We Can Create Our Future

I love to surf. I talk about it all the time. It’s not that I am a great surfer. Far from it.  I am one of those journeyman surf dudes who “mind surfs” much better than I actually surf.  But as they say, “Only a surfer knows the feeling.”  The feeling is everything.  The ocean, the porpoises, and the screaming sensation of speed when you’re in the right place on the right wave.  But I am also 60 years old.  Damn.  I’ve noticed that this winter I have been more tentative than ever to take on bigger, overhead waves.  I’ve been super careful not to paddle into anything I didn’t have a 95% chance of riding well.  That’s being too careful.

I began to notice that when I saw a set of waves coming and I was paddling outside to either catch it or get over it, my mind was telling me fear stories.

“Don’t even think about it.  It’s too steep.  It will close out for sure.  It’s going to pitch…Ah!”

When my mind is going off like that I can feel the fear rise from my toes to my newly freaked out face.  Then all I want to do is survive.  Not surf.  Survive.  So what happens is I let too many perfectly good, potentially thrilling waves go by.  Then I sit outside in the calm water silently cursing myself.

“You wimp.  You old, clumsy sorry excuse for a surfer…”  No I am not kidding.

The reason my mind hits the fear button as soon as I see anything out of my comfort zone is logical.  I’ve had a few bad wipeouts and hold-downs earlier this winter.  In I went pin-wheeling head-over-heels down the overhead wave face and was rag-dolled under the water until my lungs were burning for air. That makes an impression. But the real risk is minimal. I surf deep-water breaks, which means I won’t hit the bottom.  I’ve got a new surf leash so I won’t lose my board, and if I did the swim in is easy.  I’m not afraid of the real risk.  I just hate the few seconds a violent thunderous wipe generates and the “I blew it” self-talk that rings in my head.  So I started playing it safe.  Way too safe.  Then I had a breakthrough.  A life lesson.

I was talking to the renowned sport’s psychologist Dr. Jim Loehr. According to Dan Jansen, the former Olympic speed skater, Jim’s coaching was essential to him finally winning a gold in his final Olympic race. Jim has coached 16 #1 athletes in the world. He’s the real deal.  So Jim was telling me about the power of asking yourself the right questions to take charge of your private voice.  He’s found that for anyone in stressful situations from elite athletes, Special Forces soldiers, to CEOs facing a crisis our private voice will determine success or failure.  And one the easiest ways to take control over the script our private voice is speaking is to change the questions we ask ourselves. In my case it was as simple as changing my voice from “No way” to “How?”  He suggested the next time I find myself paddling furiously outside to meet an oncoming bomb I simply ask, “How can I catch this in the right spot?” “Yea, whatever,” I thought.

So three days later on a bright, glassy Southern California morning the waves were pumping.  A storm in the Gulf of Alaska had sent a vigorous impulse down the coast and solid ten foot faced waves were pumping through with an occasional rogue a bit bigger.  It was crowded.  Many of the young, hot, zero body fat guys were ripping the break apart. I was paddling up and down the reef as usual in frantic search for solitary waves.  Then it happened.  (Of course this story has a happy ending.)  I was already sitting outside when a dark green extra large wave popped up on the horizon.  I started paddling.  I was the only one who had a chance of getting out deep enough to spin my board around and stroke into it.  But I felt Mr. Panic crawling up my legs to my stomach.  Suddenly my mind shouted, “How?”  Just how.  I immediately adjusted my line of paddle slightly to the left, calmly turned, two stokes and I was in.  The wave face suddenly got bigger and steeper as I dropped but my fin and rail bit into the wall and I slung myself under the feathering lip and there in front of me was a watery, green highway.  For nearly 100 yards I turned up the face and back down gathering and scrubbing speed in a primal rhythm that simply stokes your mind, body and soul.  I left the water as one giant human smile.

What a lesson. Since that mind-bending wave I’ve given several high-risk speeches and sales presentations.  I now prepare with “How can I help the people I am talking to?”  That question, “How?”, tied to a motive of service is emotional liberation for me.

All of us deal with our inner voice.  And Jim’s point is to “own it.”  Become the positive narrator of your life by listening to that fearless inner essence that is the “who” that answers the question, “Who am I?”

If you have similar stories of personal liberation, we’d all like to hear them.  The mind is a beautiful tool when wielded well.

