Planet Good Radio Interview with Will Marre

In all of my experience I have found that most people have a motive inside of them driving them to do good. Why they don’t pursue it is because they’re afraid. Fear can be a dangerous thing. Fear drives airplanes into buildings. Fear drives us to work 80 hours a week. Fear keeps us in our status quo. Whether it’s fear of being broke, being fired, or not being successful, fear keeps us from doing what we really want to do, what we were meant to do.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak on Planet Good Radio.

What I shared is that we must have the courage to act despite our fears. Let’s face it. I don’t think our fears will ever completely disappear and we can always come up with excuses of why we shouldn’t act, but the real rewards come from acting anyway. Once we release ourselves from our fears and become driven by service, our imaginations will explode. In my book, Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner, I tell numerous stories of people who have done just that. None of the people I write about have any formal power or resources. Take for example:

• Chris who, though he couldn’t afford to build a school for all the Sudanese Lost Boys and support his own family, nurtured and paid for one Lost Boy’s U.S. college education.
• Martin, a global executive of a multi-billion dollar company, who reinvented himself as a revolutionary leader of environmental sustainability throughout North and South America turning his knowledge of business into a force for change.
• Kim who saved her struggling training school by enlisting the help of every employee and transformed the company into a powerhouse within eighteen months––without a single lay-off.

What these individuals have is courage, will and imagination.

Towards the end of the interview with Tea Silvestre, the question that I always ask others was turned on me. “What’s the best thing you can imagine doing?” It got me thinking. What’s the best thing I can imagine doing?

For me, I think it comes down to one thing. All of my speaking, writing, leadership development, consulting, and business works culminate to this…

Change the purpose of business. I think this is the fastest way to save the world.

So, what’s the best thing you can imagine doing? What can you do to transform your job, business or life to help create a sustainable future for all? If we all will stop waiting for the world to change and start changing it…if we turn the power of enterprise into the power of good, imagine the world we will create together.

Will Marre

Save the World and Still be Home for Dinner

• What if we could live a pace and enjoy a quality of life that constantly renewed our energy?
• What if all we really wanted in life was to make a positive impact and enjoy our lives?
• What if we understood our own gifts and developed them so we actually made a unique difference?
• What if we could do this no matter what our life circumstances in virtually any job, any time, anywhere?
• What if we didn’t need permission, power or position to do the best thing we can imagine?
• What if we could just start…now?

We can.

Five years ago I founded the American Dream Project to discover what the American Dream is for the 21st century.  I crossed the country giving speeches and hosting town hall meetings to college and alumni clubs, business leaders and community groups.  The Project interviewed and surveyed over 20,000 Americans ages ranging from 8 to 80.  What I discovered was that vast numbers of us are exhausted and drained by the way we work and how we live. What I also found was a shared persistent concern for our future.  We are awakening to the reality that the world needs saving and that it’s up to us to do something.

The bottom line; what nearly all of us really want for our lives is to matter. Our research confirms that today there is a voracious appetite for meaningful work.  At the same time we want to enjoy life, especially our relationships.  We also want to pursue our personal interests and reignite the pilot light of our inner zest.  As one hard working business founder and mother put it,

“I just want to save the world and still be home for dinner.”

What I found on my search for the modern American Dream were many, many people doing exactly that.  They hadn’t quit their jobs; they transformed them.

Of course, no one of us will save the world.  But as one inspired teacher put it,

“When we change our world, the world changes.”

My recent journey into the lives of real people ignited my energy to write a new book, Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner (Capital Books) that’s going to be released September 30.  It has some themes and elements I developed in my first book, Dreams on Fire, which I wrote for the PBS show Reclaiming Your American Dream.   In Save the World I take those themes into the wider arena of creating a world of sustainable abundance.  Sustainable Abundance is the ideal of uniting human ingenuity and moral values to give every human being an opportunity for a decent life.

Even though this is a grand idea, it doesn’t require huge earth-shattering change to bring it about.  It doesn’t require a magic charismatic leader or even the aristocrats of the status quo to respond to a wake-up call.  Rather, I discovered, it is already happening because individuals are changing the way they think, act and communicate.  It is happening everywhere with people of all ages who are making an individual difference that is creating a “tipping point” of positive change.

