Word: barnette
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Three years ago, Barnett spent about $310 million of his money to buy Shaklee, a company that devoted itself to manufacturing earth-friendly products long before green meant anything more than a color made by mixing blue and yellow. Founded by California chiropractor Forrest Shaklee in 1956, the company introduced a nontoxic, biodegradable cleaner in 1960 and a phosphate-free laundry detergent in 1972 and sold lines of natural health supplements and skin-care products. In 2000 it became the first company in the world to entirely offset its carbon emissions and be certified climate neutral. But Shaklee's sales...
...Shaklee was a pioneer of the green movement and had probably the longest-term, most loyal consumers of any consumer product I've seen, but it was a secret to many other people," says Barnett, who acknowledges that although he'd heard of the company back in the 1980s, when it was publicly traded in the U.S. and listed on the Fortune 500, he didn't know exactly what Shaklee made. "But this is a trillion-dollar industry. Shaklee's growth potential was unlimited," he says. "And in the long run, I think it's more fun and rewarding...
Have no fear?Shaklee is once again making money. Since the charismatic businessman took over as chairman and CEO, Shaklee has been posting growth in the double digits. Barnett says he regularly strikes a golden gong on the second floor of the Pleasanton, Calif., headquarters to celebrate days when sales exceed $1 million. "It's fun to hit the gong," he says with a smile. "Sometimes we gong almost every day of the week...
...Barnett's vision?that being green would feel good and earn him a whole lot of green?is symbolic of a marketplace revolution, says Yale's Daniel Esty, the co-author of Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. CEOS are "falling over one another," Esty says, to address climate change within their companies, while billions of venture-capital dollars are being poured into technological solutions for the planet's environmental woes. "And then you have Shaklee, with a 50-year history of doing this," says Esty, who believes...
...biggest moves Barnett has made at Shaklee is completely redesigning all his products' packaging, which has transformed the household-cleaning line from something you'd expect to find at Grandma's to something many young hipsters (a market Barnett knows he must attract) would be proud to show on their shelves. Barnett had his San Francisco design firm's team discard two completed designs before deciding on a third, one he felt was the perfect science-meets-nature theme for every Shaklee line. The new dishwasher-powder label shows a stack of plates lined up next to leaf fronds...