Pray for Indonesia! Berdoa untuk Indonesia!

28 oktober: "Hari Sumpah Pemuda".

SOEMPAH PEMOEDA
Pertama :
- KAMI POETRA DAN POETRI INDONESIA MENGAKOE BERTOEMPAH DARAH JANG SATOE,

TANAH AIR INDONESIA

Kedua :
- KAMI POETRA DAN POETRI INDONESIA, MENGAKOE BERBANGSA JANG SATOE,

BANGSA INDONESIA

Ketiga :
- KAMI POETRA DAN POETRI INDONESIA MENGJOENJOENG BAHASA PERSATOEAN,

BAHASA INDONESIA

Djakarta, 28 Oktober 1928

Selamat Hari Sumpah Pemuda Mungkin sebagian dari kita lupa bahwa tiap tanggal 28 Oktober kita memperingati hari Sumpah Pemuda dan mungkin sebagian dari kita juga sudah lupa bagaimana bunyi Sumpah Pemuda.

Sumpah Pemuda mempunyai makna yang sangat mendalam bagi bangsa ini, sumpah pemuda berisi ikrar bersatunya dan disatukannya tunas-tunas bangsa oleh kesamaan tanah air, bangsa dan bahasa.  Ini mengingatkan kembali jati diri kita sebagai bagian dari NKRI yang harus senantiasa menjaga dan mempertahankan NKRI dari segala macam tantangan, ancaman maupun krisis.

Sudah selayaknya kita bersatu dan memperkuat ikatan satu sama lain agar Indonesia tetap kokoh dan bertahan di tengah krisis global yang mengancam ekonomi negeri ini. Sumpah Pemuda membawa beritabaik bahwa sampai saat ini kita masih disatukan oleh tanah air, bangsa dan bahasa Indonesia. Persatuan dan Kesatuan merupakan langkah dasar kemajuan suatu bangsa. Selamat Hari Sumpah Pemuda.

19th, 20th and 21st october 2010 International seminar and meetings in the context of Global Climate Change, jakarta-Indonesia(images gallery).

International Seminar and meetings on urbanisation Challenges and tools in the context of Global Climate Change. (South east asia story and the Indonesian tales).

How we design a sustainable Green city? Tools to strenghten the inter-district development and co-operation! Bottom up approach or the reverse? creating new jobs based on Green Economy! (added by our conclusion) The answer to our metropoles Transportation hazard! Dissusions and remarks was noted and interpreted in different levels of authorities and accross different sectors of competencies.



David Darmawan from Darmawan Consulting acting for LEKAD Advisor with Mr. Benyamin Abdurahman, Executive Director for LEKAD (Lembaga Pemberdayaan dan Pengembangan Kerja sama Antar Daerah)





From Left to right: Mr. David Darmawan, Prof. Soegiono (UNDIP) and Prof. Goldblum (Univ. PARIS)



David Darmawan with Dr. Ranjith Perrera from Asia Institute of Technology.

Séminaire sur les grandes métropoles d’Asie. (l’Ambassade de France en Indonésie, la Délégation Régionale pour l’Asie du Sud-est (Bangkok), l’Association des Urbanistes Indonésiens (Ikatan Ahli Perencanaan Indonesia, IAP), avec le soutien d’ONU-HABITAT, de l’Institut de Recherche pour le développement (IRD) et d’Universitas Indonesia.

L’urbanisation des grandes métropoles d’Asie : défis et réponses dans le contexte du changement climatique