What I learned from my interviews and experiences is that this positive revolution for sustainable abundance is happening because people whoever they are, wherever they are, are making it happen in their lives, their work and their communities.  Sure, resistance from the voices of the old way of seeing the world only through the lens of greed and self-interest is noisy.  But the tidal wave of change is already drowning their voices through the millions and millions of positive choices we make every day.

We live and work in a time of disruptive transformation.  The convergence of continuous technological breakthroughs, a generational values shift and worldwide entrepreneurialism is radically changing everything.

So how exactly do we participate and accelerate the new future?  That’s the question I address in my book.  There is a common formula people are using to live a life they most value and enjoy.
The book focuses on the idea that we need to “be who we are and do what we came to do.” Here’s how:

1. We all have a Promise to keep. A Promise to live both joyfully and make a difference that only we can make.
2. Do not be afraid. In times like these where we are losing our homes, our jobs or our peace-of-mind, it’s essential that we don’t abandon our Promise because we’re afraid.  Fear will keep us from both happiness and fulfillment.  If we know what our Promise is, we can keep it in any circumstance.  And yes, your Promise matters to all of us.
3. You can bring your life and your work to a higher level right now. By examining the stories of people just like you and me who are living game-changing lives and relishing their relationships we begin to see a formula for breaking through.  By understanding our Design we “see” our calling.  By becoming clear on our soul’s Desire we focus on a unique life-altering passion.  By responding to our noble Drive we bust down doors of opportunity.

This is not trivial.  Or simply inspirational.  I do my best to paint a vivid picture of people who are transforming their careers, personal relationships and individual place in the world. This book tells the stories of how dozens of ordinary people are living the most extraordinary lives.  It reveals the uncommon habits of how these people think, decide and act.  They teach us how we can transform any circumstance into a fulfilling, exciting and contented life. From these stories I lay out the essential steps and ingredients necessary to help us transform our lives by creating a sustainable abundance of all that is truly important in life, both material and spiritual.

I believes the only way to achieve personal sustainable abundance is to help invent it for everyone.  We have two choices.  The first is what happens if we do nothing.  This choice will create a future fundamentally driven by increasing scarcity and competition characterized by economic and military wars and immense suffering.  The second choice is positive adaptation driven by entrepreneurial invention that amplifies our standard of life as we increase human health, human rights and human opportunity.  The second choice is not automatic, but making the right choice during the next 10 years is maybe the most important choice in human history.

By “Save the World,” I ask you to stand up for something that really matters to you.  To make your unique contribution to a sustainable future and add value to the lives of others.  By “Still Be Home for Dinner” I mean our ability to enact these changes in our own way – a way that fulfills our heart and satisfies our soul.

As I hope you can tell, I am deeply motivated by this message.  As loyal advocates of the American Dream Project I wanted to make Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner available to you for free before it is published.  So, if you sign up, we will email you a (short) chapter every day for the next 30 days.

I now have a favor to ask you.  As you know in today’s media circus it’s very difficult to get and sustain anyone’s attention on any message or ideal.  So if you like what you read, it would be very helpful if you would send us a review.  Also send the chapters on to friends and family who you think might benefit.  (If you don’t like what you read please send me an email with your ideas.  I don’t mind being challenged to think in broader, bigger ways.)

And finally, if you have any ideas or opportunities to better promote the book, please let us know.  Believe me when I say I am much more interested in the message than the money I might earn from royalties.  (In fact, I am donating $1 per book to the Grameen Foundation to help end poverty through micro-credit.)  So I am interested in book giveaways, using books as fundraisers for charities or a zillion other ideas you might have.  Most of all, let me know what you think.  I look forward to hearing from you!

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Welcome to a New America

The blast damage of what is turning out to be The Great Recession has united the mindscape of our workplace and marketplace in unexpected common desires of Baby Boomers (age 50 to 65) and Generation Y (age 20-35).  Yes, the generation gap is transforming like a giant, cultural smoothie of unifying values and opinions blended by our new technologies and flavored by the fruit of our shared concern for the future.  This is what research reported in two articles in the Harvard Business Review says (How Gen Y Will Reshape Your Agenda and Understanding the Post Recession Consumer).  The implications are potent for all of us seeking to make a living amidst the economic violence of our new economy.

