How Green is my web host? If you host with Affordable Internet
Services Online, of California, a/k/a AISO.net, the answer appears to be very green indeed. For starters, the company claims to be 100% solar powered–including the servers, the office, and tools like its shopping cart, mailing list manager, and calendar, all provided to hosting clients. The company has also switched to mercury-free (and very low-consumption) LED lighting, which is far more ecological than compact fluorescents (to say nothing of regular lighting)..

From AISO’s home page:

We have made a strong commitment to help fight
pollution and preserving our natural resources. Solar panels
run our data center and office, not energy credits.
Solar tubes bring in natural light from the outside providing
light during the day. AMD Opteron powered servers use sixty
percent less energy and generate fifty percent less heat.

And here’s the information their solar vendor gave them:

Our 120 solar panel system will eliminate the production of
- 19,890 lbs of Carbon Dioxide (CO2/GHG) per year
- 5.9 lbs of Nitrous Oxide (NOX/smog) per year
- 0.45 lbs of Sulfur Dioxide (SO4/acid rain) per year
This is the equivalent of planting 3.5 acres of trees per year

Proof that Green is good business: Client list includes the Indianapolis Zoo, the Oceanic Society, the Himalayan Institute, and Live Earth, among others. They’ve also earned a listing as a Webhost Magazine Editors Choice and membership on the Inc Green 50 and in Co-op America. Pretty cool!

Thanks to Kristen Lems of the Peoples Music Network for telling me about these folks.

Another Recommended Book: The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca R. Merrill

It’s good to see an important and well-promoted book on business ethics coming out of a major New York house (in this case, Simon & Schuster’s Free Press imprint).

Coveys basic thesis, peppered with lots of examples from his own and his famous father’s life and career as well as the business world in general, is that when people trust you, business gets transacted a lot faster, more smoothly, and less expensively.

He notes that almost every action either increases trust–creating what he calls a “trust dividend”–or deceases it, imposing a “trust tax.”

Covey identifies a number of factors leading to increased trust, and they basically break down to two key principles embodied in “4 Cores”: character (subdivided into Integrity and Intent), and competence (Capabilities and Results. It’s not enough to offer just one of those two. If you are good at what you do but people have reason to mistrust your ethics, you pay a penalty. But also, you can be a model of integrity, and if you’re not good at doing what you commit to do, you’ll pay a trust penalty there as well.

Building from those four core attributes, he identifies 13 specific behaviors that build trust, and spends a chapter on each:

• Talk Straight
• Demonstrate Respect
• Create Transparency
• Right Wrongs
• Show Loyalty
• Deliver Results
• Get Better
• Confront Reality
• Clarify Expectations
• Practice Accountability
• Listen First
• Keep Commitments
• Extend Trust

When evaluating these behaviors, in yourself or in others, it’s important to fid the “sweet spot” where distrust is overcome but judgment comes into play so you don’t get burned. And in that process, it’s important to recognize that each of these 13 behaviors has “counterfeits” that look on the surface like they’re building trust, even as they actually undermine it. As an example, flattery is one of several counterfeits to straight talk.

Like my own book Principled Profit, Covey repeatedly demonstrates that high-trust environments, based in both character and competence, wildly outperform the traditional hierarchical micromanaged corporate environment. Trust, in other words, is very good for business. It’s why all the local McDonald’s were left untouched during the Los Angeles riots–because McDonald’s had shown itself as a concerned community partner, for years. It’s why Johnson & Johnson is one of the only pharmaceutical companies that has a reputation for genuinely caring about its customers. It’s why when an IBM executive who had lost the company $10 million expected to be asked for his resignation, founder Tom Watson Sr. responded, “You can’t be serious. We’ve just spent $10 million educating you!”

My favorite chapter is toward the end of this substantial book: “The Fifth Wave–Societal Trust: The Principle of Contribution.” Spiraling out from previous chapters about trust within an organization (built around the concept of alignment: the messages reinforce the desired behaviors) and within a market (where the key element is reputation)–these are the third and fourth waves–the fifth wave is about “conscious capitalism,” a/k/a social responsibility: the idea (and the statistics to back up the claim) that making a difference in the world is good for the soul, and also for the bottom line. And the key principle is contribution–doing things specifically to improve the lives of others.

This is one of the most important business books I’ve read in a long time, and a complete validation of the points of view I’ve been promoting for years. Strongly recommended.

I learned about this innovative and very customer-focused Irish supermarket chain in Stephen M.R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust (reviewed elsewhere in this issue), where he’s quoted: “Genuine listening ability is one of the few true forms of competitive advantage…Listening is not an activity you can delegate.”

Founding CEO (now President after the family sold the company), Feargal Quinn has earned the sobriquet “Pope of Customer Service.” Apparently a rather colorful character, he’s also a long-serving member of the Irish Senate and author of Crowning the Customer.

In his own words,

If you look after getting repeat business, profit will largely take care of itself. When faced with any business decision, any call on your time or resources, you need to ask, What will this do to help bring the customer back?”

This philosophy has generated consistent innovation since the company’s founding in 1960. The firm has a strong environmental consciousness too, and was an early pioneer of reusable cloth shopping bags designed specifically for maximum customer convenience (and which make even more sense since a tax was instituted on plastic grocery bags in Ireland). The store was also a pioneer in loyalty reward programs and online shopping, among other areas.

Perhaps the coolest innovation is a hand-held scanner program that saves time by letting you check yourself out as you add items to your cloth totes in your shopping cart (note the trust factor there), and keep a running total for you. When you’re done shopping, your bags are all packed and you go to a cashier to run up any items you couldn’t scan and make your payment. This could easily shave 10 or 15 precious minutes off the typical shopping trip, and it sounds so much more pleasant than the horrible automated checkouts at my own local supermarket (which hardly anyone uses).