Les métropoles d’Asie du Sud Est offrent un excellent laboratoire d’observation des problématiques liées à l’urbain. Leur croissance rapide, souvent incontrôlée, présente des défis majeurs en matière de cohésion sociale et de ségrégation spatiale, d’accès aux services essentiels et de précarité foncière. En plus de ces sources de tensions et d’insécurité, ces villes s’exposent davantage aux risques générés par la dégradation de l’environnement, le changement climatique et aux risques naturels récurrents dans la région. Confrontés aux insuffisances des politiques urbaines classiques et aux enjeux actuels résultant de la multiplicité des acteurs présents - pouvoirs publics locaux, pouvoirs économiques, société civile - les gouvernements des grandes métropoles éprouvent de plus en plus de difficultés à relever seuls ces défis auxquels ils ont et auront à faire face. Ces enjeux rehaussent ainsi la pertinence des questions de politiques urbaines, de la mise en place de stratégies et d’instruments de planification, de mitigation et de résilience, de renforcement des autorités locales et de participation concertée et solidaire de l’ensemble des acteurs impliqués. La ville s’inscrit parmi les priorités de l’action internationale de la France (Orientations de la coopération française en appui à la gouvernance urbaine publiées en 2009). Regroupant les multiples acteurs impliqués dans ce champ, le Partenariat français pour la ville et les territoires mobilise et coordonne l’expertise française afin de présenter une vision commune et un diagnostic partagé à l’international, comme cela a été le cas lors du 5ème Forum urbain mondial de Rio de Janeiro (23-23 mars 2010). L’ONU Habitat, organisateur de ce forum, a d’ailleurs placé la France en chef de file pour la mise en œuvre de lignes directrices sur la décentralisation et l’accès aux services de base.

C’est pourquoi l’Ambassade de France en Indonésie, la Délégation Régionale pour l’Asie du Sud-est (Bangkok), l’Association des Urbanistes Indonésiens (Ikatan Ahli Perencanaan Indonesia, IAP), avec le soutien d’ONU-HABITAT, de l’Institut de Recherche pour le développement (IRD) et d’Universitas Indonesia, ont pris l’initiative d’organiser un séminaire sur l’ « urbanisation des grandes métropoles d’Asie : défis et réponses dans le contexte du changement climatique », qui se tiendra à Jakarta les 19 et 20 octobre 2010 et s’inscrira dans la continuité de la Journée Mondiale de l’Habitat.

Visant à favoriser le partage d’expérience entre chercheurs, praticiens, universitaires, et autorités locales, ce séminaire vise à identifier et débattre des défis communs auxquels les métropoles d’Asie du Sud-Est font actuellement face. Dans le contexte d’une urbanisation effrénée et du changement climatique, il s’agira en particulier d’engager une réflexion à l’échelle régionale - par une approche comparée de grandes métropoles comme Jakarta, Manille, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh Ville, ou Singapour - sur les solutions possibles et les instruments susceptibles d’améliorer la gouvernance urbaine des métropoles ou pouvant inspirer en amont les métropoles en devenir.

 Date : Mardi 19 and Mercredi 20 octobre 2010
 Lieu : J.W Marriot Hotel. Mega Kuningan Complex, Jakarta, INDONESIE

Pour plus d’informations, veuillez contacter M. Philippe Maurel.

Le programme du séminaire est consultable ci-dessous

Programme du Séminaire Métropoles d’Asie

A Conglomerate for Good! Darmawan Kapital Good Group

Conglomerates Abound There is no shortage of conglomerates whose purpose is to maximize profit, at any cost, provided that no laws are broken (of course, we all know that laws are stretched and often broken).  In fact, publicly traded companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to maximize profit; that is, they are required by law to do so.  What this means is that a company cannot focus on social or environmental goals unless working towards those goals somehow helps the bottom line.  As a result, the traditional approach taken by corporations with respect to social and environmental goals has been to 1)influence laws to their benefit, 2)avoid litigation, and 3)lower operating costs (e.g., by installing CFL light bulbs, cutting wages or benefits, or reducing packaging waste).

A consequence of this paradigm is that, at least in an industrialized country such as America and Europe or an emerging one like us in Indonesia, public policy is too often shaped by what benefits corporations rather than individuals; getting corporations to follow the law is time-consuming and expensive, since large companies have a fleet of high-powered attorneys at their beck and call; and only limited inroads have been made on fair trade, environmental sustainability, and other important issues. 

The Limited Success of Corporate Social Responsibility Some companies have embraced the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), defined as “a concept whereby organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders, as well as the environment. This obligation is seen to extend beyond the statutory obligation to comply with legislation and sees organizations voluntarily taking further steps to improve the quality of life for employees and their families as well as for the local community and society at large.” (source: ) However, the problem with CSR is that it is only adhered to so long as a company is making a healthy profit; the moment financial difficulties arise, CSR is dropped as “costs are trimmed” and “belts are tightened.”

So, what’s the answer to all this?  Obviously, policy makers need to free themselves from the grip of corporate influence, and corporations needs to find better ways to incorporate CSR, the Triple Bottom line, and other approaches into their day-to-day operations.  But I would like to propose another solution: I’ll call it A Conglomerate for Good.

