Gil Friend’s Blog
Patagonia’s Uncompromising Yvon Chouinard at GreenBiz
The standout idea at GreenBiz Forum last week was TruCost's assessment that paying for environmental and social costs would take out 40-50% of corporate profits. The standout moment was Joel Makower's interview with legendary, uncompromising and courageous Patagonia...
Sustainability accounting, carbon taxes and flying blind
There's a rising tide of interest in the intersection of sustainability and money—and specifically accounting and finance. The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (I serve on its board of advisors), which was formed to develop industry-specific sustainability...
Connecting the Dots
How would you connect the dots between these recent data points? We've lost 80% of Arctic ice volume in the last 30 years. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) has added climate to its finance "high risk" list. Paying the true cost of environmental impacts would cut...
Brand Slogan or Brand Promise?
What's the biggest brand promise your company could make at the intersection of business and sustainability? And what value-building possibilities could that open? Sometimes what passes for a "brand promise" is really just a marketing slogan: "Coke adds life."...
3 Strong Ideas for Teaching Sustainability to MBAs
Helene Finidori of The Next Edge group on Facebook asked today: I've been asked to teach a 3 or 4 x2hrs mini module on sustainability to MBA students. I have carte blanche to be 'as radical' as I wish to be and use any interactive material I would like... I would...
My Predictions: The Top Sustainability Stories of 2013!
Last month I shared my picks for the top sustainability stories of 2012; I also reflected on the predictions I made at the beginning of last year, summarizing what happened on the items that I saw, and adding a number of other items that I had missed. Here are my...
Defining sustainability. Yes, again.
Kathrin Winkler, VP and CSO at EMC, offered An idea for 2013: Crowdsourcing "sustainability" this morning at GreenBiz.com. It's worth reading. Would that I had a dollar, she said, for every panel discussion in which the moderator says something like "everyone has...
The question at the heart of all my work
Life in the service of business? Or business in the service of life?
Wise words about resolutions
Resolutions are meaningless without means to instantiate them. "Resolve," a cognate, means to have an assertive and firm action to do something. Schedule the elements you need in your calendar, have someone hold you accountable, and apply the daily discipline to do...