Fabian Pattberg

Category Archives - Business

Posts relating to general business topics, my experiences managing two very different organisations and any interesting business resources I am coming across.

Twitter is the most popular Sustainability / CSR Social Media channel

January 29, 20124:33 pm

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Last week I conducted a poll aimed at identifying the most popular Social Media channel for your Sustainability / CSR topics. The result was unambiguous really.

Twitter is the most popular Social Media channel for Sustainability / CSR topics.

These are the results in numbers:

  • Twitter with 73% (40 votes)twitter Twitter is the most popular Sustainability / CSR Social Media channel
  • Facebook with 11% (6 votes)
  • Google+ with 15% (8 votes)
  • LinkedIn with 16% (9 votes)
  • Other with 7% (4 votes)

What does this mean?

Two main messages really.
(1) If you are intending to communicate any kind of Sustainability / CSR message, the Social Media channel you should use as your primary channel is Twitter.
(2) Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ are alternatives but at this point not really considered as useful as Twitter.

What are your thoughts on this result? All views are welcomed.

Howies splits from VF – A good sustainable business decision

January 18, 20124:48 pm

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I am not the most passionate shopper or consumer when it comes to clothing but one company I have always been buying from over the past years has been Howies in the UK.

howies logo Howies splits from VF A good sustainable business decision

Howies started out with the vision to be a truly sustainable and environmentally friendly organisation years ago. They joined Timberland in 2006. I like Timberland, so I continued to shop with Howies. In 2011 Timberland where bought by VF. This acquisition made business sense for Timberland and VF but as a Howies customer I must admit I did not like the idea of my brand being one tiny part of a huge world-wide brand conglomerate. This is the link to the post: VF and Timberland, if you are interested in my VF-Timberland view.

Today I was very pleased to read that the Howies owners bought back the business from VF. Howies would have been a tiny part of the overall business and the owners, in my view, rightly decided that being part of VF would not be good for the future of such a great sustainable clothing brand.

This is the news item from the Howies website: On our own two feet

The CSR / Sustainability angle on this development

I believe that this is a great example of how CSR /Sustainability can best thrive while being small, and that belonging to a multi-national corporation does not always help in promoting sustainable business practices. Yes, you could argue that this is a one of example but so far my experience has thought me that sustainable business practices work best if the business can go and evolve at its own pace without much interference from big-business trying to accelerate  this process. It certainly helps if you more cash available to do as you please but in the end it all depends on the commitment of the business owners, its employees and key stakeholders to make change happen. This is a lot easier in a small independent business.

I would like to congratulate the new Howies owners for this bold move. I will certainly order more in the future from now on. The reason is very simple: I now know who is behind the business, how they source their products and what they stand for as a business. This is all I want and need to know from a sustainable business these days.

My routine for writing a blog post

January 9, 20129:09 pm

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This is the situation: I am home alone with the dogs tonight, my wife is away on a business trip and I am planning to spend the evening going about my business.  I want to write a blog post but I for some reason get distracted on a regular basis. Twitter updates, Google+, sports pages, Facebook, Google Reader and so on.

This seems to have happened quite a lot over the course of the past 12 months with so much going on in my life I noticed. Being a practically minded, I therefore tried to come up with a “routine”, as I call it, for these times when I am tired from a full days work but really want to write a blog post.

I hope it will also be useful for your writing. Please be aware that is my personal routine and you most likely will go about your writing in a different way. This is routine and it works for me…… icon smile My routine for writing a blog post

The routine: 

  1. When you get home from work or any other activity before writing, make yourself some food and eat. Writing with an empty stomach does not work in my experience.
  2. Once you are finished, choose the place in your house/flat where to write. Do not make the mistake of writing in the living room with a TV, stereo, etc. If you have the possibility to go to your own room or the study, do that. Any kind of distractions will only hinder your progress and will frustrate you.
  3. Make sure you take enough water with you and most importantly, take some chocolate with you. This is the kick you need when you get tired.
  4. Once you are all set up and online turn ALL social media channels off. You need the internet connection but you definitely do not need Twitter, Google+ or Facebook meddling with your attention span.
  5. Do not think about what you want to write about too much. Writing should be fun and something you enjoy. So just start to write and I am sure everything will come together at some point.
  6. Write about something interesting you have come across recently or which is important to you. Yes, consider your audience but let the writing lead you to what you want to let your readers know.
  7. Review your post progress after 2-3 paragraphs. I usually than change most of the post and title again because I somehow ended up with a slightly different topic to what I started out with.
  8. Once the post is finished take your time to check every single word of it. It is easy to just hit the “Publish” button. Wait for a while or even walk away from the computer for a few minutes to get your mind of this blog post. Then when you get back you will possibly notice something you missed or which is not writing about. This simple action will boost your quality of the blog post immensely in my experience.
  9. Hit the “Publish” button when you are proud of what you see in front of you.

