Green Recovery
In “Green Recovery”, author Andrew S. Winston makes many strong arguments for sustainability in business. Starting with an anecdote from Wal-Mart’s Mike Duke in 2009 (just days before becoming CEO of the company, he told an assembled crowd, “We want to accelerate our efforts in sustainability”), Winston deftly and meticulously lobbies business leaders on the benefits of being green. Page after page and anecdote after anecdote, Winston echoes an early refrain that “the smartest companies are recommitting to sustainability and using environmental thinking – not only to stay profitable – but also to drive innovation and help customers through dark times”. The premise of “Green Recovery”: sustainability and business survival are not at odds. Winston states companies that embrace sustainability will “emerge from the downturn better-off than competitors.”
Green companies become more competitive primarily by investing in resource and energy efficiency. By slashing costs and reducing waste and energy use, companies will free up resources to invest in projects that require more capital. The companies that invest in environmental initiatives — and it’s important to note that Winston differentiates between business investments and costs — are the equivalent to runners that overtake competitors during an uphill section of a race: doubling down on slashing waste and spending more money on R&D, for instance, bridges the complimentary solutions of business and the environment. The world, Winston states, is an increasingly precarious place. Climate change, water shortages and the rise of middle class in China and India are a few specifics that Winston cites as driving up resource pressures. The need for business to embrace “the green wave” is immediate and permanent.
The four main areas that Winston focuses on in “Green Recovery” are: get lean on energy and resource efficiency; get smart by using environmental data about products and value chains to save money, innovate and generate competitive advantage; get creative by asking new questions, and; get employees engaged by asking them to help solve challenges. Winston advises managers and leaders to “but get lean on stuff, not people” because layoffs undermining morale and create short-term productivity drops. In contrast, cutting out stuff saves money and can avoid the need to lay off employees. Winston also encourages companies to build the right culture for environmentalism and to encourage employees to think in ways that disrupt the status quo. The benefit of building a culture of excitement and empowerment is a sense of ownership by employees and the benefit of many people, thinking in concert, creating many unique solutions to similar problems.
“Green Recovery” is focused on the general corporate manager, but the book is divided into sections on facilities, distribution, IT, telework and waste.