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Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on Pollen Brands.

By John Natoli

All around today’s business world, there’s a lot of talk about “innovation.” Supply chains, service delivery, formulation, marketing, and countless other areas of business are undergoing rapid change from a variety of angles. Innovation is the new go-to for both entering a market and maintaining a competitive lead. Where “differentiation” may have been the buzzword not too long ago, innovation requires us to actually be different, not just look different.

This is a good thing, right? Well, it can be. It’s human nature to innovate; the word “innovation” itself carries a positive connotation. In fact, innovation is what’s helped made us so successful as a species. The wealthiest, most powerful nations and businesses in the world tend to innovate. Leaders and luminaries such as Steve Jobs and Henry Ford have often been innovators–even disruptors.

But all innovation is not created equal. Atomic bombs, automatic weapons, Agent Orange, fracking, high fructose corn syrup and bottled water (and now, bottled air) all qualify as innovations. Depending on the setting, innovation can mean different things and have different implications. One might argue, somewhat optimistically, that plastic-bottled water was the “innovation” in response to a demand for clean, portable water; but could that demand have also been met by innovations in municipal water systems, water treatment practices, bottling, and equitable water access around the world? A water crises pop up worldwide, have the matter has largely been delegated to charities and NGOs–while the business world’s “innovations” have been limited to smaller caps and slightly less wasteful plastic bottles.

As a founder of Pollen Brands, a purpose-driven design agency, and a member of the Centre for Social Innovation in New York City, I’ve seen many entrepreneurs rise to the challenge of purposeful innovation. Collectively, let’s call this groundswell Innovation 2.0. As William McDonough states in his influential book "Cradle to Cradle," “Here’s where redesign begins in earnest, where we stop trying to be less bad and we start figuring out how to be good.”

Innovation 2.0 is about innovating with a broader social and environmental purpose, while keeping an eye toward market demands. As entrepreneurs, we free ourselves from the chains of market “demands,” and instead carefully evaluate the underlying needs which drive the market; in fact, the very term “market demands” is being more accurately referred to as “market needs,” accordingly distilled to reflect its more meaningful purpose. Much as a doctor whose patient “demands” a particular medication, Innovation 2.0 entrepreneurs pause to evaluate the symptoms and underlying causes and prescribe a treatment that meets the patient’s needs.

Over the next few years, it will become increasingly imperative that businesses innovate in this way. Consumers are increasingly disillusioned with solution after solution, innovation after innovation being thrust upon them, only to soon thereafter witness the negative effects of these ‘innovations’–as oceans fill with plastic waste, chemicals seep into our water supplies, and childhood obesity becomes more widespread. As FastCompany recently inferred, “To Keep Their Best Millennials, Companies Need A Social Purpose." Members of today’s new workforce want to use their skills and talents to innovate meaningfully.

Today, more than ever, we have the ability to evaluate and predict the outcomes of options that lay before us. We have the chance to truly hear the voice of the “market”–real people, with real needs, around the world–like never before. Innovation 2.0 is our responsibility to respond thoughtfully and purposefully, for the long-term benefit of the planet and its people. If done well, this could be the moment in our grandchildren’s history books when they can finally breathe a proud sigh of relief.

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John Natoli is a strong believer in the importance of a “purpose-first” life, and he founded Pollen Brands to bring a sense of purpose to his craft: brand cultivation.

John is always in search of clients who are driven by a desire to make the world a better place in some way. He knows that it can be hard to both further one's brand, keep an organization growing and running smoothly, and continue to operate conscientiously and with one's original sense of purpose in mind.

John is proud to say he's brought purpose-driven brand cultivation to clients in a huge variety of industries, working with entrepreneurs and startups, as well as more established companies and nonprofits.

John lives in New Jersey with his wife, Heather, who’s a holistic healer. He’s the proud father of four nature-loving, home-schooled kids. When he’s not helping his clients merge their sense of purpose with the growth of their brand, John enjoys organic gardening, spirituality, martial arts, and the outdoors.

By Thomas Raymond

Solid waste sent to landfills can contribute to a variety of environmental concerns. That’s why our team at Hormel Foods is committed to reducing the company’s solid waste that is sent to landfills.

We surpassed our 2020 goal to reduce solid waste sent to landfills by 10 percent six years earlier than expected. And we continue to implement projects to achieve additional reductions. In 2015 alone, our operations reduced solid waste sent to landfills by 1,200 tons.

Teams of employees at our locations continuously identify opportunities and implement projects. For example, our team at Osceola Food (Osceola, Iowa) was able to reduce the plant’s solid waste sent to landfills by 78 tons last year. The team identified four main areas of focus, which included a comprehensive review of recyclable material, reducing non-recyclable cardboard waste, composting waste wood chips, and reusing totes.

Projects and achievements like those at our Osceola Food manufacturing facility remind me that with hard work and patience, we can implement small changes that add up to big results. As I reflect back on our sustainability journey, I’m proud of all we’ve achieved so far. As you can see in our 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report, our efforts have led to many milestones, both large and small.

The entire Hormel Foods team is comprised of thoughtful members who are attentive to detail and driven by a challenge. I’m thrilled about some of our projects in the works, and I think the future is going to hold accomplishments we could never have imagined. But I’ll be the first to say there’s much more to be done.

As I work on plans with my own team, I hope you’ll consider ways in which your organization, family and friends can help reduce solid waste. Throughout my career at Hormel Foods, I’ve learned some instrumental lessons that I hope you’ll find helpful in your own endeavors to reduce solid waste.

