Customer Reviews

The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Perhaps the authors assumed that their ambitious (and laudable) goals with respect to environment and capitalism can be articulated in a short book targeting the entire value ecosystem (consumers, business partners, and all other stakeholders). Wrong assumption. Despite the power of the message, the confused targeting does a disservice to it. More often than not, the book reads like a list of things to do at an entrepreneurial level, at times adopts an evangelist tone for a new brand of capitalism and at times an case-study academic tone providing detailed examples. In the end, while the reader is wiser, an individual action plan as a consumer may require significant imagination. But, if you are forming/refining your own entrepreneurial thoughts, this is a must-read. The audience segment likely to benefit the most from this book are those related to corporate strategy and leaders of sustainability initiatives (though the authors have some choice words for the corporate buzzwords around this).

While some of the examples are well documented (Stonyfield, Walmart/Organic Valley), others are not often cited in the context of environmental initiatives (Marsh and Spencer, IBM, Novo Nordisk, etc.). Overall, these case studies in itself are well worth the read. One wishes that an individual (at the consumer level) could have benefited more directly than gaining a broad awareness of the emerging version of capitalism centered on corporate responsibility (primarily, centered on socio-environmental causes). A good read.

The Responsibility Revolution is one of the latest entries in what is becoming a crowded field of business books about what is here termed corporate consciousness--genuine, ethical, innovative, beneficent, and sustainable behavior in all dimensions.

Besides the chipboard cover, what makes this book different? What makes it worth reading? The authors' relevant experience, particularly at Seventh Generation, gives them credibility. The examples and case studies are drawn from many sources, not only from frequently-cited paragons of responsibility like Organic Valley and Patagonia but from companies such as eBay, Linden Lab, and Nike as well. There is an acknowledgment that perfection cannot be achieved but that it is necessary to work towards it anyhow.

The basic premise is that corporations will have to change to become responsible for their effects on different systems--environmental, governmental, social--both broadly and deeply. This is inevitable and will happen either voluntarily or in response to outside forces and it presents an opportunity. It is no longer enough for corporations to stay out of trouble but they must actively seek to fulfill a universally beneficial mission. Co-ops, values, communication, employee relationships, transparency to increase accountability and earn trust: it's all covered.

The table of contents is high-level and the chapter summaries are sparse but facts and figures are well-referenced and the indexing is particularly well done. The end notes are interesting enough that they could have been included at the end of each chapter or as footnotes.

Will this new brand of enlightened capitalism save our planet, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and ensure universal happiness? No, but compare it to enlightened absolutism and realize that under capitalism, it's likely the best we can do.

Having studied corporate transparency for 20 years, I was nonetheless moved by this book. It makes it seem inevitable that corporations will have to start, and then continue, to share the truth about what they do. Corporations that lie and act irresponsibly simply won't be able to survive in an ever-more-open society. In example after example, the authors bring to light the quiet revolution that has made its participants more successful than they otherwise would be. Highly recommended.

Being fairly new to the concept of Corporate Responsibility, I found this book to be a very enlightening read. The book equally succeeds in conveying theory and practice, from the high level overview, laying out six foundational principles that define responsible businesses, to numerous examples of companies succeeding in changing the way business is being done.

I especially appreciated the focus on transparency and building responsibility into the core. So many businesses believe that they can play the spin game, hiding their flaws, and portraying only their successes in the media. Cable news, traditional media, and blog posts are littered with examples of the failure of this approach, with BP being only the most current and glaring example. The Responsibility Revolution, on the other hand, profiles companies that get out ahead of their own bad press, exposing their flaws to media, stakeholders, and critics alike. The net result not only propels companies like Timberland, Seventh Generation, Novo Nordisk, and Patagonia to behave more responsibly, but neutralizes attacks against them as well.

Another standout section in the book focuses on the way NIKE has revolutionized their product design and development. Anticipating impending global constraints like water shortages and pollutant restrictions, the book details how NIKE is getting ahead of regulation and leveraging internal systems to make wise sustainable choices from product inception.

The insights that the authors share while profiling the many companies and examples in the book are enriched by their deep experience and unique perspective in the field, as well as their high-level access to change makers. The result is a compilation of actionable strategies and successful business examples that benefit the bottom line, employees, and community.

I would highly recommend this book to those seeking an introduction on how to revolutionize business to be more responsible; to those professions looking for concrete examples to apply in their own companies; and for management teams building defensible business plans for corporate responsibility.

The Responsibility Revolution serves as a blue print for creating a company with impact (via social responsibility), whether you are a leader, executive or more junior employee. I asked Jeffrey why he needed to write this book given that he's already published a few. This book is his push for more responsibility--of the 'bigger' kind. In his experience, the past decades of CSR failed to bring about the social and environmental change needed in the world and the workplace. As many of us know, it's not enough to have one or two CSR programs and call it a w

Using stories and principles from companies who are doing interesting and radical things (Linden Labs, Timberland, Patagonia, Etsy), Jeffrey gives us ideas and methods for substantial social responsibility. In addition to the usual themes of mission, authenticity and transparency, Jeffrey makes a clear case for Community and Collaboration.
Two of my favorite points: It's a competitive advantage for your business to be seriously responsible (both as resources dwindle and consumers demand more from the business sector); and "sustainability" includes social initiatives. It's not all about green, supply chains and energy efficiency. E.g. the former CEO of Linden Lab allowed all employees to anonymously vote on whether or not he should keep his job and give feedback about his weaknesses.

