Cherney’s Life Story

Have you ever heard of the term, neo classical economics?

This is the term we use for modern day economics.  Basically, everything you hear, read, and learn about is based on neo classical principles.  I will not bore you with all the details, just know the term.

I bring this up, because I learned a new type of economics a few weeks ago, and I am now converted over to it.  It is called, ecological economics.

You might ask me, “what is the difference?”  To that, I say. . good question.  Here is one of the major differences between the two.  After you read them, I have a feeling you too will become a ecological economist.

Neo classical’s believe that the economy can grow through the sale of products and services.  The more we sell, the bigger the economy becomes.  (I believe this too.)  The problem comes in the constraint.  They consider the environment as part of the economy.  Draw a big red circle, then draw a smaller blue circle inside it.  The blue is the environment.  So, as the red circle gets bigger. . the environment still stays part of the economy, it doesn’t really grow.  Only the red circle is getting bigger as we sell more stuff.

Ecological economist’s see the situation as just the opposite.  Imagine the big red circle is the environment, and the little blue circle within is the economy.  This sound very similar, until we talk about growth.  The environment is static, it doesn’t grow.  We only have one environment, one world.  The economy, on the other hand, can grow.  That little blue circle can grow to be as large as the red circle, but never bigger.

The problem is this.  As the blue circle gets bigger, there is less red circle area.  Thus, less natural resources for the economy to gorw.  You see, the economy needs natural resources (the environment) to grow.  This capital can come from tree, fish, water, land, air. . etc. etc. .   When you use it all up, the economy can not grow.  What is even scarier, when all the natural capital is used up. .  life as we know it will change.

If you don’t have wood, how can you build?  If you don’t have clean water, what will we drink?   I think you get the point.

At our current rate of growth and consumption, we are using more than what our planet can produce.

Yeah, I said produce.

Our planet is able to take stuff and turn it into other stuff we can use, oil is a great example.  It took millions of years to create the oil we use.  We use it every day, the earth isn’t making it every day.  Perhaps, you get the point?

There is a term I learned called sinks and pits, or something like this.  We take from the earth with our pits.  We produce stuff.  When we are finished, we dispose of the waste.  This waste is usually not in a natural form any more, thus it takes EVEN longer for our planet to take it back.  Much of our waste is just that, waste.  We end up with landfills full, and few places to take our trash.  If the earth could take back our trash at the rate we create it, we would be set.

Sadly, it doesn’t.

We are left trying to put more down the sink than the sink can take.  There is an over flow, and we end up with new problems.

——

Really, the more I learn about sustainable business practices. . the more upset I become.  Anywho, here is my post for the day.

I just read a very interesting list of top environmental concerns facing us today. This list comes from the book “Green to Gold”.

Climate Change
Energy
Water
BioDiversity and Land Use
Chemicals, Toxins, and Heavy Medals
Air Pollution
Waste Management
Ozone Layer Depletion
Oceans and Fisheries
Deforestation

I wonder, how is your business or your life contributing to these concerns. I look at this list and wonder, what am I do each day to minimize my impact on the environment. If you really think about it, no matter what you do each day, you are impacting one of these 10 things.

It sort of leads to the question, is it possible to have consumption that is environmentally friendly?

Let’s look at buying food that is organic and sustainable. How did you get that food? Did you drive? You just contributed to global warming if you drove, and air pollution.

Okay, let’s pretend that you rode your bike. Now we are looking at chemicals, toxins and heavy medals.

Perhaps, I am getting a little a head of myself. Lets look at where the greatest impact of some of these products falls.

For a car, you might be surprised to learn that the most environmental waste comes the use of the product. Manufacturing and production, as well as disposable all isn’t all that bad for the environment. (Fundamentally speaking that is.) The majority of the impact of this product comes from the use of it. All the oil, gas, and energy it takes to maintain it. That really is where the greatest impact comes from.

Now, if we look a product like an iPod. Where does most of the pollution come from? This time you are looking at the production of the product. The waste associated with the packaging, manufacturing, and end of life. The use of the product actually doesn’t impact the environment all that much.

So, I go back to my first question. What are you and your business doing that hurts/helps the environment? Are you pushing the waste and harmful impacts to the consumer, or are you taking it on yourself?

I would say, like this book I was reading, that a smart business address these issues at all phases of the product. Your goal should be to reduce these impacts.

For me, I want to work for a company that works on addressing or fixing these issues. I don’t know if one business can fix all of these, but they can be aware, and try to make a difference.

