Posts from — October 2008

Today I like to bring you an article about a new vehicle form a luxury brand that has the potential to revolutionize the market.

Before your read the details, please do me a favor and use this link to participate in our eco-awareness survey. This will help us develop the best possible content for the Eco-Action plan that will be free an available to you very soon

Here is the link: http://www.tinyurl.com/5gepvq

Do you need a hybrid to get mega-mileage?

Smart Convertible

Well, maybe not. Mercedes-Benz says that its new smart fortwo cdi – an 1800 pound, 106 inch long car with a top speed of 85 mph – gets nearly 80 mpg. For perspective, consider that driving this two-passenger car 10,000 miles annually requires only 16 fill-ups during the course of the year. Amazing. Plus, along the way the smart fortwo’s 45-horsepower, three-cylinder diesel engine emits less carbon dioxide per mile than any current production car.

Located in the rear, the 799 cc turbocharged engine is the world’s smallest direct-injection diesel engine. This new light alloy engine represents a 10 percent increase in power and torque as well as a 13 percent decrease in fuel consumption. Two-phase fuel injection, like that used in Mercedes-Benz C engines, injects a small amount of fuel a few milliseconds before the main injection to ignite and preheat the combustion camber. This results in a noticeably quieter combustion noise level.

Red Smart

Emissions are handled in two stages. Common-rail injection and extremely efficient combustion result in a low level of untreated emissions. Up to 60 percent of the previously-cooled exhaust gas is returned to the combustion chambers where it is combusted once again, greatly reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. An oxidation catalytic converter and an open diesel particle filter are responsible for exhaust gas aftertreatment.

A micro-computer controls the whole engine-transmission system, calculating how much fuel is needed along with pilot and main injection intervals. An automated manual five-speed transmission is standard and is operated by briefly tapping the shift lever on the center console. Steering wheel shift paddles are optional, as is an automatic transmission mode.

Smart Interior

Anti-lock braking with electronic brake-force distribution, electronic stability program, brake assist, full-size airbags for driver and passenger, safety seats with integral seat belts, and a sturdy tridion safety cell make the fortwo the safest car in its class. All this is wrapped in available coupe and cabrio versions to fit different tastes, providing all the more reason for buyers to consider this stylish, pint-size wonder.

All this is good news and bad. The 2008 smart fortwo models coming to America early next year are powered by gasoline engines only. They will still get an impressive 40 mpg, but since that?s only half as much as the cdi version available in Europe, there clearly will be clamoring to bring the diesel model to American highways.

Smart Engine

As you can see, 80 mpg is possible, even without a hybrid or electrical motor. Maybe more of this type of technology will become available for vehicles a little larger than the Smart, just in case you have to haul some stuff or move your family around.

Please don’t forget the survey at  http://www.tinyurl.com/5gepvq

Thanks

Axel Meierhoefer

Recently Ian Chapman published a great new article on Facebook notes. He initially described a story about a group of people camping in a river bed, not heeding the warnings of a flash flood.

The moral of the story is: “The wise heed the warnings, analyze the situation, and take proper action. like moving their tents to higher ground – all others follow the crowd, make decisions based on convenience, and then complain when their belongings get washed away by the sudden flash flood.”

Reading Ian’s article triggered a lot of thoughts and made me recognize a lot of parallels to the work I’m doing to figure out a how we can put into action a new eco-conscious approach to life and business.

I have set off on a personal mission to contribute to the shift in thinking which is now essential for us to create an environment so people live better, more healthy lives. It’s a cause where companies create profits both because they have the best products and services, but also because they care about nature and preserving the environment.

They have leaders and managers who join this cause and want to be role models in ecological business practices. And it is a cause that changes the mindset of everybody in a way that allows us to be proud of the environment we leave behind for our children and the future generations to come after us.

In the bigger scheme of the current financial crisis the question becomes:
“Are we just chess pieces that get moved around as the ones with power want to, or do we actually play an active role, taking independent action following our convictions?”

