Speakers - Bios - Bill Shireman
Bill Shireman
President / CEO, Future 500
Brings together global CEOs and activists
"Master environmental entrepreneur"
Biographical background
Advocating technology as a driver of green growth, Shireman has led the development and deployment of these and other tools, at diverse companies in Asia, Europe, and throughout North America. While CEO of the largest state recycling lobby in the U.S., he wrote California's bottle bill recycling law, shown by EPA and academic studies to be the world's most cost-effective. He advocates market-based environmental policies - contending they can be more effective than many command-and-control laws.
Most recently, with former Mitsubishi CEO Tachi Kiuchi, Shireman wrote the popular book, What We Learned In The Rainforest - Business Lessons from Nature, featured in the Harvard Business Review, which declares the business-as-machine era over, and shows how companies can become as innovative as the rainforest, leveraging feedback to grow more profitable and sustainable than ever.
Appearances
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State of the World Forum
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California State Legislature
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Natural Recycling Congress
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World Future Society
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Society of Plastics Industries
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Coca-Cola Foods
Speeches
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The Power of Green
Why now is the greatest moment of economic opportunity since we mobilized for World War II. How innovation can drive low-carbon sustainable growth, jobs, and profits.
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Smart Growth
How to defeat the recession with smart technology, smart policy, and smart tax reform.
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Beyond Conflict
Stories of Corporate-NGO Engagement - how companies and activists can stop battling over the past, and start building for the future.
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The Future Of Climate
How corporations and NGOs can collaborate to cut carbon 75%
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The Future Of Water
The coming water mega-crisis, and how corporations and activists can advance water for all.
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The Future Of Recycling
How to drive 60%+ recycling of plastics, glass, metals, and electronics.
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THE Future of Factory Labor
How to move beyond auditing, and drive systemic solutions to supply chain labor problems
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Harnessing Hate
How to turn fear and outrage into trust and collaboration - practical lessons from boardrooms, protests, and battlefields
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Leadership In Corporate Sustainability: A Primer For Executives And Board Members
It is no longer enough for a company to be profitable. Today many people expect companies to be "sustainable" and "socially responsible," to be good "corporate citizens" who maximize the "triple bottom line." But what do these terms mean? Can companies really act on the sweeping agendas beneath them? Can sustainability be profitable?
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Innovation And Climate Change: Leadership Opportunities For Executives
By focusing on innovation, corporate leaders can shift the climate change debate from costly and sometimes extreme regulatory controls, toward the use of innovative ideas and technologies to modernize industry, drive down costs, and establish new profit centers. Coca-Cola's Global Water Partnership builds its brands and serves its stakeholders. Toyota may make more money on bioplastics that it does with the Prius. 3M and Dow earn well over 100% ROI on green and clean innovations - plus carbon credit revenues. Learn how innovation can make sustainability a profit center.
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Global Corporations On The World Stage: The Draw Of Global Events
Major international sporting and political events like the Olympic Games or Football World Cups will attract stakeholders, and in these situations, a company's reputation and credibility often can rest largely in the hands of third parties. What can business leaders do to reduce risk, prevent conflict and foster collaborative solutions to labor, environmental, justice, and human rights issues? What can activists do to drive positive change?
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What We Learned In The Rainforest: Nature's Lessons In Profitable Sustainability
Innovation is at the root of all gain - in nature and in business. Innovation is what ultimately fuels our cars, runs our bodies, generates our thoughts, and delivers our profits. In fact, nature is the world's greatest innovator, evolving from simplicity to complexity, from consumption to creation, from the lifeless to the living. Learn how nature creates value, and how companies in every sector - Coke, Dow, Google, Lowes, Modius, Toyota and more - are emulating its principles.
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Bags, Bottles, And Beyond: What Retailers Can Expect, And How They Can Benefit, From The Sustainability Challenge
The politics and stakeholders behind bag bans, bottle fees and other product stewardship campaigns - what retailers can expect next, and how they can get ahead of the curve, and turn sustainability from a cost center to a profit opportunity.
Testimonials
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The more you spoke, the more I wanted to hear. Your presentation was informative, eye-opening, and inspiring.
Larry A. Rosenthal J.D. Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
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Your presence, remarks, and contribution were fantastic! We are so incredibly honored to have had Tachi Kiuchi and all of you join us.
Gib Hedstrom, The Conference Board
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Your leadership made quite a positive impact. It was an honor to share the stage.
Bob Garrity, Vice President, Giant Eagle. Chairman, Sustainability Task Force, Food Marketing Institute
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Your fantastic style and content give you great credibility with our audience and especially our Sustainability Leadership Committee. Your slides are magnificent.
Jeanne Von Zastrow, Senior Director, Sustainability and Industry Relations, Food Marketing Institute
Books and Print
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What We Learned in the Rainforest - Business Lessons from Nature
What We Learned in the Rainforest teaches that nature is not just a resource for business, but a powerful model for superior business performance in the emerging economy. The authors show that the old model of business - the machine model that pitted business against nature - is growing obsolete. In the emerging economy, businesses excel when they emulate what they once sought to conquer.
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If the World Ran Out of B's
What would happen if there were no more B's? Would Bill suddenly get ill? Would kids who wanted bicycles end up with icycles instead? In such a world, no one would know where a bat was at, but when kids saw a bug, at least they'd still say ug. Punctuating the puns, Dean Stanton's humorous drawings show what to expect in a B-free world.
Articles and Blog Posts
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No One Wants to Talk About Their Idiots
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Is Religion The Source Of Good?
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Physicist James Hansen calls for "Zero Coal"
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Time for a Red-Blue-Green Alliance - Now
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On climate, health care, and spending, Obama can't do it alone
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Beyond the Waxman-Markey Vote: The Simple Path To Climate Protection
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Time for a Tea Party with the Right: Why Progressives Need a Transpartisan Strategy
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The Radical Middle Wins in Iowa -- Gay Marriage and the Power of Progressive Centrism
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The Media's "Buy-Us" Bias - The Power of "Concentrated Attractors" in the Media and the Market
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PowerShift and Conservative PAC - The Journey to Truth from Hate
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Smart Growth: Three Simple Steps to Help the Economy and the Planet
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