Green to Gold - 3M

In a very inspiring story in Green to Gold, 3M stuck to its commitment to emit no VOC’s into the environment.  While this may have ultimately cost as much as tens of millions of dollars to the company, 3M remained committed to the belief that the return in intangible benefits such as higher employee morale, reputation, brand image, less governmental red tape, and company “differentiation” contributed to a different “Payoff Matrix”; in essence another way to look at a company’s valuation.  In my mind, this story invariably proves the power of media in spreading information about irresponsible companies.  As a side note and while not discussed in the book, I feel that it is important for anyone reading the book, to remain ever vigilant in ensuring and fighting for the honest reporting of news and events.  Without the benefit of negative reporting on environmentally negligent companies, I am not so certain that some of the companies mentioned in the book would have been moving in this direction without this incentive.