tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35268571006730419202024-03-05T03:36:53.815-08:00The CSR Books BlogThis blog contains perspectives, insights and reviews of books on or related to Corporate Social Responsibility or Sustainability that I have read. Personally.elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-44953095745616780642014-11-30T12:38:00.000-08:002014-11-30T12:38:51.493-08:00Changing the Food Game<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJRBoY_Ow32AxaUtiUcp4Dlj8O1aeT-F5bIcHUFziLQY83pzoUk1Uqcyt35IdzjXtoTUCWJMfDkXuv7SS60bmvC5UXXJ95_XSjN1gqaticoavhbUfaZ50gGZ-sNGzbFnpq31jJ8sXwLQ/s1600/changing+the+food+game.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEJRBoY_Ow32AxaUtiUcp4Dlj8O1aeT-F5bIcHUFziLQY83pzoUk1Uqcyt35IdzjXtoTUCWJMfDkXuv7SS60bmvC5UXXJ95_XSjN1gqaticoavhbUfaZ50gGZ-sNGzbFnpq31jJ8sXwLQ/s1600/changing+the+food+game.JPG" height="200" width="131" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=4048"><span style="color: blue;">Changing the Food Game: </span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/add_getquantity.kmod?productid=4048"><span style="color: blue;">Market Transformation Strategies for Sustainable Agriculture</span></a><br />
by Lucas Simons<br />
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ISBN-13: 978-1-78353-231-5<br />
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Published by: Greenleaf Publishing, 2014<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Description</b></span><br />
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By 2050, the world's population is estimated to grow to 10 billion. To feed everyone, we will have to double our food production, to produce more food in the next 40 years than in the whole of the last 6,000. <b>Changing the Food Game</b> shows how our unsustainable food production system cannot support this growth. In this prescient book, Lucas Simons argues that the biggest challenge for our generation can only be solved by effective market transformation to achieve sustainable agriculture and food production.
Lucas Simons explains clearly how we have created a production and trading system that is inherently unsustainable. But he also demonstrates that we have reason to be hopeful from a sustainability race in the cocoa industry to examples of market transformation taking place in palm oil, timber, and sugarcane production. He also poses the question: where next?
Provocative and eye-opening, <b>Changing the Food Game</b> uncovers the real story of how our food makes it on to our plates and presents a game-changing solution to revolutionize the industry.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Commentary</b></span><br />
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Lucas Simons says: "<i>The way we produce and trade our food has become
a classic example of failing systems on a massive scale, with unprecedented
implications for hundreds of millions (in reality more than a billion)
of people, for many economies, and for our planet as a whole. Fixing agriculture is probably
the challenge of our generation and we will not get a second chance
to get it right.</i>" His story starts at El Volcán, a mid-sized coffee farm in the
Guatemalan Highlands, during the time that Lucas was the manager of a foundation with an ambition to make the global coffee sector more sustainable, creating a new sustainability standard for coffee in the region for use by global brands. This was supported by Ahold Coffee Company in the Netherlands. Lucas's first hand view of the transformation that a responsible and sustainable approach to agriculture can make on people's lives was a defining experience for him. </div>
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The book is in two parts. Part One describes the global challenge and shows the importance of our global food producing systems and the enormous impact it has on our economies, ecologies, and societies. It also explains what goes wrong in the system that drives this negative impact. Part Two introduces an approach to initiate and accelerate systemic change and uses real-life examples of agricultural commodity markets that have gone through, or are currently going through systemic change.</div>
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<b>The Global Challenge</b></div>
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The scale of the food industry is all-embracing with more than one billion people who work in agriculture and more than 500 million farmers, of whom the vast majority are smallholders. Another 500 million people work in marine agriculture. Simons tells us that agriculture affects everything, from the way people make a living to the way land is used and transformed to provide food, taking up close to 40% of the world's land surface. This is endangered through desertification and soil degradation which are rapidly eroding fertile land available for agriculture. Increasing global water withdrawal, biodiversity loss, disappearance of natural habitats, chemical pollution, eutrophication are all terms that most of us have heard in connection with sustainability challenges. And let's not forget that agriculture is the third largest emitter (14%) of total global greenhouse gas emissions, while
