A day of sustainability - and the future

On Tuesday morning, I attended a breakfast seminar, titled "What's next for Sustainability - is the message getting through?", and in the evening was a Firm Elite dinner, with the conversation focussing on "Communications in a digital world - how do we need to adapt in order to ensure our organisations' sustainability in tomorrow's political, social, environmental and economic atmosphere?"

In the morning, we were a collection of (mostly) businesses, with a few thoughts from invited guests Doug Johnston - Director of Ernst and Young's Climate change and Sustainability Services team; Alan Knight - sustainable development advisor to many corporates including Body Shop, Coca-Cola, the UN, and currently the Virgin Group; and Harry Wallop - Consumer Affairs editor at The Telegraph.

This was a day of discussing Sustainable Business, and how we talk about it, communicate how we are doing and engage stakeholders. One thing became very apparent by the end of the day - it doesn't matter what field you work in, how close you are to sustainability or how senior you are, some people JUST DON'T GET IT!

Example - I brought up the idea of creating sustainable partnerships between civil society and the private sector at the breakfast meeting. Among the good and the great of sustainability and some of the top 'CSR Professionals' in business. I was asked to clarify what I meant. I didn't use any big words, I didn't use particularly long sentences. I simply asked what they thought of cross sector collaboration for social and commercial benefit, and how we (as a group of enlightened souls) can take this concept further.

So I asked again: Partnerships between businesses and charities not only contribute significantly to the aims of charity and philanthropy, but they also have the ability to make considerable savings within a business. So is it not possible for businesses to look outside their sector to other stakeholders when trying to effect sustainable change?

The response was, in essence, "well, it's really the job of the charity to come up with the idea" How infuriating.

I compare that with my experience of Sara Dixon's Firm Elite Dinner I attended in the glorious Caledonian Club, yesterday evening. My co-host Simon Card OBE introduced the discussion for the evening - how do we ensure sustainability?

Around the table were professionals from law firms, banks, charities, professional services firms and consultancy. We had a really interesting and diverse group of people, all talking about how we can sustain our organisations, and the really interesting thing was that it wasn't anyone's day job to think about this stuff. But all of us got it.

Conversation was lead by Brian Bannister, Communications Director at PwC and Filippo Addarii, Exec Director of Euclid Network - an ACEVO spin out and joint venture.

Brian gave us some very interesting anecdotal evidence from his experience of change management and crisis management within a large, global corporation. Some of his key messages were:

*Broaden your outlook to engage those who shape your environment.
*In our digital world, by the time you know you have a problem, it's usually too late!
*Talk to your most harsh critics. Battle with them and the other fights will be won with greater ease.
*The era of Corporate Philanthropy is over.
*Corporate leaders need to be brave to survive. Neither success nor sustainability will come from shying away from problems.

Filippo gave us an international perspective - we must focus on solidarity, and look to reclaim the magic we once had.

His story was from his first years in London - when all was opportunity and possibility. Now our fair city has lost its claim to be the most innovative in Europe, and Filippo's question was "Where have all the optimists gone?"

He went on to say that civil society is the secret weapon - the silver bullet to regain our global standing. People connect about problems and passions - civil society is passionate about solving problems, so surely it must play a significant role in bringing back optimism.

Brian followed this by reminding us all of his Liverpudlian roots, and letting us into a spot of scouse lingo with which few were familiar: Optipessimism. This is a state of mind through which one can share in the joy of great things, but revert back to the outlook of Eyore in the blink of an eye - never disappointed! I'm glad to say not many were keen to adopt this!

But as we moved around the table, hearing from our diverse group, it became clear that we were more optimistic than many. There was an agreement that in order to achieve sustainability, we need to make things realistic, rather than remain in the doldrums of ideology.

We agreed that perception matters - look to our colleague and fellow diner Heidi, reputation manager at Project Associates for cases of how important it is. We agreed that in order to understand how we are perceived we must look to all of our value chain, not just colleagues, or suppliers or consumers as individual groups, but also the way they connect to form a perception landscape.

Trust comes from this - public opinion, branding, all of these are based on how we communicate, and how we are seen.

We talked at length about CSR and philanthropy, and again agreed about how the narrative has indeed moved on to one of sustainability - a move to the pragmatic and away from the ideological.

