How can we design businesses that build healthy, long-term relationships?

Welcome fellow entrepreneur! In this post, we’ll explore how you can create businesses that are both globally successful and socially responsible.

Businesses are really all about lifelong relationships with people—they depend on you communicating well with specific individuals in your target audience, your ability to genuinely connect with their cultural values, and the relevance of your core mission for local communities both within and outside your company.

Meaningful relationships are critical because people join people, not organizations.

Fostering lifelong customer relationships is fundamental and might seem obvious, but one Harvard Business Review article in 2014 suggests that companies do struggle with putting these basic social skills into practice:

“Clients who want to be treated more like a friend may be treated like just a party for exchange, rather than a unique individual…customers are frequently frustrated by a company’s inability to meet their relationship expectations, and on the other side, companies do not always know how to translate the data they have gained…into a feasible plan of action” (Source).

During your last birthday or holiday, did you receive a gift or something special that you really enjoyed?

Would you agree that it was personally relevant, met your expectations, and was especially meaningful?

Now imagine instead that you received a teeny, tiny pair of plush pink bunny slippers from your grandma. Really, only a toddler could fit into them. What would you think of your grandma after she gave you this strange gift?

And what if—even after telling your grandma multiple times over the phone that you’re in high school now—she still keeps asking you if you finally learned how to tie your shoes?

Most businesses, like your hypothetical grandma, make these relationship mistakes unintentionally. They really would like their customers to be happy and wish that they could respond to your feedback appropriately. But there’s one central problem getting in everyone’s way: they don’t really understand you and what you personally value.

We can have the most advanced technology, and yet it means nothing if we don’t understand the social realities, physical spaces, and community values that customers experience. Feedback or data comes from people, and it’s only by understanding people’s experiences throughout all areas of the business that we can make informed decisions. This contextual knowledge is essential since numbers and other analytics are meaningless without it.

But how can we continue to stay socially conscious in a diverse and globalizing world?

It depends…there are no easy answers. One potentially useful approach adopts a design perspective.
Design methods engage the people that matter: local communities and key stakeholders. They involve communicating with your target audience, connecting with their local context, and making your business relevant. In short, you go through a collaborative process that requires getting feedback while tailoring your business model.

Acclaimed Design Management Researcher, Alan Topalian, explains this socially conscious approach below:

“When design professionals harness the expertise of key stakeholders and work effectively together through iterations and validations to generate approved solutions, that is a good demonstration of optimization, given the time and resources available. By contrast, it is not productive to characterize designerly approaches to solving problems by seeking to fit reality around fashionable ideas” (Source).

Socially conscious businesses are designed by engaging local communities and promoting healthy, long-term relationships. It’s a collaborative learning process that involves openness at a professional and personal level.

With these youth social entrepreneurship values at heart, the African Leadership Academy and Global Leadership Adventures is putting together their South Africa: One Nation, Two Worlds™ program. This is one promising avenue for you to gain practical experience with cross-cultural business design. And there’s nothing stopping you as an entrepreneur from exploring your local community, discovering any pressing needs, and immediately diving right into your passion.

What kinds of practices do you think make a business socially conscious? We’d enjoy hearing what you value!

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Contributed by Nick Fochtman

Are you familiar with what coasteering is? Well, you’re about to be! Coasteering is an incredibly exciting summer activity for teens. In fact, you might already do something similar without even knowing it. If you’re looking for a neat way to spend your summer with friends and family, coasteering is something you should absolutely experience. But first, here’s a quick look at what it is!

What is Coasteering?

It’s basically a trip along any rocky coast. It includes, but doesn’t have to be limited to, climbing, swimming, and jumping. One key component is the opportunity to explore marine life along the intertidal zone. In essence, though, coasteering is a coastline adventure without a boat, canoe, or kayak.

So why is it perfect for teens? Here are five great reasons coasteering is the perfect addition to your summer plans.

It Appeals to the Adventurer Inside

If you like adventures, then you’re sure to find one in coasteering. It takes the very best of what adventures should include – climbing, hiking, traversing, swimming, and jumping into deep water – and throws them all together in one epic experience.

It Challenges Your Comfort Zone

A little scared of heights but love the thrill and sense of accomplish you feel after conquering your fear? Coasteering offers the perfect opportunity to press your limits without exceeding them. If jumping into the ocean from a rock 20 feet in the air seems too extreme, you can opt for a 10-foot jump or skip the dive completely.

It’s a Great Team-building Activity

Love working with others? Coasteering provides a social element that isn’t found in most other sports and activities. Helping hands and boosts create a sense of togetherness that’s hard to forget once the trip is over. In fact, many people wear action cameras, like a GoPro, so they can record the experience and visit it again later.

