8.07.2007 - 05:23pm ET

(CSRwire) BURLINGAME, CA. - August 7, 2007 - The Denver Office of Economic Development, the Denver Mayor's office, DOMANI, IMA Financial Group Inc. and several local sustainable business NGOs have announced support for an upcoming "Eco-Advantage Salon" with Andrew Winston, the widely acclaimed co-author of "Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage". The Salon, one in a national series of events around the country, will be held August 22 from 1pm-5:00 at the Oxford Hotel in downtown Denver. This event follows successful stops in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle, and precedes another stopped in Portland, Oregon planned for August 23.

At each tour stop, Winston will discuss what is causing the "green wave" in business (the vernacular used in his book to describe business's move toward sustainability), and how "Wave Riders" (those businesses that are embracing the green wave) have harnessed this trend to create competitive advantage for their business. Based on three years of research while serving as Director of the Corporate Environmental Strategy Project at Yale's renowned School of Forestry and the Environment, as well as his own extensive experience as a business consultant with Boston Consulting Group and his own consultancy, Winston uses up to the minute news as well as various case studies to illustrate the four "Pillars of Eco-Innovation" that can lead to enhanced bottom line value.

Each Salon will include time for participants to become familiar with tools and frameworks Winston suggests to help managers, regardless of where they sit in a company, identify where opportunities may lie for them. Local "wave-riders" from Sun Microsystems, Johns Manville and MGA Communications, who are already experiencing success with sustainability, will be on hand to discuss their own direct experiences in an interactive panel session. During each Salon, participants will have the opportunity to gain introductory practice working with some of the frameworks in the book, leaving them better equipped to return to their companies and tackle their own real-life business situation.

Winston isn't afraid of providing some tough love to would-be Wave Riders. In the book he cautions, "In many cases, eco-efficiency efforts and other environmental initiatives do pay off. But lots of initiatives fall flat. Some don't deliver the promised environmental gains. Others don't work from an economic perspective. Some fail on both accounts," says Winston. Winston is prepared to show Salon participants how to avoid falling into common traps.

3M and Sun, corporate backers of the national tour, are each leaders in their own field in creating value through sustainable innovation. Their support of the tour indicates an interest in helping other companies find their own path to sustainability success. Domani and IMA recently announced their support as local 'home-town' sponsors, with the Colorado Alliance for Sustainable Business Associations, the Denver Office of Economic Development and the Greenprint Initiative joining the tour as organizational affiliates.

Sustainable Life Media, convener of the "Eco-Advantage Salon Tour" and publisher of Winston's free bi-weekly strategy guide, "Eco-Advantage Strategies", is committed to helping mainstream businesses new to sustainability get up to speed quickly on how to find their own profitable path to more sustainable business strategies, operating practices, product design and purchasing. "Retooling for sustainability offers a new frontier of competitive advantage at the moment," said company founder and president, KoAnn Vikoren Skryniarz. "However with growing global attention on the environmental and social impact of business -- from consumers, policy makers and a wide range of other stakeholders, it's only a matter of time before sustainability becomes a competitive business requirement."

For more information about Andrew Winston's upcoming tour, please visit http://sustainablelifemedia.com/events/eco-advantagesalons

For more information about Sun Microsystems' eco responsibility programs, visit:
http://www.sun.com/eco

For more information about 3M's environmental management program, start here:
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/global/sustainability/s/governance-systems/management-systems/environmental-management

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