LivingHomes and Steve Glenn: Inspiring The Optimist

When LivingHomes launched last year, it was the first I’d really heard about modular construction or sustainable living, and the first time I thought about the business attitude that later inspired The Optimist. LivingHomes is fittingly our first Optimist Company.

The pioneering developer of eco-friendly modular residential construction, LivingHomes launched last year, installing their first home in one day last April in at their home base in Santa Monica, CA (check out the amazing video diary). Their houses are high-end, cool, and make only a tiny “ecological footprint.” LivngHomes is on the leading edge of Green building, and last April their model home was the first residence to attain the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum certification in the LEED ratings program. The home is a big zero, as in zero waste, zero emissions, zero carbon...

Founder Steve Glenn is a successful serial entrepreneur, the founder and former CEO of PeopleLink, and an alum of the dotcom incubator eCompanies, . He’s also a friend of Pepperdine University graduate marketing professor Molly Lavik, who invited him to speak at the Graziadio School of Business and Management last year. He sat casually on an entrepreneurial panel and talked about his goals: Profit and Purpose. He wasn’t the first to use those words- just the first time I’d ever thought about business on those blunt terms.

What I love about LivingHomes is that they are a "Green" company unabashedly targeting a luxury market. They went with an A-List architect (Ray Kappe) and definitely do not scrimp on the interior fixings (check out the great photography in the November Dwell.) And they definitely could have found a cheaper test market than Santa Monica.

(I actually think it’s a perfect test market: there are thousands of Considerate Consumers within a few miles, a vibrant entrepreneurial and media community in L.A., and an appreciation for high-end residential design, eco-friendly or not. There are also enough squalid, broke-down, environmentally disastrous eyesores nearby to contrast a constant reminder of how far we have to go in building responsibly.)

Critics have been quick to grunt, “So what? LivingHomes is for the wealthy; out of reach for the masses.” That’s exactly the point. Optimism- and in this case, sustainable building- isn’t about trying to change the world at the expense of running a solid business. If you believe that businesses are in a great position to lead social change, then it still has to be business-as-usual; The business model has to be sustainable. As former Patagonia CEO Michael Crooke said at the 2006 LOHAS conference, “It’s not enough to be eco-grovy.”

LivingHomes’ business model is to serve a high-end market with a high-end home that also happens to be the first to be LEED Platinum-Certified. And that’s what I love about it- they saw the luxury home buyer as one worth targeting with a "Green" product. It's no low-margin business serving as a vehicle for a purely altruistic cause (although there is clearly a huge role for business-like leadership in the non-profit arena). Instead it's a seasoned entrepreneur addressing an underserved market, and it's a great sign that the demand is there, as are the leaders interested in pursuing it.

Press: Business 2.o