I have written already about Carrotmob in the past. A really great and inspiring project promoting climate change and sustainability in a very practical and hands-on manner. The so-called “carrotmobs” are a gathering of people who organize themselves over the net and show up at a certain time and date in a shop or business which was selected before. The selection is based on a reverse bidding process: Whoever gives the highest percentage of his additional turnover to “green” improvements of his shop or other “green” projects gets the crowd into his shop. The whole thing started in California and spread to various cities across the US and reached Europe, too. One of the next carrotmobs is taking place in Frankfurt on December 12, 2009. It is organized by Christoph Harrach and his team who are the leading LOHAS bloggers in Germany. Their blog “Karmakonsum” is very established and added more than only digital value. Once a year they organize the Green Camp where people from various backgrounds gather and discuss the latest topics, trends and challenges. I have attended on of this events and can only recommend it if you are interested in sustainability and social entrepreneurship matters.

Why do I tell you about this? Well, first of all becauce it is worth mentioning! Secondly, you should make time and pop up at the event in Frankfurt – if you are nearby – and last but not least because I invite you to join me and make the next carrotmob happen in Stuttgart. You are welcome to give feedback and contribute. Every additional team member and supporter can boost this beautiful project and create even more buzz. Thank you in advance. Keep on rocking…

Some useful resources for organizing a carrotmob:

• How to guide: www.carrotmob.org/organize/
• Past mobs: www.carrotmob.org/mobs/.

I have written recently about the fun theory and my opinion that is important to transport serious matters in a funny and entertaining way. I am convinced that messages would reach and influence much more people if they would just consider this. Especially among the younger generation this would be more effective than pumping ad dollars into conventional media. Look at the developments in social media such as social networks like facebook and you will see that the mostly used applications are based on fun: Take games such as farmville or cafe world (by Zynga) for example who have reached an audience of tens of millions or numerous quizes about the funniest topics. If agriculture (farmville) is interesting enough there are tons of other stories to tell. Now, here is my idea for a sustainable business:

Let`s take the solar industry which I am observing and supporting for over 4 years now. What stops a company like solarworld – a leading brand of integrated solar technology from A-Z –  to develop a game named solar world or sushine world or whatever. Creating a funny virtual place where people can develop solar energy fields, set up solar modules on their houses reducing their carbon footprint and gaining points by spreading the word. I guess there are unlimited possibilities of how to create such a game and as a by-product increasing brand awareness and educating people about such important sustainability matters. I would love to assist in refining this concept and bringing people together to make this happen.

Tell me about your ideas of using social networks for sustainable businesses. I am curious to hear your stories:)

By the way: I will drop an email to the solarworld people and will let you know about their reaction.

If you look at the whole set up of Biossquared: Our logo, our slogan, our colour scheme, the way we communicate,  etc. you will notice that we obviously have chosen a fresh and easy going approach. I really believe in transporting serious messages in a fun and entertaining way instead of sticking to the normally expected negative and serious approach to matters like sustainability, health, social responsibility, environmental issues, etc… I really believe in a positive, solution-ortiented, funny way of transporting serious messages in order to reach more people and especially younger groups of people. And they will actually have to lead the way into the future and as they will probably face even heavier challenges than we do so far. The thing is that life and business should be fun. We should enjoy whatever we do and create a positive atmosphere to live and work in. It is simply the better way of life if you ask me.

