‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Author Dan Smolen Quoted in Project Management Institute’s Official Magazine

PM Network is the official magazine of the Project Management Institute. Matt Alderton's article, "Green Growth," discusses green job-making opportunities for project professionals. Logo h/t PMI.

Well, at least my mother will be very proud of me for this.

PM Network is the official magazine of the Project Management Institute, the world’s largest association for project management professionals. PM Network is read by over a half million PMI members, worldwide.

The December 2011 issue features an article by writer Matt Alderton entitled Green Growth: Organizations worldwide need help managing and measuring their environmental impact–and project professionals are the first in line to benefit. And I am quoted in that article:

“Usually, people who don’t have green experience become sustainability experts by proxy and by practice, Mr. Smolen says. “It may start with recognizing that your company isn’t addressing its carbon footprint or that it’s very resource-heavy, then putting together a brief business plan to tackle the problem by coming up with solutions the company can act on. All of a sudden, you’ve got sustainability-related project management experience. It’s fabulous. And with a year or two, that could easily become a recognized green job.”

Read the entire story, HERE.

What Does $4 or Less Buy These Days?

For less than this, you can download 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.' Photo 2011 D.A. Smolen

• A half-gallon of 100 percent organic locally pressed apple cider;
• A couple of iTunes downloads;
• A hula hoop at Toys “R” Us;
• A gallon of regular unleaded gasoline (maybe);
• A listeria-tainted cantaloupe, and NOW;

A digital download of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy!

That’s right, Amazon and Barnes & Noble have both slashed their Kindle and nook digital downloads of Tailoring the Green Suit to just $3.19.

What else could you buy for such a low price?

Maybe, a half-eaten chalupa?

So, what are you waiting for? Log on today and download your digital copy. When it comes to your career, we guarantee that Tailoring the Green Suit will yield a return-on-investment many more times $3.19!

(And, unlike that cantaloupe, it won’t make you horribly sick!)

Ithaca College Hosts Nov. 3rd ‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Career Strategy Session

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Readers of 'Tailoring the Green Suit' know that one of my mentors--the late "(M)adman" and Ithaca College Associate Professor of Communications Howard S. Cogan--dreamed up "Ithaca is Gorges." Created over thirty year ago and still in use today, it remains one of the world's most recognizable eco-tourism campaigns. Image h/t VisitIthaca.com.

Next week will surely be very exciting!

The afternoon of Thursday Nov. 3 marks my return to Ithaca College. Later that evening, I will present Tailoring the Green Suit: Establishing a Bright Green Career in a Dull Gray Economy. This session will provide ten key strategies which soon-to-be-grads should employ to achieve immediate and lasting career success in green business.

John Bradac is Ithaca College's Director of Career Services. Photo h/t Ithaca College.

And on Friday, I get to sit in on a sustainability course and sit down with the deans of the School of Business and the School of Communications, the Director of Sustainability, and others to learn about Ithaca College’s many important efforts to train and empower The Green Suits.

Twenty years have passed since my last Ithaca College speaking engagement which is much too long of a lapse. But as a result of IC’s warm welcome to this grad–and in particular the generosity of time, resources, and advice already provided by John Bradac (the head of IC’s career services department)–I am certain that my South Hill visit will be a great and memorable one.

I just hope that the snow melts in time for my arrival. (We’re not quite ready for winter!)

Milllennial Momentum: Required Reading for Corporate America…and the Rest of Us

Cross-posted to The Green Suits:

Aided by my wonderful but eye-straining Kindle for Android app I read Millennial Momentum, Morley Winograd’s and Mike Hais’ great new book about the U.S.’s Millennial Generation.

The Millennials (otherwise known as the “Gen Y” cohort) are Americans born between 1982 and 2001. Milllennials stand in stark contrast to the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers that preceded them; they are highly collaborative, technologically and social-media savvy, and wildly enthusiastic. The term cynic rarely applies to this, the largest demographic cohort in the U.S.

Perhaps of greatest importance, Millennials are the starring cast-members of the New Green Economy. They care deeply about resource sustainability and social responsibility. And they volunteer their time to important social and environmental causes. As business executives, many will become The Green Suits.

Upon finishing Millennial Momentum, I enthusiastically posted this review to Amazon.com:

 

Download 'Millennial Momentum' to your Kindle or mobile device.

MORLEY WINOGRAD and MIKE HAIS have followed up Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics with a truly great book; Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation Is Remaking America brilliantly demonstrates how the huge civic Millennial Generation is remaking and–in many ways improving–every aspect of society. Most important to this writer, Millennials are reinventing work and career in ways few of us [Boomers or Gen Xers] could have imagined; despite the current high rate of U.S. unemployment, Millennials are passionately pursuing work and career opportunities with companies and organizations that share their civic-minded values. And the eco-entrepreneurs in their ranks are hard at work inventing and bringing to market renewable energy, green tech, and resource sustainability technology–the foundation of a strong and scalable New Green Economy.

