Fabian Pattberg

Monthly Archives - May 2009

The Beauty of Networking – The 21st Century Way

May 29, 20096:52 pm

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This week has been a good week. And I wanted to finish it off with a quick recap and some reflections on how much and how little business networking has changed in my opinion.

The week in review:

  • The new version of the SustainabilityForum.com is nearly ready. A few more tweaks and we are ready to go next week (Fingers crossed).
  • Business is going well too. So far I cannot feel the economic downturn. But I think I can consider myself lucky and I am grateful for that.
  • I was able to purchase the domain Fairtrader.org this week. Who knows…that might be another project down the line. A really nice name. Short and memorable.

21st Century Business Networking
network icon The Beauty of Networking – The 21st Century WayThis week has also been a fantastic business networking week. I was able to connect with so many great new people. And that made me think. How many people would I have been able to connect with this week and the last few months without the use of some of the modern online business networking tools.

The answer is pretty clear…..not a lot. Especially not from all across the world.

I then remembered that I recently talked to my father about this and how amazed he was about these networking tools.

He said that he is and always has been relying on three business main ways to expand his business network:

  • Attending and organizing conferences and workshops
  • Being a member of a business club or other clubs in interest areas such as sport, art, etc.
  • Cold calling possible business partners and customers to arrange one to one meetings.

Our new networking activities that have drastically changed the way we now network enhance these three business networking activities in my opinion. I categorize them in three areas:

  • Social Media: Tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. help us to connect to like minded people easier then ever before without having meet in person.
  • Online Business Meetups: Websites such as Meetup.com etc. now make it incredibly easy to find meetings and get-togehters with like minded people in your local, regional and national community.
  • The evolution of modern communications: Modern communication tools such as Skype and the normality of telephone international flat rates make it so much easier and convenient to reach out to people all across the globe.

Again, the beauty of these new tools is that they all enhance and increase your networking possibilities in a way that my father only dreamed about 20 years ago. And I think this is only the beginning. We will see great new developments in these areas ove the next 10 years.

But I also believe these old and new ways of networking have one outcome in common: To really build a proper and long lasting business relationship we always have to meet in person as business is still and will always be conducted between individuals that know and trust each other.

Modern business networking technology will not change this basic law no matter what. And this is a good thing.

Picture Credit: luc legay

People I follow on Twitter – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

May 26, 200910:52 am

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I have been using Twitter for the past year and see Twitter as a great tool to extend the private and business networks.
The problem I had with Twitter from the beginning was whom to follow on the topics that I am interested in.
This is the first post in a new Twitter series I am writing where I will be listing the usernames of some people I follow on topics such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSR/Sustainability News, Social Media, and more. The post today will be about the Twitterers (people that are on Twitter) that tweet (expression for the individual Twitter updates) about CSR.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Twitterers

  • James Farrar – A great blogger and invaluable source of CSR and technology insights People I follow on Twitter – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
  • Mallen Baker – Mallen provides top quality information and insightful commentary on all CSR topics
  • David Connor – A never ending source of CSR information
  • Chris Jarvis – Great insights and excellent blogger on CSR
  • Elaine Cohen – Great information source on CSR Reporting topics

There are a lot more people that are providing excellent information on CSR on Twitter even though they are not listed here. This is just snapshot of the people I follow on the topic of CSR.

twitter search People I follow on Twitter – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Search for CSR on Twitter

Another great way to get started connecting to like-minded CSR people on Twitter is to do a Twitter search with ‘CSR’ as the keyword or any other keyword you are looking for. Here is the direct link to the Twitter search for CSR:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=csr

This way you will never miss a tweet on the keyword you are looking for.

I am obviously also on Twitter and tweet about CSR topics. So why not visit and let me know what you think. Fabian on Twitter

Happy networking everyone!

The Business Case for Sustainability at Interface

May 19, 200912:31 pm

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interface logo The Business Case for Sustainability at InterfaceThis week seems to be the week where I am posting a lot of videos. I have no idea why but I would not want to withhold this very interesting video on the ‘Business Case for Sustainability’ from my readers.

This video is a speech from Ray Anderson, the CEO of Interface.

He founded the company 30 odd years ago and is still running it as of now. Back in February of this year he gave this speech at a TED Conference in California.

This is a very inspiring video about how he became ‘Sustainability-Aware’ as a person and what he then initiated at Interface to limit the environmental and social impact of his business.

A ‘Must-Watch’ for every Sustainability / CSR company representative or anyone interested in the business case for Sustainability.

Enjoy!

The SustainabilityForum.com News and Blog Show

May 18, 20096:34 pm

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image1 The SustainabilityForum.com News and Blog ShowWe are almost at the point where we are ready for the new SustainabilityForum.com to go live this week.

Part of the new SustainabilityForum.com will be a weekly Show recorded via ustream, posted on youtube and the events section on the website.

Here is my welcome message and a short summary of the purpose of the show:

All feedback as always is much appreciated.

Entrepreneurs Can Change the World

May 14, 20093:00 pm

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To all the Entrepreneurs out there that want to change the world but need a reminder once in a while:

I have been an entrepreneur for the last 1,5 years now (incredible how fast time passes!) and I had many ups and downs, good days and bad days and moments when I simply wanted to give up. But I didn’t because I believe I can make a difference in this world and help change it for the better.

Although this video explicitly shows North America as an example where entrepreneurs changed the world this is true for every country and culture across the globe.

