One of the nice things about being on vacation is that you actually have time to read a couple of newspapers cover to cover. That was particularly rewarding today as I devoured both the New York Times and the Wall St. Journal. If you get a chance, check out the Journal’s special section called Eco:nomics, that contains a series of interviews they gathered at conference by the same name. The interview’s with Jeffrey Immelt (CEO of GE) and H. Lee Scott, Jr. (CEO of Wal-Mart) were particularly instructive. While both of these companies were quick to get on the green bandwagon, neither are prepared to call it missionary work. Instead they see it simply as good business. Here are two telling quotes:

JEFFREY IMMELT: I don’t think that CEO hobbies have any role in running companies. I’m an investor, I’m a capitalist and I’m a businessman. So I believe that I could generate earnings for my investors through technology. There’s no percentage for any CEO in the world to run his or her business thinking that there are not going to be carbon caps someday. Because the day it becomes law, you’re five years late. And you either get out ahead of these things or you get stomped by them.

H. LEE SCOTT JR.: It’s consistent with what we say our purpose is, and that is saving people money so they can live better. We looked at what Sam Walton started and how he developed the company. It was by eliminating waste, bringing in efficiencies. And by thinking about sustainability from our standpoint, it really is about how do you take cost out, which is waste, whether it’s through recycling, through less energy use in the store, through the construction techniques we’re using, through the supply chain. All of those things are simply the creation of waste. We found it’s consistent with the entire model we’ve had since Sam opened the first store.

Neither of these CEO’s are seeking sainthood by going green. Instead, as Emmelt put it, they see “green in green.” This sort of honesty is refreshing and avoids the pretense so often found in green-related marketing. While there is room for altruism in this world, I’m suspicious of any public company with profit-driven shareholder obligations that claims it is going green for any reason other than it is simply good business. Businesses that do badly by doing good won’t stay in business. Businesses that do well by doing good, in this case by leading the green revolution, are to be commended with higher stock prices not Nobel Prizes.

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