Sb Boot Camp Program

Sustainable Life Media presents...

Boot Camp A 13 week online seminar series designed to teach participants to “Observe, Design, Measure, and Communicate” as a process for building a successful sustainable brand. Participants will learn from some of the world’s top sustainable business consultants, each a leading sustainable business expert in his/her specialty. In just 90 minutes per week, over just one business quarter, you and your teams can gain a solid grounding in the core disciplines needed for moving successfully in to the new age of sustainable business. This course is available live and on-demand.

Session 1:

Introduction to Opportunities in Sustainable Innovation Gil Friend - President/CEO, Natural Logic

What are the factors and opportunities available in sustainable innovation? Renowned sustainability advisor and author of “The Truth About Green Business”, Gil Friend will lead this session with case studies and examples of how businesses are realizing ROI with sustainable innovation initiatives, in addition to the requisite vocabulary and process steps you’ll need to see execution through.

Session 2:

Innovation Opportunities in Response to Today’s Environmental Hot Buttons: Climate Change, Water & Waste Will Sarni - President/CEO, Domani Consulting While sustainable innovation opportunities are numerous, none are more important in the coming years than those addressing carbon footprints, water, and waste. Join Will Sarni as he highlights examples of how companies and communities in a variety of sectors are tackling these three issues head on through initiatives and long term projects designed to measure & achieve.

Session 3:

The New Consumer Marketplace Moderated by Maria Suricchio with tentative panelists including: Natural Marketing Institute, Globescan, Hartman, Earthsense Psychographics, audience values, and ethics oh my! While traditional market segmentation has largely been laid to rest, smart marketers and business strategists have been keen to better understand the diverse individuals rising up in our society and the values affecting their opinions and behavior. From moms and millenials to faithbased communities and boomers, Join Maria Surrichio along with panelists from top market research agencies to gain insight into the trends, values, and behaviors these individuals are exhibiting.

Session 4:

Organizational Models for Integrating CSR with Brands Carol Holding - SLM Contributor and Principal, Holding Associates

Bringing in and establishing long-term CSR within your organization can be quite a challenge. A generalized list of social responsibility components can commonly be found in articles and online, but one size definitely does not fit all - especially when we consider the business history, culture, and structural make up. Join Carol in this session as she explores multiple organizational models, helps you understand your business type, and lays out a detailed plan to build CSR as a lasting element of your culture and business strategy.

Session 5:

Building a Balanced Sustainable Brand Strategy Peter Salmon, Principal - President, Moxie Design, LLC

Sustainable business by design requires systemic thinking, indeed. While much can be harnessed by analyzing the past, applying Design Thinking to the sustainable businesses of the future requires exploring mysteries, developing scenarios and models, and continuing to push knowledge through the funnel to establish business models whose processes can be measured, refined, and improved. Join Peter as he’ll bring you a platform called NextPlays that applies solid business strategy combined with Design Thinking, along with numerous case studies to help you develop a future-oriented (and successful) sustainable business.

Session 6:

Sustainable Product Design – An Overview of Prevailing Approaches Nathan Shedroff - Author, “Design is the Problem”; Chair, Design Strategy MBA, CA College of the Arts When it comes to designing sustainable products and services, there are a variety of models and strategies to choose from. Some place a focus on eco-effectiveness, while others may center more on eco-efficiency or social impact. To be a leader in sustainable product/service design, brand managers, innovators, and designers need to be well-versed in the various approaches and strategies available to them. Join Nathan as he brings you deep into 8 quantitative and qualitative frameworks and their strengths & weaknesses; 12 design strategies and case studies thereof; and the best practices for continuous improvement.

Session 7:

Building Collaborative Supply Chain Partnerships Seetha Coleman Kammula - Founder/Principal, Simply Sustain

No business works truly alone. In order to progressively build sustainability into a company, one must develop collaborative partnerships with suppliers, customers, and service firms to identify areas to become more lean, green, and socially responsible. While incremental improvements can be realized through intermittent inquiry, the thorniest and highest value innovations require tightly integrated collaboration and a management position ready to tackle the challenges and abandon protectionist mindsets. All for mutli-stakeholder success. Join Seetha as she’ll take you through multiple case studies and examples of collaboration efforts across industries like plastics, cotton, and furniture among others, while also opening the floor for attendees to share their experiences and ideas.

