Where Yellow Cabs Make More Green by Going Green

I just returned to Minneapolis from a board meeting in Vancouver, B.C., where a Toyota Prius taxi drove me and Mary from the airport to our hotel and back. Taxis, I don't need to tell you, are a huge source of toxic emissions, greenhouse gases and a constant consumer of fossil fuels. It only makes sense that the most heavily used transportation in a region should walk lightly on its surroundings.

I asked our driver if customers liked the Prius. He said they were such a hit that Yellow Cab was ordering a lot more. I checked with Yellow Cab, British Columbia's largest taxi company, and they confirmed that they had added 40 hybrids to its 210-car fleet and were in the process of converting as many as 30 more cars to hybrids in the next year.

I love this story. Green is good business because so many of us want to find ways to help, even in small ways. We want to reduce the threat to our climate, so businesses, recognizing where public opinion is going, are more and more keen on finding creative ways to green up. There's an ever-widening base that will support it. Green makes more green, which is good for our wallets. But I like when people do it for the benefit of peace and health and see the big dollars as a fortunate by-product.

Kellogg's Proves it Cares for Kids

The people at Kellogg's announced last week that it will adopt stricter nutrition standards for the foods that it advertises to young children. The Center for Science in the Public Interest's Campaign for a Commercial- Free Childhood (CCFC), and two Massachusetts parents, will not proceed with lawsuits against Kellogg's (Disclosure: I am a CSPI board member).

CSPI Executive Director Mike Jacobson made the great point that Kellogg, by committing to these nutritional standards and marketing reforms, is vaulting over the rest of the industry. He also hoped that a rising tide will lift all ships—that Kellogg's will influence many other companies that cater to kids. I second that, and it's badly needed.

Health care costs continue to out-pace the consumer price index. More and more links between diet and health are discovered every week. Diet-influenced diseases like diabetes are rising at a staggering rate (heart disease and cancer cause death in 1 of every 2 people and 1 in 3, respectively). Corporate leadership, in companies small and large, is badly needed. Kellogg's may have faced a little external inspiration, but that doesn't minimize their move. Kudos to Kellogg, and tidings to Tony.

Jerks Need Not Apply

"Lars Dalgaard is CEO and cofounder of SuccessFactors, one of the world’s fastest-growing software companies ... All the employees (he) hires agree in writing to 14 'rules of engagement.' Rule 14 starts out, 'I will be a good person to work with—not territorial, not be a jerk.' One of Dalgaard’s founding principles is that 'our organization will consist only of people who absolutely love what we do, with a white-hot passion. We will have utmost respect for the individual in a collaborative, egalitarian, and meritocratic environment—no blind copying, no politics, no parochialism, no silos, no games—just being good!'" — Robert Sutton, The McKinsey Quarterly, 2007 Number 2

Mr. Dalgaard is onto something. The advantages to his no-jerk policy are enormous. Bulls in the office are as dangerous as they are in china shops. Yet owners rarely deal with it. The consequences are staggering, both in terms of the emotional toll on brittle employees and in cold, hard cash.

Mind-body research performed in the past decade has proven conclusively that, without intervention, emotional or psychological turmoil can weaken the body's immune system and lead to physical illness. The upshot? More absenteeism, a productivity plunge, rising health insurance costs and high turnover. One employee's personal problems can set off a chain of events that could threaten a small company. As the old proverb goes, "For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost."

Cheat Vacation at Your Peril

Ah, summer, time to get down to ... work? That's what an important new study says my small-business friends have to look forward to. Fewer and fewer entrepreneurs expect to take a summer vacation of a week or longer—59 percent now versus 67 percent four years ago, according to OPEN, the small-business arm of American Express. I can only guess that most of these owners feel they'll get more done and thus put more food on their family tables, a laudable goal.

I wish that were so, but I don't think so. Without vacation breaks, what the owner picks up in quantity of hours worked she loses in the quality of that extra time. All work and no play kills her skills, whether it's planning and organizing, interacting with employees or decision-making. They're the same deleterious effects that are also caused by getting little sleep, eating poorly and exercising rarely.

Early in my entrepreneurial years, I tried cheating the clock in all of those ways and more. Turns out they actually cost me time when I factored in my overall quality of work. So think again when you try to increase your company's profits by skipping that vacation or pulling into the fast-food lane. It ain't gonna happen—you can't cheat on time off any more than you can cheat sleep or the taxman.

A Tough-Minded, Warm-Hearted Leader?

I still don't know who I'm going to vote for come presidential primary season. But I do know that I'm looking for a courageous candidate who's warm-hearted and tough-minded. Democrat Barack Obama showed me that a few weeks ago when he criticized Detroit automakers ... in Detroit. I still can't stop thinking of the guts that took. It reminds me of 1992 when candidate Bill Clinton criticized Sister Souljah ... in front of an African-American audience. Obama told the executives that they needed to be more responsive to customer's needs (fuel-efficient cars) as well as the country’s needs (reducing dependence on foreign oil). Obama's temerity is a rare commodity for political leaders of either party, where standard operating procedure for stumping to locals is telling them what they want to hear. Obama also mixed caring into the talk as he proposed to help car companies who've committed to raising gas-mileage standards. Being a great leader—whether in business, a not-for-profit or politics—involves mixing a warm hearted with tough minded, in an authentic and courageous manner. Obama nailed that in Detroit last month.