Who knew a dirty diaper could teach me so much about business! Four days into this “fatherhood” thing I think I am finally getting the hang of changing my son’s dirty diapers. And that means the following:

• Getting his outfit off of his tush quickly and with minimal wailing,
• Successfully removing the two latches on the diaper and negotiating his kicking legs in order to prevent him from putting his heels in the diaper of doom,
• Cleaning everything up with only three wipes (my wife and I used half of a box on our very first change…),
• Making sure I don’t get urinated on (or worse) as I’m trying to put the clean diaper on him,
• Cinching everything up snugly so the “package” doesn’t leave the holding container next time,
• And most importantly, not loosing my cool during the whole process.

The diapers have definitely been a challenge, especially when they require action at 3:30am (didn’t we just change him at 2:00am?). We’ve been urinated on, I’ve experienced the even-less-pleasant alternative to being urinated on, and we’ve had some very groggy and stressful mid-am changes. But I still love my son. I love him with all my heart. His little grunts, and even his squeaks as he squirms around during the process, are incredibly cute and always bring a smile to my face. And the loud flatulence noises he makes, accompanied by the cutest sigh of relief, not five minutes after his fresh diaper has been successfully applied? Well, as frustrating as they may be, they never cease to bring a huge smile to my face (I usually chuckle, tell my wife, and give him a bunch of kisses on his forehead)!

So what can diapers teach us about business? There’s always going to be dirty work. Most of it will be incredibly unpleasant. All of it will challenge our ability to maintain a positive attitude and connection with the business. And yes, someone always has to do it. But it doesn’t need to be a burden, nor does it need to be a painful, annoying, and unpleasant experience. If you truly love your business and are passionate about its mission, and if your employees and other stakeholders feel the same way, then no amount of fire hose urine attacks, untimely soilings, or 3:00am changings will bring your business to its knees.

TAGS: Business | Fatherhood | Father | Diaper | Dirty Work

I’ve long advocated using business for the greater good of society and the world at large and deeply admire companies that have been doing the very same successfully. John Moore over at Fast Company recently wrote a very telling post about this very topic as it relates to Whole Foods (Go Ahead…Change the World). The entire post is a good read, but move on down to the end for the real meat. Moore writes:

Why even bother launching a new business, bringing a new line extension to market, or creating a new service if you aren’t going to change the world with it? There is too much competition out there not to do something so incredibly remarkable it will change the world. Seriously … the only worthwhile reason to start a new business or launch a new product and that is to change the world.

So, how are you going to change the world with your next business?

I agree wholeheartedly! What a thing to strive for and to model one’s business after—imagine if all businesses had such motives…

At 9:00am on August 8, 2005, I ceased being just a husband and became a father. In that moment, my wife gave birth to our wonderful baby boy and I stopped focusing intently on coaching my wife through the pain and shifted immediately to saying hello over and over to my new son. Yes, I could now call myself a Dad. Yet, after reflecting on that new reality in a dizzying sleepless daze following my wife’s 28-hour labor, I realized that I didn’t become a father in that moment—I’ve been one since I was born.

Now that doesn’t make too much sense, does it? However confusing my claims of fatherhood since birth may be, it’s simply how I feel. In a literal sense, obviously, I truly have only been a father since the birth of my son. But on a much deeper level, the instincts that kicked in the moment the OB propped our wailing son on my wife’s belly, have always been with me. And so has the desire to hold his little hand, to coo over him, to protect him, and to softly stroke his cheek and whisper how much I love him.

And isn’t that what being a father is really about? Isn’t it all about those innate feelings and instincts that come naturally any time your child is in need? Or is it something more structured, such as a literal shift in your title when one of your progeny finishes his journey out of the birth canal?

I think it’s the former. And I also think there is an incredible amount of wisdom to be gleaned from fatherhood, much of which can, and should, be applied to the business world. So read on as I’ll post my weekly thoughts on the whole process as I fully embrace this life-long journey of fatherhood!

