Letter #05: How the dairy industry destroyed its own product (Don't be next)

Did the dairy industry kill its own flagship product, cow's milk, without meaning to? And how can you use this lesson today to best the competition?

Roberts’ Green Letter: Actionable EQ for responsible industry. 
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Dear friends and colleagues,

There’s no question, we need to “scale up” responsible industry to “save the world.” 

Then we could “move the needle.”

You add the specifics of your cause or sector, but what I just outlined is our Gospel, is it not?

And I would probably agree with all of that. Or at least I would have until I wrote this Letter.

I’m proud that I’ve helped hundreds of building product manufacturers publish over 10,000 HPDs. Being on a team at HPDC that’s scaling material health and transparency feels great, and we’re making incredible progress!

But can I be honest?

Some days after Amazon has delivered and I’m taking out the trash, it feels like the trash is scaling up faster.

Why is it that responsible industry is so challenged to compete on economies of scale?

Some great initiatives, programs, organizations, and businesses have been born out of sustainability and green building. Some of them have developed a strong history, brand awareness, and tremendous good will.

But most aren’t on a curve to scale fast enough to meet our objectives. Or if they will in the future, we have no way of knowing. A flat line of adoption and a hockey-stick curve of virality look about the same most of the way:

How do you know if your product or initiative is on line A or B?

How can we scale up responsible industry and win against the laggards, on their turf?

I have a suggestion on how to do this that you probably haven’t heard before…

It’s such a simple theory that it’s going to be easy for you to teach to your staff/team. You’re going to slap your forehead that you weren’t doing as much about it already.

You might even dismiss it as “too simple” to be helpful. If that’s the case, let me know. I’m making it available to Roberts’ Green Letter members only, and so I intend to make it hella-useful.

I’m going to teach this idea in true business school fashion, via the MBA of my life experience.

Beyond the paywall…

How did the dairy industry kill its own flagship product, without meaning to? And how can you use this lesson today to best the competition?