Eco in Germany: The Econsense Forum , Berlin 2010

"Are you on the guest list?" Nope, I said. But my interest in the green management is so great that I am skipping all traditional tourist shopping just to come here, join you, and communicate back to Norway what is being said and discussed. Yep, I got in. :) The Econsense Forum, all men in suits, and me - a "journalist" slash blogger from Norway, previously being an editor of my own printed magazine by Art Council Norway for three years, though. No writer anymore, no editor anymore. Just me, an environmentalist. A CRAZY such one, and therefor - I GOT IN! Fabtastic, the Econsense! But seriously: Even though my ears only catched 50 percent of the german language all through the seminars, my eyes and their expressions and the logo "im dialog" made me understand maybe a hundered percent of this fantastic opportunity; a dialogue forum! Finally. The germans know, how to bring awareness to an upper management level. The dialogues between the leaders of firms and multinational companies, it all made me gaze and listen like never before, like my german knowledge from high school suddenly all came back to me. Because, they were on it. The leaders were on, discussing enthusiastically about serious mistakes in business and serious solutions. What immediately came to my mind, is that the movement called Corporate Social Responsibility no longer belongs to just a minor sector in business. Now big businesses are discussing it, too, and at this forum - ambassadors of many countries from all over the world entering Econsense. And this is giving what kind of signals? Of course: They know that they have to change for surviving in the turbulence of today's market and social changes. And of course to keep up with the green trends. Making strategies further from the functional management education. The creative education is on. The hybrid organizations are on. And, finally the social leader is on. This is just one more SIGNAL, that the world is aware of the upcoming changes on ALL areas in life; business and personal. It is on topic.

To get into their discussions abit, I would not put a resumé of their endless talks, but rather give a few examples of a common discussion here which is probably everyone's concern.  One is money and strategy. To change in business, there is always risk. What the leaders of Econsense were discussing, was not that their will of change is lower or less than any other environmentalist out there. Because quite surprisingly, everyone seemed to agree on the same thing; they all want to "become greener". But the question is always "how", and always "at what risk". Then first of all we must not forget, the financial and cost-benefit risks. Before entering these rooms, several leading companies of Germany had published a long report from 2009 with aspects and reviews of their implemented green-social sustainability and improving technologies in environmental-friendly, internal managing. These reports showed the balance and the income and the benefits of the 2009 changes. They also gave some future predictions and ambitions. So when entering the conference, none of these firms came with fresh pen and blanc papers. They were all adjusted and "educated" in their own company experiences. The debate further on, was whether or not the balances showed them any "likes" of taking more ambitious risks. The speekers were a couple of scientists, firm leaders with great background on resources, foresighters and reps from the European Union. To lead the debate, I noticed that they questioned other company managers more in depth on behalf of the science of resources and financial crisis. The negative responses always came when the scientists proved them how easy things are in the logic of what we have damaged and what we easily need to do, while the positive responses and raising eyebrows always came when the scientists told them how much other green companies have gained by improving their corporate responsibility. So conclusion on this observation is: They/We, all know the irresponsible style has damaged the flow. And they/we all want to get back the flow we used to have, and the better and greener solution there is - the more positive. So from talks to practice : It is not very far to walk from the table to the backyard and find all what we are looking for. Everyone CAN be happy, the problem is just to turn around the view and see WHERE is the solution, because it is just there in front of every non-creative businessleader who's just not able to see where the road split. And he or she is always happy when served.

Final conclusion of this bubbly meeting, except delicious meals and talks with ambassadors where I felt I could even touch their tie and stretch it a bit ..:)..is that there is no one out there with inhuman ambitions! Even the most conservative can turn into the greenest car driver if he'd only be presented of a few brilliant pitstops where his car can be restored and charged.

Lufthansa is at it.

Volkswagen is at it.



Vodafone is at it.



Deutsche Bahnhof (the Train service)



Market, People, World, Company. What It Tells We Must Do.