Blogging where VCs hang out

I wonder if we could add blogging in places where social-venture capitalists hang out to our efforts....

Hi YNPN-ers,

I thought this article on values-driven business might spark some
healthy discussion, or at least be of interest to some of you. I
encourage you to pick up both books in the series and have a read;
there will be 8 more over the next year or two.

Cheers,
Molly

When business gets personal: Executives are putting their values to
>> work building their businesses.
>> FORTUNE Magazine
>> By Marc Gunther, FORTUNE senior writer
>> July 6 2006: 7:41 AM EDT
>>
>> NEW YORK (FORTUNE) -- Business is business.
>>
>> That's an expression we've heard countless times. As I've watched
>> FORTUNE 500 companies change dramatically - as a group, they are
>> becoming more green, more diverse, more transparent and more willing to
>> define their responsibilities broadly - I've always assumed that these
>> companies are evolving purely for business reasons.
>>
>> I've written that companies become more socially responsible to protect
>> their brands, to engage their people or to appeal to a certain set of
>> customers who care about reputation.
>>
>> But business is personal, too.
>>
>> Business got personal at FORTUNE's recent Brainstorm conference when
>> top executives talked about their latest, best ideas. Entrepreneur Bill
>> Gross described Energy Innovations, his solar power business. Venture
>> capitalist Vinod Khosla touted his investments in biofuels. Sun
>> Microsystems' John Gage described his company's role in bringing mobile
>> phone service to the African nation of Rwanda.
>>
>> More than the bottom line is driving all these efforts. They are all
>> personal. Each of these men care passionately about the causes their
>> companies are engaged in.
>>
>> So, too, are the businesses in a new book called "True to Yourself:
>> Leading a Values-Based Business." The book's author, Mark Albion, is a
>> writer, entrepreneur, a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and a
>> former Harvard Business School professor. (Disclosure: I've known
>> Albion for years, and he sent me an early draft of the book to review.)
>>
>> In "True to Yourself," Albion argues that the personal side of business
>> must come first. Only then will profits follow.
>>
>> "Values-based leaders focus on their impact on people and the planet,"
>> he says. "And when they do it well - building a company or division
>> that reflects their values - it results in more meaningful lives and
>> financial health."
>>
>> The argument here - an increasingly familiar one - is that leaders and
>> companies can do well by doing good. "True to Yourself" was written
>> with the Social Venture Network, an organization of businesses,
>> investors and NGOs that promotes the idea that business should support
>> a more just and sustainable economy.
>>
>> In the book, Albion cites dozens of examples of values-based businesses
>> - mostly smaller firms like Seventh Generation, which produces
>> environmentally-safe household products, Bright Horizons, which
>> provides on-site day care, and Honest Tea, which makes organic bottled
>> drinks. They began with a founder's desire to make a difference.
>> Business success came later.
>>
>> An expert on leadership, Albion offers practical advice to executives
>> who want to lead values-based businesses. He argues that a new style of
>> open, collaborative leadership is required, and that strong, long-term
>> relationships are the glue that holds companies together. Today's
>> leaders need to be listeners, learners and teachers, he says. There's
>> lot's more along these lines at his Web site, www.makingalife.com
>> .
>>
>> Particularly in a startup, Albion writes, the leader's values are
>> crucial. "The day you launch your company, you are its first product,"
>> he notes. "You must sell your values, your mission, your uniqueness to
>> others."
>>
>> Big public companies are different, of course. They have to answer to a
>> broad array of shareholders. They can't embark on a venture that's good
>> for the world unless they are reasonably sure that it will also be good
>> for their business.
>>
>> But big companies are personal in the sense that they depend on
>> persuading people to commit themselves to big goals. "The way you
>> really make change is by capturing the hearts and minds of your
>> people," says Albion, paraphrasing Jack Welch, the former CEO of
>> General Electric.
>>
>> Occasionally, even the CEOs of global giants get personal. Recently, I
>> talked to Wal-Mart (Charts) CEO Lee Scott about sustainability. He
>> cited a slew of very solid business reasons to explain why Wal-Mart
>> wants to lead the way in solving environmental problems.
>>
>> Then, he added: "I worry because I do have a 3-year-old granddaughter.
>> What will this world be like for her?"
>>
>> That will be Scott's legacy. That's personal. Mark Albion argues
>> persuasively that there's no need to draw a line between what's
>> personal and what's business, or to separate who you are from what you
>> do.
>>
>> "If you leave what is most special about you at home, how can you make
>> a unique contribution to the world?" he asks. "And who wants to live
>> that way, anyway?"
>>
>>
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/05/magazines/fortune/pluggedin_values.fortune/in>>
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>> ex.htm
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