In contrast, the green model, which is part of the sustainability movement, is mindful of a “triple bottom line”–profit, planet, and people.  “Success” is not just about dollars and cents.  It’s also measured in terms of a company’s impact on the environment and on the people it serves–its consequential strangers.  (See “Sustainability Through a Social Lens”)

• The people piece is why Zingerman’s deli in Ann Arbor trains its employes to look customers in the eye and it’s why the store involves itself in community projects and programs. (Zingerman’s is covered in Chapter 5.)

• The people piece is why the highly successful Internet shoe retailer Zappos assembles such a diverse workforce and inspires new employees to take such good care of customers. They feel like “partners” in the business.

• And, the people piece is what prompted an unexpected union between a company that promotes beauty and a journalist who specializes in relationships.  That would be me.  The company is Lancome.   And our first date is on November 17.

Carla Posner, the manager of the tony cosmetics boutique on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is hosting a cocktail party to raise awareness of consequential strangers–and the power of our everyday connections.  It’s part of her overall effort to turn the store into a “being space”– an environment that welcomes clients, gives us more than one reason to shop, and beckons us to become part of a mini community.*

Over the past year, Carla, an ebullient, youthful woman in her early forties, invited–among others–a Dr. Eliot Jacobs to talk about men’s health, Dr. Jerry Curatola, a dentist, to speak about maintaining your smile through proper mouth care.  She sponsored a “Pretty in Pink” event breast-cancer awareness evening. And on November 7,  there’s a reception at which Joy of Ritual author Barbara Biziou and  jewelry designer Keri Starker will discuss the “magic and color of gems.”    During the two week period prior to each event, a huge poster hangs in the window, letting passersby know who’s up next.  “I love it when my customers come in just to talk without buying anything,” says Carla.  “Those are the best moments.  That’s when you know you’ve hit a home run.”

Carla’s ahead of the curve.  To keep up with shoppers’ desire for a more personal experience*, Bloomingdales recently divvied its first-floor cosmetics department into 26 “event-driven boutiques.” There’s more space to mingle, more places to sit, and a staff that has been instructed to send thank-you notes and call up clients to see whether they’re satisfied.

It’s too soon to tell whether the 500 special events, sales promotions, and “master classes” sponsored by the makeup department will lure buyers back to Bloomingdales.  But if Lancome and other being spaces are any indication, forging real connections pays off.   Even in these tough economic times, although she’s selling a high-end product that is arguably not a vital necessity, Carla Posner says, “We are still able to be successful.”

* A note from the book:  Back in the fifties, a time when female shoppers were described without apology or irony as “housewives,” sociologist Gregory Stone identified  four types of consumers, among them the “personalizing” shopper [see this page from Chapter 5].

Increasingly and throughout the world, we have begun to coalesce around the notion that we have to make some big changes.  Sustainability is driving us to rethink the way we use our resources, build our communities, and run our businesses. It is making us question our habits of consumption and connection, forcing us, gradually or abruptly, to face three powerful new social realities:

• I can’t do it alone or just with my loved ones.

• I can’t act as if I am the only one who counts.

• I have to extend my social reach beyond what is familiar and comfortable.

New urbanists will design model cities.  Socially conscious businesses will develop ways to conserve energy.   Slow food advocates will highlight the importance of buying local.  Laws will be passed to reduce our carbon footprint. But sustainability will not be achieved by fiat.  It will hinge on connection.  And it will succeed, as past movements have, on the collective energies of consequential strangers who come together with a shared purpose.

The good news is that the relationship piece of sustainability requires no organization, no administration–only a mindset.  To paraphrase Dr. King, I have a dream that all people of the world will someday see themselves as part of a Consequential Stranger Corps.

It’s a simple idea:   Scan your social landscape for a consequential stranger who needs a little help or cheering up, someone who could learn something from you.  Your gesture can be planned or spontaneous, happen in a moment or involve a longer-term commitment, take place in your neighborhood or, thanks to technology, half-way across the world.   You can help a peer or–even better–someone much younger or older.  Share a new way of doing or thinking about something, make an extra meal, take a few minutes to listen, give an unexpected compliment or invitation.

I can’t help but believe that the more we value, and connect with, the everyday people we encounter, the more likely we are to insure our “long term maintenance of well being.”   Indeed, if you look anywhere today, where positive change is happening, where dialogues are yielding new practices, and where people are being cared for and cared about, you’ll find clusters of consequential strangers, reaching out across traditional divides.