Blog written by Ayanna Green
The man behind GE’s “ecomagination” was showcased in Business Week’s March 4, 2008 article. GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt had tough opposition to his green initiative ideas back in 2004 although it made good business sense. He decided to partner with a GreenOrder, an environmental consulting firm that creates ways to measure and evaluate the environmental initiatives. According to GE’s Web site , ecomagination is General Electric’s “commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions that solve today’s environmental challenges and benefit customers and society at large.” GE and GreenOrder had their work cut out for them with goals such as making green initiatives revenue generating, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving it’s relationship with customers. GreenOrder achieved its goals by recognizing the importance of key messaging. GreenOrder provides environmental audits for big companies like GE, General Motors, BP, and DuPont and then offer strategic planning on how to do better. Andrew Shapiro, founder and CEO of GreenOrder, knows that key messages are imperative to any program or campaign and teaches leaders to how to marry their sustainability goals with their business objectives. Check it out here. This is exactly the type of partner Jeffrey Immelt was looking for with his forward-thinking “ecomagination”. Bravo to two great green leaders in big business.
