Curriculum Guide

• Does any part of America Works’ success stem from it being a private, for-profit company?

• Which aspects of America Works’ program are most effective in preparing its clients for the workforce?

• Do you think the way America Works is paid is fair to the states in which it operates? To the employers who hire its clients? To America Works itself?

• Why did early America Works efforts succeed in Connecticut and not Ohio?

• What specific benefits did founders Peter Cove and Lee Bowes realize from their partnership with Abe Levovitz? What did they learn from the relationship that has impacted the company in the long term? Why did it end?

• How has America Works adapted to changing times? Are there any additional changes it should be making?

• Would you hire an America Works client? Why, or why not?

Chapter 2— Interface Inc: “Covering the Environment”

• How have the company’s vision statement and mission manifested themselves in daily operations since they were adopted?

• Why did founder Ray Anderson decide to revamp the way Interface operates? Why had he not done so earlier?

• Did Interface encounter any difficulties in its transformation because it is a public company?

• What are some of the other challenges Interface ran up against? Did it surmount them?

• Do you think Interface’s “Seven Fronts to Sustainability” have been adequate in setting it on course to realize its goals? Are there any other “Fronts” that could be added?

• Has Interface’s directional change had an impact on the industry in which it operates? Why, or why not?

• How has Anderson continued to push Interface’s sustainability mission in the wake of economic difficulties?

• Do you think most of its commercial customers care about the sustainability goals of the company?

Chapter 3— Birkenstock USA: “One Step Ahead”

• How has the company, and its employees, benefited from Birkenstock’s “people-oriented” management philosophy?

• How could founder Margot Fraser build such a successful company when she had no direct business experience?

• Why did pressure to grow fast in the 1990s almost backfire for Birkenstock?

• Have the company’s environmental efforts had any impact on its business success?

• Has Fraser’s decision to launch an Employee Stock Ownership Program in 1992 been beneficial for the company itself?

• Is the company’s encouragement of open internal communication applicable in most businesses?

• Do customers care about the management style of a company from which they purchase shoes?

Chapter 4— Ben & Jerry’s Homemade: “Ice Cream and Integrity”

• Was Ben & Jerry’s able to succeed initially despite its founders lack of business experience — or because of it?

• Do you think their choice of location in out-of-the-way Vermont had any impact on their daily operations, their public image, and their corporate culture?

• How did the decision to become a public company shape the way the business evolved?

• Do you believe that the company’s charitable contributions are “philanthropy at other people’s expense,” as critics of such activities have charged?

• Have Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield hurt the company by complaining publicly about its purchase by an international consumer-products conglomerate?

• Has the purchase been beneficial or detrimental for Ben & Jerry’s? For the new owner?

• Does Ben & Jerry’s benefit from being a “poster boy” for socially responsible business, or is this a burden to the business?

Chapter 5— Shorebank: “Banking on the Community”

• Why do you think no one had ever created a financial institution of this kind before Shorebank?

• Why has the commercial part of Shorebank’s operation never achieved the same level of success as its housing programs?

• How do Shorebank’s for-profit and non-profit arms complement each other?

• How, if at all, does the new environmental component of Shorebank’s lending program further its original goals?

• Can the Shorebank model be developed anywhere, or are there limits?

• Should Shorebank, as a financial institution, be judged on the same terms as other banks?

• Do ordinary customers gain anything from Shorebank’s special orientation?

Chapter 6— Stonyfield Farm: “A Committed Culture”

• Why did co-founder Gary Hirshberg struggle so much with the decision to sell part of the company to outsiders?

• Did the sale benefit Stonyfield? Its existing stockholders? Its customers?

• Why did Hirshberg believe it was important to commit to using only the best ingredients and to produce an organic product?

• Do customers really pay attention to such decisions?

• Many of Stonyfield’s programs, such as its waste reduction efforts and its grants to milk producers, are expensive. How can such programs be economically justifiable?

• Stonyfield uses its packaging to educate consumers about favorite causes. Is this appropriate if it alienates some potential customers?

• Is advocacy in advertising ever inappropriate?

