Major Oil Isssues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Major Oil Isssues - Essay Example However the supply of crude oil in the international market has been rigid. This creates the pressure on the prices of the oil. This fundamental theory of the international market as well as the economy of the world provides the explanation for the process or the trend of the fluctuation in the price of crude oil. Within the period 2004 - 2006 the capacity of the production of the global oil had not been able to keep in pace with its demand that had been increasing rapidly. The demand for oil had been on an increase more for the emerging economies of the continent of Asia, China, and also the United States of America. The demands for oil have an increase of 1.4 million barrels per day for the year 2005 as compared to 2.7 million barrels per day increase in 2004. This increased demand of oil had been accompanied by a continuous increase in the price of the same. According to the market specialists the price of oil is expected to remain jumpy and almost volatile. Moreover the price of this particular resource is expected to face a continuous rise rather than decrease. There is a high probability that the price will remain above the expected mean value of the price. (Krichene, 2006, pp 3- 4: Gautier, 2008, p 110) However predictions about the persisting trend of oil price vary among scholars. In the words of Xu, Chen and Han the main obstacle that arises in the prediction of the price of the crude oil is uncertainty. The various models along with the methods for computation that are present help to forecast the price trend in literatures. However most of the methods have not been able to predict the existing and the future variability of the prices of crude oil in the most effective way. For the betterment of the methods of computing the variations in the price econometricians have made several attempts and they have suggested different methods that are suitable for measuring and predicting the volatility. (Huynh, 2008, p 353) The paper aims at studying the expect ed trend of the oil price in the recent future with special emphasis to Australia. Peak Oil Phenomenon and Discussions around the World The past century had experienced a major growth of population but lesser instances of food shortages. The material requirements of the people had also surged. All this was achieved due to the growth of production of oil. The immense growth of oil production hugely benefited the food productions, wiped out the occurrence of famines, and made other daily human activities simpler (Hall & Day, 2009). The huge oil production made oil cheaper and the civilization moved forward based on oil-based energies. However, this also led to a huge depletion of oil reserves and ecologists predict that Peak Oil is not far away. Peak Oil is a phenomenon by which the global oil production will reach its highest stage and then it will start to fall at a very fast rate (Cork, 2010). M King Hubbert, a geologist working with Shell predicted a bell like life span of petrole um production in United States in 1956. According to Colin Campbell, the peak of discovering new fields had reached during the 1960s. He gives a fair assessment of the situation. According to him, the peak depends on the discovery of new fields, which has slowly decelerated, and the extraction rate of oils, which depends on the nature of the reservoir (Campbell, 2002). Presently the world consumes about four times the oil that is

Observation and Coaching Essay Example for Free

Observation and Coaching Essay Much about conversation depends on the rapport between the two parties. As Clutterback explains in his title; â€Å"Creating a Coaching Culture,† the quality of a relationship is determined by the rapport between the two parties in it. A good rapport implies a healthy relationship and therefore a learning conversation. Observations of people in conversation can reveal a great deal about the rapport between them and therefore an insight into the relationship they share. The tell-tell signs will be the body language of the parties in conversation as well as the brief moments of silence they share as part of their conversation. After all 55% of communication is done via our body language and facial expression (Albert Mehrabian – Best Practice in Performance Coaching). Though this task required the observation of the conversation of just a group, I must admit that I had to observer a number of groups in a number of settings before focusing on one. As I carried out these observations, the variations coupled with the literature on the subject brought out very many insights into the power of conversation and the enormity of the focus necessary, as a coach, to execute successfully, a learning dialogue. Staying in control is the ultimate goal and even when going down a slippery slope it is you who would have to determine how far down the slide goes. The Setting In my observations, I discovered that social environment in which the conversation takes place can have a great deal to do with the nature of the conversation. Cafes make for very fast light hearted conversations without much pause or reflection from either parties whilst parks and restaurants allowed for a slower pace of conversation with lots of moments of silence presumably accompanied by deep thought and reflection. The setting also shows disposition to certain types of body language expressed by the parties in conversation. Perhaps it is to do with the pace of the conversation or perhaps the social attributes of the environment. People I observe in parks and restaurants tend to demonstrate more closeness and rapport through their body language than those in cafes would. There were longer moments of eye contact, heavier body contact and more varied facial expressions. This is by no means a scientific conclusion on the impact of the conversational setting on the conversation we have as people but however a cue to pay greater attention to the setting of a coaching session with a coachee. I would imagine, the first step in taking control of the conversation is allowing the setting to be conducive to the objective of the coaching session. As I have noticed in the brief observations I have had, the right setting will allow for the right expressions from both parties and therefore facilitate the depth of the conversation. The danger however is to ignore the casual attributions which may then arise from the cultural dispositions of me as a coach and from the coachee as an individual towards their actions in relation to the environment. Casual Attributions in Conversation The reason why I would like to discuss this at this point is because it plays a lot in our reading, perception and judgement of conversation and particularly body language. The casual attribution theory discusses the reason for the judgement we make on why a person behaves or behaved the way they did. Psychological research on attribution has primarily studied the cause of another person’s behaviour. Attributions are ubiquitous in everyday life and as such are easily overlooked in our everyday conversations. As a coach, I believe it is very important to be acutely aware of the attributions we may place on a coachee’s behaviour or reactions and endeavour to keep an open and non-judgemental mind. This will allow our conversations to be much more forthcoming. Heider (1958) purports that perceivers (a role we would occupy as coaches) seek to attribute fleeting behaviour to stable dispositions. They tend to trace action to dispositions of the actor. In other words, a coach might be caught up in making judgements on the actions of the coachee based on the knowledge the coach has gained on the coachee as a person. This tendency was designated by Ross and Nisbett (1991) the fundamental attribution error. When I reflected on my preference to attribution, I noticed that I have a tendency to gravitate towards individualistic attribution tendencies. As a result to be a better coach it necessitates me to actively seek to balance this. Conversation is a two way process and therefore, awareness of the attributions that the coachee might be predisposed to will be vital. Sometimes the coachee’s action might be a reaction to your action(s) as a coach. It will be important to understand the coachee’s attribution tendencies thereby enabling you not only to manage your expressions (body language) but also to fully understand any actions by your coachee. Miller’s research in 1984 provided evidence that understanding of cultures is imperative in understanding the underlying reactions in conversation. Cultural psychology separates the cultures into individualistic and collectivist with both groups showing different tendencies of attribution. I therefore feel understanding your coachee’s background will be an important step towards achieving a learning conversation. Body Language and Rapport Alebert Merhabian’s theory suggests that when people have a rapport between them, they tend to have mirrored body language (Best Practice in Perfomance Coaching; Carol Wilson p129). This was explicit in my observations. I could tell when both parties exhibit mirrored body language such as leaning towards each other and laughing in tandem. This was a clear sign of the rapport between the parties, a significant indication of the intensity of the conversation. It is my belief that a good rapport between two parties in a conversation will make for easy listening enabling the listener to move up the levels of listening (Carol Wilson p21). The rapport between the two will aid in â€Å"cocooning† the conversation and allow for very minimal distraction. As a coach the objective will be to aim for intuitive listening thus developing a good rapport with the coachee is a step in the right direction. As Carol Wilson explains in her book – Best Practice in Performance Coaching – coaching only truly happens when we listen at higher levels i. e. intuitive listening. On the other hand, contrasting body language in a conversation can be indicative of a negative rapport between the parties in conversation. This might lead to a strained and unproductive conversation. Sometimes, it is necessary to stop and look at the underlying factors for the lack of rapport as opposed to â€Å"forcing† the situation by actively trying to mirror your coachee’s body language. This can at times go right down to the setting or environment or possibly the casual attributions tendencies of both individuals. Summary Conclusion Much has been written about communication and conversation. It remains a powerful tool in coaching and therefore the greater the understanding we have as coaches, the better we will be able to use the conversation tool in executing our duties. In this report, I have looked at the impact on communication and conversation of three different aspects and seen how I can better prepare myself as a coach. My observations were a great cue towards helping me understanding communication. To attain my ultimate goal of always remaining in control, there are a good number of things to take into consideration. A lot in this report has focussed on the non-verbal aspects of the communication process. During the observation, I remained a good distance from the target group and therefore could not match the verbal communication to the non-verbal patterns that I observed. I am intrigued to know what the relation between the two will be. Are words a reflection of feelings? Are we more likely to control our physical expressions to avoid â€Å"causing a scene† in a public place? Are we mostly acutely aware of our surroundings? These are questions to which we might have no answers but can be used as important guides in analysing and controlling conversation. I have learned a great deal from these observations to make me a better coach. It is very important to understand and interpret non verbal cues in conversation paying particular attention to our own personal attributions as coaches that we might bring into the relationship.

