1 | Leadership
Corporate Social Responsibility Is Unstoppable
“While consumer power for a better world is still nascent, it’s poised to skyrocket. Consumer pressure will greatly expand the breadth and depth of CSR, forcing companies to willfully change their practices,” writes Simon Mainwaring in his new book, We First, excerpted here in Fast Company. (Note: If you want proof that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement Mainwaring describes has gone mainstream, consider that his book is ranked #19 for all books on Amazon.)
According to Mainwaring:
- 83% of consumers are willing to change their consumption habits if it can help make tomorrow’s world a better place to live.
- 61% have sought a brand that supports a good cause even if it was not the cheapest brand.
- 64% would recommend a brand that supports a good cause, up from 52% last year.
- 56% believe the interests of society and the interests of businesses should have equal weight in business decisions.
- 67% would switch brands if a different brand of similar quality supported a good cause.
The data point to a warning for companies that choose to ignore CSR and to an opportunity for those that embrace it. More and more consumers are factoring corporate social responsibility into their buying decisions.
Mainwaring believes the consumer drive for CSR will…
9Jun2011 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedObservations from the Front Line
I spent the last month in a cubicle, wearing a tie, working 8 to 4, writing for a large, industry-leading company. This is life for most people but it was new for me, marking the longest stretch going to the same office building in the last 30+ years. I learned a few things about corporate life—and confirmed a few others:
- Wearing a tie sucks. In an age of business casual, wearing a tie feels like going back to the days of “Mad Men” without the glamour. It doesn’t help to have a “casual Friday,” in part because the employees in this division must “earn” it or the head of the division will take it away. Few things damage morale more than treating people like children.
- The company’s mission and vision inspire innovation and excellence in the services it provides. I saw it in the stellar work of the group I was supporting and in the creative solutions the company has developed.
- But…at the corporate level, the mission and vision are secondary to financial considerations. Faced with choosing sides in a national debate about healthcare, the company chose to protect its bottom line rather than fix a broken system. As a result, it will…
The Secret to Success: Implementation
In my experience, the distinction between Baldrige Award winners and average organizations is not in the creativity of their ideas or the innovation of their processes, but in how they execute them. World-class organizations implement, totally and relentlessly. Average organizations don’t.
Earlier this month, more than 400 creative people gathered in New York to tackle the issue of making ideas happen. Fast Company reported its favorite insights from the 2011 99% Conference (article available here):
One-third of our movies have taken about 7 years to make. Rigorous persistence and uncompromising creative standards are perhaps the most notable features of Pixar’s creative process. As one of the company’s founders put it: “Quality is the best business plan.”
If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business.
Be a sprinter, not a marathon runner. The key to productivity is to recognize the power of renewal and have a finish line. According to Stephen Schwartz, president and CEI of The Energy Project, “We’ve lost our finish lines.”
If you’re not creating waves, then you’re not pushing enough. Pursuing ideas with obvious conclusions won’t create the change we need to see in the world, said Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas.
Make heroes out of failures. Pay attention to the learnings. Reframing key failures as…
26May2011 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedComing Together with Baldrige
I’ve written several times about the obscene amounts of money being made by senior leaders while the wages of average workers have been relatively stagnant for years. The current recession combined with Republican leadership at the federal and state levels have further widened the gap between the rich and the middle class. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka summarized the problem in a speech recently at the national Press Club in which he decried the assault on Social Security and Medicare:
“Why is our national conversation in such a destructive place? Not because we are impoverished. We have never been richer. The American economy has never produced as much wealth as it does today. But we feel poor because the wealth in our society has flowed to a handful among us, and they and the politicians who pander to the worst instincts of the wealthy would rather break promises to our parents and grandparents and deny our children a future than pay their fair share of taxes.”
What does this have to do with Baldrige? In my opinion, everything. One of the core values of the Baldrige model is valuing workforce members: “Valuing the people in your workforce means committing to their engagement, satisfaction,…
23May2011 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedWhen Values Clash with the Bottom Line
The Baldrige Criteria ask: How do senior leaders’ actions reflect a commitment to the organization’s values?
For too many senior leaders, their organizations’ values are secondary to their organization’s financial performance. In those cases, the values are meaningless and the senior leaders who tout them are hypocrites.
A recent example is 3M. On its web site, 3M states that its values include “respect our social and physical environment around the world” and “earn the admiration of all those associated with 3M worldwide.” Since it only has six values, tarnishing two suggests that 3M’s senior leaders are not committed to their company’s values.
The tarnishing took place when 3M contributed $100,000 to MN Forward, a group that supported Republican Tom Emmer in last year’s race for governor of Minnesota. Emmer was staunchly anti-gay, opposed legislation to combat school bullying, introduced an amendment to eliminate Minnesota’s minimum wage when he was a state representative, and even sponsored a constitutional amendment to allow Minnesota voters to opt out of federal laws. Based on the gubernatorial election results, one could argue that at least half of Minnesotans opposed his positions. Yet 3M supported him.
Asked why at today’s annual meeting, CEO George Buckley said that 3M doesn’t take…
10May2011 | Steve George | 0 comments | ContinuedBaldrige Model: How do you govern and fulfill your societal responsibilities?
Item 1.2 in the Baldrige Criteria asks key questions about your organization’s governance system, legal and ethical behavior, and societal responsibilities. The following processes, best practices, and problem areas look at critical issues in this part of the Baldrige model.
Your organization needs processes for:
- Management and fiscal accountability
- Transparency in operations and in the selection and disclosure polices for board members
- Independent internal and external audits
- Protecting stakeholder and stockholder interests, as appropriate
- Evaluating the performance of senior leaders and the board
- Using senior leader and board member reviews to develop and improve performance of these leaders and of the leadership system
- Preparing for and addressing any adverse impacts on society of your products and operations
- Promoting and ensuring ethical behavior in all interactions
- Contributing to the well-being of your environmental, social, and economic systems
- Actively supporting and strengthening your key communities
Best practices to consider:
- Key measures are identified for evaluating the performance and improvement of leaders and of the leadership system.
- Senior leaders and board members use formal processes for reviewing their performance and that of the leadership system and use the results of those reviews, which are typically annual, to improve personal and organizational performance.
- Key processes, measures, and goals for achieving and surpassing regulatory and legal requirements and for promoting…
Save Money — and the Environment
A national chain of convenience stores reduced annual mileage at one of its distribution centers by 300,000. The question is: Are the chain’s savings considered cost-cutting to improve the bottom line or emission-cutting to improve its green performance?
The answer is: Yes.
Such initiatives mark the intersection of sustainability and business, according to Dhiraj Rajaram in this HRB blog. He notes that the chain has 25 distribution centers across the U.S., which means it can cut millions of miles of transportation costs and emissions by optimizing its transportation routes.
The CEO of an analytics firm, Rajaram has noticed “a surge in interest among Fortune 500 companies for analytical models that help determine the impact of going green on their bottom line.” One-hundred-thirty of the Fortune 500 have officers at the level of vice president or higher who are focused on sustainability.
The Baldrige Criteria ask how “you contribute to the well-being of your environmental, social, and economic systems.” Rajaram suggests five ways to address the well-being of your environmental and economic systems by analyzing the impact of going green on your company’s financial performance:
- Take a close look at your supply chain. Collect baseline measurements of the environmental impact of operations.
- Establish short-term goals. Select an…
