Rotary International

  Rotary International’s motto is, “Rotary, Humanity in Motion.”  They are a collective of service minded individuals helping up their communities and reaching out to those in need across the globe.  The Rotarians differentiate themselves from other organizations by methodically using their business acumen to accomplish their goals.

One such Rotarian is Ron Burton.  Burton joined Rotary International in 1979 and is the current president nominee for 2013-2014. In Burton’s 32 years of Rotary service he has been Rotary International Director, Vice Chair of the Future Vision Committee, and Chair of the 2011 Rotary International Conference in New Orleans, member of the USA Polio Eradication Advocacy Task Force and past President of The Rotary Club in Norman, Oklahoma.  Burton’s commitment to Rotary is evident in his service and as the 2013-2014 presidential nominee he will be working towards The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations challenge grant.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded The Rotary Foundation a challenge grant that will match, dollar for dollar, up to $100 million.  Rotary has three years to raise this amount to meet the Gates Foundation match.  The grant will fund the eradication of Polio in the world.  Currently Rotary is in 340,000 U.S. cities and with that amount of participation Rotary is on track to meet that match.  Rotary International also partners with World Health, UNICEF and the CDC in their effort to eradicate polio.

The Rotary Club of Norman, Oklahoma has local issues they focus on such as assisting abandon children find apartments, food and home goods.  Another local community project they coordinate is called, “Stuff the Bus,” where they collect backpacks stuffed with school supplies and donate to local schools.

Rotary’s future looks forward to young business people joining, strengthening Rotary clubs, and creating larger and sustainable projects.

And as Ron Burton becomes the president of Rotary International he and other Rotarians will continue to uphold high ethical standards in their mission of promoting world understanding and peace.  And of course I couldn’t leave out my all-time favorite Rotary test in which every Rotarian must ask themselves in making decisions.

1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it fair?

3. Does it build good will?

4. Is it beneficial to all concerned?

To join Rotary International or for more information, visit; www.rotary.org.

FSG, A Social Enterprise Organization

 

FSG is a global social enterprise organization.  Social enterprises are organizations that apply business methods to achieving philanthropic goals.  One benefit in social entrepreneurship is both the donor and receipt win.  Winning!  FSG is also a nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation and research.  They work with companies to develop corporate social responsibility strategies.

John Kania is the managing director of FSG.  Kania’s expertise is in social entrepreneurship emphasizing in strategy, leadership and organizational development.  Kania’s expertise has resulted in him writing a book called, “Do More Than Give,” along with Leslie R. Crutchfield and Mark R. Kramer.  The book is inspired by the bestselling book, “Forces for Good.”  “Do More Than Give,” tells the six practices of donors who change the world.  Within the book new terms are defined such as catalytic philanthropy.  Catalytic philanthropy is empowering all involved and going beyond giving a financial donation.   As Kania is a consultant at heart he is available to work with all sizes of companies and can be reached by email at; [email protected].

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is engaging in and advocating for what is needed in a community.  When done properly a strategy is developed with FSG to determine a project where all involved benefit.  Any size business can develop a corporate social responsibility program by offering nonprofits services.  For example an IT company can offer nonprofits beta versions, and later fully developed software and in return the IT company receives the nonprofits user data from the beta version.

Innovation

The innovation in FSG’s social impact consulting firm starts with corporate social responsibility methods and how to apply best practices to be successful.  Collective impact is about moving beyond isolated impact and collaborating with several partners to create a scalable change.  Using a company’s expertise rather than only financial donations can make more of an impact.  Corporate social responsibility has developed into collaborating with businesses and other non-profits and using all types of company resources to benefit donors and recipients.

For more information on the book “Do More Than Give,” visit; www.domorethangive.com.

To contact FSG, Foundations Strategy Group, visit; www.fsg.org.

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Technology Solutions Company iGivefirst

Technology solutions company iGivefirst facilitates donations to charitable organizations.  Sharif Youssef is the founder and CEO, of Giving Tools, Inc.  iGivefirst is a tool of Giving Tools and a for-profit professional fundraising company focused on philanthropy.  They are based in Denver, Colorado and have a national reach.

Using technology solutions reduces fundraising costs for nonprofits.   Nonprofits that use the iGivefirst button are able to redirect their work focus.   Not only is the charity’s end of the process made easier but donations can be made with a simple click—similar to the Facebook like button making the giving process easier.  They also centralize tax reporting to give the charity one receipt.

