The business case for working with your toughest critics | Bob Langert

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2019

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As a “corporate suit” (his words) and former VP of sustainability at McDonald’s, Bob Langert works with companies and their strongest critics to find solutions that are good for both business and society. In this actionable talk, he shares stories from the decades-long transition into corporate sustainability at McDonald’s -- including his work with unlikely partners like the Environmental Defense Fund and Temple Grandin -- and shows why your adversaries can sometimes be your best allies.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features sustainability expert Bob Langert, recorded live at TED Summit 2019.
0:09.6	Who remembers this infamous styrofoam container?
0:16.5	Well, it sure changed me. It changed my company.
0:19.8	And it started a revelatory journey about how
0:23.0	adversaries can be your best allies. You know, back in the late 80s, this Big Mac clamshell
0:29.9	was the symbol of a garbage crisis. People were really angry. For example, thousands of students, young students,
0:38.3	around the globe were sending letters, blaming McDonald's,
0:41.4	because we were using millions of these at that time.
0:45.2	Now, no one at McDonald's knew anything about environmentally friendly packaging,
0:49.5	including me.
0:50.8	The last 10 years, I was in charge of logistics and truck drivers.
0:55.9	Then out of nowhere,
1:02.6	my boss comes to me and says, hey, we want you to save this clamshell for the company and lead the effort to reduce waste within McDonald's. I looked at them and I asked him, what is polystyrene?
1:12.3	But it all sounded intriguing to me because it brought me back to my roots.
1:17.7	You see, I grew up in the late 60s, early 70s, in a time of huge social upheaval in the United States.
1:24.8	And I was really in tune with the protest, the sit-ins, the anti-Vietnam sentiment,
1:30.1	and I really felt there was a need to question authority. But as I went into university,
1:36.9	I realized that, you know, I'm not going to make a living doing this. And that whole movement
1:42.5	had subsided. And my activist spirit went dormant.
1:47.2	And I needed to make a living. So I got involved in the business world. So now these students
1:53.4	against pollution who are sending those protest letters to McDonald's, they reminded me of myself
1:59.9	20 years ago. They're questioning authority.
	...

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