A Conglomerate for Good !

The basic idea is simple: to create a conglomerate (that is, a large organization) whose mission is to maximize social and environmental return on investment.  To put it another way, the bottom line will not be measured by profits, but rather by how effectively the organization invests money--be it from donors or investors--into solving social problems.  And just as McDonalds, Nike and Coca-Cola have extended their reach and influence to every corner of the globe in order to maximize profits, the Conglomerate for Good will touch the lives of as many people as possible in as positive, sustainable and just manner as possible.  The impetus and the visions behind Darmawan Kapital Good Fund, is to be just such an organization.

Start Dreaming--Then Start Doing Imagine a company that lobbies politivs for stricter laws and enforcement on everything from wages to carbon dioxide emissions.  Imagine a company that treats its workers fairly and with dignity, provides products and services that are restorative and regenerative to ecosystems, safe for consumers, recyclable and serve a real, rather than manufactured, need.  Imagine a company whose reach is global, but whose various branches and subsidiaries understand and respect regional, local and cultural differences. Imagine a company whose profits are reinvested in communities rather than in wealthy investors.  Imagine a company that revolutionizes how wealth is generated and defined.  Imagine.  And then start to bring that dream to fruition.

Think about this: without capital, oil companies can’t drill for oil, but neither can solar panel manufacturers enable us to harness sunlight for clean, just energy. Capital is not the problem.  Muhammad Yunus has shown us that access to capital is an essential tool for helping to rid the world of poverty.  But what we see today is that capital is used to generate more capital, without consideration for what happens in between.  For those that want a secure investment that provides a healthy return and returns health and prosperity to the world, there are very few options.  Yet everyone knows that it takes money--and a lot of it--to finance the energy and social revolutions that we need. After all, we already have the technology to generate clean energy, and the energy of human beings to lift themselves out of poverty is boundless; solving both problems requires innovative investment strategies.

Yet when we put our money into a bank account at Citibank or Bank of America, we have no idea what the bank is doing with our money.  They could be financing a massive damn in Brazil that is displacing native populations, or a coal-fired power plant in China, or a wind-farm in India.  Chances are, however, that we wouldn’t feel very good about what the bank is doing with our money.  Same goes for much of the consumer products we buy: chances are, we wouldn’t be in agreement with the ethics of the company with which we are doing business.

The great thing is that people from all walks of life--conservatives, liberals, and political agnostics--can agree that it would be better to have a just economy.  What’s more, the rise of global problems--poverty, terrorism, climate change, energy wars, to name a few--have highlighted the need for new approaches to emerging challenges.

For all the above reasons I hope to turn Darmawan Kapital Good Group of Funds into a conglomerate for good.  We hope to franchise our models for solving problems in much the same way that McDonalds franchises its model for selling fries and hamburgers.  The idea is to conspire to change the world, to unlock the potential of human beings, to protect the beauty of the natural world, to fight against entrenched interests, and to permit goodness to flourish.  If it sounds lofty, we are keenly aware of that; the fact of the matter is that these are lofty times, and lofty ideas are needed to steer the world in the right direction.

Green Web Hosting: "One of Our Mission Foundation at Darmawan Consulting".

Our Green Mission

At Darmawan Consulting we have two important goals.

• Provide quality advices in the field of dependable Green Computing Technology including but not limited to web hosting services at affordable rates with the best customer service in the business.
  
  We live by very simple and important principle, which is, without customers we have no business. Our customer's satisfaction is the #1 focus for every team member of the company and I personally guarantee my attention for to every customer. Therefor We Chose the Best of the best! La creme de la creme from Our Suppliers list.

• Promote every web site on the internet to be hosted by a web hosting company utilizing Green Energy through our Affiliates Link.

By the way, going green for your own web site and your business almost assuredly will lead to higher sales compared to your non green competitors. In 2006, 81% of Americans polled by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies felt that they had a personal responsibility to do something positive about the environment. So all things being equal and you.ve gone green and your competitors have not, you should win the business 81% of the time and that.s where going green and promoting green makes good economic sense. 

