GE Regulatory Lobbying Tarnishes Green Image

In today's Wall Street Journal a story says that General Electric efforts to weaken smog controls on railway locomotives goes counter to the company's efforts at an environmental positioning.

It''s easy to get up in arms, and I think the lobbying is a huge mistake. Brand isn't something slapped onto a company. It's the communication of the embodiment of the company. A company is foolish to spend the money and effort to communicate something that isn't true - that's an expensive form of lying.

That said, what is GE? It's a conglomerate, comprising companies in a wide range of industries. The company's CEO buys and sells companies, and then tries to push corporate culture into any acquisition. What anyone has to ask in a conglomerate in particular is how well orders from above make their way down. It's not enough to say "we're going to do this." Eventually the company will run into a wall because employees will suddenly face competing priorities. In this case, GE's division building locomotives apparently wasn't enthusiastic about meeting new smog reduction guidelines for smoke-belching diesel engines. It was a tale of two greens: environment and money. Which one do employees pick? Whichever one saves their jobs, raises, and bonuses.

It's an old story in which people vote for their compensation. If a GE wants to be green, that's fine, but it had better realize what that could mean and be ready to pay employees to achieve that over other goals.