Like Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard, Jeffrey sees that profit follows when we make responsible decision. The Responsibility Revolution will get you started, or take you further.

I interviewed Jeffrey recently. You can listen to it here: [...[

...to a hopefully different way of doing business. Authenticity, responsibility, and transparency are the keywords Hollender and Breen bring across in this little business manifest. I really enjoyed the read and always speculated when someone finally publishes a book on this. Apparently in 2010 it was about time. Not that this is the only book on responsibility/sustainability/environmental revolution. Hawken, Esty and Winston etc. surely prepared the ground for Hollender and Breen, but "The Responsibility Revolution" is different. While in former books sustainability was the cornerstone of gaining a competitive advantage, Hollender and Breen claim that going beyond sustainability is what separates the wheat from the chaff in the future.

A really interesting and informatory read. An essential read for all visionaries and business professionals who want a new perspective.

- Frank Roettgers, author of Going Green Together - How to Align Employees with Green Strategies

In the Foreword, Peter Senge asserts the compelling need for "a different view of the future that is more inspiring than the status quo, and a new consensus on what it will take to move toward it." I see no need to review all of the economic, social, political, and environmental challenges that people throughout the world now face. I agree that the "different view" to which Senge refers is a compelling need but also that it offers almost unlimited opportunities to enrich and accelerate the progress of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement already underway.

In this volume, Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen provide a "manifesto" in which they explain how almost any organization (whatever its size and nature may be) can achieve and then sustain profitability while thriving in harmony with its environment, how it can create a workplace within which people love what they do and do what they love, and how organizations can transform themselves by changing their priorities, the way they operate, how they compete, and how they interact with the world.

They are clearly in full agreement with Simon Sinek who, in Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, observes, "People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it...A WHY is just a belief. That's all it is. HOWs are the actions you take to realize that belief. And WHATs are the results of those actions - everything you say and do: your products, services, marketing, PR, culture, and whom you hire...You have to earn trust by communicating and demonstrating that you share the same values and beliefs. You have to talk about your WHY and prove it with WHAT you do. Again, a WHY is just a belief, HOWs are the actions we take to realize that belief, and WHATs are the results of those actions. When all three are in balance, trust is built and value is perceived...What companies say and do matters. A lot. It is at the WHAT level that a cause is brought to life. It is at this level that a company speaks to the world and it is then that we can learn what the company believes." Obviously, without the right WHY, even great leaders cannot inspire everyone in the given organization to take action. Only with the right WHY can an organization develop great leadership at all levels and in all areas of its operation.

In Sinek's book and in this one, one of the key components of organizational and individual integrity is a commitment to assuming and then sustaining a sense of responsibility insofar as obligations are concerned. For an organization, the stakeholders include employees and customers, of course, but also everyone else associated with the given enterprise as well as the community (or communities) in which it is involved. On Fortune's annual list of most admired companies, the institutional responsibility of each of them is determined by the values and behavior of each of its people.
Hollender and Breen carefully organize their material within seven chapters. Throughout their lively narrative, they real-world examples of important business principles such as these: Producing results (i.e. products, service, citizenship) that really matter, Maximizing human potential in each of those involved, Being transparent (i.e. clarity of purpose and operations), Being authentic (i.e. values and behavior are interdependent), Living the "mission" every moment in every situation, Creating and sustaining a "culture of collaboration" both internally and externally, and On-going corporate consciousness (enterprise-wide) of the aforementioned WHY (i.e. personal accountability to core beliefs and non-negotiable values).

Hollender and Breen make a convincing argument "that when companies shift their value proposition from selling desirable products to solving difficult social and environmental problems, whole new opportunities arise; that when they frame their conventional notions about what it means to act responsibly, they move from thinking incrementally about doing less harm to thinking expansively about leaving things better than they found them."

The challenge and the opportunity involve than replenishing a person or a company or even an industry; rather, they require developing a mindset and mobilizing the resources needed to replenish human society and its environment. The transformation must have the right WHY. Only then can the right WHATs and HOWs be determined. Credit Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen with a brilliant achievement as they share what they think and (yes) feel about the right WHY.

This book tells it like it is. If you produce stuff, you pollute. There is no way to create a totally sustainable business. That does not mean you shouldn't try. This book provides a realistic perspective on the challenge of building a sustainable business. There are plenty of examples throughout the book of companies who are striving to get it right. The real value of the book, though, is the practical help it provides to companies who want to create a more sustainable business model. And the authors explain why businesses should want to.

This book is highly recommended for business people and environmental activists. It will provide both audiences with an understanding of the real challenges involved in building a more sustainable economy. There is no sugar coating in this book. The authors present the realities and then steps to take to address those realities. This book is practical and inspiring. Whether new to the subject of sustainability or highly knowledgeable, you should glean many practical ideas from this text on how to build a more sustainable business.