Technology solutions are needed because in the United States three billion dollars are donated a year to charity.  75 percent of that comes from donations that on average come in as $60.00 increments.  That is roughly 230 billion a year.  And only eight percent of the three billion comes from online donations.  Youssef, explains this is in part due to three online problems, donations online are not easy, trustworthy or secure.  iGivefirst.com solves these problems by having a 256 bit-encryption and taking on the donation receiving process.

Technology solutions will increase the eight percent of online donations to charities.  Through iGivefirst, Youssef would looks forward to increasing the eight percent online figure to 50 percent.

Media companies, bloggers and other digital media publishers can put their GIVE button on their websites. iGivefirst is currently open to partnership with nonprofits.  Having publishers add the iGivefirst icon to articles for readers to take the next step and donate is what they are reaching for.

For more information on iGivefirst, visit; www.igivefirst .com

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Eve Blossom, Interaction Design and Design Thinking

 

Architect Eve Blossom’s design thinking in the business world creates job stability.

For a couple years after graduation she worked but felt something was missing, which led to traveling and working abroad.

The Long Journey of Starting Lulan Artisans

Eve Blossom moved to Hanoi, Vietnam in 1995, to renovate French villas, an American architect’s dream come true.  However, one night she witnessed first-hand the transaction of a six year old girl being sold for sex by her father to a European man.  Blossom intervened but was threatened at knife point. And as so Blossom was unsuccessful at altering the outcome.  The experience truly moved and grabbed Eve Blossom.  That night she realized her life’s work was to prevent human trafficking.  Creating Lulan took consideration after the shock of seeing human trafficking.

Blossom striking realized that human trafficking is a market place and needs to be addressed at an economic level.  Her expertise, background and research around human trafficking led her to find design methods that create social change.   “The path isn’t easy,” said Eve Blossom and she doesn’t regret a moment of it.

Design Thinking

Design is a solution to the human trafficking problem.  Prevention is key because the traumatizing effects are devastating.  During an economic downturn people move from villages to cities for work and at that juncture are especially vulnerable so analysis of urban migration trends is important.

Artisan groups are risk affiliated due to their low incomes.  Blossom realized leveraging her expertise in design thinking lent a hand in the business of creating stable jobs for artisans.  Lulan is about job creation and celebrating the techniques and work artisans already do.

As a business woman, Eve Blossom utilizes untapped resources such as talented, trained, skilled and organized artists.  Trained in century old methods and skilled with unique talents Eve Blossom realized their products are an untapped resource.  Design is not just arts and crafts but markets, working and collaborating and partnering with artisans.  They need to reach markets in order to have stable jobs and incomes.  Blossom creates the partnership between the business world and artisans.

The artisans create products that have meaning.  The immerging market is all about meaningful products as decorative objects.  People want products with individual meaning and with a positive impact on someone else’s life, even if it’s a world away.

“Material Change, Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement,” by Eve Blossom discusses social entrepreneurship, human trafficking and Lulan Artisans.  It provides the business model Lulan uses in their for profit social venture.  The model shows a successful interaction design any business can use.  Blossoms says, “You can do good and still be profitable and that is the right model to teach artisans and other groups so they can be self-sustaining.  That is the movement of social entrepreneurship.”

The Business World and Interaction Design

Material Change also gives examples of social entrepreneurship projects around the world including Lulan.  They work collaboratively to ensure everyone is strong and brings their best expertise.  Lulan sells hand-woven fabrics to different markets, educates children, and provides co-housing allowances to artisans partnering with Lulan.  Additionally, cultural sustainability differs within each community so “disruptive entrepreneurs” are needed to examine systems in place and coherency.  This is innovative design thinking.  The business model provided in the back of the book is adaptable for any business. We are evolving the design of how we do business.

Currently Eve Blossom is working on a new website offering artisans goods, launching in 2012, at; www.wevebuilt.com

“Material Change, Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement,” by Eve Blossom is available at www.amazon.com

Similar artists to watch: Massimo Vignelli, Yves Behar, Paula Scher, Bob Gill and Oliver Haas.

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Colorado Gives Day, The Nonprofit & The Success Story.

