Something new for something special: a running book review for a book that appears it might be a manifesto for Elegant Roots.
Cynthia and I first heard about Daniel Goleman’s new book before it could be called by name — when he was still writing it. This was well before Elegant Roots was up and functioning. We went to NY to scout for our first products and met jewelry designer Stephen Estelle, a French and Tibetan speaking Montana Buddhist cowboy educated at the Sorbonne. Fascinating person. Striking designs. Great story.
We explained our Elegant Roots concept to Stephen — eco-friendly and socially responsible gifts presented with Story — transparency. By telling the story of the product and designer, we wanted to make personal connections between gift maker, gift giver and gift recipient.
And we wanted to foster nothing less than a commercial revolution where consumers would want to know, would demand to know, the Who, What, Where, and Why of a product — aware that they “vote” with their dollars on issues of environment and worker conditions. And “voting” on a product purchase should be based on enough information that they could have peace of mind in their selections — informed consent.
Stephen asked if we had heard of Daniel Goleman. Cynthia knew right away — he had written the book Emotional Intelligence, a favorite of hers. Well, Stephen said, Daniel is writing one right now about how consumers need to know the back story of what they buy.
Months passed as we worked hard to get ElegantRoots.com up and running. We’re kicking ourselves now, but we never tried to contact Daniel Goleman to see where our ideas might overlap and what synergies might be presented.
Then, this April, we saw Daniel interviewed on TV about his new book: Ecological Intelligence. The subtitle got us excited about the book and its parallels with Elegant Roots: “How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything.” Exactly!
I’m going to start Daniel’s book tonight and I will blog as I go through it — a running book review.
Check it out.