By Shel Horowitz

How many companies did their first environmental impact report in 1953?

That’s when the well-known office furniture company Herman Miller began reporting its environmental progress. The 100-year-old company came to my attention through an article by CEO Brian C. Walker in Harvard Business Review, on Greening the Supply Chain. And this is remarkable in itself; while most companies are just beginning to grapple with sustainable measures within their own confines, Herman Miller has not only made a huge effort to get its vendors –both domestic and international–in line, but is teaching other companies.

Going to the company’s website, I see good links on the home page:
What we believe (with eight subsections, some of which have another layer as well)
The environment (11 subsections, including Green buildings, cradle-to-cradle and LEED certification, and even a recommended reading list!), and diversity, among others.

The environmental section notes,

Our values are the basis for Herman Miller’s corporate community. One of the nine things that matter most to us is called “A Better World.” For us, contributing to a better world takes many forms–environmental advocacy, volunteering time and contributing to nonprofit groups, acting as a good corporate citizen.

It also lists nine separate corporate teams involved in Herman Miller’s environmental responsibility activities.

In his follow-up comments (same URL), Walker points out that he and several competitors have joined forces with the Michigan Department of Corrections to train inmates in a furniture component recycling pilot program, and is looking at technology to better monitor chemical content, and to replace more toxic materials like PVC with more environmentally friendly alternatives.

For more business ethics and sustainability success stories, please see Shels award-winning book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First

Web 2.0 is a lot more than social networking sites. Here’s a great example: LaborFair.com uses Amazon-like Web 2.0 features to build a database of service providers based on reputation. Founder Jenna Raby started the service as a kind of domestic arm of the fair trade movement, with a specific stated goal of helping people in the lowest economic strata pull themselves up out of poverty.

Her site plays matchmaker between consumers and often-underpaid workers such as housekeepers and gardeners (as well as much higher paid specialists such as web designers and event planers).

Hiring through LaborFair, a consumer pays a living wage, directly to the service provider–a much greater wage than typically paid by an agency, although less than the consumer would have paid that agency.

So…the consumer saves money, the service provider gets paid more, and the choice is made on the basis of trust-building features like reports back from actual consumers about the quality of service.

LaborFair supports itself by charging the service provider a small fee: either $5 per job accepted or $25 per month for unlimited matches.

Fairly well established in the Bay Area, the service has just begun expanding into Las Angeles, Presumably, it will spread organically to other parts of the country.

(My thanks to my friend Kare Anderson for steering me to Jenna)

Positive Power Spotlight: Chelsea Green Publishing

Today, I had a reason to get very angry with a large New York publisher–and it got me thinking about how lucky I was to work with Chelsea Green for my fifth book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World.

There are of course many highly ethical publishers, but I’m profiling Chelsea because I have personal experience. Maybe I’ll profile others in the future.

Some of what I like:
* Every book they publish tries to make the world a better place. Their line emphasizes environmental sustainability, social change, viability of small agriculture, and eating well
*  They’re not afraid to take on very controversial topics and aren’t intimidated by the political climate of the day
* They are nimble enough to scale up quickly, as they did with George Lakoff’s bestselling Don’t Think of an Elephant in 2004
* It’s easy for an author to reach senior executives, even the publisher–and that stayed true even when the publisher who’d bought my book stepped down and was replaced
* Contract negotiation was remarkably painless, despite my requests for some very nontraditional clauses–and even the original contract draft (before my changes) was among the most author-friendly I’ve ever seen
* As an author, my input was valued at every step, and the company was very open to suggestions such as awards to enter
* The design and editorial staff worked very collaboratively with each other and with me, and gave me their best work even though I was far from a superstar (something that did not happen with other publishers I’ve dealt with)
* Chelsea keeps the book in print almost eight years after publication and has become my only US publisher to pay me royalties beyond the initial advance
* Every single person I’ve ever met, phoned, or e-mailed, including people staffing a book table at a conference where I wasn’t even speaking, has been gracious, friendly, and helpful

Ah, if only all publishers were like this! If I ever publish the work of others, I’ll use Chelsea as my model.

Well, this is certainly different! A Big Media (CBS) radio station that appears to break from the mold.

This station, 94.7 FM, is a long-established classic rock number serving the Washington, DC market. About a year ago, it rebranded–still a classic rock station, but with a very clear focus on environmental issues–and a promise to play music beyond the hits.

What does it mean to have an environmental focus? The station’s press release announcing the February 2,2007 changeover notes,

The Washington D.C. station will operate using renewable energy to power its 50,000 watt signal. This move will contribute to lowering the threat of global warming through the purchase of energy resources generated by wind.  Additionally, station vehicles will be replaced with hybrid models, and 94.7 The Globe will further its “green” focus by taking a number of steps on and off-air to consistently promote ways for listeners to live an eco-friendly lifestyle.

In keeping with this new focus, the station website offers quite a bit of Green content, including eco-tips compiled by station staff and also submitted by listeners.

The station’s mission statement doesn’t specifically address environmental issues, but it quite cogently promotes the station as an alternative to the sound-alike hitmakers around the country. It notes the importance of musical diversity, promises that DJs have a voice in the programming (a rarity at many corporate radio chains these days), and insists it will be receptive to listener ideas.

And I know, some may call this “greenwashing”–but I prefer to think that it ight be a laboratory for exporting new ideas into the very, very tired and bland commercial radio band.

There is, after all, quite a bit of precedent for large corporate entities developing product lines that offer more individuality and social consciousness, and integrating some of the best practices corporate-wide. Saturn, to name one example, is a unit of General Motors. And Saturn’s low-pressure buying experience has migrated not just to other units within GM, but across the entire industry.

And like most stations these days, you can listen to it on streaming audio.