We have all seen in articles, news reports and documentaries about how we've failed to realize until relatively recently how harmful many of our actions have been to the environment. To think that we need to reverse over a century.s worth of heavy pollution on a global scale can seem daunting. This is why at Darmawan Consulting, we feel that now more than ever we can and must collectively work together to heighten awareness and force a change in philosophy for as many individuals as possible.

You can start today to make your lifestyle and businesses greener. We offer some information and facts on how to go green within our site and we have developed Affiliationship Program with Our Green Web Hosting Provider.

Darmawangreenfund: "SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT"

Darmawangreenfund: "SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT": "'Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet..."

Darmawangreenfund: "CARBON CREDIT"

Darmawangreenfund: "CARBON CREDIT": "What Does Carbon Credit Mean? A permit that allows the holder to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. Credits are awarded to countries or grou..."

Darmawangreenfund: "GREEN ECONOMICS

Darmawangreenfund: "GREEN ECONOMICS: "A green economy is a economy or economic development model based on sustainable development and a knowledge of ecological economics. Karl ..."

Darmawangreenfund: "GREEN FUND"

Darmawangreenfund: "GREEN FUND": "What Does Green Fund Mean? A mutual fund or other investment vehicle that will only invest in companies that are deemed socially conscious..."

UKM Indonesia Tertinggi Serap Teknologi (koleksi artikel dari inilah.com)

INILAH.COM, Jakarta- Teknologi tak hanya dirasakan pebisnis besar, tetapi juga menengah. UKM RI telah menjadi yang paling berkembang dalam adopsi teknologi bersama Filipina dan Thailand.

“Teknologi adalah bagian industri yang tidak dirasakan oleh pebisnis besar saja, tetapi juga pebisnis UKM. Kami menargetkan pangsa pasar ke lapisan pengusaha UKM karena memang mereka memiliki kebutuhan bisnis yang sama dengan kalangan menengah ke atas,” ujar Pudja Unggul Kartiman, Sales and Channel Director Cisco Indonesia di Jakarta Rabu (30/3).

Cisco memperkenalkan Cisco SA 500 Series Security dan Cisco IP Phone SPA 500 Series bagi pebisnis UKM. Dua produk ini mengkolaborasikan berbagai fitur keamanan dan komunikasi dalam satu paket perangkat dengan harga terjangkau.

“Pangsa pasar UKM menjadi target kami karena memang selama ini perkembangannya yang sangat pesat dalam rekapitulasi bisnis semasa krisis. Karena kebutuhan yang sama besar dengan perusahaan menengah ke atas kami menghadirkan produk Cisco ini dengan harga yang terjangkau,” ujar Pudja.

Industri UKM merupakan pangsa pasar besar di Indonesia. Indonesia masuk dalam tiga besar negara pengguna produk teknologi oleh kalangan UKM di samping Filipina dan Thailand.

Cisco hingga tahun ini telah memiliki 600 portofolio bagi UKM. Jumlah ini jauh berkembang dibandingkan saat diluncurkan pertama kali di Indonesia pada Agustus 2005 dengan 40 produk.

Tidak hanya itu, Cisco telah memiliki partner perusahaan berjumlah 100 perusahaan dengan reseller lebih dari 400 perusahaan. [ito]


Bagi kami @Darmawan Consulting, kebutuhan Teknologi Informasi UKM di Indonesia sudah dapat terpenuhi dengan Sarana dan Prasarana yang ada di Internet saat ini dengan mengandalkan Teknologi WEB 2.0 Kami mengomentari artikel di atas yang memasarkan produk-produk perangkat keras dari Cisco. Kami pun secara sukarela dapat mengIDENTIFIKASI KEBUTUHAN Teknologi Informasi yang harus di Implementasikan oleh pihak UKM. Kami mengundang untuk lebih berbagi selanjutnya dengan mengirimi email ke darmawanconsulting@gmail.com

