The Green To Gold Business Playbook

"Implement the green strategies outlined in Dan Esty's and Andrew Winston’s bestseller Green to Gold" Hard-nosed business advice for gaining competitive advantage through sustainability action in buildings and operations, information technology, product design, sourcing, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, marketing, accounting, and other key business functions Whether you are a climate change skeptic or an environmentalist, sustainability issues cannot be ignored in today’s corporate world. With rising energy and natural resource costs, intensified regulations, investor pressures, and a growing demand for environmentally friendly products, sustainability is no longer an option—it’s a business imperative. Unlike many green business books, the Playbook skips the environmental ideology and deals exclusively with tools and strategies that have been shown to cut costs, reduce risks, drive revenues, and build brand identity. Builds on Dan Esty and Andrew Winston’s prizewinning Green to Gold, which has become a business classic and a staple of management training across the world. Shows in detail how each business function or department can achieve an eco-advantage over the competition Offers frameworks, checklists, and action plans applicable to any business–big or small, in manufacturing or services The Green to Gold Business Playbook gives you the tools to make green work-and work profitably-for your business.

From the Publishers Weekly review: "Two experts from Yale tackle the business wake-up-call du jour-environmental responsibility-from every angle in this thorough, earnest guidebook: pragmatically, passionately, financially and historically. Though "no company the authors know of is on a truly long-term sustainable course," Esty and Winston label the forward-thinking, green-friendly (or at least green-acquainted) companies WaveMakers and set out to assess honestly their path toward environmental responsibility, and its impact on a company's bottom line, customers, suppliers and reputation. Following the evolution of business attitudes toward environmental concerns, Esty and Winston offer a series of fascinating plays by corporations such as Wal-Mart, GE and Chiquita (Banana), the bad guys who made good, and the good guys-watchdogs and industry associations, mostly-working behind the scenes. A vast number of topics huddle beneath the umbrella of threats to the earth, and many get a thorough analysis here: from global warming to electronic waste "take-back" legislation to subsidizing sustainable seafood. For the responsible business leader, this volume provides plenty of (organic) food for thought. "

There are no more reespected voices in the environmental movement than these authors, true counselors on the direction of twenty-first-century business. With hundreds of thousands of books sold worldwide, they have set the agenda for rational, ecologically sound industrial development. In this inspiring book they define a superior & sustainable form of capitalism based on a system that radically raises the productivity of nature's dwindling resources. Natural Capitalism shows how cutting-edge businesses are increasing their earnings, boosting growth, reducing costs, enhancing competitiveness, & restoring the earth by harnessing a new design mentality. The authors offer dozens of examples of businesses that are making fourfold or even tenfold gains in efficiency, from self-heating & self-cooling buildings to 200-miles-per-gallon cars, while ensuring that workers aren't downsized out of their jobs. This practical blueprint shows how making resources more productive will create the next industrial revolution

International tensions around water are rising in many of the world's most volatile regions. The policy recipe pursued by the West, and imposed on governments elsewhere, is to pass control over water to private interests, which simply accelerates the cycle of inequality and deprivation. California, as well as China, South Africa, Mexico and countries on every continent already face a crisis. This book exposes the enormity of the problem, the dangers of the proposed solution and the alternative, which is to recognize access to water as a fundamental human right, not dependent on ability to pay.

" ... [The author] shares the inspiring experiences, lessons, and words to the wise from more than forty founders, along with his own playbook for startup success"--Page 4 of cover.

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.

A blueprint for reinventing the core of your business Value in the next phase of the digital era will go to those companies that don't just try digital but also scale it. Digital@Scale examines what it takes for companies to break through the gravitational pull of their legacy organizations and capture the full value of digital. Digging into more than fifty detailed case studies and years of McKinsey experience and data, the authors, along with a group of expert contributors, show how companies can move beyond incremental change to transform the business where the greatest value is generated—at its core. The authors provide practical insights into the three pillars of digital transformations that successfully scale: reinventing the business model, building out a business architecture from the customer back into the organization, and establishing an 'amoeba' IT and organizational foundation that learns and evolves. This is the ideal guide for all leaders who recognize the power and promise of a digital transformation.

Why stumble alone on a risky venture on your way to failure when you can tap into the best ideas and minds for increasing your chances for success? Most entrepreneurs have had to learn things the hard way--concepts such as: big ideas rarely make great businesses; laboring on a business plan can be a waste of time; and you will need dramatically more start-up money than you originally thought you did. Lenoard Green, an experienced investor, entrepreneur, and business professor, has encapsulated together all the inside secrets, proven strategies, and mistakes experienced so that you can learn it all beforehand, rather than when all your capital is on the line. Based on his popular Ultimate Entrepreneurship course, The Entrepreneur’s Playbook explains how to: Locate sure-bet opportunities for improving products Find funding Take calculated risks and minimize failure Get serious about positioning, distributing, and licensing Stripping away the complexity favored by business schools and the hype of the technology sector, the book reveals eighteen down-to-earth principles and dozens of tactics for every kind of business. Plus, the invaluable instruction available for you is now interactive. Dozens of exercises are given throughout the book that can be submitted online for feedback.

Green technology is not only good for the environment; it’s also good for your bottom line. If your organization is exploring ways to save energy and reduce environmental waste, Green IT For Dummies can help you get there. This guide is packed with cost-saving ways to make your company a leader in green technology. The book is also packed with case studies from organizations that have gone green, so you can benefit from their experience. You’ll discover how to: Perform an energy audit to determine your present consumption and identify where to start greening Develop and roll out a green technology project Build support from management and employees Use collaboration tools to limit the need for corporate travel Improve electronic document management Extend hardware life, reduce data center floor space, and improve efficiency Formalize best practices for green IT, understand your company’s requirements, and design an infrastructure to meet them Make older desktops and lighting fixtures more efficient with a few small upgrades Lower costs with virtual meetings, teleconferences, and telecommuting options Reduce your organization’s energy consumption You’ll also learn what to beware of when developing your green plan, and get familiar with all the terms relating to green IT. Green IT For Dummies starts you on the road to saving money while you help save the planet.