At last week's Raise the Green Bar sustainability summit in New York City, Birnur Aral and Carolyn Forté of the Good Housekeeping Institute announced the winners from indie, niche, and legacy brands in 9 categories across bath and body, makeup nd skin care, as well as fragrance

Remember when plastic straws were at the forefront of everybody’s mind a couple months ago?   Massive corporate chains left them behind in exchange for paper, hemp, or steel straws. Debates raged about whether or not eliminating them was an accessibility barrier for people who can’t lift glasses or drink from rims. There was a hashtag.   That was just one of many moments in the ongoing push to recycle, reuse, and reduce plastic. If you remember the three R’s, this concept likely isn’t new to you, but anything that can only be used once should probably not be mass-produced in today’s rapidly warming climate.   Many leaders in business and innovation have dedicated their careers to that idea, and an impressive group of them will be meeting at the Vancouver Convention Centre on the last two days of October for the 2019 Zero Waste Conference. Among them is Valerie Craig, deputy to the chief scientist and vice president of operating programs for the National Geographic Society.   “What gets public attention are the really flashy, exciting sexy things – people love to hear about the latest water bottle made from seaweed or edible utensils,” she says. “Those make great stories and demonstrate the opportunity for innovation, but they’re just scratching the surface of the problem.”   Craig will be highlighting the issue of ocean plastic — and what can potentially be done to address it — as the closing keynote presenter for the first day of the conference on Oct. 30. Ocean plastic/Shutterstock   The following day includes presentations from plastic upcycling innovators Arthur Huang of MINIWIZ and Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, as well as a panel called Plastics: A Global Challenge & Opportunity for Circularity.   The idea of a “circular economy” contrasts to our current system of a “linear economy,” which is based on creating, using, and disposing of materials. In a circular economy, resources are used as much and for as long as possible. When that’s not possible anymore, they can be reused for a different purpose in the future.   This concept is integral to the upcoming Zero Waste Conference, and equally so for the Ocean Plastic Innovation Challenge started by the National Geographic Society and Sky Ocean Ventures.   Far-reaching impact of climate change/Shutterstock   The challenge was created to “source ideas from around the world about how to address plastic waste” and calls for three things: development of zero-waste packaging solutions, establishment of circular economy and zero waste business models, and support of spreading awareness about the scale of the plastics pollution problem. It will be discussed at the Zero Waste Conference, although its results will not be released until later this year.   Although Craig acknowledges that “plastics have undeniably changed our lives, and in many ways for the better,” she also emphasizes that we have “created a pollution problem of an almost unimaginable scale” with its production.   “Today, plastics have been found from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and from the sea floor to the surface,” she says. “They’re everywhere.”   Educating yourself is one of the most proactive things you can do to take climate action, and learning about it gives you what you need to take action whether you’re a creator or consumer. There are more innovators in environmentally sustainable technology and business than ever before, and their plans and ideas could be part of the movement to shape our future on this planet. Zero Waste Conference/ZWC   Pretty serious stuff, but the conference itself is your guide to the people, ideas, and actions that are having the biggest impact. Interested? Register online and take the first step towards a greener future.  

2019 Zero Waste Conference

  When: October 30 to 31, 2019 Time: Wednesday, 8:30 am to 5 pm; Thursday, 8:30 am to 1:30 pm Where: Vancouver Convention Centre East – 999 Canada Place Tickets: Available online now  

Consumers are choosing brands they think are better for the planet, so it’s important they know what they’re getting. How often are you overwhelmed or confused by labels at the store? Organic, non-GMO, fair trade, cruelty-free ... the list goes on. With mounting concerns about what’s in our products, where they come from, and how they are made, more and more people are craving transparency and sustainability with the things they buy. And it doesn’t stop at the products inside. In a world dialed into the impacts of single-use packaging and disposability on the environment, what’s on the outside counts as well. Brands and manufacturers know if they don’t stop producing widely non-recyclable items, they will be left in the dust. It’s important that packaging labels inform and educate so the public can choose more sustainable brands. However, lack of clear definitions can make it difficult to know what exactly these labels mean, confusing the buyer and opening things up for greenwashing.   Let’s take a closer look:  

Bioplastic

Often represented on packages (as well as other commonly disposable items, such as beverage cups and eating utensils) by leaf symbols and riffs on the recycling Mobius strip, bioplastics are simply defined as plastics derived from natural, renewable feedstocks, unlike those derived from fossil fuels like many of the plastics consumers enjoy today.   Corn, potatoes, rice, tapioca, wheat fiber, and sugar are among these, as are shrimp shells, seaweed, and algae. While the capacity of agricultural land to sustain a robust age for bioplastics is questionable, the sustainable “edge” is that they offset dependence on finite oil reserves. To be called a “bioplastic” in the United States, a material need only be composed of a percentage of renewable material. Defined on a product-by-product basis, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) BioPreferred seal only requires product packaging to contain a minimum of 25 percent bio-based content, and the majority percentage may be fossil fuel-based plastic resins and other synthetics additives.  

