It’s been exactly two years since we launched dotherightthing.com to connect people with the companies they care about. This time has gone by quickly but looking back now it was all part of the journey that made this latest re-launch possible. Once again I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by extremely talented people most of whom went above and beyond to make the impossible possible… isn’t that always the case? (particularly Loren Baxter, Ryan Daigle, Ryan Mickle, Carsten Lindstedt, Peyman Pakzad, Robert Hoekman Jr., Jarkko Laine, all our clients and partners, and support from the original dotherightthing.com community)

Here are some key “notes to self” I discovered personally and professionally the last two years, I will undoubtedly refer to and stay mindful of these going forward:

1. Passion and momentum are the only requirements – when the unknowns mount and things get out of hand (which is standard for most entrepreneurial endeavors) it is key to continually communicate passion for what you are trying to solve or deliver and encourage the same from those around you, this builds the momentum required to stay motivated and stay in motion; it’s not enough to set goals, product requirements, and agendas (although these are important) but rather to keep telling yourself and the world around you what you are driving toward regardless of the perceived risks at the time
2. Help others take on new responsibilities and be true to your own – when taking on an audacious project it’s important to let those around you step up and be accountable for things outside their comfort zones, of course you should do the same but always stay accountable and get it done, experiment and draw outside the lines but always find a way to deliver
3. When you think it’s easy enough make it easier – creating good products is about solving real-world problems in innovative and elegant ways. The original dotherightthing.com for example was innovative but intimidating for companies and the community at large… the expectations were tough to overcome for most people, making it difficult to get started let alone get engaged; stripping everything to the core components not only ensures a solid user experience but it can also be very empowering and the more empowering it is the more engaging it will be (twitter is a good example of simple yet empowering)
4. Stay lean but not mean – stay lean but, more importantly, stay compassionate; things will likely unfold naturally and there will be many tough decisions that need to be made but do this without being shrewd or losing focus
5. Cultivate patience and persistence, it’s best done together – things will never get done fast enough but staying persistent ensures that things will happen and there will be movement toward the objectives, don’t sweat the small stuff but push on and remember it’s all small stuff (from this great book)
6. Engage the world openly and transparently – in many ways this is what dotherightthing.com is all about, transparent and genuine discussions with the companies/organizations you care about

New changes that are worth noting:

1. more empowerment with less of that activist edge – dotherightthing.com now focuses on what can and should be done, not on the good or bad; this new focus creates an environment that encourages action from the community and participation from companies/organizations; the flower metaphor helps visualize this
2. the community can engage directly – we’ve added a basic follow feature that allows community members to follow the activities of others (thanks Robert; there is also mention of it in his new book)
3. smart email notifications – you will now be notified of activities on the site through email notifications that are delivered more or less frequently based on your clicks and interest, you can disable these anytime but we think you will find them useful
4. new extra usable and sexy design – as always we did a good deal of research, prototyping, and design to ensure that this latest release is both functional and extra sexy

We look forward to implementing your ideas too. Please don’t hesitate to post them here. We would like to empower the community to help shape dotherightthing.com’s future. What do you think?

Go post an idea!

This comes as no surprise for those who have followed the Obama campaign with its “appropriate” use of Internet and mobile technologies throughout. The thinking behind each of these efforts has always been “appropriate” (IMHO) and not a hasty combination of buzzword “web 2.0″ and mobile tools but efforts with an objective well suited for the use of that particular tool or technology. It is apparent that serious thought has gone into how best to leverage new tools and technologies, in a similar way to what psychologists, HCI and user-centered design professionals refer to as “affordances“, instead of trying to bring together all the latest trends without consideration of the underlying purpose and overall usefulness to accomplish the task at hand. The Obama “social network” (if you can call it that) for example was used to mobilize both young and old to support local (and distant) campaign and fund raising efforts not to connect people around their interests or create a social platform like Facebook or MySpace. Undoubtedly, mistakes will be made by our new administration in leveraging new tools and technologies in the future but the foundations for the thinking behind this latest announcement is very promising.

But what strikes me about this latest announcement in particular is the promise to highlight participation. According to the post, the President and his administration “will publish all non-emergency legislation” to allow the American people time to review and comment before the President signs anything.

I have signed up for updates (in hopes they don’t become as excessive as they once were during the campaign) and I encourage others to do the same and, more importantly, try to actively engage with what might be the best new media experiment of our time.

For the first time ever I feel a government, the largest and most powerful of its kind no doubt, is innovating faster and more effectively than most modern businesses. Why are companies and other organizations still fearful of this kind of communication, transparency and participation? What do you think?

Fortunately, by maintaining their relevance, they quickly blew by their competitors. It’s the best way to build trusting relationships with your users (or anyone else).

I hope I can continue to stay relevant. It’s definitely a high priority

What made this experience different was the personal touch and authenticity of the owner Phill (who some believe to be a “local legend” of sorts) and the caring staff. Each cup is brewed individually just for you. The owner interacts with customers whenever possible and was even drinking his own custom brew while I was there. It is amazing how such human subtleties make a world of difference. I even overheard a kid say to Phill “my mom came here and said it was the best coffee she had ever had.” Truly priceless.

