Growth for growth’s sake? Come on, fire up that creaky imagination…

It’s been a long week so you’re not going to any original thinking out of me tonight… But here’s a nugget from Paul Hawken (who wrote Blessed Unrest) via Outside magazine to tide you over:

“Our best thinking got us here, and part of that is our addiction to growth. We do need to grow, the question is, Grow what? When we’re adults, no one wants to grow physically, but we do want our wisdom, our understanding, our compassion to grow. Those same things are true of the economy. We do need to grow - we need to reimagine mobility, we need to reimagine our agriculture, we need to reimagine our cities, we need to reimagine our buildings as systems. Do we need to grow our Starbucks? No.” [my bolding]

Happy Friday. And don’t forget to take a photo for our nascent flickr pool if you see a “Responsible? Brand” in action this weekend!

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Photo credit: Oliver S. [taken @ recent art fair in NYC... artist's name is?]

Cutting through the clutter with a powerful Executive Summary

Entrepreneurs in today’s market should aim for the highest possible hit-rate when seeking to connect to with customers, partners, media, investors, etc. to avoid drowning in all the noise.

This ups the ante on effective digital packaging and communication. Introductory e-mails matter. Websites matter. Linked In profiles matter. Blogs matter… Having a powerful hook matters!

Successful entrepreneurs know this and have an uncanny ability to get people’s attention when it counts.

Even so, one place many entrepreneurs routinely fall short is the now ambiguous “executive summary”, an overused term which, like “vision” and “mission statement”, don’t mean much no more.

IBC launches “Responsible? Brands” group on Flickr

So we took Rauschenberg’s advice to heart and kicked off a little experiment this afternoon.

It’s called “Responsible? Brands” and it’s a still-very-embryonic-photo-group on Flickr. The welcome message reads:

“Thanks for stopping by… Are you interested in socially-responsible brands? A healthier lifestyle? If yes & yes, as you roam the streets of your city/town/hamlet (make it a project this weekend!), snap some photos of responsible(?) brands in action and submit them here so we can keep tabs on what these companies are up to… thanks!

What a tireless, enthusiastic bunch we are….

Spread the IBC word, if you please

We’re gradually upping the ante here at Indie Breakfast Club, posting more often and digging deeper into what it means to be an entrepreneur or creative professional with a social conscience.

If you like what you’re reading, please spread the word to friends and contacts who might also enjoy IBC’s content, blueberry waffles and all.

Click here to sign up for our daily email (it’s tasty!). And here for our recent Malin & Goetz Q&A if you missed that.

Valuable business/life insights from a big artist

What can an artist teach us about working across mediums, pushing boundaries, the importance of failure, enjoying the process and innovation? A great deal, it seems, based on this incisive obituary in today’s IHT by Michael Kimmelman on Robert Rauschenberg.

Excerpts:

A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked.

The process — an improvisatory, counterintuitive way of doing things — was always what mattered most to him. “Screwing things up is a virtue,” he said when he was 74. “Being correct is never the point… Being right can stop all the momentum of a very interesting idea.”

NYC warms up to bicycles

News flash: moments ago a friend (with a slacker schedule, it seems) e-mailed me this picture from his iPhone in Soho. Behold, a freshly-painted bike lane on Prince Street!

I rode my Amsterdam cruiser down this same block earlier today, returning from an early breakfast meeting no less, and I don’t remember seeing this painted bike lane.

So NYC is finally getting serious about biking… To add more sauce to this riveting anecdote, just yesterday a friend asked how it was to bike around in the city, and I responded: “we need some paint on the bike lanes to make the lanes more visible to drivers”.

Sometimes in life you get what you ask for…

Q&A with Matthew Malin of Malin+Goetz

I’m delighted to run a little Q&A with one of my favorite emerging brands, Malin+Goetz. I first met the founders at a Women’s Wear Daily conference in Miami three or four years ago… we shared notes on PR firms, suppliers and industry trends. And then they kindly offered me a ride back to the airport. Be sure to check out the promo for IBC readers at the end of the Q&A!

Q. Hello, Matthew. So I guess we only got 1/2 of the “M&G” combo today? Never mind, let’s dig in. In essence, what’s M&G all about?

Making skin care uncomplicated and modern, starting with sensitive skin first.

Q. You make it sound so easy! Take us back to the genesis, that moment you both decided to commit your lives to this “project”.

There are two starting points: first, when Kiehl’s was sold to L’Oreal in ‘99 during my six-year tenure there overseeing global sales (as Nars was sold to Shiseido, Stila to Estee Lauder, Bliss to LVMH, etc). Then, two years later, after lots of research and planning (which was a rewarding process), we took the plunge. We wanted to establish a family business with a soul.