Millennials are enthusiastically crafting careers to make the world a cleaner, fairer, and more sustainable place.

In the near term it won’t be easy for Millennials to win the warm embraces of Corporate America. Most Boomers and Gen Xers in corporate or C-level executive roles–CEOs, CFOs, COOs, etc.–have not come to fully appreciate this huge cohort of young, talented collaborators. Some cynically portray Millennials as coddled, entitled, and lacking the kind of self-starting drive and ambition necessary to grow the corporate bottom-line.

But, C-level cynics would be well advised to adapt to Millennial motivation or be left in the dust. For sure, we will see once preeminent companies lose their luster because they fail to embrace Millennial innovation and triple bottom-line thinking–to grow profits, but also empower people and save the planet.

That is why this writer believes Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation Is Remaking America should be required reading in Corporate America. And every hiring manager–from Chief Corporate Talent Officers in Fortune 500 companies to the founders of bootstrapped start-up enterprises–should pick up or download a copy, right away.

DAN SMOLEN
Author, Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy

The Millennials face steep challenges ahead. For sure, they have yet to make their impact felt in Corporate America. And it won’t be easy, given that the C-Suite is populated by often cynical, idealistic Boomers and Gen X executives. Further, they will inherit–and likely have to fix–all the world’s structural problems such as debt crises that their Boomer and Gen X parents left them. And they will have to reinvent politics, public policy, and government to render them transparent and trustworthy.

However, if Millennials are anything like the civic generation members that preceded them–the G.I. or “Greatest Generation” that fought World War II–then our future will be very bright, indeed.

Please pick up a copy or download Millennial Momentum. And while you are at it, please pick up or download a copy of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.

This Summer, New Executive Searches at The Green Suits, LLC

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Greetings, everyone! We hope you are having a most enjoyable–and productive–summer.

We here at The Green Suits, LLC have been very busy, working on several brand new executive searches. And because of the immediate and substantial needs of our executive search clients, we regret to say that we have not posted any new content to TheGreenSuits.com in several weeks.

Despite all the drama on Capitol Hill over raising the federal government’s debt-limit and the causal-relationship (of debt-limit inaction) to our long term economic forecast, it does seem that companies are finally hiring more executives.

The Green Suits, LLC’s  immediate attention shall be directed towards placing more executive candidates in great well-run companies with strong environmental and/or social stewardship missions.

In the next couple of days, we will update the website with details about our new executive searches. Interested candidates may contact us directly, for more information.

Meantime, we are seeking additional new executive assignments with obviously green companies focused on green tech, clean tech, renewable energy, etc.

Despite the insanity on Capitol Hill, please know that our long-term assessment remains the same: our best days lie ahead!

If you haven't already, please purchase a paperback or Kindle copy of 'Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy' from Amazon.com.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer. Please check back with TheGreenSuits.com for new job postings and other information. And if you haven’t already, make sure to purchase a paperback or Kindle copy of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy from Amazon.com.

Teach Your Children Well

Often, I find my most receptive students of Triple Bottom Line thinking are children. As a result, my kid is eco-conscious...and loves it! Photo ©2005 by Dan Smolen.

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

As I stated in my book Tailoring the Green Suit, we ‘Green Suits’ are ambassadors to the New Green Economy–motivated to embrace and expand the ‘Triple Bottom Line’: People + Planet + Profits. Thusly, we are charged with the responsibility of teaching and encouraging others to embrace environmental and societal stewardship (just as we do).

Often, I find my most receptive students are children. And that is why I support programs like Friends of the Rappahannock, a non-governmental organization which provides environmentally responsible civic planning and public education resources to Virginia’s Rappahannock River region. Readers of Tailoring the Green Suit know that two percent of my author’s revenue is directed to FOR, to help them fund curriculum development and other vital needs.

My kid has been a big beneficiary of FOR’s programming. FOR has helped me raise an eco-conscious kid who thinks that caring–for the planet and people–is cool.

Every year the kid and I plant something new around our home. In 2005–when this photo was taken–we planted native River Birch saplings along our wetlands. Six years later, those water-loving saplings have grown tall. And the sight of those thriving trees fills my kid with great pride.

Nice.

We are at the beginning of a big green economic paradigm, one that will last many generations. In order to help our economy return to sustainable growth and become energy-independent; in order to make the planet cleaner, greener, and more balanced; in order to help disadvantaged people help themselves we owe it to ourselves to teach our children well.

This morning’s weather is spectacular. I believe that the kid and I will seize this opportunity to plant something new!

Every Day is Earth Day

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Every year, something new gets planted. One year it was a spindly cherry tree. That tree has since grown large and blossom(y). Photo © 2011 by Dan Smolen.

On April 22, 1970 a bunch of people–outraged by the huge offshore oil spill near Catalina Island off of the Southern California coast and other ecological crises of the era–celebrated the first Earth Day. Back then as a Third Grader, I learned how we Earthlings treated the Big Blue Marble like a giant landfill.

