Late last week, I had the great fortune to return back to REI’s corporate HQ (just south of Seattle in Kent, WA), again I walked away in awe at how such a large and successful organization has been able to keep sustainability at the forefront of all decision making, seemingly across the board.
With approx. 10K employees, REI has grown to inhabit many of the larger communities nationwide (and some remote areas), combined with an insanely loyal and enthusiastic customer base (actually most are members as REI is a Coop), and employees that treat both quality and sustainability as equal priorities. Just visit any store and you will be treated with a level of customer attention rarely found – – I recently went to an REI store to get straps for my rowing skull and the associate spent about 20 minutes with me reviewing options and then made them by hand, well over a 1/2 hour for a $20 purchase.
I’m no expert on the company, but REI strikes me as a perfect balance between a Good to Great company (we’re ardent followers of the Good to Great concepts) and a benchmark for CSR – their progress on the business side over the past few decades has been steady and sure, while holding sustainability and giving back as a first priority. Right things right and the rest will take care of itself – I urge you to read more & if outdoors is your thing, then you can be sure your dollars are going to a good cause through REI.
At BetterWorld, we are taking a similar holistic view, integrating environmental leadership, donations and volunteering into the fabric of our company – – we have a ways to go before catching up with REI’s impact, but we’ll get there!
Here’s the link to REI’s 2006 Stewardship Report (2007 due out soon): http://www.rei.com/aboutrei/csr/2006/stewardship.html
Get outdoors!
Matt
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