[Corporations] Corporate Social Responsibility author / Seventh Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender on tour with WHAT MATTERS MOST

[California Corporate Reform WG]

Corporate Social Responsibility author and Seventh
Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender is now on tour
speaking about his enlightening and practical new
book "What Matters Most: How a Small Group of
Pioneers Is Teaching Social Responsibility to Big
Business, and Why Big Business Is Listening"
(press release below.)

Hollender will start his tour in California.
Hollender will speak in Los Angeles at the
Midnight Special Bookstore on Thursday, March 4th
at 5 - 6:30 pm. (notice below). The remainder of
the tour schedule may be found at
http://www.whatmattersmost.biz/.  (Activists
interested in networking at the events may email
city/contact info to calcorewg at earthlink.net.)

This book is recommended reading for corporate
responsibility activists. From a radio interview
with author Jeffrey Hollender:

How has the role of the Non Governmental
Organizations changed?

The role of NGO's has also changed as dramatically
as the role of businesses has changed. We think of
Greenpeace as this endlessly combative
organization, casting a bright light on all the
corporate misdeeds around the world, and yet
today, you have Greenpeace in England working in
deep collaboration with a company like Shell not
over a few months, but over many years. This
collaborative relationship is helping Shell find a
way to change, creating a positive impact on the
environment. In many cases behind the scenes, more
and more previously combative NGO's are seeing
that they can accomplish much more by working in
collaboration with business. This is a
tremendously important and positive change. It
does not mean that those relationships are without
conflict, the book articulates how difficult and
strained those relationships often can be, but in
the end those relationships are responsible for
producing positive change. At BP and Shell, at
Chiquita, at Starbucks, at Nike, at almost every
company I can think of, some significant part of
the positive change has come about because of a
relationship with a NGO.


________________________________________


MIDNIGHT SPECIAL BOOKSTORE AND CULTURAL CENTER
1450 Second Street, Santa Monica, California 90401
310.393.2923 or 310.394.6123 (fax)
books at msbooks.com / www.msbooks.com


3/4 Thursday 5 - 6:30 pm

Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation, the
leading brand of natural household products, will
speak about his new book What Matters Most -  how
a small group of pioneers is teaching corporate
responsibility to big business and why big
business is listening. The adoption of a vision
and mission that embraces corporate responsibility
in all of its forms and throughout every phase of
a business has been a positive transformative
agent for organizations of any size. Yet, the
process of becoming a responsible business is slow
and messy. There are few clear rules, and fewer
agreed upon boundaries. The process takes time.

Jeffrey's talk will explore the fundamental change
that is occurring in our society and corporate
culture that is making responsible business
behavior an imperative rather than something a
handful of "nice" businesses choose to do.  He
will discuss a growing body of evidence that
responsibility, transparency and accountability
are becoming the new cultural and business norm.

If done successfully the process of introducing
corporate responsibility into a business brings
disparate groups of investors and customers into a
unique form of synchronization, they become a
corporate community of stakeholders that creates
truly long-term value for all.  Join us to learn
how you can create that value!

__________________________________________________
_______________

PRESS RELEASE



        WHAT MATTERS MOST
      How a Small Group of Pioneers Is Teaching
      Social Responsibility to Big Business
      and Why Big Business Is Listening


     Contact: Michelle Aielli, 212/340-8162
michelle.aielli at perseusbooks.com



     By Jeffrey Hollender and Stephen Fenichell
      Publisher: Basic Books
      Publication Date: February 2004
      Price: $26.00/hardcover // ISBN:
0-7382-0902-3

      "Jeffrey Hollender is intent on doing the
socially responsible thing."
      --Newsday

      NEW BOOK BY CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY PIONEER
      SHOWS WHY "DOING GOOD" IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

      It was once thought that business' sole
responsibility was to maximize profits for
shareholders. But according to corporate leader
Jeffrey Hollender, business also has an obligation
to provide workable solutions to the daunting
challenges facing the planet. "Corporate social
responsibility must become a critical part of
every company's core competence and strategy,"
asserts Hollender. In his new book, WHAT MATTERS
MOST: How a Small Group of Pioneers Is Teaching
Social Responsibility to Big Business, and Why Big
Business Is Listening (advanced reading copy
enclosed) - written with Stephen Fenichell - he
argues further that introducing social
responsibility into day-to-day business operations
is an effective way of creating long-term
sustainable growth and improved financial
performance.

      Hollender is President and CEO of Seventh
Generation, the nation's leading brand of
non-toxic and environmentally safe household
products. Over the past sixteen years, this
pioneering company has become an industry leader
while remaining committed to a set of principles
and behavioral guidelines - demonstrating that
corporate social responsibility is a viable,
vital, and sustainable business strategy. In WHAT
MATTERS MOST, Hollender draws from his own
experience at the helm of Seventh Generation and
as one of the leaders of the Corporate Social
Responsibility movement, as well as on extensive
research and interviews with leaders at
non-governmental organizations and business
enterprises alike. He explores what corporate
social responsibility entails and how well known
companies such as Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's,
Nike, Royal Dutch Shell, and Starbucks have dealt
with the many challenges it presents.

      "Instituting a value system that places
appropriate emphasis on accounting for social
externalities - pollution, environmental
degradation and resource consumption, health
effects of the workplace environment on workers,
the need to create a work environment that
fulfills the needs of its employees, and
sustainability in all its myriad forms - is no
longer a luxury, a sideshow, or a public relations
exercise," Hollender explains.

      By looking in detail at how real companies
have dealt with crises - from the protests and
boycott resulting from Shell's decision to dispose
of an oil storage tanker in the North Sea, to
shareholder resolutions calling on Intel to share
information about environmental health and safety
not only with employees, customers, and the
government, but also with the community at large,
to a quality control problem in a newly formulated
dishwashing liquid at Seventh Generation - WHAT
MATTERS MOST demonstrates the complexity of
corporate social responsibility. At the same time,
it shows how these issues can be addressed
successfully.

      Hollender spells out how business leaders
can assess how their own organizations are doing
in an era when public expectations of responsible
corporate conduct have shifted and expanded
dramatically. He discusses how and why to partner
with non-governmental organizations, how to
honestly communicate with stakeholders including
employees, consumers, suppliers, shareholders, and
the community at large, and how to embark on a
path to long-term growth. Moreover, WHAT MATTERS
MOST offers a fascinating look at the rise of the
social responsibility movement and the changing
role of the corporation in society.

      "Embarking on a course of corporate social
responsibility is a complex, messy, and conflicted
process," writes Hollender. With WHAT MATTERS MOST
as a guide, businesses can begin to understand
these complexities and move into a more
sustainable, and more profitable, future.

      # # #

      ABOUT THE AUTHORS
      JEFFREY HOLLENDER is President and CEO of
the Vermont-based Seventh Generation. A frequent
commentator on corporate responsibility, he has
appeared before such varied groups as the Harvard
Environmental Forum, the World Resources Institute
Sustainable Enterprise Summit, Nike's Apparel
Group, the Environmental Protection Agency's Waste
Conference, the United Nations Summit on
Sustainable Growth, the Businesses for Social
Responsibility national conference, and many
others. He is the author of the best-selling How
to Make the World a Better Place: A Guide for
Doing Good and resides in Shelburne, Vermont.


      STEPHEN FENICHELL is a nonfiction author.
His titles range from Plastic: The Making of a
Synthetic Century and Passport for Profit (with
emerging markets pioneer Mark Mobius) to A New
Brand World (with brand consultant Scott Bedbury).
His articles have appeared in Men's Journal, GQ,
Business 2.0, Discover, and Newsweek
International. He lives in New York.





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