In leadership class we learned about so many different ways to be an effective leader.  We discussed things like how to motivate employees, persuasion techniques, how to use power, and how influence people.  We also discussed how to lead a team, manage change in an organization, and learned how to enter a company as a new executive.   Now, all that happened during the second half of the class.  The first half of the class focused on self-discovery.  We learned about leadership traits, finding your values, knowing your competencies, addressing your weaknesses, communicating and having a vision, leading cross-cultural teams, as well as the fundamental characteristics of an effective leader.  One leader in particular we spent way too much time on was Jack Welsh.  He had these things he liked the call the “4 E’s.”  These are the things he looks for in a potential candidate.  The one ‘e’ I was always fond of was “Edge”.

Edge is the courage to make tough yes-no decisions - no maybes.  In other words, edge is the ability to make tough decisions and the willingness to sacrifice the security of today for the sake of a better future.

Throughout the term we looked at almost ever angle on how you can be a better effective leaders.  Some in the class argued that many of the things we learned in class were no brainers.  Why are we wasting our time these concepts?  They are so simple to understand and learn.  Good leaders already do this, I understand this, and will do this.

Now, I can’t argue that they are right or wrong.  What I do know is that there a fundamental question about leaders, and leaderships.  Are leaders born, or are they made?

The position these students are making clearly shows to me that they believe that leaders are born.  Questioning the material, kind of indicates that they think that those who are born with the natural ability to lead can clearly communicate how they are doing it.  Being able to communicate natural skills in an effective manner can be very difficult.

If you believe that leaders or made, you may be under the impression that classes, like the one I took, are necessary in becoming a successful leader.  I won’t disagree with that idea, but again I don’t think it is the perfect solution.

In my mind, there is a balance of several things in becoming or being an effective leader.  First, you need to have the book smarts; having concrete knowledge is important.  Second, you need to have someone with the natural ability to read and know people.  All the books in the world can’t teach someone how to be emotionally intelligent (this is a fancy way of saying, “how to read people, body language, and what is not being said”).   Third, you need to be culturally intelligent.  Not everyone is from your country, your state, and your city.  There are many different views on how to achieve goals and all of them are right.
We learned that an effective leader is able to manage meet the needs of the internal organization, the employee, the customer, and the shareholders.  All of these areas are important for leaders to address.  During the course of the term, it seemed that we were taught many ways to work within this framework.  It is a great framework, don’t get me wrong, but I think it isn’t complete.  And now we get to the point of this blog article, my philosophy.

If you were to break this framework into 4 quadrants you would kind of see how we learned this framework.  I would like to say that there is another quadrant, a more all-inclusive quadrant; one that affects all stakeholders of an organization.  Lets make this idea three-dimensional, and talk about the missing leadership framework, the environment.
I was disappointed this course for one very specific reason.  We never talked about the environmental impact leaders can have in our world, country, and community.  It would have been nice to learn some leadership framework that outlines social awareness as well as environmental stewardship.

So many things about business school focus on fiduciary duties to shareholders.  This leadership class was really no different.   The whole idea of ‘green’ business practices is so new, cutting edge that I figure in the next few years this area will be more covered in all classes.

Each class we talked about various CEO’s and what they did to be a successful leader.  We even spent time talking about leaders that failed, and why failed.   We studied what they did and didn’t do in their company, and compared it to our current framework.
Leaders face more than just these ordinary issues they also face environmental pressures.

If I were a leader of a company, I would my organization that is dynamic in the sense they our greatest competitive advantage would lay in our ability to be sustainable on level no one else is able to achieve.  We would take this ability and capitalize like no other.  Reduced energy costs would be passed on the to customer.  Materials would be clean and free of pollution/chemicals/toxins, parents would be proud to give our product to their children.   My company would the face off good.  When you see our logo, you know that we are doing everything in our powers to me make sure we are not impacting our world more than we have to.
I think everyone, even my critics, would by into my company.  We all share the same common goal, make our planet better for our children, it is just who we get there that differs.

A good leader is able to bring together those with different opinions and have them focus on solutions to a common goal.

I would be a leader that integrates that next dimension in my management framework.  You can count on that.

Sunday is just about over.

I wish I could say that I had a wild and crazy day today, but again this wasn’t the case.

Instead, I spent a good amount of my time reading. . . reading. . . playing a video game. . reading a little more. . then to top it off. . read a tad more.