Biodegradable or compostable plastic

Subsets of bioplastics are biodegradable or compostable plastics, which are often incorrectly conflated with all bioplastics. Many consumer goods companies are beginning to use "biodegradable" plastic in their packaging as a sort of silver bullet to the plastic pollution issue. The challenge, however, is that this packaging does not actually break down in the real world settings where it is likely to end up.   If a biodegradable package enters a trash bin and ends up in a landfill, it will be covered with other garbage and stripped of its access to sunlight and airflow. In the environment (i.e. roadside, forest, or even the ocean), there is plenty of evidence to suggest this material does not degrade the way it was intended to in an industrial compost facility. Compostable plastics will only break down in a compost site at a rate consistent with other known compostable materials, such as paper, food waste, and yard trimmings, in a highly controlled industrial facility with just the right temperature and microbes, not your backyard pile. There are few (but growing) numbers of composting facilities around the world and many view bioplastics as contaminants. Plus, most biodegradable bioplastics (categorized as ‘other’ plastic #7) are not municipally recyclable. The compostability of plant-based plastics is akin to the recyclability of petroleum-based plastics; they will only be processed if the solutions are accessible. So, improving their viability will require consumer support and more collaboration in the industry.  

Ocean-bound plastic

A number of consumer goods companies have been introducing products and packaging that use what is known as ocean-bound plastic. This is plastic collected within 50 kilometers of a waterway, making it a possible risk to reach the ocean, which can happen in countries with poor waste management. Often comparable to curbside-quality and plentiful to collect, ocean-bound plastic captures the value of litter that very generally might find its way into the ocean, but is not necessarily found in marine environments at all.   Slightly different is the material our beach and ocean plastic division collects directly from marine environments such as oceans, beaches, rivers, and lakes with the help of volunteer NGOs and clean-up organizations. The plastic collected is usually degraded and therefore non-recyclable municipally. Through partnerships with consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies around the world (including the first fully recyclable shampoo bottle made with beach plastic for Head & Shoulders), this, too, has been integrated into products available to consumers.  

Single-material

Most packaging today is not traditionally recyclable because of its complexity. Some flexible packages (pouches, shelf-stable cartons, and the like) are considered recyclable, but an average consumer with access to a recycling option may not be able to tell what type(s) of plastic the packaging is made from. So, packaging producers are attempting to simplify the construction of the packaging to allow for it to be accepted at grocery store drop-points.   While this development makes it much easier to recycle from a technical standpoint, practicality is questionable due to constraints around accessibility and participation. This material is not curbside recyclable and only accepted at the few drop-off points funded by law and intended to recycle plastic bags; consumers hear “recyclable” and think they can recycle at home. This causes confusion at the store and contamination in streams with already weak end-markets. +++ The world is waking up to the fact that essentially any plastic not reused or captured for recycling is at risk for joining the 10-20 million tons that pour into oceans annually. Steering more material away from filling the bellies of fish or turning into microplastics is an effort companies and consumers can get behind, so they need to be informed. We can think about it this way: the next time you go shopping, whatever you buy, two more will be created. One to replace the one you bought, and one to signify the trend. For everything you don’t buy, one less will be there because there is nothing to replace. If you choose brands doing the work to manage resources more wisely, you vote for a future with less waste.