Colorado Gives Day is hosted by FirstBank and the Community First Foundation.  The two dedicated collaborators, Marla J. Williams, president and CEO of Community First Foundation and Jim Reuter, executive vice president of FirstBank has set 2011’s goal of exceeded last year’s total distribution of $8.7 million.  Ever wonder how your donation supports the community?  Here are two nonprofits with one their many of their success stories.

The Nonprofit

Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute Development Director and Co-Founder Stacey Saggese provide low income entrepreneurs with learning, lending and coaching.  Figuring out the right timing paired with resources such as capita and loans is RMMFI best service.

The Success Story

Radiant Gardens owner Rebecca Dolan participated in RMMFI’s boot camp where she solidified the unique structure within Radiant Gardens and now not only maintains a profit but has four employees and contractors.

The Nonprofit

YouthBiz Executive Director Sonya Garcia Ulibarri work provides youth with the benefits of advancement in community, education and business.  YouthBiz’s future entrepreneurship project plans to take youth step by step from an hourly job, to salary, to business ownership.

The Success Story

Phill Douglas a former YouthBiz graduate and now program coordinator works with a diversified group of youth including those whom he is guiding through and hopefully past gang membership through helping them focus on better avenues in life such as college.

For information on how you can donate visit; www.givingfirst.org.

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Time is a Resource

 

Time is the invisible resource and to harness the most of it you can follow the following surviving time management tips.

1. Concentrate on producing results.  Some like the “good ol’fun” of procrastination but that is not managing time effectively.
2. Ask for help by first creating a list of rankings with ABC priorities; A being the most important.  Angel Tuccy of The Experience Pros uses this system and to manage her time assigns items ranked B or C to other people.
3. Create a routine to limit the impact of unexpected events.
4. Read and follow the recommendations of “Lists That Saved My Life,” by Angel Tuccy.  “Lists That Saved My Life,” insightfully shares tips on turning everyday trials to manageable lists.
5. Overcome productivity low-lay zones by working your lists.
6. Ask yourself this question; what would I do with two more hours a day?  Your answers should be ranked A on your list of priorities and if they are not add them to that list.

Franklin Covey is always recommended as a provider for planners and time resource tools, please visit: www.store.franklinplanner.com/store.

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The Vx

The Vx, headquartered in Colorado, brings together members of existing women’s affinity groups in a collaborative environment, giving women access to an exceptional resourceThe Goal of The Vx is to: • Secure exceptional resources to foster a community of interest • Inspire women to achieve their personal and professional potential • Integrate the full potential of this community to focus on extraordinary problems Pam Jeffords, Co-Founder and Partner of Via Management Consulting, is an experienced entrepreneur in the Denver community. Pam founded her first company, Maid to Fit, at the age of 30 and sold the company to a competitor three years later. Pam was recruited by ShopAtHome.com to move their offering to the web, growing the consumer base of on-line members to over 1Million and delivering over 1,000 advertisers with banner revenue. In 2007, she joined PAETEC as the General Manager with responsibility for launching six new markets in twelve months. Pam is the Co-chair of the Women’s Leadership Council at Mile High United Way, where she has played an instrumental role since 2003. Pam holds a Bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a Masters in Business Administration from Georgia State University.

10 Photos of Denver's Veterans Day Parade

 

Peter Yarrow's Operation Respect

 

Peter Yarrow is best known for being part of the folk musical trio Peter, Paul and Mary.  Yarrow’s current project Operation Respect encourages mutual respect between all people.  “Operation Respect Program” includes a book, CD and teaching curriculum.  The book is Yarrow’s second book following “Puff the Magic Dragon.”  Operation Respect is not only a book but also a nonprofit, education and advocacy organization which teaches respectful, safe and compassionate behaviors.

Puff the Magic Dragon’s meaning has always been questioned and Yarrow assures time and time again it has an innocent message.  Puff the Magic Dragon is a song about compassion and empathy and relates to being respectful to the differences between people.  The song resonates through the ages because it touches the heart.

Operation Respect’s program curriculum can be downloaded, at; www.operationrespect.org.  At this website you can find about 50 songs to download at no cost.  Yarrow shares them because once children sing together they form respect for each other.

Another one of Yarrow’s projects is the Don’t Laugh at Me program which can be found, at; www.dontlaugh.org.

Yarrow welcomes other educators and people who work with children to develop partnerships to get the no bullying message across.

