FMYI | For My Innovation

It’s been a week since I moderated my panel on sustainability employee engagement at FORTUNE Brainstorm Green 2010 and I’m still trying to digest the entire conference experience. Besides the beautiful setting and my “Hey, I’m from the Pacific Northwest” sunburn, I came away with three key observations:

1. Collaboration is at an all time high.

I have to say that the conference was unlike any other sustainability gathering I’ve ever attended. The level of discourse was frequently at the macro level, probably due to the preponderance of C-level executives in attendance, including Walmart Chairman Lee Scott and Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford. Ann Davidson at VOX Global had this to say:

“...the third annual FORTUNE Brainstorm Green conference had the feel of a high school reunion where the star athletes and cheerleading captains (in this setting, major corporate CEOs and capitalistic entrepreneurs) are now happily walking the halls with the class nerds (the tree huggers and animal lovers).“

I was struck by how much collaboration I saw going on, including references by corporations to what they’ve learned from partnering with NGOs and sustainability consulting firms. The atmosphere was all about thought provoking dialogue across stakeholders. And the Fortune Editors did a masterful job of facilitating the discussions to minimize speeches and get at pointed questions. The main message I heard was that corporations have learned that sustainability is good business, not just a values-based commitment. Because of these multinationals’ massive footprints, any improvements they make have major positive impacts on their industries. To his credit, Bill Ford said last year he could only attend to give his talk, but this year he wanted to attend the entire conference so he could learn more from everyone.

2. Snakes on a plane? Nope - snakes on a stage.

A priceless moment was when Julie Scardina of SeaWorld brought a few friends of hers on stage, and a 14-foot boa constrictor immediately took a liking to Andy Serwer, FORTUNE’s Managing Editor. It was a metaphor for the most polarizing moments during the conference.

When Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant took the stage, the Twittersphere lit up with posts accusing him of sidestepping the big issues. But arguably the most controversial sentiments expressed came from long time environmental writer and creator of the seminal “Whole Earth Catalog,“ Stewart Brand. Once he started talking about being pro-nuclear and pro-biotechnology, to many environmentalists in the crowd, it felt as if he had transformed into a snake right before our eyes.

I don’t know if I came away convinced, but it definitely took me down the path of questioning assumptions. And that’s what the conference did so well with so many thought provoking sessions on major polarizing issues. I’m looking forward to diving into Brand’s latest book, “Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.“

3. Optimism for the future.

For the most part, attendees were optimistic about the future of sustainability and the prospects of creating a new clean economy. Bill Gross‘ eSolar was out in force, and I wish I could have taken Mission Motors’ electric superbike out for a ride. I had a great talk with the folks at Unisource about their innovative sustainable packaging. And I was also inspired by my chats with Herman Miller, eBay, and many others.

The intimate environment that the conference fostered helped make the conversations and breakout sessions more effective. I really enjoyed moderating my panel with Sodexo, Hyatt, NBC, and Ernst & Young. It was great to see so many great companies at our panel, including REI, Zipcar, Nordstrom, BMW, Chick-fil-A, and POET. My biggest takeaway from the session is how the trend of engagement is accelerating, and including more stakeholders including customers/clients/consumers. This definitely bodes well for FMYI’s approach to leverage our social media tools to make engagement more effective. I hope to post a transcript of our panel discussion soon.

For next year, it would be great if FORTUNE Brainstorm Green covers “elephants in the room” in more depth, such as this quote from Patagonia Founder Yvon Chouinard:

“Saving the economy by consuming more has to stop.“

Also, with all the old and new economy power brokers and visionary NGOs in the same room, I’d love to see FORTUNE create more “roll up the sleeves” sessions to help forge new innovative partnerships to accelerate our transition to a triple bottom line economy. This could include building a 2020 or 2050 vision for a truly sustainable economy across all sectors, figuring out solutions to reduce the barrier to entry to new markets, or how to create economies of scale to revolutionize sustainable products and services. We all have a piece in creating sustainable prosperity for everyone, and everyone has something to gain from realizing this dream.

-Justin

P.S. To read a great summary of the conference, read FORTUNE Editor and conference creator Marc Gunther’s blog post. Also, there’s video online of select sessions. And special thanks to Marc and Starbucks VP of Global Responsibility Ben Packard for giving me the opportunity to moderate a panel at the conference!