Tachi Kiuchi is one of Japan's best known and most iconoclastic corporate executives. As chairman and CEO of Mitsubishi Electric America, he built the company's brand in the U.S. and managed the company's transition from the old to the new economy. Today he continues to press for profitable and sustainable business practices at Mitsubishi and other major Japanese corporations. Bill Shireman is one of America's leading environmental advocates. He wrote California's bottle bill recycling law and has brokered deals between some of the world's largest corporations-Coca-Cola, Coors, Nike, Mitsubishi, and Weyerhaeuser-and most impassioned activists-Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and the Sierra Club. Today he is CEO of Global Futures, serves as President of the Future 500, and leads a Corporate Accountability Practice (CAP) in partnership with Manning Selvage & Lee.
What We Learned in the Rainforest is a monumental piece of work. All the knowledge we need to create sustainable, profitable businesses is right there in the forest, if only we can learn from it. Kiuchi and Shireman show us how. --William K. Coors, Chairman of the Board, Adolph Coors Company A fascinating book bridging the chasm between business and nature by two people who have been there and done it. Immensely read- able--a must for anyone who cares about profit or a livable world. --Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA, Author of Birth of the Chaordic Age Business has much to learn from the natural world, and there are no better teachers than Tachi Kiuchi and Bill Shireman. Their book guides companies through the sustainability jungle, helping them see both the forest and the trees. Their message is clear and concise: To prosper in the 21st century, businesses of all sizes and sectors must heed not just the laws of governments and the marketplace but also the laws of nature. --Joel Makower, Co-founder, Clean Edge, Inc., Editor, The Green Business Letter Tachi Kiuchi and Bill Shireman offer a wonderfully fresh perspective on sustainable development. They explain potentially mind-twisting phenomena in a very entertaining, story-telling style that draws on, of course, what they learned in the rainforest but also sheds light on some things they couldn't possibly have learned there . . . such as what some very innovative companies are doing in Colorado, Minnesota, and The Hague. An important contribution to a rapidly moving field. --Matthew Arnold, CEO, World Resources Institute