In the workplace the new trends are turbocharged because Boomers expectations of working long, hard and loyally for a secure retirement has been vaporized.  Meanwhile Boomer children (Gen Y) have seen what work first, last and always priorities have brought their parents, so they want to create a sustainable work life that supports their personal interests and family aspirations even as they launch their careers.  In fact, they don’t view their job as a career.  Instead building a livable, integrated life is their career.  This translates to the mass of America’s working population wanting three things from the work place.

1. Personal flexibility. After health care the most sought after work benefit is flex-time and telecommuting.  Both Boomers and Gen Y want to be held accountable for results not face time.  Employees increasingly feel that the 24/7 connection of their digital leashes work both ways.  If you can email me or text me at home, then I should be able to work from home at least some of the time.  Today, time is the valued currency.
2. Personal meaning. 21st century workers want to contribute to a better world.  This begins with eliminating waste, being environmentally responsible, recycling and a host of “green” practices that make companies feel like good work places.  What’s in most demand are jobs with companies whose core business model benefits humanity or the environment.  The application pool of engineers who want to work on GE’s eco-imagination products is steadily swelling as is the number of advertising professionals who want to work on accounts of the most socially responsible companies.  This trend toward meaningful work is as true for Boomers seeking to leave a final legacy, as it is for their children intent on building a sustainable future.
3. Social Connection. Boomers have worked so hard that they have let their social support networks wither.  No more.  Following the example of Gen Y, they are suddenly investing more in friendships and family.  They are the fastest growing user group on Facebook and more and more Boomers are working with 25 year olds at work on a collegial basis.  In fact, the new business rage is “mutual mentoring” which involves Boomers sharing their wisdom, skill and connections with 20-something’s who are teaching them the wonders of emerging technologies.

In a recent YouTube video I posted, Job Creation for Today’s Unemployment and Uncertain Times, I discuss signposts to look for when searching for a 21st century career that are expanded upon in my book, Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner.

Meanwhile in the market place the length of our financial famine is likely to permanently alter what we buy, how we buy and how much we buy.  Gone are the days of the insane consumer.  They’re gone because our money has been caught in an industrial strength shredder.  Incomes and credit are unlikely to grow for some time so consumers of all ages are:

1. Simplifying, reusing, substituting and generally discovering that often less is more Eating at home vs. out saves money and often increases family connections.
2. Choosing carefully by consulting the bazillion consumer reviews on the Internet.  Brand loyalty for loyalty’s sake is dying.  Quality, functionality and responsibility are thriving.  New brands are being created almost over night based on value more than bling.
3. Going green on the cheap by simply buying less.  The strong consumer trend in all developed countries toward environmentally friendly products looks to be irreversible in the long term.  As price and quality issues get sorted out with these products, consumers are feeling that wasting less and living more leads to a wonderful life.  The simplest way to reduce congestion and pollution is drive less or reduce our landfill trash by drinking our tap water.  A recent poll revealed that 47 percent of us believe we already have all the things we need to live a good life.  This belief has nearly doubled in the past three years.

Who’s doing this?  According to a broad base of consumer research, mostly all of us.  Donald Trump is an irrelevant icon.  Yesterday’s brand.  We, the big WE, rich, poor, working,  not working, young, old are all discovering that our real dreams are realized by timeless values of family, friends, and valuable work.  Will we go back to old addictions of work without end and debt without satisfaction?  I hope not.  This may be a harder path forward, but it’s real.  The past was fake.

What’s the best thing we can do? Perhaps the most powerful trend coming out of our economic turmoil is that we can’t consume our way to prosperity.  What we were doing as a society was unsustainable.  So decide what is.  What is a sustainable workstyle and lifestyle for you for the long haul?  What is your sustainable job of the future?  Many of us became serial consumers because we were bored.  If we deliberately filled our days with more satisfying work, our bodies with more healthy food, our minds with more inspiring thoughts and our hearts with more loving relationships, how much more would we have?

