One of the things that so intrigues me about sustainability is the way it forces a hard look in the opposite direction for just about every business topic.  For instance, you’d think “green marketing” would demand an overt or visible approach, but green or sustainable marketing seems to be most effective when it uses a transparent approach.  Or, you’d think that to build your organization’s sustainability leadership you’d go about it in the traditional way – creating executive level positions to oversee it all, but looking in “counter” directions (i.e. other than “up” the ladder) can be the best way to find some of your real change makers.  Finally, you’d think that by now absolutely everyone must believe that the environment is in grave danger, and that they would all want to jump on whatever behavioral change is needed to right the wrongs.  But, there again, you’d be mistaken. Lots of people don’t respond well, or at all, to fear-inducing or “should do” messages.

So, we need to look beyond or in the opposite direction of what (we think) is obvious in order to more effectively reach people who are not of like-mind. That’s where practice in “counter”-intelligence comes in.  

In the category of sustainability “hidden in plain sight,” I spy another example.  According to a New York Times article by Matt Richtel, consumers are found to be holding onto – get this – even their cellphones and TVs(!) a little longer these days.

Do pigs now fly?

Not the last time I checked, but the numbers mentioned in Richtel’s piece are intriguing:

But in some important categories there are indications of slowed upgrades. Consumers are holding onto new cars for a record 63.9 months, up 4.5 months from a year ago and 14 percent since the end of 2008, according to Polk, a research firm. In fact, the firm said, when used cars are included, the average length of car ownership stands at 52.2 months, also a record.

Industry analysts also report that people on average upgrade their cellphones every 18 months, up from every 16 months just a few years ago. They hold onto their laptops an average of 4 years and 4 months, a month longer than they did a year ago, though that figure has been creeping up since 2000.

Could it be that the enduring economic downturn has been helpful in changing consumer attitudes – and possibly behavior – with regard to longer product use, including repairs, before things gets tossed? 

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Andrea is a Writer and Consultant on gender, human behavior & sustainability. LearnedOn.com & Huffington Post contributor. 

I don’t often post quick links, but this article in the U.K.’s Daily Mail spoke to me of my latest obsession – sustainability hidden in plain sight.  Except this time, it is sustainability packaged in a way that will resonate with a lot of previous naysayers.  If greed and the U.S. Navy won’t convince people about climate change, nothing will.

Here’s a quote noting the perspective of Rear Admiral David Titley – a sea warrior, passionate scientist, and… the U.S. Navy’s chief oceanographer and director of its climate change task force:

(LEARNED) "The End of Men?" A recent article by Hanna Rosin in The Atlantic got me thinking.  And her words were not as inflammatory as you may imagine.  Instead, her article takes a sweeping look at how our culture has evolved from an organizing principle of patriarchy to a situation that looks much the opposite.  She makes the point that times have simply changed with regard to measures of economic success.  The talents of all adults - not just half of them - are the key.

So if time’s up for the patriarchy, does that mean we’re heading full speed to a matriarchy?  No. We need to equally value what men and women contribute, and to encourage them to do so using their own unique styles.  We can get there if our culture, and the media that covers it, stops emphasizing the extremes.

In my mind, what lies in the center of the pendulum swing between extremes is most important.  And this middle ground is key in both our gendered work culture and our sustainable business practices.

The "women’s era" seems to be all the buzz right now. But the truth may be that things have shifted to give men the opportunity to learn as much about "feminine" ways of thinking as women have already learned about "masculine" ways of thinking.  Times are indeed different.  But both men and women are adapting.  We are all settling in to that pendulum center.

When people see that their neighbors have more energy efficient households, it GETS them!  My absolute hero (and someone whose work I am closely studying for my master’s thesis), Robert Cialdini, is now leveraging his “social proof” compliance technique for sustainability purposes.  A New York Times article by Saqib Rahim reports on Cialdini’s post-academic career in studying consumer behavior and energy efficiency as chief scientist for OPOWER. According to the article, he recently tested the effectiveness of four different signs/messages with regard to energy conservation with a sample population in San Diego.  I LOVE that (my paraphrase) “your neighbors are beating you” was the message winner!  It appeals to my fourth grade competitive bombardment game mentality… and that, I believe, still exists in us all.

Anyway…

As mentioned in Rahim’s article, the other three signs Cialdini’s team tested were, 1) saving energy for the environment’s sake, 2) doing it for the sake of future generations, and 3) the one most of us non-research types might suspect would be most effective: cash savings.  Isn’t this fascinating?  As I’ve mentioned in so many other blog posts by now, Cialdini’s “social proof” has two components: 1 – uncertainty about which behavior is appropriate (need to see others around you doing the behavior), and 2 – similarity, or the need to see that others, and preferably those very much like you, are behaving that way.