What exactly am I reading? Aside from the assigned articles for my classes, I am reading an assigned book for my sustainability seminar. It is called “Hot, Flat, and Crowded.” Why this book was assigned is beyond me. I guess it is about being more ‘green’ in our ways. But instead of focusing in on ‘green’ more and more of this book is focused on political things. Now, there is nothing wrong with this, it just isn’t what I was expecting.

Why can’t more books provide solutions? It seems the more and more I read, the more I find that people don’t have the answers, instead they have causes and reasons. They can tell us what is wrong, but not say . . “do this, and all will be alright.” I guess if it was that easy, we would be doing it. . huh?

So, what I am finding is that we are in trouble. There are so many things we are doing wrong, we are screwing up our planet in ways I can’t even begin to explain. Where does one person start?

I guess one way is through education. When people know, and accept the fact that there is a problem. . maybe then things could get changed. But, it can’t just stop with us. In the grand scheme of things, we are just little ants. We need business to become more socially responsible . . we need government to become more involved. I just don’t think people will change there ways unless they are forced to. Would you drive less is gas prices were doubled? Probably.

Why don’t we promote renewable energy? Do you know where the closest renewable energy source in your area? And if you did, do you know how much energy is generated? I can answer one of those two questions for my area. .

Why do I ask? I think we should know where are power and energy is coming from. If I could pay for power that comes ONLY from renewable resources, I would. Actually, I think I might be able to. . (going to call about this)

Also, what if you went to the gas station and you knew where your gas came from. Now, this really isn’t possible with our current refining processes, but wouldn’t that be cool if we could? One gas station sells a blend of 80% oil from Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or Jordan. . something like this. Now, across the street. . the gas station is selling a blend that has 50% oil from the US. Which one would you shop at? Not that I have a problem with these countries, I just want my money staying in the states.

Did you know that my little dream/idea could probably happen if government required it. Not that it would be cheap, but is anything really?

Okay, here is another thing that kind of of upsets me. After 9/11 our president says that we need to continue to show the terrorists that we were not scared of them. So, go open your wallets and SHOP. Aside from the more stuff argument, Bush really screwed up. If I were President, I would have said something a little different. I might have said something like this. “Because of this horrible act, we need to take a stance. We need to stop sending our money to those who funded these terrible acts. To do this, we need to get off or dependence on foreign oil. To do this, I am going to ask Americans to open there wallets and begin to expect more for their fuel at the pump. I am going to propose a tax increase on gas. This excess tax revenue is going to go to research and development in alternative energy. America is a great nation, and we are going to lead the way in this new energy independence era.”

Now, instead of having troops overseas. . . fighting basically for oil. . (come now, admit it is true). . they could be fighting for the people. America is great when we teach and educate others, not when we shoot for oil. We are a great country and we have the best troops in the world. We are powerful, and we have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate. The best thing we could do for our country is give money so that others can learn, and learn openly. Not to have an oppressed education funded by an extremist nations’ agenda. (did that make sense?)

I moved into an apartment this summer that close to my work, and gives me somewhat easy access to the University. The idea is this. I want to drive less, and use fewer resources. Below my place I have a coffee shop, sushi place, ice cream place, pizza joint, hair salon. . and more places coming soon. Again, the idea is this. I can shop and do my things locally. . support the local economy, and shop/live in my own little community. It works pretty well, except that the prices are little higher than I would like. It would be nice to have a convenience store below me as well. . Maybe I should open one.

If I were to open a convenience I would want to sell local sustainable products. How well do you think it would do? If a person wants a Snickers, I wouldn’t have any. If they wanted a pepsi, would I have it? Probably not. The whole idea is good in principle, but in reality it would be a tough sell. People like there creature comforts. I would basically be creating a new brand, trying to change peoples perception. I have no idea if it would work, would you be ready for a place like this? The shop would sell candy, and junk food. . but it would be organic, and local. Keeps the money in the community.

I am sitting in a coffee shop thinking, and writing. I have the ipod in my ears and I am reflecting. It has been a long time since I have written this much. . There is stuff on my mind, and it needs to get out. It has been a few weeks since I had a passion to write like this.

