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EXCUSE ME, YOUR AGENDA’S SHOWING

Screen Shot 2013-08-20 at 4.38.03 PMThe future arrives on our doorsteps every day as a new opportunity. So why is it that some of us seek to perpetuate the status quo when there is so much to gain from moving forward? This is the story of a valuable lesson relearned.

We recently met with the executives of a national association whose members are marketing organizations that sell travel-related products to the public. We have a service product that enables each of their members to understand customer-driven best practices, implement them and track their progress (rating) vs. the norm…something that currently isn’t being done. So rather than market directly to each member, our thought was to work with the association and provide a new benefit to their members.

All was good, except for the ratings part. They said: “Why would we want our members to compare themselves to one another?” Our answer was pretty simple: They already do. Everyday, everywhere on the Internet they are being reviewed and ranked. To make matters worse, the rankings and reviews are subjective and unreliable; where one person says 5-stars, another says 2-stars. By providing objective data and reviews as an alternative we can begin to balance the equation.

But they politely declined. In the end, personal agendas were more compelling than actual progress. In this case, the individuals involved were at the peak of their careers – a few years from retirement. In spite of clear benefits to their members, an agenda of change was not worth their personal risk.

Is your personal agenda in line with your professional agenda?

by Dwayne Fry Brand Futurist/Minister of Strategy/Department of Idealists

THE POWER OF HABIT

Habit is strong. It is so strong that oftentimes people only do things because that’s the way they have always done them. Wake up, hit the alarm clock, get in the car, pick up coffee, drive to work. But, at what point do we stop and think, “change or die?”

Ever thought of bicycling? Taking the bus? Making your own coffee? Individually the benefit to the environment would be minimal, but multiply it by a million and you’d get real change.

Greenpeace is using this same philosophy to help China protect their diminishing forests. China uses 45 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks annually, eliminating an appalling 25 million trees each year. If this astounding consumption continues, in 20 years, China will become a forest-less nation. The good news is, this deforestation is completely unnecessary. We have reusable alternatives to chopsticks, just as we have green alternatives for just about everything else. The bad news is, we refuse to use them. There Habit goes again, closing out minds and driving our actions.

To encourage the use of these alternatives, Greenpeace created a petition for people to pledge their abstinence in using disposable chopsticks. They also assembled a ‘disposable forest’ in the heart of Beijing to raise awareness of the dangers that can come from following Habit blindly. Stark, leaf-less trees, constructed entirely of used chopsticks, created a message that would not soon be forgotten- Change or die.

by Robert Shaw West Brand Futurist The Republik Companies Chairman/CEO

Photo Credit: © Greenpeace