“leed”ing the way

I once had an economics professor who had spent considerable time researching economies all over the world. His conclusion was they were all flawed, some more than others. As for capitalism, he observed the trouble was that some people who made a lot of money spent it in stupid ways.

This epiphany came to him over lunch one day as a graduate student in Florida. Seems he was eating the only meal a struggling scholar could afford, a peanut butter sandwich, and yet, across the street were a number of young men about his age playing polo.

We all understood what he was talking about. What we didn’t understand was how pervasive this idea would be in our business lives. In the decades since, particularly the ’80s and ’90s, we observed a lot of stupid spending. Everybody was confident they deserved every last little bit of excess.

Often I would hear phrases like “it’s just a cost of doing business” or “we have to remain competitive” as justification. But, it raised a very simple question in my mind – does being profitable give us the right to spend in stupid ways?

Today, most of us would answer that question in the negative, but these are different times. Times that remind us that being good stewards of our personal and professional resources is not a situational value, it’s a universal one.

Fortunately, today’s students of business leadership will be better off, thanks to the seeds that have been sown at UNO’s College of Business Administration (CBA). Recently, Mammel Hall earned LEED Gold certification, the first such certification in the University of Nebraska system.

The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification is a performance-oriented rating system where building projects earn points by addressing specific environmental impacts inherent in the design, construction, operations and management of a building. Mammel’s Gold rating is second only to Platinum in this rating system.

The UNO CBA has also established a sustainability concentration for MBA students and offers a course in environmental economics, as well as integrating coursework with other classes at UNMC.

Student interns at Union Pacific participate in the FuelMasters program, a quantifiable fuel reduction program. The college’s Study Abroad program in Costa Rica is studying sustainability and eco-tourism.

Both economics and marketing faculty are working with the Nebraska Business Development Center and OPPD to develop economic models of businesses that participate in utility management programs. The Center for Collaboration Science has been focused on the organizational change necessary for implementation of sustainability principles and policies.

Mammel Hall has played host to the Green Homes Tour in partnership with the Green Omaha Coalition and a panel on LEED implementation in partnership with the local U.S. Green Building Council’s Flatwater Chapter.

While these changes focus on the environment and sustainability, it’s my hope that a new rationale will take root. A way of thinking that avoids the stupid self-deception of past prosperity. A way of thinking that waste is never acceptable, whether it be wasting power, water or human potential. A way of thinking that implements a value of enlightened stewardship for the planet, for the nation, for our families and for every one of us.

The Public Space