Not one for all, but all for one

Our locations all over the world have taken initiative and shared their ideas to help the company achieve our waste reduction goals. Every year we recognize these achievements through our Environmental Sustainability Best of the Best Awards. And every other year we hold a companywide environmental conference to discuss environmental compliance programs, sustainability initiatives and encourage knowledge-sharing among environmental representatives throughout the company.

When everyone is working together for the same overall goal, we’ve learned we can produce the most effective results.

Collaboration makes us smarter … and faster

Our employees come from diverse backgrounds, and everyone brings something valuable to the table. We collaborate with employees across all areas of the company to find the best ways to reduce waste. These unique perspectives have led to creative reduction methods, and have ultimately helped us achieve our waste reduction goal six years earlier than anticipated.

Embrace challenges instead of running away from them

Throughout our sustainability journey, we’ve tried new initiatives that haven’t always contributed to our goal the way we hoped. However, our teams capitalized on these challenges by using them as starting points for new ideas. Examining challenges, what adjustments could be made, and how pieces of the initial idea could transfer to new ideas has been monumental for many of our most successful waste reduction projects.

As you embark on your own sustainability journey and efforts, consider being bold in your decisions. Be mindful of your waste production, and work with others at your organization to brainstorm creative ways for not only reducing solid waste, but also for building a more sustainable environment. I truly think you’ll be captivated by the power of working together, and as a result, those around you will be hungry to make a difference too.

Thomas Raymond is the director of environmental sustainability at Hormel Foods where he oversees the development and implementation of the organization’s environmental sustainability programs.

By Burt Cummings

According to the Council on Foundations (COF) report, Increasing Impact & Enhancing Value, corporate philanthropy is as vital as ever to business and society. And yet corporate leaders are under increasing pressure to connect the value of their programs with performance drivers that matter in the business. They must demonstrate that their philanthropic investment is both effective and aligned with business outcomes.

Quantifying results is not always easy, and many leaders struggle to measure the social impact of their programs. While they’ve often identified broad focus areas for their program, they can find it difficult to create clear social impact metrics that can bridge their philanthropic outcomes to their business strategy.

There are no universally accepted metrics for measuring either the social impact of philanthropy or the return on investment (ROI) of philanthropic initiatives. Each company is unique in both their social impact goals and in their requirements for how to demonstrate the ROI. It can be difficult to translate the large-scale vision of what they hope to achieve into tangible success measures.  They struggle to find effective ways to track changes in behavior or condition for the nonprofits and community members they serve.

Versaic client Starwood Hotels & Resorts is an example of an organization committed to investing the time and resources necessary to put a corporate philanthropy program in place that delivers significant value to the community as well as to the company and its employees. Starwood worked with Versaic and the Rensselaerville Institute (TRI) to develop a results-focused approach and implementation plan for its corporate philanthropy initiatives.

Starwood’s primary objective was to employ new tools that would automate the process and improve its ability to track, quantify and evaluate impact. The company's system is now live, and as a result, its philanthropy team has freed up time and gathered better data so they can have more productive interactions with grantees and effectively measure the results of Starwood's programs .

Here are some of the key things we learned about how to design and implement a successful program from our journey with Starwood and TRI: 

1. Create a strategic focus area(s)

To identify focus areas that would address the most pertinent needs of the community while capitalizing on Starwood’s strengths, the social responsibility team looked internally for guidance. After multiple stakeholder interviews, focus groups and strategy sessions evaluating different aspects of the business, the team identified five focus areas that align community development objectives with Starwood’s strategic goals:

• Workplace readiness


• Community vitality


• Conservation


• Disaster relief


• Human rights

2. Formulate a plan

With the focus areas in place, Starwood developed a framework to plan and assess the effectiveness of its giving. TRI helped Starwood shift its mindset from acting as a ‘funder’ to acting as an ‘investor’ in order to seek the highest human gain for the available dollars. With that perspective, the foundation staff created a strategic results framework to clarify goals for their signature program grants.

Here are some basic questions to ask when establishing a result framework:

• What changes do we want to see for the people or places we want to support?


• What are the predictive changes in behavior or condition that indicate those people and places are on their way to success?


• What types of programs and services will we invest in to get the end result?


• What type of investments will we make to affect the change we seek? Will our portfolio include programmatic, capacity building and systemic change grants?

3. Design an effective system

For Starwood it was essential to make its team and systems as streamlined and efficient as possible. The company knew it needed to automate the process, and wanted an automation partner who could integrate its results framework throughout the system workflow. It needed a system flexible enough to track the specific outcome data points it required.

Starwood’s application process and communication system process addresses the following needs:

• Educate grantees on the company’s philanthropic objectives


• Clearly communicate its criteria for support


• Help potential partners understand how the company can engage with the organization.


• Collect all relevant information required to make funding decisions


• Collect necessary data to assess ROI and support impact reporting

By taking the time up front to design the right questions, Starwood now collects all the necessary information from charitable partners, from initial proposal through impact data collected post-grant. As a result, the team can demonstrate how their investments in local nonprofits focused on building employments skills have resulted in a much better pool of potential employees. This is a clear win for Starwood and for the communities where it does business.

Conclusion

If you’re daunted by the prospect of putting an impact-focused program in place, start by asking yourself, your team and your stakeholders questions about what you want to accomplish in your business and community. Use those answers and the three steps outlined above to develop a process that will deliver the results you want to accomplish. Be prepared to adapt as you go because even with the best plan in place your programs will continually evolve, just as the needs of your business and community change. Connecting and reporting social impact with ROI requires refinement as you learn from experience.

