by beCause Global Associate Andrea Learned – Why have the topics of sustainability and gender balance still not become key priorities for smart business leadership? And why does coverage of business “disruption” still seem to focus solely on the clever, the hip and the solely technological when culture demands organizational change to a whole other level? As someone with marketing to women roots and a now deep passion for sustainable business, perhaps I take lack of attention to these less exciting topics a tad personally? It’s possible. But, no matter what is behind my irritation, sustainability and gender balance have never gotten their due, and by now, any discussion of them seems like “old news.”  Still, we best not leave it there.First, a quick look at my own path as background for my perspective: Women Consumers To... more

by beCause CEO Nadine Hack – “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.  An elephant’s faithful one-hundred percent!” ― Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg It’s well known that our children learn from our actions, not our words.  The admonition “Do what I say, not what I do!” never has worked even for the least cleaver child.  The same absolutely holds true for how we each and all can inspire authentic, purposeful leadership by embodying it ourselves. I have found that self-awareness is the most fundamental dimension for this.  Can you to look into your own mirror with clarity and honesty about what examples you are setting on a daily, if not hourly, basis?  Are you being open,... more

by beCause Global Associate Robi Damelin, co-leader Parents Circle, those who have lost children to the conflict and work together for peace rather than vengeance — So many see our situation in Palestine and Israel as hopeless, impossible, and quite frankly unsolvable. We who live here, who care about the safety of our children, cannot afford to become immune and wait for somebody else to take care of them and their safety. We do not have the luxury of apathy or of waiting for some leader to emerge who will save us from ourselves. Today, more than ever the Parents Circle – Families Forum (PCFF) , an organization of bereaved Palestinian and Israeli families, believes that women must come to the forefront and be... more

by beCause Global Associate Cortney McDermott – her Perfectly Imperfect series is about acknowledging and embracing our individual gifts and quirks-our perfect imperfection.  ***   It’s time we release the idea that every part of us must be “perfect” and we open to our full creative potential as unique beings. Stay here to learn how to replace guilt, worry and self-criticism with joy, wonder and purpose. So many of my clients — brilliant men and women with impressively successful lives and careers — experience self-doubt and engage in self-criticism to an extent I rarely see in other folks. Chances are, if you’re reading this, that you’re juggling a gazillion things at once and not giving yourself enough credit. You may also throw... more

by beCause Global Associate Ravi Chaudhry, CEO CeNext Consulting, author of Quest for Exceptional Leadership: Mirage to Reality , former Chair / CEO of four Tata Group companies – People all over the world wonder why there are so few good leaders who command trust and deliver results. Has the quality of leadership declined or have we become more demanding? Most likely, a bit of both. Those taking on the mantle of leadership in society and business today need to acknowledge that we are moving on to a new phase of human enterprise, driven by increased demand for social consciousness and the need to function in sync with society and environment. Several potent forces are accelerating this process, stemming from the rise of ‘knowledge-based... more

By Eleanor Dunfey Freiburger, Southern New Hampshire University Professor Emeritus, professor of ethics and civic engagement; director of the Faculty Center for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching; and co-chair, Global Citizen’s Circle. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, these are Eleanor’s words to the National Cultural Diversity Advisory Council on the anniversary of his assassination, April 4. She recalls the summer of 1968 when the Dunfey family arranged for the King Family  to spend a summer in New Hampshire. WE CONNECT THREE ‘ACTION’ WORDS, IN PARTICULAR, WITH ANY REMEMBRANCE OF DR. KING: REMEMBER / CELEBRATE / ACT – AND I’LL USE THOSE AS THE FRAME OF MY REFLECTION. REMEMBER  TONIGHT, IN A SPECIAL WAY, WE RECALL A YOUNG WIDOW AND HER FOUR CHILDREN.  IN THE... more

by beCause beCause Global Associate Peter Cook, CEO Human Dynamics, – Collaboration is becoming a business as usual model for doing unusually good business in an increasingly connected world. Just consider these examples: For the first time in history, pharmaceutical companies are collaborating to pool their resources and information against consumer demand for greater transparency and the sheer costs of developing life-saving drugs. Social and economic pressure for these changes is enabled by the internet and our ability to process large volumes of data for advances in medical science that ultimately benefit the whole world. Companies as diverse as Coca Cola and Heinz, Corning and Sharp are collaborating to devise products that provide superior benefits for their clients and customers. In... more

by beCause Global Associate Barbara Brooks Kimmel, founder Trust Across America-Trust Around the World™  — There are several frameworks and models of trustworthy leadership. Some describe the “three C’S” of Character, Competence and Consistency, while another substitutes “consistency” for compassion. Randy Conley, the Vice President of Client Services & Trust Practice Leader for The Ken Blanchard Companies, and one of our Alliance members, employs the ABCDs as a model (Able, Believable, Connected, Dependable.) At Trust Across America we like to say that trustworthy leaders are VIPS’s (Values, Integrity and Promises kept.)  Yesterday a colleague shared this Harvard Business Review article discussing the work of behavioral science researchers at Princeton (Amy Cuddy and Susan Fiske) and Lawrence University’s Peter Glick. Simply, the... more

by beCause Global Associate David Hain, Director Transformation Partners — We live in a fast-moving, complicated world that frequently makes it a struggle to pause for breath, far less to make sense of it all. This US military acronym describes it perfectly — VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. We are hyper-networked and have incredible technology at our disposal, yet the very pace of technological advance creates confusion, exhaustion and suspicion in its wake. Customers and employees today are highly empowered, infinitely more demanding than previous generations and with an attention span that is significantly shorter because of the choices available to them from the device in their hand. Yet often they are cynical and change weary – wary of... more