It is that easy. Enjoy and have fun writing!

Three business lessons I learned in 2011…so far

November 3, 201111:12 am

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Life is changing all the time around us. Even when we think it is not, our world is changing on a micro and macro level. I feel that our life has changed a lot over the past months and we will see a lot of change in 2012 again. This year I have spent a lot of time getting to know a whole new business. Getting to know this new business has already taught me a lot of new aspects how to do business. This is a post from earlier in the year to give you more details on my changes, Changes in 2011.

Despite my doubts at the start I really enjoyed the past months. Including the highs and lows as strange as it might sound. The reason for this is that these experiences have taught were very valuable lessons. Today I want to outline three of these lessons.

Use the existing business network right from the start

Use the existing contacts and relationships of your predecessor and throughout the company as much as possible. Do not shy away from the fact that you do not know these new people. Make it your goal to get to know them instead of waiting for them to come to you. Every now and then you might meet someone that is dismissive or hesitant to help you but have the courage to continue where your predecessor left off. It will show your clients and business network that you have got what it takes to continue the business.

Be respectful and show that you are different

Be nice, treat everyone with the necessary respect, do not talk about something you do not know anything about, make sure your contacts know that you are serious about making business and most importantly, that you are different to your predecessor. In my case this means that aspects of CSR / Sustainability are always incorporated into every important business decision I make. Stay true to yourself and the values you believe in. Once you do that I am sure you will be a successful.

Show strength towards your peers but be empathetic

If you have any employees or line management, then a lot of time of your working day will be spent on making sure these people are doing what their job is and are happy. I am more of an empathetic person when we talk about leadership but I had to learn this year that a leader also needs to provide the strength to lead no matter what. And this sometimes means to make difficult and unpopular decisions in order to move the business forward.

There are a lot more lessons I learned but these three stand out. But you never know what the last 2 month will bring of course.

The freedom to create

October 13, 20118:30 am

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I have been blogging for 3,5 years now and enjoyed every minute of it. Not being an english native speaker did not make it easier at the start but when I actually decided to sit done and start writing it was insignificant. I am this kind of person to actually start with the task at hand and not plan extensively beforehand (I plan a bit of course!)

I only realized sometime later why I this is the case : I have the freedom to create. This is what I enjoy the most about blogging, the freedom to voice my views and share the information / resources I find. In my case these topics mostly involve Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability.

What are you creating at the moment?

Are you writing or doing anything else that makes you happy, every day? It is not only about blogging and is about what you enjoy doing the most. Blogging brings me joy but it is not for everyone. You have the freedom to decide what to create. I would love to hear what you do to use your freedom to create.

If you are interested in starting to blog, here are some resources / tips for you to make it easier.

Have a good rest of the week everyone and enjoy creating.

The importance of a product champion

September 23, 20113:35 pm

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After a week on the road last week, this week turned out to a very interesting business week. It was interesting in that sense, as it helped me realize once more how important it is to have product champion(s) whenever you are looking to sell a product or service.

In this post I would like to go into further detail differentiating between the “general business angle” and “Sustainability / CSR angle”. The reason for this differentiation is simple: I sell an actual product with one business (PMM) and a consulting service (PB Consulting) with the other.

The general business angle

In my case am I trying to sell a specialty product that you need to see and use to fully understand. This week was an eye-opener for me as it showed me how much one person can influence the acceptance of your product with a large potential customer group. He turned into my product champion for this customer group and I will make sure I will provide him with all the support he needs from now on. These product champions are invaluable for every business as they are with more than gold in my view, in the short and long term. This is the classic example of a product champion in my view.

The Sustainability / CSR angle

A product champion, when taking the Sustainability / CSR angle, is quite different in many respects. Let me explain. The essence of the Sustainability / CSR consulting is that you provide someone or a business Sustainability / CSR specific advice. You as the expert provide advice based on your experience at previous jobs and assignments.

A product champion in this case then is someone that not only understands what you trying to say but (most importantly) someone that proactively challenges your point of view and experience. This might sound strange, but it in my view also makes a lot of sense when you look at what your ultimate goal: To change the way your client is doing business.

So have you tried to identify your Sustainability / CSR product champion already? He/she will be the key to growing your own consulting business in the short and long term. If you have not done this so far, why wait? Especially since your product champion might be the single most important person you need, to change the way they see their role in the business sector, how they conduct their business and what their next Sustainability / CSR actions will be.