UMKM Indonesia jadi Contoh di Asia-Pasifik

Indonesia Jadi Contoh bagi Asia Pasifik

Written by Artikel

Wednesday, 06 October 2010 09:04

INDONESIA kini menjadi negara percontohan untuk pengembangan koperasi dan usaha kecil dan menengah  (KUKM) bagi negara-negara yang tergabung dalam Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).  Indonesia dinilai berhasil keluar dari hempasan dua kali krisis ekonomi karena kekuatan sektor KUKM. Demikian diungkapkan Menteri Koperasi dan UKM Syarief Hasan kepada Media Indonesia di Jakarta, kemarin. Syarief baru saja kembali dari pertemuan APEC SME Ministrial Meeting ke-17 di Gifu, Jepang, yang digelar pada 1-3 Oktober 2010. Ia menyebutkan 21 negara yang tergabung dalam APEC memuji program  pembiayaan terhadap KLKM yang dilakukan pemerintah Indonesia. Pemerintah 21 negara APEC  menilai kekuatan KUKM yang dibina Indonesia berhasil mengatasi krisis berkepanjangan beberapa waktu lalu. Mereka baru sadari pentingnya sektor KUKM, khususnyaketika negara sedang tertimpa krisis," ungkap Syarief. Karena keberhasilan itu, lanjutnya, kini pola pembiayaan sektor KUKM Indonesia menjadi percontohan bagi  negara-negara APEC. Syarief menjelaskan pada pertemuan itu juga dilakukan pertemuan bilateral dengan  menteri KUKM Amerika Serikat (AS), Taiwan, dan Korea Selatan. Hasilnya, Indonesia dan AS  sepakat untuk bertukar pengalaman dan teknologi di sektor KUKM Korea Selatan dan Indonesia pun sepakat  untuk bekerja sama di bidang pemasaran produk-produk KUKM dan Kliwon sepakat meningkatkankerja sama  di bidang kewirausahaan. "Kerja sama terus ditingkatkan. Terutama dengan AS yang besaran biaya  pembinaan kUKM-nya mirip dengan Indonesia.  Mereka baru terkena krisis sehingga banyak masyarakat miskin bermunculan." APEC SME Ministrial Meeting ke-17 di Gifu, Jepang, merupakan forum para menteri dari berbagai anggota yang tergabung dalam APEC, yang disebut economics members. Tiap economis member menyampaikan pengalaman dan pandangan dalam melakukan perbaikan sektor ekonomi dan UKM, terutama dalam menghadapi masa krisis moneter yang lalu. Syarief mewakili Indonesia memaparkan pengalaman pembangunan ekonomi rakyat melalui KUKM dan menunjukkan pertumbuhan ekonomi yang positif. Semuanya itu tidak bisa terlepas dari peranan lembaga keuangan mikro yang tersebar di seluruh pelosok Tanah Air. Sumber : Media Indonesia

Data Centers are Becoming Big Polluters, Study Finds - NY TIMES.com

Data Centers Are Becoming Big Polluters, Study Finds

By STEVE LOHR (Article collected from NY TIMES.com)

The world’s data centers are projected to surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter by 2020, according to a new study by McKinsey & Co.

Over that time, the carbon dioxide emissions attributable to the electricity consumed by fast-expanding data centers will rise fourfold, the study estimates. The greenhouse gas impact of data centers is “not yet counted and likely to be very significant,” said William Forrest, the lead McKinsey consultant on the report.

The study, released on Wednesday at the Green Enterprise Computing Symposium in Orlando, Fla., mainly focuses on the cost- and energy-saving opportunities being squandered today in corporate and government data centers.

For example, computer servers are used at only 6 percent of their capacity on average, while data center facilities as a whole are used at 56 percent of peak performance. In other words, if data centers were hotels, they would be bankrupt and shut down instead of growing like kudzu.

In the old mainframe days, data centers were far more efficient but inflexible. In modern data centers, which use standardized technology from the personal computer industry, things are flexible but uncontrolled. One answer, Mr. Forrest said, is to bring some of the mainframe-style management disciplines to modern data centers.

The McKinsey study, which used data from the Uptime Institute, a research and advisory organization for data center users, said corporations should set the goal of doubling the efficiency of their data centers by 2012. It proposes a metric as a basis for action that it calls CADE, for Corporate Average Data Efficiency. The model, self-consciously, is the government’s fuel efficiency standards for cars. “It’s miles per gallon for data centers,” Mr. Forrest said.

The report also lists 10 “game-changing improvements” intended to double data center efficiency, ranging from using virtualization software to integrated control of cooling units. “It clearly makes more sense to become more efficient than to build another $100 million data center,” said Kenneth Brill, executive director of the Uptime Institute.