I came across a project recently “The fun theory” which transports exactly what I had in mind when I first started working on Biossquared: To make it easy to live a sustainable and healthy lifestyle. To make it fun being a socially responsible person. What they did is to launch a competition for ideas which prove that “if you make it fun, people will join you doing good, living healthy, being responsible, etc.” . They actually launched the project by transforming a stairway at a train station into a huge piano attracting people to rather walk over the piano making sounds than using the elevator. I find the approach super creative and one more prove that the Biossquared theory is right. Take a few minutes to dive into this project. It is really worth it! Would be really interested to hear your 2 cents in the comments:)

A freestyle attempt to share my ideas and thoughts about governing Germany and how I would face the challenges ahead of the country I am living in at the moment. Some of the aspects can be transfered into a broader context (e.g. Europe). This article does definitely not cover all aspects of governing a country but as from my point of view the the most relevant for the future:

Economic stimulus packages for new technologies and upcoming industries. Think about internet and data infrustructure across Germany. High speed data networks and hotspots all over. State of the art computers, servers and software for educational institutions. As well as conventional roadworks and (electric) power station network to serve the new generation of mobility (e-car, hybrids, f-cell) and sustainable architecture of public buildings as role models for housing of the future. Wouldn`t it make much more sense to invest in these areas than keeping the coal mines alive and rescuing dead industries? If you ask me this would be the right way for future economic growth in areas which really matter.

Besides that I would set up creative work spaces for early stage entrepreneurs to work on and grow new ideas and innovations till they reach a certain maturity level with their products and services. Think of open plug and play-centers in every major city where the office space and infrastructure can be used for startups and upcoming businees at no or low costs. This would be an innovation booster. I think back to the times where we tried to get something started and off the ground with some friends. Good ideas and a big dream but no place and support to go any further. It would also make sense to give some basic business support and consulting at such innovation “labs”.

I would also re-mix our energy mix towards alternative energy replacing more and more nuclear power stations with solar, wind, geothermal and other solutions over the next 15 years. In order to get there I would keep up the subsidies of the new energies slowly decreasing over time and rewarding the players who make the most efforts and improvements in terms of efficiency and costs with further tax reductions.

By the way tax reduction could be also used as a reward system for social responsibility and sustainable business practices and good cititzenship. Think of a point system evaluating the efforts and performance of businesses and individuals and rewarding the ones who do the most and have the best results. The more you do the less you pay! Naturally, this would need rules and standards and evaluation systems and processes. However, this is not the final plan in detail. The chancellor would delegate the detailed work to his/her ministers and experts and I will do the same with you now: Feel free to make your adjustments and further develop the concept I mention. My government is open innovation place and we love crowdsourcing;)

Another crucial point to focus on would be education. And if I say education I mean it from A-Z. Not only do we need completely new content structure and programme for schools/universities but whole new methods of learning. We have to re-think the training and recruiting of teachers as well. No need to say that some new tools and methods are already there and that we only need to be put them into place. Education should be a mash up of old and new approaches allowing people to become eternal learners. Learning does not stop after school or university! Society has changed, technology has changed and education will change. On lesson at a time. (Short notice: From today everybody can start his own school and simply create his own social learning network. Where? At http://www.supercoolschool.com/)

Last but not least I would concentrate on health matters. An idea would be to reward healthy lifestyles from nutritional aspects to excercising. Why not allowing people to set off costs for healthy products and gym from their tax liabilities? If one can send in bills for business dinners or office space at their home, why not sending in bills for renewing their bodies and for health improving measures? Think a little bit about this! By being healthy, you get rewarded and by rewarding you the government and especially the compulsive health insurance funds (supported by government) are released from a lot of “heavy weight”, right?!

I believe that Germany can play a leading role in the further development of this world. It has been a role model in the past in various industries and still is a leading country in Europe and the world. If we want to stay on top of the world we need to take bold decisions and thereby influence the development in the emerging and developing countries as well. Never underestimate the influence we still have with our western lifestyles on people in areas like upcoming economies like India, China, Russia, etc… If we establish being green as cool they will adopt. If we renew education they will do. If we set new standards in sustainable mobility they will follow. So what are we waiting for then?!

Feel free to comment, join the conversation and further elaborate my thoughts and ideas;)

If I were the chancellor...

