The Road To "The Road To Sustainability"

The Berrett-Kohler book series Editor reviewed our 10 page proposal. Most of the edits were fantastic. One change he suggested made us realize that many executives still don’t get what sustainability is about. They wanted to title the Book - THE ROAD TO SUSTAINABILITY - How Your Small or Medium-Sized Enterprise Can Become More Sustainable Without Breaking the Bank.

“Without Breaking the Bank”!! As long as they think that Sustainability costs something, takes away from the company’s bottom line, they will only do as much as they think they can charitably afford. They really don’t understand. The subheading should be

How Your Small or Medium-Sized Enterprise Can Become More Profitable and Sustainable.

When working with one of the countries largest automobile companies for the first time, I didn’t talk about sustainability. All I told them was that I was going to help them save money. I pointed out to them that they take their retained earnings and reinvest them into manufacturing two kinds of products….intended products which they sell and unintended products which they have to pay to get rid of. By showing them that their cost of goods would go down if they stopped manufacturing products they have to pay to get rid of, they would make more profit. When implemented, interesting phenomenons occurred; the employees stopped making one form of pollution, they felt better about their relationship with the company and their productivity went up. The community, through the Community Right-To-Know Laws learned that the company had reduced their pollution and they reduced their complaints and lawsuits. Regulators recognizing that the company had voluntarily reduced their polluting discharges and reduced risks, the regulators eased up on implementing new regulations. The stock analysts saw that the company had reduced its long term liabilities and their subsequent reports led to an increase in the stock’s Price:Earnings Ratio. The division manager came to me and said, “Is this stuff environmental?” and when I said “Yes” he said “lets do more of this stuff”.

EVERYONE who implements bona fide sustainable practices saves money. When I pointed this out, the editor said “You’re right about the title – I goofed. I really do understand the point. Hell, you helped my company increase profits with your environmental audit!” (what company was this?)

We will have to remain ever vigilant as the reflex to revert to antiquated paradigms persists.

Follow David Mager's road to his new book "The Road to Sustainability" on twitter at http://twitter.com/DMagerEnviro