From Reebok to Reuse: Building Brand & Scaling Impact tells the eco-minded career stories of Wayne Elsey, current CEO of Funds2Orgs and Sneakers4Good and former cofounder of Soles4Souls, and Reebok cofounder Joe Foster. Much of Elsey’s career has centered on his mission to give gently worn shoes a second life and turning them into economic opportunity for micro-entrepreneurs in developing countries as well as donating to people in need. Millions of shoes and garments have stayed out of landfills thanks to his efforts. Meanwhile, Reebok was an early example of repair and reuse—its Reetred service let customers send their worn shoes back to have the soles replaced.
After the foreword by Foster and an introduction by Elsey, the book follows each founder’s path, from the commercial entrepreneur to the social entrepreneur, before distilling the principles the two share on entrepreneurship, leadership, and social enterprise. It closes with a candid Q&A between the authors. In addition, throughout the book, “Voices of Wisdom” sections feature contributions gathered through the One Golden Nugget campaign, which invited readers to share a single piece of hard-won wisdom.
“Joe built one of the most recognized brands in the world. I enhanced a movement out of shoes people were ready to throw away,” Elsey says. “Writing this book together showed me we were running the same race the whole time. If you’ve been sitting on an idea that won’t leave you alone, let this be your nudge. Start. Adjust. Keep moving forward.”
Elsey grew up in a blue-collar home in Virginia and spent more than two decades in the retail and wholesale sides of the footwear business. On December 26, 2004, watching news coverage of the Indian Ocean tsunami, he saw a single shoe wash up on the shore. That moment set the course for his life’s work, starting with Soles4Souls. Foster grew up above a shoe repair shop and, in 1958, he and his brother started Mercury Sports Footwear, the company that became Reebok, and building on the shoemaking legacy of their grandfather, J.W. Foster.
“Joe turned his idea into a global brand. I turned mine into a global movement,” Elsey writes in the conclusion. “But neither of us started with a grand or elaborate plan.”
At the heart of the book is the argument proposed by Elsey: “Profit and purpose are not opposing forces. For the modern entrepreneur, they have to work together.” Adds Foster, in the book’s foreword, “We all have a responsibility to think about giving our products a second life—not just to help protect the planet but to help people too.”
The book is available now in paperback on Amazon for $19.99 and $9.99 on Kindle.
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