forestry, deforestation, land clearing for agricultural purposes, and fires
or decay of peat soils account for another 17%. All of these issues are taking their toll on current and future food availability and the quality of life for generations to come.<br />
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On the social side, "<i>child labor, slavery, hunger and poverty are, in many cases, directly related to agricultural production.</i>" Problems of labor exploitation, unsafe working conditions and lack of nutrition characterize many of the conditions in the agriculture sector.<br />
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All of this, together with the rising demand for food as the world's population grows, astounding levels of food waste and biofuel demands competing for a share of cornfield output, forms the basis of a compelling case that Lucas Simons lucidly presents for radically changing the food system. <br />
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<b>A Rotten System</b><br />
Lucas Simons takes us through systems change theory, keeping it simple and describing the concepts in sstraightforward terms with supporting illustrations. Bottom line, the current system reinforces unsustainability. Artificial pricing based on government subsidies in Western economies and no subsidies in emerging economies, massaging of supply and demand with little correlation to actual need, externalization of costs, dumping of surpluses etc... all this contributes to an unequal system which perpetuates benefits to rich industries and governments and exacerbates deficiencies and challenges for poor farmers and communities. A system which is designed by those in charge for those in charge keeps us from breaking out of negative loops and creating reinforcing positive cycles that could actually transform global food availability and security for the benefit of all. From coffee trading to the hidden uses of sugar and from destruction of tropical forests to human trafficking, the agriculture sector has not yet seen its best day.<br />
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<b>Transformation awaits</b><br />
"<i>How do you change systems that are caught in negative spirals?</i>" asks Lucas Simons. Lucas then goes on to answer this question by defining four phases of change, underpinned by connectivity, transparency and collaboration between all players.<br />
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<li><b>The awareness and project phase</b>, which raises general awareness
in the sector about the problems and elicits an initial response. </li>
<li><b>The first mover and competition phase</b>, which mainly addresses
the market failure by creating incentives for the market to compete
on doing the right thing. </li>
<li><b>The critical mass and institutionalization phase,</b> which addresses
the lack of conditions for change and involves governments </li>
<li><b>The level playing field phase</b>, which addresses the institutionalization
and legalization of the new normal and new norms.</li>
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What's important here is that, invariably, change starts through the catalyzing effect of a crisis. For example, the palm oil fires in Indonesia in 1997 were a wake-up call about the devastation caused by deforestation, with the fires destroying an area the size of Switzerland with regional economic costs estimated at $9 billion and dangerous air pollution effects felt throughout southeast Asia. Ultimately this led to the foundation, with the leadership of Unilever of the RSPO—the Roundtable on
Sustainable Palm Oil - which drives a sustainable approach for companies buying palm oil. Simons also provides examples from the coffee sector, the cocoa (chocolate) sector and others, demonstrating the degree to which crisis has to be present in order to galvanize entire markets into action. Inevitably, thereafter, there is one major player, often a corporation or an NGO or a government, or a collaboration of two or three players, that makes a disruptive move towards change. Examples from the soy, tea, cut flowers, livestock, sugarcane, tropical timber sectors and more show how, once the horse has bolted, the race for more sustainable standards is on, sector by sector. This eases into the third phase, that of establishing critical mass. A leading example here is the cocoa industry, where sector wide collaboration has created a new platform, <a href="http://worldcocoafoundation.org/about-wcf/cocoaaction/"><span style="color: blue;">CocoaAction</span></a>, "<i>that brings the world’s leading cocoa and chocolate companies together to sustain the cocoa industry and improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers through meaningful partnerships between governments, cocoa farmers, and the cocoa industry to boost productivity and strengthen community development in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana – the largest cocoa producing countries in the world</i>." (quoted from the CocoaAction website).<br />