Tom Szaky is the founder and CEO of TerraCycle, a global leader in collecting and repurposing hard-to-recycle waste. The company also has played a big part in developing Loop™ – an innovative, online shopping concept challenging our reliance on single use packaging.  In this column, Tom looks below the surface of recyclability claims and highlights the gap between technical recyclability and practical recyclability. In the past 24 months, people have come to realize the scope and severity of the global waste crisis, be it from documentaries such as David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II or a striking image of a turtle with a plastic straw in its nose circulating on social media. In response, governments have started passing laws banning single-use items and mandating producer responsibility, and consumers are demanding change. As a result, many product manufacturers have publicly announced commitments to incorporate significantly more post-consumer recycled (“PCR”) content in their products, as well as the bold claim that all of their packaging will be recyclable. All this by 2025—only five years away. Communicating the vision is the easy part, executing a whole different matter. UK nonprofit WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) reports two-thirds of the Plastics Pact (127 companies representing a majority of all packaging produced globally) have shown no progress on the 2017 pledge to offset their contributions to plastic pollution. As one peels below the surface of commitments around recyclability, it becomes clear most signatories are promising technical recyclability and not practical recyclability. The former represents the ability for a package to be technically recycled without factoring in real world economics, including the question of whether the processing cost will be higher than its recovered value. Inversely, practical recyclability is the ability for a consumer to place that package in their recycling bin and have it actually recycled. This is dependent on not just the technical capacity to recycle a waste stream, but also a profitable and stable business model behind it. Those familiar with TerraCycle know we believe everything is technically recyclable, having proven items such as cigarettes, chewing gum, and even dirty diapers can be repurposed into material for new products. But those items are not accepted through conventional curbside programs and are thereby not practically recyclable outside specialty systems like ours. Noting here our systems rely on the financial support of brands, retailers, cities, and other organizations to function, the value of the recovered material is not enough to offset the logistics and processing costs of these waste streams in and of itself. Thus, it is imperative the clear distinction is made between technical and practical recyclability to avoid confusion, maintain transparency, and continue effective work towards measurable targets for materials recovery and waste reduction. Claiming 100% recyclability for an item that will only be recycled if the consumer must go out of their way to access a solution is a mismatch, as consumers only understand practical recyclability, not technical. Practical recyclability should be the only way we use the word recyclable. Everything else is confusing and misleading to consumers and even law makers, who are not waste management experts. Producers need to either focus on moving into reusable or recyclable packages with value to recyclers and produce highly separated material with a strong end-market, or pay the cost to collect and process them. Technical upgrades are not a silver bullet, but a fantastic start to better resource management. Providing individuals the choice of products they can actively keep in the materials economy requires clear and practical definitions. To that end, organizations that endorse recyclability, such as governments and industry coalitions, should demand proof that recycling is actually happening, in practice and in scale.

As I write this, the words of Greta Thunberg are reverberating around the world.   Wherever you stand on climate change, I hope everyone can agree hers is a powerful story. A 16-year-old, still a minor, getting up in front of the leaders of the world and clearly giving them a performance review: “You are failing us.” And she did it in English — not her native language.   I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that when I was 16. And certainly not in Swedish.   I am not trying to convince you about whether she is right or wrong. I am simply trying to tell you that she is. She exists. That just happened. And she illustrates the power and purpose of marketing — to get a conversion.  

People Are Lazy and Selfish

  And it’s not necessarily bad. I am. You are. We’re lazy, because it’s an evolutionary trait to conserve energy. And when I say we’re selfish, we’re simply hardwired to act in our best interest.   But …   These human characteristics make the job of saving the world really hard.  

Most People Don’t Want to Save the World, They Want to Save Themselves

  Climate change is a maddeningly complex topic. We’re literally talking about a combination of …   scientific study of the entire planet for thousands of years + an entrenched economic system — hardwired for brilliant, innovative change; yet, challenged by factoring in externalities + change on an such an epic scale that individual impact is difficult to feel x politics   And … oh look, a Kardashian just did something shocking on social media!   Where were we … oh, yes. How do you get humans to focus intently on such a deep problem that you change behavior when there are so many shiny and more fun options out there?   Well, you tell a better story. Thunberg is what Apple was talking about in its legendary “Think Different” campaign. As the ad states, you can “glorify or vilify them.” The most recent AP story about Thunberg talks about how she was both praised and criticized.   Will Thunberg be the one who helps bend that hockey stick of climate change somewhat downward? It’s unfair to even speculate.   But I can tell you her role. It’s marketing. Marketing has a bad rap sometimes, but that shouldn’t come across in a bad way.  

