Green thinslice in a box

European Companies only going "as green as necessary"

The wonderful bitc alerted me to an article in the Times Online regarding a report from the National Consumer Council.  "Many companies promoting their green credentials are only reducing their emissions as far as they are legally required to do so."

A notch against the "industry will regulate itself" argument.  See the full article.

Just for Carol

Thanks to Michael at The Client Side for this one. My Box in a Box is a ripoff of an SNL skit launched on YouTube titled "Dick in a Box" that is taking the online world by storm.  Great article from Mitch at Twist Image about CGM strategies to harness this desire and effort of consumers to generate their own content.

[embedded YouTube video]

Of course, now you have to watch the original.

Thinslicing meme attack

Mike at Own Your Brand created a new meme the other day --  the thin slicing meme.  And it's not about deli sandwiches.  It's now been picked up by Sansone at Converstations so I expect this meme will be taking off.  Ever the bandwagon-eer, Craphammer wades into the fray as well.

Thin slicing is that ability to take a tiny amount of data and infer all kinds of things from it.  We do it constantly, though not conciously.  When we walk into someone's home, we are making quick and fast judgements based on a variety of tiny isolated critieria.  Are their kids screaming?  Is there vomit on the floor? 

Every time I meet someone new there a number of "programs" running inside me that help me infer if this is a fit or not as a friend and/or business associate.

   
1. Are these people "real"?  I am driven by relationships.  And not the small-talk, polite kind.  But rather, the difficult, intense and caring kind.  Perhaps it isn't fair of me to expect this of my clients and partners.  But I do.  And the rewards are worth it.
   
2. Do they care?  Are they passionate?  Do they care about more than their product?  I can see this one a mile away.  It shows in every action.  How they treat their coworkers and employees.  How they speak about their product and customers.  And how they treat their vendors.
   
3. Is someone change oriented? Okay.  This is the hardest one for me because I am a bit of a shit disturber.  I desire to change things when sometimes change is not the only or even the best course of action.  So I have learned to take this into account and surround myself with balancing factors.  But I can't help but look for it.  And man do I get excited when I find it.
   
4. Do they desire success?  This is something I have worked to add over the years.  It's not something I expected to ever require.  When meeting with successful businesses, one might infer or expect that the individuals would be success-driven.  But I've actually found the opposite in a crazy number of cases.  So I constantly have to ask myself, "Is the person just focused on a number of line-item details or on achieving an outcome?"  If they already "have all the answers", they are often not success driven.
   
5. Am I there?  Too often I meet with people that are just going through the motions.  It's that feeling, however fleeting, that I could stand up and select another seat at the table and they would continue to reference my empty chair.  If I don't matter as a human being, then why should they expect me to care about them/their product/their brand?

I tag:  Moffitt, Paul "ze Frenchman" McEnany, Katicus, and Gavin.

Tags: thin-slicing, meme, green, box in a box

Photo Source: omnia