How Unilever, Tesla, Whole Foods, Chipotle, GE and Toyota Evolved into ‘Green Giants’

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Green Giants: How Smart Companies Turn Sustainability into Billion-Dollar Businesses

Companies can’t just go ‘green around the edges’ if they want to turn sustainability into profitability. They need to make major transformations, said Freya Williams, author of Green Giants. ‘They put it at the center of their business. They work it into their corporate strategy. And they are looking to it to promote growth and opportunity,’ said Williams. ‘It’s a very different orientation.’ Williams is CEO of global sustainability communications and consulting firm Futerra North America whose clients include Danone, SAB Miller, Estee Lauder, Kering, OVO Energy, AXA Insurance and Unilever. Over the course of her career, Williams has advised organizations including Coca Cola, the United Nations, SAP, Tetra Pak, The Economist, Waste Management, Kraft on how to incorporate sustainability, responsibility and social good into their brands. In Green Giants, Williams shines a spotlight nine powerhouse companies that have succeeded in building successful businesses while selling products and services designed to help consumers to live happier, healthier, more environmentally conscious lives. She pinpoints six factors in the book that these Green Giants, which range from Chipotle to GE to Tesla, that sets them apart.

What do Brazil’s top beauty brand, America’s second-fastest-growing restaurant chain, and the world’s third bestselling car have in common? They are shattering the myth that acting sustainably and building a billion-dollar business are mutually exclusive. Green Giants examines nine companies that are merging social responsibility with wild profitability – and reveals the six factors responsible for their success, including: iconoclastic leadership fueled by deep conviction and a rebellious streak; disruptive innovation that uses sustain ability to spur the development of radically better products and services; a higher purpose that ignites the company – when the mission leads, profits follow. Mainstream Appeal with positioning and packaging stripped of the crunchy cliches that alienate the average customer. This new breed of billion-dollar businesses proves it’s possible to achieve enormous success while implementing sustainable principles that help consumers live better lives. Ranging fromstart-ups to business lines incubated within major multi nationals, these companies collectively represent over $60 billion in revenue. What’s more – many command wider profit mar gins and are growing faster than their conventional counterparts. Packed with eye-opening research, exclusive interviews, and enlightening examples from Chipotle, Toyota, Unilever, Tesla, General Electric, and more, Green Giants serves as a blueprint for sustain able success that anyone can follow.

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