4 Steps to Becoming a Green Corporate Leader
Are You an Industry Leader on Environmental Issues?
Austin, Texas: I have been blogging for years on ways to stand out and become known as a green corporate leader in your industry and in your community and always enjoy reading what others have to say on the topic.
I just read an interesting article in GreenBiz.com entitled, “4 steps to corporate leadership on climate change” that reiterates many of the ideas I have mentioned on becoming that corporate leader.
However, the article is do believing in the good of corporations rather than the reality of self-preservation to be too meaningful.
The article lists the 4 steps where corporations on lead on the climate, some of which I feel are pie in the sky:
Step 1: Lobby. I offer a caveat to this step–which is lobby for best practices for the environment–not for your personal benefit.
Too much lobbying is done to protect one’s interest and to grandfather or roll back environmental regulations.
I am not sure that businesses today are able to lobby for anything outside of their personal interests– so I am not sure that lobbying for the good of the environment will take place by corporations.
Step 2: Align your trade groups. On the face of it, self governance within your industry makes sense. But like Step 1, this leaves way too much room for misuse, subterfuge and peer pressure to remain silent on environmental realities.
Step 3: Leverage your supply chain. This step has been done by many large corporations and has the greatest chance of success–especially by larger corporations.
Pressure and mandate your suppliers follow certain environmental standards and inspect and enforce. Great strategy that hits suppliers in the pocketbook for not doing right by green standards.
Step 4: Market your efforts. Promote your efforts to the public–in order to gain momentum for your cause, as well as to stand out from your peers. If these green efforts were done in a vacuum, other corporate leaders would not feel pressure to step up and raise their game too.
Let’s hope that more corporations feel the need to stand out and support improved environmental regulations.
After all, we only have one Planet Earth. Let’s support it for now–and for our future.