TAGS: Fatherhood | Raising Children | Dad | Father

Caleb arrived a few days ahead of schedule and is doing fantastic! I posted a bunch of photographs on our photography company blog if you are interested in seeing him. If you can’t wait, here’s a photo of him napping when he was a few hours old:

My wife is in the early stages of labor and we expect our son to arrive later this evening or tomorrow morning! We are very excited and can’t wait to finally see his face! I’ll be offline for a few days—please keep a smooth labor and delivery in your prayers.

I just stumbled upon one of the more interesting websites I have found in quite some time called ChangeThis. I liked it so much, in fact, that I’ve placed a permanent link to it in the “links” section in the right column of this site!

ChangeThis is creating a new kind of media. A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread.

…and challenge me they have! I’ve downloaded 15 of the manifestos so far and plan to scour the rest of their archives before I begin to read them all.

TAGS: Change | Society | Business | Philosophy

Now that I’ve found a few great resources on Fair Trade products, I feel somewhat compelled to get the word out even more. Additionally, I’m sipping a wonderful cup of coffee as I write this and can’t help but feel a slight twinge of guilt as though I used organic beans, I doubt they are Fair Trade. After mining all of the following resources, though, I won’t have the “I can’t find any Fair Trade coffee companies” excuse anymore! I hope you enjoy!

The following companies are all listed as Fair Trade wholesalers on the Fair Trade Federation website:

• Cafe Campesino: “Cafe Campesino envisions a world where we treat one another and the surrounding natural environment with profound, sincere respect. By enthusiastically following our guiding principles, we believe that our small enterprise will serve as a successful example of this vision.”
• Grounds For Change: “Grounds for Change is a certified organic coffee roaster specializing in fair trade and organic coffee.”
• Bean North Coffee Roastings: “Our goal is to offer coffee drinkers a sustainable choice… premium quality organic, and fairly traded coffees from around the world. We believe that the environment and quality of life for those who grow our coffee is vital in providing you with a quality cup.”
• Coffee Exchange: “Whenever possible, we buy Certified Organic coffee. It is better coffee, both in terms of flavor and the social, environmental and physiological health of the communities where the coffee is grown and of the people who grow, care for and harvest the crop. Similarly, we support the Fair Trade process and sell Fair Trade coffees. We see current depressed coffee prices as a severe problem for the coffee industry as well as for coffee drinkers. The need to artificially boost income to coffee growers is one step in a long line of steps necessary to help a population that is being forced out of a way of life by arbitrarily low prices.”
• Conscious Coffees: “We believe that our responsibility is to use the vehicle of business as a force for positive change, not as a vehicle to gain wealth at the expense of others. Each person in our cycle from farmer to consumer is able to participate in socially just and environmentally responsible partnership.”
• Dean”s Beans: “All of our fine whole bean specialty coffees are certified organic, kosher coffees, and are roasted in small batches at our beanery in Orange, MA. We know that the planting, care, harvesting and processing of the beans is done in conformity with international standards for the health of the farmer and his environment, as well as the high quality of the bean. The vast use of pesticides in coffee production has serious impact on the ecology of the coffee-growing world and the health of farm communities. Our commitment to only purchase shade grown coffees supports healthy environments for coffee growers and protects critical migratory bird habitat. It is important to us that the quality of our coffees includes respect for the quality of life of our southern partners in the coffee world. And that respect translates into superb tasting coffee for your pleasure.”
• Earth Friendly Coffee Company: “Our shade grown, fair trade, chemical free coffee comes from the mountain rain forests. It is hand picked by small farmers. It delivers high quality, flavor and smoothness. The delicate Arabica bean matures slowly in the higher altitudes and shady mountain hillside. Hand picking means only fully ripened selected beans are chosen. Fair trade means the small farmer gets paid fairly for this superb crop and for the hand picking, harvesting, peeling, and cultivation of his small mountain farm. Chemical free means the coffee is free of chemical agents, and that mulch and chemical free fertilizers alone are used to cultivate the precious trees.”
• Equal Exchange: “Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the US. We offer organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by 28 democratically run farmer co-ops located in 14 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Equal Exchange’s mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relations between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the viability of worker cooperatives and Fair Trade.”
• Just Coffee: “Just Coffee is a 100% fair trade company. We are committed to a better way of trade and to real relationships with our grower-partners. We ask you to join with us, with our producers, and with their communities. When we consume we make decisions that affect the lives of others, even if these connections are hard to see in our own daily lives. By taking part in Fair Trade and buying a bag of Just Coffee, you can truly enjoy your daily brew knowing that you are directly supporting small farmers, their families, and their cooperatives.”
• Larry”s Beans: “We sell awesome-tasting coffee beans in a way to make the world better. 97% of our coffee is Fair Trade. The other 3% is from Hawaii, where they don’t need Fair Trade.”
• Moka Joe Coffee: “Moka Joe Coffee a small-batch, wholesale micro-roaster of specialty premium gourmet coffees. Our business is based on finding and roasting the very best Certified Organic Fair Trade coffee beans from the Arabica bean belt.”
• Mother Earth Coffee Co.: “Sustainable and organic agricultural practices protect the rain forests and enhance the land and the lives of the coffee growers.”
• Peace Coffee: “An alternative approach to coffee based on the belief that coffee should reward your taste buds while respecting coffee farmers and the environment.”
• Pura Vida: “Our mission to help at-risk children in coffee-growing countries begins with our commitment to carry only fair trade, organic, shade-grown coffee. Our 100% Arabica gourmet coffees help raise living standards for farmers while protecting the environment.”

