyze potential for increasing market orientation Set up & help run supporting public/private roundtables Provide counsel on media and public relations campaigns International partner searches Seek out additional funding sources and mechanisms

Media support

Start-ups. Demonstration projects. Public agencies. Private groups. Not for profits.


Public Sector:

Find & secure cooperation of ‘champion’ for the activity Review international S/D inventory for candidate ideas for their

region, community or service area Develop initial shortlist of projects and approaches for screening Shortlist key units, institutions & people to be involved. Organize internal & public/private roundtables to extend project

reach Develop detailed work plan (securing all necessary support) Accompany & counsel project execution (lightly & discreetly) When completed, organize follow-up, propagate & support

National. International. Regional. Local. Community. Volunteer.Agencies. Operators. Suppliers

Go to www.the-commons.org/ciudades/bilbao2010/ for one example of an innovative public partnership project


Media Groups:

Brainstorm to target objectives Identify/review leading S/D projects to come up with... Short lists of candidate projects/groups for media treatment Contact sponsors & negotiate overall package Create positive working relationship with key public groups Work up sketch scenario(s), review and revise as needed Cooperate in storyboard development Technical & media counsel over project duration

Assistance in international marketing and distribution

Television, film, radio, museums, publishers, news media, Internet


21st TurtleProject organization

All projects are co-generated, scoped, tailored & budgeted

1-5 days in-house work with client required to prepare larger projects

Initial project plan & objectives summarized in single page

Projects involve continual interaction with client over duration

Timely task execution and support at all stages are vital

All projects contain bail-out contingency. Client capabilities & personnel used whenever best (thus ensuring

ownership & leaving main product in house)


21st TurtleThe communications vector

21st T projects are communications intensive Close, direct electronic interface over duration All partners & associates linked via SOA electronics Videoconferencing used to connect partners on all major

projects Private, secure Web sites used for larger projects Short weekly progress reports by email & videoconference

… with this sort of project one does not just commission the work, pay ones money & wait passively for the final product to come zipping through the door. This is intensively interactive work & first class communications are essential.

And please bear in mind that . . .


21st Turtle Contacting the management team

Eric Britton, Managing DirectorEcoPlan International 8/10, rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, FranceTel +33 (01) 4326 1323Skype (voice/videoconference): ericbrittonSightSpeed (voice, video): ericbritton [email protected]

Dieter HagenbachGaia Media AGSchuetzenmattstrasse 5, 4003 Basel, SwitzerlandPhone + 41 (61) 261 91 19 Fax +41 (61) 261 91 [email protected]

Remember that earlier allusion to downsizing… but of resources, not of people?

1. Well, if your organization aspires to become sustainable, the first step is to understand that one does NOT begin by firing people. To the contrary.

2. People are IQ? Why would anyone ever want voluntarily to reduce their IQ? Isn’t there something strangely wrong here?

3. So, you retarget so that your firm or agency radically redraws its strategies & resources in order to maintain as a priority (& preferably slowly increase) the number of people whom it ‘nurtures & draws on”.

4. And if you counter here by saying “but not in our case”, is that really not just an admission of your limitations as a manager and leader? In other words, you are somehow failing to find the IQ in your group and put it to work.

5. Which probably means too that you have put a lot of things ahead of your people (which, by the way, is not sustainable)

6. Anybody still there?

So, here’s a path that 21st Turtle proposes you may do well to reflect on ...

A Real Sustainable Agenda

THINK

BREAK

7. Is it likely that if we do not turn around our decades-long practice of substituting technology for people, and begin instead to cherish, free and support our brainpower at all levels, major portions of our organization will be destined just to wither away?

8. Might it be that, if we find a way to alter radically our thinking & practice & turn this place (company, agency, town) into a hive of employee-generated entrepreneurial activity with new lines of business, new products and new methods constantly spilling forth, we would thereby be guaranteeing our long term prosperity and existence?

9. Can you imagine? If you can help to make, to begin that transition, what it would be like to work and be there?

10. And you’d be a hero.

11. Or would you prefer to move into a gated community, buy a gun and try to live in a two-speed society?

Steal this idea.

A Real Sustainable Agenda


P.S.

Have you forgotten our name yet?

sustainable development is our business

Documents

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