The conventional way to measure the success of a business is the bottom line. But the concept of a triple bottom line, where social and environmental factors are considered along with economic ones, is also getting a lot of attention.

Is this another business fad? Is it a new management technique like total quality management?

I don't think so. I see the triple bottom line as a way to think about yourself, your career, and your company. The essential challenge it poses to business leaders is to find a way to simultaneously please your investors and impress your grandchildren.

Triple bottom line thinking holds that a company should combine standard metrics of financial success with those that measure environmental stewardship and social justice. It is sometimes called the 3P approach -- People, Planet and Profits. In each case it requires thinking in three dimensions, not one.

Triple bottom line isn't new. When John Elkington first mentioned it in the mid 1990's, he also laid the groundwork for defining environmental and social impacts of a company's activities.

Today, quantifiable environmental impacts include consumption of finite resources, water quality and availability, and pollution emitted. Social impacts include community health, worker safety, education quality, and diversity.

Why think this way? Why adopt such an approach?

It is argued by many that companies that factoring these impacts into their overall corporate balance sheets will be more successful because it delivers greater efficiency, makes them more competitive and sparks innovation -- all drivers of profitability over time.

But intuitively, doesn't it also just make sense? Don't you want to leave the planet a little better than you found it? Don't you want to work for a company that operates ethically and acts with integrity and cares about the people it employs and serves? Don't you want to make products that really enhance people's lives? Don't you want to help our country become less vulnerable to oil supply disruptions?

We certainly don't measure the success of our families by how much money we have saved. Our family's health, our kid's education, and the amount of love and caring in our family, count as much, if not more, than our financial security. So why do we have to measure the success of our companies with only one metric?

Another concept often linked to triple bottom line is that of sustainability. We sometimes speak of adopting sustainable business practices or building sustainable businesses. But what does that really mean?

The best definition I've heard was created in 1987 by the United Nations Bruntland Commission, which defined sustainability as "Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It's a simple, powerful statement. Make sure our decisions today take future costs into account. By adding time it asks us to think in four dimensions and not one.

There is a strong argument that triple bottom line or building sustainable businesses creates more profitable and successful business. Pursuing environmental and social objectives doesn't have to be at the expense of financial objectives and often is reinforcing.

Take the desire to reduce the environmental impact of a building for example. You could just lower the thermostat and make everyone a little more uncomfortable. Or you could do something better and install more efficient lighting. Or you could do something even better and rethink the entire building and design an integrated building that has better ventilation, better lighting, uses much less energy, and is more comfortable.

People who work in LEED-certified buildings typically show 6 percent to 16 percent improved productivity, roughly 10 times the initial energy savings. That becomes a measurable benefit that can ultimately be linked to profitability and shareholder value. What's more, employees feel better about their work environment and their employer, creating stronger employee relationships and company loyalty. One investment in building efficiency yields benefits across multiple dimensions.

This is just the beginning. Businesses pursuing sustainability are becoming more efficient, more innovative, more connected, more profitable, and more competitive.

But as in most things, companies go through phases.

At first they tend to be defensive and focus on complying with regulations. When they move beyond that, they become tactical -- looking for ways to reduce waste and become more efficient in the way they do things.

In the next stage they start to think systematically. Here, a company begins to identify its position in the value chain and explore how their customers use their products and how they dispose of them. They will also explore their supply chain and find out where their raw materials come from and how much energy is used to make them. They will start thinking about their own factories and find ways of using new manufacturing process that use less energy.