Sue Nelson Cleveland

This post was originally written in May, 2011.   What's wrong with environmental sustainability?  Why do so many people think it's bogus, unworkable, too costly or just plain unscientific?  Why don't people flock to Sustainable Cleveland 2019, Entrepreneurs for Sustainability or the Corporate Sustainability Network?  Why do we have "debates" about global warming, climate change and the worthiness of the EPA?    One reason may be the religious fervor with which some proponents speak.  When we hear that we're all going to hell in a handbasket, that the planet is going to burn up, that this fire and brimstone future is due to our immoral, greed-based, selfish way of living and that self-sacrifice and doing good works (such as installing CFL or LED light bulbs and riding a bike to work) will save us, is it any wonder that people turn their backs on us?  Haven't we all heard this before? Why should those who have faith in an almig...

This post was originally written in January of 2012. This morning I attended a forum on the controversy surrounding horizontal fracking. The session was offered by a community minded church to educate the public   on the issues involved in the controversy. The panel was well-organized, prepared and diverse.  The hosts had invited people from the energy/fracking industry to come, but they declined.  So, it seemed that a fairly homogenous crowd gathered - homogenous in this case meaning urbanites against fracking.  Now, with my background in dangerous manufacturing, I’m sure that there are ways to safely extract gas from shale. If we apply OSHA-like regulations to the storage of the wastewater, then that storage could be done safely as well.   However, I'm really skeptical of energy companies’ willingness to protect people and the environment without regulation and mandated accountability requiring them to do so.  But something e...

Having grown weary and wary of sustainability, I withdrew from practicing in this field for a few months to recalibrate... well, recalibrate my soul, really.  Then I was offered the opportunity to teach a course in John Carroll's MBA program.  Here's an overview.  Please tell me what you think is worthwhile in this design and what you think could be improved. MN/MK 581 is a cross-referenced course in the MBA Program, responding to needs of students with Management and Marketing concentrations.   The purpose of the course is to answer this question: If you want to have an impact within social-ecological systems, how do you design             and promote it? The course takes a critical thinking approach to complex problems in social-ecological systems, using three lenses.   One lens is whole systems/resilience thinking which is deliberative and, perhaps, designerly.   A second lens is sustainab...

Are you the new leader of a company or department?   Are you about to hire a new leader for your firm?   Would you like to accelerate this transition and realize amazing enthusiasm for what’s next?   Here are the steps one manufacturing plant took to get their new plant manager, and everyone else, up to speed. First, the new leader, Pat, and the management team wrote responses to a confidential survey to get their expectations and issues out on the table.   This process made sure the new leader and the whole team would be aware of and address the “real” issues in the plant that crop up every day.   Confidentiality meant the tough, politically difficult questions could be asked:   1.   Is there anything you need to know from Pat right away in order to do your job better? 2.   What do you want Pat to know about the direct report team? 3.   How do you feel about being a member of this team? 4.   What is the organizational "secret" ...

Did you know there are four times as many entrepreneurs per capita in Peru than there are in the U.S.? Who knew?! In fact, who knew that there are more entrepreneurs in agriculture-based locations than in metropolitan ones? More per capita, that is. It turns out that Laramie, Wyoming is the entrepreneurial capital of the country. All of which hinges on the question, "who is an entrepreneur?" Entrepreneurs, according to Merriam-Webster and Scott Shane, PhD, (Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and author of the book, The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths that Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By) are those people who organize, manage and assume the risk of a business or enterprise. That covers a lot of territory. I’m reading this book as part of my research on entrepreneurship and here’s what I’ve learned - Entrepreneurship is much more commonplace than we might have suspected. Take a look at these statistics:...

Music has a way of teaching us things we weren't learning in other ways.  The sustainability movement  has had trouble reaching some people.  Perhaps music could be a pathway to reaching some of them.  The scope and urgency of our problems is hard to grasp, frankly.  It's hard to contemplate a billion hungry people, let alone understand how my eating a hamburger on the 4th of July contributes to their lack of food.  So how could music help? I want to show you how combining a slide presentation on global sustainability problems with music affects the viewer’s experience:   http://tinyurl.com/69nytmf .   You’ve seen a thousand of these presentations, but please look at this one too.   Then come back to this post.   (You really should watch the whole video to get the effect, but if you're not going to watch the whole thing then watch a moment at these points:   The beginning, 1:42 and 5:40.) T...

Today a Board VP asked me, "Why don't Board members stay engaged?  They start out enthusiastic and then their activity tapers off."  There are basically three reasons why Board members participate in meetings, committees and fundraising:   They know the other members and are friendly with them.  They belong and want to contribute to their team. They know what to do and how to do it.  Offer samples and "a buddy" even if your member is successful in business. He or she may not feel confident about asking for a donation or leading a committee of volunteers. They know what they do or say matters.  They want to make a difference. Knowing these three motivators, it's easier to design activities, meetings or retreats that foster engagement.  For instance, a Fundraising Letter Writing Party ties all three reasons together.  Socializing, especially if there's food, sample letters for members to use as a basis for thei...