Goodbye Corporate Social Responsibility, Hello Corporate Sustainability

I read an interesting article today in the Wall Street Journal called Good Intentions. It addresses the fact that 1/3 of companies cut their corporate social responsibility (CSR) budgets in 2009 and corporate philanthropy fell by 8% in 2008. While just looking at the numbers this may appear to be a great setback, the article discusses how it’s actually not such a great loss because random acts of corporate giving and marginal initiatives are not enough to alter corporate behavior. What’s needed is corporate sustainability.

Will Marre, CEO of Realeadership Alliance, agrees. He states, “Business is not just about making a profit anymore; it’s about creating a sustaining business culture that energizes employees, creates a unique profit edge and makes a positive impact on humanity and the environment. Anything less is a waste of valuable time and resources we need for a sustainable future” (See Leadership Development Speaker, Will Marré, Trains Business Leaders for the Future). So what exactly is the difference between CSR and corporate sustainability? The WSJ article quotes Scott Beaudoin, director of cause marketing at MS&L in Boston, who says: “Companies are asking how they can be socially responsible in a way that also moves the business forward. It’s no longer about having one corporate social responsibility guy who is supposed to be the moral compass for the company, like a chaplain in an Army regiment. It’s about making sustainable business the standard operating procedure.”

Corporate sustainability, according to Wikipedia, is “a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments…Unlike the other phrases that focus on “added-on” policies, corporate sustainability describes business practices built around social and environmental considerations.”

A huge driver of sustainability rather than responsibility is innovation. Corporate Sustainability—It’s About Attitude discusses a paper by BT and Cisco, “A New Mindset for Corporate Sustainability.” It discusses the limitations of CSR thinking, “namely an attitude that these practices are costly to business, inhibit growth and negatively impact the bottom line.” Sustainability, on the other hand, is a catalyst for innovation. It gives ten steps companies should take to drive innovation via sustainability. Some are 1) Make innovating for sustainability a part of your company’s vision, 2) Formulate a strategy with sustainability at its heart, 3) Embed sustainability in every part of your business, and 4) Walk the talk (actions speak louder than words).

A new study, Why Sustainability is Now the Key Driver of Innovation, also discusses the mindset of sustainability. It states, “Sustainability isn’t the burden on bottom lines that many executives believe it to be. In fact, becoming environment-friendly can lower your costs and increase your revenues. That’s why sustainability should be a touchstone for all innovation.” It continues, “In the future, only companies that make sustainability a goal will achieve competitive advantage that means rethinking business models as well as products, technologies, and processes.” The paper goes on to give a five-stage process in becoming sustainable.

Marre, who has long been changing the phrase, Corporate Social Responsibility, to Corporate Social Opportunity, discusses in New Leadership Training for Strategic CSR Announced by Will Marre how business has gone through three phases of CSR. The first was the mandate for businesses to remove the toxic processes and impacts from their operations. This included practices such as eliminating pollution and labor exploitation. Phase two has been to embrace sustainability and contribute to the community. Sustainability practices have yielded huge cost savings as waste is being eliminated from core business processes. Corporate philanthropy has also become increasingly important to promote brand reputation.

Marre even takes it a step further. He says that as good as these initiatives are, phase three is a “quantum leap” in creating strategic business value for companies who see that helping humanity and healing the environment are far bigger opportunities than stopping bad practices or polishing a corporate reputation. Phase three of the CSR revolution is socially strategic leadership that unites a 21st century leadership paradigm, business models and EverGreen™ innovation to create unique value.

According to Marre, “Reinventing the world to be sustainably abundant is the greatest economic opportunity in history.” The possibilities are indeed endless for those who move beyond business-as-usual and embrace the challenge of changing our future. CSR make way for corporate sustainability.

Socially Responsible Leadership and Wise Leaders Who are Investing in the Future of Humanity

It’s easy to be outraged at the incompetence and greed apparent in business leadership. Titanic ethical failures like Enron, failures in judgment by General Motors and greed-induced insanity by our major financial institutions have caused millions to suffer. Leadership failure is so bad the Economist magazine reports that only 2% of consumers worldwide trust business leaders to do the right thing if it costs them profits. With business institutions having the most trans-global power on earth, that is breathtakingly bad.

But there is a strong minority of courageous and wise leaders who use their resources for much more than self-interest. More needs to be known about these wise companies who lead their industries, embrace sustainability and are investing in the future of humanity.