When you take this approach, you’ll respond more effectively to the needs of your community partners, your stakeholders and your social investing team while at the same time increase your impact. It certainly worked for Starwood. Read the full story of Starwood’s journey, Going From Strategy to Impact to learn more.

Image credit: Thomas Lefebvre via Unsplash

Burt Cummings - Burt has served as Versaic’s CEO since 2006 and has extensive experience as a leader in the technology sector. Whether it’s grant management, corporate philanthropy, sponsorship management or sustainability programs, Versaic solutions streamline processes, improve CSR impact and ROI and enhance social engagement with client brands.

During the high-flying '90s and early 2000s, many thought America's economy was too big to fail. But then, of course, came the 2008 financial crisis. Small businesses shuttered and big firms tightened their belts, putting people out of work. Families saw their home values plummet. Prices increased on everything from food to electricity.

The ripple effect made its way across the world. Nonprofits were soon inundated with people in need. But with less disposable income in the global economy, many NGOs were crippled by funding shortfalls. The vast majority of American nonprofits were still feeling the pinch 3 years later in 2011. Canadian nonprofits felt a similar strain, as did their counterparts in the U.K. and Australia.

Many nonprofits successfully weathered the storm by employing innovative partnerships not only with communities, but also with the private sector. Yes, the corporate-nonprofit partnership is a rare beast. But when done correctly, such models are a boon for communities, nonprofits and businesses.

Take, for example, the Canadian Diabetes Association. Founded in 1953, the CDA works in more than 150 Canadian communities -- where it supports people living with diabetes through research, advocacy, education and services. Over 30 years ago, it forged a partnership with Savers, a for-profit thrift chain, also known in Canada and parts of the U.S. as Value Village.

The relationship began with a few thrift stores in British Columbia. The CDA collected unwanted clothing and housewares via home pickups and sold the goods to Savers by weight. Locals could also drop off their used wares to Value Village stores, with proceeds benefiting the CDA. The model was so successful that the CDA suggested Savers expand its operations to Ontario, home to the nonprofit's headquarters. The trend continued across Western Canada, with the CDA setting up collection infrastructure ahead of Savers' expansion.

The concept of a nonprofit leading the expansion of a for-profit company may sound unusual. But for Savers, the CDA case study was just the beginning. After fielding calls from Diabetes Australia for years, the thrift company made a risky jump across the pond in the late 1990s. Diabetes Australia's Victoria chapter got things going, picking up unused items destined for the landfill. Before long, the first Savers store followed.

Strangely, profit was not the company's primary motivation. "Diabetes Australia Victoria was always paid by the kilogram. It was up to us to figure out how to make money," recalls Ken Alterman, president and CEO of Savers. "We didn’t actually turn a profit in Australia from 1997 to 2004 ... But for all of that time, for Diabetes Australia, this became their No. 1 fundraiser."

Corporate partnerships are a win for nonprofits ...

A lot can go wrong when it comes to corporate-nonprofit partnerships. The key to a successful relationship is all about finding a model that works.

In the case of Savers and its 120 'legacy' partners, the primary currency (unwanted clothing and housewares) is a waste product. People will always need to throw things away, and more are seeking sustainable ways to do so. Collecting unwanted goods is fairly cheap and easy for nonprofits. And as more shoppers seek ways to buy used, Savers and Value Village maintain a steady end-use for these items. Since neither side is putting up a prohibitive amount of cash or energy, the relationship remains balanced and mutually beneficial.

"This is something that’s a sustainable, evergreen source of goods that [our partners] rely on," Alterman told TriplePundit. "As we know, the economy goes up and it goes down.

"Certainly in 2007 to 2010, cash contributions to these nonprofits were really quite low as people were tightening up their belts. But the merchandise, as long as it weighs something, our partners always got paid. And in many cases, it held them on and bridged them to a better time."

Savers is in the process of expanding its model to reach more nonprofits and charities in North America. Through its newly-created Fundrives, groups as small as neighborhood organizations, schools and athletic clubs can leverage throwaways to support their operations. Instead of sending kids out to sell magazines, wrapping paper or candy to raise money, these groups collect unwanted items and sell them to Savers to help pay for those new uniforms or fund a planned expansion.

Last year, Savers conducted more than 1,000 Fundrives with unaffiliated nonprofits across North America.

 

... and businesses

After failing to turn a profit in Australia for nearly a decade, Savers hit the black and kept on running. It now operates nine stores across Australia and adds at least one new location annually, Alterman told 3p. Partnering with nonprofits also helps Savers as a company — not only by establishing goodwill among communities, but also for engaging and retaining employees, he continued.

"A lot of people like to get this good-versus-evil or for-profit = bad, nonprofit = good. We don’t see it that way. I can tell you that if we were not a purpose-driven company in the way we run our model, we would never have the longevity of the people who work here."

Of course, the thrift world itself is typically a nonprofit space. So, a company like Savers is bound to blur the lines between purpose and profit. It's a line the company toes gladly, Alterman said.

"Because we’re the only one like us, we really have to be the innovators in the space and figure out what makes it appealing to our partners, to our customers, to the donors, to the community and to our employees," he told 3p. "It’s really cool in that we’ve got this business that just has a lot of positives to it. And I have no doubt it’s why [our partners and our team members] stick around."

Collaboration helps communities

"In our company, we talk about the triple win," Alterman told us. "It starts with the nonprofit and the community … but we also capture the waste stream."

