The Triple Bottom Line Blog

Thanks for the heads up. Fascinating read. One thing that never gets discussed in the article is just how much is Werbach and his firm earning through his contract with Wal-Mart. One can reasonably assume a very large amount, given his firm has hired some three dozen staff in the last year to handle Wal-Mart and presumably his other large brand-name accounts. As someone who started and ran a marketing agency, I can tell you that adding 36 employees (from a small base) in a year is staggering -- and beyond heady, if you are the owner. Now he has responsibility for more than 40 individuals and their families who have come to rely on the income from giant corporate clients. In other words, it won't get any easier for Werbach to straddle the fence between insider and outsider. Even he says, "I don't think you can be both." I agree. I don't think he can come to publicly admit he is now one of "them" -- a corporate insider. And with a growing staff dependent upon his stability as an employer, he may find doing an about face on Corporate America even more wrenching than turning his back on the environmental movement.

So true, Rich. Practical everyday considerations--like the amount of money we make and the people who are dependent on it--often get short shrift when discussing big political, social, and economic issues. Yet these practical everyday things probably influence our real-world decisions as much as our ethical values--often more.

I grapple with this one quite a bit. I have numerous associates, who have or are working with WalMart.

My last grapple was at Gil Friend's program at Society for Organizational Learning in his workshop, "Measuring ROI for Sustainability."

I grappled from a number of points of views, while I heard objections from the Workshop Particpants about WalMart. I doodled in the left column of my workbook quite a bit with these notes:

1. I am now realizing that some people now can convince, the "difficult boss," it's time to do something, because WalMart is in the game;

2. Reaching the people, who buy based on "cheap price" re: sustainability has a message in it.
It is also no longer about cheap. Hopefully, WalMart is no longer forcing companies like Rubbermaid to become cheap and turn operations into "sweat shops;"

3. I have recently concluded as a former health care systems person that the problems we describe about our health care system in the US, are beyond the scope of any employer, even one as large as WalMart. We have to rethink and we aren't going to influence change with "what we now know." The US is Number 37 in the ratings of any country right now for health care. Does WalMart want to help a rethink? I invite them to call me.

4. I remembered the day my daughter came home and told me about her first trip to McDonald's, which I had avoided for 3 years, by putting her into a Macro Biotic Day Care Center. This same daughter is now living in an economy that often pushes her to shop at WalMart because it is hard to earn a buck in a small business even when you own it or it is hard to earn a buck when many employers are abandoning hiring permanent employees for low wage/no benefit offers---a bottom line measure in companies sustainable or not sustainable.

Would I work at WalMart? I can't answer that question at this time. So I would be dishonest to say no. Would I call my other colleagues if given an invitation and ask them, why to do this? Yes? Would I ponder the decision greatly? Do I want a retirement, yes? Do I want to do it so I earn more money to hire more people? Not just to hire and if I can create jobs that will bring on board sustainability for others and build a future through the mission of WorkEcology, the answer is yes.

This does not mean I have said, I would work at WalMart. However my game is defining roi on new human capital measure that present options of sustainability, reward and pay for performance. I want to learn with others how Human Capital measures configure into measuring SRI investment and assure that employees earn the best possible wage to sustain their lives where they live in the best health possible, living in healthy homes and contributing to the building of infrastructure for health communities.

If WalMart wants to call me and teach me something, I can say I will listen. My option is to turn them down as a consultant and invite someone from their sphere of influence to participate with the board I am forming to build Human Capital index recommendations to present at the World Economic Forum
each year based on what we learn from participating companies with WorkEcology's board.

Food for thought,

Lavinia Weissman
Managing Director
www.workecology.com

coregroup@workecology.com

Aaargh! Talk about an epic struggle between idealism and pragmatism. Adam Werbach is like the indie musician who signs to a major label. You believe in your work---how can you get your message out there? Most would cry "SELLOUT"! Unfortunately, it's not that easy. I both admire and loathe his bold move. I admire him taking his principles and trying to enact change at the mega-level. I loathe Wal-Mart and all it stands for.

Hopefully Werbach can influence Wal-Mart to stop importing so many "goods" from China, thus reducing: the trade deficit, the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs, and the environmental impact of shipping thousands of container units on giant tankers over vast distances. Also, can Werbach come up with a viable solution for what to do with all of those empty stores (over 300!)? How much influence can a man like Werbach have on such a massive corporation? Am I expecting too much of this man? Is he expecting too much of himself as an agent of change?

Only time will tell...