The Responsibility Revolution

How to create a company that not only sustains, but surpasses-that moves beyond the imperative to be "less bad" and embrace an ethos to be "all good" From the Inspired Protagonist and Chairman of Seventh Generation, the country's leading brand of household products and a pioneering "good company," comes a one-of-a-kind book for leaders, entrepreneurs, and change agents everywhere. The Responsibility Revolution reveals the smartest ways for companies to build a better future-and hold themselves accountable for the results. Thousands of companies have pledged to act responsibly; very few have proven that they know how. This book will guide them. The Responsibility Revolution presents fresh ideas and actionable strategies to commit your company to a genuine socially and environmentally responsible business and culture, one that not only competes but wins on values. Points the way for innovators and influencers to generate trust by becoming transparent, elicit people's passion and creativity, turn customers into collaborators, transform critics into allies, rewrite the rules and reinvent business Shows how to build a socially and environmentally responsible yet genuinely good company and an authentic brand Drawing on groundbreaking interviews with real-world change leaders, Hollender and Breen present lessons and insights from the "good company"' parts of big companies like IBM and eBay, trailblazers like Patagonia and Timberland, and emerging dynamos like Linden Lab and Etsy The Responsibility Revolution equips people with the tactics, models, and mind-sets they need to compete in a world where consumers now demand that companies contribute to the greater good.

Foreword, by Peter M. Senge xi Preface: The Responsibility Revolution: Our Manifesto xv The Responsibility Revolution Takes Off 1 The Company Takes on a Mission: ‘‘Doing Work That Matters’’ Matters Now More Than Ever 21 Not a Company, But a Community: A Blueprint for Summoning People’s Potential 53 Make It Transparent: In a See-Through World, It Doesn’t Pay to Be Opaque 79 Authentically Good: Building the Mission into Every Part of the Business 107 The Cooperative Company: Building Profits and Solving Problems Through Mass Collaboration 131 Beyond Responsibility: The Case for Corporate Consciousness 159 Epilogue 181 Notes 185 Acknowledgments 201 About the Authors 205 Index 207