I guess it is no secret that I am a big fan and follower of Supercoolschool.com. Not only has the founder – Steli Efti – become one of my closest friends in the meantime but the dream behind it really resonates with me. It is one of the most inspiring stories of my life. Steli and his team are tackling probably one of the biggest challenges (and – if you ask me – opportunities) of our times: EDUCATION/LEARNING! Looking at the latest events in Europe, where student demonstrate for better educational conditions, there is even more evidence that we are not alone with this opinion. We urgently need innovative approaches. Today more than ever the time is ripe to take action. Small changes won`t help. In order to force the goverments to take action we need a massive bottom-up movement and create best practices showing how the change can be done. If they don`t do it, we will do it. One best practice example for me is this project: The basic idea is to provide social learning solutions to people and businesses and thereby maximize global knowledge exchange. Social knowledge networks. You can be both student/learner and teacher/trainer. And times have changed: Learning is not a matter of age anymore. In order to keep up with the fast pace of modern society we all need to become eternal learners. So better make sure you get on board.

And this is how you can do something straight away:

• Sign up for the BETA version of SupercoolSchool
• Join Startup_school and mingle with other entrepreneurs from around the globe (invitation only, ping me!)
• Request your own corporate social learning platform to boost knowledge exchange within your company

I am proud to support this amazing project and I honestly feel honoured that the people behind it belong to my global human network. I would be glad to meet you around in one of the classes or schools. And just in case that it is not clear yet: I will start my own school soon. I will keep you up to date;)

These thoughts have accompanied me throughout the last months and I would like to express my deepest concerns about the latest developments in Germany, Europe and the world. About a year and half ago before we actually went into the current crisis I had observed that sustainability was in our awareness. New business concepts emerged, people were buying more organic products, considering healthy and environmental friendly solutions and last but not least alternative/ green energies were in the focus of politics and the industry.

Now, with the financial crisis going on for quite a while I have this uncomfortable feeling that we lost sight of the real problem due to short term challenges and struggles. This crisis is tough, I agree. But it could be a chance to make a change, too. At the end of the day nothing changed: As a world we are facing serious obstacles and we need to urgently take bold decisions in order to be able to change the course of this planet. Instead of putting all of our efforts into new technologies and sustainable development Germany decided to keep nuclear power plugged in even longer and today the UK decided to build 10 new reactors. Not to speak about the non-sense capital flow into some older industries – including the automotive – in order to keep them artificially alive and disturbing the natural flow of economies. I am curious to see how many of the supported companies will survive the next 5-10 years and how much of their additional profits will flow into the CHANGE!

Unfortunately, I don`t agree at all with such short sighted decision on the highest level of our society. I would rather set up economy boosting packages for green industries, creating new jobs and attracting new talent and creativity into world changing and necessary fields. The formula of supporting “dead and old problem industries” instead of “new and solution oriented ones” simply does not make sense at all to me. I know that there are reasons for every decision and that politicians need to take popular decision, however this will not create the space for the real heroes we are depending on.

I wish I could post some more convenient thoughts today, as it is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and also the day of inventors. Both more promising occasions then the latest developments in politics and industry. I would love to hear your opinion. And let`s celebrate people like Mr. Bell and Mr. Edison who have been more visionary than many of our politicians today.

Let`s stay positive and make the change ourselves:)

Smiling nuclear power

Check out Gary Vaynerchuk - the wine maniac – who revolutionized the way wine is perceived and sold. Gary started with a online wine show (winelibrary.com) which reaches up to 80.000 visitors per day now. He added more and more activities around the wine community and has become kind of the wine rock star. No need to say which the impact on his wine selling family business was! It is a nice example how a very traditional business made its way into the new world of social media and business. His family owned a traditional wine store and he transferred it step by step into a state-of-the-art role model for how business is done today and in the future. What he does for wine could be done for many more products and services.

