Building Business

Two-thirds Choose Cool Comfort Over "Going Green" with the Heat

Hot, sticky, summer days make some of us shutter. While it’s nice to not be out shoveling snow and scrapping off our windshields, it’s still not the most comfortable weather. And with some of the highest temperatures in history, utility bills reflect the season of air-conditioned iceboxes. As Boonsri Dickenson notes in his article, How To Stay Comfortable During the Summer Heat Wave, some metropolitan cities in the Northeast haven’t seen temperatures like this since 1921 or 1991. Further, the article notes how people are more concerned about their comfort than the costs they rack up on energy bills. In fact, 60 percent of those surveyed said they had increased utility bills, and another two-thirds picked soaking in the breeze of the box hanging from their window than conserving energy. A step back for sustainability and a place to improve upon.

@KyleGWilson

Survey Discovers a General Misunderstanding of How to Best "Go Green"

While green has transformed into a viable job market, movement and all-around idea, the broad majority still have trouble assessing the value of everyday activities correctly as they relate to sustainable practices. As a recent abstract of a larger study by PNAS, Public perceptions of energy and consumption and savings, in general, people tend to overestimate low-energy savings by choosing to curtail current energy waste rather than making efficiency improvements. Consistently, turning the lights off and driving less were cited more often than installing energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances. This runs contrary to experts’ recommendations, as the abstract notes. However, the survey did yield a higher understanding of green for those good with numbers and/or pro-environment opinions.

@KyleGWilson

Japan Building Houses On Only 300 Sq. Ft.

Innovation in building isn’t exactly a new concept, and not many people would admit to wanting an old home, especially in America. We thrive on what’s new, now, next. But with acres and acres of open land to explore, we generally tend to default to traditional structures and architecture. Not so across the Pacific. According to an article by Lucy Craft, In Japan, Living Large In Really Tiny Houses, builders are finding ways to utilize what small pieces of land they can to innovate wondrous houses (some on only 300 sq. ft.). The kind we thought of as kids watching The Jetsons. Compact, eye-catching and high-tech, the Japanese building aesthetic not only develops out of being inquisitive, but necessity. And when the two are fused well, incredible things happen.

@KyleGWilson

World Economic Forum Features Russell Herder Research

Proprietary social media research conducted by Minnesota firms Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law is being featured this week at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting taking place through January 31 in Davos, Switzerland. The 2010 event entitled “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign and Rebuild” has drawn an invitation-only participant list of 2,500 chief executives from global leading companies, government representatives from the world’s top 25 economies and fast-growing countries, and presidents of the world’s major universities.

 

Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law conducted a groundbreaking study with C-suite executives regarding corporate use of social media, as well as on the need for internal policies and training. The firms were contacted last month for permission to share key findings at the global event in a session entitled “The Growing Influence of Social Networks,” which featured the CEOs of LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning and Twitter, among others.

 

“Corporations need to recognize that the social Web has the potential to become a new mode of production and the new “operating system” of a business,” the Forum reported. “But companies face a crisis of leadership. Too many companies are reticent about incorporating social media into either the organization’s internal process or its customer strategy, viewing social networks instead as a threat to employee productivity, or a source of transparency for which some organizations feel unready.”

 

Russell Herder and Ethos management have participated in numerous speaking engagements since the original research was released a few months ago. A free copy of the research white paper is available at www.russellherder.com/socialmediaresearch.

Presentation Slides from Our Recent Webinar

Thanks to everyone who attended our webinar last week! There were a lot of good questions asked, and some of the answers to those questions that we didn't have time to address will soon be posted here. For those of you who missed the webinar or those that need a re-fresher, here are the slides from the presentation.

Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks

Join Our Webinar on Social Media Policy

Russell Herder, in conjunction with Ethos Business Law, is excited to offer a webinar: "Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks" on Tuesday, August 25 from 12 to 1 p.m. CT (register here).

Social media is one of the hottest topics today, with the pros and cons of its use being debated in board rooms nationwide. In light of recent restrictions on employees’ social media use (ESPN, Marine Corps, NFL), companies are discussing whether, how and to what degree they should restrict or encourage their employees to use social networking tools. This webinar will offer insight into business leaders’ views and perceptions on this issue and will provide actionable recommendations and advice on the development of social media policies and employee training sessions.

Led by Carol Russell, CEO of Russell Herder, and David Baer, president of Ethos Business Law and one of Minnesota Lawyer publication's Attorneys of the Year, the webinar will also highlight the insights gleaned from the recent national study conducted by the two firms on social media trends in the workplace and policy adoption.

Sign up for this free webinar here.

In advance of the webinar, we invite you to submit questions and suggestions for topics to be covered in the presentation under Comments.