Take FedEx and Johnson & Johnson for example. They have partnered with Heart to Heart International, a health-based nonprofit whose main focus is to get life-saving medicine and supplies to victims in crisis. Their work has never been as important as now as they rush to get much needed supplies and medical support to help save Haiti earthquake victims.

Fed Ex and Johnson & Johnson make these efforts possible. Not only has FedEx provided significant financial support and transportation services to Heart to Heart, but they also have created Forward Response Centers—FedEx warehouses full of relief supplies that are ready to go to virtually any disaster zone in the world quickly and efficiently. These centers take up valuable space in FedEx warehouses, but they do it because they understand that business is about more than money. When the tsunami hit Thailand in 2007, FedEx planes were among the first to land medical supplies. These Forward Response Centers have made it possible for Heart to Heart to be among the first responders to the Haiti disaster.

Johnson & Johnson is one of the main generous providers of these supplies which include The Ready Relief Box, otherwise known as the portable pharmacy that contains such items as pain relievers, antibiotics, vitamins, first aid supplies and doctor’s essentials such as a stethoscope and digital thermometer; The Medical Surge Module, which can increase capacity at healthcare facilities by providing enough medical supplies for 2,000 patients; and The Personal Hygiene Kit, which provides hygiene care for up to two weeks and is vital after a disaster to prevent contagious diseases from running rampant.

And wise leadership is not limited to a few visionary corporations. Today the non-profit Grameen Foundation is focusing their efforts on economic recovery—both short- and long-term. In partnership with Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze (a Grameen Foundation microfinance partner in Haiti), the Grameen Foundation will build upon their existing efforts in Haiti of using microfinance and technology to help Haitians, especially women, move themselves out of poverty and build a more self-reliant future. The President of the Grameen Foundation, Alex Counts, states, “Please help us help the nation recover from this recent disaster and try, as hard as it may be to imagine, to help our local partners build a Haiti that is more prosperous than pre-earthquake conditions.”

So what’s going on with these enterprises? What drives their leaders to do what others refuse to do? In my 30 years of working with senior leaders I can only conclude it is, at its core, one thing. Wisdom. Plato defined wisdom as “a knowledge of the Good and courage to act accordingly.” He further described wisdom as the commitment to seek the right balance between “all that exists.” What we today might call sustainability. At the core, wisdom is moral courage. As philosophers from every culture, across time have noted, it is not enough to know what is Good. We must also act on that knowledge. The responsibility of today’s business leaders to act from wisdom is essential for our future. We are all increasingly connected and to act only on self-interest is poisoning the water that our children drink.

Sadly, nearly all leadership failure I have witnessed up close has been the result of many small decisions that compromise the wise choice into simply an expedient one. Too many leaders are driven by fear. Fear of being criticized by the Wall Street money-changers or fear of being second guessed by their own hard driving executive team. Fear makes leaders stupid. The neurobiology of fear literally extinguishes creativity, open-mindedness and moral reasoning. We need leaders who have the everyday courage to act on the “Good” as a way to create more value for all. When I counsel senior leaders I often ask them, “How much good can you do, right now? When I get a response I simply say, “Do that.” You see doing the best thing you can imagine in a sustainable, wise way always creates value that makes you and your enterprise stand apart. So it not only ends up being wise but also smart.

Most of the few great companies that are doing the most to restore environmental balance and benefit humanity don’t toot their horns about it. (Who knew FedEx planes were landing in Haiti full of medicine?) No, that’s not a good thing. In 2003, I founded REALeadership Alliance to do just that; help leaders and companies become clear on the good they can do. The wisdom of courageous leaders needs to shine as a beacon to inspire those who fear to wake up and get busy saving our world. It’s actually just wise business.

So what’s the best thing you can do? Transcend your own fear. We are all leaders. All CEOs of our own lives. Be wise. Stand for something that matters. Speak up every day for the best thing you can imagine. Everyday courage accumulates. Our consistent small acts of integrity change the future. We all need to lead.

Who do you work for?

With the publication of my new book, Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner, I’ve posted a survey at www.SavetheWorldBook.com to help you determine whether you work for an enterprise that is helping forge a sustainable future or one that is trapped in the dying ideas of business-as-usual.  Who we work for is important.  If we want to change our future we must lead.  There is plenty to be hopeful about, and I want to get a pulse on your experience of the employer you work for or the organization you lead.

