Posts tagged as:

community

To build or not to build a brand community?

05.13.2010
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CV Harquail has stirred the social sustainability pot with a provocative post “3 Reasons why employee engagement is a scam”. In my comment, I opined employee engagement is a scam only if done instrumentally, i.e. if it’s being employed as a tool with an ulterior motive. If employee engagement is an expression of a company’s identity, [...]

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Review: Crowds are us

02.05.2010
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How times change: In the 110 years between the work of Gustave Le Bon (1895) and James Surowiecki (2005), crowds went from embodying stupidity to being wise. Compare and contrast: Le Bon: “In crowds it is stupidity and not mother-wit that is accumulated. [T]he crowd is always intellectually inferior to the isolated individual.” Surowiecki: “[U]nder [...]

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Review: “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community”

11.06.2009

Robert Putnam’s bestseller Bowling Alone needs little introduction, not to mention another review. Yet despite its publication a decade ago, the volume remains highly relevant for thinking about community as the social aspect of sustainability. In the 20th century’s final four decades, the vast majority of civic engagement indicators – political, civic, and religious participation, [...]

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Maximizing the impact of your community involvement through public relations

10.27.2009

I’m co-facilitating today a lunch workshop with this title at the Entrepreneurs Foundation of the Northwest. The event description continues: Come join this round-table discussion about how to make sure your employees, your clients and the public know about the wonderful work you are doing in the community. Learn the best ways you can receive [...]

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Loving your customers means never having to say you’re sorry

10.03.2009

One afternoon last week I arrived for a meeting at The Funky Door Cafe in Southeast Portland to be greeted by a notice on the door: “We’ll be closing at 2 pm today. Sorry for the inconvenience.” No big deal: there’s another coffee shop a few blocks up the road (a Starbucks nonetheless). Still, the [...]

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The five Ws of buying local, Part 2

09.24.2009

The why and where are the trickier parts of buying local, though the conundrum doesn’t end there. WHO should buy local? You, of course. You and your wallet have control over the success of local. Because of all the advantages of buying local, your purchases benefit you and your community. You buy local because you [...]

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The five Ws of buying local, Part 1

09.21.2009

In their last Business News update, Rivermark Community Credit Union encourages me to consider how my purchases support local businesses and to buy local. Of course, buying local features prominently in sustainable marketing, so my credit union calling to buy local got me thinking. Why is buying local good? Just what is local? Are there [...]

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