Foreword

When I heard the title of Brad Edmondson’s book, my first thought was, “the soul of Ben & Jerry’s?” Ben & Jerry’s is a corporation. It doesn’t have a soul. The US Supreme Court may not be able to fully distinguish between corporations and people, but I can. Corporations aren’t people, and they don’t have souls.

Then I read the book. And it became clear that the people in the Ben & Jerry’s story definitely have souls. The founders, workers, board of directors, and ice cream lovers everywhere pour their souls into this company.

Some businesses require their owners and workers to check their souls, their consciences, and their values at the door. The story of Ben & Jerry’s is a story of what happens if people are allowed, even encouraged, to bring their consciences to work with them. In today’s soulless corporate culture, how can such a business exist? What would it even look like? How could it remain true to its values? And if an ice cream company can do it, why not every company?

Ben & Jerry’s, like a few other remarkable American companies, shows that another way of doing business is possible. The company has consistently walked the talk on environmental and social issues. It stands for something important, delivers on its promises, and provides a good product, creating a win-win-win. This book tells the story of a beloved company moving forward on principles that respect people and the planet—and in doing so, gives us a taste of how business could be.

Brad Edmondson takes us inside the beginnings of Ben & Jerry’s, charting the origins of its social mission and its rise to become an American icon beloved by hippies, yuppies, kids, and CEOs alike. But then the plot thickens, as this small Vermont outfit with roots in the counterculture gets bigger and struggles to keep its identity—its soul—in the world of multinational brands.

Although there has been extensive media coverage of the sale of Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever, this book is the first to tell the whole story: how the company fought to keep its three-part mission intact after the sale, how those principles were compromised in the decade following the sale, and how the two parties have ultimately learned to work together to preserve the brand’s vitality and integrity.

Just as Ben & Jerry’s is no ordinary business, this is no ordinary business book. It’s fast-paced, it has compelling, fully realized characters, and the narrative is gripping. The chapters about the Unilever takeover were my favorites. I knew the ending, and I still couldn’t put the book down. That made it difficult to eat my Cherry Garcia at the same time.

Annie Leonard

Berkeley, California, June 2013

Annie Leonard is founder of the Story of Stuff Project (www.storyofstuff.org), which makes videos and other educational material on the effects of corporate globalization, waste, and consumerism.