Green is no longer just defined as the color of a dollar bill. What surprises me most about working at Deloitte Strategy Consulting this summer is their emphasis on Sustainability (see Enterprise Sustainability and Center for Sustainable Performance.)

According to Wikipedia, in an ecological context, sustainability is defined as “the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future. In a social context, sustainability is expressed as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. When applied in an economic context, a business is sustainable if it has adapted its practices for the use of renewable resources and is accountable for the environmental impacts of its activities.”

When Lehman Brothers started its Sustainability Initiative in 2007, my colleagues cracked jokes about their launch email, dismissing the entire value of the initiative. 4 years later, now back in corporate America, I am surrounded by an entirely new emphasis on sustainability from corporate employees.

This trend has also emerged after CEOs are rapidly adapting their businesses to very different economic situations and the business case for sustainability is being proved. Leading companies such as Walmart and Patagonia evaluate every step of their supply chain against sustainability criteria such as energy efficiency, recycling, and low impact packaging.

Growing up, I always thought my “social” interests would have to be segregated from professional goals, but more and more I see the integration of them both becoming my complementary asset and my competitive advantage.
To read more about Deloitte’s work in Sustainability, click here.

TechCrunch Disrupt is a conference which brings together innovators in web technologies and media and executives to discuss navigating disruption to talk about turning change into opportunity.

What does disruption mean?

Progress. As the TechCrunch team described, “change challenges us to innovate faster and reinvent smarter. In upending the way things are done, it liberates us from costs and routines.”

What did I learn at TechCrunch Disrupt?

Technology is not just about the internet, it is about mapping the human genome, collective intelligence, and changing the landscape of how business is done. More recently, the IPad has shown the power of automating social networks. This product has potential to spawn a digital revolution in schools and online records for hospitals and doctors.

What do Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg, Jeff Bezos have in common?

They were all in their 20-30’s, male, college dropouts, and nerds. They didn’t have social lives but instead they chose to build a social revolution. They were missionaries not mercenaries. Missionaries seek partnership for the long run and are obsessed with culture. Mercenaries are obsessed with financial statements. It’s a difference between making meaning and making money.

TechCrunch Disrupt showcased many new disruptive technologies throughout the day (some featured below).  Maybe I’m just not a “techie,” but I struggled with this conference especially when thinking about the new generation of Steve Jobs’ of the world. This happened especially after a Twitter post I saw by Semil Shah.

RT @semilshah: So many bright minds trying to build FB/Twitter apps. So sad. http://livestream.com/disrupt

It’s true, when we think of the possibilities beyond consumer internet, it’s hard to believe how much energy is going toward applications for Facebook and Twitter. But I guess there is the power of the mass use: 12 months ago 1,000 pieces of info were exchanged every second on Facebook; today this number is 10,000.

Some featured companies:

Airbnb.com
Snacksquare.com
Stayclassy.com
Thisorthat.com
Pinterest.com
Zazuba.com
Invisiblebracelet.org

Let’s support ‘farms that aren’t worlds into themselves, farms that restore instead of deplete, farms that farm extensively, instead of intensively, farmers that are not just producers but are experts in relationship’ –Dan Barber, TEDX Cambridge, May 17, 2010

TedX Cambridge brought together chefs, psychologists, writers, designers, and engineers for an intimate look at science, art, and the future of food.

Food is not just about sustenance; food is about building community and motivating higher service that can change the world. Currently, consumers and citizens have been subjected to arbitrary food norms. With self controlled mechanisms and greater transparency, consumers can become more rational, ethical, and environmental, making choices that are better for them and for the planet.

TEDX reminded me not only about how we eat, but also how we get the food we need to eat. This inspired me to look at new parameters on how consumers eat, whether local, organic, or fair trade. I was constantly reminded to not only look at how healthy our food is, but also how ecological and ethical it is.

The day’s event also brought up many challenges facing the sustainable food movement:

• Youth: Children in schools need healthier food, while at the same time, they desire junk food due to media and social influences
• Education: The average age of a farmer is 60 years. In 20 years, their knowledge will not be passed on to the next generation. Agriculture schools are not teaching about food production anymore. They are teaching how to get jobs.
• Parents: Parents play a major role in influencing children and the next generation of consumers, but it is very difficult to change mindsets when competing on taste, convenience, and price.
• Food companies: Food companies can help change mindsets, they can build marketing campaigns that will influence consumer buying habits, but it becomes much more difficult when these initiatives hurt their bottom line.

I’d like to end this post with a thought that came from David Gracer’s TED talk.

“Why are we not eating more bugs? They can’t give us pandemics (there is no cricket flu unlike swine or avian flu) & 2) their nutrition content can compete with any other food.” Yum…

Crickets & Toast below

“First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.” –Thomas Kempis

Improvisation. What does it really mean?  Today I had the pleasure to spend the afternoon with 7 other Sloan students for an improvisation through influence workshop. We practiced improvisation in a number of settings: being an expert in uncomfortable situations, balancing emotion and reaction, and approaching difficult conversations in the workplace.

