BY ART VAN BODEGRAVEN AND
KENNETH B. ACKERMAN
basictraining
The nincompoop’s guide
to going green
WHO ARE WE CALLING A NINCOMPOOP? CERTAINLY NOT
our esteemed readers. Actually, we are the nincompoops in question.
There are any number of specialists who have mastered the arcane
vocabulary and techniques of green initiatives, and who can calculate
a Yeti’s carbon footprint on the back of a napkin. That’s not us. But
we do have some thoughts about cutting carbon in a supply chain
that can make good sense, economically and functionally, and can be
understood by people for whom linear equations are as daunting as
decoding the human genome.
The key word here is “economically.” However noble doing the
right thing for the environment and saving the planet might be, we
have an obligation to take actions in those directions that don’t pollute enterprise performance.
That ultimate reality—preserving the means of
generating enough money to support the social
good—seems to occasionally escape the notice of
those committed to doing environmental good to
the exclusion of all other considerations.
We bring this up because with green projects,
questions about cost are bound to arise. Is going
green just another onerous cost of doing business in
this enlightened age? Can we make it a break-even
proposition if we are careful? We, nincompoops as
we might be, contend that targeted, focused, and
selected green actions can be money-makers. And
the cases and examples that we have studied back up that contention.
But how does an organization get started—or continue what’s
already under way?
STEALTHILY LAYING SOME GROUNDWORK
A little manipulation of allies beforehand is not a bad thing. Because
this is about making money while doing good, you might want to
think about playing “Let’s Make a Deal” with the chief financial officer. That is, get him or her on board early with a commitment to set
aside some of the money saved in a given green project to help fund
future green projects, creating an ongoing self-funding process. If all
savings are used to enhance profitability, there soon won’t be enough
in the kitty for longer-payback efforts.
Also, consider communicating regularly with the chief executive officer and the chief operating officer about practical and profitable green
moves at other real-world companies. Having examples from companies
of comparable size and/or the same industry increases your leverage.
GETTING DOWN TO NUTS AND BOLTS
Presuming that you are not blessed with battalions of environmental engineers and that you
have not already done everything green possible,
here are some suggestions for getting started:
▪ Do your homework; research by candlelight,
if necessary. Find something that identifies what
other organizations all over the world have done,
are doing, and might be thinking about in green
implementations.
▪ Gather as much detail as you can about technology, cost, scope, and payback. Think about where each
project might fit in your operations—and/or where their
application could be extended
in your world.
▪ Take an inventory of all “live”
green applications in your
organization. Assess their success in meeting environmental
and financial projections.
Identify major factors in success.
▪ Revisit your company’s
failed or rejected green
actions. Evaluate failure and/rejection factors.
Assess what a current status might be, given the
possibility of reversing failure factors, increased
performance levels in updated technology, and
any downward price/cost movement.
▪ Prioritize potential green projects, based on key
drivers like ease of implementation, timetables to
install and realize payback, and prospects for sustained bottom-line contributions. Enlist technical
support (hired guns, if necessary) to help with the
assessment. Build preliminary pro forma business
cases to help stratify and sequence initiatives.
TAKING A PAGE FROM THE LEBRON JAMES
PLAYBOOK
While we’re getting all strategic and managerial
about committing to a walk down the green path,