Effect Of The Environment On Western Settlers Essay -- essays research

Effect of the Environment on Western Settlers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the country grew and expanded, the American people where always one to push their bounds. In 1763, we proudly, defied England's proclamation of the year, and settled west of the Appalachian mountains. A little later, the westward people pushed Indians, animals, and society to a place where no American person had gone before. But all the while, one important factor determined where they transported themselves, where they settled, and what they did when they got there. This factor, the environment, profoundly affected the settlers way of life, and other factors, such as the Indians and the railroad, only aggravated a pre-existing condition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The settlers of the late 1800's had only one way to get to the west- along the pre-existing routes established by the courier-de-bois, Spanish settlers, and the Indians of the past. These routes, which flowed through the only passable areas of the Rockies, naturally led to Oregon and California, which caused an increase in the population of these regions at the time. These trails, such as the Oregon Trail to the north, the Mormon and Spanish Trail to the south, and the California and Overland trails in between were very rough and bumpy, making the trek no easy task.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the home front, the environment played an important role on the family life as well.. Women had a more prominent role in society as w...

Reflective Assignment on A Simulation for Cardiac Arrest Essay

Simulation-based nursing education has increased and become a more popular approach for clinicians or educators. It provides a real-life situational experience for students to practice skills, applies critical thinking and makes the decision throughout the simulation. This article is a reflection journal after a simulation for cardiac arrest. Reflection learning has been described as a process of critically reviewing experience from practice so that it may be used to inform and change future practice in a positive way (Bulman, 2008). In this simulation-based resuscitation reflection, the effectiveness of using of the Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) framework during communication between allied health care professionals, teamwork during resuscitation and methods of collecting history from patient and patient will be discussed. Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) framework. In this simulation, the nurse communicated with a physician by using traditional way to report patient’s condition via phone. Physician promoted and obtained information. SBAR is a communication model which includes Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation. The use of SBAR promotes quality and patient safety by setting shared expectations in terms of what is communicated. SBAR allows for efficient and predictable sharing of information by creating a shared mental model (Shapiro, J. 2017). It has become very popular among healthcare setting, especially between physicians and nurses. It is an effective way of communication for healthcare professionals and allows for transferring of important information. The SBAR framework is considered by nurses and physicians to be an effective method for organizing the handoff report (Stewart, 2016). A study showed improved perceptions of communication in nurse-to-nurse and nurse-to-physician sceneries by using pre/ post-SBAR implementation questionnaires (Blom, Petersson, Hagell, & Westergren, 2015). Hailu, Kassahun, & Kerie (2016) founded that communication failure between nurse and physicians was one of the leading causes of preventable patient injuries, complications, death and medical malpractice claim. Use of SBAR framework has been a method which can overcome this communication problem, Thus, using of SBAR framework has two major implication in future. First, nursing education should include appropriate use of SBAR framework which can be used for effective communication at clinical areas (Stewart, & Hand, 2016). Same education will provide the same perception of SBAR framework and provide better application of this framework. Second, Stewart and Hand (2016) also suggested that SBAR framework should be applied by nurses as a guideline for all handover communication between nurses and physicians, inter/intra department or institutions. Inpatient safety, effective communication during patient handoffs is the nursing priority (The Joint Commission, 2015). TEAMWORK In this simulation, endotracheal intubation was done in different manners. In the first team, all members did endotracheal intubation and stopped chest compression. In second group one person struggled and did an endotracheal intubation. Teamwork was not done in this simulation. As this procedure should need two persons at least. Teamwork and leadership were lacked. Resuscitation is a stressful, time-pressured procedure, and unfortunately if often futile. Care of a patient in the emergency setting is particularly prone to errors and adverse events for a variety of reasons. These include the time-pressured decision making, increased rate of patient interventions, and the fact that teams are â€Å"assembled† by the emergency call that may have never worked together, or even met each other, before. (Walker, 2013). Even though there were a well-known cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) algorithms among health care professionals, the results of CPR were remained poor (Hunziker, Johansson, Tschan, Semmer, Rock, Howell, & Marsch, 2011). Hunziker et al. (2011) indicated some other factors like teamwork and leadership affect the application of CPR algorithm and hence the performance of CPR, besides the technical skills of the resuscitation team members. Research has shown that teamwork and leadership training has been shown to improve subsequent team performance during resuscitation (Hunziker et al., 2011). History taking History was taken from a patient in this simulation. The nurse used OLDCART known as O-Onset, L-Location, D-Duration, C-Characteristics, A- Aggravating factors, R-Relieving factors, T-Treatment to obtain a history of present illness from the patient. Nursing care encompasses knowledge, skill, and competence to enable holistic patient assessment (Office of the Chief Nursing Officer (OCNO) (Ireland), 2016). Professional nursing care involves capturing, analyzing and interpreting patient information (OCNO, 2016), initially through the patient’s health history. Obtaining a detailed clinical history is a core competency of many advanced nursing roles (National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery (NCNM) (Ireland), 2008; Tagney and Younker, 2012; Apau, 2010; Quigley and Martin, 2013), in combination with the advanced physical assessment. Taking a comprehensive health history is a core competency of the advanced nursing role. The purpose of the health history is to source important and intimate knowledge about the patient, their lifestyle, social supports, medical history and health concerns, with the history of presenting illness as the focus and allow the nurse and patient to establish a therapeutic relationship ( Ingram, 2017). At the beginning of history taking, the nurse had established a therapeutic relationship with the patient. During assessing of chest pain, pain score was used to evaluate the severity of pain. This provided a common language between nurses and physicians. CONCLUSION Errors in communication continue to be a contributing factor in adverse patient events in healthcare systems (The Joint Commission, 2015). The systemic nature of the problem of miscommunication between healthcare providers supports the need for a standardized communication method. The SBAR tool is a simple, effective method for communication that operates across disciplines and is well- received by healthcare professionals (Blom et al., 2015; Nagammal et al., 2017). Use of the SBAR tool thus should be implemented systematically to improve healthcare communication and create a safer patient care environment. A study had shown that communication was still affected due to structure absence, loss of information and low adherence after implementation (Ludikhuize, de Jonge, & Goossens, 2011). As part of professional obligation and for a better outcome of patients, nurses and physician should discuss their communication level while giving care to the patient, communicate openly, in mutual professional respect, and share patient’s information. Moreover, these professional needs play a vital role in creating smooth and a well-defined communication channel (Hailu, Kassahun, & Kerie, 2016). Teamwork is an essential non-technical skill in the perioperative environment. Along with other key factors, it plays a vital role in safe and effective practice and should be fostered and encouraged through appropriate training and education. The model of teamwork training best suited to the perioperative environment is less clear. Great care must be taken to ensure that any model used offers the maximum benefit to patients and staff in terms of perioperative safety. Superimposing popular management techniques and training models from other sectors onto this inter-disciplinary, time and safety critical environment may not achieve the desired outcomes or represent the good use of limited resources. Recommendations It is clear that more research is required into what is the best model of teamwork training for the perioperative environment. While there have been some controlled studies, a methodology for robust RCTs must be developed in order to bridge the existing knowledge gaps around the clinical effects of teamwork training. Similarly, longer-term effects and the level of need for ongoing training and mentorship must be established. The key recommendation, however, relates to inter-disciplinary team training at the pre-clinical stage. The evidence set out in this paper suggests that inter-disciplinary training in simulation offers a range of benefits to perioperative staff, particularly in the areas of communication, cooperation, and team building. Similarly, interdisciplinary learning in healthcare education appears to promote collaborative working and greater understanding of professional roles. In the experience of the author, however, medical students do not take part in the simulated perioperative exercises which are a key aspect of the training and education of operating department practitioners. The integration of medical students at this level is something which is highlighted in the literature as potentially important in breaking down stereotypes and challenging the establishment of the medical hierarchy. Introducing interdisciplinary training which includes medical students, nursing students, ODP stude nts and allied healthcare students working together in simulated scenarios, could help to demystify aspects of the perioperative environment and to address barriers to teamwork and communication before they become established. Further research is required to explore the optimum form and duration of this approach to learning and to establish what if any, effects this has on the future clinical practice of participants. In this respect, the student environment would serve as an excellent testing ground. Roche, F. (2016) We propose that further studies on the effects of team interactions on the performance of complex medical emergency interventions such as resuscitation are needed. Future efforts to better understand the influence of team factors (e.g., team member status, team hierarchy, handling of human errors), individual factors (e.g., sex differences, perceived stress), and external factors (e.g., equipment, algorithms, institutional characteristics) on team performance in resuscitation situations are critical to improve CPR performance and medical outcomes of patients. (Hunziker et al., 2011).

