Sustainability conference

The best thing about the Bay Area is the fact that there is always something going on!  A couple of weeks ago I attended a great Sustainability conference at Mills College.  Had I known about their sustainable MBA program earlier – I may have considered it.  It’s not in the city, but the campus is gorgeous.  The conference was held on a Friday from 8 am to 5pm in their new LEED-certified building. 

The morning started off with a great panel with reps from Clif, Title Nine, and Eileen Fisher.  This was, in my opinion, the best panel of the day. There were a few things each person said that really inspired and excited me. 

So the panel was:

-       Kevin Cleary, Clif Bar

-       Susan Schor, Facilitating Leader & Chief Culture Officer, Eileen Fisher

-       Janis Abbingsole, Director of Operations, Title Nine

So the main takeaway from this panel was: it can be done.  Making a profit and doing good can work!  So how does each company do that?  Clif bar actually has a fully integrated model that includes 5 different components (going beyond the triple bottom line): People, brand, planet, community, and business.  Clif holds the company as a whole and every employee accountable to each of the 5 bottom lines.  Title Nine and Eileen Fisher mention that their integration isn’t as structured but rather just in everything that the company does.  Title Nine values independence.  The company always holds themselves accountable without answering to any others (such as outside lenders or a Board of Directors).  Eileen Fisher believes that work in a way of which you can be proud and the profits will follow. 

One thing that all of these companies have in common is their commitment to the people who work for the company and their community.  Eileen Fisher provides a physical allowance for employees; if your employees are sluggish or not taking care of themselves – how are they supposed to bring good energy to their workday? 

Title Nine makes sure to trust each other – they don’t answer to a Board of Directors or outside lenders.  The employees are encouraged to own their mistakes.  In fact Janis mentioned that her biggest mistake last year was hiring from the outside.  She should have hired from within, but even though the new hire turned out to be a mistake – it was a great learning opportunity.  Every person adds to the culture of the company and the wrong person can throw it all off.  Janis accepted her mistake and presented it at the company’s annual  “biggest mistakes awards.” 

Clif bar makes sure to promote from within.  On top of that, the employees are encouraged to give back to the community, on company time.  20 – 40 hours per year.  Clif believes when your employees are happy so is the company and encourages its employees to do things that make them passionate.  

Basically, what I learned was that I really want to work for any one of these companies! Their employees are happy, the companies are profitable, and the community loves them! It’s a win-win(-win)!

USF Professional Development Day

So on Friday, USF MBA students had a great day of presentations, panels, and discussions at the downtown Westin.  I arrived too late to hear the first presenter, but heard it was a great presentation.  I mostly heard that during our second presentation, because she was having a bit of difficulty grabbing our attention.  To be fair, we were all on twitter - #usfprofdev if you want to read more.  But, as I heard before, these days you have to assume your audience is otherwise engaged.  If they aren't, then they hide it well.  

Anyway - returning to the day - the 3rd and 4th speaker were fantastic.  

Mitch, formerly of VMWare, talked about the importance of start ups and working with them.  Working at one as an un-paid intern - I definitely understand the risk.  In fact, I think most interns understand this.  We love the company, the energy and the fact that we can take on so much responsibility in such a little time - but we also understand that this usually leads to little return.  Oh well, thus the life of a student.  I notice the same with non-profits.  And also, I can imagine some greener business models are met with either resistance (therefore not much revenue and a lot of risk) or are met with open arms at first until they need money.  Green is usually more expensive up front - but saves over time, people don't seem to like that.    

Moving on to our next speaker - economist, Jim Shaw.  He too has a hash tag #jimshaw.  One of our favorite professors.  He mentioned that a recession is like a cleanse.  I interpret this as the fact that possibly bailing some of the companies are not helping the cleanse, that the reason some industries drop is because they aren't needed anymore - so why are we holding on to the old way of life.  This reminded me of natural resources - we are so dependent on these resources, so we cling to them as they are being rapidly depleted.  So we need alternatives.  Of course, as my professor says, "If you get the business card of somebody when you need them, it's already too late"  So now that we are thinking about alternatives - it's too late.  (Of course, they were talking about this back in the 70s, but now it's much worse of course)  We need to make sure to integrate alternatives now - so that when the big cleanse comes, society as a whole and the economy doesn't get hit as hard is could.   Jim Shaw believes that the time is coming for that.  And it's already too late.  I agree we are in a crisis and it will only get worse -   the economy will collapse but so will society as we know it.  These alternatives to our current way of life better be ready - or  ready to grow and fill in the gaping hole the depletion of resources will leave.