As a Marketer, You Can Save the World

  Or destroy it. But let’s stay positive.   Marketing has that all encompassing power to affect human behavior. Thunberg is a person, of course. Let’s respect that. But she’s grown to be something far greater.   She’s become a narrative. A way for people to comprehend climate change and how they can impact it. An easy-to-understand personification of a complex issue. In other words, marketing. From sailing across the ocean to reduce carbon emissions instead of flying to that speech in front of the UN, she has created a compelling brand. Something for people to pull for and choose to act due to her actions.   Marketing can save the world, because it is the marketers who create these stories. The stories that get people to change behavior. To wear Nikes instead of generic shoes. To spend more for an iPhone. To take their valuable time to attend a webinar.   No matter what engineers create or researchers discover or politicians utter, products, services, and ideas only succeed because people choose them.   So marketing has the power to save the world. To make the world a better place. To have more people choose good.   Marketing is ultimately the optimization of perceived value to help influence that choice. Some examples:  

Example No. 1: Chilean Sea Bass

  I got the idea for this article in a discussion with Flint McGlaughlin, Managing Director and CEO, MECLABS Institute, while he was preparing this YouTube Live session filled with conversion optimization ideas for viewer-submitted landing pages.   In it, he discusses how marketing essentially created the Chilean Sea Bass.   Marketing can help with environmental issues by making eco-friendly, but previously unpopular, options more popular in the marketplace (although, that can cause other issues).   For example, as Alexander Mayyasi states in the article "The Invention of the Chilean Sea Bass," “Far from unique, the story of the Chilean sea bass represents something of a formula in today’s climate of overfishing: Choose a previously ignored fish, give it a more appealing name, and market it. With a little luck, a fish once tossed back as bycatch will become part of trendy $50 dinners.”

Example No. 2: Strong Passwords

  In this Wall Street Journal article, "People Need an Incentive to Use Strong Passwords. We Gave Them One," professor Karen Renaud provides a great example of creating a process-level value proposition for creating a strong password (instead of just telling people they should create one)— the stronger the password is, the longer they can keep it before having to change the password again.

Example No. 3: Brushing Teeth

  Why did you brush your teeth this morning?   Let me stop you right there and tell you that you’re wrong. Whatever reason you gave is an attempt to logically explain a societally ingrained habit.   And that habit came into being thanks to headlines and body copy in advertising for Pepsodent made by advertising pioneer Claude Hopkins.   He didn’t just tell consumers they should brush their teeth because it’s the good or right thing to do. He created a value proposition for it by advertising the need to brush teeth to remove a film that builds up on them and “robs teeth of their whiteness.”

Example No. 4: Tesla

  Electric cars did not gain much traction until Elon Musk came along. Public perception was that electric vehicles — or EVs, for short — were akin to wearing a hair shirt. Yes, they kept the air we breathe cleaner, but it was a subpar experience.   Elon Musk changed that by leveraging the inherent quickness of EVs and created objects of desire with Tesla. These weren’t three-wheeled, two-seater econoboxes. These were high-end sportscars to be lusted after.   He did it by cultivating an innovative (and larger than life) persona on social media. By creating cars with tech-savvy features, like a car that turns off and door handles that retract when you simply walk away from the car. He also did it with smart branding — you can buy a Tesla Model X with “Insane Mode” or “Ludicrous Mode” acceleration.   In other words, marketing.   And in so doing, he changed the entire arc of the car industry from a group of companies that simply couldn’t get off fossil fuels to an industry that has invested billions in electrification and sees EVs as the auto propulsion of the future.

Example No. 5: Tom Szaky

  This story is still in progress, but I flag it up to you as an example that is going on right now. Tom Szaky founded TerraCycle with the idea of increasing recycling — especially for hard-to-recycle items that you couldn’t just set out on the curb.   But he didn’t do it by running ads telling you that recycling is good. He partnered with major brands from Bausch + Lomb to Colgate to Tide to leverage their brands and marketing muscle (i.e. co-op marketing) to get the message out to schools and non-profits, encouraging them to recycle in groups in exchange for donations. (And there is your process-level value prop … in addition to making the world a better place, of course).   Now he’s launching Loop, an e-commerce platform in which you can buy your favorite brands in reusable containers by, again, leveraging what is essentially co-op marketing. This small company is trading on some of the biggest and most valuable brands in the world.

'With Great Power There Must Also Come — Great Responsibility'

  The Peter Parker principle. If you are a marketing leader, you have a super power. The power to influence human behavior.   To heal … or to destroy … the world.   Use it wisely.

