Take a Look at Some Familiar Companies That Already Have….
Last month we reviewed the EXTREME FUTURE, a book that looked forward and provided us with some amazing predications on what may lie ahead for our business, society and the earth in the coming decades. This month I decided to look backwards, to a book written in 2006 and see how it relates to us in the hotel industry today. While most of us in hospitality wouldn’t mind a return to those high flying days of 2006, the basic tenet of this book is that investing in a green future is good for the world AND your bottom line (updated in 2009).
GREEN TO GOLD, How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston analyzes the experiences of dozens of major corporations who have benefited by meeting environmental challenges head on. With its liberal use of charts and graphs to illustrate key points it resembles a business guide. It appeals to virtually anyone interested in learning why a green strategy makes sense for your organization. Any hospitality executive serious about making their property green and sustainable in the near future would benefit from reading this book. It provides a solid case for justifying green initiatives, while also providing excellent examples of what works, and in some cases what doesn’t, for a wide variety of companies in a multitude of different industries.Perhaps the best takeaway from GREEN to GOLD is that becoming green is not really a cost as much as a benefit in the long run. It shows how a smart company can actually gain a competitive advantage by embracing “doing the right thing”. The book explains how this values based concern not only attracts the best people to your organization, but enhances brand value and improves trust with your customers.
Who can dispute the value of “eco-efficiency” when the savings go right to the bottom line. Considering the year many of us had in 2009, this thinking may have been the difference between profit and loss for any number of hotel properties. This is also one of our elemental philosophies here at EcoGreenHotel.My favorite line in the book is that “real benefits come from seeing things in a new light.” Think of how much product innovation has come from that very concept. The book gives us a glimpse into how companies like Starbucks, Sony and Wal-Mart among others recognize the opportunity that the green movement presents. We also see what happens when mistakes are made, and what these business leaders learned as a result.
The green wave that is gaining such momentum across the world is not confined to only those with a social agenda, but it is also founded in sound business fundamentals. If there are stakeholders in your organization who are not onboard with your plans to become more sustainable, this book can provide some concrete reasoning why they should jump on the bandwagon. I think this book can serve as a valuable tool in educating your management team about the opportunities that await us in the very near future. How great would it be if we could help improve our business prospects and the planet with the same strategy?
