green tech

The current economic environment demands strong leadership from all officers – and particularly from CIOs.  

Employees are distracted from work, distrustful of executives and looking for solid ground in an otherwise shaky situation.  They are worried about their own skills and whether or not they will be relevant as we come out of this recession.  At the same time, this is the most critical time in corporate history to re-invest in efficiency, to get costs right and to get “ready” for an innovation upturn - a task that often calls on the CIO and their staff for heroic efforts.

It is also the most critical time for a CIO to be in-tune with his/her business which is likely to be flip-flopping on priorities looking for ways to stay afloat.  On top of this already tall order, we have yet another hyper-urgent “risk” management death march underway in response to the economic downturn and the inadequate practices revealed in its origins. And this is creating new compliance programs and “transparency” efforts which generally come with less than adequate funding and immature business “process” expertise. These efforts put further tension on balancing business priorities with the resources available to the CIO and the technology staff. And this can lead to confusion, misdirection, loss of productivity and frustration in the IT staff.

So, more than ever before, CIOs need to focus on leadership, on messaging, on clarity, and direction.  These skills are critical in staying in-tune with their staff, their colleagues and their superiors.

Of course, the use of external services of any kind is diminished at the moment.  But if there is an area to reserve some external time for, this is it. Seek out someone who can complement your skills, work with your style and help augment your blind-spots. Give yourself space to see beyond the fray and gain a broader perspective and work on engendering an infectious leadership style that will cascade down to your staff and out to your peers.  Be genuine to the situation and authentic with your feelings. Be empathetic to your people, but pragmatic and clear about commitments. Find a colleague, a peer or a CIO at another company who can hold a mirror up to you and help you ferret out your most critical leadership agenda and then clarify a plan for that work to be put into action.  

The key here is that it is about leadership - which starts with developing relationships, prioritizing work, clarifying purpose, being responsive to interpretations and anticipating reactions.  

Transformational Government
As we look to the prospects of a new government shaping the future of our country and more importantly our roles as citizens of the planet, a few key learnings from the corporate world stand out as critical factors to consider:

1. The practices of effective management have improved significantly over the past 10 years.
2. The culture, roles and relationships of workers and management have dramatically changed.
3. The tools available to leverage suppliers, technology and clients/constituents have expanded and in many cases been re-invented.
4. Government can be more effective, more efficient and more responsive to its challenges and opportunities through a transformational re-invention of itself through the adoption of these contemporary practices.

New Practices
Innovation, efficiency and controls have seen new and different pressures, requirements, challenges and advances throughout this period.

Innovation has been stimulated by both the rise and fall of the dot.com era, the “flattening” of the world and the explosion of open development platforms, social networks, micro-segmentation and low-cost distribution and logistics leveraging Internet technologies.

Since Enron and heightened in the current environment, controls have taken on a new dimension. Sarbox, Basel, regulatory transparency, privacy and shareholder activism have dictated heighten controls but with maturity they have also increased focus on incorporating controls directly into the product and services life-cycle to create an efficient benevolent cycle.

Efficiency in this hyper-competitive environment has gone beyond 6-sigma into full-life-cycle redesigns incorporating user self-service, LEAN and Agile product development and a deeper involvement of supply chains and new technologies. These efficiencies free up more effort for innovation and differentiation and allow for R&D into the Next Big Thing.
 

New Culture
The age of the life-long employee has passed and the era of “portfolio” careers is here. The relationship between employer and employee focuses much more on the value of the experiences an employee can gain, the environment they operate within and the opportunities for challenge and advancement than ever before.

Gen-X, Y and beyond have shorter horizons for seeking fulfillment and demand to be heard and challenged. Generational gaps related to concepts of respect, experience, use of technology and methods of relating can lead to inefficiency and reduced productivity – especial when compared with organizations where these issues have been overcome and turned into advantages.
 

