Socio-Economic Alchemy

Corporate Social Behavior Index -alonovo version 3.0

2011-03-29T21:21:00.000-07:00

A working draft of alonovo.com version 3.0 company data attributes is available for review in google docs.

The late, late alonovo 2.0 Beta

2009-03-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

is nearing completion and due to be released later this month. It is a complete rewrite of alonovo. The alonovo/amazon shopping experience is better and faster.

The registered alonovo community will have the ability to choose their favorite and most hated corporations, comment on blogs and rate blogs and comments and more.

alonovo 1.2 Soft Launch

2008-08-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

We hope you enjoy the updates to the alonovo site as we move forward with a major rewrite that we will launch later this year. While some of the changes are cosmetic, we will be adding some new functionality that (with your help) will create more revenue share for our family of beneficiary organizations.

As always we are very grateful to all of you that use the service and help us grow.

A Brief Jena 6 Update -

2007-07-31T14:48:00.001-07:00

I made the drive from Austin to Jena, Louisiana and attended a protest earlier today.(you can read more about the background at http://colorofchange.org/jena/index.html).

In the photo to the left -the families of the imprisoned youth speak out -many of their mothers and fathers are ex-military.

What strikes me as remarkable is the courage and resolve of the people I spoke with and at the same time, thinking that Dr. King Jr. gave his brilliant "I Have a Dream Speech" almost 44 years ago, yet here we still are.

The photo below is the march from the courthouse through the small town and back to the courthouse.

I was really glad to make the drive and be here, as much theoretical socio-economic stuff I do behind a keyboard when you have the opportunity to venture out and support people that are speaking truth to power it provides a deep well of motivation and inspiration.

Ready, set, Action -

2007-07-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

After too long behind a keyboard trying to incrementally drive positive societal change, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boom and echo through the back of my mind.

"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now the time has come to make real the promises of Democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood ..." (I Have a Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -August 28, 1963).

So today, right after a critical strategy call for alonovo.com (which holds the potential for badly needed development resources and a more robust method for more comprehensive social behavior data about corporations, I'm off to Jena, Louisiana to support the Jena 6.

A note to friends at NASA CoLab

2007-05-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

I'd sent the following in email to a dear friend (I won't name names, let's just call him "Andrew" for now) who continually counter-balances my Andy Rooney-ish tired crankiness with youthful optimism and intelligence. He was an early mentor on what was to eventually become alonovo.com and helped connect me to some amazing people at CivicSpace Labs. While I'm not deluded (enough, yet) to think that my notes are all that interesting, he encouraged me to blog this, so here it is ...

The more I think of some of the discussions we had at the Thai restaurant with your parents the more I understand how badly society needs to look up into the sky and dream about what is possible again.

The science and technology that once gave all people hope --that if we could walk on the moon, anything is attainable as a society or within the framework of our own lives --has taken a backseat to war, corporate profit and bling.

While the current administration hasn't totally cast us back into the dark ages yet, they have certainly diminished our educational infrastructure through lack of funding (beginning with the Reagan years). Early childhood education is where the spark of exploration (the desire for knowledge and understanding) begins with well resourced schools, talented, caring teachers and parents that have not totally been beaten down by a system of economic tyranny.

There is mountain of work for the NASA CoLab team ahead, (ironic we originally met in Mountain View?) however the intellect and optimism from that group holds great promise.

alonovo and the charge of the libertarian brigade

2007-03-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

If I were asked to characterize myself at this point in my life I'd consider myself a pragmatic liberal. Nevertheless, I continue to keep an open mind (I must have an open mind that would easily explain why I forget things -as new ideas emerge, remembering where I put my keys gets more challenging).

As the concept of alonovo was formed (and yes, it started from a peace-loving, tree-hugging, born and raised in Los Angeles vegan perspective) an interesting thing happened. As I went looking for investment most of the time I found myself in the lair of conservatives and the occasional libertarian. It was pointed out to me that the concept of alonovo could benefit society without regard for political ideology. The concept of corporations trampling on all of us in search of bigger profit margins was something that could rally most of America. The more that I reflected upon this concept the more appreciation I had. Here was an opportunity to bring America back together as opposed to continuing to polarize, divide and conquer. In interviews I coined the phrase "You don't have to be a Democrat to want a blue sky, you don't have to be a Republican to want a growing economy."

