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In today's business podcast, we will start a series about the 100 most admired businesses in America and the world, and brainstorm about what we can learn from them to apply to our own businesses.

Fortune has put out a list of their Top 100 Most Admired businesses, and today is an overview of some of those businesses, and why they are admired. The key word for these businesses seems to be "green", and that's not just for money. They are environmentally green, and people are appreciating that more and more.

General Electric, a business which we have profiled before regarding their green status, started out as an EPA nightmare, but has applied their green philosophy to running their own business now.

They are also working on developing products that make the rest of the world green, which is obviously winning them points. GE has made many modifications to their business over the years to keep up with the many changes in the world. Listening to people below top management has been one of those changes, showing that GE has moved into the forefront of the new model of doing business.

Starbucks is at #2, and they are not only a green business, but they are 3rd World Nation friendly.

I never knew that Starbucks pays fair market prices to 3rd World coffee growers. They don't take advantage of the farmers, like many of the other large companies. Such good will must not go unnoticed, and makes Starbucks that much more lovable in its customers' eyes.

Toyota is also at the top of the list, and I never knew that they had started in the US Car Industry back in 1957 with a horrible flop of a car that they took off of the market in 1960.

Everyone expected Toyota to just go home with their tail between their legs. Obviously, everyone was wrong. Toyota has forced the car industry to refer to GM, Chevy and Ford as the "Detroit 3" instead of the "Big 3" carmakers. I also loved the blunt honesty of Toyota when they said they are racing Camrys in the Nascar Nextel Cup to sell Tundras - because that's where their Tundra clientele is.

Now, as a side note, my podcast sounds very rough today - due to a week from hell and stupidity on my end.

This is made worse from the fact that someone left a very negative comment on one of my other sites about a poor sounding podcast (it was an interview, and the other person's connection was just plain bad). So please excuse the fact that the 2nd half sounds bad - I tried to clean it up so it was at least listenable, but I just didn't have time to do it again, with PodCamp Atlanta coming up this weekend. I also lost my internet connections for a day, and am so far behind.

Lastly, I will again invite you to join us for the Online International Podcasting Expo, April 20-21, 2007. Lots of freebies, including up to $5000 in business services, vacations and more.

Penny Haynes, 1st Podcast Publishing