Yale University authors Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston offer a primer on the factors that have created the green economy and a rationale for joining that economy in this bottom-line-oriented book. Geared for business owners and top managers who are looking to find opportunities in the coming business sea change, this book is a concise, well-organized, and easy to read.

After covering the environmental, historical and financial drivers of the green economy,
the authors argue that the green wave is fueled by two forces—environmental stresses and a world of people who are insisting that the business community take action in response. The winners in this race will be the early adopters–those businesses that figure out how to make green change profitable.

Early adopters will view this green wave not as a difficult challenge, but instead as a moment of opportunity to gain a competitive edge. The gold that companies can realize from having a workable, practical environmental strategy include:

· Innovative, breakthrough products that drive customer loyalty and higher revenues
· New-found eco-efficiency that slashes operational costs
· Anticipation and management of serious business risks
· Higher “intangible” value of soft benefits such as innovative culture, increased brand credibility and trust

Green to Gold explores eight detailed “Green to Gold” plays that resource intensive companies such as BP, IKEA, Toyota, Ford, McDonald’s, 3M, Chiquita and GE used to save money, create a new image, and reduce their environmental impact. It examines Toyota’s meticulous development of the hybrid Prius automobile and how it transformed the brand; how 3M made a pact to cut pollution, a decision that initially cost millions but in the end generated far more than that in profit; and how McDonald’s successfully changed their packaging to limit environmental impact.

“There is a shift happening and it’s being accelerated by the business community,” said Winston in a recent interview with United Press International. “We’re seeing more people take it on in their personal lives in part because of what they’re doing at work. A value shift will come, not from consumers asking companies, but more from companies teaching their employees and teaching consumers. The ripple from big companies asking other companies, their suppliers, to be greener is one of the critical forces.

“Companies using the environmental lens are generally more innovative and entrepreneurial than their competitors,” write the authors. “They see emerging issues ahead of the pack. And, they are better at finding new opportunities to increase sales by helping customers lower their costs and their environmental burden.

“As the business world wakes up to the fact that many natural resources are finite, a second reality is emerging in parallel: Limits can create opportunities. Companies that manage nature’s bounty and boundaries best will minimize vulnerabilities and move ahead of their competitors.”

The world has stripped the pause out of our lives. Managers today must stop and take the time to get clear on where their businesses are going and where they want them to go. That means asking the question: what does winning or excellence look like? It’s not just the financial metrics of winning, though that’s really important too, but other components of success as well, including adaptability and sustainability.

It’s never been clearer that the world of work has changed even in the last several years:

• Communications—you can instantly connect anytime, anywhere with anyone via cell phone, email, Skype, Twitter, PDAs, social media, and blogs; keeping connected to friends, family, and important for your purposes—existing and potential customers.
• Information—we’re always just a couple of clicks away from getting answers to almost any question, which is especially important for your customers.
• Speed and size—distance has been eliminated as a boundary around the globe. Faster and smaller is the new way of life. A 10-second hiccup in connectivity can seem like an eternity.
• Technology—is there anything that hasn’t been tremendously impacted by advances in technology, and who knows what’s just around the corner even next year?
• Competition for customers—today, more than 1 million different products on average are available in a supermarket.
• Leveled playing field—The ability to share information around the world instantaneously, coupled with the ability to access it easily, means it’s less complicated than ever to start a business.
• Generations and diversity—there are four generations of people at work for the first time ever in the U.S., meaning differences in needs, wants, values, and desires is enormous.

These changes set the context for how a business—in order to be great—must be agile and flexible in a world that’s changing faster than anyone ever imagined. 

There are lots of “thought bubbles” that get in the way—limiting beliefs that drive our behaviors and keeps us running, sometimes in the wrong direction, because we’ve got this value around speed that trumps other considerations that are important in today’s market. The pace that we tend to operate makes it particularly easy to come up with simple statements that aren’t necessarily based in reality, and certainly don’t make for great leadership.