Savers and its nonprofit partners now process 3 million used items every day. And last year they diverted more than 650 million pounds of clothing and housewares from local landfills. These items found new owners instead of becoming waste, while funding nonprofits across the U.S., Canada and Australia. They also provided jobs in their home communities: Savers employs over 22,000 people, who earn competitive pay and benefits.

"One of the reasons why we want to change the conversation between just for-profit and nonprofit is because that’s so limited," Alterman told us. "When you rethink reuse, in our view, you’re helping the environment; you’re protecting the planet. We found a way to monetize goods to strengthen the community. And we’re also a huge job employer."

Its innovative model pushed Savers forward for over five decades. But Alterman says the company is just getting started. "I'm going on my 15th year with the company, and I feel like it’s really the early innings," the exec told 3p. "A whole new wave of people are recognizing that there’s a lot of value in reuse, sustainability and helping others who are less fortunate in this creative monetization of cast-offs. After more than 60 years, it's just getting started."

Image credits: 1) Flickr/furtwangl; 2) Courtesy of Savers; 3) Flickr/Mike Mozart

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is leading what NGOs call a McCarthyite investigation of government agencies, state attorneys general and, now, nonprofits. These stakeholders have one thing in common: They're working to research ExxonMobil’s alleged climate deception.

Rep. Smith who chairs the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, stridently defends ExxonMobil against such investigations. And he has in turn demanded documents from eight nonprofits and 17 attorneys general for a committee review of how they collaborated. Those involved with investigation of the oil giant, along with researchers at government agencies including NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), say that such requests amount to harassment as they make it impossible for their organizations to do any work at all.

Greenpeace USA and 350.org are now refusing to cooperate with Smith. Describing the congressman’s subpoenas as “vague and over-reaching,” both said they are open to further discussion with the committee, but have only replied with a huge no to requests for submission of any and all documents and emails.

The groups were joined by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts, who invoked states’ rights in their refusal to cooperate with Smith and his fellow Republicans on the science committee. Liberal firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also jumped into the fray, accusing Smith and the committee of preventing Massachusetts Attorney Aeneral Maura Healy from doing her daily job. Reacting to Smith’s onslaught of subpoenas, Warren sniffed: “You picked a fight with the wrong state.”

The fight also ensnared what Smith describes as “environmental activist” organizations. “We've offered time again to meet with the Committee to discuss our concerns, but they're only interested in seizing our internal documents and emails,” said May Boeve, 350.org executive director, in a written statement. “We've got nothing to hide, but this McCarthy-like overreach sets a dangerous precedent.”

Smith has issued more subpoenas during his three-year tenure as chair than it the committee issued during its previous 54 years of existence, Greenpeace and 350.org pointed out. That flurry of litigious activity also corresponds with what the organizations say is a total of $675,000 in donations from energy companies to Smith's political campaigns since 1998.

If the saying, “never let a serious crisis go to waste” holds true, then Smith may have given these organizations a gift that keeps on giving. Greenpeace has turned the committee’s subpoenas into an opportunity to launch a fundraising drive. Both organizations have also leveraged Smith’s actions into a campaign to raise awareness about what they say is ExxonMobil’s five-decade record of suppressed information related to climate science.

Do not expect Smith’s vendetta against environmental groups to end any time soon. Smith responded yesterday to the NGOs' refusal to cooperate with his committee’s investigation, saying he is “disappointed.” But he hinted that the subpoenas will keep on coming. “The Committee will consider using all tools at its disposal to further its investigation,” Smith retorted in a press release.

Image credit: NASA/Flickr

The world needs more people like Barry Lipman. The retired -- or, as he would say, “recovering" -- Bay Area attorney is deeply committed to making the world a better place by investing in scalable social impact projects. Five years ago, he and his wife, Marie, launched the Lipman Family Prize with the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School -- awarding nearly $1 million to 15 social change organizations around the globe.

The annual global prize celebrates leadership and innovation among trailblazing organizations who are creating positive social impact and developing sustainable solutions to significant social and economic challenges. And although he has a deep respect for social enterprise, Lipman is more attracted to a slightly different niche.

“There are so many social issues where people can’t make a profit and governments won’t get involved,” Lipman told TriplePundit. “These are the organizations that my prize honors. We offer strategic impact investments in the form of unrestricted funds and tools to organizations which are not able to profit from the work they’re doing in the world.”

Winners of the Lipman Family Prize are models for the good they achieve as well as for their approach and implementation. The winner of the Prize tackles universal problems in a local setting by offering an approach, model, or innovation that can be adapted to create a positive impact elsewhere around the globe.

The Lipman Family Prize recognizes and supports these organizations — providing a service to the broader social sector by connecting organizations across service areas to the broader University of Pennsylvania community. Not only does the prize reward exemplary work in the social sector, it supports honorees through an educational and consultative partnership, brings together leaders from exemplary organizations so that they can learn from one another and educates students about the social sector through the prize making process.

The work of the Prize resides within the Wharton Leadership Program and is conducted with the support of other university institutes and centers, such as the Wharton Social Impact Initiative, the Center for Leadership and Change Management, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, the Center for High Impact Philanthropy and the Master of Science Program in Nonprofit/NGO Leadership.

Lipman, a University of Penn alum, said the idea to partner with the University came as a lightning bolt idea in the middle of the night. A few days later, he sat down with the Dean of Wharton to discuss it. “I was trying to explain to him why I thought a partnership would be a great idea. All the while, he was trying to convince me of the exact same thing,” he said.

