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Who Will Be the Rock Stars of Corporate Sustainability?
Victoria L. Zelin
It is legitimate—it is now accepted that there is a solid business case for cor-
porations to “go green.” Among the watchwords are reduce, re-use, recycle,
replace, and innovate in products, processes, and packaging. These practices
are critical for businesses to embrace, but they are just a minimum bet—table
stakes—in the bigger picture.
Barely tapped is the realm which someday will become legendary. Every-
one knows Apple’s Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s Bill Gates. They led the mete-
oric growth of computing. Both were visionaries and emissaries on behalf of
technology and digital innovation. The paradigm shifts that Jobs and Gates
made popular lifted the fortunes of thousands of companies. In championing a
cause bigger than their own narrow self-interests, their firms attracted a land-
slide of sales, and their brands have been emblazoned on the digital landscape.
There were other rock stars of the early digital era that showed the way to new
business models, technologies, and ways of engaging customers and employ-
ees: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Ebay’s Meg Whitman, Cisco’s John Chambers, and
Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
So, who will go down in history as leading the corporate sustainability revo-
lution? What will they have in common? They will be leaders who pay attention
to the vast majority of scientists who foresee catastrophe in “business as usual.”
For readers who have not been following the level of acceptance of sustainability practices
by corporations, here are a few references: A study by management consulting firm ATKearney
found that companies committed to sustainability outperformed industry averages by 15% during
some of the worst months of the 2008 financial free fall. (ATKearney. 2009. Sustainability and
the financial crisis. Internet http://www.atkearney.com/index.php/News-media/companies-with-
a-commitment-to-sustainability-tend-to-outperform-their-peers-during-the-financial-crisis.html
accessed 22 Jan 2010); Harvard Business Review, one of the premier journals for what’s hot in busi-
ness, published this article by one of the foremost corporate strategists, C.K. Prahalad: Nidumolu, R.,
Prahalad, C.K., and Rangaswami, M.R. 2009. Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation.
Harvard Business Review, Sept.; Bob Willard, ex-IBM internal consultant and prolific speaker and
author on the subject of corporate sustainability, guides business people at any level in an organiza-
tion in generating support for sustainability, leading change, making a business case, implementing
and tracking metrics to yield a compelling ROI/return-on-investment (Willard, Bob. 2009. The
Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook. Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New Society Publishers).
Science, Wisdom, the Future. 2012. Genet, Cheryl et al., eds. Collins Foundation Press.

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They will have profoundly reckoned with the impact of externalizing their costs
and plundering the Earth. They will find something that moves them to action,
and they will authentically share their stories. They will touch the hearts and
galvanize the efforts of employees, suppliers, and their wider network of stake-
holders. They will lead their own and other companies to replace the damaging
products and practices of the old industrial revolution with technologies and
processes that do less harm and even restore the eco-system. They will be re-
warded through accolades, free press, loyal customers, and ferociously commit-
ted employees. Their firms will rise head-and-shoulders above the competition
because they will have the best practices, the best profits, and the best brands.
Environmentalists aside, the typical person on the street—not to mention
the executives of global companies—probably cannot name Chief Executive
Officers (CEOs) or companies that fit this description. While there are a few
contenders, it is still too early to say who the icons of the corporate sustain-
ability movement will be. What an opportunity! Given scary global warming
predictions...given that society loves heroes…and given that nature abhors a
vacuum, this is the ideal moment for business leaders to position themselves,
their firms, and their brands to lead the corporate sustainability charge. CEOs
who merely pursue the business case but who do not “get it”—viscerally and
vocally—are leaving a lot on the table.
Why is it important that leaders make a personal, long-term, public
commitment to making their organizations more sustainable? Why isn’t it
enough to “go green” based on a profitable business case? Because customers,
employees, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) do not trust
management. They are cynical. They have seen it before. Companies gear up
for “the flavor of the month” fad to make the business more profitable, and the
initiative dies for any number of reasons. Why should people expect anything
different this time? Yet the movement toward sustainability is different. This
time, it is personal. People see that their great-grandchildren’s future depends
on what we as a society do today. Leaders need to commit for the long-haul,
because it is the right thing to do. And when the green pilot program does
not deliver as expected, rather than throwing the green business case on the
dung heap of possibility, build on what you learned, retool, and forge on. No
strategy or business case can drive behavior as powerfully as a higher purpose.
People buy in at a whole new level when the CEO’s heart and soul (and career)
are also on the line.
While it is critical that each company cuts greenhouse gas emissions, our
current situation cannot be solved one business at a time. As Einstein famously
said,“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created
it.” It is going to take corporate rock stars to come up with messages compelling
enough to change the way business operates. Below are a few examples of leaders

