The IAECM Needs a Steering Committee!
This week, I’ve been thinking out loud on this blog about how to start a brand new international organization to serve the needs of marketers who work to advance an environmental agenda. It’s a big and complex task, and I’m hoping to take the time to get it right.
But this is not going to be my private fiefdom. It’s going to be a community, a support network, and a joint effort.
There are a lot of questions to hash out. I’ve posted some of them here in the last seven days, and here are a few more:
And some longer-term questions, like
To grapple with these questions, we need some sort of structure. I propose a Steering Committee of between five and ten people who are willing to devote some energy to this. Ideally, we’d meet once or twice a week via teleconference or Skype for an hour or so and hash out some of these things, starting in mid- to late July (I’m about to go on vacation until then). If you’d like to be part of the exciting process of birthing a new organization, drop me a line: shel at principledprofit.com, and use the subject line: IAECM Steering Committee.
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
A couple of the things you mentioned were topics I feel I can offer a few ideas on, so here goes:
Price structure: I guess this ultimately depends on what the expenses are going to be for the staff, the website, printing, other overhead, etc. I think yearly dues would be appropriate, and I think this needs to be per individual. I would suggest a sort of a furlough where for the very first 3 to 6 months, the people who join get a significantly reduced rate because as you said, they won’t see an early benefit from such an organization. That lower price is the incentive.
Member Numbers: I don’t think there is any such thing as “too few” people to start a regional chapter. If it’s structured so that leadership changes once a year, it will give everyone a chance to lead without being power hungry, and I think this will help grow the membership, it will also keep people from staying away because they dislike the chapter leader, who is there year after year and never leaves. I think the Rotary Clubs operate in this fashion, everyone gets to lead at some point. For the local chapters, unless we’re talking about thousands of members per region (and maybe we are), there probably is no need to get too elaborate with chapter structure. A leader, a secretary and a treasurer…and what else would be needed, maybe a person devoted to event plannng? If this is about networking, seminars, maybe occasional happy hours locally, and learning from each other, we just need someone to make sure the trains run on time.
One idea I’d like to throw out there and see if it sticks at all is a Mentorship program of some sort. This is probably better suited for college age kids, but how about some sort of program where we get a network of college marketing students, or even environmental studies students, and we get them involved in our programs, and our businesses to an extent. This is a great way to offer another layer of networking for us and for the students, they get some real life experience, and they learn about green principles in business before they get out college, rather than learning about two or three years out of college. This would require a lot of thinking and planning to be sure. Maybe this concept would be more manageable at the local chapters level.
That’s my input for one night. I trust I’m on the steering committee list, so I won’t fill your email box with another email. I’m available in mid-July or whenever else if I can be helpful.
Steve, these are GREAT ideas, thanks so much. I love the idea of a mentorship program that could also provide interns for tasks–but for the mentor and for the organization (perhaps on a ratio of 75/25%.
A couple of the things you mentioned were topics I feel I can offer a few ideas on, so here goes:
Price structure: I guess this ultimately depends on what the expenses are going to be for the staff, the website, printing, other overhead, etc. I think yearly dues would be appropriate, and I think this needs to be per individual. I would suggest a sort of a furlough where for the very first 3 to 6 months, the people who join get a significantly reduced rate because as you said, they won’t see an early benefit from such an organization. That lower price is the incentive.
Member Numbers: I don’t think there is any such thing as “too few” people to start a regional chapter. If it’s structured so that leadership changes once a year, it will give everyone a chance to lead without being power hungry, and I think this will help grow the membership, it will also keep people from staying away because they dislike the chapter leader, who is there year after year and never leaves. I think the Rotary Clubs operate in this fashion, everyone gets to lead at some point. For the local chapters, unless we’re talking about thousands of members per region (and maybe we are), there probably is no need to get too elaborate with chapter structure. A leader, a secretary and a treasurer…and what else would be needed, maybe a person devoted to event plannng? If this is about networking, seminars, maybe occasional happy hours locally, and learning from each other, we just need someone to make sure the trains run on time.
One idea I’d like to throw out there and see if it sticks at all is a Mentorship program of some sort. This is probably better suited for college age kids, but how about some sort of program where we get a network of college marketing students, or even environmental studies students, and we get them involved in our programs, and our businesses to an extent. This is a great way to offer another layer of networking for us and for the students, they get some real life experience, and they learn about green principles in business before they get out college, rather than learning about two or three years out of college. This would require a lot of thinking and planning to be sure. Maybe this concept would be more manageable at the local chapters level.
That’s my input for one night. I trust I’m on the steering committee list, so I won’t fill your email box with another email. I’m available in mid-July or whenever else if I can be helpful.
Steve, these are GREAT ideas, thanks so much. I love the idea of a mentorship program that could also provide interns for tasks–but for the mentor and for the organization (perhaps on a ratio of 75/25%.
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