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Lucas Simons maintains that, although progress has been made, none of the sectors he has showcased in the previous phases of change have so far been able to achieve a leveling of the playing field by "<i>institutionalizing and</i> <i>codifying the new norms</i>". However, egg production, electronic waste and light-bulbs are sectors where new ways of working prescribed by law or prohibition of products or processes backed by law are now in place. As Lucas Simons says: "<i>Sustainability will become a mainstream qualifier</i>." Sooner or later, this will have to work in agriculture too.<br />
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<b>Adding perspective</b><br />
The final part of this book is all about adding perspective through 12 questions (and answers) that people frequently ask about making transformation in markets and behaviors become a reality, and ten examples of "inspirational change-makers" who, in their own way, are creating transformation in different fields. These include a drive to change the way soy farmers use herbicides and pesticides (to prevent people getting sick), creating a new way of handling waste in Indonesia, a movement to halt soil erosion in Turkey and a campaign to stop drunk driving. All are fascinating and inspirational examples.<br />
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<b>A wholly informative book</b><br />
<b>Changing the Food Game</b> way surpassed my expectations. It is immensely readable, in a style that flows easily and is not overburdened with technobabble. It is thoroughly informative, appearing to be well-researched and supported with facts, figures and numerous case studies. While the title focuses on food, the book is really about market transformation and how this happens in a range of sectors, not just in agriculture. I found this book to be an extremely worthwhile read and it taught me much.<br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </strong></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/understanding-g4-the-concise-guide-to-next-generation-sustainability-reporting-p-28.html?zenid=dfogp183i27h4rduo1tmp7dsd0" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting</a></strong></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html" style="color: #0066cc; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282" style="color: #0066cc; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong> . Contact me via Twitter (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen" style="color: #0066cc;" target="_blank">@elainecohen)</a> </strong></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>or via my business website </strong></span><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/" style="color: #0066cc; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.b-yond.biz</strong></span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong> (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm). </strong></span></span><strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en/sub_page.asp?sp=389&p=77" style="color: #0066cc; font-size: xx-small;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Check out our G4 Report Expert Analysis Service - for published G4 reports or pre-publication</span></a><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en/sub_page.asp?sp=389&p=77" style="color: #333333; font-size: xx-small;" target="_blank"> </a><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- write to Elaine at </span><a href="mailto:info@b-yond.biz" style="color: #0066cc; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: blue;">info@b-yond.biz</span></a><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> to help make your G4 reporting even better. </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-59498006543669159642014-06-21T14:37:00.001-07:002014-06-21T14:40:28.019-07:00Overfished Ocean Strategy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBA0WLfPWJtcQocd_Os_DbReIV-5tSTqVAG6LBZj89FpL8D01LMxqqy7YmxUVN7AyQLsvfo_MjjbMVkJZqfLqYF7a1a27QgRmCCa1a8QjYz69QCS2-dJt2fokMdQwTZy6Bw9zJJjFGHk/s1600/OOS+Nadya+cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLBA0WLfPWJtcQocd_Os_DbReIV-5tSTqVAG6LBZj89FpL8D01LMxqqy7YmxUVN7AyQLsvfo_MjjbMVkJZqfLqYF7a1a27QgRmCCa1a8QjYz69QCS2-dJt2fokMdQwTZy6Bw9zJJjFGHk/s1600/OOS+Nadya+cover.png" height="200" width="136" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Overfished Ocean Strategy</strong></span><br />
Powering up innovation for a resource-deprived world<br />
by<br />
Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva<br />
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ISBN: 978-1609949648<br />
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Published: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (June 2, 2014) <br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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Overfished Ocean Strategy offers five essential principles for innovating in this new reality. Zhexembayeva shows how businesses can find new opportunities in what were once considered useless by-products, discover resource-conserving efficiencies up and down their value chain, transfer their expertise from physical products to services, and develop ways to rapidly try out and refine these new business models. She fills the book with examples of companies that are already successfully navigating the overfished ocean, from established corporations such as BMW, Microsoft, and Puma to newcomers such as Lush, FLOOW2, and Sourcemap.
