The Most Amazing Sport You’ve Never Seen

 

Who would like to support one of the most amazing sports that most people have never seen? Imagine a cross between ice hockey and 5-a-side football. Power, balance, passion and skills – all with metal sticks and a football. This is of course  a very overt request for partners to step forward.

The amputee footballers of England (and the wider UK) have been growing their own sport for some years now with only relatively superficial support. I’ve been away from the sport for too long and want to help these elite athletes and the grassroots programme that supports them.

Please take a few minutes to check out the photos and videos below and then get in touch via the links below…

I was always stunned by the lack of media / corporate support for such a photogenic sport that is pure adrenaline and poetry. Once during my spell in charge of the England team we had a media team courtesy of One 2 One (or T-Mobile as they were once called) follow us on a World Championship in Rio de Janeiro in 2005. This was during a short  period of strong commercial and governing body support as disability football was hitting a larger audience, but very little happened after the event was over, and then external support headed downhill for a while.

Much has changed since then. One of the biggest challenges was the quality of organisation at a global level but many, many more international teams now play, and grassroots participation is accelerating too. The players stepped up and took it over themselves, again, as it was in the start many years ago before the FA dabbled.

The England Amputee Football Association (EAFA) are looking to talk to any potential supporters, especially of the commercial kind to take amputee football to the next level at home and abroad. A huge opportunity on the horizon. Great timing and a great sport.

Who wants a piece of this?…

Here’s some more about the EAFA team and the players from an older video via The Guardian.

These guys have done a brilliant job of getting their sport to where it is now and all support can only accelerate a truly special sport with a bright future. Imagine being part of the bigger team when they win the World Championship? Trust me there is no better feeling and n spectacular opportunity for all partners!

For more information head over to www.theeafa.co.uk or via Twitter at @amputeefootball, use the comment section below or even get in touch directly with me and I’ll share what I know.

And as a treat for reading this far, a special goal from the 2010 World Championship Argentina v Japan game…

Is Communication The Biggest Barrier?

The two most used questions by smaller businesses whenever discussing CSR:

1. What’s in it for me?

and

2. What’s in it for me?

They may look like the same question but they’re not. What the SME owner / manager is probably trying to say is:

1. What’s in it for my business?

2. What’s in it for me as a real person emotionally connected to wider communities but I don’t have the confidence or knowledge to articulate that yet?

We need to understand the difference and why.

CSR = Your Better (Small) Business

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Vodafone’s ‘Your Better Business’ website, which describes itself as

“an open exchange of ideas and opinions that can help shape the future of business. It’s also a platform where the brightest business brains will contribute and share information on the latest best practice models, give expert business advice and talk about the role technology is playing. ”

Here’s a short extract and a link (below text or image top right) to an article I  wrote on real world CSR for small business…

“In an increasingly connected world, where political upheaval and environmental challenges are gathering pace, there’s pressure on business to adapt.

As a result, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming more and more relevant – even critical – to the success of businesses of all sizes. The problem is, it’s commonly misunderstood, and its power underestimated. So dismiss it at your peril.

Definitely worth further investigation via the Your Better Business website and via Twitter at @betterexchange

Want To Be A Global Ambassador for Social Good?

Are you planning a trip around the world to meet leaders and make our society a better place to live? No? Why not?

Sometimes the world can feel like an overwhelmingly big place and we, as individuals, can do little on our own to make it better against the tide of challenges and barriers, especially our own self-limiting beliefs.

There are those who believe differently though. Are you one?

yourbigyear.com has launched its third year of a global competition that doesn’t take no for an answer when it comes to social impact and talent. Last year I spent some time talking to Chris Arnold, Founder of the Smaller Earth Group that created Your Big Year and shared a few thoughts in this blog post.

So, if you’re aged between 18 – 30  and think you’ve got what it takes to be a global ambassador for the greater good, I dare you to watch the video below.

12 winners from around the world will be flown to Liverpool for the final round and the overall winner walking (or flying) away with the year of a lifetime and a springboard to an amazing career.

World Merit Co-Founder Marti Wigder Grimminck says “We are looking to connect and support the world’s talent, the next generation of leaders. Diversity and common purpose brings about innovation and social change.”

@YourBigYear

Charities Need to Increase Overheads

Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is wrong

If you work in social enterprise or a charitable organisation make sure you find 18 minutes and 55 seconds to watch the video below.

I’ve seen the link to this video enthusiastically being bounced around the social media world for a few days and I finally managed to squeeze in a watch over lunch today.

I’ll let Dan do the talking first and add a few thoughts after you’ve heard what he has to say…

He’s absolutely on the money and he knows what he’s talking about. Too many in the social world are too disconnected from the strengths of the private sector.

I also understand that even given an acceptance of his ethos the next massive barrier is the delivery quality of this more aggressive approach to fundraising and marketing. Increased overheads can only be justified by operational results, and social impact over any agreed time period.

The big challenge is to encourage a significantly stronger entrepreneurial approach to social impact and mitigate the unease created by the increased blurring of the boundaries between private sector methodologies and social sector aspirations.

What will the Amazon of the social impact world look like?

Check out Dan Pallota’s webpage / Twitter profile @DanPallota for more information

The Climate Debate Gloves Are Off

But who will win?

 

I just had to share this to make sure you didn’t miss it.