This is one of the best books available for its target audience, but a somewhat dull and misguided read for others. The book focuses on how to transform a regular company (primarily those operating on a national or international scale) into one that puts "purpose first, and profits second". It's filled with advice and tips that upper-level managers can take to move their company in truly sustainable directions. So, if you're a CEO, and wondering how to make your company more sustainable (and not just by greenwashing), this book should be in your hands regularly, as there are some genuinely useful things here for you. However, I was somewhat disappointed with the tone of the book, because to some extent, it's still business as usual. Still plenty of talk on growing your business. Still a lot on creating, marketing, and hawking "greener" products. For a company, I guess those things are important, but they're not the only path to sustainability. While all of these are steps in the right direction, consumers need to purchase less, not better. For those on the consumption side of things, I instead recommend books like Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change" (or better yet, her free online video), as well as Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (Bk Currents). Better and more general looks at sustainability on an individual level.

Can companies which attempt to be responsible to not only their shareholders but to the environment, community, customers and employees, and future generations operate and succeed in a capitalist economy? Can an entire capitalist economic system be reformed to be responsible in the same way? "The Responsibility Revolution" proves that "Yes" is the answer to the first question and argues that "Yes," also is the answer to the larger, more important question. It is an interesting and provocative book which raises a lot of questions, suggest answers, and prompts debates on many topics of ethics, economics, politics, communications, and more.

The authors are among the leaders of a movement to reprogram business and society to be more responsible in the sense of taking into serious consideration long-term (versus short-term) perspectives and holistic understanding of the relationships of a company to its environment and to people. The impetus is primarily moral - acting for the common good as well as for oneself - coming down on the side of "socialist" community versus "capitalist" selfish individual. The authors argue that society is making the wrong products and with the wrong morals. Profits are means and not ends. The ultimate goal is to build a better capitalist society and a better future by building ecologically-sustainable enterprises merging social and environmental justice with product, market, and management innovation

But there is more to the movement. Relying on both social theory and real life examples, the authors argue that responsible business practices are more economically efficient, lower operational costs, enhance employee satisfaction, and provide a competitive advantage in (at least) some industries and markets. The authors assert that truly responsible companies will out think and outperform conventional ones.

The book is a manifesto and conceptual guide for business leaders, social activists, and progressive types looking for, at a minimum, a business advantage, but way more significantly, a rational society in a broad sense where reason, rationality, and an openness to the complexity and sophistication of advanced management is accepted. You can make things simple, but at great costs - there is a premium to be paid for (socialist) intelligence versus (capitalist) will and aggression. This position is typically liberal - it assumes that human society can elevate its level of social and managerial competences.

Persuasively, the authors describe how their own business, Seventh Generation, the nation's leading seller of natural household and personal care products, has succeeded in the marketplace, even against behemoth competitors like Procter and Gamble and others. They believe their leverage is in appealing to the consuming public's sense of morality and responsibility. Consumers want and will support and respect businesses, they say, which truly try to "do the right thing" - having respect for the environment, responding appropriately to consumer needs and values, and acting fairly in their relationships with suppliers, employees, and even competitors.

This concept of leverage involving the consuming public is intriguing. It relies on communication, education, and the promotion of values to the consuming public. They believe that people long for real change and will support progressive companies and leaders, with their purchases, at least.

This is positive and inspiring material, but although the authors argue that a new consensus is forming of business leaders, they cite only a small handful of examples - Nike, Timberland, Marks & Spencer, Patagonia, Novo Nordisk, and a few others. They represent a tiny percentage of businesses. In perspective, the most advanced of the authentic is Seventh Generation, which has a mere 150 employees and $150 million in sales. The authors acknowledge that even though thousands of other companies have established corporate responsibility departments and policies that much of it is superficial and inauthentic.

Over several chapters, the authors lay out a roadmap of how businesses can managerially transform themselves into socially responsible entities. The guidelines are sound, comprehensive, and practical, assuming authentic willingness to comply.

That is a huge and crucial assumption which probably does not hold up. Capitalism and self-interest prevails for good (efficient) reasons. To try to moralize over these fundamentals is idealistic and naïve and to rely on public pressure to keep businesses in line is a chimera. Business marketing has made a hard science out of consumer manipulation; the public is a pawn to the marketers.

Even more problematic, the first element in the program is to be involved in addressing a societal problem in a responsible way -- a desire to produce only what makes sense for society - something "good." I suppose that leaves out the tobacco companies, junk food producers, vanity product companies, bourgeois products of nearly all kinds, branded items offering no extra value over generics, etc.,etc. That may leave 50% of the global economy out of the picture.

There are a large number of good, interesting, and important issues in this book and they deserve a lot more attention than I think they will get.


(FTC disclosure (16 CFR Part 255): The reviewer has accepted a reviewer's copy of this book which is his to keep. He intends to provide an honest, independent, and fair evaluation of the book in all circumstances.)