Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World, by Gary Hirshberg

If every CEO behaved like Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Yogurt, then we wouldn't need eco-groups or standards to help business take a sustainable direction line. Stonyfield Yogurt is the definition of a Sustainable triple bottom line - it's profitable, respectful of the environment and its suppliers and employees. That all adds up to something that their biggest customer base (women) appreciate, applaud and buy even during these shaky economic times.

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Gary believes in putting capitalism to work. As he notes in his new book "Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World", "I'm here to tell you that nature and business are born allies—potentially the richest partnership in the history of capitalism."

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Sustainability thrives when you open your mind to doing things most businesspeople would consider plain nutty. Examples:

• We pay some of our organic suppliers as much as twice the going rate for conventionally grown materials. [emphasis mine]

• We do hardly any advertising, and we use our packaging to promote other organizations.

• We actually push for more government oversight and regulation of our industry.

• We give our customers and investors detailed reports on how much pollution and waste we generate—even when those figures are rising.

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Stonyfield is doing everything that I want to see in a corporation:  It values organically produced raw materials (and the local farmers), it does well by promoting others over self, appreciates the need for common rules of fair play, and above all is transparent. 

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It passes the small town test.Stonyfield can stand up to the scrutiny of talk in the local bar, church parking lot or little league stands and that’s why it also gets such high word-of-mouth advertising from its customers. All small businesses pass this test initially or else they don’t stay in business. The amazing part is that Stonyfield managed to keep its integrity in tact as it grew and even after it sold 85% of the company to the French company, Groupe Danone. That’s leadership we can all learn from.

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The bottom line is personal and financial.

Gary switched careers from non-profit to profit to give his ideas a larger stage for social impact and change. He started out in 1970 as the Executive Director of the New Alchemy Institute, but changed into an entrepreneur yogurt maker when he saw how much attention Kraft was getting at a Disney Event. The Institute’s ideas may have been more Sustainable, but Kraft had a bigger world stage all because it had a profitable product line, one which wasn’t sustainable. That hit home for Gary and he went into the for profit business along with Samuel Kaymen. If their ideas were to have a world stage, he had to become a capitalist.

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What were the results of Gary’s decision?

"Some twenty-five years later, Stonyfield is the world's largest organic-yogurt maker, and I am its CE-Yo. Better yet, our U.S. yogurt sales surpassed those of Kraft's Breyers brand nearly a decade ago. Stonyfield has grown by more than 27 percent a year for the past eighteen straight years, compared with 5 to 7 percent for the yogurt industry as a whole. In 2006, our sales topped $260 million; in 2007, we're on track to exceed $300 million. It's largely due to our focus on sustainability—the art of replacing myopic efficiency with sensible methods that boost profits while benefiting nature rather than destroying it."

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You can't argue success. Stonyfield isn't the only one that's seeing success. Check out this report on

Companies That Report Sustainability Data Enjoy Higher Gross Margins

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Gary’s book is hopefully the first in a series of books by CEO’s proving similar case studies. As you read, look beyond operations and the product production and into the consumer engagement side as well. Gary’s ideas didn’t fly without profits and those profits came from engaged consumers. Stonyfield’s website is a reflection of the culture (no pun intended) that is serves - it’s inclusive, fun, interactive and respectful of its female consumers. In a letter to the site’s readers, Gary invites them to participate in co-creating the world of business that they want to see.

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Yet at some point both sides of the buyer/seller equation know that even the best of co-created intentions need rules and guidelines that match up to the rules and guidelines of other companies. Baseball is inclusive, fun, interactive, but without rules, it’s just a street game with sticks and a lot of running around. Standards are the laws of a free market. Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) bring transparent information to the table and third party audits ensure the information is accurate and honest. Stonyfield has the USDA Organic Label and also the QAI label (Quality Assurance International).

 

Gary is at the helm now. Someday another face will lead Stonyfield, but it's brand and integrity will stay intact due to the their Sustainable business model that proves that good guys can finish first.

Comments

[Meryn Stol]

Thanks for the book recommendation. I certainly hope to see more books like this. I think ethical business is the future, so I don't think one can ever read too much about it. Especially true stories from the field, because they give you the best insight in the complexity involved.