renjie's posterous

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Fast Company: How to Write a Mission Statement That Doesn't Suck

By Dan Heath

Use concrete language. Check out this mission statement from SonicBids, a fast-growing small business: "We want to help musicians get gigs, and promoters book the right bands. ... We're a bunch of people who think that music can truly change the world and make it smaller and better. ... We believe that independent music belongs everywhere: on festival stages; in video game consoles; on film screens; in college theaters; on the radio; in advertisements; on club stages and at sporting events." Wow. It gives you a picture of what they do and tells you why it's worth doing.

Talk about the why. Most mission statements are all statement and no mission. The whole point is to say why you're doing what you're doing. What makes you care? Look at the start of Johnson & Johson's famous credo: "Our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses, and patients, mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services." Well, okay, that's worth getting out of bed for. Compare that with ExxonMobil's. Did you feel that? A little part of your soul just died, reading that.

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Burj Khalifa base jump

via guardian.co.uk

From guardian.co.uk

"Two men have set a world record for the highest base jump after parachuting from the top of the world's highest building, the Burj Khalifa"

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Burj Khalifa opening

Opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai complete with fireworks. This building was formerly known as the Burj Dubai, but was renamed by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed, to honor Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates.

Taken from www.spiked-online.com

Standing at 828 metres tall, the tower surpassed the previous record-holder, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, by more than 300 metres. It has 164 floors containing more than 1,000 apartments, 49 floors of office space and an Armani hotel. The observation deck on the 124th floor is the highest in the world, providing a view for about 80 kilometres on a clear day. The building has state-of-the-art lifts that can go from the ground to the top in about 50 seconds, reaching a speed of more than 40 kilometres per hour. The tower also has the highest swimming pool in the world and the highest mosque.
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Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

via ted.com

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Avatar - The Movie

I went to the midnight screening of the new James Cameron movie, Avatar in 3D, with some friends last night and all I can say is that I walked away from the cinema with my mind blown away. It was more than just a movie, it was an experience. 

I would highly recommend that you watch it this weekend, you won't be disappointed.
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Ignite Waterloo

Last Wednesday, we hosted the first-ever Ignite Waterloo at the Waterloo Regional Children's Museum in downtown Kitchener. It was certainly a great night, and from the numerous tweets, photos and blog posts that emerged following the event, it seems to have gone over well with the community in attendance.

For those of you who missed it, we've put together a three-minute video (see above) that I hope captures the spirit of Ignite Waterloo.

A slide deck of all the Ignite Waterloo presentations can be found below.

Ignite! Waterloo
View more documents from Ignite Waterloo.
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Teachers Make a Difference

In light Efren Peñaflorida's CNN Hero of the Year win, I wanted to share one of my favorite Def Poetry Jam videos, Taylor Mali showcasing that teachers do make a difference in the lives of their students.

That being said, there are so many teachers from elementary, high school through to university, that have made me the person I am today, and I would like to thank each and every one of them. Of course, there are also numerous friends and family members that have taught me a thing or two about life, and I would not be the person I am today without them as well. Thank you.

Video(s) after the jump.

And since it is a Friday after all, I figured that I would include some of my favorite Def Poetry Jam videos as well. See below and enjoy!

Gemineye: Penny for your thoughts

Sarah Kay: Hands

Dante Basco: Nikki

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Efren Peñaflorida named CNN Hero of the Year

Efren Peñaflorida of the Philippines was named CNN Hero of the Year 2009 last night, at a gala event taped before an audience of 3,000 people at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

In his acceptance speech, Peñaflorida acknowledged the work that his co-volunteers put into the Dynamic Teen Company, an organization that provides Filipino youth in slum areas an alternative to gang membership, through education programs. Peñaflorida will receive a $100,000 grant to continue his work with the Dynamic Teen Company.

"Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers ... you are the change that you dream, as I am the change that I dream, and collectively we are the change that this world needs to be. Mabuhay."

Sincere congratulations to Peñaflorida, as well as to everyone who made it to the CNN Heroes top 10 from an initial pool of more than 9,000 viewer nominations.

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R4Fashion and OUCH 2009

(download)

Following the 3rd Conference on Social Enterprise in Toronto last Friday, I had the sincere pleasure of attending a number of student organized events over the weekend including R4Fashion, a fashion show dedicated to celebrating top and upcoming Canadian fashion designers who view fashion with an added green dimension; Out in the Cold at the University of Toronto, an event designed to raise funds and awareness of homelessness issues in the local community; as well as the Ontario Universities Competition for Hip Hop (OUCH) 2009, an annual hip hop competition showcasing the best of hip hop talent from universities and colleges across Ontario.

The main reason I attended OUCH 2009 this year was because my younger sister, Loubelle, who is in her second year of nursing at the University of Western Ontario, made it to the Western hip hop team to represent her school in the competition. Of course, I played the role of proud big brother and fully supported her at the event!

Congrats to all the winners this year at OUCH 2009, shout outs to the University of Waterloo peeps who placed third in the competition! (McMaster - First place, University of Toronto - Second place)

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Moment of Profound Social Change

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Photo courtesy of Toshio on Flickr - The Dance

I had the sincere pleasure of spending the day with Ben Ramsden, UK-based social entrepreneur and CEO of Pants to Poverty, yesterday as he came to visit Waterloo to meet with SiG, as well as a number of other social innovators and entrepreneurs based in the Waterloo Region. Ben also spoke with a group of students at the University of Waterloo later in the evening, at an event co-hosted with Engineers Without Borders Waterloo, discussing Pants to Poverty, fairtrade and ethical consumer purchases, as well as the rising tide of social enterprise and social entrepreneurs around the world. 

As the day progressed, him and I had a number of interesting discussions on the topics of social innovation, young people being drawn to social change-type activities, as well as the realities faced by the poor in developing countries around the world. 

However, one comment that Ben made certainly stuck with me, helping to paint a vivid picture of the world we currently live in and the realities we face with increasingly complex social and environmental issues.

"We are currently in a moment of profound social change. 

Imagine the world being a dance floor and there you are dancing to a song. The song is coming to an end, and as it fades out, you can hear the very faint beat of the next song. You adjust your dancing slightly, in anticipation of the new song. And as you look around at the crowd, some people are still dancing to the same old beat completely oblivious, while others, are getting ready just as you are for the new song to kick in.

This is the moment we are living in today."

Right on.

Ben_ramsden_-_poster

A video of the lecture will be posted on the SiG@Waterloo website within a couple of days.

Edit: October 20, 2009

The video of Ben's talk on fairtrade, Pants to Poverty and social entrepreneurship, is now online.

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