Nike Business Strategy

Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 1 of 29 M-Prize winner This story is one of ten winning entries in the Long-Term Capitalism Challenge, the third and final leg of the Harvard Business Review / McKinsey M Prize for Management Innovation. Story: Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All by Lorrie Vogel – General Manager of Considered Design at Nike Inc. Co-Authored by Agata Ramallo Garcia October 17, 2012 at 1:29pm 18 36 0 Comments 2 Ratings: Overall 4 Innovative 4 Detail SummaryInnovation is a cornerstone of the Nike brand. Our company was founded by two visionaries, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, who set out to reinvent athletic footwear. Over the past decade, our drive to design and produce better, faster, lighter products has evolved into an even more ambitious agenda – to embed long term sustainability into our business. This broader vision calls for new approaches to design, managem ent, partnership and new tools and metrics to support integration and adoption throughout Nike. Many of Nike’s http://www. managementexchange. om/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 2 of 29 management innovations for sustainable growth started internally, with the Corporate Responsibility and Considered Design Teams. As internal efforts took hold, the focus expanded externally. Nike is now reinventing its supplier, industry and business relationships. It is leading industry efforts for systemic change and pursuing an agenda of truly disruptive innovation. Also you can read  Business Ethics ComprisesNike Dare to Dream video: http://vimeo. com/11680452 Moonshot(s) †¢ Develop holistic performance measures †¢ Make direction-setting bottom-up and outside-in †¢ Retool management for an open world Context NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned NIKE subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc. , hich designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro International Limited, which designs, distributes and licenses athletic and casual footwear, apparel and equipment, primarily for global football (soccer). In 2011, NIKE Inc. earned $20. 9 billion in revenues. NIKE Brand Footwear revenues in 2011 represented 55% of total NIKE, Inc revenues, followed by NIKE Brand apparel with 26%, and 5% for NIKE Brand equipment.Approximately 36% of NIKE, Inc. revenues were derived in North America, while the remainder are from across the globe. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 3 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchangePage 4 of 29 After decades of phenomenal growth and becoming one of the world’s top brands (Interbrand 2010), Nike intentionally shifted its strategy to integrate sustainability as a vehicle for growth. We have come a long way , from our association with the discontent of globalization in the late1990s (and subsequently establishing one of the first corporate responsibility (CR) departments), to setting the bar in embedding sustainability into business practice. We no longer view sustainability as option.Rather it is a business imperative, an innovation opportunity and a potential competitive advantage. As CEO Mark Parker notes: â€Å"The age of abundance is over. The definition of business performance is expanding. Innovation is being redefined. Expectations are being redefined. At Nike, we believe the world must innovate faster for growth that is good for all. † Triggers Innovation is our core competency. Starting in 1964, Nike’s founders, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, looked for ways to improve upon the Onitsuka Tiger running shoes they were selling.They weren’t just distributors, they collaborated on design ideas. The legacy of innovation in search of better, lighter, faster prod uct performance evolved and deepened over time. It drives every department, process and person in our company – from the product design process, through production, marketing and distribution. Phil and Bill had a vision that sparked and guided their innovation and approach. While the business has evolved and grown exponentially, that single-minded vision continues to feed innovative thinking, design and business practices today.In addition, several significant events in the 1990’s and early 2000’s prompted a shift in Nike’s vision and approach: the labor crises related to sourcing and manufacturing practices; and scenario planning, which surfaced potential vulnerabilities across the business. The company also went through a reorganization to align more closely to consumers. Within this change, the company moved to embed sustianbility across the company with finance and product teams taking a greater role in the process alongside our VP of CR.In the early 1990s, public reaction to labor practices in factories from which we sourced production triggered innovations in how we oversee and manage our supply chain. We took responsibility and developed stringent standards for our manufacturing partnerships – the Code of Conduct (CoC). While the CoC became a significant priority for us and our business partners, it was clear that there still was more to be done to oversee and manage our supply chain. We formed the CR committee of the Board. We disclosed our factory locations. We took measures o share information about our expectations and our progress against strict operational guidelines. These moves signaled our seriousness about the issue and our desire to move quickly and find solutions. The action with the greatest impact has been transparency. It has enabled us to better comprehend the problems and shape more approriate solutions.. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 2 1/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 5 of 29 We also recognized that corporate responsibility had to be a part of Nike’s business.We consolidated CR functions under the the newly created VP of CR position, led by Maria Eitel, which brought together our labor and environment strategies. By 2001, we established Nike’s Board of Directors’ CR Committee, set long-term environmental goals, and jointly published worker survey findings with the Global Alliance. These two important management shifts – the installment of an internal governance model and formalization of CR Reporting put us in the position to proactively manage our whole sustainability agenda. Nike was embarking on a journey to understand the true power of transparency, collaboration and governance.In December 2004, Hannah Jones, became our second VP of CR reporting to Mark Parker, who was then co-president of the Nike brand. Ma rk Parker soon become CEO of NIKE, Inc. In assuming the CEO position, he brought a passion and commitment for sustainability. Concurrent with these management changes, we entered into an internal cultural shift, recognizing that we cannot solve these challenging issues alone. The commitment to transparent, operation-wide sustainability morphed into embedding sustainability as a future business driver for growth.In 2007, Nike conducted (along with SustainAbility, a consulting firm) a scenario planning on global trends such as water, health, and energy, alongside increasing worldwide concern about climate change. This was not just about our sustainability strategy – it was part of our business strategy. We became acutely aware of our dependence on oil for materials and fossil fuel energy. We were vulnerable, as many companies are, to escalating oil prices and looming carbon restrictions from anti-climate change regulation. The waste production, use of materials and water by con tract manufacturers also posed major risks.All of these issues were deemed significant and highlighted the areas of our value chain and our business that had the most potential for innovation. It eventually led us to our long-term vision to build a sustainable business and create value for Nike and our stakeholders by decoupling profitable growth from constrained resources. The labor crises, the management shifts and the scenario planning exercise were all pivotal moments. Collectively, they triggered a commitment to drive sustainability into every aspect of Nike’s business. We have a new vision; we’ve redefined goals as in Nike terms, there is no finish line.It requires innovation in our design process, our production, our sourcing, our tools and metrics, and our whole team structure. Fortunately, innovation is in our cultural DNA and provides a strong foundation. Even so, embedding sustainability thinking in our strategy and then educating every person and evolving t he process in the company is a challenge that takes time, continual reassessment, and unerring commitment. Early on, we missed some signals and now we have much stronger tools, teams and a culture that is structured to make progress against our bold sustainability goals. It is clear to us that our long -term potential, and the long-term potential of virtually every other major company in the world, will be severely pressured by [these] external factors†, Parker contends. Key Innovations & Timeline Innovation is at the very heart of our culture at Nike. One of the cornerstones of innovation is a willingness and desire to learn. And, while we have learned much from our past and others have learned much from our experience, we believe the next era in the evolution from an industrial economy toward a sustainable economy will teach greater lessons than learned before.This evolution requires us to innovate faster, more radically, more disruptively inside of Nike and throughout out o ur whole ecosystem. It is a top to bottom, bottom to top, inside out and outside in innovation. In 2008, we produced a video for our design team. ‘Considered Design’ lays out a vision for the products we strive to produce. On screen, you see a close up of a runner’s shoes, pacing through puddles and mud. It evolves into a poetic series of athletes in action. Considered Design video: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=1WuyE_x8Vs8 http://www. managementexchange. om/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 6 of 29 The accompanying voiceover: â€Å"This is not a shoe, it is an ethos, a shoe reborn as a tennis court, or basketball or †¦ a better shoe†¦Why do [products] have a shelf life? What if †¦ there was a closed loop cycle? †¦A shoe can’t change the world, but an ethos can. † The video was intended to i nspire. It also set forth a mandate and a vision. How could Nike design products that have no shelf life?How can we reuse and reinvent products? How could we work towards a closed loop vision? This vision was the first important step in driving a new era of innovation. Our CEO Mark Parker has a vision to embed sustainability as an ethos, as a a catalyst of innovation to deliver product and services that deliver superior athletic performance and lower enviromental impact and ultimately drive profitable and sustainable growth for the company â€Å"It’s not about a few people making sustainable products,† says Nike Considered GM, Lorrie Vogel.It’s about making sure that every person in the system adopts a different world view, sense of purpose and approach to their job. † In order to embed sustainability and make it central to our ethos, we have made significant organizational changes, developed new tools and performance metrics, and redefined our relationshi p with suppliers and industry peers. We started with a focus on our own internal capabilities, knowledge and practices – our internal innovation phase. Over time, we have expanded our focus to include suppliers and industry peers – our external innovation phase.Internal Innovation Phase – Corporate Responsibility and The Considered Group In 2004, Nike’s various sustainability initiatives (including environmental responsibility) had not really worked their way into daily business decisions. CR was perceived as a risk management function not a valuable market opportunity. It was isolated from Nike’s business units as an add-on or layer to the business strategy and not as a core driver. The good news was that business unit managers spoke aspirationally about the potential of effective CR.Our team set the conceptual metric of return on investment squared or â€Å"ROI2† as CR’s new strategic compass, emphasizing that business decisions inc luded both financial and corporate responsibility returns – people, planet and profit. If CR delivered ROI2, it was helping the business succeed and improve its social and environmental footprint. We took a strategic approach to CR that emphasized value creation, collaboration with business units and proactive strategic planning. â€Å"We wanted to show how we could help them deliver returns on investment to our shareholders.The end goal for us had to be that businesses institutionalize CR into the DNA of the company so that CR is a living, breathing approach to how one does business. By organizing CR around ROI2, we hoped it would evolve from being seen as a cost to being an intrinsic part of a healthy business model, complete with profitability and sustainable growth. ROI2 is Nike’s measure of creating an exponential return from integrating corporate responsibility into our business. Take waste, for example.In FY05-06 we carefully documented and measured the amount of waste generated across our entire supply chain. In one year, the cost of waste across footwear alone was estimated at $844 million. Everyone is involved in initiatives to reduce our waste across the supply chain: from designers to chief financial officer to business partners. Less waste is better for margins and better for the environment. By using design to reduce our waste, we’re tapping one of our greatest resources – innovation – and fueling other insights and successes.This provided the backdrop to our evolution and to the targets we set over the course of the next five years. