A Dream Made True

As an employee at SunCommon, I think I can speak for the group when I say that we feel incredibly lucky to be part of this company. You see, SunCommon is not like the others, SunCommon is a bit of a diamond in the rough. As businesses struggle and feel the crunch of a down turned economy, SunCommon is emerging as a company with potential for profit and growth. Yet, to me, what is most remarkable is SunCommon’s dedication to its values. From the start, our co-founders are committed to not cut any corners or sacrifice employee benefits. They understand that quality beats quantity and that quality should extend outward.

Duane Peterson, one of SunCommon’s two Presidents, tells the story of such thought and intention that has gone into making SunCommon.

Starting SunCommon has been a dream come true. Beginning something from scratch gave us the freedom to fashion a mission, workforce, workplace and culture that reflect our values.  What an opportunity to try to get it right.      

It turns out that every business decision is an opportunity to reflect our values, starting with the mission. SunCommon is a social venture, an entity whose very purpose is positive change in the world.  This one is intended to dramatically increase the production of solar energy in Vermont, by making it possible for homeowners to actually save money by going solar.

However lofty our intent, it comes down to people to execute it.  So we sought out knowledgeable, experienced,  spirited, flexible, committed folks who get it and are committed to co-creating something new to bring about change.  The folks who ran away to join our solar circus are amazing — and are respected with good pay, generous benefits and time off, profit sharing and a culture that values their wisdom and passion to make this happen.

It matters who we do business with, since we need to spend money to get all this done.  We wanted our business to benefit folks in our communities who share our values, so we sought out like-minded attorneys and insurers, graphic designer, web developer, credit union, car dealers, computer vendors – you name it.  Alas, no solar panel are made in Vermont so we chose a US-based outfit that does business well.

We knew that we’d spend a lot of time (and rent money) on our offices, so they need to reflect who we are.  We located in Waterbury, to do our part helping that cool town recover from Irene’s devastation.  The Energy Mill is a dream workplace, Vermont’s largest net-zero office building.  It produces all the power it needs – from geothermal heating and cooling, to solar thermal hot water and solar electric panels.  –  It’s like this space was built for us.  

A bunch of our people work outside the office and need transportation.  So our little fleet is small, high-mileage — mostly hybrid Toyota Priuses (or is it Prii?), one little Subaru all-wheel drive for the mud and one Chevy Volt electric car that we fuel off our solar panels.

This stuff is important to us as individuals,  since it contributes to making the work enjoyable. But more importantly, these reflections of our values will fuel the change we seek on the outside.  They are what will allow for our success in delivering joyful service to our customers and helping them go solar, at a scale that is meaningful, while sharing whatever success we have with others in our communities.

We’ll do doubt mess it up sometimes.  So we have pledged to be open about our errors, mis-judgments, unkindness, random acts of stupidity.  We ask you to join us on this ride, enjoy what we have to offer and call us out when we fail.  We really want this to matter, and be fun along the way.

Duane Peterson