Michael Muyot's response to Jeffrey Hollender's 10 Point Plan for rebuilding the US economy
On Wednesday, Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder of Seventh Generation, gave an interview to CSRwire outlining a ’10 Point Plan’ to refocus and rebuild the U.S. economy. To review the plan please click here.
Yesterday, Michael Muyot, President of CRD Analytics, countered Hollender’s plan with a plan of his own. Here is what he had to say:
Jeffrey, thank you for your poignant and timely ideas on how to Rebuild the American Economy & Way of Life. Instead of adding items, I’d like to make a suggestion for an Action Plan to ensure successful execution. As someone who has also been at the forefront of the Sustainability movement I think there’s enormous challenges to being successful with making the changes you listed above. The cards are stacked against us. Here’s what I think may be a framework to get started:
1. Form a working advisory group of 12-20 change agents, successful entrepreneurs, connectors and influencers, it must be properly funded, because the people who belong in that core group are too busy to work for free.
2. Brainstorm on the Top 10 goals & then crowd-source to make sure they are the right ones, tweak as necessary (will also start to get global buy-in and build database of contact info)
3. Design a realistic & phased Action Plan to achieve the goals
4. Expand the Coalition to get more of the resources needed to execute on the Action Plan and get more funding by tapping into Foundations, Endowments and Sustainable Investing Community (more buy-in & more contacts)
5. Launch a massive and targeted Media campaign and leverage the power of social media (Facebook, Twitter, Four Squares, Meet Up, etc.) to make it more viral
6. Host contests to tap into the best and brightest to execute the Action Plan (look at the success of Ecomagination & Pepsi Refresh)
7. Continue to expand the Coalition membership, public support, identify more change agents around the world
8. Re-assess what’s working and what’s not, tweak as necessary
I believe that the American people are ready for Real Change, but unless they are part of it and have leaders in all parts of their lives, we will still be preaching to the choir and risk the American Economy & Way of Life continuing to deteriorate. Hard working, smart people are unemployed, under-employed or over-employed (working 2-3 jobs).
I think if we can envision what successful outcomes would like in 2020 and then work backwards, that could be helpful. We need to have the “You & Us” messaging, not the “Us vs. Them” messaging. We need to make sure that our government officials, educators, journalists and media personalities truly reflect our values and have America’s best interest at heart. If not, replace them.
As you point out, what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt is truly inspiring. What does a peaceful revolution look like here in America? Do people understand how much power they really have? They have the power to freely elect their representatives and leaders yet less than 50% vote.
They have power to change the behavior of public companies yet they rarely use the tools at hand like proxy votes or shareholder resolutions. They have the power to vote with their hard-earned dollars to buy only the cars, clothes, tech gadgets, food, etc. that are made in a responsible and sustainable way. They have power to influence how their community exists, but rarely even know their neighbors’ names.
I think if we can ignite the passion and purpose in the American People with a clear message and call to action with simple steps of how they can participate and why we could actually start a peaceful revolution and Rebuild the American Economy & Way of Life.
___________________________________________________________
BF12365
