The filings occurred back in 2006 and 2007 in the early stages of the company when I left my corporate job at Cisco Systems to pursue my dream of entrepreneurship full time.  The marks had been in use for awhile since I had worked on starting the business part time beginning in 2002, but now that I had left corporate life full-time, I felt the investment was needed to secure the naming of the company.  As an entrepreneur, I had often wondered whether investing the time and money into trademarks was worthwhile, well five years later, I couldn’t have asked for a better result.   Here I am standing with the official US Patent and Trademark character, T. Markey:  

Receiving that little “R” in the circle for those three trademarks has been quite satisfying, and it has been a way to also honor my heritage as a Japanese- and Chinese-American by sharing the story of the folding of 1000 Cranes.  For the Japanese, the cranes symbolize that your most desired wish will come true and also honors a young girl, Sadako Sasaki, who with tremendous courage folded the cranes hoping for a cure from the leukemia she contracted ten years after the bombing of Hiroshima.  In the Chinese culture, the crane is the messenger to the gods.

1000 Cranes symbolizes hope, faith, peace and community building and provides an uplifting message to our customers.  It is a globally recognizes phrase thanks to Sadako Sasaki’s legacy, and the brand was something that was important to secure and use.

It was an honor to be selected as one of the exhibitors, and I was humbled to be around such great companies as Hershey’s, Geico, Traveler’s Insurance, UPS and others who have brought such wonderful brands to our life.

I also had an opportunity to meet a living legend when Chubby Checker came to my booth!  He is such a nice man, and has come up with his own line of Chubby Checker snack foods.  Here’s the case where the person is the brand and the products are extensions of himself!  He is such a nice man and very friendly, too.  He has such a way of making people feel very good about themselves.  I am so grateful he took the time to come visit!

Best of all, the kids who came to the booth brought so much joy.  Many of them squealed with delight after folding cranes.  One little girl, Gabbie, from New Jersey, came to my booth both on Friday and Saturday and told me my booth was her favorite.  Her mother, Maggie, had brought her from New Jersey to attend the Expo to educate her daughter on some of the trademarks and brands that surround us everyday.

But in spite of all these great characters and meeting some wonderful people who liked the 1000 Cranes brand, I had yet another treat in store for me!  An aide from Representative James Moran’s office came to the booth to deliver a transcript from the Congressional Record of the 112th Congress.   On October 11, 2011, Representative Moran stood before Congress and declared his support of the National Trademark Expo and listed all the companies who were exhibiting.  1000 Cranes, LLC is now in the history books, literally!

I feel very blessed that 1000 Cranes had the opportunity to be a part of the National Trademark Expo.  I’m trusting that they will invite 1000 Cranes back again next year, and this experience has inspired me to consider other ways to expand the brand.   Who knows, maybe next year or two there will be a 1000 Cranes character walking the halls and bringing smiles to kids faces!

Today’s Blog Action Day topic is Food.

I am a huge fan of Morgan Spurlock, and I had the opportunity to meet him in person while I was at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.  As a documentary film maker, he made huge inroads regarding food with his movie, “Super Size Me.”  For 30 days, he ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald’s.  Whenever anyone at McDonald’s asked him if he would like to “Super Size It,” he had to say “Yes.”  Throughout the film, you see him get larger and larger and by the end he was 24 pounds heavier.  There is a particular scene where his doctor tells him specifically to stop this diet as his health is deteriorating.  More details can be found of his particularly journey on Wikipedia.

What is inspiring about this film is how it raised the awareness of our fast food industry and how ingrained McDonald’s and other fast food chains are to our lives.  There were several moments while I was driving when I thought about whether I should stop at a fast food chain, and fortunately, I had the where with all to wait until I got to my Residence Inn room so I could cook for myself when I got to Alexandria, VA.  It was worth the wait to shop at the local Whole Foods and cook a healthy meal!  It takes work to plan and eat healthfully, but it is worth it in the end.

If you haven’t watched Spurlock’s film, be sure to rent it…it will change your mind about fast food.  Also, take the time to watch the extras.  The experiment with french fries is especially illuminating.

So some questions to ask yourself are:

“What does food meam to me?”

“What choices am I making when it comes to food?”

“Do I intentionally think about what I eat and what it does to my body?”

Medical units typically start a triage system whenever there is a disaster which allows emergency personnel to evaluate people quickly and get help for the people who need it the most. In the case of St. John’s, the triage center was taking place in the parking lot and people were being directed to other neighboring hospitals. St. John’s was completely evacuated for fear of structural damage, and existing patients were moved where needed. Sustainable Strategic Planning and preparation created the environment for the hospital to continue despite the tragedy.

It’s a reminder to us all to remember to protect our important documents and papers as well as electronic media should an incident like this take place in our offices and our homes. Think about what scenarios could take place and prepare for these.  Know where your local food shelters are located should you find yourself in need to go there.

What are you doing to protect your data and files?

What sustainability procedures and processes do you have in place in case of an emergency?

How often do you practice emergency procedures to protect your family and co-workers?

