Matthew’s Blog

Apparently VP of Environmental Affairs isn’t thinking big enough or perhaps I filled out the wrong application.  Look what I saw on Channel 3 News.

I am passionate about responsible business practices.  Not only have I been actively studying, practicing, teaching, and coaching on it my own businesses for the past 20 years, but these experiences were built on top of  a foundation of being raised by a family of responsible business owners for the first 20 years of my life.  Responsible business is smart business.

These days I have come to say that “green business is smart business™” because green business is about responsible business and conscious capitalism.  It recognizes the interconnected and complex self-adapting nature of the systems in which business operates.

Having said this, whenever I get into a discussion about responsible business, green business, or conscious capitalism inevitably Milton Friedman and Adam Smith are brought up as counter arguments.   These men were brilliant and spoke in a language of their respective era.  And that language issue is critical to understanding and communicating about green business, responsible business, and conscious capitalism. (more…)

After the umpteen time of seeing an “inspi(RED)” tee shirt I decided to go look into what it was all about.  At first I assumed it was a Best Buy thing considering it seemed that everyone I met that worked there was wearing one only to find out that that it was actually a Gap thing.  So I went off looking at The Gap to find the answer and was impressed not only by the project but the scope of it.  They have partnered with the world’s most iconic brands (Hallmark, Apple, Gap, Dell) to produce (RED) products.

From the (RED) website

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

All funds generated by sales of (PRODUCT) RED products (aka (RED) money) will support Global Fund-financed programs that positively impact the lives of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. (RED) money provides access to education, nutrition, counseling, medical services, and the two pills a day they need to help stay alive. This includes programs in countries such as Rwanda, which has a proven track record and ambitious targets. For example, in the past two years, Rwanda has increased the number of people receiving treatments for HIV/AIDS ten-fold.

Be inspi(RED), be uncenso(RED), be ado(RED), be chee(RED).

Three years ago at the Toronto Film Fest I saw a delightful film called Millions - A magically realism story as only a 7 year old can see it - about ethics, love, being human, and fortune in more ways than one. I just picked it up on dvd and remembered just how charming it was and realized I never posted the review of it.

Want a magical and lift your spirits movie? Rent or Buy Millions. This was one of my favorite movies of the Toronto Film Festival that year. “A heartwarming story of two little boys, faith, miracles . . . a whole lot of money.” It is a charming story told from the perspective of Damian, a 7-year old boy, who uses imagination, fantasy and faith to make sense of his confusing world. When upon receiving a gift from the sky of a suitcase full of cash he and his practical 9 year old brother need to decide what to do with it. The catch, they have seven days before the money becomes worthless as the British pound sterling transitions to euros. This is not a predictable movie, perhaps the final outcome and moral but how they get there is full of unexpected twists, gotcha moments, originality, mysticism, and heartwarming spirit. A truly lovely film. The score is wonderful, the setting is lush and green, and the little actors are enchanting. You won’t regret it.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3734372633/

PS Keep an eye out for some really cool halos.

My work with Eat Your Elephant on Integrated Planning has made it even more clear that visions are not enough and strategic plans are not enough. All too often business planning stops at these or at strategic goals. That is not enough. Below is my latest video for Eat Your Elephant, introducing Integrated Planning and the impact of connecting head and heart in the process.

I’ve been doing “vision” videos for several of the projects I have been working on. The first is for Eat Your Elephant. This fun little vid talks about taking the first steps toward your dream and invites you to come make it real at one of the One Day Public Retreats at Eat Your Elephant. The next retreat being May 10th - Register today.

Have a dream? Make it happen. Eat Your Elephant

So I got really miffed when I could no longer download my favorite SciFi shows through ITunes. I sunk a bit below the line on that one. How dare they? Those idiots! What greedy . . . .!
Then I went and checked out Amazon Unbox. And got all pissed off again. What!? I’ve got to download another piece of software? I’ll only be able to view it through them?! Great, another proprietary copy restricted format that I’ve got to keep track of! And last but not least, what do you mean these files are 20% larger?!

You can see where this was going fast.

Well my need for good SciFi busted my resistance, you see I don’t have or want cable and I don’t watch regular tv. SciFi is my vice - good, philosophical, well written plots and character development that causes people to think and relate to current, past, and future events - the great “What Ifs?” I love’m. My top choices these days all happen to reside on the SciFi Network which was pulled from ITunes and put on Amazon Unbox: Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Eureka, Battlestar Galactica, and a non-SciFi - Heroes.

Much to my great surprise and pleasure - I like Unbox! I like the ease it is to play my videos. I am not restricted to the Unbox viewer. I can actually click on the file and open it directly with Windows Media Player (Sorry, Apple people). That file size thing - Not a problem - the images are clear and clean compared to the occasional artifacting of Itunes. No more out of sync voice/video issues because ITunes decided to revamp their player and not test it out thoroughly on non-apple machines. It’s been seamless. The only problem I had was when I was trying to run too many things at once and it couldn’t find the files. Easy fix - close down those other programs and clean out the cache (you’re going to be watching a video - why do have all those other things running anyway) and restart unbox - viola - fixed.

So if you wanna kick the cable thing and get all the episodes when they air instead of waiting for DVDs check out Unbox.