Charities have excellent public trust, very often good branding, and are perceived as a paragon of virtue. So how can we, the diverse group of people around the table, learn from this? Also, many corporations would love to be as well networked as their colleagues in the third sector (I think here of Stephen Bubb of course - who has more business cards than most business leaders, and most importantly, knows what to do with them!)

I made a point that we can not just learn from it, we can use it. Business and charity can work together, creating sustainable supply chains, engaging consumers in a range of ethical and virtuous activities and both benefit in absolute equal measure. And this, we finally agreed, is the much debated (and misunderstood) Big Society - in action. Working. Without intervention from government, before it even entered our lexicon.

This is something we can work on, can develop and bring forward. But slowly - as another very astute diner pointed out, patience is a virtue - let's do things with consideration to achieve sustainability.

Final thoughts were around two things - firstly, Al Gore's comment that to go fast we go alone, and to go far we go together. We need to do what John Wayne did best - build a posse and tackle the problems together.

Secondly, Filippo asked "Where are all the optimists?" A clear sign that this was his first Firm Elite Dinner, as we were all at the table.With thanks to our hosts Richard McKelvey of ACEVO, Simon Card OBE of Card Associates and Deborah Jeff of Seddons.  Returning guests were Sara Dixon of Firm Beliefs, Philip Henson of Bargate Murray, Ann Paul of Macmillan, Trish McNicholas of Allied Irish Bank, Karelia Scott-Daniels of Manse & Garret.  We welcomed new guests Kamal Shah of Stephenson Harwood, Peter Barber of  Culture Shock Media Ltd,            , Simon Price of Gifford UK and Soledad Gompf of FINCA.  We were honoured to have conversation sparked by our conversation leaders Filippo Addarii of Euclid and Brian Bannister of PwC.Blog by Richard McKelvey

London - boom or bust?

I have recently been appointed to the advisory board of Firm Elite - a group of engaging and inspiring professionals from both third and private sectors. 

We all share a passion for building networks and creating sustainable and collaborative relationships and our dinners serve as a dynamic forum for discussion.

Firm Elite meet every couple of months for dinner, when we exchange ideas and discuss specific topics. Last night, my first since joining the board, the topic was London, the status quo and future of this great city.

The location for this dinner was the Caledonian Club. It did not disappoint from the second I crossed the threshold: I was first to arrive, and have never encountered a more Scottish person at reception. I would imagine his name is Jock and I will forever remember him in full highland dress. I forget now whether he was or not. The dining room is beautiful, with some excellent watercolours of highland landscapes adorning the spaces between the bookshelves that contained leather bound, dusty volumes of Robert Burns, Almanacs of Scottish Antiquities, and the occasional Dickens.

Over some drinks, we mingled and briefly discussed the topic for the night and future events. We sat down to a delicious Roquefort tart, followed by lamb. As the wine was poured and we got to know our neighbours, the topic of the evening was formally introduced by our co-host, Kehrela Hodkinson of the Hodkinson Law Group.

Benjamin Disraeli said that "London is a roost for every bird", and while this statement carries a great deal of significance, one could suggest some birds are flocking here, while others are flying south in search of more hospitable climes. Why is this happening and what does the future hold? At this point of the evening I was sure that none of us we be much closer to answering these questions by the end of the evening. However, I also knew that I was about to hear some very informed, articulate and interesting opinions.

Discussions were led by Julian Rhys of Frostrow Capital and Derek Wright of Kleinwort Benson. Very interesting choices, made long before London lost our top spot as the world's financial centre.

 

The first question to be addressed was "Do we need to be in London to do business?" There are some very valid points to both sides of this: we are never more than a few feet from Blackberry, mobile phone or computer and conduct most business remotely, so why does it matter where we are? There are hundreds of extremely successful businesses that operate outside of London, so is our fear that removing ourselves from London will decimate business totally irrational? Andrew Pullman, MD of People Risk Solutions, said that he hadn't had an office in London for years, and this not only had no effect on his business, but also had saved him considerable expense!

Contrary to this, some argue that you need to be near clients, to be near the action, the hubbub and the buzz of a large conurbation. There was a split in the room here. Each argument is equally valid and equally flawed - we shouldn't need to be in London, but we really want to be.

