Greetings!
Inspiring Ideas this month looks at the issue of sustainability and some of the most powerful voices in this important area. Faced with a series of global challenges, there is a growing moral imperative for businesses to find new ways to achieve sustainable growth. But increasingly companies that demonstrate themselves to be sustainable are selling more as a result – providing another powerful incentive to address the triple bottom line of economic viability, environmental soundness and social responsibility.
Chris Stanley, Editor HSM Inspiring Ideas
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Tips from the Top
Eco–Plays: Turning the Environment into a Plan of Attack with Yale Professor Daniel Esty
Three ways to use the environment to your advantage in a competitive business:
1. Reducing costs and becoming eco–efficient: Squeeze out unnecessary consumption of energy and other input materials, reducing risk, and finding ways to give a green element to your products or services so customers looking for green will prefer your offering.
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Million Dollar Tales
Seventh Generation
Founded in 1988 by Jeffrey Hollender, its “chief inspired protagonist,” Seventh Generation was one of the world's first self–declared “socially responsible” companies. Widely respected as a leading sustainable producer of household products, the company got its name from the teachings of the Native American Iroquois confederacy: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” For more than a decade before new entrants began to compete in this space, Seventh Generation built a loyal following among consumers who want to make a difference through the products they buy.
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DELVING DEEPER
The Green Business Decade in Review – Joel Makower
Okay, I'll admit: The headline above is a bit of a come–on. I couldn't possibly do justice to the past 10 years' worth of green business activity – at least not in the following 1,500 or so words. But as we view the whatever–it's–called decade in the rearview mirror, it's tempting to assess what's transpired since the good old days of Y2K to see how far we've come – and how far we haven't.
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| MULTIMEDIA TOOLBOX |
 VIDEO Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale and bestselling author of Green to Gold, Daniel Esty challenges businesses everywhere to rethink their attitudes toward sustainability. [watch video] |
| VIDEO Speaking at the World Business Forum in New York City, Jeffrey Sachs here reveals what he sees as the most important challenge we face as a global population – and the solution he proposes as a means of confronting it. [watch video] |
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| RECOMMENDED READING |
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Leading Change toward Sustainability: A Change-Management Guide for Business, Government and Civil Society, 2nd Revised Edition
By: Bob Doppelt
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“After reading Leading Change toward Sustainability, those seeking change can't help but have a more clear understanding of what it means to say: ‘Our goal is to become a truly sustaining organization.’ With the help of this useful book, they just might reach that laudable destination.”
William McDonough, McDonough + Partners |
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HSM is proud to announce James Cameron, renowned film writer, producer and director, is a new confirmed speaker at World Business Forum on October 5–6, 2010 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall®. Cameron, who recently won three Academy Awards for his work on the record breaking film Avatar, joins an already incredible lineup to discuss innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