Tools
The tools for managing the explosion of information, the understanding of needs, the targeting of services and the integration and distribution in the new “connected-world-order” are changing quickly and accelerating innovation at speeds well beyond those in the past. Companies and services that lead the growth curves and mind-share of consumers were non-existent only a few years ago. And the methods by which constituents learn about, obtain and recommend these services are in there infancy as well.

Riding the wave of Internet connectivity, social networks, and supplier networks, open markets for ideas, tools and information have emerged where only a limited number of less-powerful proprietary services existed.
 

Action
The Next Big Thing for Government is all about leveraging this new fabric of access, entrepreneurship and customization and tapping the unbridled power of networked collaboration and interaction. Organizations enabling catalysts for collaboration with the crowd will create unimaginable opportunity for both – even with the challenges that must be overcome.

Part of the answer is highly dependent on how people in the US react and take action under a new government. There are several unprecedented transformations ahead of us that will require both incredible governmental leadership and public support and action. The first of these is the fundamental re-building of the United States operating infrastructure. Our underlying infrastructure systems are all aging, out of date or in need of massive upgrades. From roads, to electrical generation and distribution, to water and sewage, to air traffic control, cellular, television, etc. You name an infrastructure and we are either in dire need of building or upgrading it, or have already decided to do so and are trying to find the funds, engineers and resources to do so. This will require governmental priority. It will not only require citizens to vote for change, but to act on that need with their personal sweat and focus. It will require new technologies and new approaches. Never before have we had to “rewire” the country in such a dramatic way. Most of our prior infrastructure build-outs were new, without a need to navigate the replacement of something aging – or they were the equivalent of “paving the cow paths”.

The revamp of the air traffic control system will not proceed in this fashion. We have to keep 8000 planes flying on radar and radio towers each day while launching GPS-based systems that can take advantage of safer, more efficient routes. New regional, hub-based systems will increase the number of planes, reducing costs, increasing efficiency - but also complicating the overall situation.

The revamp of our electrical systems means finding new ways to clean our coal-fired generation plants immediately, while we find the next best solutions for powering our country in the fastest way possible (solar, hydro, nuclear, etc.). This will require new technologies in generation and in environmentally sound cleaning. It will require that we look at where the generation is and where the people are and build or revamp transmission facilities in an economical, safe and environmentally sound way. The full solution for a more efficient and stable electrical infrastructure will require the use of “Smart” metering at the home for instantaneous monitoring of our electrical use. These meters will give consumers the ability to see the direct effect of their usage immediately and will allow them to buy the cheapest, greenest energy and use it wisely. It will involve exploring nano-technologies for more efficient solar power. And it will require a country-wide focus on conservation and awareness of our energy use.

With the US drinking more bottled water per capita than most of the rest of the world, (according to www.worldwater.org) the most “developed” country in the world has a water crisis. Whether this is just a social/cultural issue or an issue of real health concern seems to depend on your economic status or daily consumption of self-help literature, but either way we have work to be done to make our water sources safe, to communicate this and to eliminate our addiction to this irresponsible environmental irrationality.

The ever marching “advances” of cellular (now going open source, multi-network and exclusively digital – making obsolete any remaining analog handsets) and television, (also going “open” at the set-top and shutting down all analog transmissions) will create a wave of new technologies and new interaction models that will open yet another flood of communications channels for us to figure out, to exploit, and to manage.

The second family of transformations center around taking action against climate change – the “green revolution”. There have been few issues that are in so much need for endemic change across all political boundaries as does the need to combat climate change. No matter what your proof that it is happening or your conclusion as to why, the reality that we have to learn to manage our environment better, waste less and preserve more is clear and it is a national and global concern. The need for innovation in this space is awesome: from new ways to carry our groceries, to packaging, building materials, lighting, clothing, production, transportation and farming. You name it and it can probably be created, used, re-used and recycled cheaper, faster and with a smaller carbon footprint than it is now. With additional motivation from prizes such as the Ansari X-prizes and research and government grants, this will be a hotbed of innovation over the coming years at a time when we need it most.