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Social Responsibility - The Force of Nature

Social Responsibility - The Force of Nature
by Will Marre, author of upcoming book Save the World and Still Be Home for Dinner

Nature is good for human judgment. Nature. The green kind. The flowing river, tall trees, bright blue skies. Big nature gives us perspective that we simply lose without it. Why do I think this? I was in New York recently. I was there as an author attending the Annual Book Expo where all the publishers and hundreds of their authors show up selling their upcoming books to thousands of booksellers. But that’s another story. What really struck me was New York and its overwhelming impact.

The famed Guggenheim Museum was hosting a retrospective on Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect who designed that spiral museum and its natural light dome. Wright was one of the most revolutionary architects of the 20th century. He designed homes, office buildings and even cities (Broadarce). He was a mad genius type who insisted that form and function must always be fully integrated. He tried to make his buildings blend or even disappear into the terrain. Most of all he loved nature and disdained the dehumanizing aspects of big cities. So his design for cities of the future included residential areas of modest, eco-friendly, very cool houses each occupying an acre of land. Commercial centers were pods of elegant buildings clustered like islands of commerce floating on a sea of prairie. Inspiring, idealistic…yes. Economically attractive…not so much.

Since developers can, for the most part, ignore the social responsibility of the toxic effects of suburban sprawl and the brutality of urban density, the vast majority of our cities are congested hives of concrete and glass. And of the best of them is Manhattan, the core of New York City. This past weekend was spectacular. Warm 75 degree days, cloudless blue skies and tens of thousands of New Yorkers and tourists swarming all over the city. We walked through Rockefeller Center to Times Square. And later from the Guggenheim up on 86th Street through Central Park to Columbus Circle (where CNN has studios). We also walked down Madison Avenue from 65th to 50th. Everywhere there were people, sunbathers and Little League teams in Central Park and hoards of shoppers carrying packages baring names ranging from Polo to Diesel. My wife and I kept saying, “We see tent cities in the news but as we travel we see relatively few empty stores.” Yes we know things are tough in places like Michigan and Ohio. We know millions have lost their jobs and homes, but we still seem to be open for business. We are very resilient people.

What struck me in a sudden flash as I was walking among the noisy skyscrapers of New York was the spiritual contrast of a lonely hike my wife and I took last August in the Redwood Forests of Northern California. The redwoods are the earth’s oldest living organisms. Some have lived over 1000 years. A fallen redwood takes up to 400 years to fully decay and in the process becomes a hyper-fertile bio-farm sprawling scores of new trees, scrubs, mosses, grasses as well as serving as a luxury hotel for every forest insect and creature imaginable. Redwood forests are nature’s cathedrals. Their sacred stillness penetrates the human soul with a quiet insistence that we are in some profoundly mysterious way, one. Life has an intrinsic reverence.

The buildings of New York also shout an unspoken but clear message. At their best they are monuments of human ingenuity and magnificent engineering, but unlike redwoods, most buildings today are built to be torn down in 40 to 75 years. Disposable buildings. Many carry names of their tenants or developers that look down on us in a roar of self-promotion and chest-thumping self-importance. But most of all what I felt from my flash of insight was an alienation from nature’s reality. It struck me that if I lived in New York City it would be very difficult not to become absorbed in making and spending money as my primary activity. Even Central Park is no match for cold economy of such a huge concentration of concrete, glass, steel, ego and commerce. As I felt seduced by New York on a sunny weekend, I wondered, who would I become if I were disconnected from the grounding I feel from the natural world? No wonder the brains of Wall Street concocted a scheme of fake wealth. Wall Street, the very street, ripped their souls as well as their good judgment right out of them.

So what’s the best thing we can do? Never, ever let go of nature. Fully immerse. In it, we will find ourselves, or even more importantly…what’s important. Not long ago I asked one of my granddaughters, “What is your dream?” She replied, “Save nature.” Then with her dark brown eyes fully focused on mine she whispered, “The trees are dying.” Save nature. Not bad advice.

So what do you think? Is destroying nature an act of self-destruction? Is nature a “centering” force, or is this simply a recycled romantic notion? Is nature a resource to be responsibly developed and positively exploited? Can it be? Is my critique of Wall Street too simple to be true?

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CSR Will Still Survive the Economy

This past February in my post, CSR Will Survive the Economy, I make a case for CSR initiatives still having a bright future despite the economic downturn.  But as the recession continues and companies struggle through recovery, it makes me wonder…Just how long will the triple bottom line prevail when profit is at the front of everybody’s mind?