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2 %80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 7 of 29 â€Å"Under our CEO’s guidance and influence, the team began exploring where best to start integrating this strategy into Nike’s ecosystem. We focused on our product creation process and honed in on product design as a key intervention point.Due to its position at the beginning of the supply chain, the design function offered great opportunity to design out environmental issues. We wanted to help Nike â€Å"design the future†¦ as opposed to retrofit the past. † According to one of my colleagues the choice to work with designers was natural: â€Å"The designer’s job is to design the future. It’s natural that they would be huge champions of sustainability and they thrive on daunting, new problems. Also, because design is situated at the beginning of the supply chain, the design function is an opportune intervention point. In late 2005, the Considered Design ethos was formally embedded within our business strategy, with a focus on high-performing, aesthetically pleasing greener products. The Considered Group is a think tank, tool box, internal consultancy, competitive catalyst, and an antenna to the outside w orld. It serves as the hub of the Considered design ethos – consider the choices, consider the impacts. Their mandate is to provide inspiration, education, and the tools to drive sustainability best practices deep into Nike’s product creation units and processes.The team’s objectives include helping Nike assess the entire product lifecycle. The whole structure of Considered Design is thoughtfully designed to cultivate innovation. Instead of commanding and controlling how the business units implement sustainability, the team places responsibility for sustainability in the hands of designers. The team is a centralized hub with reach into key Nike functions. The hub’s spokes are product creation units, to which Considered disseminates knowledge, tools, and support. The team has both environmental and product creation expertise and collaborates closely with the related product engines.Considered’s GM, Lorrie Vogel, explained the organizing philosophy: â€Å"If you don’t know how to translate environmental knowledge into products and processes, you’ll always be outside of the product creation engine. † The Considered team was surprised by how difficult it was to create usable metrics for the product teams. They developed a holistic, predictive way to score products at different intervals throughout the development process. After 18 months of extensive work on developing the right metrics for the tools, the Considered Index was introduced in September 2007.The Index provided predictive metrics that would work uniformly across Nike’s varied footwear line. It evaluated a product’s bill of materials (BOM), a roster of all materials specifications for a shoe’s components, using Nike’s Materials Assessment Tool, an abbreviated life cycle analysis for raw materials. The Index scored environmentally preferred materials (EPMs) on multiple criteria including toxic hazard, energy and water usa ge, recycled content, recyclability, and other supply chain responsibility issues. As a learning and motivation tool for Nike’s product teams, the Index included a â€Å"Change Agent† category.Teams could win points for up to three new significant footprint-reducing product or process ideas. Lesser awards were also given to teams that adopted other teams’ recent innovations. The Index was carefully calibrated to reward only those products that performed above Nike’s historical averages, with Bronze representing baseline sustainability and Silver and Gold both qualifying as â€Å"Considered†; the distinction was purely internal. The Considered team planned to toughen the Index’s scoring over time. As one manager noted, â€Å"The intention is that we just keep raising the bar.As we do, business units will have to improve. † The Considered team trained product teams how to use the Index. It built a network of Considered â€Å"super-user s† who served as internal category experts on Considered questions and provided feedback to the Considered team. Through super-users, Considered would provide updates on noteworthy examples of inspirational implementation and innovation. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 8 of 29The Index ran on an intranet calculator. Product teams could self-score their products in a minute by entering their product’s BOM number and clicking checkboxes for design and process options. While teams scored their product at the end of the development process to receive an official Considered rating, many product teams used the Index at interim product gates. The very fact that the information and scoring was public was motivating. It cultivated peer competition and energized the pace of adoption and innovation. From the beginning, the team had visible CEO level support.As Vogel explained, â€Å"CEO Mark Parker believes that sustainability is the future of Nike. He also wanted to see the scores up on the wall so that we could really track and learn from the process. † Since Nike began setting targets years ago, we have learned the greatest opportunity to drive change is in the areas where we have the most impact. Materials create Nike’s greatest environmental impact. Nike also controls the design and became the area of focus to roll out the Considered Design ethos in 2009. This same methodology and rigor has been applied to design sustainability into the way we source and manufacture our products.Nike’s effort to drive further innovation throughout the company and integrate sustainability into the very core of our efforts is multifaceted. We have scripted a new vision. We changed the organizational structure and introduced a whole new department. We provided training and leverag ed technology. And, we encouraged healthy competition and celebrated successes. Even the best strategy comes to nothing without the commitment, people and processes to make it happen. Continuing to integrate sustainability into our business, rather than layering it on top of how NIKE, Inc. nd our brands currently operate, will increase and accelerate progress, drive scale and the proliferation of sustainable innovation, and enable broad employee engagement. At Nike, dedication to and accountability for sustainability begins at the top. In 2001, we formed a Corporate Responsibility (CR) Committee as part of our Board of Directors committee structure. The CR Committee has oversight of environmental impact and sustainability issues, labor practices and corporate responsibility issues in major business decisions.In FY06, we created a management framework to ensure executive accountability for corporate responsibility across the company. The Vice President for Sustainable Business & Inno vation (SB&I) reports directly to President and CEO Mark Parker, and co-manages dedicated teams with business and functional executives to develop and review policies with Board oversight, approve investments and evaluate and refine our approach and direction. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 9 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 10 of 29 The SB&I team acts as a catalyst for sustainability companywide. Made up of about 130 people, the team leads sustainability strategy development; provides content expertise and consulting to teams companywide; collaborates with sustainability specialists in other parts of the organization; drives ustainab ility integration; leads engagement with stakeholders; works to mitigate risk and facilitate compliance; and reports on our progress to scale the impact of sustainable innovation beyond Nike. Our new executive-level Committee for Sustainable Innovation also steers our efforts specific to innovation. In 2011, we launched an executive-level Committee for Sustainable Innovation. This group is chaired by our CEO and oversees our innovation pipeline and portfolio. It helps to fully capitalize on opportunities by accelerating adoption and bringing these activities to scale.Ultimately, the greatest measure of our success can be found in the finer detail of Nike’s culture. The very vocabulary of Nike designers has changed. We now hear team members say ‘ that’s an inconsiderate design’ in commenting on a product that does not meet the new criteria. External Innovation Phase – Materials Sustainability Index, GreenXchange, Sustainable Apparel Coalition As Nike advanced through a company-wide adoption of the Considered ethos, it became clear that for true, holistic change, we needed to focus beyond our own internal operations.To drive adoption and scale at an industry level, to ultimately change the marketplace for the better, Nike recognized the potential benefit in sharing knowledge, information and tools with suppliers, peers and other stakeholders. Four key initiatives show what we are doing to cultivate innovation outside the business: the Nike Material Sustainability Index (MSI), the GreenXchange, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, and the DyeCoo waterless dying strategic partnership. Nike Material Sustainability Index (MSI) http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 1/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 11 of 29 The materials in just our NIKE Brand footwear and apparel products come from 900 different materia l vendors (i. e. , supplier companies). We do not source directly with these vendors; they are independent companies that sell materials to our contract finished-goods manufacturers based on our design specifications. To drive sustainability improvements in materials, we focus on the part of the value chain over which we have the most control: product design.Decisions made in the product design phase determine the majority of a product’s environmental impacts. Nike teams design products with very detailed material specifications, and by providing those teams with the information they need to choose better materials from better vendors, we can improve the sustainability of our products. We are now working to take the Considered Indexes to the next level. We have been on a multi-year journey to refine the footwear and apparel Considered Indexes based on feedback from product creation teams.In addition, we have significantly upgraded the materials rating tool embedded in the Ind exes and are calling the new tool the Nike Materials Sustainability Index (Nike MSI). The Nike MSI is embedded in the Indexes that our designers and developers use to assess potential products, and it plays a pivotal role in product design. One major improvement in the Nike MSI is that it rates material vendors in addition to materials themselves, providing strong incentives for the vendors to become more environmentally sustainable.We score material vendors on criteria such as whether they are complying with the Restricted Substance List (RSL) testing requirements and the Nike Water Program requirements; if they take part in materials certification processes, such as the Global Recycle Standard; and whether they have ISO 14001 certification or operate out of certified â€Å"green† buildings. Rating higher on these types of criteria will increase a vendor’s overall Nike MSI score. The Nike MSI does more than rate our material vendors, however. It also scores materials according to (among other things) the chemicals required to make or process them.These scores enable our Nike product-creation teams to make more sustainable, less-toxic choices during product design. It also assigns sustainability scores to materials based on multiple criteria, including how much water is required to produce them and the water stewardship of vendors that process them. The Nike MSI creates a strong incentive for material vendors to enroll in the Nike Water Program and reduce their water-related impacts by recycling process water or implementing innovative low- or no-water coloring processes – as these activities help to increase their MSI scores.Water-efficient materials from water-efficient vendors receive more points on the MSI, and, therefore, stand a better chance of being selected by our product creation teams than other similar materials. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nikeâ₠¬â„¢s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 12 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchangePage 13 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 14 of 29 Materials are a substantial cost, so identifying long-term access to affordable materials that meet our environmental standards is key to our ongoing success and our ability to decouple materials from scarce resources. GreenXchange Over the past ten years of working on sustainability, we have come to understand the value of collaboration and shared knowledge.Without it, companies replicate efforts, reinvent wheels and often only make incremental progress. Nike w orked with the collaboration nonprofit, Creative Commons which also believe in the power of open innovation. Nike and Creative Commons share a vision of creating a digital platform that promotes the creation, sharing and adoption of technologies that can potentially solve important global or industry-wide challenges. GreenXchange, a web-based marketplace we founded with several other companies, was born in conversation leading up to the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2009, and launched in 2010.By using a set of standardized, free, legal tools, patent owners can make portions of their intellectual property portfolio available under a set of terms between the current choices of â€Å"all rights reserved† and â€Å"no rights reserved. † With GreenXchange patent licensing tools, patent owners open up a wide swath of technologies for research, development and innovative commercial uses. Patent users receive the rights they need to innovate, and patent owners receive credi t for their works – as well as the option to receive annual licensing payments.GreenXchange builds on a culture to create common spaces for innovative reuse, as well as standardization efforts for biological materials and scientific data. It also bridges some key gaps in the way that green technologies are developed and utilized. Many active R&D companies create green technologies that are not core to their business: they may represent good practices shareable across a large set of companies – sometimes even including competitors – but lack the business infrastructure to make those patents available for wider use.GreenXchange was our first foray into open innovation with other businesses, set up to allow organizations to collaborate and share intellectual property. We have gained significant insights from this collaboration which continue to inform our strategy to bring sustainability innovations to scale. The very concept of GreenXchange is a management innovat ion. Instead of taking a proprietary, short term approach to developing and controlling important information and sources, we have done the opposite. Nike continues to urge its peers to collaborate, and is leading the way through its own commitments.Sustainable Apparel Coalition Complementing our work to improve factory conditions, Nike is exploring ways to evaluate and communicate the environmental and social performance of individual products. We are doing this in cooperation with the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), a group of which we were founding partners. The SAC is an industry-wide group of leading apparel and footwear brands, retailers, manufacturers, NGOs, academic experts and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel and footwear products around the world. ttp://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth thatâ⠂¬â„¢s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 15 of 29 The SAC believes a common approach for measuring and evaluating sustainability performance is essential for driving a â€Å"race to the top† in the apparel supply chain. Apparel retailers and brands can compare the performance of products and upstream supply-chain partners, and those partners will have a single standard for measuring and reporting performance to their downstream customers.Eventually, this approach can provide a foundation for reporting to consumers on the environmental and social footprint of the products they purchase. Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the Coalition seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel and footwear product sustainability performance that will spotlight priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s vision and pu rpose are based on a set of hared beliefs: †¢ The environmental and social challenges around the global apparel supply system affect the entire industry. †¢ These challenges reflect systemic issues which no individual company can solve on their own. †¢ Pre-competitive collaboration can accelerate improvement in environmental and social performance for the industry as a whole and reduce cost for individual companies. †¢ This collaboration enables individual companies to focus more resources on product and process innovation. Credible, practical, and universal standards and tools for defining and measuring environmental and social performance support the individual interests of all stakeholders. DyeCoo waterless dying strategic partnership Nike recently entered into a strategic partnership with DyeCoo Textile Systems B. V. , a Netherlands-based company that has developed and built the first commercially available waterless textile dyeing machines. By using recycled carbon dioxide, DyeCoo’s technology eliminates the use of water in the textile dyeing process.With no water consumption or auxiliary chemical use, a reduction in energy use, elimination of drying and improving the process, the technology can enhance the quality of the dyed fabric and potentially revolutionize textile manufacturing. Our VP of Merchandising and Product, Eric Sprunk further explains, â€Å"Waterless dyeing is a significant step in our journey to serve both the athlete and the planet, and this partnership reinforces Nike’s long-term strategy and deep commitment to innovation and sustainability.We believe this technology has the potential to revolutionize textile manufacturing, and we want to collaborate with progressive dye houses, textile manufacturers and consumer apparel brands to scale this technology and push it throughout the industry. † Postlude In earlier years, we were about innovating solely to deliver optimal performance to our athletes, and strong financial returns to our stakeholders. We also had to react to risks and constraints in our ecosystem. Organizationally, the initial charge resided with the Vice President of the Corporate Responsibility Group.Over time, we made further changes to support, iterate and integrate the leadership vision thoughout the company. It meant an evolution in our approach. Now, our long-term vision is to deliver growth that is good for all – our athletes, our consumers, our investors, our suppliers, our partners, and the world in which we operate. We are using sustainability to redefine business performance and look to show the industry how we can embed sustainability into our approaches to product and manufacturing, and solve challenges in business and sustainability for the world.To enable adoption, our innovation strategy focuses on utilizing better processes, making better choices and bringing those choices to scale. We develop certain tools, such as the Considered Index, to drive our internal integration. We set targets that align to and support our strategy and have expanded our focus to our supply chain and industry peers. We work to optimize and improve our impact, and, at the same time, we innovate with a focus on changing the future. http://www. managementexchange. om/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 16 of 29 Timeline 1964 Blue Ribbon Sports founded by runners and revolutionaries – Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight -as a distrbutor for the Onitsuka Tiger footwear brand (now ACIS) 1971 Swoosh logo designed for $35. The Nike swoosh the spirit of the winged goddess who inspired the most courageous and chivalrous warriors at the dawn of civilization Year-end revenues reach $1million. 972 BRS founds Nike late 1970s Nike establishes headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, expansion internationally. 1985 Sock Racer ch ampioned Bowerman’s minimalist values with a breathable four-way-stretch upper, instead of layers of fabric, reducing weight and using less materials. 1988 Launch of ‘Just Do It† campaign and the reputation for unique and inspiring ads. Revenues exceed $1. 2 billion http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2 %80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 17 of 29 990 Niketown stores launched; Labor practices questions 1992 Nike’s first Code of Conduct published to guide practices in contract factories 1993 Nike launched its Reuse-A-Shoe program, allowing consumers to drop off any brand of worn out athletic shoes. Nike grinded the shoes and used the recycled material and manufacturing scrap in new sports surfaces. Since its launch, Nike has recycled more than 25 million pairs of athletic shoes. 1995 Nike began the journey of phasing out volat ile organic compounds (VOCs) or petroleum-derived solvents (PDS) from its footwear production, reducing the use of VOCs 90% in just over five years to 2001.Nike also started to manufacture its shoeboxes with 100% recycled cardboard. 1997 Nike committed to fully phasing out SF6, a global warming gas used in Air-Sole cushioning units. In 2006, Nike completed the phase out of all F-gases in Nike-branded footwear. Nike began to blend organic cotton into a range of t-shirts. 2000 Nike Woven started the conversation about using less adhesives and less waste while maintaining comfort, performance and breathability. The Standoff Singlet worn in Sydney was the first time Nike used 75% recycled polyester in a performance product. 001 CR Committee of Board established. Nike also established its first comprehensive list of restricted substances (RSL) to guide suppliers in the production of safe and legally compliant product. The RSLs were based on the most stringent worldwide legislation and al so included substances that Nike had voluntarily decided to restrict. 2004 Hannah Jones assumes role as VP, Corporate Responsibility. That year, Nike also developed an environmentally preferred rubber that contained 96% fewer toxins by weight than the original formulations.Also, Nike’s first retail introduction of apparel, the Men’s Fitness recycled polyester track suit, was made from 100% recycled polyester in a range of men’s fitness jackets and pants. 2005 Considered Design was formed as an ethos of the company to create products that address environmental impact by reducing waste, increasing the use of environmentally preferred materials and eliminating toxics. Nike introduced the Considered Boot, using a single shoelace woven between the leather parts of the upper, minimizing adhesives and allowing for easier disassembly. 006 Mark Parker becomes CEO 2007 Considered Index introduced. Also, the Nike Long Ball Slip-On was a unique performance-based shoe constr ucted without the use of solvents to hold it together. 2008 Nike launched the AIR JORDAN XX3, incorporating sustainability without sacrificing performance. That same year, the Air Pegasus 25, one of Nike’s most iconic running shoes, was designed to maximize efficiency. 