The linear, throwaway economy of today—in which we extract resources at one end, create products, and throw them away at the other—is rapidly coming to an end. In every industry, creative minds are learning how to make money by taking this line and turning it into a circle. Nadya Zhexembayeva shows how you can join them and avoid being left high and dry.</div>
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I have had the privilege to hear Dr. Nadya Zhexembayeva deliver keynote addresses twice in the past couple of years, and both times, I have listened to her articulation of the headlines of the Overfished Ocean Strategy with absolute focus, totally absorbed in the message and in the delivery. Now, <strong><em>Overfished Ocean Strategy</em></strong> has hit the shelves and I find drawn to its simply stated narrative and coherent arguments. Don't let that simplicity deceive you. The book is the result of deep-dive research and a good deal of leadership thought and intelligent analysis. By the end of the book, you not only know what the Overfished Ocean Strategy is all about, you know how to get there. You also want to. And, you want others to, as well. </div>
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The book starts with an overview of our new competitive reality. One in which we are trashing more than we have places to put the trash we generate. The linear economy has outlived its usefulness and is now hurling us along the path to oblivion. Declining resource reserves, the volatility of fossil fuel prices, water scarcity, climate change and weather extremes, with high insurance premiums hot on their heels, and overconsumption of stuff that becomes obsolete all too quickly are the defining warning signs of a crisis in the making. It's a throwaway economy. But all is not lost. Yet. The wealth of ideas, some already successfully implemented, on how to create bottom up sustainable design is what will save us. It's not only about "disruptive innovation for a resource-deprived economy". It's about a new economy, designed from the ground up to recreate the way we innovate and generate value. Instead of rewarding those that handle trash, we should target to eliminate trash at source. This means rethinking our world and stopping overfishing the oceans. </div>
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There are five central ideas that take us through the journey to an appropriately fished ocean.</div>
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<strong>First:</strong> <strong>From line to circle:</strong> a circular economy in which the waste of one process becomes the raw material for another. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Remaking-Way-Make-Things/dp/0865475873">Michael Braungart and Bill McDonough's Cradle to Cradle</a> took this concept to scale, and although it makes perfect sense, it's still not even approaching common practice by a big margin.</div>
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<strong>Second: From vertical to horizontal:</strong> expanding horizons and approaching business strategies by engaging with the entire supply network at all levels, not just upstream and downstream to suppliers and customers. Through fundamentally remapping supply chain relationships and engaging in partnership spirit with key players, the top-down bottom-up approach to doing business becomes as obsolete as the items in the linear economy that we dispose of so rapidly. And with a direct link to what we might otherwise know as sustainable business practice, Nadya recommends stakeholder mapping as an essential tool in the <em><strong>Overfished Ocean Strategy</strong></em> toolkit: "It is surprising how few managers I meet that are able to think in terms of stakeholder needs and risks - even within their organization, let along outside of it." </div>
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<strong>Third: Growth to Growth:</strong> When we think growth, we think more money, more production, more output, more sales. Theoretically, all this should lead to more profit. But in a linear economy, it also leads to more of the stuff we have to find places to trash. <em><strong>Overfished Ocean Strategy</strong></em> tells us we should be looking for a new kind of growth, one that is based on the value we generate not the items we manufacture. By shifting the paradigm of what constitutes value - services rather than physical products, meaning rather than mass production - companies can reframe their offering and meet society's needs in a different way. "<em>Building relevance into everything a company makes is not an easy task</em>" writes Nadya. "<em>What matters is meaning. The good news is that meaning comes in different forms, and in unlimited supply</em>". </div>
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<strong>Fourth: From Plan to Model:</strong> "<em>Planning is overrated</em>" (I am glad to hear this! I can't remember anything good ever coming from a business plan... :)) This fourth principle of the Overfished Ocean Strategy urges us to constantly adapt to the new reality. By the time we finish our plans, reality has changed. It's better to work on the basis of a constantly evolving model rather than a rigid prescriptive plan. Such a shift might, for example, urge you to get out there in the market with a less than complete product (according to plan) and take the plunge with something that can evolve as the market evaluates how to use and benefit from it. Don't plan. Plan to model. </div>
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<strong>Fifth: Department to Mind-Set:</strong> Here we go on a journey back to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer">ancient Sumerian civilization</a> that developed the concept of division of labor in the roles citizens played in Sumerian cities. Current corporate life is pretty much the same. But, according to Nadya, "<em>resource intelligence is not an easy-to-follow principle. Line-to-circle thinking cannot depend on narrow functional brilliance.The Overfished Ocean Strategy does not fit into a small box or department</em>". And then she adds: <em>"The majority of companies I met got it wrong."</em> Even "the sustainability department" gets knocked on the head here. (I agree with this to a point, thought I personally believe that there is and always should be a place for a sustainability specialist in every company, that acts and an integrator, an overseer of sustainable principles and practices, and a coordinator of sustainability communications, without replacing the individual accountability that all leaders, managers and employees must integrate these into their daily roles). </div>