I strongly believe that most people look and almost crave for leadership. This leadership is not just to be provided in a form where someone tells a follower what to do and when to do it, as we were used to in the 20th century. The new leadership our society is craving is one that is helping us to shape our awareness, our comprehension, and most of all, our attitude towards our surroundings.

Ian Chapman, in his recent article writes:

“An Environmental Perspective

Reality can sometimes be hard to face and from an environmental perspective any country that consumes most of the world resources and blatantly pollutes the atmosphere in order to maintain a high standard of living for its privileged citizens is going to face some kind of checking mechanism at some point.”

“Faith In Our Leaders?
I have little faith in our global leaders to handle these problems, they are like bickering children who never listen to each other and organized like street gangs that defend their own neighborhoods using fear and violence; killing each other to have control of the black liquid drug that keeps them from going cold turkey.”

I agree with Ian and find that we really need to find and apply alternatives. The immediate crisis will be managed by pumping more money into all the areas that are hurting, thereby rewarding and bailing out those who overextended or violated basic rules. No system can sustain this kind of behavior and problem resolution in the long run.

We can’t remain to be innocent bystanders, angry about our responsible actions of the past. We can’t get the super expensive house we couldn’t afford now that the government would bail us out, instead of the one we have been paying our mortgage for month after month while its values has been declining.

We can’t remain innocent bystanders when the largest, most powerful companies put products on the shelves that are toxic, cause illnesses, pollute the environment with trash and by- products, and push real solutions towards the next generation.

We can’t remain innocent bystanders when we all acknowledge that our transportation system is completely controlled by petroleum interests, preventing new technologies to get proper funding and support. We know that oil is the one commodity that causes wars, gives away our ability to make independent decisions, and adds to an ever deteriorating climate situation.

If you wonder what the solution to this mess is, you are not alone. We need leadership that wants to let all members of society participate and provides ratings for performance. A new service, called Good Guide has taken a first step. At their website you can find thousands of products all rated for their environmental, as well as social impact.

It’s not just a matter of price and organic ingredients, but also a matter of sound labor practices that don’t enslave workers, pay decent wages, and applies all around measures to avoid waste, that make a product rank high on the Good Guide Scale.

My vision is an “army” of eco-pioneers who mass together via the social networks, who will make noise about the bad decisions and bad practices in the world. An Army that will change the way we work, improve the products we produce to make them healthy, environmentally friendly and sustainable in the long run.

An Army of Pioneers, who passionately take advantage of every opportunity to build a sustainable economy, using all existing technologies to free us from the dependencies of commodity barons, and create a future our children will crave to live in. An Army of Eco-Pioneers that is consciously looking for opportunities to learn from other cultures, their experience, history, and knowledge, not to throw our own convictions overboard, but to integrate them into a better overall system that benefits everybody.

It’s a tall order but the public are ready for this cause. Isn’t it also about time the huge changes in the way millions of us communicate via social networks like this one start to use these channels to create real social impact?

More than 70% of people in the US want this kind of approach, leadership, and solutions. They want to buy green, live greener, healthier lives, and be proud of how our economy generates products and wealth for it members.

My first and small contribution to this is to create an “Eco-Friendly Action Plan” initially to be shared amongst our community here on Facebook

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY:
1. Leave a comment below
2. Share this article with your friends by hitting the “share” button
3. Email me at AM@Meierhoefer.net if you’d like to get more involved
4. Take a few minutes to complete the “eco-awareness” survey.

This will help me develop the “Eco-Friendly Action Plan”.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=j_2bO8uvVB_2bnCseto0VHSSvA_3d_3d

Axel Meierhoefer

About a month ago I received an email from Michelle Morgan, the publicist for John Kotter, my hero when it comes to the topic of organizational change. Ever since I read the seminal work “Leading Change”, I have based a lot of my suggestions, consulting, coaching, and other advice on Kotter’s 8-step process of change.

