“Green paper products” isn’t a contradiction of terms, especially where Jeff Mendelsohn is involved! As founder of New Leaf Paper, Jeff has been a visionary leader in the evolution of the green business community. We met over a pot of tea to discuss business as a force for good, the dirty side of the paper industry, and creating lasting change.
Note: this video is edited to 10 minutes, but you can listen to the full 40-minute audio interview on iTunes.
Show Notes
- Business as a force for good
- Change for good: the business of paper
- Destruction: Paper as one of the most polluting industries in the world
- The pain of the startup business
- Patagonia and LLBean as leaders in customer service
- Starting with a positive vision
- Creating lasting change
References
Featured Teas
About the Guest
Jeff Mendelsohn has focused his career on his parallel goals of building a highly successful green business and driving a fundamental shift toward sustainability in the paper industry through his business model. Founding New York Recycled Paper in 1991 and New Leaf Paper in 1998, Jeff has been a visionary leader in the evolution of the green business community.
Jeff has extensive relationships with other green business leaders and actively participates in the evolution of the green business community through membership in Business for Social Responsibility, Social Venture Network, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, and, most recently, as a founding signatory of B-Corporation.
Since it was founded in 1998, New Leaf Paper has pioneered the market for environmentally leading papers, and has inspired some of the largest paper companies in the world to pay attention to environmental concerns. He enthusiastically embraces the next phase in the evolution of New Leaf Paper, as the company rapidly grows from pioneer to leader in this new marketplace.
Tell Jeff that you love New Leaf Paper, jeff@newleafpaper.com or on Twitter, @jeffmendelsohn.
About Samovar Stories
Tea brings people together, and Samovar brings people to tea. In this interview series let the stories of these fearless folk educate and entertain, and deliver you a dose of daily inspiration. These real people doing really amazing things, encourage us all to wake up to the “now” and do something momentous with our lives.
Join Samovar Tea Lounge founder Jesse Jacobs as he shares good tea with friends, some famous and some not, but all of them inspiring and unique. Featured guests include best selling authors Dr. Andrew Weil, Tim Ferriss, Chip Conley, and Dean Karnazas, tech entrepreneur and Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, craigslist.orgfounder Craig Newmark, and others.