The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) concept of “People, Planet, Profit“ demands that a company’s responsibility be to the people who are influenced in any way by the actions of the firm rather than the people who own it.

TBL is typically discussed in a big business context for two reasons: One, big businesses are by nature the farthest out of human touch with sustainability. Two, if you have to choose one business to make sustainable, a bigger business will have a bigger impact.

But what if we could create an integrated network of small local businesses and independent professionals with an eye on the ecological, economic, and social concepts expressed by the Triple Bottom Line related to their communities?

What if people all over the planet quietly frustrated with the status quo could find the voices of power they’ve lost in the wake of unprecedented corporate growth over the past century?

GoHuman’s vision is a world where these ideals are not afterthoughts, but rather integral and essential elements connecting every community and every business within those communities. We cannot afford for these to be abstract thoughts or luxuries. They are a necessary part of the emerging global consciousness and we need to integrate them into our personal and professional lives by igniting our tribal instincts.

In the United States and other parts of the world, the motivation to adopt this sustainable lifestyle is neither handed down by the government nor encouraged by our existing capitalist economic model. An intricate web of subsidies and loopholes has all but extinguished the basic humanity enjoyed in simpler times in favor of the almighty profit margin.

It’s not all doom and gloom. There is hope. We believe in a better way. It’s the passion that fuels GoHuman and the real people behind it — people just like you with the vision and gumption to do something about it.

It starts simply. It starts with an equitable marketplace that promotes balance amongst the people who use it by rewarding those who provide value with something equitable in return.

It starts with you.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Uncategorized

Speaking of change, click the image above for the full size version. It’s a bunch of statistical snapshots from 2000 and 2008, presented in amusing graphics. I’d like to see these same measures in four years. I’d HOPE they’d paint a rosier picture!

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Andrew Crowe Categories: General

In reading and thinking about Obama’s new strategies and policy recommendations, I see this fear of socialism popping up here and there. While I’m not a support of a completely socialist system, I also know that no president has the power to bend the country that far in any direction. However, clearly his plans do have a more liberal or socialist bent than we’ve seen for a long time.

What’s changed? And why might it work this time around?

The Internet has finally come of age. Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, and other sites have put the power of voice in the hands of the people. The only problem until now is that no one has been listening. With Obama’s deep understanding of the power of this medium, his ardent support of it, and his willingness to find solutions in the words of his constituents, I see a newfound hope that is encouraging, to say the least.

Blogs, forums, personal web sites, and comments across many sites create a network of conversation and debate that is not perfect, but is better than anything we’ve seen to date. No longer is the power of oratory limited to statesmen, scholars, elite businessmen,

For once, the government is asking for our opinions, and seems genuinely interested in what we have to say.

And for the first time in several years, we see the hope of a government that will hold itself accountable by embracing these technologies. The transparency of the Internet mandates that the people have a public voice. This voice has the power to persuade, argue, encourage, and identify wrong-doing with unprecedented equality, accuracy, and speed. Obama’s commitment to applying new marketing trends in technology to the government are enlightening:

“Among his proposals: making more government reports and data available online; Webcasts of all government meetings; and creating tech tools to allow users to track federal grants, contracts, lobbyist information and earmarks. He even proposes a five-day public comment period on any legislation pending before the White House.”

Granted there are problems. There is a great deal of noise out there, and it’s everyone’s job to sift through it. Technologies are getting better to allow us to do this, but human editors will always be necessary. A larger problem is the growing digital divide, which leaves millions of Americans out of this conversation. Democracy and equality are never comprehensive, even on the Internet, but we’re heading in the right direction.

Network Neutrality is going to be a key issue to keeping the Internet working as we know it, free and open to everyone who has access. And burgeoning organizations are focusing on the digital divide issue to make sure Broadband Internet is not a luxury, but a necessity for all Americans. Until we solve this issue and give everyone a voice, decisions will still be made by people who are not as directly affected by the results. That’s not democracy.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General, Social Media, Web

A good friend of mine is running for Village Trustee in Schaumburg, IL. His son’s friend recognized him from YouTube, which surprised him. We should all start getting used to this. Digital content is out there and it’s there to stay. Tagged and bagged, linked right to you from any Google window. For those worried about privacy, I think there is something to be said for hiding amongst the masses. There is such an overwhelming amount of data out there, I’m not really that afraid anyone would particularly care about mine. I’m careful enough not to post anything too sensitive, but you can count on anything you put online having the potential to go to anyone.

I’m trying to get Bill on Facebook to relate to his constituents. I’ll let you know how it goes. He’s hung up on the time it takes to create a profile, which I think it less important with Facebook than MySpace. I rarely visit people’s profiles. It’s less about the static page of interests (even horribly customized in MySpace) and more about what’s people are doing now.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Web

I rather enjoyed and completely agree with this article about Chicago coming of age. We’ve always known how great our city is, but now the rest of the world can get to know us as well. It took us longer to get here because we subscribe to the midwestern ideals of working and raising families. Chicago is, after all, still fundamentally a blue collar town. But it’s the winter grit that has made us strong. It’s this grit that made Obama who he is and what got him elected. Hats off, Chicago. I’ve never been more proud.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General

An amusing ad showed up on Facebook today. You know an ad’s good when you give them more advertising for free.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Marketing, Social Media, Web

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Arianna Huffington aptly calls the winner of the 2008 election: The Internet.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Technology, Web

Astek is giving staff the option to take election day off to volunteer, vote, or do whatever is necessary to celebrate this momentous occasion.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Entrepreneurship, General

Taxcutfacts.org is an innovative tool from the Obama campaign, giving voters a simple web calculator to see for themselves how each candidate’s tax plans will directly affect them rather than selling them on some generalized sentiment about a plumber who may or may not represent the people.

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Andy Swindler Categories: Social Media, Technology, Web