As I met with people representing the spectrum of political ideology, I befriended some Libertarians, notably Ernie (Freedom's the answer, what's the question?) Hancock in Phoenix and Eric Garris in the SF area. I found their perspective refreshing and a handful of lunches and coffee's led to the individual weighting system in alonovo. Instead of alonovo determining what constitutes good corporate social behavior, we took the 30+ attributes of Corporate Social Behavior (or more commonly and incorrectly, Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR) and we provide a simple method for each alonovo.com user to establish their own experience by weighting the factors that are important to them. For example, if you are dedicated to environmental issues, however do not feel strongly about labor, animal rights and ethics --you can weight the attributes of CSB to highlight the environmental issues so the ratings that are displayed for you are very sensitive to the underlying environmental ratings data.

We felt this was an important intellectual contribution to alonovo from the Libertarian perspective and we have also applied this philosophy to the organizations we work with that range from CODEPINK to the National Military Family Association.

In a near future release, we expect to have some NGO's and beneficiary organizations we work with establish their own weightings that will be the default for their respective constituency (however can be overridden by their individual alonovo users).

alonovo.com, 2.0

2007-03-08T08:05:00.000-08:00

The next release of alonovo.com is getting ready for the development phase while I continue to look for resources that will further the mission without jeopardizing the integrity of the alonovo concept.

I'm convinced that the method of connecting how corporations interact with people and planet is crucial to improving the quality and dignity of life in America and around the world. The alonovo engine is innovative and unique --and it is time to take it to the next level.

The key features of the next release are:

The Universal Shopping Cart -imagine using an online shopping website that would allow you to shop from many of the merchants in the CoopAmerica Business Network, seamlessly.
alonovo.com Private Label -NGO's such as CODEPINK and United for a Fair Economy can integrate the alonovo.com online engine directly into their own webpages. We would also make this available for public school districts for fundraising and other community-based organizations.
Context-sensitive Content Placement -When people search for a coffee maker we provide a simple area within their search results that reminds them "not to forget their fair trade coffee" from companies like Larry's Beans, Peace Coffee and Equal Exchange.

An education area -brief, edgy, compelling streams that show the significance of the attributes of Corporate Social Behavior (Sweatshop labor, pollution, lobbying etc.)

A complete social network that will facilitate the interaction of the alonovo.com community and will help identify emerging products and services that are from evolved companies.

Interface agnostic -Toolbar, PDA/Mobile Device/Web, anyway you want it!

From infancy to two years old -alonovo learns to walk

2007-02-03T05:28:00.000-08:00

Like many Americans I felt politically frustrated. Regardless of my vote I felt that because politicians require huge amount's of money to be elected or re-elected the possibility of Congress or the Executive branch of government representing us continues to undermined by vast wealth and power. As a young adult I observed the Reagan administration, and had read enough to understand that the Reagan team was about the transfer of wealth and power to those that already were wealthy and powerful. As GW was about to begin his second term and many were feeling more politically disenfranchised than ever, I felt that the serious flaw in creating a participatory and representative government was economic. I wrote at the time that "politics was a shadow manifesting from the economic landscape".