So, we could be entering an era reminiscent of the golden infrastructure days of railroad, telephone, interstate highways, and moon shots with jobs-a-plenty and innovations everywhere. Or, we could slumber and stumble into a spiral of international alienation and forgotten technologies akin to east Germany in the height of the cold war.

Oh, and mentioning war, if you are wondering where some of the funding for these monumental efforts might come, consider the fact that we are spending somewhere around $1 Billion per DAY on military activities at the moment.

There are many clouds over the US at the moment but as is evident from this simple discourse, there is also incredible hope for the US economy and for technology as a fuel for recovery. Success will only come if each and every one of us takes action and commits to working toward a more responsible, more tolerant and more sustainable future. Each in our own way, to the best of our abilities.

Now.

As we enter the final two weeks of the Presidential campaign, I find myself asking what is truly needed to push the ball over the finish line. And what is it that can make a huge difference. And it seems to me there are three main things that need to happen:

1) Supporters need to vote.

2) Supporters need to help convert non-supporters into supporters

3) Supporters need to make sure that as many other supporters as possible also vote.

As I spoke to my children recently about their thoughts about the election, they saw the election as good and bad, right or wrong. Only when pressed would they spout the details behind the issues that were a more substantive argument for their opinions. Their first comments were very condescending. This may seem like the juvenile mistakes of inexperienced debaters, but I have heard many Obama supporters lash out with rhetoric that served more to invigorate the opposition as opposed to sway their conversion.

I realized that the key thing for me to remember in talking to undecided voters is to sit in their seat, to listen from the audience’s perspective. To speak in rah-rah rally talk, or to just slander the other side does not offer substance for them to create conviction and commitment.

In the next several days, we need to be talking to those who are undecided and giving them respectful, thoughtful reasons to consider and commit to Obama. Here are four reasons I have heard people cite who were either direct McCain supporters or undecided, but now have switched to support Obama (you may not agree with their logic - but these real quotes and real sentiments):

• Judgment: “If Sarah Palin is John McCain’s assessment of the BEST REPUBLICAN available for the top ranking role in the United States (next to his), then I have to question his judgment. She is not qualified to be VP – let alone President and it is an insult to the many experienced, distinguished and competent republicans who could bring real substance to the campaign. Not to mention the fact that it is irresponsible and divisive.”
• Negative campaign: “I just get turned off by the constant negative attack in his campaign – why can’t he say something positive about what he is going to do instead of trying to trick us with twisted, irrelevant issues that insult our intellect. Obama is not a terrorist and we know that. And it seems to me Obama is actually going to lower my taxes more than McCain will, regardless of what McCain says. What is he thinking about?”
• Financial recovery: “Everything went to hell in a hand-basket for our economy over the past few years. Things were better under the Clinton administration – by a LONG shot. Obama has said some good things about what he is going to do to help the average US family and we need it now. In addition, I trust Biden a lot more than I trust Palin to be fiscally conservative as a side kick to the president. I am willing to give the Democrats a shot at trying to fix the mess we are in.”
• Cross-party unity: “When it comes right down to it, the two candidates are both strong candidates. It is hard for me to really decide on line-by-line differences. So, then I think about who seems to have the real ability to bring the country together across party lines. McCain certainly failed doing that for the $700B bailout plan, both the President and the congress went against him.  Obama seems to be gathering new unity from all corners.”

So, speak to facts and respect the starting points of others, but get out and talk.

Help others get to the polls. Vote.

I am supporting Obama in the upcoming election. But whomever you support, you should demand that they embrace your values. With trillions of dollars of debt, billions being spent on military activities, the worst education rating in our history, the highest rate of murder, rape and drug crimes in any developed or under-developed nation, the lowest rate of engineer graduates in decades and the highest dependency on foreign energy, foreign science and foreign labor - it is time to take back our country from the domestic axis-of-evil we have fallen victim to. We must embrace the work ethic, the values and the practices that made us an international beacon and re-enter the international discourse as a viable leader once again.