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The Peace Corps

 

By Annette Perez

Celebrating 50 years the Peace Corps is an independent U.S. government agency that provides Volunteers for countries requesting assistance.  The agency traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Sen. John F. Kennedy challenged students to get out there.  Established in 1961 the Peace Corps promotes peace and friendship by remaining true to its mission.  One hundred and thirty nine countries have been served with over 200,000 volunteers.

Volunteers serve 27 months which includes 10 weeks of training on languages, culture, technical, and safety and security.  The application process can be anywhere from 9-12 months and applicants must be U.S. citizens.  The application process is quite competitive and currently there are more applications than there are spots to fill.  Placement of countries is based on suited skill sets for countries.

Today’s guest was Matthew Hogue.  Mr. Hogue started with the Peace Corps in September 2006 and became the Regional Recruiter in December of that same year.  He currently is a Field Based recruiter covering northern Colorado and Wyoming.  Hogue served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand from 2003 to 2005.

One of his experiences he shared was when he was living in Thailand, six months into the program he felt that he was not doing enough on his project and essentially wanted to hit the ground running.  Teachers were brought into the village where he was assigned.  His supervisor started rattling off things that he had done for the community thus making him realize the amount of effort he was doing in Thailand for this village.

Volunteers have the option of applying for the Fellows Program.  Eligibility for the Fellows Program is open to all volunteers who have served and is open for a lifetime.  Sixty universities are participating in the program with 128 fields of study.

To learn more about the Peace Corps or to apply visit www.peacecorps.gov or to contact Matthew Hogue please call 303-901-2141.

Expansive Education Transformation

 

Allan Jones, president of Emaginos Inc. focuses on changing K-12 education.  Changing the course of public education takes more than reforms.  Reforms are not creating the best benefits in public schools.  The NCEE reported globally we are in the middle or bottom of the middle tier of rankings for having successful K-12 education.  The best practices in transforming public education are:

1. Creating stronger teacher unions
2. Viewing teachers as the solution not the problem
3. The Federal government needs to set the priorities
4. Equity needs to go to the best preforming schools.

Charter schools are an asset in proving innovations.  Only 17 percent of charter schools are successful and those schools should be studied for best practices.

Ignoring public schools have efficiency issues will result in people unable to find jobs.  Extinct jobs are not coming back and schooling can’t get in the way of education.  Schools should focus 80 percent on problem solving and 20 percent on learning facts.

Tracy Learning Centers use hands on applications developed by Emaginos Inc. and have a one percent dropout rate and zero percent teacher turnover.  Their learning models are scalable to public schools.  They help students become active, independent learners.  For more information, visit: http://thepowerofus.org.

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Boyer's Coffee

 

Boyer’s Coffee was established in Colorado, 1965.  The unique flavor comes from being grown and roasted in high altitude.  The environment coffee is roasted in attributes to the flavor for example the humidity and batch size roasted.  Boyer’s Coffees can be found at these supermarkets throughout Colorado: Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, King Soopers, City Market and Albertsons.  And online Boyer’s ships coffee around the world.  Boyer’s sustainable practices focus on consumers, company and environment.  Boyer’s only roasts the finest hand-selected Arabica beans.  Environmentally Boyer’s found a way to re-use coffee chaff which is used to make wood starters, compost and bedding.  They have also implemented a packaging system which saves 450,000 boxes a year.  Boyer’s headquarters is a remolded school house made into a coffee bar.  Uniquely they found a 1920’s wood gymnasium floor and repurposed it for their coffee bar area.  They provide a free meeting space to the community which is available to anyone.  To learn more, call: 303-289-3345 or visit: www.boyerscoffee.com.

Creating a Future by Design

Interview and article by Keenan Brugh.

          Take a moment and imagine the future. How could technological advances be applied?  What will cities look like?  How might society operate to best address the challenges that humanity faces today?  Meet Jacque Fresco, a modern day futurist that many compare to the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci.  Currently the age of 95, he has been living an accomplished life as a self-taught inventor, industrial designer, and social engineer.  Applying a creative, scientific, and multidisciplinary approach to humanity's problems, Jacque has been imagining the future through technical solutions.  In a phone interview, I was able to meet Jacque and his partner, Roxanne Meadows, in order to gain insight into the future's wondrous possibilities.

