Entrepreneurial journalism

Project Ecobabel

Yet by not being transparent when the timing is right about your ups and downs – and not telling stakeholders about the deserts you crossed to try and serve them – you can miss out on some critical support. There are more good reasons to open up without over-analyzing what might come of it. In her research into what it takes to live a "wholehearted" life, Brene Brown concludes that "vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity, change and innovation."

Journalists

One of the many things in the world comical to me is the number of movies – even today – that cast young actors in the romantic role of journalist. The camera pans in with an upbeat pop tune and we find them working in a vast, packed Manhattan newsroom, appearing healthy, smartly dressed and well paid.

There are some notable exceptions, but I don’t think it’s controversial to say that journalism is in many respects a dying profession. The Fourth Estate, which for many decades has done a commendable job of holding powers that be accountable, is largely in foreclosure.

I am not nostalgic about this romantic notion of journalist, or of all the smug reporters that hide themselves behind a principled notion of objectivity. We at Sustainable Industries work out of The Hub shared office space at Fifth & Mission, in the first few floors of the old San Francisco Chronicle building.  Some day I want to go up to the floors above us and see if anyone from the Chronicle is still up there. I picture an older gentleman with a hat that says “Scoop” on it, making calls from a land line, while people in the background are running in and out of a dark room. An ash tray. Maybe a secretary nearby.

Relative to the history of mankind, today’s society is moving at warp speed. Technology is accelerating faster than we can chronicle it. Sociologists no longer talk about the Precautionary Principle. It’s a nice ideal, but it simply does not apply to anything we as a people make endless soft, collective decisions to engage in.

Perhaps it’s in part because we’re bombarded and distracted all day with “media”!