The third sector viewpoint came up here: responding to a member survey around 2 years ago, ACEVO established an office in Leeds. There were a great number of our members who wanted a greater level of engagement with ACEVO, but were prevented by our location in London. A great number of them are delivering services to local areas, and therefore have no stakeholders in London. So we asked, we listened and we did. And the response was great: we are now offering valuable help to hundreds more members in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humberside.

 

The next point was around the future for London - what is happening now that will affect our beloved city in 5, 10 or 20 years. We reminded ourselves about the Olympic games, and how successful 2012 will be for London and the UK. However, is this a sustainable future? Plans are of course being made to ensure the sporting venues will be put to use after the post-games exodus, but there is a nagging doubt that we may be left with a games-shaped hole in our city.

Alongside this temporary peak of the activity around London, will be the cultural Olympiad. A festival of art, theatre and music has accompanied the games for some years, and London's will sit next to some of the most impressive and extensive arts, heritage and cultural venues in the world.

 

At this point, we were joined by Philip Henson, a Partner at law firm Bargate Murray. He had been interviewing with the BBC and so arrived late. It was quite wrong-footing to see, as the last morsels of lamb were removed from the room, more cheese and leek tart arrive. I knew the Scots had interesting views on cuisine (not least the manifestly artery clogging deep-fried pizza), but surely not starter followed by main course followed by starter? All my fears were laid to rest when I realised that rather than join us for pudding, Philip was going to get the whole meal, and a very good thing - it was delicious!

 

Two themes appeared throughout the night throughout our discussions. The first was the idea of ‘UK Plc', and how it is currently valued. The second was around the responsibility of the media for ensuring that the good news is heard, how London is promoted and how we shout about our successes.

These two combine nicely, and as a group of rational beings we might quite rightly assume that the press is to blame. Luckily, we had a representative of the media with us. Chrissie Smith is a trainer with Electric Airwaves, the media training group and has advised many nervous or inexperienced professionals on how to deal with and engage with tricky interviews, and more importantly, tricky interviewers. It was really interesting to hear a seasoned journalist talking about how media and press can play such a vital role in the communication of ideas.

 

Equally insightful and vocal, as fellow guests, were Sara Dixon of Firm Beliefs,  Ken Cohen of the Fifth Business Experience, Deborah Jeff of Seddons and Norma Stewart of Wellers.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and look forward to the next event. These dinners are a fantastic opportunity to slow down our thoughts and devote some real time to issues that interest us, affect us and allow us to find new relationships and areas for future collaboration.

Richard McKelvey 17th March 2010

Eliters range wide...

The 1st Firm Elite dinner of 09 and of a new presidency in the US brought together a truly international determined dozen.

Why determined? Firm Eliters have a firm belief that commitment to innovation, communication and offering to help their colleagues and clients is the path to success - downturn or boom!

The discussion was, of course, both inspiring and wide ranging. The state of various nations and their economies (Spain, the US and South Africa)  the rise of Obama ( an insight from our glamorous and relocated Californian guest) and the growth of niche online networking but some of the topics.

Firm Elite continues to evolve- as a knowledge sharing platform; as a business generation tool;as an ideas forum; and as a growing group of business leaders and directors.

What did this member think? When a dinner discussion starts with a health and fitness discussion, migrates to the world economy and new political era, moves on to
competing in a challenging new market place then gets down to key sectors and the fortunes of various economies - you know you are in the company of a true elite.

To borrow  inspiration from a former president "Ask not what Firm Elite can do for you. Ask what you can do for your Firm Elite."

20th Jan 09, Firm Elite member.