Click here for Green Web Hosting

Sometimes a good idea isn*t enough: Buy*in by John P. KOTTER

You believe in a good idea. You know it could make a crucial 

difference for you, your organization, your community. You present
it, hoping for enthusiastic support. Instead, you get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets. Before you know
what's hit you, your idea is dead.

It doesn't have to be this way, maintain John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead. In Buy-In, they reveal how to come to the rescue of good ideas and win the support needed to deliver valuable results. The key? Understand the attack strategies that naysayers deploy with great success time and time again.

Smart, practical, and brimming with useful advice, Buy-In equips you to anticipate attacks and turn them to your advantage — so your good idea survives to make a positive change.

Read the Book!

The Green Hub: A Quick Review @Darmawan Consulting.

Konsep Sarana dan Prasarana Penghubung aktor "Green Economy" berbasis Internet dan WEB 2.0 : The GREENHUB.

Lihat Gambar di bawah ini untuk Proses Pemetaan SUMBERDAYA, awal dari pembentukan jejaring dengan menggunakan mekanisme "VIRTUALISASI INFRASTRUKTUR".

Penggunaan "OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE" yang dapat di mutakhir-kan memberikan langkah awal yang dapat merealisasikan setiap inisiatif "Virtualisasi" GRATIS dari biaya pembelian Perangkat Lunak.

Lihat Gambar di bawah ini untuk contoh kecil Jejaring berbasis server Open Source Samba dari pengembangan LINUX server.

Semua Proses Pengembangan dan Pemetaan APPLIKASI dari GREENHUB @Darmawan Consulting di kerjakan lewat VIRTUAL SERVER KAMI yang menggunakan teknologi Cloud Computing.

Dari tingkat perorangan dan usaha yang paling mikro sekalipun akan dapat terhubung dan terkoneksi lewat GREENHUB yang berbasis Internet dan Teknologi WEB 2.0

Jejaring "EKONOMI HIJAU" tersebut di atas akan menggunakan proses DESIGN yang ramah lingkungan dan secara ergonomis akan dengan sederhananya memudahkan penelusuran konten dan data yang terINTEGRASI di GREENHUB.

Deskripsi awal yang kami berikan di sini hanyalah sebagian kecil dari konsep, ide dan applikasi yang kami sedang kembangkan untuk mewujudkan INDONESIA SETARA! SEJAHTERA RAKYAT SEMESTA! dan SETARA di dunia Ekonomi Internasional selayaknya Bangsa yang Besar dan memiliki Sumber HIJAU yang tak terbatas! Hidup INDONESIA! Hidup SETARA! kami mengundang saudara-saudara secara sukarela untuk berbagi dengan kami. Silahkan untuk menindak lanjuti amanah yang leluhur kita berikan, silahkan berbagi dengan menghubungi kami di darmawanconsulting@gmail.com

GREENFUND: The Green Economics based FUND

GREENFUND @Darmawan Consulting.

A key component of Our Current Development is an organization in the making, GREENFUND @Darmawan Consulting that can implement these aforementioned ideas.  In particular, we are working to develop “green financing HUB,” to channel one of Our current project our microGREENFUND and others agressive strategy surely also will be use to hedge Our Green investments which are based on Our capabilities of using Internet and WEB 2.0 technology. 

microGREENFUND: Financing the People by the Power of the People!

microGREENFUND: Advancing Social Equality and Environmental Sustainability in Indonesia.

Our findings and field research looks at how microfinance--the provision of small loans and other financial services to people not considered credit worthy by traditional financial institutions--can be used to advance environmental sustainability as well as social equality and empowerment in Indonesia.  

Its  starts out by explaining the philosophical approach that We applied to problem, namely, that to create a green economy in Indonesia we need to ensure that all segments of society are engaged on environmental issues through entrepreneurship, jobs, investment opportunities and a sense that environmental problems are relevant to people’s lives.  

The rest of the findings explores how microfinance can accomplish those goals through 

1) supporting ‘green collar entrepreneurs’--low and moderate-income individuals who want to start or expand green micro and small businesses, 

2) by providing environmental education to all borrowers so that they are empowered to become civic leaders advocating for policy changes, organizing community events, and starting businesses that improve environmental quality, and 

3) by providing loans for residential energy-efficiency and renewable energy upgrades to homeowners that wouldn’t ordinarily be able to partake in these types of programs due to problems with credit history or other barriers.