With a foot in both the academic and business worlds currently – I find myself intrigued that a lot of colleges/universities are taking such a lead in committing their facilities and community to new journeys in sustainability, while corporations are lagging way behind.   Some companies may be ramping up  marketing efforts, for certain, but what about the basics of first engaging the humans in their businesses with sustainability on a more personal level?   It goes beyond the recycling bin in the corner and the automatic lights in the restrooms.

Let’s learn from the many institutions of higher learning that have sustainability pledges, as they are all quite similar.  Harvard’s – which comes up first in a Google search, is a nice example.

Nothing too bold or scary here.  However, by putting such a list in front of your nose and occasionally glancing at it, you will – much more likely – stop and think a bit.  You may even start to change your own behavior.  Checklists are powerful stuff: Do you take the stairs as often as possible?  Do you unplug computers and turn off lights?  Do you walk, bike or take the subway more often than getting into a car or bus?

My question: Where are all the corporate sustainability pledges?

There is more than meets the eye in what we know about how women buy (poetry not intended).  And, fortunately for us, that means we’ve got a lot of information at the ready to help better serve the sustainably minded consumer.

My argument has always been that marketing to women was not a “whole new, complicated thing” compared to marketing done before we acknowledged women’s particular ways of buying.  Instead, marketing to women encompasses an understanding toward fine tuning the smartest marketing to the toughest customer.  Today, marketing to women continues to be a foundation for the smartest marketing approach, but this time the toughest customer is not a woman, as such, but a person buying through a sustainability lens (who may more likely be a woman, but there are plenty of men in this group too).

A recent RetailCustomerExperience.com article by Dr. Bob Deutsch, a cognitive anthropologist, caught my eye with its sustainability implications along those lines.  His research, very simply, points out that men consummate and women cycle. Do you see what I see?

Well – if not, how about this:

The male is in the now.

The female is oriented to the relationship between things, and to stability over the long term.

How women buy and how they work/lead is big news these days – no matter what brand, category, industry or organization.  When you think about how to start to change the culture around sustainable life and business practices, women also appear to be worth serious consideration.  This is particularly the case when you examine the “household manager” role and how women keep those responsibilities in mind all the time.

Let’s connect some dots: One of the reasons people begin to think seriously about sustainability is that it literally hits home- in terms of household energy use.  There’s nothing like the rising costs of winter warmth and lighting, for example, to shake us out of our blase-ness.  Working to keep those costs low is likely particularly compelling for those who manage the “operations” of the “facility.”  Whomever sees and arranges for the payment of those bills is at the front line.  If that person is also very conscious of daily family comfort, energy use becomes that much more important – and challenging.

This person sounds suspiciously like a woman and is probably a mom, but what else may be influencing her awareness and decisions?

If figuring out how to engage more citizens on sustainability is important now, and I firmly believe this is the case, beginning with the “facility management” minds of working women, in particular, should be a focus. A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research study, commissioned by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) and the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment (WCEE), is worth note on that front.

The Social Studies Group and Learned On recently partnered to study the women who are really influencing “green mom” consumer behavior online.   As with so many other issues, women exploring more sustainable consumer practices each begin an engagement with “green” for their own unique reasons. Our research found that these women have a definite hunger for products and solutions to help their families live more sustainably, and they are enthusiastically pursuing “green products” that fit the lifestyles they want to achieve.

The surprises that emerged from our findings, in The Green Mom Eco-Cosm? Many of the green mom bloggers who are on the more radical or fully committed end of the spectrum are perhaps not the nutty margin you’d assume.  Even though “green consumerism” is something these committed women may personally try to avoid, they still recognize the value of measures being taken by companies like Clorox to head in a greener direction.   Furthermore, through their blog post writing, these moms have been sharing higher expectations and actively challenging their readers toward significantly uncomfortable levels of green scrutiny and commitment.  No slackers need apply. It seems that the more women know, the more engaged they become with their lifestyle “greening up” efforts.  You can almost feel the momentum building.

Read The Green Mom Eco-Cosm: A Social Study into their Motivations, Convictions and Influence (PDF) for more.

Sometimes the inevitable is just too hard to get to. Misguided assumptions, traditions and all sorts of randomness can get in the way of doing good business. In both the case of the women's market and now, the sustainable consumer market, plenty of decision-makers still hesitate to make the effort - even when it is clear that there is no turning back. Yet,having to serve those markets is... inevitable.