It took six months of working with different people at the University to bring the project to fruition. They set up a curriculum along with extra-curricular activities that could involve students and developed a process for researching and selecting the honorees. Together, they found a structure that would be mutually beneficial for the school, the students and the prize beneficiaries.

However, Lipman has a different ROI in mind, a “return on impact." He attests that this work has no direct benefit to him, aside from the joy he gets from living a life of service. “I’d say it’s 5 percent about me and 95 percent about expanding positive social impact,” he shared. “I can’t tell you how much pleasure I get out of this or how rewarding this project is for me. My ROI is off the charts. I get so much more out of this than what I put into it. I don’t see any financial return. In that sense, it’s not a very good investment. But nothing can compare to the unbelievable pleasure I feel when I hear about all of incredible things these organizations have done with the money.”

The Prize awards $250,000 to one organization per year in unrestricted cash and $50,000 to two honorees. The Prize also includes an ongoing partnership with the University which includes promotion of their work and accomplishments and access to tuition-free executive education programs at Wharton and the Center for Social Impact Strategy, valued at $15,000.

Organizations are rewarded for their commitment to leadership, innovation, impact and transferability. The first Lipman Family Prize winner, iDE, leveraged their prize resources to scale up a pilot project conducted in Cambodia, aimed at improving health and sanitation in rural villages by creating a local market for simple, clean latrines. Today, iDE has active programs in 5 countries and, in just three years, has facilitated the sale of more than 141,000 latrines through local Cambodian entrepreneurs, making it the most successful sanitation marketing program ever, globally.

The 2013 Lipman Family Prize winner, READ Global, has established 80 READ centers serving 237 rural villages and 2.1 million villagers in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Gender equality advocate Breakthrough, the 2014 prize winner, has gone global with collaborative, multi-media campaigns aimed at ending domestic violence, sexual assault on campus, sexual harassment in public, and violence against women in pop culture.

The 2016 Winner, Soccer Without Borders, uses soccer as a vehicle for positive change, providing newcomer refugee, asylee, and immigrant youth with a toolkit to overcome obstacles to growth, inclusion, and personal success. The organization works in ten countries on three continents, training more than 200 coaches and reaching more than 2,000 youth annually and over 10,000 to date. Their players come from more than 35 countries as far-ranging as Guatemala, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia. Many have fled severe violence and discrimination and over 70 percent of Soccer Without Borders participants are refugees or have sought asylum in the U.S.

"Seeing the impact these organizations can make when they have the resources they need has not only surpassed any return I had hoped for; it has confirmed my commitment to identify, nurture, and accelerate organizations doing world-changing work," Lipman said. “I’ve done well in my life, now it’s time to do good.”

Images courtesy of Barry Lipman

We have the technical know-how, but are humans fully ready to allow machines to do most of our thinking for us?

The topic has become quite pervasive. Tech giants like Google and Uber and car manufacturers like Ford, GM and Tesla are beginning to publicize their investments into the research and development of the self-driving consumer vehicle and other “smart” systems. Such systems promise to make our lives easier, more efficient and, ultimately, safer.

Yet concerns abound around issues of safety, privacy and effectiveness of these growing technologies. And understanding the usage and applications of autonomous systems, such as as self-driving vehicles, requires an in-depth discussion beyond the mere novelty of smart products.

Dr. Michael Francis is the chief of advanced programs and a senior fellow at United Technologies Research Center (UTRC). He leads the development of advanced aerospace technologies, including autonomous and intelligent systems, as well as unmanned vehicles.

As Dr. Francis puts it, autonomy itself is a technology that is changing very rapidly. And while the technology is here in some form, it is still in its infancy.

The  still has to be engaged with the system, he cautions, debunking the notion that autonomy, as we understand it on a consumer level, means completely giving up control to our prized machines.

Take for instance the recently reported Tesla crash and subsequent death of one of its car owners, who crashed into a tractor trailer as his car drove itself along the highway. As details emerged following the tragic accident, it was revealed that the driver was completely disengaged while the vehicle was operating.

Tesla responded in a statement: “Neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.” Even on autopilot, the company asserts, drivers must keep their hands on the wheel at all times.

The same instructions apply across the board to all “autonomous” vehicles and systems. There is still some human interaction required -- at least for now.

As Dr. Francis explains, there is a tendency for the operator to be mentally distracted while everything is going fine. If something goes wrong, it's hard for our brains to respond quickly and take action when they need to.

And therein lies our challenge in employing autonomous systems.

But first, a little background. Though the discussion on self-driving cars has become highly popular over the last few years, these technologies have been in existence for quite some time, adeptly serving in advanced military aviation systems.

For example, this technology began to emerge as early as the mid 1800s when English engineer and inventor Robert Whitehead designed and developed a torpedo (known as the Whitehead Torpedo) that could propel itself underwater for several hundred yards. Early on and through several iterations of the torpedo, the technology proved to be useful for naval fleets. The design served as an early skeletal template for what would later evolve to other self-driving weapons of war and aviation.

Dr. Francis’s experience draws on this history of this evolution and eventual common use of autonomous technology. Prior to joining UTRC, he led several pioneering aviation programs during his over 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force.

Among his achievements: playing an integral role in the development of several autonomous combat systems over the last 25 years, such as the Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle and the Joint DARPA-USAF-Navy Unmanned Combat Air Systems programs in the 1990s.