In Bonus Rage and its Pitfalls John Robertson discusses how new restrictions for top executives has a downside, social responsibility initiatives in particular taking a big hit.  He contends that in order for companies to operate under the triple bottom line of people, planet, profit, executives need the freedom to exercise judgment.  He states, “If companies were to be more than simply cash registers, executives had to be empowered to make choices. Directors needed to decide how the value being created should be divided up: how much to employees, how much to suppliers, how much to shareholders, how much to deserving community organizations and at what cost to the physical environments in which the company operates.”  He continues, “Unfortunately, this is precisely the discretion being stripped from the repertoire of the modern corporate executive as he is forced to make an unequivocal commitment to financial success.”

Robertson also contends that this won’t get better any time soon with governments looking to maximize the financial returns from their recent equity purchases, executives trying to repay loans as quickly as possible, and employees too scared of losing their job to demand better from their employer.

While Robertson makes a convincing argument, I believe that it’s only an excuse, a reason for leadership to free themselves of any obligation to humanity and the environment.  You see, this viewpoint stems from the idea of corporate social responsibility being solely a cost, rather than an integral, revenue building part of the business model.  Companies and leaders alike that still hold to the belief that CSR is merely writing a check will most likely cut back or quit their CSR practices altogether in the name of financial strife.

On the other hand, however, there are others who will strongly embrace the great opportunities social responsibility presents and come out stronger on the other side of this recession. Will Marré, CEO of REALeadership Alliance, states, “When times are tough it’s hard not to be hijacked by fear. Thinking about how much good we can do becomes downright unnatural when we’re genuinely afraid we won’t have what we need.  But what if we turn that fear upside down?  Imagine that the key to security, prosperity, and happiness comes from doing good.  As much good as possible.”  According to Marré, now is the time to invest in social responsibility.  In fact, he contends that saving the world is the greatest economic opportunity of our time.

I do indeed stand by my original posting…CSR will survive the economy.  We cannot allow our values to be turned on and off depending on the weather of the current situation.  The triple bottom line is a way of doing business, not a fad that has run its course.

Corporate Social Opportunity Rules

I’m always talking about changing the view of corporate social responsibility into corporate social opportunity.  How if done right, companies don’t have to choose between profits, people, and the planet.  This is what I mean.

I was reading an interesting article today of an interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor Business Administration, Harvard Business School. She was asked a very good question, “Can one realistically expect values to prevail over profits?”  She answered, “It does not have to be principles over profits. In fact, principles often get you profits.”  She goes on to give an example of Banco Real, a bank in Brazil that has environmental and social responsibility criteria on loan applications.  By so doing, the bank has customers coming back to them with a plea to help them comply and also new customers who, because of this standard, won’t put their money anywhere else.

Another example Kanter cites is P&G and their water purifier called PuR.  At first, the company couldn’t make a profit out of it and many wanted to stop the project.  But instead the company embraced the product’s importance for people who don’t live near clean drinking water and created a non-profit organization to distribute it.  It turns out that after the tsunami, the demand skyrocketed so they not only recovered the cost but even more value came from employee commitment, demonstrating their values to customers, etc.

These two examples are proof that if we truly embrace our social responsibilities and transform them into social opportunities, the rewards will be endless.  The triple bottom line is not too idealistic…it works.

Small Changes Big Results

It was great California weather this morning.  The early morning was clear.  Water green.  But what made my morning was a change I made in my surfboard.  Last year I had Steve Walden custom shape a four-fin fish-style surfboard.  At the last minute he suggested he put in a fin box between the side fins.  That, he said, would create unlimited options.  For over a year I’ve just been riding the board with all four side fins and nothing in the center fin box.  It is the conventional set up for the design of the board.  Well I unscrewed and removed 2 of the side fins and inserted an 8-inch cutaway fin in the center fin box.  And guess what happened.  We had some overhead waves coming through and the new fin set up dramatically increased the acceleration of the board out of turns.  The turns suddenly became more positive, more sure and especially more explosive.  It’s a new surfboard.  Much more fun.  It’s like getting in your same old car and suddenly finding you have a Ferrari under the same old sheet metal.

When I was walking up the beach after the session I was reflecting on how amazing it is that such a relatively small change could make such a big change in performance.

