Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender discusses how he leveraged previous investor success to raise initial capital for Seventh Generation.
Insight
Hollender: Eco-friendly products are just "less bad," not actually good
“To be quite honest, it's often about being less bad rather than good, and I think we've gotten the two things confused. I think that when you're buying a seventh generation diaper, you're causing landfills to fill up, you're causing increased climate change. Y…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hollender: My board fired me by phone on a Saturday and locked me out
“Done in a somewhat brutal fashion because not only was I let go, but I was let go over the telephone on a Saturday morning and told that I wasn't even allowed to go back into the office ever again.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Companies Now Practice 'Green Hushing' Around Sustainability and DEI Initiatives
“There is sort of this new language called green hushing, where people do sustainable things, and they don't talk about them, and part of it is the sort of political environment we live in, and we have many aspects of responsible business, like diversity and in…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Purpose-Driven Businesses Generate Better Profits and Financial Results
“And there is abundant research, much of which NYU has done itself, that demonstrates that people that run businesses in a responsible, purpose-driven fashion generate better results, more profits, better growth, and as young students, they have to be very fami…”
Insight
Founder Obsession With Rapid Hyper-Growth Is Dangerous and Causes Burnout
“The bigger, the faster, the better, and I think that that is a dangerous thing. I think that, that we need to monitor how obsessed we are with how fast we grow, because it's a dangerous thing to be moving so quickly, and it's stressful, and it challenges your …”
Assertion Supported
Hollender: My board hated that I kept getting arrested with Greenpeace
“I was a board member of Greenpeace for 13 years. I was getting arrested for standing up for things that we believed in, and my board was definitely not comfortable with a CEO who was getting thrown in jail.”