A Dynamic World

          The world is changing quickly.  Science and technology continually increase what is possible, and many observe that the rate of change is increasing.  At the same time, social organization has not changed fast enough to adapt to humanity's modern problems. Today's political and economic systems are becoming obsolete and are causing avoidable waste and suffering.  The constant state of war is unnecessary and wastes unfathomable quantities of human lives and valuable resources.  Also, the earth's natural capital goods and services are facing increasing pressure as a result of record population, consumption, and waste. This situation necessitates actually designing society and its infrastructure comprehensively rather than allowing inferior constructions to continue unquestioned because of historical conditioning.  Modern technology can offer solutions far beyond what most people imagine.

The limitations and opportunities of the future are dependent on the perspectives that people hold. As Jacque explained it to me, "if any baby were brought up in Nazi Germany, and never saw anything else, they'd be a Nazi. I believe that environment shapes people's behavior.  All the values, facial expressions, emphasis on words, learned actions, etc. are all ideas from our movies, books, and role models."  Just as one's native language is a product of the area in which they were raised, today's society, its institutions, and its infrastructure also affect understanding of what the world is and what it can become.  The great challenge is to understand this frame of reference, then go beyond it, and actually imagine better frames that are unhindered from the past.

The Venus Project

          If you could clearly remove all of your biases about the way things have been, what sort of world would you want to create? Jacque has been practicing this exercise for roughly 90 years.  He has been doing so not as an armchair philosopher; rather, he has been learning through experiments and testing new alternative hypotheses.  Fresco believes that in order to create a peaceful and prosperous world, you must declare all the world’s resources as a common heritage of all of humanity.  The current inequality between individuals and countries will continue to breed war after war.  This is a long term transition into an entirely new social system of the future. Eventually, Jacque says, the current monetary system will be replaced by a resource based economy.  In this paradigm, human and natural resources can be better utilized to address the problems facing humanity, such as how to obtain energy sustainably or how to build better cities, instead of building stronger weapons to fight for control over scarce resources.  We no longer have to live in a world of scarcity. For decades, Jacque has argued that geothermal energy is a viable source of clean energy that will last thousands of years.

The cities of today have grown into what they are through a history of shortsightedness and insufficient technology.  These cities have unending problems such as crumbling infrastructure, urban sprawl, and inefficient transportation. Rather than allowing key infrastructure such as energy, water, and public transportation systems to be formed haphazardly, Jacque calls for their design to be a creative, scientific, and conscious process.  This alternative is comprehensive in its planning.  The city is regarded as a whole system, with interrelating internal parts and external environments. The circular city pictured here is one of thousands that Jacque has engineered.  The layout uses public transportation that goes around the city and extends in radii from the city center outwards to the government buildings, business centers, and housing areas.  On the outskirts, housing gives way to recreational areas and agricultural lands.  Many buildings can be made efficiently through being prefabricated and transported on site.

In Venus, Florida, Jacque and Roxanne have created functional prototypes of some of their designs.  They have made clean, high-tech, and aesthetically pleasing buildings that work in harmony with nature.  Of their many designs, many incorporate a dome shape.  The purpose of this is to maximize internal space relative to the amount of materials used.  The dome is also highly resistant to outside forces, such as hurricane winds or earthquakes.  The Venus Project facilitates research and development efforts as well as acting as a showcase center for spreading the ideas and designs of tomorrow.  Their database of like-minded scientists, engineers, and designers acts as a broad technical network to increase cross-discipline communication and help to advance their cause.

“Just as the middle class of today lives better than kings of the past,” Jacque explains, “we believe the wealthiest people today would do better in the resource based economy of the future.”   It will take the adoption of a new mindset in order to bring about the technological and social innovations that Jacque and Roxanne have discussed with me.  Already, Jacque has been the subject of an award winning documentary, “Future by Design” by William Gazecki.  Now they seek to make a major motion picture in order to bring the opportunities of the Venus Project into the minds of mainstream audiences.   Through increasing awareness about the future’s great possibilities, limiting world views can be replaced with a spirit of innovation and collaboration in shaping a world in which everyone would want to live.

To learn more, visit TheVenusProject.com

Project C.U.R.E and Rio Tinto Partner to Support Mongolia

It was a great day in Denver, but it was an even better day for the people in Mongolia. Thousands of miles away from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, in a ballroom in downtown Denver, 1,800 people came to support and provide hope to a population of people they will probably never meet.

