Merchants of Virtue Herman Miller and the Making of a Sustainable Company [Paperback]

Company Herman Miller and a band of people determined to make their company a good global citizen. They end up answering one of the critical questions of our time: Is sustainable business sustainable? Can employees in global companies make great products, take care of the environment, benefit society, and make good money good times and bad?Prologue Rosewood Honest Design Magic Zero The Teacher Thirty Questions Dollar Sense Mister Ohba Cradle to Cradle Imagineers A Better World Epilogue

Herman Miller has shown extraordinary leadership as a catalyst for industry. Its sustainability strategies for architecture, buildings, and furniture set a standard we feel honored to have helped shape and spread to others. This book tells the story of how Herman Miller charted an innovative path, and shows the temerity of its people to stay on that path. - William McDonough, designer and co-author of Cradle to Cradle

Merchants of Virtue is a business story for our times. An AMERICAN story, of risk taking, vision, values, and pluck. Before all the management fashions of our era - TQM, design thinking, zero footprint, values statements - there was Herman Miller. Let Bill Birchard show you how this Midwest manufacturer led the way to sustainability, and wash away a grinding decade of cynicism and greed. - Judith Samuelson, Executive Director, Business and Society Program, The Aspen Institute

Bill Birchard's excellent chronicle of the Herman Miller story brings to light some critical lessons for any company focused on embedding sustainability in it's core strategy: Never give in to compromise solutions; seek to shatter apparent trade-offs; draw from the wellspring of enduring corporate values; and challenge people in the company to take personal responsibility. Perhaps most importantly, Merchants of Virtue shows us that the pursuit of corporate sustainability is not easy. Like anything worth pursuing, only the creative and committed will sl