The Battle To Do Good : Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey

Description

In The Battle to Do Good, former McDonald's executive Bob Langert takes readers on a behind-the-scenes eye witness account of the mega brand's battle to address numerous societal hot-button issues, such as packaging, waste, recycling, obesity, deforestation, and animal welfare. From the late 80s, McDonald's landed smack in the middle of one contentious issue after another, often locking horns with powerful NGOs such as Greenpeace, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Corporate Accountability. This sudden shift from being the beloved Golden Arches since opening its doors in 1955, to the demon of many societal ills, caught McDonald's off guard. Langert chronicles the highs and lows that McDonald's experienced in turbulent times and how its sustainability journey evolved from playing defense to strategically solving issues with unlikely partners, including a whirling dervish, autistic animal scientist, and avid environmentalists from the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation International. Packed with first-hand anecdotes, interviews with key McDonald's executives and NGO leaders, and scores of lessons learned, The Battle to Do Good is a sustainability page turner that provides unique insights and guidance on how to successfully navigate and manage today's societal issues to make the business stronger, more relevant, and more profitable. Cover THE BATTLE TO DO GOOD THE BATTLE TO DO GOOD: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey Copyright Contents List of Figures About the Author Acknowledgments Introduction: From Defense to Offense Taking on the Fuzziness of Sustainability The Origins of Societal Clashes Leading Change Hard Knock Nuggets 1. The Battle Against Waste: McDonald’s First Societal Clash Trash and a Clamshell Saving the Polystyrene Foam Clamshell The Wolf in the Hen House The Tree Huggers Arrive What Is the Right Thing to Do? No Beige Solutions Postscript: Shedding 300 Million Pounds How to Establish Partnerships How to Choose a Partner 2. The Battle for Farm Animals: How Animal Welfare Is Transformed The Dying Pig in the Aisle The World’s Biggest PR Disaster Spurs Change A Rumpled Activist, a Big-Time Lawyer, and an Autistic Animal Scientist Change Animal Agriculture History Temple Grandin Woos McDonald’s Suppliers The Three Ps: Passion, Patience, and Persistence 3. The Battle of Extremism: McCruelty: Meat Is Murder How to Develop a Counterstrategy? Develop a Set of Principles Establish a Blue-Ribbon Panel Public Relations Piñata Does PETA Deserve Some Credit? Ideas to Neutralize the Extremist 4. The Battle to Be Proactive: Happy Meal Toys and the Ups and Downs of Anticipatory Issues Management The AIM Evangelist Meets the Global Safety Officer The Limits of AIM Getting Ahead of Issues 5. The Battle of the Waistline and Brand Health: The Obesity Dilemma and a Healthier Happy Meal There’s a Hole in the Roof An Avalanche Hits the Happy Meal The Unhappy Meal: From the Edge of a Cliff to Society Friendly The Death and Resurrection of Brand Trust Brand and Business Inextricably Linked 6. The Battle for a Sustainable Supply Chain: From Silence to Sustainable Fish, Less Polluting Hogs, and Better Lives for Tomato Pickers Getting Beyond Ragtag Corporate Responsibility The Next Step: The Natural Step Karl-Henrik Robért and the Four System Conditions The Fourth Element of Supply Chain Introduced to Chilling Silence Can We Make the Filet-O-Fish Sustainable? Converting a Hog Supplier From Bad to Good The Houdini of Sustainability Hearing From the Voice of God The Power of the Slippery Slope The Tough CIW Leader Another Truth Tour Mixed Progress With the Fourth Element of Sustainability Managing a Sustainable Supply Chain 7. The Battle for Values: Can You Etch Them in Stone? Squabbling Over the Importance of Values Revealing McDonald’s Values Integrating Our Values Keeping Values Alive 8. The Battle Goes to the Board Room: A Shareholder Proposal Makes a Difference Shareholders Focus on Pesticides Shareholders Make Demands Seeking Compromise Is Good Lessons for Engaging With Investors—and for Investors to Engage With Companies 9. The Battle for the Amazon Rainforest: How Greenpeace Chickens Changed McDonald’s Eating Up the Amazon Don’t Get Mad Not Doing It the Greenpeace Way Shaking Hands With Greenpeace A Wake-up Call for McDonald’s and Our Suppliers Sustainability Gets a Permanent Seat at the Table How to Mainstream Sustainability 10. The Battle to Make a Pig’s Life Better: How Much Room Does a Sow Need? A Blue-Chip Meeting About a Blue-Chip Issue The Search for Alternatives Begins The Decades-Long Conundrum Faces a Deadline The Plan for Ending Gestation Stall Use The Secret Sauce of Sustainable Influencing 11. The Battle for Better Beef: The Quest for Sustainable Beef The Ecologist, the Corporatist, and the Beef Lobbyist Changing the Sentiment of Us Versus Them A Sustainable Beef Powwow Putting Meat Behind the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef Convincing the C-Suite Kick-Starting a Movement What It Takes to Lead Sustainability 12. The Battle to Lead Both Business and Society: The Profits of Sustainability Battling Risk Averseness Developing Shared Value Goals The Sourcing Pillar The Planet Pillar Climate Change Recycling: Harder Than It Looks The Food Pillar The People Pillar The Community Pillar Sustainability Introduced at Worldwide Convention The Future of Good Business Means Embedding Sustainability A Sustainability Framework Template Endnotes Index