Heather Frutig is a second-year student in the MBA program and a Fowler Center Fellow.

I grew up weary of business. I was convinced that policy
changes were the most effective way to benefit society. I guess that’s not so
surprising coming from the product of two lawyers. It was a bit of a twisted
road to realize that, in the right hands, business has the power to create
positive change. I can remember the moment that realization began to take hold
in my mind.
I studied Environmental Policy and Behavior at the
University of Michigan and in an attempt to spend some time in, what I
perceived to be, wilder terrain, I spent a semester in Condon, MT, with
Northwest Connections through the University of Montana. Condon is in the
Montana Rockies, halfway between Missoula and Kalispell in the Swan Valley.
The Community Forestry class took a fieldtrip to two timber
mills. The first was a heavily mechanized facility for Plum Creek that could
turn entire trunks of old growth timber on massive lathes into telephone poles.
Men (not a women in sight) spent their working days and nights pushing a button
to start and stop the machinery in their section of the cavernous warehouse. It
was a spectacle of efficiency and automation. I was both impressed by human
ingenuity to make order out of chaos and also broken-hearted by the lack of
humanity.
The second mill could not have been more different. RBM, which stands for Roy Ben Mom, is a
timber mill started by two sons, Roy and Ben, and their mom. They take downed,
diseased and infected logs and turned them into boards, trim and sawdust. The
difference between the Plum Creek and RBM facilities was stark. Where Plum
Creek was inside a warehouse with no windows, RBM was outside. Where Plum Creek
was run by union workers pushing buttons, RBM had an employee profit sharing
model and trained individuals to view each log as unique. Where Plum Creek is
notorious for clear cutting entire tracks of land, RBM was using timber that
was viewed as defective and unwanted. And, simply to sweeten the pot, RBM had a
couple dogs running around.
I got so excited. Here was my unicorn. Here was a company
that cared about its employees, customers and the environment! And, while the
shift to believing in the power of business for good didn’t happen
immediately, the visit to RBM set in motion a trip down a road that led me, 12
years later, to Weatherhead and the Fowler Center.
Is this part of a series? Because I'd like to hear the next installment of this story!
ReplyDeleteGreat example of how it could be. Thanks for sharing!
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