I was surprised and honored when I read that Michelle had reviewed a lot of my articles and blog posts and invited me to write this review of the newest book. Right up front I like to say that I believe “A sense of Urgency” is a good, valuable book, especially for its clarifications of what to look for to successfully begin the change process in an organization.

That being said, I also believe the book does not reach the full potential a discussion of this most important part of the 8-step change process could have. The 8 steps are mentioned in the book but the flow from developing a sense of urgency and then having it maintained by the guiding coalition (step-2) isn’t very clear.

Let’s start at the beginning: In a great review of previous writings and a clear development of the importance of “A Sense of Urgency”, Kotter leads the reader into the topic. He begins to separate complacency, a false sense of urgency and true urgency from each other. At this early point in the book I realized that the title of the book is really unfortunate.

I believe this book should have an action-title and then use it as a continuous thread throughout. Having a sense of something is one state of being, taking action and actually creating something new is more than a sense. In several parts of the book the word ‘urgency’ is used as an action-word. I am sure there would be better options. The best possible word is something an editor or a title developer is better suited to come up with, but I would have loved to see a title like : “Vitalization” or maybe “Excitation”.

Besides the title that doesn’t really fit the call for action, two other aspects of the book caught most of my attention, one positive, one not so appreciated. In “A sense of Urgency”, John Kotter makes a great case and really detailed suggestions about tactics to be used to keep the change process flowing. I especially liked the part that deals with the NoNos he first mentioned in the 2005 book “Our Iceberg is melting”. Fitting examples and great suggestions showing how to handle different circumstances help readers and anybody planning to implement Kotter’s change process in a very practical way.

One of the big disappointments for me is the view on outside help. As a coach and consultant I am biased. Still I feel that John Kotter missed a great opportunity to describe how outside help can actually support the leader, the guiding coalition, and the change teams to maintain the urgency needed to succeed. Consultants are shown in a neutral to slightly negative way, but coaches aren’t really mentioned at all.

Several of the examples describing failed initiatives or attempts to get an organization to change actually beg for the introduction of a coach, much more so than a consultant. The profession of coaching is rapidly growing and has gained a lot of trust in the business world. To leave it out when speaking about developing and maintaining a sense of urgency and then taking the necessary actions to establish the desired changes throughout the organization has been a great disappointment for me.

In a time when institutions we believed to be secure and trustworthy are crumbling all around us; when the way fundamental resources used to keep our economy and our lives running are rapidly being replaced by new, cleaner alternatives, and competition is accelerating on a global scale, we need ways to establish change in a successful way. “A Sense of Urgency” provides added and modernized details to the first two steps of the seminal 8-step process John Kotter developed about 15 years ago. We all should find ways to increase the likelihood of successful organizational change from the 30% Kotter describes for the last two decades to something much closer to 70% or even 80%.

Anybody who ever wrote a book knows that there are things that could have come out better. “A Sense of Urgency” is a valuable contribution for anybody planning or involved in a tough change effort. Reading this book will prepare us for what to expect when these changes are needed and teaches us to try to implement them preventively rather than in the middle of a crisis. I look forward to added details to the other steps in Kotter’s change process. This is a solid start.

Axel Meierhoefer, AMC LLC

For the last few months we have all witnessed a steady stream of negative news about the economy, about the credit markets, and about companies and families getting strained by financial woes.

The last few days focused a lot on the bailout and the rescue for Wallstreet. What has become clear for all of us is the fact that prices have increased, starting with fuel after the Katrina Hurricane a few years ago, and now affecting almost every aspect of life.

In addition, what was thought to have been a never ending increase in home values (the biggest retirement nest egg for most) has come to a screeching halt and reversed to the tune of 20-30% in many areas of the country. With the collapse of one bank after another, and huge takeovers by the government (Freddie and Fanny come to mind, as well as AIG), the remaining institutions have reacted in a way that is pretty typical whenever something goes wrong in the United States.

