15: Patagonia’s Rick Ridgeway: On A Mission to Save Our Home Planet
Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, California with a mission to save our home planet. It was founded in 1976 by Yvon Chouinard and was the first B-Corporation in the state. Rick was Vice President of Environmental Initiatives and Special Media Projects for Patagonia for 15 years during which he founded the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. In addition to his accomplishments at Patagonia, Rick is recognized as one of the world’s foremost mountaineers. Along with Yvon and another friend, they were the first Americans to summit K2. He has done other significant climbs and explorations on all continents. In this conversation, Rick discusses why and how Patagonia is fulfilling their mission to save our home planet. He also talks about how Patagonia walks the walk when it comes to sustainability and how it measures its financial performance with the overall health of the planet.
24: Danone North America’s Deanna Bratter Talks Sustainability At The World’s Largest B Corp
Deanna Bratter heads up sustainability at the world’s largest public benefit corporation: Danone North America. It’s a $6 billion food and beverage company with a massive portfolio of well-known brands. It was so refreshing to get Deanna’s perspective on finding the intersections between purpose and profit when advocating for change within a behemoth organization like Danone. We also spoke about how the B Corp model has helped Danone define things like “living wage” and set benchmarks for progress, and how COVID spurred optimism amongst sustainability practitioners.
3: Why B Corp? B Lab’s Anthea Kelsick On Changing The Culture Of Business
The B Corp movement was started by a group of conscious entrepreneurs in the early 2000’s who believed business should be about more than maximizing profits. Today, there are over 3,500 B Corps across the world. In this episode of Lead With We, I speak with Anthea Kelsick, the CEO of B Lab U.S. & Canada, which is the non-profit that certifies B Corps. We talk about the value of the certification process and accountability, how these companies collaborate on critical issues like reducing carbon emissions, and the incredible momentum around purposeful business today as we face mounting crises.
17: Method & Ripple Foods’ Adam Lowry: Disrupting Crowded Consumer Categories
Adam Lowry thought he would make a difference as a climate scientist, but instead, he’s changed the world through disruptive startups like Method, which makes eco-friendly cleaning products, and Ripple Foods, which uses technology to make high-protein dairy replacements that actually taste good. And he’s got another killer product on the way. Listen to this episode to hear how Adam has persevered in the face of industry attacks, how he approaches branding, and why he helped found the B-corp movement.
2: A Conversation with TOMS on Transforming Lives, Scaling Impact and Redefining Business
In this episode, I had a great conversation with Amy Smith, Chief Strategy and Impact Officer at TOMS. We talked about how TOMS is evolving how it turns business into a force for good and she gives great insights into the strategies and tactics they use t