Book Review: The Truth about Green Business, by Gil Friend

With his new book "The Truth about Green Business," Gil Friend, CEO of Natural Logic, has given us an invaluable gift – mainline access to his brain, which has been processing and storing sustainability and green business strategies for the last three decades or so. Gil’s book, published in late May by the FT Press, is a collection of 52 “truths” that distill many of the complex theories and topics frequently discussed by sustainability experts. Gil artfully and simply explains the various levels of LEED certification, provides history and clarification of cradle-to-cradle and triple bottom line, and covers current trends like biomimicry, eco-labeling and greenwashing.

Make no mistake: because of its format, "The Truth about Green Business" is easy to read, but it’s not “Green Business for Dummies.” Gil’s perspective is business-based and much of the content will be familiar whether you’re green-conscious or not. For example, in the chapter called “Truth 6: Profit and Purpose,” he refers to legendary business thinker Peter Drucker’s well-known quote, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” Friend successfully builds on Drucker’s perspective by noting that in today’s world, purpose must include sustainability or risk being unprofitable.

Another favorite is “Truth 27: Design with Nature,” in which he sells just-in-time manufacturing as a strategy for reducing excess waste while also saving money: “You don’t see a rattlesnake hauling around tankers full of venom, do you?”

In “Truth 16: Green Branding & Messaging,” Friend cites the overused examples of Seventh Generation and Stoneyfield Farms as models of how to do it right. Their stories are excellent, but both companies started green, so the brands are inherently authentic. For businesses becoming green, communication is more challenging and, as the book points out, easily mired by the risks of greenwashing and offending the conscious consumer.

Friend has successfully wrangled a massive amount of content into an action-oriented guide, and he has no fear of the bullet point, which makes for plenty of check lists that break critical concepts into bite-sized pieces. Just don’t be tempted to bite off more than you can chew! Each of these “bite-sized” strategies represents a significant change requiring time, resources, and alignment.  So start now, keep your pace steady and carry "The Truth about Green Business" with you on your journey.