- I contributed an essay on sustainability to the eBook, “What Is Dying to Be Born,” created/compiled/edited by Lianne Raymond.  This wealth of wisdom and inspiration includes essays from Martha Beck, Margaret Wheatley and Kelly Diels – to name just a few.

- I edited the recently released HS Talks online seminar series, Latest Thinking in Marketing to Women.  Sessions include those by such experts as Fara Warner (global women), Mary Brown (Baby Boom women), Kit Yarrow (Gen Y), Bella DePaulo (single Women), Kevin Brown (moms),  and Aliza Freud (building communities) – with one more session to come from Holly Buchanan (social media/online women).  My session ties up the overview by covering how to leverage marketing to women knowledge without falling into the gender trap.

- I recently posted two short videos on Why the Sustainable Movement is Not a Trend and The Sustainable Consumer Models Women’s Ways of Buying.  These are just the beginning of what I hope to make a regular series.

- I contributed an introductory essay to the EPM Communications, All  About Women annual report, 2010 edition – and book  full of data, case studies and analysis. (Please use the promo code, LEARNED, to save $60 on the purchase.)  Here’s a clip from my piece, “The Intentional Woman: Balance, Consciousness and Honesty:”  Women seem to have realized the weight they pull as consumers, and are more freely “leveraging” that weight to demand that which is most important to them as individuals.  They no longer hope, but instead expect, that brands will deliver products and buying experiences that meet their personal core values.

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Any and all of the above should jumpstart your spring thinking, strategy and planning sessions about women as consumers, leaders and sustainability shifters.

Just as is the case with well produced PSAs, what those of us who provide sustainability content intend to do is modify public attitudes by raising awareness. Much as I wish everyone could get as geeked out as I do by new solar panel technology, smart grids or “green building,” for example, a lot of people don’t share my enthusiasm.  One reason they don’t: they are not as exposed to reasons WHY they should be excited.

But, here’s something to consider: what about being the first in your industry to address this?  And, you don’t have to start from scratch!  Instead, take part by helping to develop and disseminate the words and videos of the many talented writers who are already knowledgeable and passionate about sustainability.

I see huge opportunity for brands or organizations on the sustainability journey to be more intentional with their “broadcast” information.  This is NOT about having your public relations staff write pages and pages of  “look at us” web site copy, however.  It IS about becoming known as a go-to resource, or for supporting the wealth of existing sustainability knowledge and content.  That may mean identifying and building a relationship with an individual content provider/editor to publish on your own site.  Or, it may mean sponsoring a variety of blogs, video channels and the like, to reach your own customers – as well as those reading the content provider’s work already (who are significantly predisposed to wanting to hear about sustainable innovations, by the way).

“Uncertainty” and “similarity” are two conditions that apply to the “social proof” theory (read more in Robert Cialdini’s book, INFLUENCE: The Psychology of Persuasion).  With particular regard to sustainability, there are still many consumers and business decision-makers that need to be made more certain. Furthermore,  as human beings, those people are also looking for similarity -or to see what their peers/colleagues/industry leaders are already doing/thinking.

Both of those groups need a bridge to that certainty and to being “in the know.” Sustainability content can be a great way to connect a brand’s products or services to the existing relevant cultural and technology trends in a consumer’s mind.  Brands that want to highlight their sustainable and socially responsible steps would do well to make that bridge easier to cross.

Sustainability not only breeds business innovation, it also breeds whole new ways to communicate those innovations and to a broader audience.

Changing public attitudes about sustainability on the whole, and about your corporation’s steps in that direction, comes from raising awareness.   Partnering with or sponsoring sustainability content providers who LOVE what they do and are dying to engage more people on the topic seems pretty obvious to me (but, yes, I am biased). So, consider leveraging sustainability content to help your customers feel more certain about sustainability and be inspired to join their friends and colleagues who are already participating in the movement.  The result will be social proof enough for you.

*If you are interested in exploring sustainability content possibilities: you may want to follow my sustainability-csr Twitter list (quite a few content providers are included, and many also have great lists to explore), or simply follow me on Twitter @AndreaLearned (I regularly pass along links to great work from talented sustainability/social responsibility minds).  If all else isn’t quite enough – feel free to contact me to discuss ideas about working together or how to go about finding the perfect fit for your content-providing effort.

My friends at WhatWomenMake recently posed a question that made me stop and think: who are the 2-3 women at the forefront of sustainability, and why?  My first response, and that of pretty much all the smart sustainability-focused friends I quickly emailed, was – “wow – good question.”

So that made me think on it a bit more.  In all the sustainability-related books/case studies I’ve read, and in all the conversations I’ve had with so many friends in the field, there has never been a resounding woman’s name or two that surfaces.  Instead there seems to be a long, collected list of extremely accomplished women who should be getting a lot of recognition but may not be bothered by it.   It reminds me of the much pondered (lately) question: “why are there so few female CEOs?”

So, I decided to poll my broader readership on their thoughts.  I’ll start the discussion by listing some of the submissions I got from an informal email survey.  In a week or so, I will publish a follow up post including any submissions that came from more than one reader, and then offer that list up for a larger vote.

The background: given commonly cited sustainability “pioneers” or “thought leaders” such as Ray C. Anderson (Interface Inc.), Paul Hawken (founder of Smith & Hawken, and one of the earliest names associated with sustainability), or Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, which women come to your mind as quickly?  It’s not about who is “top” or “best,” in my mind, but about the ways that people get known for their work and why. That’s why I’m using the term “forefront” as in – at the forefront of your mind.

I realize that you’d need to be following sustainability in the first place to have ANYONE come to mind (male or female).  And, I’d say that that basically gives us all (the sustainability choir) reason to be more driven with sharing the stories and case studies we come across.  We need to bridge the topic for those we want to JOIN the choir!

