We had the pleasure of visiting our friends over at Hanson Bridgett LLP for one of their on-going Sustainable Business Leadership Forums this past Thursday to hear BetterWorld customer Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S, talk about the future of sustainability.
Hanson Bridgett is a fellow Founding B Corporation and green certified firm providing legal counsel to purpose-driven businesses. They incorporate triple bottom line principles into their practice and have been recognized for their commitments to community service, pro-bono work and diversity.
Adam Werbach covered topics from his new book Strategy for Sustainability, (currently ranked 3rd bestseller on Amazon for books on business). One of the highlights of his talk was the concept of setting’North star goals' for companies instead of BHAGS (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals), so that a business can having a very lofty goal that serves as a guide for every step between the present reality and the achievement of those goals.
One example given was Walmart, a client who set a North star goal encompassing three commitments:
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To be a company with zero waste
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To use completely renewable energy
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To sell only green products
According to Werbach, they don’t know exactly how they will reach all these goals, but they are commited to working towards them. Toyota set a similar lofty goal for their autos, to make cars that 1) never crash and 2) make the air better as they go.
Werbach also highlighted how some businesses keep their heads in the sand. After widespread outcry a while back around footage of inhumane treatment of cattle captured by a company employee with a cell phone; Werbach asked someone from the cattle industry beside him on a plane what steps they were taking to address the issue and was told’we’re taking it very seriously and have decided to ban cell phones on the property'.
Many thanks to Hanson Bridgett for putting on an engaging event with an expert speaker and a compelling list of attendees including BetterWorld customer Dharma Merchants and our friends from B Corp.
Towards a better, more sustainable world,
~ Salem