I spent most of my 25 year career in technology, essentially growing up with the UNIX operating system, well before it had gained popular commercial acceptance. I was at Oracle Corp. since 1993 and was generating a nearly embarrassing amount of money (more so considering that I left high school behind shortly after my father passed away when I was 16). While many talk about Larry Ellison and Oracle in a negative manner, I have many terrific memories and lifelong friendships with incredible people at Oracle and while I may not agree with many business decisions I remain grateful for the opportunity and the relationships I formed while there. Nevertheless, in 2004 my desire to use the knowledge and experience I'd gained throughout my life and apply it to something beyond database performance, Oracle business strategy and customer advocacy was growing. Over the course of my Oracle career I saw many of my friends, very talented people move on such as my first manager there -Cary Millsap. In 2004 I began work in the Oracle On Demand business unit, which at the time was led by an Oracle Executive Vice President, Michael Rocha. I was energized by his management style, he wasn't leading the business unit by Excel spreadsheets as had become more common in different areas, not just at Oracle. Rocha was a visionary and a leader and I was able to spend a good deal of time evolving strategy with regard to customer satisfaction and global infrastructure. I had the privilege of becoming one of a small team that was shaping the business unit. As the Peoplesoft acquisition occurred, Mike decided to retire. He had been at Oracle pretty much since the big bang and formation of the universe and decided that golf looked better than toiling away. Shortly after Mike left, I decided it was time to take the concept of alonovo.com and make it happen.

Throughout my life I have enjoyed reading and learning about human behavior, sociology and economics. In 1984 I began working with Dr. Ralph Williams, an Organizational Behaviorist. It provided a perspective that most technologists are not exposed to and much of the work we did many years ago not only helped define a career that was marked with innovation, it established some of the perspective that helped form the alonovo concept. In 1997 I was in the process of a bitter separation and divorce and early in 1998 I met an amazing woman on my way back to Oracle HQ. I had been in Phoenix to visit with my younger children, and she had been in town enjoying SF Giants spring training (her entire family are committed Giants fans). Linda had been an activist most of her life and I continue to learn from her although she would be the first to say we don't agree on everything. Linda inspired me become involved in San Mateo County Peace Action, and I worked with people who, like Linda, had been committed to activism and peace their entire lives. In 2003 Linda and I sponsored and produced the Symposium for Peace, Justice and Human Rights in San Mateo, California. We wanted to create an educational event for the community, and also try to provide a framework for progressive unity -it was readily apparent to me that many were doing tremendous, courageous work, but in silos -without coordinating with others. Scott Ritter was our keynote speaker, Charlie Liteky (Voices in the Wilderness), Blase Bonpane (Office of the Americas), Paul George (Peninsula Peace and Justice), Torill Eide (Human Rights March), Alpesh Patel (Peace Action), Brian Rawson (Oxfam America/Make Trade Fair), Marie Davis (NAACP) all spoke and shared their experiences with the audience. An event that size doesn't just happen (I learned!) and in the planning stages, I met a wonderful longtime activist, Dorinda Moreno. She helped plan, organize and connect with speakers for the event. On the event day, she introduced me to a godsend -Irma Garcia-Sinclair who helped manage the event. That evening we all enjoyed dinner together. The next day I was deeply fatigued, but Dorinda would not let me rest -"okay, we've got momentum, what are we going to do next?" she chided. So with copious amounts of coffee we authored a very rough paper outlining the need for progressive unity, and a framework for how to get there. While not nearly as eloquent or formal as Lewis Powell's equivalent memo which established the infrastructure for the Reagan and Bush rise to power, it seemed a nice starting point.

Upon trying to shop the paper around (not for publication, but just to get anyone to pay attention) because I was a virtual unknown, there wasn't much of an audience for what we had to say. So, while remaining locally active, I continued to throw myself into my work at Oracle and hoped that our thoughts were not unique, and that an effort toward some form of unity was occurring behind the scenes. My thoughts about socio-economics and politics took a backseat, however I continued to consider how to provide a framework for unity that would also address some of the fundamental issues I saw within the American political and economic landscape.