Truth and consequences - the media game

The members of Firm Elite were treated to both an excellent meal and an even more impressive talk last night at the ROSL.Andrew Caesar-Gordon, the MD of Electric Airwaves and PR guru to politicians, corporates, the tongue tied and the camera shy regaled the gathering with both insight and top tips when handling the media.What did this hard nosed professional with a cynical PR-sceptic attitude learn?The media is a great beast that constantly seeks intelligent and expert opinion - at least it would from Firm Elite members - and the opportunities to become involved are immense. The possibilities of growing a profile in the media are great and the perceived pitfalls are easily managed with expert training and "Electric" help in the shape of Andrew's team. As all Firm Elite members take a healthy interest in business, communication and the psychology of getting the best out of a team I certainly came away both wiser and more aware of the power of harnessing the media correctly. Andrew gave a high profile example of how do destroy a business through poor PR skills (Gerald Ratner) and also a fine example of dealing expertly with a media that that had an emotive issue to sink its teeth into.The TRUTH* of media matters was made clear by Andrew and the expert nature of how journalists seek stories and try to confirm their accuracy.This FE member came away with an appreciation of the work load faced by journalists, the sheer reach of the new range of media available to us all and an appreciation that PR training is a must for "would be" successful leaders and determined business professionals.Very much a media coup for the Firm Elite members and guests.*talk to Firm Elite for the TRUTHDirector of Marketing 

Are you going to be an Englishman in New York?!

What’s the biggest difference between an American’s behaviour in the workplace and a British employee’s behaviour in the workplace? I asked this question of several British colleagues who have spent time in the US and the almost unanimous response was that, in a meeting in the US, everyone is very expressive, anger or discontent is freely expressed and accepted, and when the meeting’s over, what happened in the meeting stayed in the meeting. In the UK, there is not the same openness or display of emotion so that resentments tend to mount and remain unresolved.

There are certain rules of the American business game: make as much money as you can as quickly as you can. This game theory comes from the economics of abundance rather than economics of scarcity and invasions so well known in Asia and Europe. Imagine my chagrin, when arriving in the UK in 1993 10 days before Christmas, when all of the shelves were empty. I couldn’t understand the fact that there was no more merchandise in the back room. When the supplies ran out, they were out for good. It did prove rather difficult to explain to my then very young daughters how Santa went to the shop to buy them presents, but the shops had already sold out of toys...

In American business culture, doing the deal is more important than building relationships and getting to know the other parties to the deal. Americans may neglect to offer coffee/tea at the beginning of a meeting since the deal is foremost in their minds. Small talk is saved for the end of negotiations.

Because the number of weeks for annual leave in the US is low relative to other countries, true insights, empathy and understanding of other national and business cultures is weak.

Despite the insularity of Americans in business, their openness, informality, optimism and friendliness instantly puts people at ease.

There are certain foundations of American culture which, when understood, lead to more successful business dealings:

• Americans are obsessed with time. The world’s cultures are divided into two distinct approaches to understanding and using time. Monochronic cultures emphasize tasks and schedules. Time is a tangible thing. It can be spent, wasted and lost. Time is linear. Tasks take precedence over people. Interruptions are not welcome. In Polychronic cultures, relationships outweigh rules of the clock. Time is bountiful and ongoing, flowing, a river. People come before the task. Interruptions are acceptable. Americans are probably best known for their focus on time, schedules and deadlines. The clock is the master. Keeping to schedule is critical. Relationships will wait. Americans focus on the future. Things can be changed for the better. A deadline or due date is more than a goal. It is a promise which must be kept. Punctuality is crucial. Meetings must start on time. Americans want everything instantly.

• American culture is, above all, individualistic. Americans separate themselves from the group, while English value the eccentric within the group.

• No age limits “down-aging”. A person is never too old to start something new. Mature students are the norm in universities in America.

• American business culture puts a premium on confidence, leadership and self-assertiveness. British business culture puts a premium on “towing the line”, “not making waves”, and following tradition.

• Informality. Nike’s “Just do it” reflects the American concept of equality. The founding fathers eliminated many traditional, formal rules that were reminders of royalty, courts and the rigid class system they left behind. Not only was informality symbolic of that basic American idea-equality, but it also served as a way to blend a population with a variety of backgrounds.

• Americans emphasize schedules, time and tasks rather than people. Their relationships are transitory, connected to projects or places. They are less likely to take time for spontaneous conversation, thereby missing opportunities for information. British culture puts more emphasis on relationships and a sense that time flows endlessly so there is time for those extra minutes of conversation that can offer information.

Kehrela Hodkinson (Guest Blogger).

For more on Kehrela’s views, plus insight into the historical, geographical and social aspects of the US which lead to how they do business, please go to: http://www.firmbeliefs.co.uk/resources.php