All You Need Is…Inspiration: A Recap of the Net Impact Conference 2009

This year, the Net Impact Conference took place in Ithaca, NY. Not the easiest place to get to, but definitely an appropriate venue to accommodate the 2,400 attendees. There were students from undergraduate schools, as well as graduate programs, professional members, company representatives, and executives.

The schedule was very ambitious, but very well structured. It started with a keynote by Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE and ended with another keynote by Jeff Goldman, CEO and Founder of Honest Tea, Jeff Furman, Founder of Ben & Jerry’s, and Lisa Lorimer, Founder of Vermont Bread Company. In between, there were over 100 sessions on corporate impact, design, energy and clean technology, international and corporate development, investing, professional development, and social innovation. With so many options and interesting topics, it was very hard to make a choice. I decided to attend sessions related to marketing, social responsibility, and non-profit.

Throughout the entire weekend, the energy generated by the speakers and moderators and the enthusiasm of the 2,400 attendees was just amazing and very difficult to explain in words. It was very inspiring to see so many people under one roof caring about more than just financial profit. In the world of extreme consumerism, talk about doing business responsibly, influencing big corporations from within, thinking about stakeholders instead of shareholders, and being willing to forgo huge short-term profits in favor of long-term and sustainable effort, was a breath of fresh air and filled everyone with just enough motivation and inspiration for another year.

And it wasn’t just talk. Jeff Immelt discussed GE’s business model of combining capitalism and sustainability. GE is making money on sustainable products that help the world. Immelt also discussed GE’s investment in wind power. Initially, he said, he did not believe in wind power. But then when Enron went bankrupt and GE had the option of buying their wind power business, he changed his mind. “For 200 million dollars, how wrong can we be?” he said.

My favorite speakers were Seth Goldman and Jeff Furman. I was impressed with Goldman’s honesty – no pun intended – and openness to discuss the trade offs of his deal with Coca-Cola. When asked why Coca-Cola and how does he deal with Coca-Cola’s controversial issues regarding water, Goldman said that when he made the decision, he had the consumer in mind. Honest Tea needed a bigger distribution system, to reach its growing consumer base and that is exactly what Coca-Cola was offering. Regarding the water situation, he said he was not a spokesman for Coca-Cola, so he would refrain from making any comments on that. However, he admitted there are some aspects of the business he does not agree with, but that Honest Tea is influencing the parent company from within by maintaining its fair business practices and having conversations with the CEO about healthier alternatives to high-fructose corn syrup. Any small initiative helps, he added.

All in all, the event was a great success, minus the travel part. For the SoCal attendees, getting to Ithaca was a little bit of a challenge. But the good news is that next year, the Conference will be hosted by beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan, so travel will not be an issue.