On the consumer level, we’re not exempt to this technology in everyday use. Take for instance the commercial flights we board every day. The majority of the technology we see on the way to our seat is also equipped with digital control systems that are autonomous and allow the pilot and co-pilot to tell the computer what they want the airplane to do.

For example, the computer tells the plane and pilot "how much" and "which controls." It works at 30 to 60 times per second while going through an entire decision cycle to decide whether the airplane is controllable and stable.

If human interaction is still required on some level alongside autonomous machines, when then can we expect these technologies to be independent from human engagement? The answer centers less on our ability to program for autonomy, and more on engineering autonomous machines that can handle high precision -- whether that be on the road, in the operating room or in the sky.

In the future, human-machine integration will lose importance, Dr. Francis adds. Human-machine intelligence integration will gain much more significance. The biggest problem area and opportunity for the technology sector to solve, he says, is the machine’s ability to deal with things it hasn’t seen before -- detecting an anomaly and knowing how to deal with it correctly.

The challenge of managing the unknown will keep humans employed for a few more decades at least!

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

By Emma Elisse

American student loan debt increased by over 84 percent since 2008 to reach a cumulative all-time high of $1.3 trillion this year. It surpasses even total credit card debt as the largest source of household debt across the country. In response, activists are calling upon both the Democrat and Republican parties to make a strong commitment to improving college affordability.

During the primary process of this year’s presidential election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stopped short of fellow candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders in proposing a “free college education for all.”

Sanders' progressive platform appealed to millennial voters for numerous reasons. But this push for tuition-free schooling at public universities was undeniably attractive for a generation held back by a worldwide recession and unemployment.

Now, having vanquished Sanders in the race to the White House, Clinton announced a new and improved plan to alleviate the burdens of student debt on young people. Clinton’s proposed program aims to provide relief to the many young people who see their financial future undermined by an unfair borrowing system. It also seeks to promote entrepreneurship by making higher education more affordable overall in addition to offering certain incentives for the creators of new enterprises.

Under Clinton’s New College Compact, students will “never have to borrow to pay for tuition, books and fees to attend a four-year public college in their state." And those already out of school will be able to refinance in order to obtain debt relief.

Though the recent surge in student debt began under President George W. Bush, it nearly doubled throughout Obama’s term. Clinton’s proposal stands to radically change things for student loan borrowers, if it is implemented as written. If elected, Clinton could implement her new policies immediately using the executive powers of the presidency rather than waiting for congressional approval. But would she? 

Details of the revised New Compact were unveiled at the start of the month. Clinton's plans center on a three-month moratorium on federal student loan repayments, during which borrowers would have the opportunity to restructure their debts or refinance them at lower interest rates. This aspect of her proposal alone is expected to cost the federal government upwards of $1 billion.

Beyond rearranging loan terms to make it easier for people to repay, Clinton is also looking ahead toward a wider program of debt forgiveness. Those who enter into public service -- including teachers -- could have the entirety of their student debts wiped away after 10 years of making payments. Those who teach certain subjects (STEM courses, specifically) for which there's a shortage of qualified educators will receive additional benefits.

Building upon current government scholarships and student loan forgiveness programs which provide incentive for students to choose a service-oriented career path, Clinton maintains that her loan programs will encourage “community building” and broader citizen engagement across the U.S. "Young people willing to commit to public service deserve to live free from the crushing burden of student debt," Clinton said in the campaign's initial release last summer.

For young entrepreneurs and small business owners, Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation (packaged within the larger loan proposal) may help relieve some financial stress and support more new business pursuits. Her initiative will allow entrepreneurs to defer student loans interest-free for up to three years while they're trying to get their businesses up and running. Not only will the founders of startups be able to take advantage of this program, but it will also be available to the first few key employees whom they bring on board their companies.

Innovators working in “distressed” communities can also apply for forgiveness of up to $17,500 of their student loans after five years. Some pundits have criticized this step because it will put money in the pockets of those who are already capable of gathering the resources to fund the creation of a business in the first place. But for millennials, any new programs with the potential to create jobs are more than welcome.

Most of Clinton's proposals will affect those who have already taken on student loans. But she's also looking to halt or reverse the “popularity” of such loans in the long term. According to remarks on her website, she understands that “this debt prevents people from forming families, buying homes, and starting small businesses.” Interestingly, borrowers in their 30s and 40s often have higher average levels of student debt than those in their 20s. Clinton stands to significantly increase her popularity among millennials with this program, but she may also be able to court those in other age brackets who are still paying off their student debts.

If Hillary Clinton is elected president, her College Compact has the potential to enact far-reaching change. Were millions of Americans to be suddenly liberated from crushing student loan debt, as well as able to send their children to college loan-free, the immediate economic and societal impacts would be enormous. Though her plans still need some work before they pass the bill in the White House, these proposals are indicative of a promising shift in current political thinking.

Image credit: Pixabay

Emma Elisse is a freelance writer and blogger from the central Midwest. After completing her undergraduate degree in Florida she relocated to Chicago, where she now works, writes and lives with her pet rabbit Anthony Hopkins.

This article is part of a series by students at Bard College’s MBA in Sustainability. Principles of Sustainable Management is a foundational class for all Bard MBA students. It delivers ecological and social literacy, the frameworks and tools used by sustainability professionals, the business case for more responsible treatment of people and planet, systems thinking and integrated bottom line accounting.

By Mariana Souza, Martin Lemos and Simon Fischweicher

How can you get the experience you need for your dream job? How do you get sustainability consulting experience without working for a sustainability consulting firm? Our team asked these questions as we finished our first year of the Bard MBA in Sustainability program.

