Natural Logic: Strategic Advisors to the Sustainable Economy

November 2011

Greetings! 

The seasons are changing (trust me -- I've been tracking the transitions in Texas, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon since we last wrote to you, as well as in California!), and Natural Logic's work continues to unfold in equally wonderful variety: bio-based materials, financial services, supply chains, information systems, forestry, extended producer responsibility, radical transparency -- and of course comprehensive Sustainability Roadmaps. (Q4 is a perfect time to review yours -- or create one! See below for more on this topic.)

We've added a new Senior Associate. Cynthia Whitehead is an environmental lawyer (and a founding partner of the Sustainable Law Institute) who moved to the Bay Area from Brussels, where she has been working for the European Union on the development of policies, laws, and action plans since 1981, in particular in the areas of chemicals, biotechnology, and industry. She drafted the EU laws on GMOs, and currently works on environmental programs with countries who seek to join the European Union.

We still have a few openings in our strategic coaching services as some prior clients complete their work and move on. See the sidebar to the right for details.
Redefining Value: New Metrics 

I participated last week in Redefining Value: The New Metrics of Sustainable Business, a day long workshop produced by Sustainable Life Media and the Wharton School of Business.

Making the Best Use of Q4

  

How much will your business need to change in the coming years? Will you be one of the many caught in a reactive, last-minute scramble to adapt? Or will you chart a strategic course that enables you to survive as an organization, profit your shareholders and employees, lead your industry and contribute to a better world?

4th Quarter presents important challenges and opportunities for business sustainability leaders, as it does for all executives and managers. It's often the time for planning (and sometimes reflection -- though often at high speed!), for budgeting for the coming year, and sometimes for spending remaining budget for this year.

Last year at this time, we offered 4 Qs for Q4: A Sustainability Checklist to Finish the Year and Plan the Next:
- Where are you going?
- Where are you now?
- What resources can you muster to bridge to gap between where you are now and where you want -- need -- to be?
- What will you do?


Natural Logic's team can help you make good use of Q4 in several very specific ways:

- Assess your Sustainability Plan, and help you refine it to achieve greater real world impact and greater executive buy-in.

- Provide frank, "Rapid Diagnostic" assessments of your gaps and opportunities in relation to Risk, Carbon, Metrics, Operations, Capacity -- and  prioritized recommendations of how you can move against them.

- Build a comprehensive Sustainability Roadmap that will get your entire organization on the same page, with powerful goals, shared strategies, and year-by-year plans for every functional area.

- Develop -- and help you sell -- a 2012 plan and budget that will catapult your sustainability initiatives to a new level.

 
- Provide strategic briefings to help your executive leadership understand "The Mysteriously Elusive Sustainability Business Case."

- Coach your sustainability team -- and company leadership -- in the personal and business practices that are essential to fulfilling the commitments that you've made -- to your board and your boss, your family, and to yourself.

Action on these measures is of course its own reward. AND -- since we love effective action -- we'll provide an additional reward to people who take action this week. Please contact us today to discuss which of these programs is right for you.

(You may also enjoy A Simple Sustainability Recipe: Six Ingredients.) 

We help companies take sustainability seriously -- and take it deep. 

In This Issue:
Redefining Value: New Metrics
Making the Best Use of Q4
New videos!
CFOs & Sustainability
Strategic Coaching
Upcoming Events
New videos! 

 

The path of natural logic:  

 

Making Your Life Count
(SOCAP conversation with Jeffrey Hollender & Michael Kieschnick)
 

CFOs & Sustainability:  

CFOs "own" risk and value, and  hold a pivotal role in the sustainable business challenge -- a role that is still largely unfulfilled at most companies. Despite the rapid uptake of sustainability as a potent, perhaps indispensable business strategy, CFOs seem to be absent from the table. (We've written about this here, here and here.) There are notable exceptions, but the fact that they are exceptions just proves the point.

 

That's why Natural Logic has been increasingly focusing our advisory services on working individually with CFOs, and hosting a series of programs focused on CFOs and Sustainability.  Please contact us today for details.  
Strategic Coaching

Natural Logic's strategic coaching service - confidential conversations directly with CEO Gil Friend  - helps sustainability executives and managers clarify and advance both your company's and your personal sustainability goals.

 

This opportunity might be for you. Or it might be for one of your colleagues. Or employees. Or your boss. It's for someone, someone you probably know, who is extraordinarily committed to making sustainability happen in their company, their community and their life - and the world. Someone who, despite their skills, experience and accomplishments, isn't satisfied with how well they're doing that.  

 

If you're ready for the next step in your business strategy or your own career (and for some deeply experienced tough love), follow this link and call me today.    

  

"Gil is a masterful coach. Flexible, adaptable, and skilled."

- Rodney McDonald, President, McDonald Sustainability Group 

Upcoming Events

   

Opportunity Green, LA, Nov 10  (watch for the launch of our new "print or pixel" tool, in cooperation with Domtar and HP)  

 

Cumbre Negocios Verdes, Mexico City, Nov 25  

 

And probably Green Festival too! 

 

Recent events have included: Green Biz Innovation Forum, Bioneers, New Metrics; SOCAP; International Institute of Sustainability Professionals, Going Green, and SXSWeco. 

 

Natural Logic's In Conversation  series will resume... soon; watch our events page for details.

 

And contact us today, to arrange a keynote or other presentation for your upcoming events.

Gil Friend

Natural Logic

510-248-4940




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Strategic Sustainability Coaching

Natural Logic's strategic coaching service - confidential conversations directly with CEO Gil Friend  - helps sustainability executives and managers clarify and advance both your company's and your personal sustainability goals.

 

This opportunity might be for you. Or it might be for one of your colleagues. Or employees. Or your boss. It's for someone, someone you probably know, who is extraordinarily committed to making sustainability happen in their company, their community and their life - and the world. Someone who, despite their skills, experience and accomplishments, isn't satisfied with how well they're doing that.  

 

If you're ready for the next step in your business strategy or your own career (and for some deeply experienced tough love), you can learn more here, or...