2010 GreenXchange launched and some of the world’s leading football (soccer) players wore the most environmentally friendly and technologically advanced jerseys on the pitch. ttp://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 18 of 29 Also, Nike’s EADT software application enabled designers to make the most sustainable choices right at the start of the product creation process, in real time. The tool was created based on Nike’s internal Considered Index, tested and utilized since 2006, and released to the industry to support transparency and collaboration. 2011 Sustainable Apparel Coalition launched.Also, using a new fabric that’s both thick and soft, the women’s Nike Legend Pant was made from recycled polyester, material made from recycled plastic water bottles. The Nike Legacy GS Boardshort brought performance and innovation to the next level for the competitive surfer, while also lowering environmental impact. 2012 Implementation of Nike Materials Sustainability Index began. And, NIKE, Inc. announced a strategic partnership with DyeCoo Textile Systems B. V. , developer and builder of the first commercially available waterless textile dyeing machine. The technology eliminates the use of water in the textile dyeing process.Challenges & Solutions Challenges and Fixes Nike has faced a number of challeges in its efforts to integrate sustainability within product design and innovate a redefined future but it has led to us iterating, innovating and finding new ways to operate more efficiently, effectively and creatively: Uneven adoption of the Index and new vision. Even though corporate leadership held all categories accountable for achieving Considered targets, there was considerable variation in how quickly different groups have integrated the Considered Index and how well they operationalized the tool.Some businesses have faced greater challenges. Some businesses had a more entrenched resistance. Since then, Nike has integrated sustainability principles into its innovation processes, governance and portfolios to generate innovation that delivers products and services that combine performance, innovation and sustainability. Additionally, Nike has set a vision for what changes are needed in innovation, with its people and culture and in the way it works in two areas– in product and in manufacturing – that build on past achievements and on processes established to drive change. ttp://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-a ll 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 19 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 20 of 29 Perfromance risks in the adoption of new materials. There were a number of performance and aesthetic risks that Nike footwear faced in using EPMs such as synthetic leather.There was a potential performance risk, for example, that using recycled content could degrade physical properties like material durability, threatening Nike’s strict quality standards. One of the product creation directors in footwear described that with some EPM synthetic leather alternatives, the options weren’t very attractive: â€Å"Leathers look boardy and dry, and the textiles aren’t very interesting. † Today, rising input costs mean the need for i nnovation and technology has never been greater.Through innovative design, science, technology and process changes, our long term vision is to progressively design out waste, eliminate hazardous chemicals and non-renewable energy consumption. Innovation also allows us to design in new materials and new approaches to products. This vision has been built on years of assessing trends and materiality for Nike and the changes that are impacting our business, our value chain, our consumers and the world. In 2007, we undertook an assessment with SustainAbility some meta trends that have only become more relevant as we’ve shaped and defined our strategy.These meta trends highlight the areas of our value chain and our business that have the most potential for innovation. We use these filters in our work, our assessment of opportunity and the way we approach reporting. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nikeâ€⠄¢s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 21 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 22 of 29 ttp://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 23 of 29 http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 24 of 29 Added complexity. In most cases, Considered made the design process more complex. While designers liked to iteratively find the right design, Considered required thinking about pattern efficiency much earlier in the process.It required more planning, o ften took longer, and it was often harder to find designs that both looked â€Å"cool† and were efficient. â€Å"On most product decisions, it’s not lower in cost, better in performance, and more sustainable,† explained one category product director. â€Å"If it was that easy, that’d be great! So usually on every component of a shoe, there are tough decisions to be made. † A designer within the Cleated category noted, â€Å"We try to make designs look cool first, then run it by other filters like cost and Considered.We design in response to a lot of constraints, like price and performance requirements, and goals like cool looks and feel. More constraints makes the process harder and, maybe, slower. † Different from then, sustainable innovation is now increasingly at the core of the business. To hedge against the complexity, we needed to focus on identifying disruptive solutions in order to manage environmental impact and business risk. So, w hat does this mean in terms of the sustainability of our products? The truth is, it’s a challenge to figure out how to measure that.Rather than working toward a certain percentage of, say, recycled content in a finished product, we have worked to improve our base materials, and we are now creating systems that allow us to better assess the impacts of the resulting products. That said, we do already have some ways to measure our success. For example, over the past five years we have achieved a 19 percent reduction in waste related to the production of footwear uppers. Considered Design contributed to that gain, along with manufacturing process optimization and other best practices. That’s the same as not producing 15 million pairs of shoe uppers over that time period.Our use of Environmentally Preferred Materials (EPMs) – ones that have lower environmental impacts throughout their lifecycles in terms of chemistry, water, energy use and waste – provides ano ther strong indicator of our progress. We also learned that addressing symptoms doesn’t embed change so it focuses in on the earliest stages of the product life cycle. Time Given the extremely fast pace of product development in response to consumer trends and ongoing organizational change efforts, product creation employees didn’t have a lot of time for implementing Considered. We now recognize that ntegration is an imperative to address process changes so we redefined reporting structures, design and sourcing processes and created materials to help us better achieve superior products with lower environmental impact. Higher Costs The potential additional costs for developing greener footwear was another challenge facing Considered. Alongside the increasing cost of petroleum, adding EPMs made Considered design potentially even more expensive. Large product category teams had some success negotiating price reductions based on volume, but smaller categories struggled to overcome margin pressures.Because Nike is a growth copany, sustainability, today, becomes increasingly important to our growth strategy. As we have learned over the years, sustainability is not just a strategy for growth, but a competitive advantage. Supply Chain Partners Some contract manufacturers have been highly responsive to category requests for help implementing Considered, but others, either because of their size, prior capital investments in less-efficient machinery, management focus, or lack of technical capacity, were not able to nimbly and successfully execute the Considered design requirements.Because we now know that early intervention is key, educating factories on why a stable, competitive, well compensated workforce makes good business sense. Nike focuses on training, incentivizing and holding contract manufacturers accountable to its Nike standards and continues to raise the bar with each iteration of the Indexes. Nike’s new rating system, http://www. manage mentexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchangePage 25 of 29 the Manufacturing Index, looks comprehensively at a contract manufacturer’s total performance and includes a deeper look at how a factory approaches sustainability. This Index elevates labor and environmental performance alongside traditional supply chain measures of quality, cost and on-time delivery. Consumers Considered faced several challenges with consumers. For one, many consumers were skeptical that a running shoe made from EPMs would in fact perform as well as a shoe that was not.For example, one focus group initially was very receptive to a Considered running shoe, but after being told it was unusually â€Å"green† started viewing it as a lower performance product. Today, Nike is meeting consumer demands through performance, innovation and sustainability which drive superior product. The Flyknit technology is a good example of where performance meets sustainability. Nike Flyknit, which uses precisely engineered yarn and fabric variations to create a featherweight, formfitting and virtually seamless upper.It’s a new way to knit the multiple pieces of a shoe upper out of what is essentially a single thread. It’s great for the athlete because it is lighter and offers a more custom fit. It’s good for the planet because it drastically reduces waste from the upper production process. And shareholders stand to benefit from the reduced cost of production and potential for increased margins over time as the the innovation grows to full scale. It’s a nascent technology that holds tremendous opportunity.Nike FlyKnit video: http://nikeinc. com/news/nike-flyknit Marketing Nike had not yet figured how to market performance, aesthetics and sustainability in one complete package. There was internal debate as to whether Considered sh ould become its own brand within Nike, or simply a new dimension of the Nike brand. Ultimately, Nike decided that there would be no compromise to performance, no ‘green' line of products and that sustainability should not be a constraint but an innovation challenge for designers.Benefits & Metrics We know where we’ve been, and we know where we want to go. And we know that there is substantial work ahead. We continue to set the bar higher for ourselves and our business. We have evaluated our business model and our impacts across our value chain, have assessed the coming scenarios and challenges, taken account of our progress against past performance, and worked across our business to set targets embedded deeply into the way we operate. Many of the sustainability issues we seek to solve are still ndergoing innovation. Others are firmly in place and moving forward with needed changes. We deliver on our vision in two ways: †¢ Make today better by taking account of our impacts, driving efficiency and optimization †¢ Design the future by unleashing innovation, embedding sustainability into our approaches to product and manufacturing, and solving challenges in business and sustainability for the world Accelerated innovation. Our sustainability vision both inspired and drove us to reinvent our creative process.It accelerated and strengthened innovation as a core competency. http://www. managementexchange. com/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 26 of 29 Abillity to attract the best talent. Our success in pioneering sustainability in a holistic way, and to continue to deliver â€Å"the cool factor† and superior performance means we can attract the very best designers, engineers, strategists and marketers.Brand value and goodwill. After our CR challenges in the late 90s we have not only worked hard to regain the trust and respect of customers and industry peers, we have set forth a strategy to lead. We are proud to be a respected brand, design company, innovator and among those recognized as a leader in sustainability. Reduced costs of sustainable sourcing. By sharing best practices and providing open access to our tools and sourcing information, we are driving industry peers to adopt similar processes, materieals and metrics.This means we have the