The message remains the same: Entrepreneurs can change the world.

So let us get going to make it happen!

Two Interesting Sustainability Presentations

May 13, 20099:37 am

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Earlier in the year I started a series of posts on interesting presentations on Sustainability topics. I would now like to continue this with todays post on two interesting Sustainability presentations I found on Slideshare.

The first one is on CSR and Ethics whereas the second presentations takes a more scientific angle on Sustainability. I hope you will find the presentations useful.

CSR & Ethics

Is Sustainability a Myth?

View more presentations from Kevin Struck.

The New Age of Sustainability Conferences?

May 11, 200911:24 am

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conference The New Age of Sustainability Conferences?The conference „The Responsible Business Summit“ is currently happening in London (Today and tomorrow).

Why is that of interest?

Well because a lot of people from all across the globe have a chance to meet up, network, do/participate in workshops and give/listen to interesting speeches. All in all very useful. But the problem with this is that the admission fees are very high and for people without a large corporate background (like most people) not affordable.

The new development in my opinion is that non participants of the conference (such as myself) now can get a good insight of what is going on by following updates of conference participants via Twitter.

Here are two people and the events organizer that are well worth following to get interesting updates from this conference today and tomorrow:

twitter The New Age of Sustainability Conferences?David: http://twitter.com/davidcoethica

Aaron: http://twitter.com/AaronQFu

Ethical Corporation: http://twitter.com/ethical_corp

This is the new age of Sustainability conferences and technology and social media can help bring Sustainability to the next level by bringing more and more people together. This is a good sign.

A Great Week and More Bloggers for SustainabilityForum.com Wanted!

May 10, 20098:40 am

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writers A Great Week and More Bloggers for SustainabilityForum.com Wanted!This week has been a great week for me. I finished my big project, finally had the time to start posting on my blog again and started to kick of my SustainabilityForum.com relaunch. All in all a very good week.

The next few weeks will be very interesting as I am finishing of the new site (bugs, etc.) and I am recruiting more writers for the blogging area of the SustainabilityForum.com. The complete new website will then be live in about 1-2 weeks time I hope.

Bloggers Wanted

So if you love blogging on Sustainability topics then why not get in touch and  you could in no time be one of the regular SustainabilityForum.com bloggers with hundreds of people reading your opinion and thoughts about Sustainability topics.

I already have a lot of interesting people contributing but I am always looking for more people to join our writers team.

So if you are interested please get in touch filling out the contact form here: Contact Me

Picture Credit: Michael Hurst

Sustainability / CSR Reporting Update – May 2009

May 7, 20099:52 am

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We are at the height of the 2009 Sustainability / CSR Reporting season at the moment and I have seen some very interesting reports being published so far.

Todays post is about three of the most interesting I have come across in the past few weeks. I have also added a shortlist of other reports I would like to share with you.

My Top Three

moto logo Sustainability / CSR Reporting Update May 2009 Motorola
As you would expect from a consumer product driven company, this reporting website is visually very good and easy on the eye. There is more then enough content to get a good overview of their company specific issues such as Privacy, Environmental Impact of their products, supply chain management, socio-economic impact, etc.. All in all a very good reporting approach in my opinion.

bat Sustainability / CSR Reporting Update May 2009 British American Tobacco (BAT)
One of the important players in the Sustainability / CSR Reporting field in my opinion. They have been reporting at a very high quality level for many years now and in my opinion are still doing a great job at this. Don’t get me wrong; I do not agree with their product range (ie. Tobacco) but they are still one of the best in terms of stakeholder engagement and Sustainability /CSR Reporting. This report is definitely worth checking out. The fact that they explicitly state what they have and what they have not reported on throughout the website stands out in my opinion. Very ‘material’ as BAT would say.

Lafarge
logo lafarge Sustainability / CSR Reporting Update May 2009 This is an interesting report with a lot of detailed information. Maybe too much text and information for a web format at times. The only real downside in my opinion is the presentation. This could have been a bit more engaging at times. But I guess this is the trade off you have to take for granted when you want to provide so much information.

Here are some other Sustainability / CSR Reports that I came across over past few weeks but did not review in further detail:

Have I missed any interesting reports? If so please either get in touch or just add your report via the commenting option.

My Ultimate Bookmarking and Sharing Tool

May 6, 200910:21 am

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If you are a blogger or internet publisher then the possibility for your reader and yourself to properly bookmark, save and share of information on the web is very important. That is why a convenient bookmarking and sharing tool is a must nowadays.

addtoany logo My Ultimate Bookmarking and Sharing ToolI have been looking for the best tool for quite a while and must say that I never found the right one for my blog until I came across the AddtoAny tool some weeks ago.

Those of you who know me and have been reading my posts know that I am not trying to promote a product here to get something out of it. This tool is so useful and convenient for your visitors that I just couldn’t resist writing about this tool.addtoany 1 My Ultimate Bookmarking and Sharing Tool

I have been using the WordPress.org plugin as my blog uses WordPress andit has been working like a charm for me over the past few weeks.  Other then WordPress there are a lot more possibilities in terms of where to use it of course (Screenshot on the right). Drupal, TypePad, Joomla, etc. Really nice.

To keep this post short today…..If you have a blog or some kind of website with information that you would like to have bookmarked, saved or shared and you want to provide your visitors with a very convenient way to do this then you can’t go wrong with AddtoAny.