Keynote & Workshop Topics:
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The Green Economy
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Green Without Guilt: Accelerating into the Green Economy
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The Green Economy is catching most organizations by surprise, and creating a surprising problem: they want to be responsible corporate citizens, yet many environmentalists have nothing good to say about corporations, and nothing constructive to recommend except 'Stop destroying the world.'
Futurist Richard Worzel, who is also a strategic planner, a Chartered Financial Analyst, and a former institutional investor, has been speaking on green issues as part of broader presentations for almost 15 years, and knows that being perfect is impossible, on the environment or any other issue. He also knows that organizations with a genuine desire to honor the environment, and reduce their ecological footprint have other priorities to manage as well, starting with the need to remain competitive and 'make the numbers.'
Yet, being green doesn't have to be opposed to being profitable. 'Done right,' says Worzel, 'going green means bigger profits. In fact, that's the best of all possible worlds: reducing your ecological footprint while increasing profitability makes sustainability sustainable, even exciting.'
In this far-seeing presentation on the rapidly emerging Green Economy, Richard provides an overview of where Green is going, and how responsible organizations can get there.
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The Green Economy: Social Responsibility that Pays
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At the end of the 20th Century, public interest in environmental issues was on the wane. Today, public opinion is well past the tipping point, and organizations are scrambling to catch up. What this means is that leading the field in green issues can be both a strategic and a tactical competitive advantage in tomorrow's business world. Consider that:
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is not only talking about being green, but putting their money where its mouth is to the tune of half a billion dollars to cut down on waste, increase energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
General Electric, a role-model for hard-driving corporate growth and profitability, is now aggressively pursuing green technologies, products, and services through their 'Ecoimagination' campaign.
Wall Street is starting to highlight those companies that have a commitment to going green - and investors are starting to pay a premium for the shares of such companies. Two major Wall Street firms, Citigroup Investment Research, and Lehman Brothers, have recently come out with thick research reports spotlighting companies with green campaigns - and if Wall Street's interested, you know there's money involved.
So developing a green strategy is good public relations, and a sign of corporate responsibility, but it's much more as well. It's also a way to attract and retain the best people, and, most importantly, done properly, companies can be good corporate citizens and increase profits at the same time! Indeed, this is by far the optimal scenario for both the economy and the environment: that they support, rather than conflict with each other.
Richard Worzel is a futurist, a strategic planner, and a Chartered Financial Analyst and former institutional investor. In this broad-ranging view of the rapidly emerging Green Economy, he talks about what's to come, and how you can do well by doing good.
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