I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a successful 2012.
Let’s all work together to advance Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) awareness and best practice in our world!
Although pessimism surrounds some predictions for 2012, I am sure we can make 2012 a year to remember with regards to Sustainability / CSR.
So let’s get to it!!!!!
A strange title I know but the purpose of this post is very simple. What could you do as a CSR / Sustainability professional in 2012 different to 2011?
I have listed three points, which I feel are very important and useful for everyone working the CSR / Sustainability field across the globe.
Point 1 : Why not strive to learn more about CSR / Sustainability?
This is what I have set myself as a goal for 2012. I have been working in the field for a long time now but I find that I also need to read more CSR / Sustainability related literature (books & ebooks) on a regular basis. My daily routine includes reading my favourite blogs via my RSS reader but I noticed that I am not reading enough published CSR / Sustainability literature anymore. This might sound like a very simple thing to do but I have noticed that during the daily routine I usually do not give myself the time to read books that provide me with a more in-depth viewpoint or information background.
I will now brush up on CSR / Sustainability classics such as Simon Zadek’s The Civil Corporation: The New Economy of Corporate Citizenship
Point 2: Write more about what you do
I assure you that once you read more about CSR / Sustainability, you would want to write more about it as well. This does not mean that you have to have a full-fledged blog. Easy does it in my view. If you do not want to have a blog then why sart email conversations with friends, colleagues, etc about CSR / Sustainability topics. This is a great way to digest the information you have just read or learned in my experience.
Point 3: Communicate more via Social Media
Communicating using Social Media is an easy thing to say, I know. But why don’t you give yourself 10 minutes each day to tweet via Twitter or post interesting information on your LinkedIn page. It does not have to be more time you spend each day or every other day. If you keep up this routine, I am assuring you that you will have a lot of fun doing this and at the same time will have the opportunity to get to know lots of likeminded people from across the globe reaching out to you and the information you are sharing.
If you are looking to get started in Social Media and do not know where to start, then this posts from a few months ago should help you with that: My current Social Media dilemma.
So what are you waiting for? Start doing something different today to change your life tomorrow for the better. 
The annual changing leaf season always reminds of the changing times. It seems that Mother Nature wants us to all let go of our 2011 ballast, to plan ahead for 2012 and to prepare to change.
I am in the process of changing a lot in my life as well. Nothing drastic, but changes need to happen in order to realize my plans for 2012. In 2011 I pretty much streamlined a lot of operations in my business, on- and offline. This will continue in 2012. More is to be done offline, but streamlining will still be the motto in order to save costs and to be more effective to successfully promote CSR / Sustainability.
Let’s side-track a little here, in order to make an important point.
An example of passion and will power
The most impressive example I came across over the past years of how to change your life to make a difference was a group of three women from the London area. They were all passionate about one thing: Helping dogs which were close to being killed because no one wanted them anymore or their breed was a breed that is perceived as dangerous.
They all had their daily jobs and families, so no time to spare really. But they were so passionate about helping dogs that they simply had to find a way to make a difference as they could not bear seeing perfectly good dogs being put down for no reason. So they worked during the day and rescued dogs during night and the weekend.
This was four years ago. And now, through their sheer commitment and determination, they managed to establish a regional dog rescue charity called Rescue Remedies, which so far has been able to save and rehome close to 1.000 dogs across the UK.
Obviously saving dogs is not for everyone, but my point here is that we all can change our lives if we really want to. Somethings more and sometimes less change is possible and needed to make a difference.
So what can you change in your life this autumn in order to make a difference in 2012?