Chapter 7— Celestial Seasonings: “Twenty-First Century Tea Time”

• Has the constant coming and going of co-founder Mo Siegel had any negative impacts on Celestial Seasonings?

• Why couldn’t Siegel and his fellow executives see the potential disadvantages of their early alliance with Kraft Foods before it was too late?

• How was Celestial Seasonings able to make the leap from a funky counterculture firm to a successful modern business when many of its peers were not?

• Can the “family atmosphere” that Celestial epitomized from the beginning work just as well in a business that is created today?

• How important is Celestial’s image in the marketplace?

• What did Celestial gain by merging with Hain? What did Hain gain?

Chapter 8— Greyston Bakery: “Baking, Building and Benefitting”

• How do the Greyston Bakery and Greyston Foundation help each other achieve their stated missions?

• How did the Buddhist principles guiding Greyston shape the way it developed?

• Why should a private company like Greyston become involved in public matters like housing?

• Would you describe Greyston as a for-profit business operating as a social agency, or as a social agency operating as a private business? Is such a distinction relevant?

• Do you think customers of its baked goods would be more or less apt to buy them if they were aware of Greyston’s social activities?

• Could a business like Greyston be expanded into additional geographic areas?

Chapter 9— Sunrise Medical: “Still Rolling Along”

• Richard Chandler’s initial vision for the corporate structure of Sunrise Medical led to a painful scandal. Was this inevitable?

• Why did Quickie Designs lose market share to competitors in recent years? How could this have been avoided?

• How has Quickie’s deep involvement with its customer base helped the company as well as its customers?

• What benefits has Sunrise realized by going from a public company to a private one?

• Were there any negatives associated with this shift?

• Why does the company’s new corporate alignment make sense?

Chapter 10— Patagonia: “Less Is More”

• How has Yvon Chouinard’s unconventional approach to business aided Patagonia’s business operation?

• Has it had any negative impacts on the company’s growth and development?

• How has Chouinard managed to maintain sole ownership of his company, when virtually none of his peers elsewhere have been able to do so?

• Chouinard says he and Patagonia must never “exceed our resources. ” What does he mean by that?

• Is a for-profit business environment the appropriate place for outspoken advocacy of controversial programs and organizations?

• Do you think customers buy Patagonia products because of the company’s activism, or in spite of it?

Chapter 11— Tattered Cover Book Store: “Uniting People and Ideas”

• Why shouldn’t Joyce Meskis have given the Denver drug enforcement agents the details they sought, considering the information she had was really irrelevant to their case?

• How has Meskis managed to survive in the face of increased competition from online booksellers and national chains?

• Is bookselling really different from other business endeavors?

• What choices has Meskis made in recent years that most helped her win such fanatical community support?

• How can Meskis’ business decisions be applied to other operations facing national discounters and increased online competition?

• Do you think customers really care about patronizing locally owned businesses if their prices are higher than chain outlets also located nearby?

Chapter 12— Kansas City Chiefs: “In Their Own League”

• Why are the Kansas City Chiefs a “company with a conscience? ”

• What has been the most significant factor behind the team’s community focus?

• Do you think the team would still operate as it does if a succession of losing seasons resulted in a huge reduction in ticket sales? Why, or why not?

• How about if the team were owned by a group instead of an individual?

• Why do you think Chiefs players are so amenable to the team’s insistence on community involvement?

• What does Kansas City gain by having a team as committed to it as the Chiefs?

Chapter 13— Thirteen Lessons of Conscientious Leadership

• Why are most companies in the book guided by a single person or at most a few closely aligned individuals?

• How important is it that these companies produce goods or services that are second to none?

• How can companies like these promote their favorite programs and causes without such efforts appearing to be self-serving?

• Give some examples of how these companies brought in outside help when it was needed — and what it did for them.

• Why are these companies able to pay employees fairly, and offer decent benefits, when many similar businesses claim they cannot?

• Has a lack of perks and high executive salaries had any negative impacts on these firms?

• What do you think is the most important trait of a “company with a conscience? ”