Page 218 - Appreciative Leadership

The Path of Integrity 191

we have a failure, we try to replicate it. We repeat it to learn from it.
We take this error, and we see what new information it can gener-
ate. It helps us see in new ways.” Popular wisdom tells that 3M Post-it
notes were invented from a bad batch of glue. Indeed, the theory of
evolution itself shows how adaptive “mistakes” create new life forms.
Learning from the best, Appreciative Leadership makes the most of
mistakes.

Accounting for the Triple Bottom Line

From the beginning, Howard Schultz—founder and chairman of
Starbucks—described his founding impulse as more than money. He
wanted to build a company with a conscience and consciously sought
others with a similar dream. Tied together by their shared values and
dreams, the Starbucks team continually seeks to achieve the fragile bal-

ance between profitability, shareholder value, a sense of benevolence,
and a social conscience.
A 50-year-old mining company, Bord Na Móna, is Ireland’s lead-
ing environmentally responsible, integrated utility service provider
of electricity, heating, resource recovery, water, growing media, and

related services. After engaging in an Appreciative Inquiry planning
process, Bord Na Móna stakeholders adopted “A New Contract with
Nature” that would move the company out of mining into a new world
of renewable and environmentally friendly energy and recycling proj-
ects, along with conservation, planning, and development of its peat-
lands based on sound ecological principles. 11
A young and growing chain of fast-food restaurants, Chipotle
Mexican Grill, has adopted a “Food with Integrity” program that leads
them to serve more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant in
the country, push for more sustainable practices in produce farming,
and work with dairy suppliers to eliminate the use of added hormones
from their operations. In a break with competitive practices, the com-

pany also provides health benefits, a 401(K) plan, and paid vacation
time for its employees.