Joel Makower

The Associated Press has dubbed Joel Makower “the guru of green business practices.”

For more than twenty years, Joel Makower been a highly respected voice on the greening of mainstream business. As a writer and strategist on green business practices, he has worked with some of the leading companies and brands, including Clorox, General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Nike, and Stonyfield Farm. Joel Makower is a voice of pragmatic enthusiasm, helping companies sort through the noise and rhetoric in order to profit and prosper in the growing green economy.

Makower is executive editor of GreenBiz.com, along with a constellation of other websites, newsletters, events, and research published by Greener World Media, Inc., of which he is co-founder and chairman. He is also senior strategist at GreenOrder, a sustainability strategy firm; and co-founder of Clean Edge, a clean-tech research and publishing firm.

He has been a commentator of “Marketplace,” public radio’s nightly business show, and appears regularly in both broadcast and print media, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, and Business Week, Larry King, Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, All Things Considered, Marketplace, and CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, among other networks.

A former nationally syndicated columnist, Makower is author of more than a dozen books, including Strategies for the Green Economy, Beyond the Bottom Line: Putting Social Responsibility to Work for Your Business and the World, The E-Factor: The Bottom-Line Approach to Environmentally Responsible Business, and The Green Consumer. Makower was the author of Woodstock: An Oral History, which was originally published in 1989, and republished in 2009. He also writes “Two Steps Forward”, a popular blog on green business, clean technology, and green marketing.

Makower serves as an advisor to VantagePoint Venture Partner’s clean-tech venture capital fund and in a board or advisory capacity for more than a dozen other for-profit and nonprofit organizations. He is a frequent keynote speaker, and his balanced, realistic, and credible approach to sustainable business and clean technology has helped senior managers in a variety of companies and sectors create strategic roadmaps, make the business case, articulate a vision internally, form meaningful partnerships, and communicate with a broad range of stakeholders.

• 1. Strategies for the Green Economy: Opportunities and Challenges in the New World of Business

  Nearly every company is asking some version of the question, "What's our green strategy," though few understand what that means. For some firms, it's a P.R. exercise, for others it amounts to "random acts of greening," but for a handful of leaders it raises key questions: "How do we operate in a world in which energy, water, materials, toxicity, and carbon emissions are constraints to growth? What are the opportunities that affords?" Today, being green is no longer a matter of "doing less bad." And it's not simply a matter of "doing well by doing good," or even improving the bottom line by being more efficient. It's about growing the top line through innovation, new markets, increased productivity, enhanced customer loyalty, and increased ability to attract and retain talent. How are today's leading companies integrating environmental thinking into their operations in a way that creates lasting business value? I offer context, success stories, and cautionary tales.
  
  What you'll learn:

  • Why environmental issues have risen to the top in a growing number of companies
  • Strategies leading companies use to harness green thinking to create business value
  • The stories behind the environmental programs of leadership companies
  • "How good is good enough?" when it comes to company environmental performance
  • The challenges of communicating for environmental leaders
  • How environmental concerns are leading companies to change their business models
  • How a new breed of green innovators is transforming markets

• 2. Save the Buyosphere! Selling Green in the Age of More, More, MORE

  Green marketing is back, as companies ranging from GE to P&G are trying to cash in on the renewed interest in products that help consumers be greener and cleaner. How do you sell "green" in a world with a seemingly insatiable appetite for more, More, MORE? In a world in which Wal-Mart, GM, and BP are waving the green flag, how can marketers be heard—and believed? I offer real-world tales from the trenches, the latest market trends, and insight and inspiration to help marketers succeed in the growing green marketplace.
  
  What you'll learn:

  • The latest market research on consumers' green attitudes and shopping preferences
  • What it really means when people say, "I'm concerned about the environment"
  • The great, green chasm -- why consumers often say one thing and do another
  • Unmarketing -- why it's sometimes better to do more and say less
  • Is green concern a passing fad or the way of the future?
  • How today's green heroes can become tomorrow's targets
  • Will consumers switch brands to be green?
  • The ten biggest green marketing mistakes

  Joel tailors each presentation to ensure that it is appropriate to the audience's interest, knowledge, and needs.

• “If you're looking for an seasoned expert with a solid grasp of the sustainability movement and the ability to tell its compelling story in a way that will truly inspire your audience, you can't do better than Joel. We're living in extraordinary times and Joel captures that excitement and identifies the tremendous opportunities which lie ahead.”
  Professional Convention Management Association
• “Our audience left your presentation with a much greater ability to identify and tell their green story. Few people are better able to put sustainable business, green technology, and environmental topics into a context that people can understand.”
  Text 100 Public Relations
• “Joel was rated the top speaker by SRI in the Rockies Conference participants. No one has better, more practical, more useful insights into the state of the state of sustainability in corporate America than Joel Makower. His presentations are spot-on.”
  RI in the Rockies Conference
• “You were able to tailor your speech to be very relevant for our industry. I love the way you engage the audience. Your thought-provoking question "How good is good enough?" continues to inspire great conversation and provides a valuable perspective.”
  Meeting Strategies Worldwide

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