10 Things Every Business Leader Should Know About Green Business
Here's the University of California San Diego's, a nationally recognized living laboratory for sustainability that received $33 million last year for research, list of 10 things every business leader should know about strategic sustainability and how to make a green business difference:
1. Sustainable Abundance is good for business. Every product and every service needs to be re-invented to create a sustainable future. This is the greatest economic opportunity in history.
2. High Sustainability Standards and Maximizing Human Benefits can generate "leapfrog" designs to invent new products and new business models.
3. Sustainability Thinking saves money. The relentless challenge to improve durability, re-use parts and eliminate packaging brings bottom line innovation.
4. Removing the Bad attracts new customers. Consumers and business customers are stampeding to choose the benefits of non-toxic, no-waste products.
5. Create a Cause Bigger Than Your Brand. Over 80 percent of consumers say they choose brands that support good causes because it makes them feel like they are "voting with their wallet."
6. Sustainability Obliterates Costs. When smart people consider how to satisfy a need or want without waste or even cost, new business models spring to life.
7. Sustainability Drives Game-Changing Business Models. When leaders consider solving huge problems in sustainable ways, new thinking creates breakthrough businesses. Before the radio, who would have thought of music with a band?
8. Sustainability Creates Smart Marketing. Engaging your customers in the benefits and breakthroughs of your green and sustainable products requires a new level and a new type of communication. It's called smarketing -- marketing that makes your customer smart.
9. Sustainability Attracts Top Talent. The best science, engineering and business schools report that top graduates only want to work for companies that are serious about making a difference in creating a sustainable future.
10. If You Don't Fully Embrace Sustainability, You Are Toast. The debate over green is over and green won. Consider the failures of GM and the transformation of Wal-Mart. It's better to ride the wave than drown in the riptide of change.