Tag Archives: sustainability

Can You Crowdsource Your Sustainability?

Smart business talk today revolves around meeting stakeholder interests.  But it can be daunting for companies to do that. Whereas before they were primary liable to shareholders, they’re now pressed to satisfy consumer demands for products that are sustainable as well as affordable and durable; they’re expected to take the environment and the community and […]

The Total Impact of Great Beer–With New Belgium Brewing’s Kim Jordan

Click the player to listen to my conversation with Kim or right-click and save for the MP3.  Either way, you should listen. I’d bet good money that most of us would love to have Kim Jordan’s job as New Belgium Brewing Company’s intrepid leader of good beer and good business. Beyond making (and tasting) great […]

Want Consumers’ Attention? Ditch the CSR Report

Lots of companies are attracted to sustainability and decide to commit to it.  Fewer see the value of certifying their sustainability commitment with a CSR report. But fewer still fail to signal the fruits of their labor (and reporting) to their consumers. The contents of a CSR report almost never reach consumers’ eyes because they’re […]

How He Turned His 20 Years on Wall Street Into a Hub for Impact Investing –with Mike Van Patten

Michael Van Patten used to give out his entire allowance when he lived in Ecuador during high school.  This went against common practice to ignore people with their hands and pretend they weren’t there.  The poverty he saw stuck with him for years but didn’t affect the way he made a living, until recently. Click the […]

How Getting Serious About Sustainability Brought GoLite Serious Growth–with Kim Coupounas

Click the player to listen to the interview or right-click and save for the MP3. Get the Mp3 Player Widget widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info) Kim Coupounas ran a conscious company.  GoLite gave money to the community and recycled. Its employees biked to work, served on […]

Avoid a Sustainability Flop By Ditching ‘Buy-In’

Sustainability need to be championed from the top level, but employees also need to care about it or any efforts will quickly flop. Employee (or community or consumer) buy-in happens when you’re brought-in. It’s not about positioning your strategy, it’s about involving people in it.  Here’s how three different companies, eBay, GoLite and ConAgra, use their employees […]

Is This What It Takes to Lead a Social Mission?

What does it mean to lead a company’s social mission?  Social mission is how I describe all of the elements that contribute to a business being socially and financially effective. It’s more than CSR because it’s ingrained into the organization’s business model in the best cases, and leaves a shine on all company functions and […]

An Untapped Tactic to Boost Your Company’s Social Mission–With Alice Korngold

What does a nonprofit board of directors have to do with your company’s social mission?  If you think  Not much, then your company is missing out on an effective tactic to boost your social mission. Your company can matter more. Encouraging your employees (management or executive level) to join nonprofits boards facilitates leadership development, supports […]

3 Tactics To Use Sustainability to Screw Your Competition

If you’re challenged by a boss, board or business partner who thinks sustainability is a luxury or a trend to revisit in three years, make the business case that doing environmental and social good means beating competitors. “It’s an imperative that your business start creating good, not just less harm,” says Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey […]

How Much Does a Business Need to Believe in Sustainability to Do It Well?

“If you’re pushing sustainability because you think it will enhance the company’s reputation, you’ll have a problem with authenticity, because they’ll be times when your reality doesn’t live up to your rhetoric. But if you’re into sustainability because you think it will drive innovation, then talking about it almost becomes irrelevant.”  –Hannah Joes, Nike’s sustainability […]