Sample Chapters
Sample chapters from “The Portland Bottom Line” will be appearing here 2-3 times per month beginning when we start receiving them. Subscribe to get sample chapters in your reader or via email.
Also read the book’s Introduction.
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Organizational Collaboration, Transparency, and Metrics Foster Sustainable Change
By Dave R. Meyer | Manage Change section
A few years ago, I assisted a water utility in implementing a sustainability focused initiative based on the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) 14001-2004 Environmental Management System standard. Many public and private organizations operate in functional silos, often don’t coordinate well, communicate effectively or run efficiently. Creating a triple bottom line-focused organization requires that all parts work together—like organs of a living being. This utility was inefficient with taxpayer dollars and under intense public scrutiny to improve its operations. It was not healthy.
Through the two-year journey with the company, I worked hard to know each of its parts, how they interacted, where the trouble spots were, and where good health was. The goal was to build a holistic, sustainable organization that capitalized on its best assets: the staff.
Continue reading on Dave’s blog Valuestreaming →
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A Meandering Journey Toward True Purpose
By Beatrice Benne | Discover and Manifest Purpose section.
The path toward one’s life purpose rarely follows a straight line. Linear planning lacks effectiveness in the realms of personal destiny and self-realization. Instead, one must learn to listen to what wants to emerge and remain alert to the signs that impinge upon one’s journey. Here is my personal story toward uncovering my co-created purpose.
With a diploma in architecture and my design portfolio under my belt, I moved to the U.S. 15 years ago to find a job. Faced with the difficulties of getting hired, yet motivated by my interest in technology applied to the design process, I returned to school to pursue a Masters, which redirected my career toward information technology. While applying my new skills in the corporate world, I pursued a doctoral degree. Meandering through long years, trying to figure out what my dissertation was truly about, the topic chose me rather than vice versa. The final product, which investigates organizational change from a living systems theory perspective, was the transformational and turning point in my life. My newly emerging purpose was clearly to help both individuals and organizations see themselves as living systems, able to adapt and transform.
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What You Give Defines You
By Noland Hoshino | Benefit the Community section
The title of this chapter is a model worth practicing, both personally and in business. Your value and significance isn’t what you have, but what you give that develops a lasting impression.
The fancy car, the designer clothes, and having the latest tech gadgets are forgettable after a few days. What’s memorable are unselfish acts and giving practices that define your character; donating those designer clothes to a homeless shelter or using that fancy car to deliver meals to the elderly and sick. As a small business owner, I wanted to ensure that our company incorporated a sustainable giving model that reflected our beliefs in engaging and motivating businesses for the greater good.
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Think Small
By Kat Schon | Reduce Cost section
My partner and I started our business selling used store fixtures in a much smaller space with a much smaller budget and we were the staff. In the beginning, every decision, no matter how small, was important and we were green because it made the best budgetary sense. We reused packing materials, bags, boxes, hardware, and whatever else we could because it meant not having to buy those things new. What we didn’t reuse, we recycled, even if that meant breaking a giant showcase down into its smallest parts. It was simple math: The less we put into our dumpster, the less it cost to have it emptied.
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Commuting to Work: It’s About the Journey AND the Destination
By Caleb Bushner | Venture Beyond Green Teams section
Myriad studies have demonstrated that a healthy, active employee is a happy, productive employee. After many years of bike and transit commuting I suppose I can attest to this as well as anyone. Portland and its employers have done a great job of removing many of the most prominent barriers to participation on this count: ample, abundant bike lanes and prompt, plentiful bus and light rail options make it possible for a busy professional to get nearly anywhere in the city without ever having to start up his automobile.
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My Best Day at Work
By Renee Spears | Benefit the Community section
Recently someone in my office said, “Today is my best day at work ever.” My mind flashed back to my best day at work. Most people probably think it would be the day when our company won the Small Business of the Year Award or was named the #1 Company to Work For, but it wasn’t.
My best day started out as any other day. I came to work in my shorts and flip flops and was greeted by Stella, a co-worker’s dog. After having a cup of tea and saying good morning to everyone, I settled down to work.
It happened to be Earth Day that day. Everyone at work either rode their bikes, took public transportation or carpooled to the office in an effort to conserve. We also celebrated with a lunch feast from Burgerville. After gorging ourselves on spicy black bean burgers and strawberry shakes, I checked to see which loans had closed that day and was told that we’d closed 4 deals for first-time home buyers. It’s great fun when we get to share in the excitement of someone buying a first home. This in itself was a great day, but the part that made it the best happened after lunch.
