SusCamp ’08 – Vision

Better late than never! I had the opportunity, a few weekends ago, to attend an unconference in Toronto called Sustainability Camp. SusCamp was a full day of seminars, networking and a deliciously sustainable lunch!

Here is a tidbit of what I learned in a session with Mark Federman, as well as some sites to add to your RSS reader of choice, and some interesting people to follow on Twitter.

Accountability

Federman talked about vision. When asking a CEO to talk about vision, that CEO could go on forever. Vision, however, is the only one of our sensory perceptions that operates at a distance and requires separation. Vision is always the future, ie, we never have to accomplish it. What kind of accountability exists with vision?

Instead, Federman suggests that touching is a more appropriate sensory metaphor. He often asks CEOs what their “tactility statement” is, rather than their vision statement. He urges them to get talking about the effects they create TODAY – primary, secondary and unexpected. This effective theory, who/how you’re touching, gives way to greater accountability.

This is of course not even a sliver of what Federman presented us with, but a little gem worth sharing nonetheless. If you’d like to explore his Valence Theory in more depth, start here.

Here are a few more fun bits from the day:

Vert Catering served up delicious organic sandwiches and provided 100% compostable cups!

Caught a glimpse of Espresso and United Way’s GenNext project which looks pretty damn cool!

Mark Federman’s blog – he’s posted about a few of the sessions.

Interesting Twitter folk to follow: @ryantaylor, @ ethicalcoffee, @tamera and @jasoneano