Reviews for Finding Sustainability
Leith Sharp, Director & Lead Faculty Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
In the USA 30+ million small businesses employ 47+% of the private workforce. This means, there is no sustainable future without small business. That is to say, future generations will not enjoy a stable climate, a viable biosphere, an equitable and opportunity rich economy, global peace, justice and inclusion, without small business making all of those things part of their core mission and business.
So what does it take to turn a small business into a sustainability leadership lighthouse? For one thing, it’s not the same journey as a global corporation or a forward-thinking government organization. Small business is edgier. There’s less room for error, less buffer in the face of external threats. Small business has a more intimate interdependence with its employees, local community, suppliers, customers. Small business takes a lot of heart. It’s more personal.
In this book, you hear the rare and important voice of a small business owner taken by surprise as the world around him starts signaling that his company’s core product is out of sync with a sustainable future. We are talking about the iconic plastic bag.
This is an important book because it tells a very personal story with enormous honesty and humility. Why didn’t this business owner do what most small business owners choose to do and just tune out these signals in order to get through another quarter? How could he take on the unimaginable risks of pivoting his entire business, when so much was at stake, the market wasn’t demanding it yet and the risks and challenges of pivoting ahead of the market were so enormous? And what did his co-owner, employees and family make of all this?
This is the anatomy of 21st century leadership. It is personal, vulnerable, honest and it happens in the humble arena of one day at a time. I’m so glad Trent has written this for us and about us.
Kirkus Reviews
A plastic bag manufacturer embarks on an enlightening environmental journey in this debut book.
Romer, who co-owns a small family business that manufactures custom plastic bags for the retail market, describes sustainability as “a place where business meets faith” in this insightful account. Recognizing a “growing anti-plastic public sentiment” in 2018, he was struck by a National Geographic magazine cover highlighting plastic pollution of the ocean. He vowed to make a personal commitment to change his own company’s practices and embrace sustainability, beginning with
self-education.
Research, conferences, and an executive education program gave Romer the working knowledge and tools to create a “systems map” to analyze his company’s operations. This helped him implement sustainability-oriented modifications while recognizing that it was “more about a thousand small things and less about one big thing.” Romer charted a path that resulted in a new vision for his business, which he termed “Healthy Planet, Healthy People and Healthy Company”; this became the driving force behind six key initiatives, among them stocking sustainable materials, creating a design guide for sustainable packaging, and communicating sustainability goals to clients.
In this book, Romer details 10 steps that he and his business took to reach their “stretch goal” of a 25% waste reduction. Just as important, he tells of how he engaged his clients in his journey, educating them about how sustainability ultimately benefits everyone. He generously shares what he learned with readers so they can adapt his methodology as well.
Romer is an astute narrator, observing his own growing awareness of the importance of environmental awareness as the story unfolds. He writes with honesty and humility, unafraid to expose his own vulnerabilities as he took on a daunting challenge. Especially compelling is the example he sets as visionary leader of a small company that can have a surprisingly big environmental impact.
Along the way, he effectively relates how his effort is just one piece of a larger whole: “Our thread in the sustainability fabric is a thread in the sustainability tapestry…knowing that we may never fully see the full tapestry we are helping to create.”
A perceptive, instructive, and inspiring business memoir.
Patrick Lindner, Senior Executive for Fortune 500 and family-owned corporations
Finding Sustainability offers a compass for family-owned businesses to navigate uncertain waters that threaten the very backbone of the company. The quest for in-depth understanding of environmental sustainability provides a compelling road map to uncovering creative solutions that are not obvious. I highly recommend Finding Sustainability to businesses of any size who are searching how to navigate a purpose-driven transformation rooted in sustainability, faith and the quest for meaning.
Linda Krzykowski, Associate Vice Provost, University at Albany
Finding Sustainability takes the reader on a true journey. As the author journeys through nature with his family, he realizes that he must also embark on a sustainability journey with his organization. Throughout his journey, his faith and commitment to his family, his company, his employees and his community lead him to learn what sustainability means and how to embrace it in order to ensure the long-term viability of his company. But sustainability in a family-owned, petroleum-based, packaging company presents real challenges. The reader learns about these challenges along with steps for overcoming them that can be applied to any organization. Ultimately, Finding Sustainability provides the motivation and rationale for bringing sustainability into our personal and professional lives.
Timothy Lange, Teacher, coach, administrator, superintendent secondary education for 33 years
I spent 33 years as an educator and coach, working hard to help develop young minds. In reading Finding Sustainability, I became the student. I learned to an extent I didn’t imagine prior. I have started to put into action small steps toward sustainability. I have the author to thank for that education. The author’s dedication toward educating the reader is outstanding.
Editorial Review—- Nonfiction Authors Association Book Awards Program
Finding Sustainability opens readers’ eyes to what business owner Trent A. Romer has done to lead a company and live a life that honors his values and respects the planet. As owner of a third-generation plastics company, his journey toward making his company and its products sustainable and profitable is inspirational. Romer found ways to produce plastic bags that do not add refuse to the mountains of debris in landfills or to the floating plastic islands in our oceans. Romer studied, he learned, he kept at it, and he became empowered. He obtained the tools to lead his company to new ways of sourcing materials, making plastic bags, and disposing of them so that they become resources with use beyond the plastic bag.
