Environmental consciousness used to be a personal characteristic; we recycled, swapped out inefficient light bulbs and carpooled when possible.

Now, make no mistake about it: sustainability is a business issue. The decision to be green in the office has a major impact on corporate balance sheets – and this includes everything from energy costs to the financial value of your brand name. Seriously. Companies who focus on image without considering the impact of environmental ignorance are literally flushing and burning money at an alarming rate.

Shareholders, investors and yes, customers, pay attention to sustainability initiatives. A company that fails to yield high marks for environmental efforts will feel it in the market, hear about it in the boardroom and see it at the deal table/cash register.

In 2012, security, identity management and data entitlement will be very high priorities for organizations of all sizes and in all markets. Not only will the growth in the percentage of our workforce that teleworks amplify this issue, but also the prevailing allowance of organizations that encourage employees to “bring your own device” (BYOD).

Analysts report that in 2011, more consumers did the majority of their shopping online than ever before. The 2011 ISACA “Shopping on the Job” survey found that nearly one-third (32 percent) of people who shopped online this holiday season did so using either a mobile device provided by their employers or their own device that they also use for work purposes.

These results are horrifying and paint a very scary picture. The same devices that many employees use every day for work also process countless e-transactions across unsecured public networks.

Remember being told as a child to “play nice”? It was good advice coming from your mother. But what does playing nice mean for adults in the workplace? For some, it means hiding our real thoughts and feelings and avoiding confrontation at all costs.

Why do we do this? It seems there’s a common belief that it isn’t nice and doesn’t feel good to be honest and truthful. We think that being nice means treating each other politely face-to-face and avoiding awkward or uncomfortable conversations. We steer clear of giving each other constructive feedback on how to modify, build on or change behaviors. So instead, we end up creating a host of problems that are repeated and don’t go away, no matter how “nice” we are.

One of our current clients was facing this exact situation at one of its manufacturing plants.

I wish I had a quarter for every time someone told me that they did not have the time to do something.  As the saying goes, I would be a rich man. But that statement is usually attached to something extremely critical to their success.

“I don’t have the time to make prospecting calls, follow up on quotes, reaffirm client relationships, enter data into CRM or send thank you notes.”

That’s just to name a few. In case you didn’t notice, these are all things most salespeople do not like to do and will put off as long as they can. But you will never have the time to do any of these activities - they will never get done until you decide to make time for them.