After the 2004 election, my consideration of the issues took centerstage once again, and essentially the concept of alonovo.com was born. And without the early inspiration, guidance and support of a handful of people I might still be at Oracle (granted, I'd be taking nicer vacations and have a paycheck). People like Brent Emerson and Adam Bernstein at Electric Embers, Max Bollock, Alpesh Patel, Ron Zucker and Dr. Ed Feldman from my Peace Action days, Dr. Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange, Jim Fournier and Anna Coronna of Planetwork.net, Sean Sheehan of New American Dream, Joe Magid of Grassroots for America, Andrew Hoppin, Zack Rosen and the Civicspace Labs team and last and never least, the amazing Suzanne Stenson-O'Brien of the Center for Civic Participation. Those amazing folks helped refine the vision and inspired me to leap into the abyss. As I stood looking over the precipice, my Oracle compensation and comfortable life on one hand, and the unknown on the other side, the person that pushed me out of the proverbial airplane on my freefall (hopefully, with a parachute) was my son in law, Mikko Hal. At family gatherings we'd have many great discussions about social issues, economics and politics (so much so, he'd pretty much run for cover when he'd see me headed his way). At one point he mentioned (and I'm paraphrasing), "you have a lot of good ideas, but so do many other well-intentioned white liberals that quietly take their paychecks and go home". So, words into action.

I formed an advisory board for alonovo, which struck a balance between the business viability world, non-profit activist world, technologists and economists that helped shape the concept and initial direction. I began to recruit our core team and the effort became real as people like Joey Shepp (founder of Earthsite.net), Ethan McCutchen and Lewis Hoffman of Grasscommons, Hooman Rabieh from Intel, Nadeen Sakowski -who like me spent many years in the technology industry and wanted to direct her knowledge, experience and talent toward the public good. Later Matt Cowley, musician and developer extraordinaire joined the effort, along with my animal rights activist daughter, Martina Polisner. Together we went from concept to our first production release in less than five months! And we wouldn't have gotten into production had it not been for the courage and vision of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. for their early belief in our concept. Shari Aaron (freshmarketing.com) helped with marketing strategy and Amy Weiher (Weiher Creative) and Ellis Neder (Sway Design) provided an excellent visual feel for our site. More fuel came from reading Professor Joel Bakan's remarkable book "The Corporation" as well as books I'd read over the course of my self-education from John Kenneth Galbraith, Steve Lydenberg, John Harrington, Barbara Ehrenreich, Noam Chomsky, Charlie Derber and Economic Apartheid in America by my friends at United for a Fair Economy.

I knew that the meager resources I had accumulated over my technology career, and mostly at Oracle would not take us to widespread use unless we were incredibly lucky. After our formation but prior to our launch I started discussions with Omidyar, the Social Venture Network and private individuals that either funded progressive political candidates and also approached the socially responsible investment community. In February of 2006 we were out of money and the core team (including myself) became a hungry group of volunteers (selling our home in November of 2005 gave us a bit more leeway, but not much. I had one private investor who had agreed to come in with 1/3 of what we needed (600K) but could not get anyone else to step up to the plate.

Finally in May of 2006, I was invited to New York to present to a small group of private investors. I was cautioned to make sure my presentation was constrained to 500K, and did so. I had a late dinner with the individual that coordinated the meeting and the next day met the three other individuals and presented and conducted an question and answer session which, in all took close to five hours. I was well prepared and all of the questions were excellent, and I was able to respond to each. The following day, I met for lunch with the the husband and wife that put the opportunity together, and they had a chance to meet Bob Hornsby, a Wharton MBA and all around great guy who put countless volunteer time in putting our forecasts together, and Dr. John Tepper Marlin, former Chief Economist for the City of New York and Adjunct Professor at the Stern School at NYU (he and Alice Tepper Marlin authored "Shopping for a Better World" and are widely viewed as pioneers in connecting corporate behavior to profit motive.

Upon my return to Phoenix (I was in Phoenix, trying to spend time with my younger children, while shuttling to the SF and LA area) the investors requested more documentation which I was able to provide, and after a few iterations they decided not to invest. They felt that we needed more than our request (500K) to get them to an exit where they could recoup their investment with a sizable return. The experience sent me reeling. I was soon going to be not only without resources for alonovo, but essentials such as rent, groceries and occasional gas money for the Prius. I tried several different alternatives such as an incubator model (where an aligned business would cover our operational expenses and development costs) while we would continue to seek the capital we needed. Most options were still open to us, just not moving to closure. Finally, I had no choice but to take work helping drive business strategy for a Fortune 50 company in order to have enough revenue to continue to fund alonovo, while ensuring I would not have to run the business out of my Prius. While I am still actively pursing ways in which I can acquire funding or resources for alonovo (while also guarding the integrity of the mission), I have had two more than full time jobs since September of 2006, one which thankfully pays for the other.