In its seventh-annual fundraiser to increase awareness of global healthcare needs and support, Project C.U.R.E. hosted the First Lady of Mongolia, Mrs. Bolormaa Khajidsuren, to raise $3 million in medical supplies and equipment for the countries hospitals and clinics. “It is about unity and cooperation to achieve great goals and I believe that is what we are doing here,” said Khajidsuren.

And unified they were. In addition to Project C.U.R.E.’s partnership with the Mongolian government and its leaders, Rio Tinto, an international mining company, provided the underwriting sponsorship for the entire luncheon to ensure all of the money raised by attendees would go directly to the Mongolian aid effort. The corporate donation was a huge show of support to the citizens of Mongolia and Project C.U.R.E. who was able to concentrate its fundraising efforts solely towards medical relief.

“Project C.U.R.E.’s work to meet the world’s and Mongolia’s healthcare needs is consistent with Rio Tinto’s commitment to create sustainable benefits in the global communities where we live and work,” said Cameron McRae Rio Tinto Country Director in Mongolia and Oyu Tolgoi copper-mine CEO.

Rio Tinto’s, Oyu Tolgoi open-pit and underground gold-copper ore mining project is located in the Gobi Desert of southern Mongolia. The company estimates that the mine revenue will make up about one-third of Mongolia’s economy by 2020 helping to increase transportation, construction, retail and wholesale trade as well as manufacturing infrastructure.

“Rio Tinto’s support and community outreach initiatives matched perfectly with our goals. It only seemed right to work with them,” said Dr. Douglas Jackson, president and CEO of Project C.U.R.E., “If the people of Mongolia aren’t healthy they can’t achieve success. I want to see them be successful.”

Her Excellency, Mrs Bolormaa expressed her gratitude to both Rio Tinto and Project C.U.R.E. for their generous monetary and in-kind support. But it was Project C.U.R.E.’s founder Dr. James Jackson and his wife who she thanked for their tireless work and years of support for Mrs. Bolormaa's country and communities. “Mongolia needs support for its social settings including and mainly in its healthcare sector,” said Bolormaa, “The donations will be mainly spent on addressing medical and health needs in rural Mongolia, I would like to extend my earnest gratitude to Project C.U.R.E. and Rio Tinto for this support.”

Jimmy Wales dances in the rain

Many know Jimmy Wales as the founder of Wikipedia and Wikia.com. However, did you also know he likes (or is rather willing) to dance (walk) in the rain in the streets of New York? Rain- buckets of it and no end anytime soon.  I quickly jumped in the cab the concierge grabbed for me.  So much for my outdoor photo shoot with internet entrepreneur and humanitarian Jimmy Wales.  Fearing the worst I called the Marriott in Times Square and made last minute arrangements for an indoor shoot and interview (we were supposed to do it in Times Square).

Anyways, I arrived at the building Jimmy asked me to meet him at.  We shook hands and walked outside to flag another cab.  And stood.  And stood some more.  We tried to make small talk but both of us were frustrated with the rainy day.  Myself more than Jimmy.  I could see my interview falling apart and began thinking the worst.  Here I am in NYC after flying in from Denver just for this meeting and now I was going to miss out on it.

Then, out of nowhere, Jimmy said, "Wanna just walk?"  We were a mile away mind you and it was raining pretty hard.  I said, "I'm game Jimmy if you are."  We began our walk, and wound up at the hotel wet, cold, and tired.

After a photo shoot with our photographer Andrew, we grabbed some coffee and sat down for the interview.  His eyes lit up as he told me his story and his vision of the future of his organizations.  I could tell he'd told this story many times before but his explanations dripped with enthusiasm and hope as he talked of his plans to change our world in a massive global collaboration involving wiki's.

Now, I'm not going to give away the details just yet.  How he's shaking things up with Wikipedia and how www.Wikia.com is exploding on the scene and creating all kinds of opportunities for fan based community and advertisers.

You'll have to wait for the article and video for that.

The point I wanted to make is that I saw a man who despite being one of the most influential people on this planet, decided to walk with me.  Who took time out of his day and personal comfort to accomodate me, someone he'd never met before, and up to that point had all correspondence handled through his amazingly organized assistant.

You don't find a lot of that anymore.  If the roles were reversed I can't say I would have done the same.  I may have just rescheduled but I guess that's the difference between us.