But, I digress.  Following are the initial round of submissions I’ve received.  Please add your own ideas (please keep it to the 1-2 that first come to mind) via comments below or via Twitter (I’m @AndreaLearned) – and please use the hashtag #sustywomen (if you remember).

Thanks! I look forward to seeing the results and starting a conversation or two.

The initial submissions, in no particular order:

• Beth Sachs, co-founder of VEIC
• Jan Bittersdorf, co-founder of NRG Systems
• Judy Wicks, founder of White Dog Cafe
• Michelle Long, Executive Director of BALLE
• Eileen Fisher, fashion designer/founder of Eileen Fisher
• Bonnie Nixon, formerly Director of Environmental Sustainability for HP
• Koann Vikoren Skrzyniarz, founder of Sustainable Life Media
• Shari Aaron, author of Climbing the Green Ladder
• Dr. Beth Sauerhaft, Senior Manager of Environmental Stewardship, PepsiCo North America
• Vandana Shiva, sustainability activist
• Wangari Mathai, Nobel Prize Winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement in Africa
• Jane Goodall, British anthropologist, known for her work with chimpanzees
• Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx
• Janine Benyus, natural sciences writer and innovation consultant
• Tensie Whelan, President of Rainforest Alliance
• Sylvia Earle, legendary ocean researcher
• Alice Waters, pioneer of culinary philosophy, founder of Chez Panisse restaurant
• Dr. Virginia Burkett, USGS Climatologist and 2007 recipient Nobel Prize
• Dr. Teresa Kennedy, Director, International Division, The GLOBE Program
• Dr. Jane Lubchenco,  NOAA Administrator

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The reverse mentoring programme, which was piloted for six months in the EMEA region last year, aims to give male bosses an insight into the challenges women face in the workplace, helping more women into senior roles. Participants in the pilot met at least once a month, usually off-site to allow both sides to be more objective.

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My advice? Read the article and get ideas for doing the same in your organization or corporation.  If helping more women into senior roles isn’t a compelling enough reason (!), what about helping the participating senior male executives learn a bit more about how women think, process and make decisions in order to give them fresh perspective on their core consumers?

Believe me.  There’s a wealth of information and insight into how women buy within the workplace thought processes of your female colleagues – and it doesn’t involve hiring a research firm!

Dell’s UK program sounds like it should set up a great environment for men and women to make strides in workplace gender relations.  The bonus: their teams, men and women, mid-level and senior together, will very likely make better marketing decisions, as well.

Note to Dell – I’d love to hear the results, and help tell the positive stories when the results can be measured!

*Thanks to TheNextWomen for the twitter tip.

I guess when you have a clubby, tightly-woven, self-perpetuating network, it’s hard for women to break in. It’s a stubborn phenomenon, but I hope we can figure out how to correct it. Otherwise, our industry is tragically losing out on 50% of the world’s best talent!

2) I often write about how important it is to learn the language of the consumer in order to better reach him or her. And, this language lesson seems still more important in our 24/7 too-busy-to-listen world.  That’s why Vanessa Van Petten’s site, Radical Parenting, caught my eye.  How great for parents of teens to find help understanding their kids, not through famous psychologists and researchers – but through the words and ideas of teens themselves!

3) Innovative businesses (often of the “green” or socially responsible leaning) are known to pop up pretty frequently in my region of Vermont, and I recently came across another. Inlu was co-founded by two women who noticed, among other things, that a lot of moms now striving to live more green lives had significant conflict about the number of darned birthday party gifts (with wrapping!) they had to buy on an annual basis.  What they’ve developed is a fun online invitation, cause giving and group gift solution that speaks a “woman’s language” (to reiterate my theme) in getting the job done with less check writing, postage stamps and wrapping materials.  Recycling bins everywhere thank them.

In my recent interview on Purse Strings Radio, I talk about why more brands shoud be moving away from visibly “pink” campaigns toward marketing to women under-the-radar in order to appeal to a 21st Century gender-converging marketplace.  Listen to my conversation with Purse Strings host, Maria Reitan, to learn more about why I feel this way and how brands can use their marketing to women savvy to reach a more gender neutral consumer.

Finding the right approach for gender-specific marketing can be really tricky.  Some brands go too far with the girlie stuff, and that’s when they start getting into trouble.

If you are interested in more on this topic, my post for MarketingProfs DailyFix blog just posted as well.  Plus, there is a lot of continuing discussion on Twitter. (I can be found there as: @AndreaLearned).

I have a very contained perspective on it all (whereas the “industry” gets overly enthused about all the potential).  I’d say: don’t freak out, follow a reasonable amount of people, unfollow at will, post mainly non-personal things, link to great articles – mainly other people’s stuff.  Make it about everyone else but yourself, for the most part.  That rule alone would wipe out about 90% of who is on Twitter now.

(My take applies mostly to individual Twitter users, not larger brand presences etc.)

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It’s a fascinating medium and I highly recommend any of you not there already get an account and follow a few people whose work you’ve long respected to see how they go about it.  Take your cues from there and make your way of participating your very own.  You can find me at: http://twitter.com/AndreaLearned

And, yes – you can learn a bit about female consumers along the way by posing questions yourself or doing searches on your category or industry of interest.

[Editorial note: As of 4/20, the podcast is up and I've gotten great feedback.  The interviewer did a particularly good job guiding me to share my marketing to women journey: from co-authoring Don't Think Pink in 2004 and starting this blog, to my more recent research for "Beware The Gender Trap" into how men are starting to buy using their more "feminine" brain traits.]

“There are now at least two generations of sensitive and sensible men who were raised in a post-feminist world; we learned to function outside of the ‘traditional’ gender-role models.”

I say: keep your eye on Marc and others like him for clues to the future of marketing.