I am not sure we are ready for a sustainable business process, but Kevin Wilhelm, the CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting Group a consulting company here in Seattle will be speaking on this subject and plugging his new book on the Return on Sustainability. The question I have, and one that will hopefully be answered at his meeting is can we really do this. Or is “green business” or “sustainable business” really just a marketing trick/ploy riding on a fad. Is this something we are going to commit to, or is it something we are going to flash in the pan over?
I really am a skeptic when it comes to sustainable business, especially since we have very little track record on this one. I do not think that modern capital systems or businesses are truly set up to do this, and much of the marketing I have seen on this are more geared as a market differentiator trying to get new customers. There has been a poor showing or lack of commitment by business to make “green” or “sustainable” part and truly part of their business processes. This is why I am a skeptic, I have seen it used but not carried through, and if anything that hurts the green/sustainable business movement more than anything else.
Kevin Wilhelm though has penned a book on the idea (click here to see it) and since this is coming from a Seattle CEO who works in this industry and has built a consulting business around it, the hope is that this is more than a flash in pan. We all know the big crunch is coming, the question is can bio-fuels and recycling really do the things we need them to do, and can companies really make a profit when tons of recyclable material are sitting on docks for shipping because no one wants them. That is one of the reasons that I am a skeptic, we mean well, but our follow through has been pretty poor so far.
Kevin is giving a fee free speech on how companies can address the green business process and still survive and make a profit on the 20th of July. You can sign up for the meeting by clicking here. Admission is free, and he will be doing book signing to go along with that. You can purchase his book at the speech or at Amazon right here. In all this ought to be interesting, the question is, can he change my mind, when I am a confirmed and happy skeptic of the whole green business process.
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(Cross-posted @ TechWag)