While at Phillz Coffee, I felt like I was a part of something. I wasn’t just another customer.

This experience (of which I hope to have more of) got me thinking about how businesses could replicate this in the online world. Yes; blogs, myspace pages and other personal online publishing tools are bringing personal and meaningful relationships to the virtual world but so much more is possible. As we already know, things are headed in a different direction entirely. The future is not in “selfish” publishing but “self-less”, co-created and relevant publishing. Including me (as employee, consumer or partner) is the most powerful and meaningful way a company can connect with me.

Consumerism and mass media aren’t dead. They are just evolving really fast. Thanks “facetube”.

Have you co-created something you believe in online recently?

Related posts:

why transparency = social responsibility
disruptive innovations will drive “real good”

As an example, Ryan recently posted a great critical analysis of Timberland’s efforts to communicate their social responsibility and sustainability values. In short, communications about social responsibility and sustainability require engagement through meaningful conversations not traditional marketing. For companies, big and small, there is a lot to consider and learn from the tremendous success of online platforms used in this year’s election. As a subscriber to a number of these political communities, I have to admit that Barack’s use of this new style of communications is the most personal, transparent and meaningful. In fact, TechCrunch recently named Barack the most tech-enlightened Democratic candidate. Barack’s ability to authentically extend his leadership online to mobilize millions is nothing short of awesome. How would your company or organization leverage this kind of direct access to people?

Regardless of who we end up voting into office, companies should take note on how these new communications platforms are used beyond the election to forge personal and meaningful relationships with a variety of stakeholders. I can’t wait.

For more, check out their very candid blog post entitled “The Next Stage of Growth – An Honest Deal“ by Honest Tea co-founders Seth and Barry. Kudos to the Honest Tea team for structuring such a creative deal and I look forward to hearing how things work out after all is said and done.

Illustration by Ian Whadcock

The January 2008 report confirms that we are in the midst of a new and prosperous economic landscape. This rapidly changing competitive landscape requires that companies and business leaders take innovation and social responsibility more seriously than ever.

The Economist report also claims to have (with much regret apparently) totally dismissed its previous opinion that CSR is just a fad. Claiming instead that “CSR has arrived” with results from a recent survey indicating that 96% of people recognize CSR to be important (only 4% of respondents believed CSR was “a waste of time and money”). The stakes are just too high to ignore. Consumers, job seekers, employees, investors and even potential suppliers believe in corporate social responsibility.

In a surprising omission however, The Economist fails to give enough credit to those who are already building businesses using non-traditional and innovative approaches to do “real good”. Companies like Seventh Generation and people like Muhammed Yunus of Grameen Bank (who I recently had the pleasure of hearing speak here in San Francisco) for example, have already proven how effective disruptive innovation can be, not only in theory, but in action to make profits while at the same time making a positive social impact. And most recently among them is Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Who is calling for “another level of innovation” in addition to “creative capitalism” to help drive future positive economic and social impact.

Here are 3 disruptions already well on their way:

1. As technologies better support our natural social interactions, traditional marketing and advertising will become less and less effective. The antiquated and impersonal methodologies will be replaced with direct, meaningful communications that aim to create relationships with people (as opposed to just searching for another transaction).
2. The world is flat and the long tail is real. We have the ability to create “real good” more quickly and easily than ever.
3. In addition to an increase in corporate transparency, people are and will continue to become directly involved in the co-creation of products and services. Customers and other stakeholders will actively help the companies they care about succeed.

In a surprising response to news of CEO John Mackey’s recent “less than ideal activities” online, Whole Foods has reacted in a rather extreme way by banning all executive, director and board level team members from engaging in discussions about the company online. This is contrary thinking for a company that is often considered to be a role model for its high standards. Unfortunately, this recent announcement exemplifies the exact opposite. This sets the progressive company back at least 100 years in terms of communication with customers and other stakeholders. If your company’s leaders can’t be trusted to openly and honestly discuss the company, then who should be responsible for this kind of communication? How does this move make sense for a company who wants to maintain lasting, loyal relationships with its most important stakeholders?

I have to say, in a world where information is king and transparency is the new gold standard, I’m not surprised that Mr. Mackey’s activities were discovered. Having engaged with the company not too long ago on dotherightthing, it’s a bit of an extreme reaction on their behalf and sends the wrong message.

All companies make mistakes, the answer isn’t less conversation online but more (a lot more) conversation online.

The former Director of National Marketing at Whole Foods Market has more on this.

I wish them the best of luck here with respect to opening things up in a public way online. It is hard enough to take a company from concept to launch but providing a play-by-play of the process at the same time makes it that much more of a challenge. Reminds me of a recent lecture by the innovative thinker and businessman Ricardo Semler (thanks for the link Ankur). In his talk, Ricardo compares the traditional “ways of doing business” as militaristic and simply out of date. It’s worth checking out either way.

I look forward to their upcoming wiki and wonder if they will double down by opening up their books, equity, compensation and other traditionally confidential “business stuff”. Also, including recordings of their meetings (not just agendas) and some video would be nice too. What do you think?

Please help them out if you’re interested, there is a lot of work ahead but the increased transparency seems to be paying off already.