Recently I was doing leadership training for the Gap at their San Francisco headquarters.  I like the people at Gap a lot.  They understand how their huge global business can be a force for good, and they are serious about using their economic clout, market reach and worldwide workforce to create a better future than the self-consuming dinosaur business model we’ve trapped ourselves into.

It’s true; we live in a time when confidence in business leadership is at an all time low.  Just look at these statistics:

• 94% of the public does not trust business to regulate itself (AccountAbility).
• 86% view business as negatively impacting the public good (Harris Poll/Business Week).
• 76% of employees have observed illegal or unethical conduct by their employer in the past 12 months! (Harris Poll/Business Week)
• 98% of the public don’t believe CEOs are very trustworthy (NY Times).

This is sad. What’s really sad is that most of us would nod our head in agreement with these polls.  Business is the most powerful institutional force in the world, and the world doesn’t trust it.  That’s because human history has proven it’s not smart to trust that someone else’s self-interest will benefit you in the long run.  The Great Recession has just made that crystal clear.  But there is good news.  It’s that the world has changed.  Citizen consumers and citizen employers have awakened to the fact that we must create a new sustainable future.  One that works for our children.  All our children.  Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than in the market place which is changing at a breathtaking pace.

As more and more consumers and employees have demanded greener, healthier products responsibly made, the number, choices, and quality of these products has skyrocketed.  For instance, every major auto manufacturer is now engineering hybrid models that will be sold in every country in the next few years.  China has adapted tougher auto emissions and mileage standards than we have.  But for some companies like Gap, it’s more than just making t-shirts out of recycled plastic or organic fibers.  Increasingly it’s about human sustainability.

For instance, in Gap factories in developing nations they’ve instituted a personal and professional development program called P.A.C.E.  It’s designed to help under educated young seamstresses strengthen their literacy, their health, their life skills and business acumen.  Gap’s corporate social responsibility is investing in poor women because they are society builders.  And Gap is not alone.  In company after company I visit I see a roaring torrent of programs to enable employees to volunteer for their favorite cause, to raise their business standards on environmental impacts, and to promote health and human rights.

But wait, you say.  Isn’t all this just a little “greenwashing” and image polishing?  After all, it’s corporations that tare down the old-growth rain forests, over-fish our oceans, pollute our air, water and earth, and strip-mine our world from its natural resources.  Exactly.  All of that is true.  But it’s also true that global corporations and fast acting enterprises are the institutions most able to drive fast positive change.  They operate across boarders without political inhibitions.  They must respond in real time to consumer and employee attitudes.  Corporations are self-interested, but consumers determine where that self-interest leads them.  As long as we escalate our insistence on sustainable, responsible products and processes we will get more of them.

And now there is something turbo-charging demand for business responsibility.  It’s a new generation of employees.  The flood of 20 to 30-year old practical idealists who believe we can reshape our businesses into a force of progress and sustainability is raising the tide of positive change.  The energy of sustainability and social good is contagious, and I am seeing an epidemic of virtue take over business-as-usual.

This is not my imagination.  As Gen X independent thinking pragmatists take over more leadership roles, they are more connected to sustainable innovation, cutting bureaucracy and re-inventing our future.  And the new workforce of Gen Y and Millennials (those 16-30) are focused on re-making business into institutions of global sustainability.  What makes this new generation of leaders so potent is their number (126 million—far larger than the 75 million boomers) and their newly developed social technology which is driving change, informing attitudes and creating new business models faster than at any time in history.

I am hopeful this is happening in the nick of time.  We have ignored our problems for too long.  We’ve let what were little brushfires turn into a raging wildfire threatening our heath, our environments, our peace and every other important asset to our quality of life.

What’s the best thing we can do?

Participate in the business revolution!  I am seeing global companies life Gap, Nike, FedEx, and Johnson & Johnson transform themselves at a breathtaking rate.  No, it’s not perfect.  It will take years.  But the speed of change is accelerating.  Just 5 years ago sustainability and corporate social responsibility was something tree huggers and hippies whined about.  Today it is driving corporate strategy.  It’s time to turn up the volume of our demands for business to use their power and innovation to create sustainable value.  It’s time for us, no matter where we work, to transform our daily jobs into a global force for change.  We are the leaders of the sustainability revolution.  You and me.

So who do you work for?  Please take this short 5-minute survey and find out.  It’s a way to amplify your voice by helping us build a database to influence leaders.

And one more thing.  What do you think?  Do you have positive stories of companies, non-profits or individuals transforming the future?  Do you have personal aspirations to do so?  Tell us about them!