Initially there is a tendency to squeeze out every little possible advantage of a situation and then the pendulum swings all the way to the extreme other end. Case in point: Banks and other lenders were giving away mortgages and credit lines to people without any proven income, for significantly overpriced houses, and to top it of, they didn’t ask for any down payment, any principle payment, and even substituted the remaining interest payments – all with the claim that the rising value of the property will take care of everything in 2-3 years.

If you, as a private person, have paid your mortgage the old fashioned way, every month, with interest and principle, and based on a down payment of 10-20%, you would think those banks and lenders you worked with would appreciate your good behavior and see you as a great customer.

Your house is probably still worth more than you borrowed for it, even after all the corrections. But- if you would go and ask for a new mortgage or a new line of credit right now, chances are you will not get it, regardless how well you behaved the last 5 years.

It’s not that nobody likes you, but the banks and lenders have decided not to take any risk anymore. Now they want to know everything they never asked for in the past – and then some, before they would even consider giving you any money.

What does that have to do with the environment and eco-consciousness?

Well, in the last few years organizations, Nobel-prize winners (like Al Gore) and ordinary shareholders demanded that lenders and banks would pay attention to the impacts of projects on the environment and the policies of the companies they gave money to.

Have you ever asked yourself how it was possible that thousands upon thousands of houses were build during the real estate boom and almost none of them had a solar panel or a heat exchanger in sight? They were build fast and cheap, even though most real estate is going to be around for 50 years and all the required technologies were available.

While states all across the country mandated to the energy companies to produce ever increasing portions of energy with alternative means (Wind, Solar, wave-actions, etc.), the building industry received money hand over fist without any of those demands. Actually builders frequently had problems getting money if they wanted to implement these eco-systems because it would make their buildings less competitive compared to other players in the same market.

While all this has been going on, the consumers and investors (shareholders) have been demanding more environmental sensitivity by the companies they own or finance. In October 2007, discussing the value of so called Renewable Energy Credits (REC’s) that companies buy when they don’t really reduce their impact on nature, here is what Business Week wrote:

“Johnson & Johnson has proclaimed a 17% reduction in carbon emissions since 1990, based largely on RECs. Without the credits, the pharmaceutical giant has seen a 24% increase, J&J executives acknowledge. “Recent corporate moves by J&J and others are pushing in the right direction, but it is still window dressing compared to the problem at hand,” says Hunter, the former J&J manager.

Amid the overheated claims, some corporations have made legitimate environmental gains. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT ) helped spark the market for energy-saving fluorescent bulbs by giving them top billing, even though incandescent bulbs are more profitable. Office Depot overhauled lighting and energy in more than 600 stores, contributing to the company’s real 10% decline in releases of heat-trapping gases. Dow Chemical (DOW ) and DuPont (DD ) have significantly trimmed their actual emission levels. But there is still reason to worry about long-term commitment. Dow says it invested $1 billion to help achieve reductions of 19% between 1994 and 2005. Because of technological challenges and costs, however, Dow predicts that additional cuts won’t occur until 2025, 18 years from now.”

So how does the current crises change all this? I think the same way the lenders and banks now ask us to show every detail of our income, our ability to pay our dues, our commitment to our obligations, and our willingness to limit our appetite for all sorts of consumer credit, they will follow demands of their shareholders and hold companies to the same standard.

When companies want to finance projects in the future, I believe it is very likely that banks will not only look at the financial risks, but also at the long term impact and the opinions and demands of consumers and shareholders.

Many studies have shown that the public at large in all its’ different roles as investors, consumers, employees, parents, etc. demands more green initiatives and eco-consciousness – to the tune of 75%+.

Though things might look pretty gloomy right now, I am optimistic that one of the positive outcomes of the current financial crises might well be that banks and other lenders will not just look at the numbers, but also at the impact of a project or proposal on the environment,- not because they suddenly got smart, but because their constituents on all levels simply demand it.

That’s the good thing about a painful cleansing like the one we are witnessing right now. Some unexpected benefits can come from it, and I hope we all and our children will be better of in the long run, because of it

Axel Meierhoefer