You hear so much about acquisitions taking place in the corporate world to expand into markets, but what about tailoring services to better focus your offerings so that you can provide greater value and streamlining and reducing offerings in order to be more effective?

One of my favorite tools to use in Sustainable Strategic Planning is the Boston Consulting Group Matrix or the BCG Matrix.  Yes, it is a tool that has been around for a long time, and it may be a bit too focused as it only looks exclusively at a market view, but the beauty of this model is that it gives an organization permission to stop continuing efforts that do not help promote the organization.

Most people are familiar with the “Cash Cow” where you have High Market Share and Steady Low Growth.  These are the programs that continue to provide sustainable income for the organization.  “Stars” provide income as well through High Market Share and High Market Growth.  Often these are the new emerging programs and services that are experiencing rapid growth and providing stellar performance.  Programs falling into these two quandrants should continue to be monitored to ensure they are providing continued sustainability for the organization.

The next two quadrants provide an opportunity for organizations to rethink about their services.  The “Question Mark” quadrant of Low Market Share and High Market Growth is the most unstable of the quandrants.  It is imperative to either grow market share to turn it into a Star or inevitably the high market growth will dwindle and the program or service will become a “Dog.”

If a project or program has Low Market Share and Low Market Growth or a “Dog”, it needs to be carefully considered.  The organization needs to decide whether it wants to subsidize and continue to support this  program knowing it is a drain on resources for low market share and low market growth, or is it best to find another home for the dog?   This model gives organizations permission to stop continuing programs that do not provide continued sustainable benefit to the organization and look for ways to partner with other organizations who may be able to better serve customers who are currently in dog programs.

Have you considered mapping out your programs into a model such as this one?

Why is your organization continuing to support programs that do not help it to become sustainable?

What would you consider doing with a program that you identify as a “dog”?

One of the key things that changed was our view of crisis management and travel in the workplace at at home.  We now analyze data more thoroughly and look for solutions to keep the organization thriving.  Sustainable strategic planning became a necessity as we look at ways to ensure that organizations are prepared for crisis situations. We review succession plans to ensure that the organization can continue to thrive when leadership changes may take place at a moment’s notice. We look at ways the organization can continue to sustain itself with offsite resources in case of disasters. Whether it is a tragedy such as the 9/11 attacks or a natural disaster as we’ve seen with the recent tornadoes in the South, organizations in the last decade have become more prepared. It’s unfortunate that a tragedy brought this to light to so many organizations, but it’s a reality we must all face. It always pays to be prepared.

What has the Osama bin Laden death meant to you and your organization regarding sustainable strategic planning?

What action plans do you have in place to ensure your organization has a strong succession plan in case of a crisis?

Do you have a strong support system in place to support your employees and staff to ensure you can move forward?

Christopher Gergen of Bull City Forward

Yesterday evening, I attended the one year anniversary celebration of Bull City Forward, a non-profit in Durham that was created to foster the development of social enterprises.   Many leaders in the Durham social enterprise scene were there including Social Enterprise Network of the Triangle members, Jeff Stern from TROSA, Ann Woodward from the Scrap Exchange, Chris Carmody from Green Plus, and Matt Nash from the Center for the Advancement of Social Enterprise at Duke.   I had a chance to quickly chat with Bull City Forward  Executive Director, Christopher Gergen, and his enthusiasm and passion are clearly a force with the organization. He has a vision to see North Carolina as a hub of social enterprise activity throughout the State, and he’s already working with Charlotte to begin the Queen City Forward organization.  I have no doubt he’ll be working to build a statewide organization in the years to come.

He unveiled a poster at the event which revealed his sustainable strategic plan from the inception through 2012, so essentially it was a three year sustainable strategic plan in one page!  I told him I was planning to share that concept with my students at an upcoming Duke class especially since many students are intimidated by the idea of a sustainable strategic plan being 20-30 pages in length.   I enjoy networking with these socially minded entrepreneurs and working toward integrating their innovative ideas into the 1000 Cranes’ practices.

Stay tuned for more innovations to come!

What innovative ways do you look at creating social entrepreneurship in your community?

Have you considered distilling down your sustainable strategic plan into one page?

How do you share your vision with others and how do you celebrate your success?

What impressed me the most about the couple was their decision to create a charitable fund where people can direct donations to twenty six charities in lieu of wedding gifts.  The donations are separated into five categories which are:

- Changing Lives Through Arts and Sport;
- Children Fulfilling Their Potential;
- Help and Care at Home;
- Support for Service Personnel and Their Families and
- Conservation for Future Generations

The charities cover a wide range of areas.  And this was a perfect gesture for a couple who embraces the philosophy of sustainability.  When a couple like this clearly has financial stability, giving back to general social and environmental returns is a perfect way to celebrate a new life together. What spoke to me on the social side was the couple’s choice of charities such as the post traumatic stress organization called “Combat Stress.”

On the environmental side, the couple gave a nice touch by chosing trees as decorative elements in Westminster Abbey rather than traditional flowers that are not renewable.   Several of the charities supported by the fund also support animal organizations in an attempt to rescue endangered animals such as elephants, black rhinos and tigers.