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Who Will Be the Corporate Rock Stars of Sustainability? 259
who have gotten out from behind their own company dashboards, made a differ-
ence in the larger business community, and have been reaping the benefits:
• Ray Anderson is founder and chairman of Interface, Inc. Anderson
began his sustainability journey in 1994 when he read Paul Hawken’s
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Hawken
1993). He had an epiphany, a “spear to the chest,” as he called it. He
realized the damage that his commercial carpet company had caused
with its oil-intensive products, toxic and wasteful processes, and land-
fill disposal practices. Since then, Interface has avoided $419 million
in costs, increased sales by two-thirds, and doubled profits to become
a billion dollar market-leader. In the process they reduced greenhouse
gas emissions by 82%, fossil fuels by 60%, waste by 66%, and water
usage by 75% (Anderson 2009). Anderson speaks passionately at
industry conferences about his fears for his great-grandchild’s—and
humanity’s—future. He often reads “Tomorrow’s Child,” a poem
by Interface employee Glenn Thomas who was transformed by
Anderson’s early revelations. Read Anderson’s Confessions of a Radical
Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose—Doing Business by Respecting the
Earth (Anderson 2009), and Mid-Course Correction. Toward a Sustain-
able Enterprise: The Interface Model (Anderson 1998).
• Yvon Chouinard is Founder of Patagonia, a $330 million maker of
outdoor apparel. Since its inception in 1972, he has run his busi-
ness according to the highest standards of sustainability. Among his
accomplishments: he switched from conventionally grown cotton,
which requires a very dirty pesticide-based process, to organic cotton,
brought along other major brands, and continues to improve the recy-
clability of clothing. “Patagonia’s conscience has rubbed off on others,
from smaller enterprises like Clif Bar to larger ones like Levi Strauss
and the Gap. Even Wal-Mart” (Casey, 2007). Chouinard also co-
founded One Percent for the Planet. Now 1300 businesses promise to
donate 1 percent of gross revenues to environmental causes; he calls it
an “Earth tax.” At 70, Chouinard is a literal poster-child for sustain-
ability, mountain-climbing, and surfing while he speaks and teaches
what business must do for the environment.
• Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart, and Matt Kistler, then SVP of
Corporate Sustainability, rolled out an initiative in 2009 to create a
Sustainability Index. Within a few years, customers will be able to
compare products on the shelves based on their sustainability scores.
Wal-Mart’s 100,000+ suppliers must provide sustainability data

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for the Index, which, importantly, is not owned by Wal-Mart, but
in partnership with universities and others as part of a universally
available database. Talk about transparency! In one fell swoop, Wal-
Mart sent ripples—actually, a tsunami!—through the world’s supply
chain, raising the bar for all businesses. The press and NGOs were
overwhelmingly positive, which seems to have made Wal-Mart’s social
transgressions fade into the background.
• Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of yogurt maker Stonyfield Farm, is a leader
in the organic food industry, speaks, and authored Stirring It Up: How
to Make Money and Save the World (Hirshberg 2008). “With US
$300m revenue, Stonyfield Farm is the world’s largest producer of
organic yogurt and has experienced 27% annual growth for 18 years.
Long committed to the environment, they completed their carbon
footprint plan in 1999, ten years ago!!” (Baier 2009).
• Jeffrey Hollender was, until 2009, Chief Inspired Protagonist and
Founder of Seventh Generation, the $140 million leading green
household cleaning products company that continued to grow
through the recession. He consults with business, teaches, speaks,
blogs, and wrote The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Gen-
eration of Businesses Will Win (Hollender 2010) and What Matters
Most: How a Small Group of Pioneers Is Teaching Social Responsibility
to Big Business, and Why Big Business Is Listening (Hollender 2004).
Hollender co-founded the American Sustainable Business Council
(asbcouncil.org) to educate and mobilize businesses around sustain-
able policies, and partnered with Kaplan EduNeering to launch the
Sustainability Institute (institutesustainability.com) to provide busi-
nesses with online sustainability training and best practices.
Is getting into the sustainability limelight a risky thing to do? It is more
risky to continue with “business as usual.” Whether or not carbon legisla-
tion ever happens, your competitors may already have reduced their waste
and inefficiencies, making their products cheaper. If competitors capture
the first-mover advantage, trying to overcome their lead can be futile, even
if you someday have a more sustainable product. Yes, getting out there
with your green products and services can attract a higher level of scrutiny,
but there is no hiding; business has to get used to the new standards of
transparency. The best defense against claims of green-washing is a good
offense. Ratings agencies want to know your sustainability practices to
calculate investors’ risks in associating with you. And if you do not partner
with NGOs, your competitor will—and then, watch out: You may be the