The government bailed out the banks in our country. . great for them. . did it help you? Now I hear there is talk about some sort of bail out package for the auto industry. WTF. I just don’t get it. The whole reason they are in trouble is because they are dumb shmits. They lobbied, year after year. . to have lower gas milage requirements, then when the gas price goes up, they can’t sell cars. So, they run to the government to get help. Who are these managers? Why can’t they take responsiblity for their mistakes? I don’t see Toyota asking for help. Oh, they actually did something responsible. They made cars and invested in technology that saved consumers money. They have a competitive edge over the 3 auto companies in the states. They looked into the future and planned accordingly. So, back to the US companies. They are hurting, and so are their employees. (The employees are who I feel bad for.) Layoffs, and job loss. They don’t deserve it. Had the auto company’s planned and designed cars that were more effcient and smaller, perhaps they wouldn’t be in so much trouble. Perhaps if government would have been allowed to do its job (without the hands of the auto industry feeding it) they wouldn’t be in this situation.

I think it might be a good thing that I am in the MBA program. I might be able to make a difference in the world when I get done.

Europe is ahead of us for ‘green’ things. Shoot, Canada is ahead of us. We need to be the leader, we shouldn’t be the follower. We have the drive and the talent to be the leader in everything we do. Why aren’t we leading the ‘green’ revolution?

Well, time to sign off for another day.

I started a new category today, called “Business Philosophies.”  Articles within this category are going to revolve around ideas, values, and beliefs that I find important in the business world.  They are not going to discuss my day, or really any current events that are happening in my life.  Moreover, these posts are just my thoughts about business put to words.  These posts will not be very regular, but when something seems really important to me, I will write about it.  I have a feeling that sometimes I will not be able to flush out all of my thoughts in a single post. I might revisit something a couple of times. . or at least until I say my peace.  I still plan on writing about my day, everyday. . but every now and then you will be treated to another part of my brain.

I was sitting around work today and a thought came to my mind.   I really don’t like hypocrites.  Hypocrisy is the act of preaching a certain belief, religion or way of life, but not, in fact, holding these same virtues oneself.  Yeah, they kind of upset me.  There really is no reason why they should, it just kind of happens.  It seems like they stand on their high horse, tell you to do something because it is ‘right,’ when they aren’t doing it themselves.  It happens all to often in the business community, and sadly sometimes within our relationships with others.

Here is an interesting note, or should I say observation.  No, I will keep this one to myself.  How about this.  I’m sure people could look at me as a hypocrite.  I probably have done something, or said something, that would lead them to question the validity of my statement or actions. So be it, I can’t change your point of view.  I can’t give you a different impression of me, really no matter what I do.  Maybe over time things would change.  I’m sorry.  I am working on changing, listening, and learning.  I can’t do anymore. I’m sure we have all done things, or said things that we know is right. .but have a hard time doing ourselves.  In in this way, I have sempithy for those type of hyprocrites. . it is the ones who knowingly do something and don’t try to follow it themselves.  (Okay enough about that, moving on)

We area learning about leaders, and leadership practices, within one of my classes.  There was a great deal of time spent talking about CEO’s taking huge pay checks, while the company fails beneath them.  It hardly seems right that a person of power, such as a CEO, could really justify their outlandish pay.  What really upsets me is hearing that they were gaming the system, stealing and lying to their stakeholders, yet they get a ‘golden parachute’ when they are fired from the company.  What gives them the right?  So many people are struggling to make ends meet, legitimately.  And these jerks get all the rewards.  It can be argued that an effective leader can impact a company by 15% in the US, so how does that justify a paycheck that is hundreds of times larger than a typical employee?

I probably don’t have the stomach to be a CEO, as I don’t think that this system is fair and just.  Then again, I do think I have the qualities to be a good leader.   Let’s pretend that I was a high level executive.  How much money do you really need?  Why can’t an executive make less, or everyone else makes more?  What does it say to your employees when they know the boss is making just as much as they are.  If an employee is only working for you because of the pay, they probably are not the best fit for your corporation.  I would want someone to work for me because they are challenged and enjoy their job.  Not because they know that in 10 years they could be making super big bucks.

Here is an interesting twist to this situation.  Why couldn’t all employees working for the same goal, which is not to make more money. . but to grow and become a successful business.  No one person is more valuable than the other.  Each individual contributes in their own and unique way.  As a business succeeds so will you.  Pay increases, as do the benefits.  Focus on the company, and everything else will fall into place.  Such a simple idea, yet it is so hard for business to follow.

I don’t know. . I just don’t know.

Where are the ethical standards that I hold dear?  Why do so many people cheat and lie just to get their way?  What is their motivation behind this type of life?

Ethics. . what are they, and why are they needed?  I am going to write about that another time.  In my mind, this is a whole new article.