Solutions Labs in the Blogosphere

Watch this video by Mark Leisher of Green Roads TV to see what the Solutions Labs are like:




Enough Stick Already, Where's the Carrot?
EDF Innovation Exchange

I hosted a table last week at the Washington, DC GIBN Solutions Lab on the topic of corporate stakeholder relationships and whether stakeholders incent corporations to act sustainably.

The breadth and quality of the discussion was impressive. I was struck with a consensus we reached that individuals, in their roles as customers, employees and stakeholder do not, for the most part, act on their declared values in their role as members of civil society. (Continued)

How Would You Redefine Growth?
Richer Earth

I had an invigorating and engaging day on Thursday at the Green Innovation in Business Network’s Boston Solutions Lab event. The event brought together about 100 people for a day of discussion and exploration through a largely un-conference format that favored peerinteraction over droning speakersand PowerPoint slides. I made some great connections and learned a lot. (Continued)

The Solutions Lab: A Different Kind of CSR Conference
Justmeans
To some extent, all CSR conferences are the same. An organization or company wants to promote itself, and in this spirit puts together the best line-up of speakers it can secure to represent its brand to the outside world.

But leave it to Environmental Defense Fund to create a very different kind of CSR forum. (Continued)

Solving the equation for sustainability-focused corporate culture
EDF Innovation Exchange

How can you shift a corporate culture so that it embodies environmental sustainability? That was just one of the big questions explored at the recent Green Innovation in Business Solutions Lab in New York City. (Continued)


Learning to Dance: Discussing Ways to Improve Partnerships for Sustainability
EDF Innovation Exchange

"When Giants Learn To Dance" was the title of Rosabeth Moss Kanter's classic book about how corporations can be both giants and innovators. Guy Clark's musical advice is "You got to dance like nobody's watching." But what if you are a large corporation, your dance is sustainability, and everyone is your dance partner who wants you to dance to their tune – your employees, your shareholders, customers and neighbors? This is the topic I'd like us to discuss during the Solutions Labs 2010. (Continued)

Sustainability Solutions Labs | SeattleStyle
eco-maven

The Lab’s design charette format included Conversation Catalysts, Steve Lippman, Microsoft; Kevin Hagen, REI; Ben Packard, Starbucks; Jean Brittingham, Brittingham Partners; and Gifford Pinchot, Bainbridge Graduate Institute shared anecdotes from their own personal experiences as pioneers in sustainability underscoring the need for identifying the “right” metrics and for sometimes ignoring underlying assumptions in identifying “challenges” and biases within your organization. An example was the unanticipated value gained from performing a life cycle assessment. (Continued)

Keepin' it Simple: Embracing low impact designs to motivate environmental change
A few weeks ago I was driving home from the GIBN Solutions Lab event, taking one of my normal routes I use to escape the madness that is our Seattle evening commute and about 10 minutes into the drive, I noticed that the road was no longer a two lane stretch. In fact, at some point not only had it become one lane, but in the second lane’s place, there was now a bike lane. (Continued)

Taking Efficiency Out of the Box
Pew Climate

A small company finding it hard to sell its residential energy usage monitoring devices starts a “parent-teenage contract” marketing campaign. The teenager gets the parents to buy the device, and then they both sign a contract stipulating that the teenager will keep half the money saved on reduced energy usage. As the savings start to roll in, the teenager becomes more motivated to improve the household’s energy efficiency as do the parents, while the company points to this positive experience as it seeks additional customers for its monitoring device. (Continued)

“I was impressed with the people in attendance and the breadth of the subjects being discussed.”
–– John M. Harrington, III, Sheffield Corporation (Boston)

“I thought the whole day was quite unique. The brainstorming and idea sharing at this session was way beyond what I’ve seen at most conferences. Well done!”
–– Elaine Strunk, The Lenox Hotel (Boston)

“I enjoyed the collective input and saw great value in both the topic and the format.”
–– Brad Peirce, Relationship Manager, Citizens Bank Wealth Management (DC)

“It is a great way of finding other people in the local community who are working towards the same goals.”
–– Lee Milligan, Project Coordinator, United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (Austin)

“This was a great gathering of interesting professionals across sectors. Every conversation I had was valuable.”
–– Libby Reder, Head of Environmental
Initiatives, eBay (San Jose)