In analyzing how companies and humans engage with and start to change their behaviors in the sustainable direction, I like to look a bit beyond the obvious. To me, the human values and traits behind all decision-making are what start to nudge people (whether as business people or private … Read on >

As most of you know, I came to sustainability by way of marketing to women.  And, it never ceases to amaze me just how much my women’s market knowledge can be directly applied to the “green” realm.  Take the “green … Read on >

Social media expert Mitch Joel recently spoke to a business lunch audience here in Burlington, and one big point he made may have burst a little bubble for many a company considering a jump onto Facebook or Twitter because … Read on >

When people see that their neighbors have more energy efficient households, it GETS them!  My absolute hero (and someone whose work I am closely studying for my master’s thesis), Robert Cialdini, is now leveraging his “social proof” compliance technique for sustainability purposes.  A New York Times article by Saqib … Read on >

There’ve been a lot of write-ups of lessons learned and ideas shared at the recent Sustainable Brands 2010 conference, and – because I, too, learned so much – I thought I’d add to the online resource.  I paid attention to three specific areas – consumer engagement, business trends and … Read on >

“The End of Men,” a cover article for the July/August issue of The Atlantic written by feminist scholar Hanna Rosin, got me thinking about our extreme cultural pendulum swings.  Do we really need to swing from seeing women as wholly unimportant to seeing men as wholly unimportant? My gender … Read on >

Why do businesses do what they do?  It’s the same question I posed in early March about consumers. As I did in that post, I will focus here on the concept of “social proof” and how human beings may be persuaded to change behavior in a more sustainable direction, … Read on >

I’m about to head off for a week long residency for my master’s program in sustainable business and communities , so you’ll see less from me here and on Twitter until May 3rd.  But, I wanted to leave you with something to think about, given new McKinsey … Read on >

As a mid-40-something myself, I took heart in an interview Terry Gross did with author Barbara Strauch on NPR’s Fresh Air the other day.  In talking about her new book, The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind, Strauch mentioned a few … Read on >

Why do people do what they do?  This has long been studied to benefit the marketing of goods, but how can we leverage what we know about human behavior to forward the sustainable practices of consumers and organizations?  With that in mind, I revisited Robert Cialdini’s now-classic book, INFLUENCE: … Read on >