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Who Will Be the Corporate Rock Stars of Sustainability? 261
target of that NGO’s next lawsuit! Your worst nightmare? Your arch rival
becomes the Amazon in your space. Your employees, clients, suppliers, and
investors defect. You are dead in the water.
So how do key executives—or anyone looking to lead—step into this
opportunity and make a difference for themselves, their companies, their
industries, and their fellow travelers on this planet? Here are some ideas for
CEOs and executives:
• If you do not already know, discover for yourself what the angst about
the fragile environment is all about. Read books, articles, and the
internet; watch videos on the web and movies; talk to environmen-
talists and social activists; go to conferences on the environment; do
your own research. If you are not shocked, saddened, afraid, or even
panicked, you are not looking in the right places.
• Keep delving until you “get” something that grips you on an emotional
level. Something so compelling that it will keep you on track when the
going gets tough. Something that you can never un-see and that will
haunt you if you ever abandon your mission.
• Authentically promise your long-term commitment. Ask for the best
efforts, ideas, partnerships, and contributions of employees, suppliers
and customers.
• Connect your personal mission with your company’s strategy, and
vice versa.
• Get your company on a serious path to sustainability. A short-term
business case, projects, and metrics are great for building muscle,
confidence, and broad support. But sustainability is a long-term
proposition. Match that horizon with projects that demonstrate your
steadfast commitment and offer game-changing payoffs.
• Be vocal and stand out in your community, region, or industry, in
the press and blogs, with a much broader environmental and social
agenda. Notice the flood of people who want to work for and invest
in your company.
• If you want to be a rock star, put strong operational leaders in place
who are aligned with your vision so you can work beyond your own
firm, at the level of business and industry. Understand that it is a vir-
tuous cycle. Those that do will win, big-time.

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What is obvious... isn’t! It is obvious that leaders need to reinvent
corporate strategy in light of the issues and opportunities of sustain-
ability. What is not obvious is that if businesses “go green” like they have
approached change initiatives of the past, they will fail. And if business
does not turn this around, the end is nearer than we think. David Brower,
former Executive Director for the Sierra Club, used to say, “There’s no
business to be done on a dead planet.” Leaders everywhere need to discover
and communicate their own passionate and personal long-term stand for
sustainability. CEOs that “get it” and lead the business community in this
campaign will become the icons—and their companies the blockbust-
ers—of corporate sustainability.
Author’s Note
Victoria Zelin has spent over 20 years helping individuals and organiza-
tions transform themselves and their environments. Through business
development and consulting roles in firms in the US and Canada, she has
provided solutions in the areas of human capital management and corpo-
rate sustainability. Her many clients have included The Green Economy,
Novartis, Pfizer, Chubb, Standard Poor’s, Cognos, Schindler Elevator,
and McGraw-Hill. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management
and a BA from Duke University. Victoria is the co-founder of the Sustain-
able Leadership Forum (slforum.org); she speaks and writes on the subject
of corporate sustainability and you can reach her at vzelin@slforum.org or
contact her at (908) 306-0272.
References
Adler, C, P. 2010. Cleaning Up: Being Green Wasn’t Always Easy. How Seventh Gen-
eration Transformed the Way We Think About Cleaning Up. Newsweek Web Ex-
clusive. Internet http://www.newsweek.com/id/24752 accessed 15 May 2010.
Anderson, R. 1999. Mid-Course Correction. Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The
Interface Model. Atlanta, GA: Peregrinzilla Press.
Anderson, R. 2009. Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose—
Doing Business by Respecting the Earth. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Anderson, R. 2009. Synopsis: Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits,
People, Purpose—Doing Business by Respecting the Earth. Barnes Noble.
Internet http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Confessions-of-a-Radical-In-
dustrialist/Ray-C-Anderson/e/9780312543495 accessed 23 Jan 2010.
Baier, P. 2009. Lessons from StonyField Farm are applicable to all. Practical Sus-
tainability. Internet http://practicalsustainability.blogspot.com/2009/08/
lessons-from-stonyfield-farm-are.html accessed 23 Jan 2010.

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Casey, S. 2007. Patagonia: Blueprint for green business: the story of
how Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard took his passion for the
outdoors and turned it into an amazing business. CNNMoney.com.
Internet http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_ar-
chive/2007/04/02/8403423/index2.htm accessed 6 Jan 2009.
Hawken, P. 1994. The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability. New
York: Harper Business.
Hirshberg, G. 2008. Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World.
New York: Hyperion.
Hollender, J. and Breen, B. 2010 The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next
Generation of Businesses Will Win. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons.
Hollender, J., and Fenichell, S. 2004. What Matters Most: How a Small Group of
Pioneers Is Teaching Social Responsibility to Big Business, and Why Big Busi-
ness Is Listening. Cambridge, MA: Basic Books.