ADP Founder, Will Marre, Interviewed in Forbes about Careers

I think a lot of us have the wrong idea of what it takes to make a big impact on the world.  We don’t have to relinquish all material belongings, retreat to Africa, and hold crying babies to make a difference.  Those that are making the greatest impact are making money at the same time.  That’s right.  They’re making money by saving the world.  It’s actually the strategic thing to do.  It makes solutions to our problems sustainable and scaleable.  It helps us solve big problems faster.  I call it socially strategic enterprise.  What a great idea.

I was recently interviewed for the Forbes magazine article, “Get Paid to Be a Do-Gooder.”

*Taken from Forbes SLIDE SHOW

The article discusses the growing trend of people looking for careers that benefit humanity and the environment.  These opportunities are indeed endless.  As I suggested to Forbes, social entrepreneurship is a vastly growing field where entrepreneurs base their business on offering products or services that directly benefit society.  Great examples are the South African Roundabout that provides rural areas with water pumps driven by a human-powered merry-go-round mechanism and makes money selling advertisements on its water towers.

Also, the Grameen Bank, who generates a strong profit giving microloans to the poor and has created a worldwide movement toward self-reliance.

Of course you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to have a fulfilling, socially responsible career.  There are huge opportunities right now in the non-profit sector for strong business-minded individuals as non-profits are trying to come up with strategies to create sustainable income from either products or services to support their mission. What’s needed are people who are skilled in marketing, web development, IT, SEO, finance, etc.

Non-profits are not in short supply of people who want to go to Africa and hold babies, console mothers, and improve orphanages.  What they are in short supply of are people who can create an infrastructure to scale up systematic solutions and create sustainable income strains.

And finally, if you’re not in a position in which you can start a socially strategic enterprise or work for a non-profit, transform your current job into one that brings you meaning and satisfaction. Your opportunity is to just start seeing your current job as a means to reduce waste, promote responsibility, help your community or innovate new, sustainable value.

Yes, I know, the job market is tough right now, but this unemployment crisis has brought each of us to a moment of truth. We can either use it as an excuse to make our work meaningless, merely a paycheck, or we can see it as an opportunity to make our work count for something bigger than ourselves.

As I tell audiences around the world, it’s an exciting time to be alive.  We can save the world and make a sustainable living doing it.  We can have a fulfilling career and make a difference.  Our difference.  Just start.

Independence Day and Our American Dream

I’ve been giving speeches and writing about the American Dream for the past 5 years my quest has been to discover what our dream is for the 21st century. Today I have a powerful conviction that deep down we know we have the solutions to our own confusion. Answers seem to be on the tips of our tongues, like a memory that has just slipped our mind. The answers we seek are already embedded in our spiritual wiring; we are merely fumbling in the dark for the switch to turn the lights on.

Amidst the darkness of the evening news, the never-ending war in the Middle East, the decline of the middle class, the tidal wave of national debt, and the corruption of our institutions, there is another voice calling out. A voice calling for a rebirth of vision. A vision in which the greatest good for each and all is once again the ideal. It’s a new model of governing without the corruption of special interest and financial favors. A new model of sustainable enterprise that aims for the Greatest Total Value for all. A new model of personal action based on understanding our own unique design and our most noble human desires.

This is all more than a dream. It is The Dream. The Dream envisioned by the most inspiring human phrase, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It is time to dream again. Will you?

A recent survey reported in the Harvard Business Review reveals that Baby Boomers and Generation Y have a lot in common (July/August 2009, p. 71). This is the first time parents (Boomers age 50+) and their children (Gen Y age 22 to 32) have been in the same work place in large numbers. Both generations are about the same total size, 70-75 million. Generally these are two generations that like each other. About 1/3 of Gen Y children talk to their parents everyday! So now Gen Y and many Boomers battered by the world we created have found common ground.

Here’s what we want! The genuine American Dream. The exhausted refugees of Boomer World and their meaning-hungry children find themselves longing for the same five things.

We want enduring relationships and families that work.

Love, loyalty and intimacy are our greatest needs because that’s what has been missing. It’s time for a re-commitment to commitment. For our children and us.

We want a lifestyle we both value and enjoy.

We want to live in a safe, attractive place we can afford. We want to do things that feed our soul and engage our emotions. We want community, meaning and sanity. For our children and us.

