http://www.newbelgium.com/culture/alternatively_empowered/sustainable-business-story/planet/energy-and-greenhouse-gas-emission.aspx
In 2010, the total sale of beer in America was approximately $101 billion, according to BA the Brewers Association. This multi-billion dollar product has never really been seen in many consumers’ eyes as being an “eco-friendly” product besides the occasional recyclable bottles associated with certain brands. New Belgium Brewing Co. has and still continues to lead the way in making the beer business in America more environmentally friendly. This is due to their CEO, Kimberly Jordan.
What is Kimberly Jordan’s Leadership style?
Kimberly Jordan’s leadership philosophy can nearly be summed up by her quote of the culture at New Belgium Brewing Co.,” Alternatively Empowered means making business decisions based on minimizing environmental impact, encouraging the growth of our employee owners, and being a socially responsible contributor to our community. It's rewarding, challenging, and educational. It's what makes us New Belgium” (newbelgium.com). She is concerned with the town and state that her business is located in, as well as being an industry leader in environmentally friendly innovation. In Chapter 4, we discussed the Ohio State Studies and the Michigan Studies. Jordan’s leadership style would closely be tied to consideration (Ohio State) or in other terms an employee oriented style (Michigan). She has empowered her employees to be owners as well as herself and management. An example of Jordan’s employee oriented style goes back to a decision made in 1999. “In 1999 it became the first brewery to use wind power, bought from the local utility, rather than electricity from coal plants. It costs about a third more, but the brewery's employees (who own 32% of the company) voted for the switch, even though the difference comes out of their yearly bonuses. As of mid-2002 the brewery had saved eight million pounds of coal and prevented 15 million pounds of CO2 emissions from being dumped into the atmosphere” (cnn.com).
The Green Culture
In addition to using wind power, Kimberly Jordan has also implemented many other ‘green’ processes within New Belgium Brewing Co. The company uses a closed loop circuit. Which at the on-site Process Water Treatment Plant (PWTP), “New Belgium uses microbes to clean all of our production wastewater… A byproduct of this process, methane gas, is harvested and piped back to the brewery, where it powers a heat and power engine”(newbelgium.com). Furthermore, New Belgium uses solar power, and a smart grid to effectively lower costs of the amount of energy used. The smart grid can gather information by itself to shut off non-essential functions to eliminate the waste of resources being performed when in fact these resources should not be being used at all, such as lighting in areas that do not need to be lite at the time.
The Future
The future at New Belgium Brewing Co. seems to be continual growth and innovation. Many consumers and people around the United States know the New Belgium product line, and Kimberly Jordan knows that her business has loyal customers. Where she is more interested in is about” being a business role model and creatively approaching the craft of brewing”(newbelgium.com) The future seems to not only continuing the environmentally friendly culture at New Belgium but expanding their culture and their processes to other companies within the industry. “We are working with other breweries around the United States to develop some partnerships which may lead to bigger things. I think it would be great to create a consortium of breweries that collaborate and brew across the country thereby minimizing our environmental impact and being closer to our customers.” (cnn.com)
Kimberly Jordan’s style to leadership goes to her core, which seems to really be a considerate, passionate, employee oriented type of leadership. She has a drive to be a leader in going green within her industry, but also wants to make partnerships within her competitive industry to slowly bring down the environmental footprint the beer companies have left behind already.
Kim Jordan must be capturing the minds and hearts of her customers and employees if an outsider from the article states, "They're pretty impeccable," says brewmaster Garrett Oliver of the Brooklyn Brewery, which also has an environmentally friendly operation. "They're the people the rest of us look up to." I agree that her drive had a lot to do with where the company is today. The article seems to be more trait focused. The "drive" you discussed would be her determination which according to Northouse is major leadership trait. She had "the desire to get the job done" (20). She also had initiative, persistence, and drive. The fact that her business would not begin to profit meant she had to know that she was doing the right thing. Another trait she has is her integrity. In the eyes of her employees and others she is honest and trustworthy. As her customers are loyal to her she is loyal back to her customers.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware that the New Belgium Brewing Co. was so green. I am really amazed and shocked at all of the precautions the company and Kimberly is taking to better the company for it's employees, customers, and the environment. What really stood out to me is how the employees were willing to give away some of their yearly bonus to implement solar panels for the company.
ReplyDeleteHer motivation really shows by the fact that Kimberly is reaching out to other breweries and asking them to work as 'greenly' as New Belgium Brewing Co. seems to be. Even though New Belgium Brewing Co.'s excellence in going green could be seen as their competitive advantage to caring customers that share the same belief, Kimberly is asking other companies to follow in her footsteps. I wonder how much of an impact it could make if all major beer brewing companies made the big switch to better the environment like Kimberly did.
Kim Jordan really has made a huge leap in going green for the industry in which New Belgium Brewing Company operates. She seems to possess great human and conceptual skills Conceptually, she has really shaped the meaning of her company and has showed everyone where to company is going. She has changed her company from the average everyday brewery to one that is like no other, a leading company of its kind in making " green" changes that better the environment. Jordan created this vision and carried out a very strategic plan to be the successful company they are. She also is very sensitive to her workers as well as the well being of the environment. She is working effectively with the employees to achieve to goals her company has visioned, thus containing great human skills. With mastering these two skills, Kim has and will continue to be the superior leader she is.
ReplyDeleteI think Kim proves that you can be both task and relationship oriented. I think if we looked at the leadership grid she would be placed as team management (9,9) because she places a strong emphasis on task and relationships. There is definitely a high degree of teamwork and employees are satisfied by this by being involved and committed. She acts determined, makes priorities and goals clear, and seems to enjoy working.
ReplyDeleteAs we learned in class the style approach does not tell which style is best, but I would say this seems to be working for him