Nestle Waters, known for their bottled water brands Perrier, Deer Park, and Poland Springs have a new employee.
Michael Washburn was recently hired as Nestle's director of sustainability. He has spent over 15 years working at non-profits and in academia in conservation roles. He particularly focused on sustainable forestry and land conservation. His new role at Nestle will be to increase recycling rates in the United States as well as lead the innovation of energy use and building design as well as the advocacy of constructive water policies.
He states in the article:
“I’m eager to put my resource management and conservation experience to work for Nestlé Waters, I feel strongly that bottled water brings value to society, and I am looking forward to continued engagement with a wide range of stakeholders around water advocacy, energy use, waste and recycling approaches, such as Extended Producer Responsibility.”
There is a strong correlation between this statement and the external environmental leadership actions of Hill's Model for Team Leadership. It originates with Washburn's initial decision to intervene externally. He knows that in order to succeed with this initiative, he needs to work on helping the organization remove external barriers. He is doing so by using his prior experiences and networks to increase his influence on the external environment. This will (hopefully) lead to an effective performance on the organization's part.
My question to you is whether or not his appointment to director of sustainability is contradictory to the bottled water industry? If so, and in regards to Hill's Model for Team Leadership, how can he go about making an impact that is aligned with his mission of increasing recycling rates in the United States, leading innovation of energy use and building design as well as advocating the use of constructive water policies?
View the article here.
Posted by: Michael Condupa
Great article, and I think there are many points in here that reinforce the idea of becoming sustainable in the long run. For starters, I don't feel as if the appointment of Mr. Washburn was contradictory to the industry, but it may very well shake the industry into acting more responsibly. Actions such as these set important precedents to the other companies that operate within the bottled water market, and these companies will eventually need to keep pace with sustainability efforts to remain competitive.
ReplyDeleteIt will be very interesting to see if Mr. Washburn adds to his repertoire of sustainability the idea of redesign for reuse in their products. Extended Producer Responsibility will provide a meaningful platform from which to redesign the process to be environmentally friendly and resource efficient.
-Kyle Hines
I absolutely agree with what Kyle has to say. I think that in order to make an impact that is aligned with his idea of increased recycling and reusing materials, he will most definitely have to focus on external actions.
ReplyDeleteI think that Washburn will have to network and negotiate support for this movement that his company is heading toward in order to come out successful. Also, in doing so, they will have to focus on internal matters as well. This would include, but is not limited to, focusing on the goal ahead, structuring their procedure, training and coaching, and building a commitment from their employees.
Once Washburn and Nestle establish the plan, they will be setting a new standard for all water product companies alike, and I applaud them.
-Jeffrey Parrish