Whistling For Attention
June 20, 2008
Somewhere around the time British Rail was privatised there was a wonderful quote from one of the presiding ministers: “Only 90% of passenger trains reach an eventual destination”.
Ever since then I’ve been deeply concerned about the remaining 10%. Are they lost out there somewhere, haunted by howling commuters, doomed forever to search for the Shangri-La of an “eventual destination”?
As well as showing how important it is for our leaders to think before speaking, this tale also demonstrates the inherent danger in relying upon statistics to prove a point.
So here’s another equally dubious one: less than 2% of UK companies encourage employees to raise their concerns if they believe their employer is breaking the law.
The rest, by definition, are either happy for such employees to approach the media, or are certain their employees will simply stay schtum.
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A Blanket of Certificates
June 14, 2008
“We never fail when we try to do our duty; we always fail when we neglect to do it.” This is one of the most famous quotes from Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts movement.
How, though, do you measure how well a boy scout is performing or preparing to do his duty?
To answer this Baden-Powell came up with the merit badge scheme. This encourages scouts to reach a certain level of proficiency in a wide range of activities and a few are graded to show increasing levels of ability.
Scouts are encouraged to display each badge once it is awarded. Many sew them onto the arm of their uniform so that others can easily see their proficiencies.
Some, for reasons unknown, sew them onto their blankets.
Badge Collection
It is precisely this spirit of badge collecting and fulfilment of duty which governments are relying upon to help encourage businesses down the path of sustainability.
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Raising the Retail Sector’s Sustainability Bar
June 12, 2008
“Oh, that’s just perfectly normal paranoia,” said Slartibartfast breezily. “Everyone in the universe suffers from that.”
It’s always good to know that the architects of the Earth, as depicted in Douglas Adams’ “The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy”, were aware of the fundamentals of life.
Nevertheless, it can be disconcerting to find these theories being borne out in real life.
For instance: I always had a sneaking suspicion that some smaller country was quietly getting on with sustainability without getting hung up over principle, cost or advantage.
That country, I’m starting to conclude, is Portugal. It appears to be a hotbed of Social Entrepreneurship, a centre for positive news reporting and, now, the home of the sustainable shopping centre.
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XBRL: The Transparency Acronym
June 9, 2008
It’s time to challenge your stereotypes! Here’s what first springs to my mind when I think of these professions:
A Formula One racing driver: fireproof overalls, helmet tucked under one arm, cocky stance and arrogant smile on his face.
A high court lawyer: hand tailored suit, leather briefcase, slightly otherworldly air and nose in the air.
A corporate analyst: reserved, uncomfortable in the real world, an abacus on the desk, smart clothes but never truly smart in demeanour.
Hang on a minute… an abacus?? A slightly sharper look at the corporate analyst and a somewhat Pythagorean figure emerges, complete with wraparound white sheet and funny pointy beard.
This is because corporate analysts are, at the end of the day, brilliant mathematicians whose mental agility would flummox the rest of us humble human beings. They’re the gods of all number crunchers.
Hence, I suppose, the abacus: to help with the day-to-day shuffling around of figures in analysis of a company or product’s performance. But surely we’ve progressed beyond such oddities by now?
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Materiality within Sustainable Reporting
June 5, 2008
Imagine something you can live without; an atlas, perhaps, or pretty wallpaper. These may improve your quality of life or be useful repositories of knowledge, but they’re not strictly necessary for your day to day existence.
Now think of the things you really do need: air, water and nutrients must be top of your list. Additionally, shelter is useful for maintain a good health and transport is normally necessary to continue to earn a living.
Materiality within sustainability reporting is the concept of how much something is part of a business’ ongoing processes. How material it is to that company’s existence.
So taking the example above, pretty wallpaper and an atlas are pretty immaterial to an individual’s existence. Conversely air, water and nutrients are most definitely material, as are transport and shelter to a given degree.
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