Q&A With Jeffrey Hollender

Last week green cleaning and housewares company Seventh Generation made an announcement. Jeffrey Hollender, the company’s co-founder and CEO, is handing over the reins of the business to Chuck Maniscalco, a 21-year veteran of Quaker Oats, Tropicana and Gatorade. The decision surprised the corporate social responsibility community, causing many to ask important questions.

In the midst of Hollender’s widely publicized transition (and on his way to holiday in Greece, in fact), I managed to catch a few moments of his time – along with a welcome burst of inspiration.

Q: You’ve lead Seventh Generation for more than 20 years, growing the brand from a fledging start-up to a household name. What prompted your decision to step down as CEO – and what’s next for you?

A: I decided to step down for two reasons. First, to continue to lead the business to its greatest potential in a highly competitive marketplace requires a depth of experience that I simply don’t have. A business of $150 million requires more than my intuition. Second, my passion for fulfilling Seventh Generation mission “to inspire a more conscious and sustainable world by being an authentic force for positive change,” can best be fulfilled if I now focus all of my time in it’s direct pursuit through speaking, writing, educating and influencing other business. I have two books in progress, a TV show (Big Green Lies) and a significant corporate educational program that we will announce in the next 30 days – so I won’t have trouble keeping busy.

Q: Seventh Generation has set a goal to grow its annual business from its current level of about $150 million per year to over $1 billion in the coming years. That’s aggressive. What are the keys to achieving this?

A: Remain radically transparent, stay true to who we are, pursue our mission with passion, hire the most talented people we can find, listen carefully to our customers and make sure we always have more capital than we think we need.

Q: Are you concerned that, with rapid growth, any aspect of the brand will become diluted? How will the company ensure that this doesn’t happen?

A: That will always be a critical concern. So far we strengthened our culture as we have grown by investing time and resources to ensure our community remains deeply connected to our mission. Personally, I will remain directly involved in ensuring that our purpose isn’t compromised as we grow. We have also developed some powerful institutions and rituals that help ensure we stay on course, from our annual all-company retreat to frequent meetings with senior management where staff members are encouraged to ask tough questions. The success and vibrancy of our brand in the marketplace and its impact and relationship with consumers is directly tied to the investment by the very people who drive, mold, invent and reinvent Seventh Generation day in and day out – their passion and authenticity is Seventh Generation’s vitality and this directly extends to our consumers. They relate to it.

Q: What do you say to those who those who worry that by bringing in Mr. Maniscalo, a Quaker/PepsiCo executive, Seventh Generation is “selling out?”

A: Chuck is here precisely so we won’t have to sell out. Most successful mission driven companies have been sold to large CPG companies because they couldn’t scale up independently. We’re acquiring the talent to ensure our independence and commitment to our mission.

Q: You’ve had an inspiring career and are credited not only for pioneering green cleaning products, but green business practices in general. What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned — and if you could, is there anything that you would do differently?

A: I spend no time ever thinking about reinventing the past. There is much to much work to do that lies ahead of us. But the greatest lessons I’ve learned are that we need revolutionary, not incremental change. Businesses and NGO’s must cooperate more effectively. We need to move from being less bad to being truly good, and we need to recognize that the goal of sustainability is not enough. We must regenerate our planet. Human development represents unlimited potential, and anything is possible.

Amen to that.

1. 

   Sita says:

   December 24, 2009 at 3:52 pm

   As a new green entrepreneur it’s inspiring to find real change going on at the corporate level. I came across this reporting from Curt Johnson (CEO of JohnsonDiversey, one of the family of Johnson corporations), talking about how viewing greenhouse gas emissions as waste and implementing efficiency models to deal with that waste is a powerful way to increase corporate bottom line and enact real environmental controls at the same time: http://bit.ly/jdaction What do you think?
2. 

   Christine Arena says:

   December 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm

   Kudos to JohnsonDiversey for being the first company in the cleaning, sanitation and hygiene industry to set aggressive targets on waste and carbon footprint reduction. I think that’s great. Readers, please see the press release: http://3bl.me/gqdp8y

   This initiative has potentially broad implications since JohnsonDiversey products are used by other business and industrial partners around the world. Moreover, given the shortcomings of climate agreements reached at COP 15 by world leaders and negotiators, JohnsonDiversey’s targets demonstrate how business can raise the bar when left to its own devices. As Chairman S. Curtis Johnson put it: “The way we look at the world, environmental stewardship is a business imperative, not just a climate issue.” Indeed.
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