We want a career that embodies our Dream.

Neither a job nor a profession alone is a career. Our whole Dream Life is our career. We want real work with real meaning and real rewards. Over 85 percent of us want our work to make an important contribution to society. We want flexibility, autonomy and to be rewarded for results. We want to make a meaningful contribution, express our talents and follow our interests. For our children and us.

We want growth.

We want the tools to reinvent ourselves as often as we choose to in this constantly changing world. We want to learn whatever we need in order to excel at our priorities. We want affordable, efficient, stimulating education and access to enriching experiences. We want spiritual growth. For our children and us.

We want real leadership.

We demand truth, not spin or hype. We’re bombarded daily by a barrage of exaggeration and outright lies. People we should be trusting shamelessly offer denial, blame and rationalizations to worm out of their own failures. We have become a nation of skeptics because our leaders are less than we need them to be. We want leadership of vision, substance and honesty. In our homes, factories, stores, schools, banks and churches…everywhere.

We are that X factor. Our common values are powerful. Imagine how good our world will be when we live according to these aspirations. This is an exciting time in human history. How you and I act, right here and right now, is crucially important. The counterfeit American Dream invented by mass marketers that reduced our vision to a McMansion, a new car and a platinum credit card is up in flames. Many more of us are focusing on improving more than our material standard of living. It is time to create a standard of life that we are willing to pass on to our children. It is time to stop arguing over trivia and stand for our ideals that will inspire future generations.

In the best possible society, everyone can enjoy their Life and their Liberty and pursue real Happiness. We can literally save the future if we act on our beliefs and change our behavior right now. As we change, our institutions change. When we lead, our leaders will follow. We must take the lead. If we hope to change the world, we must change our world first.

It matters. The American Dream will only be reclaimed one dream at a time. Only when enough of us stand up for our real dreams of a sustainable future will the entire energy of our culture rise up to transform the world. Only our noble vision will save our future. All we have to do is start right where we are. Today.

CSR Will Still Survive the Economy

This past February in my post, CSR Will Survive the Economy, I make a case for CSR initiatives still having a bright future despite the economic downturn.  But as the recession continues and companies struggle through recovery, it makes me wonder…Just how long will the triple bottom line prevail when profit is at the front of everybody’s mind?

In Bonus Rage and its Pitfalls John Robertson discusses how new restrictions for top executives has a downside, social responsibility initiatives in particular taking a big hit.  He contends that in order for companies to operate under the triple bottom line of people, planet, profit, executives need the freedom to exercise judgment.  He states, “If companies were to be more than simply cash registers, executives had to be empowered to make choices. Directors needed to decide how the value being created should be divided up: how much to employees, how much to suppliers, how much to shareholders, how much to deserving community organizations and at what cost to the physical environments in which the company operates.”  He continues, “Unfortunately, this is precisely the discretion being stripped from the repertoire of the modern corporate executive as he is forced to make an unequivocal commitment to financial success.”

Robertson also contends that this won’t get better any time soon with governments looking to maximize the financial returns from their recent equity purchases, executives trying to repay loans as quickly as possible, and employees too scared of losing their job to demand better from their employer.

While Robertson makes a convincing argument, I believe that it’s only an excuse, a reason for leadership to free themselves of any obligation to humanity and the environment.  You see, this viewpoint stems from the idea of corporate social responsibility being solely a cost, rather than an integral, revenue building part of the business model.  Companies and leaders alike that still hold to the belief that CSR is merely writing a check will most likely cut back or quit their CSR practices altogether in the name of financial strife.

On the other hand, however, there are others who will strongly embrace the great opportunities social responsibility presents and come out stronger on the other side of this recession. Will Marré, CEO of REALeadership Alliance, states, “When times are tough it’s hard not to be hijacked by fear. Thinking about how much good we can do becomes downright unnatural when we’re genuinely afraid we won’t have what we need.  But what if we turn that fear upside down?  Imagine that the key to security, prosperity, and happiness comes from doing good.  As much good as possible.”  According to Marré, now is the time to invest in social responsibility.  In fact, he contends that saving the world is the greatest economic opportunity of our time.

I do indeed stand by my original posting…CSR will survive the economy.  We cannot allow our values to be turned on and off depending on the weather of the current situation.  The triple bottom line is a way of doing business, not a fad that has run its course.

Socially Responsible Leadership

It takes strong leaders to transform business and change the world.  But it can be done…and must.

