Employees are your greatest asset for sustainable innovation, says Judah Schiller of green-marketing firm Saatchi & Saatchi S. Here’s how he corralled 1.3 million Wal-Mart associates into finding new ways for the retail giant to go green – and how you can engage and inspire your own workforce to do the same. (To listen to our conversation with Judah, click here.)

SLM: So many companies are creating special "green teams" to spearhead their sustainability efforts. What gave you the idea for Wal-Mart's Personal Sustainability Project, which encourages employees to find ways to green their personal environments?

Judah: The natural inclination for most companies is toward a traditional, top-down program, but we've found that top-down approaches don't tend to work for sustainability. At Saatchi & Saatchi S, we're moving away from the classic "green" brand to what we call Blue - a broader definition of sustainability that encompasses environment, economics, and social and cultural issues. It's a much more robust way for people to engage around sustainability. You just can't force people to change their lifestyle or think about the world in a different way. The much more effective approach is to educate and inspire and to provide people with the resources and channels to take action.

When you're tasked with taking sustainability to 1.3 million Wal-Mart associates across the U.S., the framework needs to be more flexible. To achieve the effect we wanted with Wal-Mart - to have that sustainability conversation spill out from the stores and the organization into communities across the nation - we had to create a voluntary program that could spread virally.

SLM: Simply as a matter of scale, Wal-Mart has much to gain from the small steps its employees take to green their immediate environmental. What about smaller companies, where individual choices might pay fewer dividends? Do the same rules apply?

Judah: Absolutely. There's always low-hanging fruit that can be harvested just by walking around an office or a plant or a distribution facility and saying "let's change out all the incandescent lightbulbs," for example. But to get the kind of innovative thinking any company - large or small - is looking for, you have to distribute the problem throughout the organization and let people engage with sustainability in their own way, through their own unique perspective. Any company that's serious about innovating for sustainability should consider the bottom-up perspective.

SLM: Let's talk a bit more about this bottom-up perspective. How would you characterize the role of employees in driving a company's sustainability efforts?

Judah: Employees are boss. Employees should have the primary role in greening - or as we say "bluing" the business. Corporations are a phantom legal entity, but it's the people who are the life and blood of an organization and they are the ones who ultimately change the way operations are run, materials are sourced, and products are manufactured and distributed. They're also responsible for how companies choose to brand themselves. How are we educating consumers at large?

To take it a step further, the way we're going to change society is through our major organizations. How do we create a global movement that begins with the employees within those organizations? Our vision at Saatchi and Saatchi S is to touch 1 billion people through personal sustainability practices.

SLM: Do you think most CEOs see things that way?

Judah: I think the astute CEOs see it that way. Lee Scott at Wal-Mart has a vision that a lot of other CEOs are looking at. He has a deep belief in the Personal Sustainability Project and in working with associates to harvest innovative ideas that take the company forward. In that way, he's really a pioneer in the sustainability community.

SLM: More companies seem to be putting employees at the center of their green marketing efforts as well. For example, Anheuser Busch is airing new commercials that feature employees discussing the company's environmental programs. Coke's chief marketing officer recently called employees the company's "green ambassadors." Is this the beginning of a trend?

Judah: A brand can stand for a lot of things. Having a culture of sustainability - one that's based on an organization of people who are actively tied into creating a sustainable company and a sustainable brand - speaks very loudly and shows a deep commitment. What could be better for a brand than being backed by five or ten thousand people who are genuinely working both for their own personal interests and for the organization and its attempts to be a better corporate citizen.

I see a fundamental difference between the companies that are instituting high-level sustainability programs and the companies that have culture-building engagement programs designed to incorporate sustainability at all levels of the operation. The companies that create a culture of sustainability are equipped to demonstrate their sincerity and authenticity to the consumer by really unpacking the brand throughout the product lifecycle. There's already a sea of eco-labeling going on. Being able to tell a more robust sustainability story is going to be essential.

Hear Judah speak live at Sustainable Brands ’08!