As I considered this happy outcome, I was struck with how often that is also true in life.  How seemingly little changes can make a huge difference in life satisfaction.  It can be an extra hour of sleep.  A daily walk with my wife.  A regular conversation with my children.  A daily 20 minutes set aside for inspirational reading.  A decision not to work with someone who has a conflicting agenda.  A daily piece of dark chocolate….Yes it’s often the small adjustments that put the biggest smile on my face.

The Power Revolution

We’re going to be investing billions in a smart energy grid.  That’s our power infrastructure that right now is grossly outdated, wasteful and vulnerable.  But what if we didn’t need a grid at all?  What if each of us has a power cell that delivered cheap electricity to our homes and ipods without being connected at all?

Well, it’s not a dream.  It’s the real science project of a rock star MIT professor, Daniel Nocera.  He begins with some sobering facts.  It takes 15 terawatts of energy to run our planet currently.  How much is a terawatt?  I don’t really know but it must be a giga-bunch.  What the real point is that it will take twice our current output of energy to operate our world in 40 years, that’s right…30 terra-whatevers.  That, he tells us, would require building a 2 billion watt nuclear plant every 3 days for the next 40 years.  Not going to happen.  Now comes the problem of sustainable abundance.  We need power to light our world and lift billions to self-reliance.  But relying on coal, gas, oil or plants just won’t get it done.

So…here comes the sun.  It sends us 800 terawatts of energy every hour!  The problem isn’t even capturing it.  New solar technology is rapidly lowering the cost of a solar watt to less than a buck.  It’s the storage and transmission of that energy that remains expensive.  So Dr. Nocera has developed a super-cheap system of electrolysis which uses a single volt of electricity and a chemical catalyst in water to recombine an H20 molecule split by sunlight to create a fuel cell that is as close to perpetual energy as humans are likely to see.  The big news is that this will make energy completely decentralized and cheap.  Seems impossible?  Well how much does it cost for us to look up something using Google?  Technology is disruptive.  Dr. Nocera has attracted lots of venture capital and notoriety.  Maybe Exxon-Mobile will become what the railroad became with the invention of airplanes.  The biggest changes are always the most unexpected.  The future will be different than the past.  Way different.

Giving and Getting

There is a lot of compassion boiling under the surface of our own fears about the future.  Staggering rates of unemployment, foreclosures and job insecurity have reduced direct charitable giving over the past six months.  But increasingly polls report we feel guilty about not doing more to help both our neighbors and strangers with their suffering.

That social compassion is upping the payoff of cause marketing, when retailers give a specific percentage of their revenue to charities consumers approve of.  In a recent test using average consumers by Cone Marketing, people exposed to cause related retail ads bought more of the brands engaged in a cause than products that only touted themselves.  One shampoo jacked up sales 74% by linking with a cause.  It works if done right.

But most businesses are too indirect or too quiet about their cause supporting contributions to be noticed.  Few Target shoppers are aware that Target has been donating a whopping 5 percent of its net income since 1942 mostly to local schools.  They are considered the gold standard of retail giving, but who knows it?  Target’s in good company with others like Macy’s, Kroger and Wal-Mart that do a lot but engage us little.  It’s a shame.  In tough times when our wallets are flat it would be great to know that at least part of what we do spend goes to the United Way, Make-A-Wish or a local school.  It would make us all feel a little better.

Most Admired Companies

Last week Fortune Magazine came out with its list of Most Admired Companies. And in my opinion, this is the list that counts.  The judging criteria are innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services, and global competitiveness. Right on.

The companies that made the top nine on the list are:
1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. Toyota Motor
4. Google
5. Johnson & Johnson
6. Procter & Gamble
7. FedEx
8. Southwest Airlines
9. General Electric

In this day and age no one really cares about who is solely making the most money.  Yes, profits are important, after all a company must be sustaining, but profits are only part of the equation.  No matter how much profit a company can boast, what everyone is paying attention to is who is leading the world to a better future with qualities such as innovation and social responsibility.  And when companies focus on these qualities, profits are sure to follow.  I know.  These companies are not perfect.  But neither am I.  What most of them are doing is facing in the right direction.  These are the companies we want to buy from, work for, and see succeed.

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