Our answer: If you can’t join a firm, become one! We took a do-it-yourself approach and launched our own independent consulting group, FWD Impact. Based on our experience, here are a few recommendations for building a sustainability consulting portfolio before graduation.

Get on the phone

Once you have a team, you need to learn as much as you can about other sustainability consultants and the businesses that hire them. The best way to do this is picking up the phone. Have conversations with businesses, consultants and experts early and often.

Who wants to spend an hour talking to a few graduate students? Most sustainability professionals. People working in the field have been where you are and are excited to share. These early calls probably won't lead to a client project. But they help you learn about what is out there and where your skills, knowledge and experience can add value. Use your professors and classmates to find connections.

Tip: Ask for 30 minutes. Lackluster calls won’t drag on forever, and interesting ones will stretch to an hour or lead to a follow-up conversation.

“Well, what do you do?”

This is a question we fumbled through over and over again early in our process: “Uh, sustainability consulting … materiality … stakeholders …” We learned that sustainability consulting is not an acceptable answer, and that a laundry list of every possible service offering wasn’t much better.

After bumbling through a few conversations, we took some time to think about what the market needs and what we had to offer.

• Do you have technical expertise? Conducting energy audits and improving operational efficiency are important for businesses and nonprofits with high facility costs. Companies want to be seen to be responsibly managing their carbon footprint in a post-COP21 world.


• Do you have communications experience? Mission-driven businesses need help with messaging and storytelling.


• Are you a system-thinker? Understanding the complexities of sustainability opportunities and threats requires time and expertise. Corporations benefit from building competitive benchmarks and conducting supply chain risk assessments.

Be sure to align what the market needs with the skills you want to build for your post-MBA career. What tools are you missing for that dream job? What kinds of experiences do you want to add to your professional story?

Once you think you have a pithy core service offering, try it out. Yes, that means get back on the phone. Activate your entire network from school, work, family and friends to get large corporations, small businesses, non-profits, sports team, museums and everybody in between on to the phone. Ask about their challenges, and let them know what you do. Test different angles and entry points to the conversation. We used faculty and colleagues in our program to get initial leads.

Tip: Develop your web presence when you have a workable pitch or service offering. We started by building a website on Squarespace. We set up a LinkedIn page with our logo, allowing us to include FWD Impact project work in our LinkedIn experience. We also maintain a Twitter account for thought leadership and reactions to significant events like the #ParisAgreement.

Turning conversations into proposals

As you refine your sustainability consulting service offering, shift your focus from scheduling informational interviews to planning thoughtful business development conversations.

A successful business development call requires research, a hypothesis and the ability to think on your feet. Prepare for each call by gathering background on the company and framing an idea of different projects that might interest them. Have these project ideas written down so that you are ready to pitch if the conversation is going well.

Armed with context and ideas, get on the call and listen. The key to these conversations is asking the right questions. What are the looming priorities and opportunities that need support? Where can you help?

Get as much information as you can on their primary business and sustainability challenges and aspirations in the first 30 minutes of the conversation. Then use that information to explore project ideas together as a close. Ideally, the conversation ends with a solid project idea you can turn into a proposal to be sent shortly after. Be explicit and make sure they are prepared to receive a proposal from you.

Turning proposals into projects

Our map for launching a new client project is simple: initial business development conversation, sending and presenting a proposal, agreement on project scope, signing the charter and kickoff.

Getting from conversation to proposal is the most challenging, but never skip establishing your scope and aligning expectations. A project charter and kickoff meeting will ensure that you and your client are on the same page from the beginning. Formalizing expectations and setting deadlines is crucial to ensuring a good working relationship with your clients and your team.

Project charters and kick-off meetings are fairly standard. But proposals are an opportunity to highlight your creativity and your expertise. It’s important to balance, however, your enthusiasm with the client’s stated needs. Here are a few key points to remember when drafting and pitching a project proposal in PowerPoint:

• No surprises: Listen closely in the business development conversation and address the topics discussed in the proposal. You may have an inspired, late-night idea about a project, but your client needs to feel ownership of the problem and any potential solution. Obtaining the client’s buy-in is the most important aspect in this phase.


• Present different ideas separately: If you do decide to present a new idea in the proposal: make sure to pitch the original project, and then separately pitch the new idea.


• Keep it short: Concise proposals are more likely to be read in a timely manner. Don’t build out every element of the project. Save details for the pitch conversation.


• Provide timelines and deliverables: Give the client the high level of what you will deliver - documents, presentations, interview notes - and how long it will take.


• Know your client: Make sure the way you pitch, your language, location and design reflect the client, not just yourself.


• Know your budget: Know what you need coming in. Have clear options and prices in mind. Don’t be afraid to ask the client’s budget. We had a mix of paid and pro-bono projects.

Getting your first project

Before jumping into your first project, decide what your priorities are. Do you want big name clients, the ideal project or a lot of money? Be honest with your team about your individual priorities.

Our team decided that ideal projects and big names would be our priority early on, and that money would come later. Our first unpaid projects helped us build a client list, iron out internal practices and, ultimately, land a paid project with a great client for our spring semester.

The future

Our team is finishing up our remaining projects as we near graduation. With targeted experience and market intelligence, we are working at BSR, CDP and consulting independently.

Our team may be breaking up, but FWD Impact will live on through the Bard MBA in Sustainability. Starting next academic year, students will be able to select FWD Impact as a Master’s capstone option. Our team will serve as advisors, but will keep guidance limited because failing and recovering are just as important for learning as succeeding.