Few can argue that Earth Day Number 1 was a big wake up call to many Americans, young and old. In the forty-one years that have passed, much has been done by government and industry to make our nation a cleaner less toxic place. For instance: lead has been removed from our fuel and paint; many pesticides have been banned; and organized recycling has helped us use fewer natural resources, (more) wisely.

In 1970, the New York City skyline was shrouded in thick gray smog. In 2011, that same skyline is often crystal clear. And yet with so much progress made, we still pollute heavily and use our natural resources poorly.

The Green Suits get that. We want to do well, but we also want to do right to make the world a better place. So, why do we Green Suits celebrate Earth Day but once a year?

I say let us make every day Earth Day.

The Green Suits are ambassadors for sustainability and corporate social responsibility. But we also walk the walk.

And as I point out in Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy, there is much that we can do to “press” the case for a cleaner, greener planet:

• Ditch the bottled water in favor of filtered tap water;
• Cut down on our dry cleaning;
• Favor mass transit;
• Use materials at work made from recycled content;
• Promote carbon footprint-reduction at home and work;
• Don’t over-fertilize the lawn. And don’t water it during hot summer months–let it turn brown;
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator;
• Clean up after your pet;
• Run your washer on cold water, and;
• And, never pass up an opportunity for a teachable moment. At my home, we plant something new each year; several years ago, it was a spindly cherry tree. As you can see, that tree has grown large and blossom(y).

And while you are at it, check out the great information and educational resources available at EarthDay.org.

Mother Earth will thank you for it!

Prefer e-book readers? Download Tailoring the Green Suit to your Kindle or Nook devices, today!

By the way, do you know someone about to graduate college who is eager to embark on a green career? Set them on course to become The Green Suit. Order them a paperback copy of Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy, from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. You can also buy them the digital version of Tailoring the Green Suit–available now for Kindle and Nook devices!

Careerists Should Ask Themselves: ‘What Do I Want to Do?’

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

A giant "climate change" billboard on Manhattan's West Side motivates The Green Suits to do well and do right, making the world a better place. ©2011 Dan Smolen

In my last post, I described the “Central Casting” mentality of some executive recruiters and hiring managers who are charged with filling open job assignments. In this day and age it is understandable how so many of them impatiently turn to new hires to quickly gain competitive marketplace advantages.

An agile executive knows how to leverage his or her skills and talents to fulfill–and sometimes exceed–a hiring manager’s exacting requirements.

Indeed, that is a good thing.

But, many (pleaser-personality) careerists take the Central Casting cattle call a little too far. Like Woody Allen’s character Zelig they morph chameleon-like into whatever they think the hiring manager wants them to be. And in doing so, they sometimes lose touch with what motivates them to do well in their careers.

So often, I hear from executives that have gotten so consumed with remaining gainfully employed that they have forgotten to ask themselves: What do I want to do?

The Green Suits are almost always motivated by success and recognition. We want to do our assignments well. And we want to be recognized by our superiors for our accomplishments.

But our reasons d’etre also include furthering the “Triple Bottom Line” at our companies and organizations. We want to do well and do right, making the world a better place.

On a recent business trip to New York, I spotted this giant electronic billboard which reminded me of one of my prime motivations: to help mitigate climate change by reducing our global output of greenhouse gases.

I can only imagine that many thousands of entry-level to seasoned professionals who also pass that billboard are reminded of their own deep burning desire to make a positive and lasting impact on the world. So, let us encourage them to become The Green Suits, too. Getting a paperback copy of Tailoring the Green Suit in their hands–or the electronic version downloaded to their Kindles or Nooks–is a great way to get them started!

‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Paperback Edition Released; 39 Percent Off List at Barnes & Noble

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

Tailoring the Green Suit (the paperback edition) is now available at Barnes and Noble.

Great news!

Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy is now available in paperback.

And you can order it TODAY at Barnes & Noble for the incredibly low price of $8.48–that’s 39 percent off of the $13.99 publisher’s list price!

We heard from many “Green Suits” who believed that–as a career guide–Tailoring the Green Suit should be a paperback. And we couldn’t agree more. Now, we hope the new format–and very low price–will encourage scores more aspiring green business careerists to pick up a copy.

Order the paperback edition today. (What are you waiting for?)

 

‘Tailoring the Green Suit’ Author to Appear at BORDERS Books in Stafford, Va.

Cross-posted from The Green Suits:

This weekend, I will be attending my second Fredericksburg, Va. area book discussion and signing for Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy.

The event will happen at BORDERS BOOKS–in Stafford, Va.’s Stafford Marketplace–this Saturday, November 6, 2010 (between 1-4PM).

With so many executive careerists looking to pivot into the green business and sustainability spaces–and many more seeking first jobs out of college–Tailoring the Green Suit is a must-have resource. Plus–with Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa fast-approaching–the book makes a great stocking-stuffer!

I look forward to seeing you all in Stafford. For more information, click here.