volumes to drive down the costs of what has been a more sustainable, but more costly source. Lessons Lead with a vision. Every person in the organization must understand and embrace a very specific idea of what the future beholds. Provide a specific example that illustrates the vision and engenders passion and a sense of purpose. As Lorrie Vogel says of the Considered Change video: â€Å" We created a concrete vision of what we wanted to be and we got that in front of every person in the company. † Secure Executive level support.To fu lly integrate changes throughout an organzation, it must be very apparent that the initiative has CEO level support – not just through words, and verbal endorsements, but through the actions and interactions that CEO has inside and outside the company. Set clear targets and metrics to measure success and track progress. Even if the initial measures are imperfect, its important to start to have some means of tracking progress and reinforce the learning. â€Å"If you don’t measure it, it doesn’t happen,† says Lorrie Vogel. http://www. managementexchange. om/story/nike%E2%80%99s-gameplan-growth-that%E2%80%99s-good-all 21/02/2013 Nike’s Gameplan for Growth that’s Good for All | Management Innovation eXchange Page 27 of 29 Provide the tools to facilitate the adoption process Very few individuals and organzations take to change easily. It’s human to be comfortable with what is known and to resist change that challenges the status quo. It is critical to provide the education, training and toolsets to engage people more easily and affect change. We embedded our training and tools within the existing system, leveraging existing processes as much as possible.We provide our product creation teams with extensive training in how to use the Considered Indexes and on the importance of focusing on the sustainability of materials. The teams are given scoring targets for each season of products they design. In the current version of the Considered Indexes, materials make up 35 percent of the score for footwear and 60 percent of the score for apparel, so it’s clear to the design teams that focusing on materials is an effective way to meet their goals. While the Considered Indexes have been sed primarily by the NIKE Brand, our Affiliate brands have also begun introducing and using them to evaluate their product designs and have committed to adopt the indexes by the end of FY15. For example, Hurley International scored select ed apparel designs in FY11. The designers and team members did not need to learn a new system in order to get the information they needed. Celebrate and reward success. The creation of incentives is another critical aspect of driving change. It is very important to incentive the right behaviors to make sure we achieve the change we want to see.Nike assigned innovation points to drive competition, and managed these through a living index, a forum that was pubic and enabled team members to gauge their success. It also fed a healthy competition between teams and efforts. Collaborate with others. Engage outisde experts to help formulate a vision and maintain an objective peer review. As Lorrie Vogel shares: â€Å"We engaged Natural Step to help develop our ‘North Star’. It is in the spirit of transparency and collaboration that we share our journey and hope that the the definition of business performance is expanding.We will constantly need to deliver innovations that evol ve our approach at Nike and share our lessons with the industry to affect the positive change. We hope the world innovates faster than expectations. We cannot achieve our bold goals for sustainability simply by delivering incremental improvements. Sustainability will be the catalyst in transforming business economies and markets, and we will continue to evolve our business to ensure we are able to grow profitably, and to lead. Credits Nike 2011 Sustainable Business Performance Summary: www. nikeresponsibility. om MIT Case Study: Nike Considered: Getting Traction on Sustainability by Rebecca Henderson, Richard M. Locke, Christopher Lyddy, Cate Reavis: https://mitsloan. mit. edu/MSTIR/sustainability/NikeConsidered/Documents/08. 077. Nike%20Considered. Getting%20Traction%20on%20Sustainability. Locke. Henderson. pdf Considered Design video: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=1WuyE_x8Vs8 Nike FlyKnit video: http://nikeinc. com/news/nike-flyknit FY10-11 Sustainable Business Performance Sum mary: www. nikeresponsibility. com Nike Dare to Dream video: http://vimeo. com/11680452

Importance of Stakeholders Essay Example

Importance of Stakeholders Essay Example Importance of Stakeholders Essay Importance of Stakeholders Essay The importance of stakeholders has increased over recent years. Previously, shareholders were deemed as the main consideration for organisations. After all, these are the people that invest in the company. This is known as stockholder theory and is closely associated with Milton Friedman (1970). Friedman believed that an organisations primary responsibility is to increase its profits for the benefit of shareholders. This was demonstrated in the Dodge v Ford Motor Company case in 1919. Henry Ford deemed that the company had made too much profit, and wanted to share these profits with the public (stakeholders potential customers) by reducing the cost of vehicles. However, shareholders challenged this development and won the case in the Supreme Court, when the court ruled that a business was for the purpose of making profit for its investors. This view has changed in the past 80+ years since this case. Whilst shareholders are an important element to an organisation, they are only one group of stakeholders that organisations have a duty to. It is now recognised that organisations have obligations to other groups that have a vested interest its operations. This change in thinking has led to the development of the stakeholder theory, advocated by Freeman (1984). This theory argues that there are a number of groups to whom businesses are accountable to when determining strategy and pursuing objective(s). The traditional belief is that only direct links to a business, such as shareholders, customers and employees have an input into organisational decisions. But as previously mentioned, stakeholders are not just internal to the organisation itself. When commenting on the importance of stakeholders, Halal (1996:64) referred to a stakeholder model of the organisation. This model views the organisation as a socio-economic system composing of various equally important groups, a view which links in with Freemans theory. Halal believes in the theory of the nature of the firm. In this theory, its stated that managers are dependent on stakeholders and have a need to combine the unique resource each stakeholder contributes, such as investor capital, talents of employees etc. This is a valid viewpoint and builds on the stakeholder theory by identifying the importance of such groups. An organisation that embraces the stakeholder theory is the ING group. In a speech at the Georgetown Business Ethics Institute in 2002, Ewald Krist, the CEO of ING stated: Greater influence is now put on organisations by external stakeholders, such as society itself. Shell fell foul of this in the early 1990s with its Brent Spar plant. The plant, decommissioned in 1991, was due to be dismantled by Shell and disposed of via Deepwater disposal. This created outrage from environmental groups with a belief that the seas should be kept clean. This led both Shell and the UK Government to look at alternate options, with Shell abandoning the deepwater plans in 1995. The plant was finally disposed of in 1999 after long discussions with various stakeholders, and the majority of the construction was used to form a new quay in Norway, a solution acceptable to environmental groups, along with other stakeholders. This showed that even large global companies had important stakeholders to answer to. Shareholders are still an extremely powerful stakeholder. Investors primarily concentrate on profit maximisation but this is not the most important consideration for other stakeholders such as customers, contractors or the local community. There have been numerous occurrences of shareholders ousting directors and chairmen. The most recent one occurred this month, when the chief executive of Deutsche Telecom, Kai-Uwe Ricke resigned after losing the support of key shareholders in the organisation (the German government and private equity firm, Blackstone). FT.com reported that support was lost due to poor results and plans to move 45,000 jobs to lower paid areas. This shows the difficulty in keeping all stakeholders happy. By moving the jobs, it should have increased the profitability of the organisation, and therefore would please shareholders. However, this conflicts with the unions viewpoint, which looks after the workforce and did not want to see profits increase at the expense of employees. Many organisations hit problems when trying to change their strategy. Even basic changes can be met with disdain from certain stakeholders, e. g.

Empowering The Leadership Of Women In Marketing With Jodi Duncan

Empowering The Leadership Of Women In Marketing With Jodi Duncan Which mentors and managers helped shape and influence you the most through the years? Who made you a better person and marketing professional? Are most of them smart, talented women? According to the Association of National Advertisers, 67% of the marketing industry is female. Today, my guest is Jodi Duncan, president of Flint Group. We discuss the current climate and ecosystem for women in marketing and business. What are some of the current challenges and opportunities that women face? Marketing agency trends and adapting to them biggest challenge is the digital movement; expectations and pressure related to measuring ROI and spending How to evaluate, identify, and implement tools and technologies for clients; don’t overlook the client’s objective and what they’re trying to do Creating content and related messages, then effectively communicating content through multiple channels that have different parameters Challenges of creating authentic content experiences; voice should match brand Flint’s best strategies to do high-quality work for clients and be a place where people want to work; communication is critical Progress needs to be made regarding concept of women in leadership and business; Women in Business blog series shares lessons and accomplishments Are you a good b*tch, or a bad b*tch? Women don’t always support each other; difficult for women to get leadership position and not be branded a bitch Show support and make an impact via direct conversations to address issues Men just need to ask women to participate, include them, and offer opportunities to express their opinions Women entering the workforce need to pay attention, watch, learn, ask questions, and speak up Links: Flint Group Women in Business Blog Series by Jodi Duncan A Diversity Report for the Advertising/Marketing Industry - And A Call to Action Skype Sheryl Sandberg Write a review on iTunes and send a screenshot of it to receive a cool swag bag! If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Jodi Duncan: â€Å"The biggest challengeis the whole digital movement.† â€Å"Content is just a whole other animal. Not only what content you want to get out there and what the messages are, but how do you effectively communicate that content.† â€Å"It’s sort of a battle to get into those leadership positions when the biggest naysayers are other women that you work with. They’re not necessarily your best cheerleaders.†

25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers - Freewrite Store