"The most rewarding aspect is being able to do what I set out to do--having a business that has purpose." CEO Tom Szaky teaches us how to recycle virtually everything and live a zero-waste lifestyle  

Back in July, the City of Ottawa made a shift to allow its residents to put plastic bags in the compost bin. People noticed.   After the plastic bag bill passed, many people took to Twitter to voice their disapproval, calling it a "stupid policy" for "the lazy," and "idiotic at a time when in many jurisdictions, plastic bags are trying to be phased out."   While it may seem odd to allow plastic bags in the green bin, many people find it makes the process of capturing household organic waste a little more tidy. Municipalities that allow it skim plastic bags off early in the disposal process.   Many jurisdictions actually encourage the use of biodegradable bags, and consumers buy them with the belief that they will decompose with the rest of the organic waste. But that isn't always true.   Even in the landfill, compostable plastics may not degrade, according to a study done by the University of Plymouth in the U.K. The study tested five types of commonly used plastic bags, including ones labelled "compostable" and "biodegradable," to see how well they break down in different conditions. They tested the bags in both soil and sea, where they remained intact, exactly like regular plastic.   Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, a U.S. business that has gained a reputation for recycling the "non-recyclable," has written about this. In his book Linear to Circular: The Future of Packaging, he writes that most consumers "don't realize … that biodegradable bioplastics will break down only under the right conditions — those of a specific industrial composting facility."   Szaky emphasized that "even if that happens, [the bags] won't contribute value to the compost, unlike coffee grounds or leaves, which have a wide range of micro- and macronutrients as well as a living ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes."   Even if they could create those perfect conditions, some municipalities have banned compostable plastics from green bins, including Toronto.   The City of Toronto website says:  "There are many types of products that call themselves 'degradable.'   "They may be degradable in the presence of certain components … and are made to degrade in a certain time period. This time period and conditions may not match the actual conditions in a processing facility."   The Metro Vancouver solid waste site states that "plastics, including those marked biodegradable, do not belong in the compost as they do not break down properly during processing."   People who are confused or concerned about any kind of plastic have other options. Many municipalities suggest lining your bin with newspaper for an easier clean or simply not lining the bin at all. They also suggest washing out your bins regularly and putting them on the curb consistently, even when they're not full.   Or you could simply call your municipality's facility and ask what they accept.

Back in July, the City of Ottawa made a shift to allow its residents to put plastic bags in the compost bin. People noticed.   After the plastic bag bill passed, many people took to Twitter to voice their disapproval, calling it a "stupid policy" for "the lazy," and "idiotic at a time when in many jurisdictions, plastic bags are trying to be phased out."   While it may seem odd to allow plastic bags in the green bin, many people find it makes the process of capturing household organic waste a little more tidy. Municipalities that allow it skim plastic bags off early in the disposal process.   Many jurisdictions actually encourage the use of biodegradable bags, and consumers buy them with the belief that they will decompose with the rest of the organic waste. But that isn't always true.   Even in the landfill, compostable plastics may not degrade, according to a study done by the University of Plymouth in the U.K. The study tested five types of commonly used plastic bags, including ones labelled "compostable" and "biodegradable," to see how well they break down in different conditions. They tested the bags in both soil and sea, where they remained intact, exactly like regular plastic.   Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, a U.S. business that has gained a reputation for recycling the "non-recyclable," has written about this. In his book Linear to Circular: The Future of Packaging, he writes that most consumers "don't realize … that biodegradable bioplastics will break down only under the right conditions — those of a specific industrial composting facility."   Szaky emphasized that "even if that happens, [the bags] won't contribute value to the compost, unlike coffee grounds or leaves, which have a wide range of micro- and macronutrients as well as a living ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes."   Even if they could create those perfect conditions, some municipalities have banned compostable plastics from green bins, including Toronto.   The City of Toronto website says:  "There are many types of products that call themselves 'degradable.'   "They may be degradable in the presence of certain components … and are made to degrade in a certain time period. This time period and conditions may not match the actual conditions in a processing facility."   The Metro Vancouver solid waste site states that "plastics, including those marked biodegradable, do not belong in the compost as they do not break down properly during processing."   People who are confused or concerned about any kind of plastic have other options. Many municipalities suggest lining your bin with newspaper for an easier clean or simply not lining the bin at all. They also suggest washing out your bins regularly and putting them on the curb consistently, even when they're not full.   Or you could simply call your municipality's facility and ask what they accept.   — Taylor Logan