Gary also published a book – “crush it!” – recently telling his secrets of succeeding in times of social media. I haven`t read it yet. But maybe some of you!? Post your comments and reviews if it is worth reading. But I guess it is:-)

During the last couple of years I have created a burning desire to get to know more about my stars and champions in business and life in general. This resulted in buying and reading a lot of (auto)biographies and books about people who have achieved something or lead a lifestyle which seems to be aspiring to me. I am sure everybody has his own selection of people they kind of look up to in a certain area of life or in general.

Sometimes our stars are in our direct environment (managers, bosses, trainers, colleagues, family, friends, etc.) and sometimes they seem to be far away. The question is if you really make an effort to learn more about them and benefit from their experience and decisions of the past. I highly recommend to start the conversation! And there are many ways of doing so: It can be buying a book, booking a seminar, going for lunch, writing an email explaining your appreciation for their achievements, entering a mentoring relationship and many more. Most of the times successful people appreciate feedback and the fact to be admired. Well, who doesn`t?

It is quite straight forward what I want to tell you with this post: Don`t be shy to approach your champions. Use every possible source of information and opportunity to learn from them and share your learnings with them and others. I am sure you will be surprised what you can get out of it: Either you will see that your superstar started exactly where you are today or you will find some answers to some burning questions of yours. At the end of the day I have observed that successful people have some common traits and it might be possible to define some sort of a model. I think this alone is worth a new post which I will share with you soon. Some teaser- conclusion: “Success is a state of mind!”

Currently, I am reading Ted Turner`s autobiography (“Call me Ted”) and I am really inspired how he made his way up step by step overcoming obstacles and taking risks which sometimes almost cost his life and business. I also learned that it is good to think big and go ahead with big plans even if the rest thinks you`re mad. And I learned that there is a life besides business. He won both the America`s Cup and the Fastnet Race which are both legendary events in sailing. And he always seemed to have had fun doing whatever he did. In his case hard work was the basis, reflection the beginning, risk taking indispensable and execution the winning strategy. Once he made up his mind he put all of energy and passion in his business ventures and failure was no option.

If I compare him to myself I have to admit that I sometimes overanalyze and emphasize the risks instead of just focussing on the next few steps and just doing it. Execution is king! An idea is worth nothing, if you won`t take the next steps and follow through. Alone this was worth starting the conversation and I will definitely drop him some lines of gratitude for sharing his life and business journey.

I would love to hear your stories and who your stars are! Are you reading (auto)biographies at the moment? If yes, which? Share them with us.

To read more about or buy the book : Click here

I was driving in my car last night and I was captured in some thoughts about life and time which I thought would be worth a post. In the radio there was an announcement about the Olympic Games 2016 which will take place in Rio (Brazil). I found it strange that we are already talking about events of the year 2016. And it was actually only another example of how we perceive and plan our lives. There is always a future orientation and we always try to plan our lives in advance. Think about our retirement plans, family planning, etc. ! When I retire I will do this and that. Next year I want to do this or that. When I am old enough I will do this and that. When I have more money I will do this and that. I guess it`s clear what I mean…

Why am writing this post? I would like to mention the relevance of the presence and every single moment in our lives. Time is flying and most of the times you cannot plan every detail and not to forget that things change as we go. What I find more important is that we are present in and we try to make the best out of every single moment. Be happy now. Enjoy your life now. Give your best now. Share your wisdom now. Love your family and friends now. Live your dream now. Face your fears now.  Learn your lessons now. NOW is when you influence your future. So better stop looking into the chrystal ball to predict your future and shape it by living your present moment to the fullest.

If you look at life from a different perspective you will see that it is the result of various moments and experience which add up to a full biography. Your decision, thoughts and feelings of today create your future and at the end of the day your life and legacy. I am curious to hear what you will do differently today, now that you know that this is actually shaping your life and future. Me, I am looking forward to meet some friends tonight and give them a big hug to show them how I feel about them

Click here to read an interesting post from Steli Efti – founder of Supercoolschool.com.  I couldn`t explain better how life is made of ups and downs and why we should enjoy the ride:)