25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers - Freewrite Store 25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers 25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers - Freewrite Store 25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers It’s such a liberating thought that there is no one way to express your creativity as a writer. As fast as this feeling comes, it’s replaced by the daunting task of putting pen to paper. Everybody has a story to tell. A story that the whole world needs to hear. If you’re struggling to get those words out, or you just want some inspiration, this collection of thoughts, musings, and writing tips should help. "Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone is a writer. Some are written in the books, and some are confined to hearts." -Savi Sharma We collected 25 time-tested writing tips from bestselling authors from today and days past. 25 Writing Tips From Famous Writers 1. â€Å"Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too.† -  Isabel Allende The works of Isabel Allende have sold over 70 million copies and been translated into 35 different languages. The Chilean writer is famous for novels such asThe House of the Spirits (1982) andCity of the Beasts (2002). She brilliantly weaved together elements of myth and realism, often relating to her personal experiences as a woman. Allende went on to say, â€Å"I need to tell a story. It’s an obsession. Each story is a seed inside of me that starts to grow and grow, like a tumor, and I have to deal with it sooner or later.† 2. â€Å"This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.† - Neil Gaiman Source:Pens, Rules, Finishing Things And Why Stephin Merrit Is Not Grouchy Following the advice of Allende, Neil Gaiman suggests putting one foot in front of the other. When a young writer asked the author how to take the last steps towards finish his stories, Gaiman offered this advice, â€Å"How do you finish them? You finish them.† Gaiman’s work has been honored with many awards including the Newbury and Carnegie Medals. 3. â€Å"If you’re using dialogue, say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.† -John Steinbeck A Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck has written a plethora of wisdom. Even if you’re not an avid reader, you’re probably familiar with Steinbeck’s most significant works. His novels,The Grapes of Wrath andOf Mice and Men defined the American Great Depression. Reading your text aloud to yourself helps to ensure that it flows like a conversation. 4. â€Å"If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.† -Elmore Leonard Steinbeck and Leonard share similar writing wisdom. Whether you choose to read it aloud or rewrite it, take their advice and find a way to make your writing sound less like†¦ writing. 5. â€Å"Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.† -Zadie Smith As writers, it’s crucial that we protect our personal space from the multitude of distractions we are faced with every day. Roommates, friends, family, work, and the neighbor's dog all can make it difficult to produce your best work. If you’re available to everybody and everything, you will feel drained and fatigued. When it comes to your work, you're not in the wrong for protecting your personal space. 6. â€Å"In the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.† -Rose Tremain Many writers will disagree with this quote. If you start with the end in mind, and that works for you, then maybe this advice isn’t for you. Rose Tremain, the English novelist suggests you earn the ending based on what you've developed beforehand. 7. â€Å"Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.† -Will Self Will Self has authored ten novels, five short stories, three novellas, and five collections of non-fiction writing. The English novelist isn’t the only writer to carry a notebook at all times. Never forget that fleeting idea that could be your next great novel. Without writing them down, those forgotten thoughts will only come back to distract you and hold your mind prisoner. Self is in good company. Richard Branson, the English business magnate, carries a notebook everywhere he goes. The billionaire considers himself a student of life. 8. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." –Leonardo Da Vinci You can find  hundreds of writers who elect to use more straightforward language to get their point across. Sometimes, we assume that a bigger vocabulary means better writing, but that’s simply not true. Here are a few more quotes to get the point across. â€Å"Writing isn’t about using words to impress. It’s about using simple words in an impressive way.† - Sierra Bailey â€Å"If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.† - Albert Einstein 9. "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway The goal of every writer is to find their flow state AND stay there.   The Freewrite is a manifestation of Hemingway’s idea. Ernest Hemingway suggests you sit down at your writing device and, figuratively, bleed. Let the thoughts flow, regardless of how difficult that may be. Leave the editing for later. 10. â€Å"You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.† -Jack London Jack London went on to say, â€Å"and if you don’t get it, you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.† Jack London, an avid adventurer, found inspiration in all of his travels. He inspired generations of people to leave the comfort of home and explore the world. Don’t just sit back and wait for an idea to hit you. Go after it, and don’t forget your club! 11. â€Å"Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.† -Henry Miller How many unfinished novels do you have sitting on your hard-drive, aging like fine wines? We all do this. Dream up a brilliant idea, get a few thousand words into it, only to be whisked away by the next distraction. We all like to think that we’re capable multitaskers. However, multiple studies have shown that handling various tasks at once is not only damaging to the brain but also your career. Put your full creative energy into one project at a time. 12. â€Å"If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time - or the tools - to write. Simple as that.†Stephen King Stephen King has published a whopping 56 books as of today (5/7/18). The award-winning author still finds the time to read 70 books a year. He takes advantage of every idle moment in lobbies, waiting rooms, and checkout lines. What’s Stephen’s trick? Teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows. Source:Stephen King: The Craft Of Writing Horror Stories 13. â€Å"Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.† -Anton Checkhov I want you to close your eyes. Now imagine two scenes: 1. The moon is shining. 2. A glint of light from the moon shines on the broken glass. Now, which one is more descriptive? Which scene is more enticing? I’d choose the latter, and I’m sure you would too. This quote is a classic case of â€Å"show, don’t tell.† Showing makes your writing far more interesting to read. Help move the reader along by adding some imagination and color to your passages. 14. "Never use a long word where a short one will do." -  George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English writer famous for the novels1984andAnimal Farm. In the absence of skill, using long words makes you look pretentious. They also are awkward to read and interrupt the reader's flow. 15. "A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it." -Edgar Allen Poe Edgar Allen Poe is most noted for his poem, "The Raven." In books, you have time to let the story develop and breathe. You can risk adding details that you deem necessary. When writing short stories, you  must condense an entire story into a few pages. There isn’t any room for sentences that don't lead to the ending. 16. "Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." -  Ray Bradbury   When I was 16 years old, I decided that I wanted to work in content creation and online marketing. I took it upon myself to watch every video and read every book  pertaining to writing and copy-writing. Eventually, I stumbled upon a video of Seth Godin offering advice to young college graduates. He left me with a lesson that I will NEVER forget. He said, â€Å"move fast and break things.† That inspired me to start my first blog. It quickly grew to 5,000 monthly page views. My first blog posts were horrendous, but I quickly learned what worked and what didn’t. Bradbury offers similar advice. Spend every free minute writing, even if you don’t plan to share it with the world. 17. â€Å"Every sentence must do one of two things reveal character or advance the action." -Kurt Vonnegut In his 50-year writing career, Vonnegut published 14 novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five works of non-fiction. Combine Vonnegut’s and Poe’s advice into a single statement, every sentence of a short story must do one of three things reveal character, advance the action, or build towards a single mood. 18. â€Å"The historian records, but the novelist creates.†E. M. Forster Great novelists have the unique ability to invent their reality. E.M Foster, an English novelist, examined class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th century British society.A Room With A View, one of his most famous works, was turned into an award-winning movie in 1985. 19. â€Å"Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.† -William Faulkner If I could offer you only one piece of advice for becoming a better writer, I would suggest this - read and write a lot. As you read and write more, you develop a better understanding of what is good and bad writing. William Faulkner, an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate had an insatiable drive to keep writing and was never completely satisfied with his work. 20. "You can fix anything but a blank page.† -Nora Roberts Putting pen to paper is a recurring theme in this article. We’ve heard Hemingway, Faulkner, Bradbury, and now Roberts offer similar advice. One of my favorite mentors, Jim Rohn, said, â€Å"Success leaves clues.† People who produce outstanding results do specific things to create those results. As writers, there are many ways to skin a cat, but the commonalities of successful writers remain. 21. â€Å"You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.† -Maya Angelou I know I’m not the only one to struggle with finding a quiet place inside myself. I’ve tried everything from locking myself into a dark room, to hiding my cell phone, and listening to my favorite music. My secret path to the muse is listening to Binaural Beats. As I write this article, I’m listening to the soothing sound ofDelta Waves for Deep Healing Sleep. 22. â€Å"When you’re stuck, and sure you’ve written absolute garbage, force yourself to finish and THEN decide to fix or scrap it - or you will never know if you can.† -Jodi Picoult Jodi Picoult, an American writer, has sold over 14 million copies of her 24 novels. Until you push your own self perceived boundaries, you'll never know how far you can go. Source:Jodi Picoult: The million-selling novelist on carving out time for writing and the influence of Gone With the Wind 23. â€Å"You have to actually write. Daydreaming about the book you’re going to write someday isn’t writing. It’s daydreaming. Open your word processor and start writing.† -  Andy Weir Les Brown, a world famous motivational speaker, has in my mind one of the most inspirational quotes of all-time. â€Å"The graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.†   - Les Brown If you want to be a writer, you have to write and write and write. It starts with one. One character, one word, then one page. They key is, you have to start. 24. â€Å"I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged.†-Erica Jong Erica Jong is an American novelist and poet best known for her 1973 novel,  Fear of Flying.She shared her battle with finishing her work. For many writers, their works are their most personal possessions. Take solace in the fact that there is somebody out there who needs your writing. Why take a chance that they may never get to read it? 25. â€Å"Ignore all proffered  rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say.† -Michael Moorcock Source:Michael Moorcock’s rules for writers A few years back, The Guardian asked some of the most esteemed contemporary authors for any golden rules and writing tips they bring to their practice. Michael Moorcock isn’t the first writer to operate under the idea of â€Å"writing what you want†.   First, make yourself the audience by telling a story you would want to read. This is a fitting quote to leave for the end. Perhaps Mr.Moorcock has written the final rule on succeeding as a writer. Did you find these writing tips useful? Now it’s your turn to take this inspiration and make it your own.    Carlton Clark loves to write about business, baseball, and popular culture. A writer, marketer, and entrepreneur. At the age of 14, he founded the media company  ballplayerplus.com. Currently, Carlton helps businesses share their stories through social media and blogging. When he’s not writing or creating content, Carlton coaches youth baseball at his local high school and plays guitar. You can find him online on Instagram @itscarltonclark, and on Twitter @carlton_mukasa