Session 8:

Transforming Your Company Through Sustainability, and Engaging Your Customers and Employees in the Process Bob Domenz, President/CEO, Avenue & J. Lyell Clarke III, President and CEO, Clarke Continuous improvement and social responsibility is not just for high-paid consultants and “bought-in” employees. Rather, an organizational culture that values bottom-up innovation and an employee ethic aligned with sustainability, will be equipped for better ideas, faster implementation, and increased employee happiness. Join Bob as he’ll take you through practical steps, hurdles to overcome, and strategies made and executed upon to build a culture of sustainability into your organization - Concrete examples provided.

Session 9:

Introduction to Life Cycle Impact Assessment Jeremy Faludi - Associate Professor, Stanford Design School

In order to assess the environmental performance of a product or service, we have to measure the variable impacts that components (and their alternatives) will have. Life Cycle Assessment is the mother-of-all scientific means by which we can evaluate a product’s environmental and social impact over its usable life and beyond. To say performing an LCA is highly challenging would be an understatement; however, viable approaches do exist. Join Jeremy in this session that will illuminate this popular yet complex subject, while providing you with the straight facts and tools you’ll need to intelligently traverse life cycle measurements and apply the best solution for your needs.

Session 10:

Business Metrics: Dashboards, KPI’s and other strategies for Goal Setting and Measurement Paul Herman, Founder/CEO, HIP Investor Playing on Jack Welch’s words, “If it can be measured, it can be managed [and improved]”. And that’s what sustainable business success requires in a continuous interplay: Goal Setting and Measurement. To understand where we are, where we can be, and the costs/benefits realized is the foundation of moving business cases and continued investment - Forward. Join Paul as he’ll provide you with a set of emerging tools, key performance indicators, metrics, and examples of leading-edge information dashboards for monitoring and improving organizations’ environmental and social impact.

Session 11:

Building Credibility/Avoiding Greenwashing Jacquelyn Ottman - Founder, J. Ottman Consulting; Author, “Green Marketing”

In Green Marketing, whether a company wants to overtly communicate its sustainability or do so in a subtle tone, all your ducks have to be lined up, transparent, and credible. Truth is, we’re dealing with the marketing of ethics and if there is a hole somewhere, you’d better be prepared to acknowledge the imperfection and strive to improve. Join Jacquie, long-time industry veteran, in this session as she discusses the various issues, laws, certifications, eco-labels, and communications practices aligned to not only what will be compliant, but also Forward-Thinking, Innovative, and Aligned to your Brand.

Session 12:

Designing Communications that Resonate John Marshall Roberts - Author, “Igniting Inspiration, A Persuasion Manual for Visionaries” How does one create communications that truly strike people head-on, inspiring them with hope, and make them think positively about your brand and the potential within themselves? This is a great question, however to answer it correctly and craft a solution, we have to look far beyond traditional advertising. Brands in a reset world have to look deep within themselves and tie their cultural values that seek to change the world, with communications which connect with customers’ aspirations. Learn with John as he delves into socio-cultural changes afoot, higher-order psychological drivers driving the subconscious, a detailed project plan to establish both meaningful dialogue and outbound communications across multiple channels, and how to keep it all consistent AND sustainable for the long-term vitality of the company.

Session 13:

PR/Social Media and Alternate Community Building Strategies Moderated by Sandy Skees with panelists including Mario Vellandi, SLM Community Manager and more TBA With the advent of new digital communications bringing brands, activists, bloggers, journalists, partners, and customers together, there’s no doubt the disruption in the public relations world has been high. Various forms of social media have exploded into our culture over the past 4 years, while many brands have been slowly catching up or getting lost among the sea of tactics and wondering: Does this pay off? What’s our strategy? What levels of activity are appropriate? Join Sandy, Mario, and others as they’ll help you answer these questions; develop a strategic framework aligned with your goals; understand the various tools and tactics for listening and engaging with audiences through blogs, social networks, twitter; word-of-mouth best practices and legal considerations; the essentials of search engine optimization; and case studies of how companies are using social media to communicate and converse with stakeholders on CSR and sustainability.

We guarantee this is the best introductory course available for executives and managers seeking to understand how to step up to today’s market demands and learn to build business value and brand equity by innovating for sustainability. To learn more about the individual speakers, dates, and to register for this exciting series, please visit: http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/events/online/sbbootcamp