Share with us your comment and ideas in our microGREENFUND blooging website at http://microGREENFUND.blogspot.com

The SEVEN Cs of Consulting

Click to READ the BOOK!

Silahkan membaca artikel yang kami temukan mengenai the SEVEN Cs of Consulting dari Mick Cope.

Cope is the founder of the consulting company WizOz. He has been a consultant for many years in the field of business transformation. His clients include BT, Consignia, Zurich Financial Services, Unilever and the BBC.

MCNews talked to Cope about how the Seven Cs can provide a framework for excellence in consulting.

MCNews: What motivated you to write The Seven Cs of Consulting?

Cope: When I went out on my own in consulting after working for a large firm for twenty-four years, I realized that, to sell myself, I would have to be more articulate in explaining to clients how I managed the lifecycle of consulting engagements. I also realized that, like many consultants, I was consulting tacitly: I did what I did because it worked.

I couldn't find a book that adequately explained where you start with a consulting engagement, what you do, how you finish and the tools you use along the way. So, I decided to write one, and I did it through reflecting on what worked for me, talking to people and doing some academic research to come up with a framework for the consulting process.

I'm actually updating the book now and some of the tools will change from the earlier edition, but the Seven Cs will remain because I think all engagements must go through the seven stages--client, clarify, create, change, confirm, continue and close, even if you call them something else. So the book is about providing a lifecycle model for consulting engagements.

Also, it was driven by complete and utter frustration at the failure rate for change initiatives. Up to 80% of change engagements fail to deliver the anticipated benefits and, as a result, consultants have a terrible name. And, corporate scandals like Enron have not helped. The Seven Cs model aims to improve the professionalism of consultants in what we present to clients about what we do and how we do it.

Consultants aren't so good at that because they rely on their "black box" of tricks like doctors do. When you go to doctors, they prod and poke you and you may understand what they have done, but you don't know how they got there.

MCNews: Does it seem to you that clients have much less tolerance for that black box, and that the consulting process needs to be transparent now?

Cope: Absolutely, and the Seven Cs model provides that transparency so the consultant can say to the client, look this is the approach we are going to take, and the client can challenge the consultant. For me, the important thing is to have a conversational bridge between the client and the consultant.

MCNews: Given how comprehensive the book is, what is the best way for consultants to use it?

Cope: Not by reading it end to end. It's a tool kit that's designed so consultants can dip in and find what they need to help them. There is a tear-out card at the back of the book that is like a roadmap of the Seven Cs, which is easy to keep in your briefcase. If you reach a stumbling point on an engagement, you can use that roadmap to figure out what you need to be doing and if there is anything in the book to help you think about that.

MCNews: One of the Seven Cs is about the client-consultant relationship. How do you build a strong relationship with a client?

Cope: The two disciplines I follow are to challenge and educate. In working with clients, my first role is to challenge their presuppositions, and help them realize that what they think are truths may be constructs they've built up because they are in crisis or because they have always done things a certain way.

The second thing is the consultant's role as educator, the importance of which is woefully underestimated. I use the Seven Cs as an educational tool to challenge clients to think differently about how they see a problem and about how we are going to address it.Hopefully, this builds trust and helps the client to really understand the notion of discernable change, which is the underlying purpose of the Seven Cs--to create something that's going to last and not just be a short-term, quick-fix solution.

MCNews: You also talk about need to clarify, to understand the client's real issues. How do you balance the need to clarify with the client's need to get on with it and get the job done?

Cope: In many ways, I don't see it as a balance, and this is where I fall out with a lot of consultants. Too often there is this rush to change. The client pressures the consultant to get to the change stage and fix the problem as quickly as possible.

Consultants may want to do the job properly, but they also have the pressure of that 75% utilization target from their senior partner, and they want to get to the change phase so they can bill the client. So, there is a shared paradigm of let's get this fixed quick.

But, I believe this is what leads to the 80% failure rate, because you are building on sand. If you don't clarify the problems properly, how on earth can you develop a solution that's going to be valued and sustainable? Going back to the doctor analogy, the doctor can prescribe a solution based on what looks to be wrong with a patient. But unless the solution is based on a robust and rigorous diagnostic exercise, the patient will be back in three or six months with the same problem.

