“Making a Living While Making a Difference” by Melissa Everett
I’m embarrassed to say how long ago I bought this book, but even though I only read the intro at that time, it gave me some good advice. It suggested that all people, regardless of their specific job role, CAN make a difference. Non-profits needs accountants, environmental groups need lawyers, for-profit manufacturers needs environmental officers…everyone can conduct their work in a way that is beneficial to the community and the environment. No matter the work you do, you CAN do it in a way guided by positive values, benefiting the environment, your immediate community, and to a lesser degree, the worldwide community.
I believe the Universe brings the things we need to us when we need them. I have been a bit listless lately and last night came across this book in my office. The world can be a nifty place when you connect meaning to coincident. My coming across “Making a Living While Making a Difference” seemed like a meaningful coincidence. It’s time to read this book. It’s time to find new ideas for making my business more successful and to reaffirm the operating principle I’ve tried to maintain: when I work within my values, the work I make is better and the clients happier because we are all working for more than just money, but to make the world a better place too.
Making a Living While Making a Difference
You can also find the book in our fine Milwaukee Count Library System
I’m gonna make this blog post my “notepad”. I’m gonna try and share with you the bits from Ms. Everett’s book that jump out to me. Bookmark this entry and come back often. I hope to update it regularly.
Best wishes,
Troy
09-29-10-Intro/Chapter 1
- “The premise of this book is that we become more effective in deploying our skills when our choices are consciously driven by values and life-affirming passions.” (my italics)
- “Values are not a luxury.”
- re: this choice in life-directing, “Do not think for a moment that this approach means less conflict or complexity. Often it brings more of these, many difficult trade-offs, and a spectacular potential for unintended consequences.”
09-30-10-Chapter 2
- (keeping in mind that this book version was released in 1999, I found this statement interesting) “British Petroleum, BP, and Shell Oil were the first large oil companies to announce major investments in renewable energy…$1 billion and $500 million
- “the energy base of a society reveals much about where it is placing its bets for the future…”
- “If you want to make a real difference, consider going into a company as a product designer or accountant. Be a regular worker, but do your work in new ways.”-Rod Day, research associate Mgt. Institute for Environment and Business
- “To make an alternative transportation program work, you have to be a really good problem solver, listener, and people person.”–Laurel Severson, Rideshare Services, 3M
- “If your local government doesn’t have a position called ‘bicycle transportation coordinator,’ find a job in a related agency where people are open-minded, do your job, and make a project of the innovation you want.”–Kevin Doyle, Environmental Careers Org
- “a 1997 study by the Economic Policy Institute found that 30% of US workers were employed in “nonstandard” jobs”
- “an international movement that calls itself New Work,…urges people…design their lives with multiple sources of security and expression…hybrids of jobs, business ventures, barter and simpler living.”
10-05-10 Chapter 3
- “There is…increasing agreement about some things that stress it (a healthy food system): overuse of pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, petrochemicals, and water; too much distance between producer and consumer; irradiation and genetic modification of crops; unsustainable harvesting practices, whether depleting the ocen with overfishing or the fields with monoculture crops.”
- “According to Holly Givens, of the Organic Trade Association, there are approximately 5000 certified organic farms in the US (when this version was published in 1999). (Now, according to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, there are approximately 13,000 certified organic farms in the US. Despite that growth, organic farming still only accounts for 2% of the US food supply. Here is a map, from the New York Times, showing the distribution of organic farms in the country. Way to go Wisconsin!
- re: CSA farms (Community-Supported Agriculture): “…What happened here has happened in many CSAs: not only does the community support the farm, but the farm helps to reignite the spark of community.”
- “Levi’s was the first to implement annual environmental health and safety audits of suppliers, and has rejected on average 15% per year for violations of the sourcing code.”
10-12-10 Chapter 4 and 5
- 4. work that restores community: “Some of the most inventive and promising of these turn out to be the most holistically designed as they mobilize underutilized human capital to create profitable businesses that meet local needs.”
- 4. “In general, economic development and organization-building are rich fields..to ‘play hardball with soft skills’.”
- 4. “Small Is Beautiful” a book to add to the reading list
- 4. “If good education promotes understanding and principled choices, training promotes skill and reliable behavior.
- 5. “It’s easier than ever to be a freelance communicator, but as competitive as ever to make a complete living at it.”
- 5. “Sometimes he does this…by schlepping his computer and cell phone to the local cafe where home-based professionals with cabin fever seem to gather.” Stone Creek Coffe at Lincoln and KK is one of these spots!
- 5. “But, increasingly, issues of environment-not to mention racial and gender equality-are becoming more integral to a company’s market share…”–Linda Descano, of Salomon Brothers
- 5. “There is a growing body of research that employee retention, morale, and productivity are positively affected by a culture that employees regard as ‘values-based’.”
- 5. “Above all, I teach people attitudes such as self-esteem, taking risks, awareness of process, and perseverance.”–Susan Togut, artist