Lifelong social entrepreneur, widely considered a founder of the sustainable business movement. Professional speaker on business strategy and sustainability issues.
Named an inaugural member of Sustainability Hall of Fame by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, and "one of the 10 most influential sustainability voices in America" by The Guardian.
Founder & CEO of Natural Logic Inc, helping leading companies in multiple industries build profit, valuation and brand—and reduce risks—by designing, implementing and measuring through profitable sustainability strategies. Business strategist and systems ecologist with more than 45 years experience in business & policy innovation; combines broad experience in strategy, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy.
First Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Palo Alto. Led development of Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, including unanimously adopted "80x30" greenhouse gas reduction goal, carbon neutral municipal utility, toughest green building standards in the US, and a "new mobility" platform.
"Natures' ecosystems have nearly 4 billion years of experience in the development of efficient, adaptive, resilient, and sustainable systems. Why should companies reinvent the wheel, when the R&D has already been done?" (Gil Friend, 1991)
Board: Blue Planet Energy, Inquiring Systems Inc.
Advisor: BFlow, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.
Author, The Truth About Green Business, The Green Business Field Guide, The Declaration of Leadership for Sustainable Business, and 100s of articles. Coauthor, Biofuels Development and Soil Productivity. Contributor, Worldchanging: A User's Guide to the 21st Century, Sustainable Enterprise Report, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, Sustainable Food Systems, Stepping Stones.
Specialties: Strategy, innovation, leadership, systems design, management cybernetics, industrial ecology, sustainable development, measuring what matters, training, coaching, speaking.
Lifelong social entrepreneur, widely considered a founder of the sustainable business movement. Professional speaker on business strategy and sustainability issues.
Named an inaugural member of Sustainability Hall of Fame by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals, and "one of the 10 most influential sustainability voices in America" by The Guardian.
Founder & CEO of Natural Logic Inc, helping leading companies in multiple industries build profit, valuation and brand—and reduce risks—by designing, implementing and measuring through profitable sustainability strategies. Business strategist and systems ecologist with more than 45 years experience in business & policy innovation; combines broad experience in strategy, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy.
First Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Palo Alto. Led development of Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, including unanimously adopted "80x30" greenhouse gas reduction goal, carbon neutral municipal utility, toughest green building standards in the US, and a "new mobility" platform.
"Natures' ecosystems have nearly 4 billion years of experience in the development of efficient, adaptive, resilient, and sustainable systems. Why should companies reinvent the wheel, when the R&D has already been done?" (Gil Friend, 1991)
Board: Blue Planet Energy, Inquiring Systems Inc.
Advisor: BFlow, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.
Author, The Truth About Green Business, The Green Business Field Guide, The Declaration of Leadership for Sustainable Business, and 100s of articles. Coauthor, Biofuels Development and Soil Productivity. Contributor, Worldchanging: A User's Guide to the 21st Century, Sustainable Enterprise Report, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, Sustainable Food Systems, Stepping Stones.
Specialties: Strategy, innovation, leadership, systems design, management cybernetics, industrial ecology, sustainable development, measuring what matters, training, coaching, speaking.
Virtual presentations
I have extensive experience working remotely with large and small global teams. Whether face-to-face is not an option, when budgets and travel restrictions are constraining, or when reducing your carbon footprint is a consideration, I can still guarantee an experience that will inspire, provoke and delight your audiences and teams.
My office setting is professional, and I have...
Living Between Worlds
Format: keynote, virtual keynote, workshop.
This program is perfect for:
- Executive leadership, Boards, Senior staff
- Asset managers
- Elected officials
- Activists
The audience will leave with:
- New ways to orient to, and lead through, uncertain times
- New assessments, tools, and language
- A sense of calm amidst the...
Navigating the Anthropocene—Leading in an Uncertain World
How your business can apply 3.8 billion years of open-source R&D to thrive in the unparalleled uncertainty of the 21st century?
How leaders can adapt, anticipate, and thrive—in an era of crisis and turmoil—with grace, dignity, and power?
For:
CXOs
Senior Executives
Investment professionals
Sustainability managers
Climate professionals
General audiences
Why CFOs Should Take the Lead on Climate
Facing climate risk and strategic duty...by moving beyond quarterly capitalism in a carbon-constrained world...and making the new world work for your business--and your career.
For:
Chief Financial Officers
Senior Executives
Investment professionals
Sustainability managers
Government regulators
Why smart cities aren't so smart—and why living cities can be:
How cities around the world have jumped to the forefront of the sustainability revolution, what your city can do next about climate, energy, water, housing, mobility, green surfaces, adaptation, finance, and inclusion--and why it might be easier to deal with them all together rather than separately.
(This topic draws on what I learned as the first Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Palo Alto—from both successes and failures—and as an international speaker on urban...
The Mysteriously Elusive Sustainability Business Case
How smart companies are making sustainability, regeneration, and climate action their secret door to massive business value...how your biggest brand promise can open that secret door...and why other companies are still working way too hard NOT to get it.
For:
CXOs
Senior Executives
Investment professionals
Sustainability managers
Climate professionals
General audiences
Getting The Prices Right
Why capitalism can't work right—and how your company is limiting its success—until it stops lying to itself about what things really cost
For:
CXOs
Senior Executives
Investment professionals
Sustainability managers
Climate and Sustainability actvivists
Economists
Policy analysts
8 recommend Gil
Post your own verified review when you hire this speaker through eSpeakers.
On-Site
R.E.E.
This was the best sustainability lecture I've heard in the last ten years.
Applied Materials
On-Site
B.K., Managing Director, Applied Materials
Gil is an outstanding speaker and can stimulate the kind of free-wheeling exchanges that most conferences are looking for.
Sierra Club
On-Site
C.P., Executive Director, Sierra Club
Thanks to The Truth About Green Business the usual excuse for remaining gray—I don't understand it and it's too controversial—just vanished.
Pacific Northwest National Lab
On-Site
S.B., Sr. Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Lab
Gil has keen insights into how sustainability affects the business side of a company and is one of the most eloquent speakers I know on the topic.
Earth Policy Institute
On-Site
L.R.B., President, Earth Policy Institute
Business as usual is destroying the natural systems upon which our economies—and our civilization—depend. We can't afford not to do green business. Fortunately, Gil Friend has provided us with a powerful, practical plan to recovery and sustained progress.
Dial Corporation
On-Site
R.V., former Vice President Sustainability, Dial Corporation
Gil Friend makes organizations understand what's on their risk agenda today and how to measure and manage impact while improving the bottom line. This starts with the firm belief that becoming a truly sustainable organization does ask for more than only reducing the carbon footprint.
Global Sustainability Officer, General Mills, Inc. (former)
On-Site
G.K., VP, Global Sustainability Officer, General Mills, Inc. (former)
This workshop changed my life. Gil Friend not only makes a compelling argument for urgent adoption of sustainable business principles, but also builds a practical and understandable blueprint for action.
GreenBiz.com
On-Site
J.M., Executive Chairman, GreenBiz.com
Verified @greenbiz.comGil is one of the most thoughtful and creative thinkers I know in the area of sustainable business, and artfully bridges the scientific and technical sides the issue, the realities of the daily world of business and people and the systems in which they operate.
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