I learned that dealing with my inner critic is really about dealing with myself. Sometimes we need to just break free from our thoughts and that means striking the balance of being authentic and being assertive.

This session reminded me that improvisation is a part of daily life. Everyday we are actors in a play, a theater where we strive to live up to expectations and meet certain goals. Sometimes we may find ourselves not being true to ourselves just for the love and attention of someone else. With more awareness, we realize this gap within and need to know when its time to let go.

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them” –Albert Einstein

Today, I spent my afternoon with dozens of other student entrepreneurs at the NCIIA Venture Well program. I didn’t know what I would gain when I walked in. But when I walked out at 7pm in the evening, I had really “pushed my mental reset button.”

We looked at a basic equation: Event + Response =Outcome. Through our modules, it became clear that in life, people try to control events through filters, generalizations, deletions, and distortions. I realized that my business ideas are only a working hypothesis and how important it is to sort what is truly effective and efficient.

Customers and markets will do what they are “supposed to do.” So as much as I can understand the human operating ecosystem, the better off I will be.

From March 30..

You are fully grounded? authentic? honest?

This morning I woke up to chai and biscuits within 5 minutes of waking up, a fresh omelete after my shower, and soon after a driver outside to drive me to visit IDE India. Yes, you’re right this is not Boston-it’s New Delhi. But this got me thinking about the role of the socially minded elite. We sit in AC cars and visit poverty reduction organizations, we give money to  create nonprofits and foundations in our name but do we even give 20 Rs to the woman on the street who we pass everyday? This is the dichotomy of India, so rich and so poor.

I feel if I want to serve the poor, I need to understand how they live. But I live a totally different life. I have been fortunate to have middle class family in Delhi. This really struck me staying in my Masi’s home. We see and we aid, but what are we really doing?

From March 26…

After a 5:45am wake up call to head to the airport, I am exhausted right now. I’m on the airplane from Hyderabad to Mumbai, but I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about the key lessons I have learned as a study tour as both an organizer and a student for the Agriculture in India trip.

Context: As an Indian-American, I have visited India often but had only lived here for 6 months in Mumbai before MIT. Through the lens of my classmates, I was the “expert.” I learned about the balance of what I could provide and what I could not provide my peers. How could I change the “expert” lens into creating a culture of many experts and knowledge sharing?

Perspective: Having lived in India, I also had the greatest understanding of the Indian perspective-from rickshaw drivers “knowing but not really knowing” how to get somewhere, to the language barrier of Telegu and Punjabi, to the need to “ask for a bill” or the culture to “not question” senior figures in certain situations.

This got me thinking: who really is the expert? Is it the 60 year old agricultural Indian scientist, the 40 year old farmer, the 50 year old prime minister, or the self help womens groups? This is why stating and reviewing assumptions is so important, because it all comes down to context and perspective.

“I don’t sell a commodity in Zameen, I sell a concept. How can I, I as 6,000 farmers, bring value to a product?” -Satish Chukkapalli, Zameen Director

The organic cotton movement in India is not just about organic cotton, it’s about water and energy savings, women’s empowerment, soil nutrition, and farmer health. Zameen Organics is a farmer-owned company trading cotton through a simple ethical supply chain rather than in a tangled knot of middlemen.

• Pesticide Free Health Impact: India is home to 1/3 of the world’s cotton farmers, their crops accounting for 54% of the country’s annual pesticide consumption despite growing on only 5% of its arable land. The effects of pesticide exposure include weakness, cramps, unconsciousness, convulsions, and potentially death. Zameen Organics supports pesticide free cotton farmers, supporting  their health and their families.
• Economic Development: Schemes by the Government of India and international chemical fertilizer companies have caused farmers to become trapped in the debt cycle. Every year 120,000 farmers commit suicide deaths in India. Zameen seeks to build a fair trade organic movement to rid farmers of this debt trap.
• Female Empowerment: In addition to the manual labor by women, women must provide domestic duties. They do not have the ability to own property, leading to a harder life in accessing credit, labor, and subsidized inputs. Zameen support women cotton farmers, improving their access to fair wages and domestic needs.

As a business school student, I was inspired by this example for a new innovative business plan in Indian agriculture. Whether geared towards reducing crop waste, building a value chain, or selling a fair trade organic brand, this study tour has helped me see the opportunities to start agriculture-related companies that are economically, environmentally, and socially viable.

On Saturday, while most of the team was in Agra, Lilian Tse and I decided to venture to Khan Market in Delhi to FabIndia.

FabIndia started as an export house and has become a successful retail business presenting Indian textiles in a variety of natural fibers and home products including furniture, lights, lamps, stationery, home accessories, pottery and cutlery in the Indian domestic market

The FabIndia Organics section, which started in 2004, caught my eye. It was there where I saw the potential for organic processed foods: organic rice, honey mustard, turmeric powders, spices and teas across shelves.

I picked up Bill Bissell’s (CEO of FabIndia ) book, “Making India work.” His vision is to reimagine India-a future with rapid growth, thriving environment, and virtually no poverty. He notes that while regular consumption does not lead to a higher quality of life, conscious consumerism of environmentally sustainable products can have multifarious positive externalities across the value chain.