Finding Sustainability is beautifully written and makes use of biking and boating analogies that tie Romer’s life interests to his business interests. Romer has written a book that conveys what one person can do to make a difference in his own life and the life of his company. He cares about and cares for the legacy we are leaving future generations on this planet we share.
Our reviewers have completed the evaluation process and I’m happy to report that Finding Sustainability: The Personal and Professional Journey of a Plastic Bag Manufacturer earned a Gold award. Congratulations!!
Nonfiction Authors Association Review #1
Finding Sustainability gives tremendous insight into how small businesses can and need to transform. Not many businesses make it to the 3rd generation and if they do, they rarely have a leader as thoughtful, courageous, and insightful as Trent A. Romer at the helm. This book takes the reader through the personal journey of risking his, his family’s and his employees’ livelihoods while reinventing the company’s core business. Understanding journeys like this one will help to reinvent and strengthen the U.S. economy. This book provides several critical lessons in understanding sustainability. The author is humble and transparent. My hope is anyone who reads Finding Sustainability will come away informed and inspired, seeking to be part of a better, stronger future.
Nonfiction Authors Association Review #2
Finding Sustainability is a look at how a businessman learned to change course without capsizing his company. As the third-generation owner of a family-run manufacturer of plastic bags, Trent Romer needed to make his business environmentally friendly in the face of some stiff opposition. The decades-long benefits of plastics, specifically their durability, versatility, and affordability, were threatened to be overturned. Evidence pointed to the pollution caused in every step of their manufacturing, from extracting raw materials to disposal.
In the light of this controversy, Romer took a positive stand: for the environment and for his company. While at first glance, it may seem that these two things are at odds with each other, he educated himself, made a commitment, and implemented necessary changes to make them compatible.
Yet, not only did the business take on new meaning, Romer himself emerged as a stronger leader and someone more in touch with today’s environmental concerns. His dual journeys run alongside each other to create a better vision for his company and a better version of himself.
Fredy Steng, Berry Global Inc. Director Strategic Sales
I thoroughly enjoyed every word. The content was spot on. I’m suggesting to our management team that we order copies for our sales and technical staff. I look forward to future Trent Romer books.
John Bolton, Managing Director at Amerex Energy Services
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sustainability. The journey Trent and his company is taking is relevant to all industries and companies. In this book, Trent speaks to all of the challenges his company has faced in positioning it as a leader in implementing sustainable practices. With those challenges come many successes as well as organizational clarity of purpose that is guiding the future.
Jay Kirsch, Goodreads Review
While Trent set out to write a personal memoir he also created a brilliant business best practices book. Finding Sustainability is a road map for any small business that is feeling the pressure of changing forces out of their control. It’s an antidote to Clayton Christiansen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, proving that real change in a mature company is not just possible but can strengthen the business and its employees. Small (and particularly family) business owners in any industry can apply these lessons to changes forced on them from technological, secular or environmental changes.
That is not meant to put down the personal nature of this transformation, however. Trent’s ownership of the company’s contribution to an ecological problem is sincere and motivates the journey for far more than just financial reasons.
It is rare today to see public displays of faith in corporate life without feeling like there’s an ulterior motive. Trent is unabashedly proud of connecting family and faith in his business. That pride translates to a sense of responsibility for all the stakeholders in Clear View Bag – not just the immediate family but the employees and customers as well.
Who would not want to work for this leader? He values the people he employs, their input and has a real appreciation for family time and the true reason people come to work everyday. Even including a simple paragraph about the impact of vacation time on the company goals shows where Trent’s heart and head are focused.
I hope to see updates on the impact Trent’s journey has on this company, the industry and the author himself.
Midwest Book Review (https://www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/jun_21.htm#michaeldunford)
Synopsis: What if the foundation of your family business were threatened by something out of your control? What if the livelihood of 70 employees and their families were at stake, as the license to operate your business became called into question? What if 57 years of family history, grown through generations of hard work and sacrifice, were at risk of being lost? What if the reasons were actually one with which you fundamentally agreed?
Readers will be fascinated when reading “Finding Sustainability: The Personal and Professional Journey of a Plastic Bag Manufacturer” as author Trent Romer (who is the 3rd generation co-owner of his family’s business custom plastic bag manufacturing business for over 25 years and which was founded in 1961 by his grandfather) takes them on a journey to 8 states, 3 national parks and 3 countries to experience the life-changing education and adventures that led him to finding sustainability for his plastic bag manufacturing business and for himself.
Critique: An inherently interesting read that will have special appeal for environmental activists, “Finding Sustainability: The Personal and Professional Journey of a Plastic Bag Manufacturer” is an impressively informative and exceptionally well presented account that will prove to be a welcome and timely addition to personal reading lists, as well as community, college and university library Environmental and ‘Green Business’ collections and supplemental studies curriculum lists. It should be note that “Finding Sustainability” is also readily available in a digital book format.