THE best magazine cover, story and quote for quite some time. A bold statement to the core of the climate denier community. Congratulations Josh Tyrangiel (Editor) and all at Bloomberg Businessweek.

There is already a robust and increasing discourse around climate change brought on by Hurricane Sandy and this for me is a great stick in the ground for where we are at today. There is more hope for tomorrow.

 

The cover…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quote…

Our cover story this week may generate controversy, but only among the stupid. buswk.co/PIUzUl via @BW—
Josh (@Tyrangiel) November 01, 2012

 

 

The story…

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid#p1

 

 

Are You A Small Business Communications Expert?

 

Do you have experience in CSR, social enterprise, business advice, marketing, PR, human resources – or just about any other aspect of business operation?

Can you offer any insight on small business CSR communications?

I’m off to Berlin next week to co-host a workshop on CSR communications at an invite only conference not-so-snappily called ‘Better CSR Advice for SMEs‘. 100 small business advisers from across the EU (only 3 from the whole UK was a surprise but I’m glad to have got one of Brussels funded Willy Wonka tickets) are preparing to gather to network, share and take away the latest practice back to their home towns.

We only have a hopeful a mere 45 minutes throughout a 24 hour event to explore what I consider to be the most important topic in the small business / CSR debate, and I’m hoping to take as much ammunition in with me as possible.

What are the key questions? What are the key answers?

 

• How do we educate small businesses about the benefits of CSR?
• Who should do it?
• What are the best ways for SMEs to communicate to their boards, employees, suppliers, customers and local media?
• What resources are available to help SMEs get their messages out?
• What are the current communication trends to be exploited?
• Which SMEs are already good a communicating?

 

Please head over to the blog post on the Coethica website to get the full story & submit your feedback and share this link with your networks.

 

I’ll report back after the event to share the workshop discussions.

 

 

Apple’s Ethical Watershed?

A window of opportunity and an open letter to CEO Tim Cook.

Is it me or is the current focus on Apple’s supply chain a different tune than we’ve heard before?

For years now many from responsible business community have rumbled in frustration at Apple’s lack of commitment and often blatant avoidance of sustainability issues.  Most of these professionals have ironically also either converted to Apple Macbooks / iPhones / iPad or continued their use throughout the regular ethical issues arising. I go to a few industry conferences and they’re often more like a Halloween orchard with the amount of glowing Apple logos on show.

Let’s be honest Apple products look damn good, mostly do the job you’d expect and you can’t argue with the almost religion-like power of the brand they’ve created under the stewardship of the recently departed Steve Jobs. For full disclosure I was once an Apple fan, during my days producing copious amounts writing, media materials and marketing documents at Everton FC, before I knew better about the details of the business operation and products themselves.  I adored their fanatical ethos about providing the most simple, usable interface which is pure beauty at times, especially compared to Windows Vista and earlier incarnations. I had the usual file format sharing problems but that was nearly ten years ago and much has changed.

I am beginning to sense the sustainability sharks circling.

Coethica Social Media Test Drive

 

Hi Everybody.

It’s taken a while to get here but the world has finally been introduced to the new Coethica website. We had a handful of technical problems and distractions that saw the previous site slimmed down to 2 ancient pages for far too long.

We took the decision to go live relatively early and encourage the strongest possible dialogue with all the audiences we’re aiming to engage with to constantly improve the site over the next 12 months. There are also some other improvements / pages / whole new sections / concepts to be added to the site to take it where we think it should be but allowing ourselves good time to evolve both our social media estate and our business model simultaneously.

This also means very soon I get to begin to revamp of this space, my very own wonderful blog, which at times had become a surrogate home for Coethica during the extended periods of technical disillusionment.

All suggestions for ‘myblog2.0′ welcome!

 

Please take a couple of minutes to test drive www.coethica.com, have a good look around, share the link, and send as much feedback as you can, either as a comment on here or via the contact page on the new site.

What could Coethica have done better?

 

Coethica has also added two new channels over at Google+ and Twitter. I think Google+ is going to be fun; it still needs work but I’ve seen it gain momentum from day one and it feels like it’s accelerating. G+ is a great channel, almost like an extended Twitter but better looking and with more functionality. I can see G+ quickly catching Twitter as the centre of the sustainability/CSR communication online universe – according to @FabianPattberg’s recent poll anyway.

The new Twitter account allows me, for my own sanity, to differentiate between me and the business, for Coethica to sell more, and to explore my tweet landscape a little, playing more in areas such as social innovation, technology and sport.

Click on the icons below to find the new profiles.

 

 

New EU Definition and Strategy for CSR

The European Union publishes 2011 – 2014 strategy on CSR

The new definition of CSR in the eyes of the European Union is

The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society.

It’s only a fifteen page document and well worth a read as another stake in the ground for the accelerating development of CSR as a core business consideration. It never goes as far as many stakeholders would have liked it to, but then again it never was. For me it’s a pretty well balanced carrot and stick approach that owes much to work already done for ISO 26000.

There is one particular paragraph that sums up the ethos of CSR beyond the above definition:

To maximise the creation of shared value, enterprises are encouraged to adopt a long term, strategic approach to CSR, and to explore the opportunities for developing innovative products, services and business models that contribute to societal wellbeing and lead to higher quality and more productive jobs.

…which sounds scarily like my usual description when defending CSR.

The rest of the document outlines the alignment with