You've taught me a valuable lesson Jimmy Wales and caused me to reflect on the way I treat others.  I hope I can capture your story and help your cause with Wikipedia and Wikia.

More soon......

For all you Jimmy Wales fans- I've tagged a few of you in this story.

Additional Suggested Articles:

Wikipedia Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikia Create a wiki about your favorite topic and begin collaborating with people who love what you love.

“	"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge." - Jimmy Wales, founder, Wikipedia
	NOW Marketing Group September 12, 2011

“	"Free access to all human knowledge. Some called it impossible,i called it wikipedia."Jimmy Wales, Founder of wikipedia.
	Rezanades Muhammad Ilham Bintang September 9, 2011

“	Call Jimmy Wales an idealist, if you'd like. The very thought that humanity would come together and write an accurate encyclopedia on just about any subject you could think of takes ...
	Majid Baran September 12, 2011

“	Watching Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia) at the Exact Target conference... Pretty cool!
	Scott Sawicki September 13, 2011

“	Most people assume the fights are going to be the left versus the right, but it always is the reasonable versus the jerks.Jimmy Wales
	Bello Saeed September 4, 2011

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The Prezi revolution and imminent death of Powerpoint.

Prezi the most thought out advancement in presentation software in years has taken the presentation community by storm.

Powerpoint, the very word instantly brings thoughts of boredom and despair.  Boredeom because I immediately know I'm going to mentally check out.  Despair because a Powerpoint usually means I have to be present for this "revealing" of information.

Ok, for those of us who try to make them fun (some are better than others) I'll give you a break.  However, why are we trying to make them fun?  Because most of us would rather be on the clean up crew after Mardi Gras rather than try to engage with a boring, linear tool called Powerpoint.

There is hope however.  Allow me to introduce you to the wonderful world of Prezi.com.  The cooler and hipper tool for getting the non linear nerve synapsis called information that resides in your brain into the brains of your viewers.

Don't just take my word for it though.  Look at these tweets from people who are using and loving the Prez----

http://twitter.com/NathanDRice/status/93351294277914624

http://twitter.com/TechInteginEd/status/93354876754591746

http://twitter.com/christophervik/status/93326674854281216

http://twitter.com/kaqi/status/93328253791633409

http://twitter.com/jocsdilag/status/93329810834735104

http://twitter.com/rabie3h/status/93330496238522369

http://twitter.com/April_mucareers/status/93333931671302144

http://twitter.com/MsYessyArlyn/status/93359205939019777

With all the buzz where is the beef?  To put it simply, Prezi allows you to add text, images, videos, and more into a canvas.  The unique feature is the zooming capability.  It allows you to see the big picture but to zoom in on details to see how critical pieces of information interconnect.  It is a wholistic approach that is combines the left and right lobes for bihemispherical integration.

You can expect a unique and engaging learning experience.  It'll be interesting to see how the creative juices flow as this tool evolves.

Prezi- you have my vote.  Keep up the good work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxhqD0hNx4Q

Agloves

 

Agloves® is a patent-pending winter touchscreen glove company based in Boulder, Colorado which currently employs seven streamlined employees.  The remarkable founders are Jean and Jennifer Spencer.  Together they developed gloves with a silver (Ag) element which is a conductor for the bio-electricity that comes from ones fingers which is needed to activate a touch screen.  The origin of Agloves derives from the element symbol for silver―Ag, (Agloves).

Through connecting with the technology industry such as the Boulder Open Coffee Club, Agloves launched within months and by the second month of business were selling Agloves internationally.  Jean Spencer attributes four elements to success; 1. Analyze the market beyond the obvious demographic, 2. Establish who is going to pay for it, 3. Consider manufacturing locations, 4. Utilize social media such as LinkedIn to find industry peers and ask for best practices.  International business comes with challenges such as customs, duties, and exporting.  One essential to customer care is considering the most efficient method to ship product to customer.  In researching for a method Agloves found that having multiple manufacturers and warehouses internationally has value.

IFA, Consumer Electronics Unlimited hosts the world’s largest trade show for consumer electronics and the results from Agloves attendance is that it opened up 11 countries to sell in.  Agloves also partners with the U.S. Air force, and the U.S. Army to provide Agloves to all solders.

