The CEO of Seventh generation, Jeffrey Hollender, pens this book on responsible business. I came across this book because Seventh Generation recently decided to sell their wares through Target instead of Wal-Mart. Most small businesses would love to be courted by the Wal-Mart retailing giant but Jeffrey Hollender felt that Target agreed more with Seventh Generation. In this book, Jeffrey discusses his thoughts on running a responsible business.

The opening chapters were somewhat difficult to get through. Perhaps it just took several pages for me to get used to his prose?

The underlying message I felt was that having a socially responsible business is possible but will require a lot of work on everyone’s part. Everyone is so connected to each other now. Perhaps an environmental conscious entrepreneur decides to open a chain of organic restaurants and ensures that farmers are paid a fair price. But what if the restaurant hires an exterminator that uses a toxin that ends up contaminating the soil for generations?

The idea is to have a closed-loop business model … that leaves things in the same condition as when the company began. For example, think of the credo of camping sites. Moreover, the closed loop business model is more than just your business but includes your suppliers and customers. Specifically, there are hidden costs to disposal of things like electronics and the ubiquitous clear plastic bags. Of course, we every day consumers can throw them in the trash for someone else to deal with. But someone does deal with our trash and there are some real costs. The book gives a story of a putrid land in China where a lot of our electronic waste goes.

I have always loved companies that are transparent with their business models from a financial perspective. Transparency is about communicating to shareholders, consumers, and employees. Transparency is about being candid and introspective on dealings and reasoning for decisions.

There are a mixed bag of corporate stories mainly with Ben & Jerry Ice Cream (who is now part of Unilever) and Seventh Generation. There is of course some mention of Johnson and Johnson’s Tylenol case and also on electronic companies like Hewlett Packard and Dell. There is some applause for British Petroleum for a decision to put no money to politics and Shell who compromised with Greenpeace on an issue in Africa.

Surprisingly this is a well thought out book that doesn’t get hysterical. It’s honest, transparent and I recommend it. ( )