Blog posts by Jeffrey Hollender,
featuring posts about sustainability,
social responsibility, entrepreneurship,
and more.
Recent Posts
What I’m Reading: Out of the Bronx; Resilient People, Resilient Planet; They Rule
Not everything about the cookie industry is sweet – in fact, the recent trials and tribulations of union workers at the Stella D’Oro and Archway & Mother’s cookie brands bring this stark reality into focus, and point to a necessary bridge to the future of business...
Social Entrepreneurs in Action: Co-Founders of Two Degrees Food
Guest Blog Post by Lauren Walters and Will Hauser, co-founders, Two Degrees Food, San Francisco, CA Note: This is the first in a new series of blog post I wil feature on social entrepreneurs in the field. I hope you find their stories inspiring, helpful and proof that...
Sustainability Boosts Returns for Private Equity Funds by Following Common Sense
Here’s what many consider good news that also highlights why we’re not making enough progress when it comes to sustainability. Andrew Malk, founder and managing partner at Malk Sustainability Partners, reported in January that sustainability was boosting returns for...
What I’m Reading: George Soros Predicts Riots & Class War for America
No one likes to hear dire predictions about our future. Yet, at times, they can serve the purpose of jolting us awake from our complacency. When a man as accomplished as George Soros sees such darkness ahead it’s worth to take note. Soros is quoted in Newsweek as...
The Values That Created Seventh Generation, Part 2: Rethinking Sustainability
We discussed in two earlier posts the idea of “global imperatives.” The values and beliefs that became our roadmap to helping to create the world at its best, and most sustainable. A world that creates opportunities for the wellness of people, planet and all living...
What I’m Reading: State Capitalism on the Rise; Ethical Consumption; The Eroding Middle Class
Two provocative trends are taking place globally -- state capitalism is increasing as the private sector is retreating in some of the largest growing economies on the planet. At the same time, there is a convergence of grassroots, consumer-led activism that has...
The Values That Created Seventh Generation, Part 1: Consciousness
I discussed in an earlier post the idea of “global imperatives.” The values and beliefs that became Seventh Generation’s roadmap to helping to create the world at its best, and most sustainable. A world that creates opportunities for the wellness of people, planet and...
What I’m Reading: Crowdsourcing Management Reviews; The Co-operative Advantage; Why We Need an Entrepreneurial Presidency
As I was writing The Responsibility Revolution, it gave me the opportunity to take an inside look at Linden Labs, the creators of Second Life – and, in particular, into one of their most compelling business practices: community review of executives. At Linden, the...
What Guides the Vision of Values-Based Businesses?
At Seventh Generation, we used something we called “global imperatives” to represent our role in the world that we dream of – the world at its best, most sustainable and equitable state. A world that creates opportunities for the wellness of people, planet and all...
Hollender Named as NYU Stern’s Citi Leadership & Ethics Program Distinguished Fellow
NYU Stern’s Citi Leadership and Ethics Program has appointed Jeffrey Hollender as its 2011-2012 Distinguised Citi Fellow in Leadership and Ethics. Each year the Citi Group enlists business leaders whose proven mission is to stimulate economic growth by addressing some...
Jeffrey Hollender Named as 2012 Thought Leader
Trust Across America, a leading organization in trustworthy business practices, has named Jeffrey Hollender one of 2012's Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior. In it’s second year, this list recognizes people and organizations whose culture exhibit...
What I’m Reading: Workers’ Rights in China; Fair Trade USA Splits from Fair Trade International; and the Need for Truly Groundbreaking Leadership
A company is made of many components – ideas, strategies, products, research, buildings, the list could go on and on. But, there is one thing intrinsic to all companies, and that is very simply the people who come to work there every single day. Unfortunately,...
Don’t Fire Employees To Fix Financial Problems Caused by Senior Management
While most businesses will claim, “people are their greatest and most important asset,” few businesses behave in a manner that’s aligned with those words. In general, the first thing that a business does when it fails to hit its earnings goals is to fire employees....
What I’m Reading: 3 Must-Have Sustainability Apps; B-Corps in CA; Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Takes on “Big Guys”
Starting this month (and continuing every week), I’m sharing with you, every Friday, what I’m reading for the week – what intrigues me, inspires me, ignites me, irritates me – and what just makes me angry. I hope it will inspire you to read something new, and in turn,...
Magnify Your Voice & Your Influence
Give yourself a gift this holiday season that will magnify your voice and your influence. For the millions of small- and medium-sized businesses in America, the machinations that take place inside the Washington beltway may feel like stories of aliens on another...
Happy Holidays: Homeless Children in U.S. Now Number 1.6 Million
This holiday season, think beyond yourself – and think beyond wasting money on stuff you don’t really need. Instead, consider helping someone who really needs the help. Like homeless children in the US – in your own state or community. This is a population without a...
A Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalism
Al Gore and David Blood, his partner in the multi-billion private equity fund, Generation Investment Management, recently opined on “How businesses can embrace environmental, social and governance metrics,” on the Op-Ed page of The Wall Street Journal, an unlikely...
Awards for Green-ness
What we need today are companies who are willing to make bold, revolutionary commitments even if they don’t yet know how they’ll be able to fulfill them. I’m thrilled that these awards recognized such leadership! The 6th International Green Awards were recently held...
The New Generation of Social Entrepreneurs Gives Me Hope
If anything is going to jump start America, it may just be the new generation of entrepreneurs. I say that because I just spent time in Kansas City as a speaker and mentor at the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit 2011, hosted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and...
I Want it Yesterday: The Dangers of Our Obsessive Focus on the Short Term
We are a society consistently in search of a quick fix – from diets to energy, we want the quick and easy solution, and we want it today, to hell with what tomorrow brings. One would hope that those whom we trust to invest our money would be wiser, yet, we know how...
Don’t Buy This: The Truth About Sustainability
Having not broken my obsession with the print version of The New York Times, I was thrilled to greet Black Friday by opening to a full-page ad from Patagonia that urged readers "Don't Buy This Jacket." To the best of my knowledge, Patagonia has never purchased a...