TAGS: Social Enterprise | Fair Trade | Coffee

I discovered the Fair Trade Federation this morning while reading Cafe Evoke’s blog and wish I had found it sooner. The site contains a great deal of information about fair trade products and the companies that produce and distribute them.

Fair trade gained its familiarity among the masses primarily through highly publicized coffee-industry efforts, however, it isn’t limited to coffee beans. There are a vast number of organizations producing fair trade products ranging from gifts to clothing, all of whom are dedicated to, “to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide.” The Fair Trade Federation website is an excellent resource and a great place to start if you are interested in learning more about fair trade products!

TAGS: Social Enterprise | Fair Trade | Coffee

Atkins Nutritionals, responsible for carb paranoia and high-fat diets galore, has recently filed for bankruptcy. It seems that a low carb diet isn’t really all that fabulous after all…

But didn’t we all see this coming?

Rather, didn’t Atkins Nutritionals see it coming? I’m pretty sure they did. I’m also pretty sure they were keen to the fact that their “diet” wasn’t the healthiest thing to recommend to someone wanting to improve their overall health. Whatever happened to a balanced diet and regular exercise? Fuggedaboutit! Just grab a big steak and stay away from bread…

Yeah, I don’t think so. I’m wondering where business ethics come into play here. Is it ethical to make money by promoting an obviously unhealthy diet and lifestyle to desperate and otherwise impressionable individuals?

[Added:] I mentioned in a more recent post that I just found the awesome website changethis.com—well, it seems they were savvy enough about the lack of intelligence in pursuing a high carb diet well before the company went belly up. Check out the manifesto, “What’s Wrong With Atkins” they published on September 7, 2004.

TAGS: Business Ethics | Atkins | Health | Diet

GSB X529, or otherwise known as Effective Communication Skills for Managers offers the following overview:

The most important ideas in business are spoken and written. They are also “sifters” that can make or break a project or a career. Technology, models, cash flows, underwriting, and financing are all servants to the English Language. This course will build on your current speaking and writing skills, critical thinking, audience analysis, message development, correspondence, and document and visual design.

Whew! As competent as I may *think* I am in all of the noted areas, there is always room for improvement (most of the time, room for vast improvement). I have long noticed that the successful businesses are more often than not, those that are able to communicate how their product or service fulfills their target market’s needs. For the most part, quality, though important, does not trump effective communication…

Required Reading:

• The Business Writer’s Companion, 4th Edition: Alred, Gerald, et. al.
• Making Presentations: Hindle, Tim
• Business Communication for Managers: An Advanced Approach, 5th edition: Penrose, John, et. al.
• Write Up the Corporate Ladder: Ryan, Kevin
• On Writing Well: Zinsser, William

TAGS: MBA | Business Communication | Communication Skills | Book Recommendations