If the couple had decided to make a truly sustainable wedding, with all the fuss over the wedding dress, it would have been a nice touch if the wedding dress was made from recycled materials such as organic cotton, hemp or bamboo.  Overall, the event was a spectacle that also showcased sustainable options for a wedding.

Overall, the royal couple did a fantastic job of demonstrating ways to give back socially and respect the environment through their actions.  Congratulations!

Have you considered a “green wedding” as an option?

Are there simple ways you can look at events to make them sustainable?

What impact are you making with your personal social events?

The crisis in Japan has shown us that even with contingency planning on multiple levels, there wasn’t a sustainability plan.  In other words, how would the community be sustainable should the nuclear power plant become inoperable either through an act of God or an act by a human.  With contingency planning, TEPCO had placed a tsunami wall and multiple generators onsite.  These in and of themselves in normal circumstances would have solved the problem of numerous scenarios.  What the company failed to do was plan for a catastrophic failure of all systems or in other words, the possibility of a complete shut down of the plant.  Whether it would have come as it did from a natural disaster, a potential terrorist attempt or a mandate from the government to shut the plant down (as they have now done in Germany), it doesn’t appear that the company considered what impact would take place with a complete shutdown of the plant.

Recent tornadoes that have hit North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas show just how vulnerable we all are to the whims of mother nature.  Many people lost their lives because they had not been prepared for a worst case scenario, and we can all learn that taking the time to plan may be the best time spent to ensure the safety of yourself and others.

What are you doing to plan for the worst case scenario?

Have you thought about succession planning should something happen at your work or with your family?

Where would you go in a time of crisis and how would you get there?

1) Provide your staff with two containers for every workspace. One for trash and one for recycling. If you want to take it a step further, provide multiple bins so that employees can separate recycled items based on type.
2) Review your policies that require paper and look at ways to convert these to online practices. For example, do you use paper purchase orders and paper invoices when working with vendors and clients? Is there a way to implement a system to use PDF forms as a way to reduce the paperwork?
3) Encourage employees to carpool to work and provide incentives for those who do. At the Environmental Protection Agency, special parking places are available for workers who carpool to the office. The government has provided a tax incentive for people purchasing hybrid vehicles, consider whether providing special parking places for hybrid vehicles as an option to encourage reducing our carbon footprint.
4) Provide easy links on your website to organizations that offset carbon usage. One example is the nonprofit, LiveNeutral.org.
5) Provide refillable water bottles to your employees and encourage them to use water coolers to refill them. If you are providing bottled water in a refrigerator, consider changing this policy to this more environmentally friendly way to support your employees.

Environmental Sustainability can be easily encouraged through these simple steps. Consider choosing one of the above suggestions to start. You’ll be surprised at how your employees react to simple suggestion for a better working environment.

What steps are you taking now at your organization to encourage environmental sustainability?

Would you consider purchasing a hybrid vehicle for yourself or your company if there were incentives to do so?

What guidelines do you currently provide your employees to consider environmental impacts of their actions?

When consulting with clients, 1000 Cranes reviews the aspects of Sustainable Strategic Planning where the financial returns on investment are critical, but also consideration MUST be given to social and environmental returns as well all in a framework of high ethical standards. As we all see in retrospect with the BP Oil Spill, when decisions are made exclusively on financial returns, the negative social and environmental impacts are amplified. Much of this could have been prevented had BP and Transocean considered some of these other key aspects of their planning process.

Chip and Dan Heath mention in their book, “Switch:  How to Change Things when Change is Hard,” about the strategic vision of BP at the time was “No Dry Holes.” In other words, the decision to drill in any location was primarily focused on the likelihood of whether oil would be found. Every drill attempt should result in finding oil.  This new vision improved their probability and influenced BP’s decision making. Unfortunately, this one dimensional thinking proved to be a huge error on BP’s part. Of course, the company “struck the mother lode” when they first discovered the Macondo Prospect Oil Field, but it should have considered the warning signs of the initial pressure gauges and seen that this initial drilling would have problems. Executives were too focused on the financial bottom line, thrilled at the prospect of a huge reserve that had been largely untapped.  Unfortunately, the social and environmental impacts were not considered. Regretfully, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and it’s clear that more precautions should have been taken prior to the decisions that were made to speed up the drilling process.

Sustainable Strategic Planning should:
1) Review the financial returns of decisions
2) Analyze the social returns and impacts of decisions
3) Consider the environmental impacts of decisions
4) Maintain the utmost in ethical standards

This anniversary is a good time to reflect on the mistakes of BP and Transocean.  Let us learn from their mistakes and consider ways where we can incorporate multi-layer thinking into the sustainable strategic planning process.

What decisions have you made as an organization that should have considered other aspects of the sustainable strategic planning model?

What can be done in your organization to increase your awareness of all aspects of strategic planning prior to initiating a vision?

Have you considered reviewing the social and environmental impacts of decisions prior to the financial returns to ensure they are addressed?