“Ethically-produced” will become the norm, soon enough

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece today about social responsibility asking, ‘Does being ethical pay?‘ (subscription required). There are a couple of bits worth repeating here. The first is a succinct definition of “ethically produced” goods:

“For our purposes, “ethically produced” goods are those manufactured under three conditions. First, the company is considered to have progressive stakeholder relations, such as a commitment to diversity in hiring and consumer safety. Second, it must follow progressive environmental practices, such as using eco-friendly technology. Finally, it must be seen to demonstrate respect for human rights — no child labor or forced labor in overseas factories, for instance.”

This definition underpins a broader shift towards a more conscious/benevolent capitalism here in America, which comes as a welcome change after a long, myopic focus on profit only…

Mix it up to spark personal growth and innovation

Here’s an illuminating snippet from today’s IHT about the importance of forging new habits to foster personal growth and innovation:

“… Brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try — the more we step outside our comfort zone — the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.”

Poking around Flickr

Manhattan bridge 2 - Originally uploaded by Oliver Sweatman

I spent the afternoon poking around Flickr, checking out other power Flickr users and Flickr groups to see how IBC might partake in the magic.

I started by cleaning up my personal Flickr “photostream”, including creating several “sets” to aid navigation (Vermont, NYC, etc). This took some time, but served as a good Flickr immersion session.

Next, I’m thinking about how Indie Breakfast Club (this riveting blog) might benefit from having a Flickr pool. For example, it might be fun to see images of emerging brands from around the world… stay tuned.

IBC recommends | Venture Hacks for entrepreneurs

Here’s a tip while you chew on that chocolate croissant: if you’re an entrepreneur raising money for your startup/emerging brand (from VCs or angel investors), spend some time on Venture Hacks.

The straight-up funding tips at Venture Hacks are spot on and will save even finance-savvy entrepreneurs lots of headache, time and $$.

I also recommend the site for angel investors seeking practical investing tips and insights into both the entrepreneur and VC mindset.

What’s your apple pie?

Recently I was sitting with a friend having lunch in a café in Amsterdam (a “café” in the French sense, not a coffee shop in the Dutch sense).

It was a cute little place in the Jordaan neighborhood…

Why am I telling you this?

Here’s why: about half-way through lunch we noticed lots of slices of apple pie, topped with whipped cream, being served to the café’s eager patrons.

Literally, everyone in the place (except us) was wolfing down apple pie!

Of course we had to try some, and it was excellent. Well worth a 20 minute bike-ride through the pouring rain.

Turns out people come (or bike) from all over Amsterdam, rain or shine, to this little café, mainly for the apple pie.

Have you ever noticed how every great business has an apple pie?

Now you knew this was coming: what’s your apple pie? I think it’s a productive question to think about and answer…

Nau is dead. What does this mean for the “green style” market?

Wow. Nau, darling of the green apparel sector (judging by the torrent of media coverage since its launch about a year ago - WWD, Coolhunting, etc), is dead. This, according to one of my favorite marketing/brand blogs, murketing.com. A quick visit to Nau’s website confirms the news.

I first heard of Nau when one of the founders made an presentation at the Lohas 12 conference one year ago. Lots of pizzazz. Very impressive. Attendees couldn’t get enough. One year later, with dream-team management, tons of buzz and a large chunk of capital raised ($20mm? $40mm?), they’re gone.

What happened?

Beyond the shopping fix towards a healthier value system

Here’s an insightful if depressing snippet via WWD this week about the psychology of shopping:

“The irony is when times are tough, people often become more victims. They may take themselves deeper in a hole and keep spending. They rely on shopping is a quick, easy coping mechanism instead of doing the hard work to dig in and fix what’s really wrong.” Terrence Shulman, founder and director of the Shulman Center for Compulsive and Theft Spending.

Much has been written about our hyper-consumptive culture and its possible long-term, negative effects on both individual well-being and that of society at large…

Self-appointed salons aim to raise the consciousness

Still trying to figure out how to incorporate images into this blog to enhance the overall experience.

So this is a test post from Flickr… and you, lucky readers, are my guinea pigs.

This magazine spread (displayed in the window of a little wine bar in the West Village) caught my eye this morning as I biked past.

The caption (lower left) reads:

The eclectic group of artists and writers form Artistes Sans Hollywood-X, a salon that meets on the second Tuesday of each month in the West Village. “It is our responsibility as the cultural conscience of our nation to work toward consciousness-raising,” says Cintra WIlson (front right), the group’s leader.

And so history repeats itself… Hey, the Flickr thing worked!