It Gets You in Shape

Coasteering is an incredibly fun, and sometimes challenging, physical activity. You’ll have to move and explore the coast in new ways, sometimes utilizing muscles you haven’t used much before. The functional fitness required to boulder, hike, climb, and jump is great and these skills are absolutely transferable to other areas of your athletic life. Further, these help you build strong upper and lower body muscles, as well as develop a strong core. So if you’ve got a big family beach trip coming up or plan to participate in fall sports, coasteering can help prepare you.

It Offers the Opportunity for Learning

In addition to all the fun, there’s educational value in coasteering as well. Coastlines are often neglected as educational opportunities in favor of tourism during the summers. However, you can learn so much about geography, rock formations, marine and animal life, and other scientific topics while on your coasteering adventure.

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Contributed by Amanda Vosloh Bowyer

Remember the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the global media coverage it received?

Have you ever wondered what after effects children in Haiti still face today?

Following the 2010 earthquake, this Haitian child received aid aboard the USNS Comfort (Public Domain Image)

Welcome, global volunteers! Let’s dive into the story and rippling effects of the 2010 earthquake on Haitian youth.

The earthquake was a catastrophic natural disaster that affected an estimated 3 million Haitians. The actual death toll is widely debated and ranges from 100,000  to 316,000 people with many more injured. Findings from the Haitian government suggested that about 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were damaged. But that’s only the initial effects, Haitian children have experienced ongoing challenges that were made worse by the earthquake. Here are 6 social, political, and economic aftershocks facing Haitian youth today:

Haiti Map created by the UN OCHA and modified under a Creative Commons License

1. Sanitation and Clean Water Access

Following the mass destruction in Port-au-Prince, all of the capital’s hospitals were destroyed along with 50 health care facilities in total. Public utilities also suffered severe damages which greatly limited Haitian peoples’ already scarce access to clean water. Despite the efforts of volunteers worldwide over many years, Oxfram International expressed the difficult challenge facing Haiti’s youth in their 2010 briefing paper: “Well before the earthquake, Haiti suffered from extreme poverty, gross inequality, chronic political instability, and weak, corrupt state institutions.” Haitian youth live within this reality: recovery is a slow process and will still take many more years to happen.

2. Disease Outbreaks

Haiti’s lack of public health resources and earlier political challenges made them especially vulnerable to disease epidemics. Beginning months after the earthquake, Haiti experienced a devastating cholera outbreak that continues to threaten Haitian youth today. Since the media and most relief efforts stopped reporting on Haiti around 2013, recent information about the disease’s impact isn’t readily available. Although, a Boston Globe Editorial claimed that by August 2015, more than 700,000 Haitians had cholera and over 9,000 people had died. Given what we already know, Haitian youth today are probably vulnerable and likely suffer from illness on a wide scale.

3. Forced Migration

The immense destruction following the earthquake uprooted millions of Haitians. Considering that Haiti already suffered from extreme poverty and gross inequality, many Haitian families might still be homeless.

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Want to help us design a Global Health program based in Haiti? Your feedback can have an impact on our program itinerary. Click here to participate in our survey.

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4. Educational Access

Consider that half of Haiti’s schools (more than 1,300) and three Port-au-Prince universities collapsed. Since Haitian youth lack basic necessities—clean water, healthcare, and homes—that certainly affects both their ability to attend school and learn if they’re lucky enough to have one. Haiti’s inequality also makes it more difficult for students in poverty to do well in school. Educational resources are probably still scarce for many Haitian children.

5. Unemployment and Underemployment

The earlier social, political, and economic challenges facing Haitian youth today are complex. What’s unfortunate is that these many challenges work together and make an already difficult situation even worse. Since educational access is limited, Haiti’s youth also faces the risk of unemployment and underemployment. The destruction of Port-au-Prince and its slow recovery today have left a gaping whole in Haiti’s economy that is slow to fill.

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Interested in other mission trip-style programs in the Caribbean? Check out GLA’s Dominican Republic programs for both spring break and summer.

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6. Spring Break, Haiti Style, Just Doesn’t Exist

It may be an unfortunate truth, but tourism is still one of the primary drivers of funds to Caribbean nations. Families spending summer or spring break in Haiti could help to provide essential funds to this island country, but because of the pervasively negative media coverage of Haiti, it doesn’t see nearly the numbers that its island-sharing neighbor, Dominican Republic, sees. While tourism can bring about its own potential issues for youth (think exploitation of youth at cruise ship ports and the like), it does offer significant advantages socially and economically.

Without visiting Haiti and experiencing the realities facing Haitian youth, it’s hard for us to know what’s really happening. But we do know that these challenges are complex and persist long after their media coverage ends.

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Contributed by Nick Fochtman

Sources:

Numbers and statistics mentioned can be found within the 2010 Haiti earthquake wiki references

Oxfam International’s 2010 Supporting good governance in post-earthquake Haiti briefing paper

Boston Globe 2015 Editorial UN must step up, apologize, and help drive cholera from Haiti

Perhaps the previous generations haven’t been too kind to you guys. We’ve wasted, we’ve polluted, and we’ve ravaged our home planet’s climate. Facing the hottest temperatures ever on record just this year, the threat of climate change and the disastrous fallout that would come from it is very real. But not all hope is lost. Your generation is inheriting this planet. Despite the mess previous generations may have left it in, there’s still a lot you can do individually and collectively as a generation to help out and reduce waste. Your planet thanks you.

