Why I Take A Stand For Social Change In Business
Going Beyond Sustainability is the latest evolution of the term paper typing and editing service I started in 1981. Gradually, writing, consulting and speaking on strategic marketing, book publishing, and success through environmental and social good took over. Four of my ten books teach business to profit as a good corporate citizen—including my award-winning latest, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World.
A time I took a stand (Tell us about a time where you actively weighed in on social, political or environmental issues as a leader.)
Integrating Activism Into My Business
For 40+ years, I’ve combined marketing and activism. One campaign solidified this.
In November 1999, a local developer announced that he was going to build 40 McMansions right next to a beloved state park. While the “experts” moaned that there was nothing we could do, I founded the movement that stopped the project in just 13 months. Save the Mountain used everything I’d learned in 20+ years as an activist AND marketer.
After we won, I started exploring how to bring social change directly into my work, just as I’d brought marketing into the organizing project.
As Enron and WorldCom failed, my book Principled Profit showed that business ethics could bring success. At first, I used to constantly hear, “Business Ethics? That’s an oxymoron!” Not anymore! I think my work is part of that change.
By 2014, I felt that just business ethics, or just going green, isn’t enough. Business had to turn massive social and environmental problems like hunger, poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change into abundance, peace, and planetary balance by developing and marketing profitable products and services to create lasting change.
A time I took a stand (Tell us about a time where you actively weighed in on social, political or environmental issues as a leader.)
Integrating Activism Into My Business
For 40+ years, I’ve combined marketing and activism. One campaign solidified this.
In November 1999, a local developer announced that he was going to build 40 McMansions right next to a beloved state park. While the “experts” moaned that there was nothing we could do, I founded the movement that stopped the project in just 13 months. Save the Mountain used everything I’d learned in 20+ years as an activist AND marketer.
After we won, I started exploring how to bring social change directly into my work, just as I’d brought marketing into the organizing project.
As Enron and WorldCom failed, my book Principled Profit showed that business ethics could bring success. At first, I used to constantly hear, “Business Ethics? That’s an oxymoron!” Not anymore! I think my work is part of that change.
By 2014, I felt that just business ethics, or just going green, isn’t enough. Business had to turn massive social and environmental problems like hunger, poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change into abundance, peace, and planetary balance by developing and marketing profitable products and services to create lasting change.
Why I Combined Activism with Business
It was easy to weave activism into my business. Starting activism at age 12, I’m driven to make the world better. I went into business to maintain my principles in a hostile job market. For decades, I’ve refused work that went against my principles; it made sense to solicit work that supported my ideal world. Even my first book (1980) noted clean and green alternatives as well as citizen action for a green energy future.
The business case is even stronger than I’d thought.
Companies with a green/social change agenda outperform companies driven only by profit. They compete better, deliver higher investment returns, enjoy greater loyalty from both customers and employees, and have higher social capital.
Example: Ben & Jerry’s gets a consistent 40–45% share of the superpremium ice cream market — perhaps because of its decades-long commitment to environmental and social responsibility, which lowers risk in a marketplace that demands business lead the fight to maintain a livable world.
How I Share my Message
As a self-acknowledged “publicity slut” who helps others get the word out about their own uniqueness, I’ve never been shy about a cause I care about. I use many channels, including:
- Speaking: I love giving talks! I gave my first public talks in 9th grade, when I ran for school office. I’ve spoken at multiple Green America Green Festivals, SolarFests and business conferences. I’ve even done a TEDx.
- Guest Articles and Blog Posts: I’ve published in GreenBiz.com, FastCompany.com, Business Ethics, and many others. My monthly column, Green And Profitable, ran internationally for four years.
- Books and Book Publicity: I actively seek reviews, excerpts, awards, endorsements (including Seth Godin and Jack Canfield. I use my books to get media appearances where I promote the books.
- Media Interviews: I do up to 50 interviews a year. I’ve been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and even Redbook and Reader’s Digest.
- My Own Media: I a monthly newsletter, an erratic blog, and several websites.
- Social Media: I’m active on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. While I use them more to promote my activism than my business, I talk about how I help clients, share media interviews, comment on bad marketing that I could have done better, etc.
- Consulting: When I work with a client, I often suggest action items that expand my scope of services.
- Networking: I reach out and suggest a phone or face-to-face meeting — not to solicit work, but to think together about how we might partner. Also, since I’m a journalist and type fast, I sometimes offer conference notes to people I meet there. And I find roles at conferences where I’m not speaking. When I moderated two panels at a socially responsible business conference, I came back with more than 40 business cards.
Pros/Cons
For me, the pros far outweigh the cons, including some I really didn’t expect, such as:
- A national and international platform. I am a recognized thought leader/expert on how to create and market profitable products and services that help people and/or planet.
- I get to advise experts who know the tech, but not marketing on spreading their ideas much wider. These clients are more interesting, easier to work with, and willing to spend more.
- Being a Guerrilla Marketing co-author opens many doors.
- The work is always exciting and fresh, ever-changing, and perfect for someone like me who is optimistic, loves new ideas, and sees those big problems as a challenged to be solved and not an anchor dragging us down.
Cons: With every project custom, it’s been challenging to find the clients, figure out exactly what each client needs, and set pricing.
Would I Do it Again?
I do it constantly! In February, 2020, I participated in a nine-day delegation to the US/Mexico border, doing a mix of humanitarian and activist work. I used my journalism skills to interview and observe; my public speaking skills to co-lead writing and visioning workshops; and my networking skills to gain contacts with journalists.
Speaker, author, and consultant Shel Horowitz of GoingBeyondsustainabiity.com helps businesses find the sweet spot at the intersections of profitability with environmental and social good — creating and marketing profitable products and services that make a direct difference on problems like hunger, poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change. His 10th book is Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World.