Back in July, the City of Ottawa made a shift to allow its residents to put plastic bags in the compost bin. People noticed.   After the plastic bag bill passed, many people took to Twitter to voice their disapproval, calling it a "stupid policy" for "the lazy," and "idiotic at a time when in many jurisdictions, plastic bags are trying to be phased out."   While it may seem odd to allow plastic bags in the green bin, many people find it makes the process of capturing household organic waste a little more tidy. Municipalities that allow it skim plastic bags off early in the disposal process.   Many jurisdictions actually encourage the use of biodegradable bags, and consumers buy them with the belief that they will decompose with the rest of the organic waste. But that isn't always true.   Even in the landfill, compostable plastics may not degrade, according to a study done by the University of Plymouth in the U.K. The study tested five types of commonly used plastic bags, including ones labelled "compostable" and "biodegradable," to see how well they break down in different conditions. They tested the bags in both soil and sea, where they remained intact, exactly like regular plastic.   Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, a U.S. business that has gained a reputation for recycling the "non-recyclable," has written about this. In his book Linear to Circular: The Future of Packaging, he writes that most consumers "don't realize … that biodegradable bioplastics will break down only under the right conditions — those of a specific industrial composting facility."   Szaky emphasized that "even if that happens, [the bags] won't contribute value to the compost, unlike coffee grounds or leaves, which have a wide range of micro- and macronutrients as well as a living ecosystem of bacteria and other microbes."   Even if they could create those perfect conditions, some municipalities have banned compostable plastics from green bins, including Toronto.   The City of Toronto website says:  "There are many types of products that call themselves 'degradable.'   "They may be degradable in the presence of certain components … and are made to degrade in a certain time period. This time period and conditions may not match the actual conditions in a processing facility."   The Metro Vancouver solid waste site states that "plastics, including those marked biodegradable, do not belong in the compost as they do not break down properly during processing."   People who are confused or concerned about any kind of plastic have other options. Many municipalities suggest lining your bin with newspaper for an easier clean or simply not lining the bin at all. They also suggest washing out your bins regularly and putting them on the curb consistently, even when they're not full.   Or you could simply call your municipality's facility and ask what they accept.   — Taylor Logan

Just as kids headed back to school this year, nearly 200 corporate CEOs headed back to the board room for the first time in two decades to redefine a corporation. These leaders decided  that besides shareholders, a corporation should benefit customers, employees, suppliers, and communities.   As corporations take action on this pledge, their focus necessarily will move beyond short-term quarterly profits; now longer time horizons and qualitative metrics become necessary ingredients for creating value for these other stakeholders.   Defining a purpose and becoming mission-driven is an important way to get this balance right. Thousands of Certified B Corporations work at the intersection of purpose and profit. Over a million nonprofits do, too. Adopting a mission certainly does not require a change in legal construct, but counter-intuitively it does mean behaving more like a nonprofit. Make your mission matter and leverage it through communication.   One of the top avatars in this space is Patagonia with a mission to support the environment. Well, that’s what the mission used to be. Today, Patagonia more urgently says, “We’re in business to save our home planet.”   Their web site continues, “At Patagonia, we appreciate that all life on earth is under threat of extinction. We aim to use the resources we have—our business, our investments, our voice and our imaginations—to do something about it.”   Spend five minutes on the company’s website, and you don’t have to wonder if they really mean it. They’ve pulled products—even bestsellers—that inadvertently caused harm and gone back to their own drawing boards to reinvent.   But that’s not true for all companies. At the opposite end of the spectrum are companies with no mission or a faux mission—for example, the defense contractor that manufactures missiles to “build a more peaceful world.” Huh?   Worse still, as one mission-driven CEO, Tom Szaky of TerraCycle, pointed out to me, are companies with a bad mission. These include companies that plan obsolescence, causing customers and the Earth to bare the costs of excessive consumption.   So what does this balance look like when done right and what can you learn about communicating?

 

Dos

1. Do commit to a social impact mission.
2. Do integrate your mission into all departments and enjoy new ways to communicate.
3. Do incorporate your mission into your employer brand strategy.
4. Do open the curtains and be transparent.
5. Do adopt a trustworthy approach.

 

Don’ts

1. Don’t worry about being perfect. Share your failures and what you learn from them.
2. Don’t tell us your company stands for something that your product isn’t.
3. Don’t focus only on quantitative metrics; qualitative metrics count even more. Tell stories.
4. Don’t forget to connect the dots for employees so they can participate and be your best mission ambassadors.
5. Don’t keep your mission siloed away in the CSR office. From front line employees to corner-office dwellers, everyone lives, talks, and embodies your mission.

  Committing to and leveraging your company’s passion for its mission helps you attract customers, talent, and collaborators while driving safety, retention, and profitability. Get the messages right and you expand your mission, grow your business, and make our world a little better.