Responsible Business & Global Impact Leadership Series: Jeffrey Hollender
It’s my honor to introduce Jeffrey Hollender, a trailblazer in sustainable business. Jeffrey co-founded Seventh Generation, an environmentally-focused company that has revolutionized consumer products with sustainability at its core and ultimately joined Unilever. In addition to his legacy at Seventh Generation, he co-founded and led the American Sustainable Business Network, authored seven books on sustainability and corporate social responsibility, and now serves as an adjunct professor at NYU Stern School of Business. Jeffrey and I also serve together on the U.S. advisory board for Forum for the Future, a connection that has shaped many of the ideas we share today.
Jeffrey’s path epitomizes the shift in business from merely responsible to actively regenerative—a model that challenges traditional practices to not just “do less harm” but to contribute positively to society and the environment.
In our interview we discussed a “Framework for Responsible Business”
1. Defining a New Standard of Sustainable and Responsible Business
Responsible business today demands clear definitions and consistent standards as the world’s expectations evolve. While sustainability was once a side consideration, today it needs to be a foundational element in how businesses operate. Responsible business is now about deeply embedding transparency, ethics and long-term thinking across all levels, creating a new standard for accountability and meaningful impact.
Achieving this also requires a level playing field where consistent benchmarks help align responsible practices across sectors. Clarity around what it means to be a responsible business is essential in promoting progress at scale.
2. Beyond Responsibility: The Regenerative Business Model
As Jeffrey argues, the goal should go beyond mere responsibility to embrace a regenerative mindset. True regeneration in business contributes positively to society, restoring ecosystems and fostering social wellbeing. Our current economic system distorts real costs, where, as Jeffrey provocatively noted, an organic strawberry should actually cost less than an inorganic one. This is the crux of a broken cost model that ignores externalities, which a regenerative business aims to correct through practices like full-cost accounting.
In full-cost accounting, every product and service would reflect its total environmental and social costs, from emissions to waste, creating an incentive to choose sustainable options. This approach demands internal carbon pricing and a push toward transparency, challenging companies to incorporate environmental impact into every cost consideration.
3. Scaling Responsibility through Product Design
Jeffrey’s journey at Seventh Generation illustrates the potential of scaling responsibility through every stage of product design—from the raw materials to eco-conscious packaging. Responsible design can set the standard for business impact, integrating sustainability directly into the product lifecycle, not as an afterthought but as an inherent value. At scale, responsible design becomes a powerful tool to shift entire industries toward sustainable practices.
4. The Financial Case for Regenerative Business Models
Far from being a mere moral choice, regenerative business models can offer financial incentives, appealing to consumers and investors alike. Companies that integrate environmental stewardship with business acumen can often find enhanced brand loyalty, market differentiation and even operational savings over time. For publicly traded companies, however, the real challenge lies in balancing this long-term view with the immediate demands of quarterly returns—a pressure that frequently inhibits long-term value creation. Addressing this requires resilience from business leaders, who must balance investor expectations with sustainable strategies.
5. Culture: The Backbone of Sustainable Strategy
The culture of an organization is fundamental to its sustainability strategy, echoing Peter Drucker’s idea that “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Building a responsible business requires an inclusive, transparent and accountable culture where values are woven into the company’s DNA. Radical transparency, as Jeffrey implemented at Seventh Generation, provides a foundation for trust and integrity, empowering teams to make values-driven decisions and enhancing overall accountability.
This type of culture has cascading effects on innovation, collaboration and performance. When sustainability is a core value rather than a compliance exercise, it sparks a spirit of continuous improvement and a drive to push boundaries.
6. Systems Thinking for Holistic Impact
In today’s interconnected world, sustainable leadership requires a systems-thinking approach that views the organization as part of a broader ecosystem. My experience at the World Economic Forum showed me the power of systems thinking to create a cohesive stakeholder capitalism framework, which aids leaders in understanding how interconnected levers impact the whole. By seeing an organization holistically, leaders are better equipped to balance the complexities of their goals, stakeholders and resources. This approach can reconcile competing demands within departments—like sales and marketing—while keeping the entire organization aligned with sustainability goals.
7. Balancing Social and Environmental Goals
Balancing social and environmental impact is often a delicate task but critical in advancing holistic corporate responsibility. Businesses must view social and environmental responsibilities as complementary rather than competing priorities.
8. Redefining the Meaning of “Good” in Business
For responsible businesses, the goal isn’t to do “less bad” but to actively do good. A responsible business redefines “good” as contributing positively to society and the environment rather than simply minimizing negative impact. This approach distinguishes truly sustainable companies from those merely ticking boxes, setting a high bar for what it means to be “good.”
9. CEO & Boards Standing up for Values
Leaders today face increasing backlash for standing by their values, yet purpose-driven leadership remains critical. A CEO’s role in advocating for social and environmental causes signals the company’s commitment, even amid external pressures. Boards of directors can play a supportive role by creating frameworks that reinforce these values, establishing both incentives and safeguards that enable CEOs to champion meaningful issues.
For Jeffrey, this path was not without its challenges, but living by values has reinforced the long-term vision that defines responsible business.
10. A Future for the Next Generation
As Jeffrey envisions a sustainable future for his grandson, he highlights the long-term perspective that every responsible business should embody. This vision is about leaving a lasting positive legacy, where today’s responsible leaders play an active role in shaping a better, more resilient world for the generations to come.
