Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy

I finished the book last week: Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, a timely book by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. The authors have captured the most effective ways to "green" your business and stay ahead in the environmentally conscious business trends.

With the depressed economy wearing heavily on the minds of business leaders, there couldn't be a better time for this book to come out. A common misconception is that going green consumes a lot of green backs to accomplish. This doesn’t have to be the case. Executives who can see the forest through the trees realize there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They only have to creatively devise a strategy to create conditions that cause rainbows. Though it may take time, energy and research, it doesn’t necessarily have to consume a lot of cash.

We know how difficult cash is to come by with the credit crunch not only hitting consumers, but also affecting companies. As consumers turn greener and greener they are demanding the products they do actually open their wallets for should be consciously produced. One way for companies to gain a competitive advantage in the minds and hearts of consumers is to pay attention to their environmental footprint on the earth and to minimize their overall detrimental impact. In the end then, everyone wins: the company, the consumer and Mother Earth.

I have included an excerpt from the book below that outlines ways in which companies can jumpstart their greening process through smart partnering.

The Leading Guide to Driving Growth and Profits Through Green Strategy -- Now Revised and Updated

Two experts from Yale tackle the business wake-up-call du jour-environmental responsibility-from every angle in this thorough, earnest guidebook: pragmatically, passionately, financially and historically. Though "no company the authors know of is on a truly long-term sustainable course," Esty and Winston label the forward-thinking, green-friendly (or at least green-acquainted) companies WaveMakers and set out to assess honestly their path toward environmental responsibility, and its impact on a company's bottom line, customers, suppliers and reputation. Following the evolution of business attitudes toward environmental concerns, Esty and Winston offer a series of fascinating plays by corporations such as WalMart, GE and Chiquita (Banana), the bad guys who made good, and the good guys-watchdogs and industry associations, mostly-working behind the scenes. A vast number of topics huddle beneath the umbrella of threats to the earth, and many get a thorough analysis here: from global warming to electronic waste "take-back" legislation to subsidizing sustainable seafood. For the responsible business leader, this volume provides plenty of (organic) food for thought.

Eight Lessons Learned on Partnering
by Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston,
Authors of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage


In analyzing dozens of partnerships, some successful -- and some less so -- we've identified the following series of fundamental lessons.

1. KNOW YOUR OWN SITUATION WELL BEFORE PICKING AN APPROPRIATE PARTNER
Be clear on your environmental issues when you sit down with others. AUDIO analysis is a good place to start. Then educate yourself on your business's key problems, and learn which groups specialize in the issues you face.

2. KNOW WITH WHOM YOU'RE DEALING
All partners, especially NGOs, are not created equal. Sustainability expert John Elkington has developed a playful, but useful, typology of NGOs. He breaks them into sharks, orcas, sea lions, and dolphins. Sharks are always on the attack, smelling blood and weakness from miles away. Orcas use fear and bullying. Sea lions play it safe and stay close to issues they know well. Dolphins are intelligent, creative, and can help fend off sharks. The point is that some NGOs are easier to work with than others. Avoid the sharks.

3. BE PATIENT
If we could share only one lesson, this would be it. Trust builds over time. It can take years to make the case internally for reaching out. As Chiquita's Dave McLaughlin says, "We aren't making Tang here. It isn't just 'add water and stir.'" Nurture long-term relationships.

4. LEARN EACH OTHER'S CULTURE AND VALUES
IKEA spent six months with World Wildlife Fund just discussing values before launching a partnership. The differences between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations can be large, but different values and cultures are not insurmountable. Still, it takes effort to learn to talk the other guy's language.

5. SET WORKABLE GOALS
Partnership goals need to be carefully developed and specified. They must achieve environmental progress that satisfies all the partners but also be relevant to and supportive of core business objectives. Set modest short-term goals and exceed them. And never overpromise publicly.

6. ESTABLISH CHAMPIONS
Each partner needs a clear operational leader for the project and relationship. Backing from the highest level is also vital. IKEA reports regularly to the CEO on its World Wildlife Fund partnership. You also need critical line managers to climb art board. McDonald's work on its supply chain took off only when the supply chain managers, not just the corporate responsibility people, stepped into the process.

7. THINK BIG, BUT START SMALL
The commitment to green the supply chain is a worthy goal, but it can't be done overnight. Pilot programs provide a way to test assumptions, establish trust, and build base for bigger and broader future partnership initiatives.

8. COORDINATE COMMUNICATIONS
Great partnerships can turn sour very quickly when one side prematurely declares victory. NGOs see greenwashing and companies hear gloating. You can't assume that the way you would talk about an issue is how the other side would. In the same spirit, don't announce environmental breakthroughs until you have credible evidence of progress.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston


Author Bio
Daniel C. Esty, co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage (Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 978-0-470-39374-1), is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University and Director of the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale (www.yale.edu/CBEY). Author and editor of nine books and dozens of articles, Dan is one of the world's leading corporate environmental strategy experts with twenty years of experience working with companies of all sizes and across many industries worldwide. He served as senior official at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1990s and is presently Chairman of Esty Environmental Partners (www.EstyEP.com).

Andrew S. Winston, co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage (Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 978-0-470-39374-1), advises some of the world's leading companies on how to profit from environmental thinking. He is also a highly respected and dynamic speaker, exploring the business benefits of going green with audiences around the world. Andrew's earlier career included corporate strategy at Boston Consulting Group and management positions in marketing and business development at Time Warner and MTV. See www.andrewwinston.com for more information.

Reviews
"Green to Gold provides the definitive thinking on how business leaders can address environmental issues."
--Michael E. Porter, Professor, Harvard Business School

"The future of our country depends on getting on a sustainable track . . . Green to Gold blazes a trail for businesses of all kinds to follow."
--Michael Morris, CEO, American Electric Power

"Rich with both big-picture thinking and practical suggestions."
--Larry Linden, Advisory Director, Goldman Sachs

"A compelling blueprint for how companies can address critical environmental problems."
--William K. Reilly, former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

"Green to Gold is a must-read for the twenty-first-century CEO."
--Tensie Whelan, Executive Director, Rainforest Alliance

"No executive can afford to ignore the Green Wave sweeping the business world. This book shows how to make sustainability a core element of strategy -- and profit from it."
--Chad Holliday, Chairman, DuPont