March 18, 2010 – 11:01 am
The annual CORE Sustainable Opportunities Summit in Denver two weeks ago was a great event as usual, and one of the standout panels was called “The Art of Leading a Sustainable Company”. Panelists included: moderator Walt Rakowich, CEO of distribution facility powerhouse Prologis; Ellen Feeney from WhiteWave Foods; Lisa Grice from Environ Corporation; and Kim [...]
November 29, 2009 – 4:52 pm
The way we see ourselves, and the cultural mores that influence how we talk with each other, have a great effect on our behavior – sustainable or not. If we are to adopt an “integral” view of sustainability performance – a view that addresses both the “inner” view of consciousness, motivation, and culture and the [...]
November 20, 2009 – 9:23 am
It seems like there’s a book being published every week that addresses the case for sustainable business and economics. I try to keep up, but seldom finish reading one. I have to admit that I often find myself feeling bored and empty, as if I’m hungry for steak and have nothing in the cupboard but [...]
October 27, 2009 – 8:04 pm
What would a Triple Bottom Line Balanced Scorecard look like?
Building a Balanced Scorecard begins with the collaborative creation of a Strategy Map. The Strategy Map is a highly visual, and easily communicated, way to illustrate how the strategy of the enterprise translates into measurable objectives in each of the four perspectives – finance, customer, process, [...]
October 24, 2009 – 8:37 am
The Balanced Scorecard has proven to be one of the more enduring business management ideas of the last 20 years, and has proven surprisingly adaptable to the requirements of sustainability measurement. Building a Balanced Scorecard takes us through a conversation that answers four questions:
How does the business appear from the perspective of an owner or [...]
October 12, 2009 – 1:34 pm
A wide variety of reporting frameworks have been developed to address the need for standards in Triple Bottom Line reporting, including some broad frameworks from GEMI and GRI. These have been supplemented with literally hundreds of “green” seals and certifications, often specific to certain products or industries.
These frameworks and certification standards are a huge step [...]
October 15, 2008 – 6:38 pm
Check out my latest BlogTalkRadio interview with Dick Wagner. We spent an hour talking about the nature of wealth, our money system, and how all of these impact both social and environmental sustainability. Here are some highlights.
Dick has been a thought leader in the financial planning world for twenty-five years, including a stint as President [...]
September 17, 2008 – 5:24 pm
As I described in my last post, I have been challenged to see how I “hold the future” in my mind. My habit is to be a green-techno-optimist.
And, that could be completely wrong.
I’ve been through several apocalyptic mood swings ever since I read The Limits to Growth in the run-up to the first Earth Day, [...]
September 9, 2008 – 11:42 pm
I’ve always tended to be a fan of globalization – maybe as much in a spiritual sense as an economic one. As a high school student, I loved reading Teilhard de Chardin’s idea of the emerging “noosphere”, a growing field of global consciousness. I was a huge fan of Arthur C. Clarke’s book, Childhood’s End, [...]
August 19, 2008 – 7:00 pm
Last month I had the good fortune to help my colleague Susan Skjei facilitate the Lean and Green Summit in Boulder, Colorado. The big message for me was how much the field of “lean thinking” offers for companies thinking about sustainability. One of the nagging issues with sustainability is defining what it actually would look [...]