A review of Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness by John-David Phyper and Paul MacLean.

John-David Phyper and Paul MacLean’s Good to Green confirms that sustainability discourse in business is no longer about convincing C-suites, but rather about mobilizing them.

Borne of necessity, Good to Green arose in early 2008 when the authors, both presidents of successful Canadian management consulting firms, sat down to compare good companies to “green” companies – defined as those that “demonstrate leadership through sustained action on global environmental challenges and achieve business success in the progress.” From this discussion, they uncovered two common flaws characteristic of the failing companies, and proceeded to write a guide to overcoming them.

Building on Jim Collins’ Good to Great, Phyper and MacLean sought to use examples of leading companies to guide others, especially guide managers and executives, in “making informed business decisions on the management of risks and opportunities related to environmental issues.” Now, I am neither a guide manager nor yet an executive, but their goal was undoubtedly achieved in my case. A well-organized, back-to-basics read, Good to Green simplifies the process of achieving green business status. The book offers straight-forward, applicable advice on how to move from a wasteful, production-oriented business culture relying on cradle-to-grave product life cycles, to an efficient, service-oriented one employing cradle-to-cradle strategies and capitalizing on current market trends. The authors’ teachings are founded on two key principles which they say are the answers to becoming a successful and sustainable company: 1) avoiding “cosmetic environmentalism” by applying concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development to the fundamentals of a business model, at all levels and stages, using improved product lifecycle management and environmental management systems (EMS) and 2) communicating across functions to ensure consistency. Lessons emphasized throughout the text include the importance of assigning staff ownership and accountability, embedding EMSs into general management systems and IT, and fostering innovation.

Using fourteen timely case studies as support, Phyper and MacLean stress the interconnectedness of improved responsibility and improved profitability. They make it clear that smart businesses don’t go green out of moral obligation, but because increasing efficiencies, eliminating waste, and other effects of responsible management simply increase profits. In line with this, Phyper and MacLean write in a positive, progressive tone and take an opportunistic approach to environmental issues. The book uses the same language the authors say is now used in boardrooms everywhere to address environmental issues: “a new lexicon that is being used at the executive level to identify and exploit opportunities where others see threats.”

Good to Green addresses an impressive range of business functions from product design to marketing.  Management tips range in specificity from the nine guiding principles including “seek the truth”, “switch away from high-energy carbon sources”, and “treat stakeholders as you would want to be treated”, to step-by-step checklists of how to ensure that your supply chain meets minimum compliance standards, or what to look for in environmental management systems IT.

Complete with thorough background information on all major areas of environment/economy overlap (i.e. alternative energies, cap and trade systems, and emerging green technologies), the book is ideal for consultants, management students, or anyone seeking a better understanding of corporate success in the “New Age of Environmental Awareness”. Though acronym-use is kept to a digestible minimum, text-heaviness and ineffective visuals mean the time-crunched CEO may want to stick to the bolded tips and chapter take-aways.

If your organization has yet to achieve that pinnacle where environmental and social responsibility meets sustained profitability, then Good to Green may just provide the guidance you need. But beware: if you are still weary of the existence of this pinnacle, Phyper and MacLean don’t waste their time proving it. Instead, they argue that it’s now about more than just compliance and reporting, but rather a fundamental re-design of a company’s product – even using the phrase “adapt or die” to describe the critical role environmental considerations now play in select industries, such as the auto industry. “… For real revolutionary change to occur, we need to invent alternative energies and products that strive to be sustainable, are superior to what they’re replacing and have a trajectory that allows them to be cheaper within a short period of time.” Though the authors’ sights may be far set, Good to Green succeeds in setting companies on the path to revolution.

Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness
By John-David Phyper & Paul MacLean
Hardcover: 446 pages, $34.95, 2009
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.