An important social media element is Twitter since 6% of sales generate from that effort.  Agloves shared social media guidelines they follow; 1. Be human on the web, share things that are of interest, funny and respond to questions, 2. Learn to use Twitter, and 3. Be photo happy.

Agloves goals are to; 1. Build buzz, 2. Establish the brand, and 3. Expand to niche markets.

Related articles

• How to Get More Twitter Followers (sweetbusiness.org)
• Silver Gloves Said to Ease Cold-weather Touchscreen Use (pcworld.com)

ICOSA is transforming collaboration.

Kim DeCoste is vice president and editor-at-large for ICOSA where she manages the media team, and contributed to editorial planning for the magazine and a book on connections + collaboration. A few of her articles are “The Evolution of E-Learning,” “A Win-Win: Kroenke Sports Enterprises Does Great Work for Kids & Education,” “Living the Mission: Private STEM Solutions & Public Education,” “Authentic Leadership is Gender Neutral” and “Closing the Education Gap.”

ICOSA is thought of as organic―focused on developing collaboration and taking it to the next level which is transformation.  The method ICOSA uses can conceptually be adopted to fit into high schools but specifically higher education.  To be a doer one needs to learn to walk with others, and identify goals and meeting those goals in a manageable way.  ICOSA would like to work with higher education in providing students with collaborative methods.

Amazon is an example of a company who has successfully transformed.  Amazon.com launched its marketplace in 2002 selling books, music, videos and DVS’s and now has since developed the Amazon Kindle e-book reader and sells just about any product globally.

The difficult areas of collaboration are blending the different view of what success looks like and keeping people together and focused on the mission.

“Entrepreneurs are Change Agents of the World,” Dr. James W. Jackson―founder of Project C.U.R.E, award-winning author and humanitarian.

 

A business of goodness has made Dr. Jackson a fortunate man.  He has spent the last 25 years traveling to 150 countries.  Dr. Jackson explains that he was “stuck on stupid” meaning addicted to accumulation.  Now, Dr. James W. Jackson says, “I’m such a lucky guy,” since Project C.U.R.E. has 150,000 volunteers and sends medical supplies to 123 countries.  To change from being a taker to a giver follow these insightful principles; 1.What is horded is lost, 2.Giving multiplies and, 3.Doing more to accumulate will not equal happiness.  Dr. Jackson advises to be sustainable in humanitarian efforts organizations must use best business practices.  And in doing so, Project C.U.R.E is successful.

Collaboration is defined by Dr. Jackson with principles found in his book,

“The Happiest Man in the World: Life Lessons from a Cultural Economist.” Two such principles are everyone in the deal needs to be better off, and utilize your leverage to make each other better off.  Dr. Jackson advises to be sustainable in humanitarian efforts organizations must use best business practices.

What is the secret to happiness?  According to Dr. Jackson it’s letting go to the addiction of accumulation. And, how you reconcile the consequences of your actions determines your level of happiness.

To purchase Dr. James W. Jackson’s book, visit: www.winstoncrown.com

Getting involved is simple, visit: www.projectcure.org.

Related articles

• Making Medical Donations Work (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)

Camp Bow Wow―Where a dog can be a dog®

 

Founder, president and CEO of Camp Bow Wow, Heidi Ganahl owns the largest pet care as well as women owned franchise in North America. Camp Bow Wow―the largest global doggy day care company, and a $50 million leader in the $47 billion United States pet sector now has 115 camps, one Canada camp, 25 home buddies, and 30 behavior buddies franchises.  Interest in potential franchisees grew after being featured on America Online. Camp Bow Wow’s future is growth with a goal of 500 units in the next four years, then international growth to Australia and the United Kingdom.

Ganahl financed Camp Bow Wow herself by putting her own equity and credit into Camp Bow Wow, which is never recommended but she knew the franchise business concept was best for her and her passion since she enjoyed growth, public relations and marketing, and charity.

She created the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, a nonprofit organizationdedicated to improving

the lives and health of dogs.  Her greatest accomplishment is being at the forefront of a collaboration that has found homes for 5,000+ dogs.  Ganahl advices to, follow your gut, collaborate, and don’t listen to the nay-sayers when following your passion.

For more information, visit: www.bowwowbuddies.com

Related articles

• Need Doggy Day Care? Better Get Those Interview Skills Ready (newsfeed.time.com)