EXCITING Net Impact event!

So, we at Brandeis Net Impact have been working since April to organize one of the most exciting events that our chapter has ever been responsible for: Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation fame is coming to speak at our campus in just one week!

An Evening with Jeffrey Hollender:
Creating a Game Plan for Business to Transition to a Sustainable Economy
Shapiro Theater in the Shapiro Campus Center
Thursday, September 24, 2009, 7:00 pm

Can a for-profit company really be profitable, strategic and benefit the environment at the same time?

Jeffrey Hollender, Co-Founder and Chief Inspired Protagonist of Seventh Generation is a well-respected leader in the socially and environmentally responsible communities. Jeffrey led Seventh Generation from its humble beginnings to its current position as the leading and fastest-growing brand of household and personal care products for your living home. He is also a leading authority on issues related to making a positive difference in the health of the planet and its inhabitants through our everyday choices. Seventh Generation is committed to becoming the world’s most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally-responsible products for a healthy home.

Check it out Facebook: http://tr.im/ybcR

We're pretty excited about it, as you can tell. So, I thought I'd post it on here - the event is open to the public. If you're in the Boston area and this is up your alley, please come!

Freya's right on the money:

I got this quote in my weekly dose of inspiration via the Ripples email yesterday:

"There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do."
-Freya Madeleine Stark

And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Stark gets right to the heart of the matter, right to the heart of why we do the things we do, of why people choose to pursue careers that impact the greater good, perhaps of why some people spend entire lifetimes unhappily whittling away at jobs that are unfulfilling and meaningless. If your daily life is not in line with your values, can you ever truly be happy? Goodness - it seems so simple, right? To live out our values in our everyday lives. To believe wholeheartedly in what we are doing each day.

In view of my career as a business student right now, I find this philosophy to be very relevant. As business leaders of the future, we'll need to make sure that our values are injected into everything that we do. When values are not present, it makes it so easy to be part of the business ideas of the past where profits reign supreme and people & the environment finish last. We'll need to operate our personal lives and our companies on the same plane. I see responsible business practices being all about values, all about producing products and services that can have positive and meaningful impacts on stakeholders' lives.

Sometimes I get these quotes in my email and research the quoted person, only to find out that they weren't really all that inspirational in their actual lives and this supposedly wonderful quotation on the meaning of life was really just a snippet taken out of context. Freya came through for me on this one, though. She genuinely and profoundly pursued meaning in her life. She picked up in her early thirties to travel the world, to write, to live out her dreams - she did this in the 1930's, a time when it was unheard of for a woman to be traveling alone around the world. Her biography is entitled "Passionate Nomad". Google her.

Reusable bags are in style ...

But it seems that those who dictate the style world, namely the fashion industry, aren't nearly concerned as the grocery store business is about the environmental effects of hundreds of thousands of plastic shopping bags leaving the malls in the hands of patrons each day. As I was walking around Boston last weekend in a pretty serious shopping district, I noticed the distinct lack of reusable shopping bags and the distinct abundance of multiple bags from multiple stores in the hands of nearly each passerby.

Though it's nearly the norm to bring your own bags to the grocery store these days, the shopping mall seems to be a completely different story. People just aren't doing it yet. I suspect that one of the reasons that it hasn't caught on is that people like to carry around lots of bags from lots of stores - it's a sign of the treasure amassed that day. It was a good shopping day, the plentiful handles wrapped around their hands are reminding. Even the legendary San Francisco plastic bag ban seems to focus only on grocery store bags.

This seems to be the next logical step in the world of reusable bags. The fashion industry is masterful at getting people to want to buy the things that they make. I'm amazed that no one has yet created the perfect reusable, yet fashionable, shopping bag. The possibilities are endless - receipt pouches so you don't lose one, bags made just for carrying shoe boxes, etc...

In recession, MBA students seek backup plan

An article in this morning's Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/02/in_recession_mb.html?s_campaign=8299

Good thing my original ambition was never a Wall Street finance job. My advice: MBA's are going to be valuable people in the next wave of business venture that will be popping up as this recession ends. Social enterprise, responsible business, green tech - using business skills for good. Our country can't stand it any other way.