There are a handful of people and organizations that joined with us at the beginning and are thus notable. They recognize that alonovo.com is not simply a cause-based shopping site (where a percentage of revenue or profit goes to charity). They have understood from the beginning that there is an important mission (connection of corporate behavior to the profit motive) while also providing an innovative method so they can establish a new form of funding for themselves. The folks at United for a Fair Economy, Grassroots for America, Global Exchange, The Center for Civic Participation, Global Justice, WalMart Watch, Conservation Value, World 5.0, the Breast Cancer Fund and Listen for Life were there with us at our beginning. Nevertheless, we have been unable to drive significant (and necessary growth) by sharing a significant part of our ecommerce revenue, and upon reflection late last year, we decided that scale is vital to both acquiring resources and driving toward our objective. Therefore beginning the 1st of 2007, when the constituent of an organization that is actively participating with us (letting their community know about our relationship through their website and newsletters) we pass through all ecommerce revenue on behalf of their registered alonovo users. And when a user registers with an alonovo passive organization (such as Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America, Stand for Children, UNICEF, the National Education Association and many others that have not yet activated a formal relationship with us) we share 50% of the revenue on their shopping transactions. The shift has led to several new groups that we are honored to support such as CODEPINK, Youth Movement Records, The Toxics Information Project and OneVoice -LA.

All this leads to today, where we are continuing to develop relationships with social networks and organizations that can benefit by leveraging the alonovo model while also trying to get the effort properly capitalized and resourced. We also have the requirements and design for the next generation of alonovo, which will help provide support for the local community economy. We continue to work with the amazing team at Electric Embers --Brent, Adam and Ben. John Cesario, musician, former music executive and most importantly a friend, has joined the effort to help with business development for us. Amy Weiher continues to provide great visuals for the site. A recent trip to Boston connected me to the unsung heroes at KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. who continue to gather and provide research about corporations for investors and for our work at alonovo.com. I had a chance to visit more friends and spend time with Professor Charlie Derber at Boston College, who has contributed many excellent books such as "People Before Profit" and "Corporation Nation". And we are continuing to work with the leading academic, business and political minds to help catalyze a new era of participatory democracy and a sustainable, fair economy. Since the beginning of this year we've been joined by the Idealswork.com community and we are exploring relationships with CoopAmerica.org, Worldchanging.com, Zaadz.com and Care2.com. And of course our growing alonovo.com community who are in every since the new American pioneers.

the alonovo mission

2007-02-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

The mission of alonovo.com is to provide the infrastructure to connect how corporations behave with their profit.

We will aggregate and normalize trusted behavioral data about corporations with regard to their environmental, labor, compensation and benefits, community involvement, conservation, ethics, tax avoidance, political engagement and other key attributes that are commonly called Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR. We do not refer to these factors as CSR, as we believe that corporations have no social responsibility (which is why we exist).

By providing easy to access data about corporate behavior integrated within the purchase transaction, people can begin to consider "the character" of a corporation along with the product price and quality before we spend our money.

When we purchase something, we are getting something we need or want, while in turn transferring power in the form of currency to a corporation. Is the corporation using sweatshop labor or fair labor? Polluting our air, rivers and oceans or reducing their emissions and environmental footprint? Consuming oil and finite energy resources or transitioning to clean, renewable alternatives? Is the corporation going to use part of our money to undermine our system of government and seek favor contradicting societal protection from harm?

The days when we could rely on government for protection and enforcement are passed. Corporations and those behind them have vast power and influence. The concept of alonovo.com gives each of us the ability to use the free market system to provide incentives for corporations to properly balance consideration for people, planet and profit.