At that point, the doctor's name will be mud, and the patient will have told ten people how bad the doctor is. You end up with massive brand erosion, and that's what's happened in consulting over the past decade because we have fallen into that race for change. It's quite simple for me: if the client isn't prepared to spend time in client clarification, then I won't work with them.

MCNews: You take them through that diagnostic stage no matter what?

Cope: That's right. Here's another analogy. In the UK at the moment there is a serious shortage of tradesmen, plumbers and good builders, for example. You get two types here, the cowboys and the real tradesmen, the experts. Now, let's say I have a plumbing problem, and I tell the plumber, I want you to do this to fix it. The cowboy says, okay fine, he does it and takes my money and runs. The tradesman, because he is proud of his craft, will say, I value what you as a client believe, but I have to look into this plumbing system and understand it, otherwise whatever I fix is going to fail later.

What I am advocating is for consultants to have some of the discipline and pride of a good tradesman, and not just race for the money or be too ready to accept the client's diagnosis.

In my classes, I tell students to run a search on the Internet using two words: consultant and joke. If you do that, the jokes just stream out at you. We have done this to ourselves because we don't stop to clarify what's really going on with the client.

MCNews: Let's talk about the next stage, creating solutions with the client. What can consultants do to push clients beyond the inertia of what's been done before, to help them take some risks in their thinking about solutions?

Cope: I would ask the client to consider the last five major change programs the company has done, and tell me how many of them actually worked. Whenever you ask that question, the answer is usually none or one. So, it's not rational for them to keep doing what they've done before. It comes back to challenge and educate. Challenge what the client has done before and then educate the client on new approaches.

MCNews: When challenging conventional wisdom, how do you help clients bridge the gap between intellectual acceptance of a new idea and the more emotional aspect of taking action on it?

Cope: Consultants should consider the idea of a spiral process. You don't just go through the Seven Cs once, but multiple times, looping larger each time. For the first spin, do a small test. Say to the client, here's an idea to try. Let's clarify it, come up with a solution, make a small change, test it, measure results, make sure they are going to last and then close it down. Then you go around again in a larger spiral with a more substantial project. As this process continues, the client gets more and more comfortable that the solutions you are generating will give them the success they want.

The emotional fear that is natural with any change process is balanced by the intellectual appreciation that the solutions work. Clients, especially those who are accountable to shareholders, need this chain of confidence.

MCNews: Based on your experience, is any one of the Seven Cs overlooked by consultants more than the others?

Cope: The close. Often it tends to be, how was that for you? Then, you roll over and rush on to the next assignment. The close is really the point of sale, and the maxim for any consulting work is that you close the engagement, but you never close the relationship.

In the close stage you do four things: you look back and learn; you insure that the client understands how you added value; you cut the ties of dependency so that the client is fully functional without you; and then you say, how else can I help you?

Most consultants don't really focus on or understand the close process. Most of their energy is spent on client, clarify and create, and they don't get to confirm, continue and close before they have to go off to the next thing. As one of my colleagues put it, for most consulting, the process is client, clarify, create, change and run.

MCNews: What changes do you see coming for the consulting industry over the next few years, and what do you think clients will be looking for in consultants?

Cope: I think it's going to be about value realization, about proving that we can add value that will last. I define consulting as the delivery of value through sustainable change.Consultants should be clear on the change they deliver, on what it is they are doing that is different and the value of that, and should have confidence that it's going to last.

Going back to education again, I run Seven Cs programs for clients as well as for consultants, and train clients to understand consultants. The more you educate clients how to be better buyers the more it will scare some consultants as clients start to ask for three things: change, value and sustainability.
MCNews: Do you have any suggestions for our readers on great resources on consulting--books or web sites?

Cope: I'm a real fan of Chris Argyris, and Gerard Egan as well. They delve into areas that I think can help consultants understand the psychological aspects of the client relationship. Certainly, the re-write of the book that I'm doing now will include a lot more about cognitive dissonance and why people say one thing but do something else.

In the end, it's all about humanity and human behavior. Consultants need to better understand this dynamic. So much consulting is focused on task, but it is really about being human, about understanding the person.

MCNews: Thanks very much for your time.

Berikut di atas adalah akhir dari interview dengan konsultant Mick Cope bersama MCNews.

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