To this end, I am excited to have joined the National Steering Committee of the CleanTech & Green Business Leaders for Obama (“CT4O”) group. CT4O is a newly-formed national constituency group within the Obama campaign that is spearheading fundraising, organizing, and outreach in this community. Our collective efforts will not only help to elect Barack Obama, but they will demonstrate the ability of this new economic sector to influence the political dialogue,

As much as I am disenchanted with politics, I feel so strongly about the need for change that I agreed to help recruit more like-minded catalysts. The goal of the group is to make sure that Obama wins, and to make sure he has the best advice on energy, environment and technology issues. What that means is we are trying to recruit brains and donors to be a part of the effort. I am not a natural fund-raiser, but I have learned that money is a top priority in ensuring that people are aware of their choices. So, if you are a supporter, the time is now to give to the campaign.

As you know, energy security, climate change, and a struggling economy have emerged as critical issues dominating the 2008 presidential race.

For those of us in the technology and green business sector, this presents us with a truly unique opportunity to address these issues facing our country — by putting the spotlight on important solutions emerging from our sector, and by helping to elect Barack Obama.

In addition to raising at least $1 million in contributions to the Obama campaign and the DNC through CT4O events and online fundraising, we will also:

· Secure the public endorsements of key leaders in the clean technology and green business community.

· Identify media and visibility opportunities that highlight the positive economy and jobs potential of Obama’s energy and environment policies

· Recruit and organize thousands people from around the country to help with all these and other activities

Here is how you can help – Pick what is best for you:

· Join me on the Steering Committee - Make the maximum allowable personal contribution directly to the Obama campaign ($2300 primary; $2300 general) and recruit at least 10 Clean Tech “Leaders” or, in lieu of this, make the maximum allowable contribution to the DNC (an additional $28,500). The Steering Committee is the governing and coordinating body of CT4O and members will have the opportunity to assume a variety of additional leadership roles within the group. In addition, Steering Committee members will participate in weekly conference calls that will frequently feature presentations from influential campaign and community leaders, will be named on collateral and marketing materials, and attend special CT4O events throughout the course of the campaign.

· Be a Clean Tech/Green Business “Leader” - Donate or raise at least $15,000 for Obama or the DNC by recruiting people to attend CT4O fundraisers or through on-line donations. Alternatively, organize at least two grassroots organizing events with at least 50 people. These include things such as house parties, phone banking, or trips to battleground states. You will be named on collateral and marketing materials, have the opportunity to attend certain special events, and be on monthly calls.

· Immediately become a Clean Tech/Green Business “Member” - Become a CT4O member by simply going to our website (www.cleantechforobama.com), click on “Join”, and then complete the form. No minimum donation is required, but any amount would be greatly appreciated. Once you have completed the form, you will be added to the CT4O distribution list and receive periodic updates on the campaign and CT4O activities and events. Also, after you have joined, we strongly encourage you to encourage other people to do the same.

Regardless at which level you decide to participate, I strongly encourage you to take a moment to make an immediate contribution. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this newly formed group, we have set a goal of raising at least $100,000 in the first week of operation. I am happy to report that, within 72 hours of our launch, we have already raised over $40,000!!!

Please take a moment to go to www.cleantechforobama.com and make a donation of any amount. While the website is still being developed, it is able to accept your donation.

If you would like to get involved, or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks!

-gregor

Nicaragua Trip Report

Banker to the Poor, Muhammad Yunus

Inspirational recount of Yunus’ creation of the Grameen Bank and Grameen Foundation. Through his 40 years of field work in microlending, Yunus clearly demonstrates the power of enabling people to help themselves rather than merely supporting them through welfare. A must read for everyone looking for ways to make their impact more meaningful in creating a more sustainable future.