1. Use Laptops, Not Desktops

It sounds silly, but laptops on average use about 80% less energy than desktops, according to reports by Energy Star. If you really want to help out with the environment, the smaller the better. A smartphone can cost as little as $1.50 per year in electrical costs, while a desktop PC can cost up to $600 a year! That’s a huge difference in energy use! Luckily, this is something you’re probably already doing, so keep it up and our planet will be in better shape.

2. Recycle, recycle, recycle!

Recycling really is important for the environment. Why? Well, less waste means less creation of products that harm the environment, such as plastics. If we just keep reusing the ones we have, we won’t have to make more and more and more. Harmful gases are released as waste decomposes in landfills, and those chemicals have a severely negative impact on our environment.

If you can’t recycle it, repurpose it. Take those plastic bags from your shopping and use them as garbage bags or bags to pick up animal waste instead of buying them from the store. Often these bags aren’t recycled by the government, so you need to do it yourself.

Be creative guys! There are also a ton of websites out there as well that will show you how to make useful or cool things out of materials you would usually throw out!

3. Carpooling leads to cleaner air

Emissions from cars are one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gases emitted into our atmosphere. As you enter your driving years, consider taking turns carpooling to school or work with your friends or co-workers. By carpooling, assuming everyone was going to drive separately anyway, you can cut emissions down to a fraction of what they would have been. You’ll also get to engage in some great companionship before the drudge of the day starts, so that’s a bonus. So grab a friend or three and jump into that carpool lane. The planet will thank you.

4. If you don’t need it, turn it off

If you aren’t using it, turn it off! It’s amazing how many people leave lights on in rooms they aren’t using or leave TVs on when they go out. That adds up people! The U.S. Department of Energy recommends shutting off the lights in any given room if you’ll be out for more than 15 minutes. Lights waste a lot of energy, especially incandescent bulbs, which give off about 90% of energy as heat and only 10% as light.

Bigger things like air conditioning we often don’t think about, but if you leave it running all day, you’ll use 317% more energy compared to those who turn it off. If you can, set your A/C to kick on about an hour before you get home. You’ll save money, and you’ll still be cool when you get home.

Get to it

The time is now. Get out there and spread the word. Make sure you follow the plan as well. If you’re still living at home, sit down with your family and work out a green plan for your household. Your parents will thank you when they see their energy bills, and you’ll know you’re contributing to a better future for yourself and future generations.

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Contributed by Nick Bartholomew

Sources:

http:// michaelbluejay.com/electricity/ac-on-or-off.html

http:// www.greenenergytimes.net/2014/06/15/teaching-your-teens-to-embrace-a-sustainable-lifestyle/

A Guide to Being an Animal Shelter Volunteer for Teens

As a teen in high school, one of the best ways for colleges to consider a student for a scholarship or admission is the work that a student does outside the classroom. Many students play sports, join clubs, or even tutor other students.

But what about the students that volunteer in other places like senior citizens and animal shelters?

Teens that contribute these types of work are helpful and are really are trying to help their cause. The animal shelters that teens will volunteer at want students with a love for animals, a caring heart, and an understanding of the needs on how to take care of an animal. When volunteering at an animal shelter, it’s just not about the hours that are put, in but the love, time, and personal attention a volunteer has to have for animals.

Dogs, cats, snakes, horses, pigs even hamsters often end up in an adoption situation, even though most except dogs and cats don’t end up in a typical shelter situation. However, people will adopt animals for many different reasons, and knowing these could help convince an on-the-fence adopter to commit and bring home a new friend and companion. Some of the most persuasive reasons include: protection of the household, having a reliable cuddle buddy, or to give a child a companion to grow up with.

The work that animal shelter teen volunteers may have to do at an animal shelter will vary on what the manager decide, and the hours you’re able to work between school and other extracurricular activies. Don’t overlook that this may involve cleaning (very, very smelly) rooms, grooming the animals, separating those that don’t get along well, playing with the animals, feeding the animals, etc.

You have to be a animal lover and that means the love has to spread widely, but also worldly. A team player is a must as well because taking care of animals takes multiple hands. The most important thing to remember though is that a volunteer, or anyone working with animals at a animal shelter, has to care for all of the animals. Not just your favorite. Not just the ones that are easiest to handle.

Animals are like toddlers; they require a lot of attention and whether it’s playing, feeding, or even just being around, these are critical aspects of the gig. A volunteer doesn’t need a degree to show love and a volunteer doesn’t need money to make them care for loving creatures. We talk to animals because we know they love us and they will always be there no matter what happens.

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Contributed by Tyler Dickerson