The most exciting lesson our team learned in this process was how many professionals are interested in implementing sustainability in their organizations. The world needs all hands on deck to create a more sustainable and resilient global economy and we are excited to see what the next FWD Impact team will do.

Image courtesy of the authors 

Mariana Souza, Martin Lemos and Simon Fischweicher are co-founders of FWD Impact, a sustainability consulting firm launched as a Capstone project for Bard College’s MBA in Sustainability. Click here to learn more about the FWD Impact team, or contact them at [email protected].

By Jessica Oaks

One of the biggest barriers facing environmentalists – and more simply, groups looking to protect the environment – is the lack of impact global environmental changes have on people's daily lives. It is easy to brush aside urgent issues like dwindling arctic ice and rising sea temperatures when one doesn't witness or experience these things firsthand. And in many cases, there is no immediate impact; to truly grasp the effects of climate change, some forethought is often required.

Only through educational outreach can people not directly connected to the issue be made to understand its importance. But how can you make people empathetic of a cause or plight if there's no way to experience it other than in theory? You must find a way to make them experience it directly. And believe it or not, virtual reality can do just that.

What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality – like books, television, radio, film, and the arts – is a medium for transmitting an idea or concept. The difference between virtual reality and other information outlets is that it allows individuals to be participants in their experience, not merely spectators. This unique relationship can provide for an experience that is not possible with other mediums. Reading about a subject is one thing; experiencing it firsthand is something altogether different.

Combining sight, sound, and movement (and occasionally touch and smell) into a single user experience, virtual reality can transport a person into wholly unique and new environments. Though the apparatus itself may look silly (after all, VR goggles still look like something out of 1980s science fiction), the worlds that virtual reality can create are anything but. It is a truly transformative technology and unlike anything else.

What are its commercial uses?

Thanks to companies like Samsung, Oculus, Google, and Sony, affordable virtual reality experiences are starting to become the norm rather than the exception. The commercial uses of virtual reality are many – perhaps most obviously, virtual reality is a perfect platform for gaming. With immersive environments and lifelike user interaction, VR gaming promises to deliver experiences that are more real, dynamic, and thrilling than ever. Already, gamers can climb mountains and engage in high-orbit dogfights. But gaming isn't the only commercial outlet for virtual reality. There is ample opportunity for its use in the educational, healthcare, and scientific fields as well.

Think of the possibilities. Doctors could view the body in new and novel ways, which could transform the way that diagnosis and treatment are prescribed. Patients could be made to understand both the extent of their illness and the mechanics of their treatment like never before. Nurses and care providers could receive more in-depth training for greater treatment outcomes. Though the industry hasn't quite lived up to its promise yet, virtual reality is making inroads into the healthcare sphere, and further development is all but guaranteed. And healthcare isn't the only field benefitting from virtual reality. The scientific and educational fields are too, as mobile providers like T-Mobile bring affordable virtual reality experiences right to the classroom.

How is virtual reality being used to improve matters?

It's a good question. Just how can virtual reality help prevent climate change? Put simply, by helping develop a sense of empathy and altruism among people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and cultures. Most people don't experience climate change on a day-to-day basis (or if they do, are unaware that climate change is the root cause of what it is they are experiencing). By providing virtual experiences via virtual reality, organizations can help build these emotions in skeptics and the uniformed alike. Children and adults can come to understand climate change and its impact by experiencing it in their own way – rather than by merely hearing or reading about it.

Colleges like Stanford University have experimented with virtual reality as a substitute for real-life experiences and found they do work. This is vital, because it shows that experiences can be informative and impactful even if they aren't "real," per se. Companies and organizations have leveraged this to help educate and engage people on the issue of climate change.

The Sierra Club, in conjunction with VR studio RYOT, made a virtual reality public service announcement advocating for policy change at the governmental level (and recruited respected actor Jared Leto to help). The New York Times utilized virtual reality to bring its readers under the ocean, to the top of the World Trade Center, and to the surface of Pluto – all in an effort to make educational experiences immersive and engaging. And scientists have created virtual reality experiences to help bring concepts to life in a way that can easily be grasped and understood by all. What better way to understand the impact trash has on ocean environments than to see it yourself?

But what is climate change?

Of course, this discussion is somewhat moot without discussing climate change itself. Climate change is an umbrella term used to describe global warming, and the many effects of this phenomenon, which include increasing water temperature, loss of polar and land ice, extreme weather phenomenon, and other environmental changes, including habitat loss.

Scientific consensus – backed by such organizations as NASA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and the European Environment Agency – states plainly that these changes are man-made and the result of carbon dioxide production, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels.

Understanding and accepting that climate change is man-made is vital to reversing the phenomenon – and education is the first step to achieving this goal, which VR applications can help make possible.

Virtual reality as a tool for changing the world

Ultimately, virtual reality is a content medium that can inform and influence the public at large by immersing people in unique experiences. Just like literature, theater, film, television, and the arts, the topics and concepts that virtual reality tackle over the coming decades will be as diverse as the people who create this new type of content. But where virtual reality stands alone is that it provides an experience – it creates a relationship where the viewer is more than a spectator; he or she is a participant, and this makes all the difference in the impact that VR content can and will have.

Image credit: Flickr/Stuart Renkin

Jessica Oaks is a freelance journalist who loves to cover technology news and the ways that technology makes life easier. She also blogs at FreshlyTechy.com. Check her out on Twitter @TechyJessy.