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Minimize Meetings, Maximize Technology
By Marlynn Schotland | Green Your Operations section
Like many business owners, I am asked to participate in a large amount of meetings. In my years of working in corporate communications as well as being a serial entrepreneur, I’ve discovered that as much as 90 percent of requested meetings are completely unnecessary. While the mid-century American institution known as the business lunch is still alive and well, and the 1990’s insurgence of coffee meetings rages on, my experience is that cutting out a large percentage of in-person meetings greatly improves productivity, reduces cost, and minimizes the carbon footprint of a business. All three benefits are critical in remaining a profitable sustainable business in today’s society, and all are easier to achieve thanks to technology.
When I have a 30-minute meeting, I know to schedule two hours to incorporate time for meeting prep, travel, parking, and time to settle back into the office and regain focus for what’s next on the agenda. That’s an hour and a half per meeting, wasted. With virtual meetings, I can schedule 2 to 4 per hour, often more than doubling my customer reach in the same amount of time. Less travel equals less environmental impact as well as cost reduction, which inevitably all leads to increased profits. What’s good for the environment can, indeed, be good for business.
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Working Towards Zero Waste
by Lindsey Newkirk | Measure and Report Impact section
Elysium Events manages zero waste programs for events. Through waste reduction, recycling, composting and donations, “zero waste” can be used as a goal to strive for and a mind set for decision-making.
Challenge: Portland businesses are required to recycle 50% of their waste (75% by 2015). Many of the large public events in Portland have recovery rates less than 30%.
Case Study: The Bite of Oregon
In 2006, the Bite of Oregon generated 44,000 lbs of material, only 24% (10,560 lbs) of which was recycled. A waste audit found that 55% of the materials thrown in the trash could have been composted.
Over the next two years we worked on a zero waste program, which resulted in an increase of the recovery rate to 66%. Here’s how we did it:
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Eating Sustainably
by Judith Yamada | Discover and Manifest Purpose section
Following an early retirement from a career in juvenile justice, I felt drawn to starting a business providing a useful, healthy and sustainable product or service. Investing a few hundred hours to become a certified aromatherapist, and a good deal of money, I went into partnership making organic personal care products. Within two years, the business became an overwhelming burden for my partner, who has small children and a fulltime job. In 2008 we closed, and I felt hurt and defeated.
After a few months of healing, I looked for a part time job, with no success. I’d watch the news and the jobless rate and fume. What could be done to bring money into communities and therefore increase employment? What could I do? Researching options, I discovered the Sustainable Table website. It’s educational, empowering and all about food: what we eat, seasonal eating, land use practices, and humane treatment of farm workers and livestock.
With a long unused degree in restaurant management, love of culinary arts, and years of professional cooking and baking experience, I became a seasonal eater and local shopper and began teaching others to do the same. I researched, put up my website and spread the word that Portland Home Cooking was open for service.
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Individual Progress in Waste Paper Recovery
by Benjamin Brink | Manage Change section
Do you find yourself getting into arguments or being discontent when promoting green processes? I have. The eighth dwarf, “Cranky” (following Snow White’s seven dwarves) was becoming my more popular nickname. The mark was true enough. I found myself cranky, especially after trying to “green” in new areas after getting negative feedback and unresponsive reactions to the effort. My personal mantra became: “Why am I meeting such resistance to this obviously green action?”
A green habit out of sorting the trash can have fringe benefits. Whether sheltered by other scraps of life from being drenched with mixed foodstuffs and coffee grounds dumped from the bottom of mugs at the end of a day’s work, or contrasted by the handwritten sentence in red ink and wrapped by uncharacteristically doodled quotation marks, a torn and crinkled strip of paper caught my attention. It read:
“The mind has a place in practical life, but its role begins after the heart has had its say.” –Meher Baba
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Skipping Along as a Happy Steak Slave
by Sharon Soliday | Engage Your Employees section
With over-filled plates in hand, medium rare steak juice running down my arms, I’d rub against the back counter to twist my blue/green plaid polyester uniform skirt back into place, eight times a night. A giant plastic slab of flesh-toned meat rose 30 feet in the air outside the front door. My soul was being chipped away in indentured servitude at Happy Steak.
Power was important to my manager at Happy Steak. He spent a great deal of time and resources ensuring we understood he was the boss. At nineteen, I spent an equal amount of effort assuring him I didn’t care.
I counted the days until I could quit.
Fast-forward to a professional career of stylish clothes and evenings free of carnivores licking the edges of a T-Bone. I had a door and phone and, shockingly, various bosses who spent a great deal of time explaining to me they were the boss.
I counted the days until I could quit.
I vowed my company would be different.
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