In Five Features of Great Socially Responsible Leadership Mallen Baker gives a great list of strong socially responsible leadership qualities.
1) Being prepared to challenge the logic of your industry.
2) Doing something because it is the right thing to do, and then working out how to make it pay.
3) Understanding that the leaders sets incentives – and sometimes the bottom line is the wrong incentive.
4) Understanding when to follow the rules, and when to use common sense in the face of unintended outcomes.
5) Knowing that just because people around you see you as a leader, it doesn’t mean you’re a good one.

Will Marré also asserts a socially responsible leadership model in his recent article, CSR and the Four Ideals of Socially Responsible Leadership, he calls REALeadership.  The model is based on four principles:
R—Relevant.   A leader’s impact is long.  Their decisions weigh more than others.  So they must be wise enough to constantly see the big picture, to carefully consider the impact of their decisions on employees, customers, suppliers, the environment, the community, and the generations of unborn.
E—Ethical.  To be ethical is to be moral.  The moral standard is do as much good as you can.  Create the Greatest Total Value you can.  For everyone, all the time.  Why else lead?
A—Abundance. Sustainable Abundance requires more than innovation.  It demands invention.  It requires creating something with unique value that genuinely benefits humanity and heals the environment.
L—Legacy. A leader’s legacy is his or her impact on the future.  The world needs saving.  We need new solutions we can implement as fast as possible.

Leadership, especially in today’s world climate, is indeed a great responsibility, but it’s also a great opportunity to do something really amazing.  I think Marré says it best in the conclusion of his article, “If you aren’t going to save the world then get out of the way and make room for someone who is.” Are you up to the challenge?

Corporate Social Opportunity Rules

I’m always talking about changing the view of corporate social responsibility into corporate social opportunity.  How if done right, companies don’t have to choose between profits, people, and the planet.  This is what I mean.

I was reading an interesting article today of an interview with Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor Business Administration, Harvard Business School. She was asked a very good question, “Can one realistically expect values to prevail over profits?”  She answered, “It does not have to be principles over profits. In fact, principles often get you profits.”  She goes on to give an example of Banco Real, a bank in Brazil that has environmental and social responsibility criteria on loan applications.  By so doing, the bank has customers coming back to them with a plea to help them comply and also new customers who, because of this standard, won’t put their money anywhere else.

Another example Kanter cites is P&G and their water purifier called PuR.  At first, the company couldn’t make a profit out of it and many wanted to stop the project.  But instead the company embraced the product’s importance for people who don’t live near clean drinking water and created a non-profit organization to distribute it.  It turns out that after the tsunami, the demand skyrocketed so they not only recovered the cost but even more value came from employee commitment, demonstrating their values to customers, etc.

These two examples are proof that if we truly embrace our social responsibilities and transform them into social opportunities, the rewards will be endless.  The triple bottom line is not too idealistic…it works.

Social Responsibility vs. Greenwashing

Wow—greenwashing sure has been the subject of a lot of discussion lately.  I wanted to follow up on my recent post on the subject, War on Greenwashing.  It seems that while we are paying closer attention and trying to support green companies, we’re just as worried about being misled about who and what is actually as green as they claim to be. The “Green” Hypocrisy: America’s Corporate Environment Champions Pollute The World reports some disappointing news.  It states, “The irony of the “green” movement of US companies is that many of the firms that spend the most money and public relations effort trying to show the government, the public, and their shareholders that they are trying to improve the environment are also among the most prolific polluters in the country.”

The article goes on to list the Top Ten Greenwashers in America.  They are as follows:
1.    General Electric
2.    American Electric Power
3.    ExxonMobil
4.    DuPont
5.    Archer Daniels Midland
6.    Waste Management, Inc.
7.    International Paper
8.    British Petroleum
9.    Dow Chemical
10.    General Motors

Some are no surprise such as ExxonMobill (Read my post Exxon-Exoff), but all should be ashamed.  This time in history presents us with such an amazing opportunity to do something great in changing the world, in making a real difference in the lives of so many.  And when I see big companies with powerful leaders wasting this opportunity by flitting away their money on some bogus PR campaign or half efforts at protecting the environment, it drives me crazy.  Sure, things are bad right now, but at the same time we have the power to turn it around and give a real future to our children.  It’s exciting!  And if you’re not willing to rise above the herd and, as the saying goes, turn lemons into lemonade, then get out of the way and make room for someone who is.

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