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<strong><em>Overfished Ocean Strategy</em></strong> follows a simple consistent message that most of us won't be challenged to understand and even agree with. Each chapter is peppered with examples of practice from large corporations and small companies we've never heard of, and supplemented with guidance for how to make the shift. Relevant and sometimes humorous quotes from a range of thought-leaders add interest. The toolkit section at the end of each chapter provides valuable suggestions about where to look for additional help or inspiration. The book does not propose a quick fix. But it does provide several diverse examples of the Overfished Ocean Strategy being played out today in companies across the world. We can learn from all of them. </div>
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Nadya's earlier book, <a href="http://www.thecsrbooksblog.com/2011/08/embedded-sustainability.html"><strong><em>Embedded Sustainability</em></strong></a>, co-written with Chris Laszlo, was spectacular, and well worth the investment of time to read. This one is easier on the brain, faster and more entertaining, and plays to both our intellect and to our emotions. It's a book with charm that totally packs a punch. In both cases, it's a perfect reflection of Nadya Zhexembayeva. You have my strongest recommendation to read it and absorb its message. It won't take you too long, but it will leave a lasting change in your thinking. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong>elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </strong></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/understanding-g4-the-concise-guide-to-next-generation-sustainability-reporting-p-28.html?zenid=dfogp183i27h4rduo1tmp7dsd0" target="_blank">Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting</a></strong></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong> . Contact me via </strong></span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.twitter.com/elainecohen</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong> or via my business website </strong></span><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.b-yond.biz</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, "Trebuchet MS", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px; text-align: justify;"><strong> (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm</strong></span></span> elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-80852595849964954902014-01-25T02:41:00.001-08:002014-01-25T02:41:24.714-08:00Ice Cream Social<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-q7y-K0vTRu54tFAmFyC7FIe9FrTJa4fFI9VUXPaqpHXhqPHFd9e41bAbRRcbCYE5dHpd8RJQQLN2eCsAIaG4E-Ssmr1bwvVWtM7Nwb8wTacVflWZcVriCMP5-CbKwGED3YVrzS4HsY/s1600/icecreamsocial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-q7y-K0vTRu54tFAmFyC7FIe9FrTJa4fFI9VUXPaqpHXhqPHFd9e41bAbRRcbCYE5dHpd8RJQQLN2eCsAIaG4E-Ssmr1bwvVWtM7Nwb8wTacVflWZcVriCMP5-CbKwGED3YVrzS4HsY/s1600/icecreamsocial.jpg" height="200" width="137" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://icecreamsocialbook.com/">Ice Cream Social: The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s</a></span></b><br />
By Brad Edmondson<br />
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Epilogue by Jeff Furman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ben & Jerry’s<br />
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ISBN 978-1-60994-813-9<br />
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Published by Berrett Koehler, January 2014<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Description</b></span><br />
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The Struggle for the Soul of Ben & Jerry’s is the first book to tell the complete story of a beloved company’s inspiring rise, tragic mistakes, devastating fall, determined recovery, and ongoing renewal. For over three decades, Ben & Jerry’s has tried to achieve “linked prosperity,” or the idea that the owners of the company should share their success with all of their stakeholders — employees, suppliers, distributors, customers, cows, everybody. Living up to this ideal is fun when you’re doing it right, and it creates amazingly loyal customers, but it isn't easy.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Commentary</b></span></div>
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As a self-confessed ice-cream addict, it was more than obvious that I would want to read and review this book. Also, as a former Unilever employee, I have an additional connection to the Ben & Jerry's story. Add that to the CSR and social business theme, and you couldn't find a book that I could connect with on any more levels. More than this, the book reads like a who's who of the history of the CSR movement in the U.S. with all the big names – Paul Hawken, Anita Roddick, Simon Zadek and more – who played a role in the rise, struggles, challenges, development of, and survival of, the legendary Ben & Jerry's ice cream business.
The story of Ben & Jerry's is recounted by journalist Brad Edmondson, whose many hours researching and interviewing past and present Ben & Jerry's protagonists is evident in the depth of the narrative. Actually, this book provides a background that I suspect many don't know, and insights which put a new perspective on the amazing journey to a leading ice cream brand and the concept of linked prosperity. </div>
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<b>Linked Prosperity </b></div>
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I hadn’t come across this term before, although it resonates which my impression of how the Ben & Jerry's operation was run. Linked prosperity is the "simple but radical idea that when the company benefits, everything it touches should also benefit, including employees, suppliers, customers communities and the environment." Today, that concept is well-known, but back in the 80s, it was far less common. A couple of the first expressions of linked prosperity that many perhaps do not know include the creation of the Ben & Jerry's Foundation as a way of channelling 7.5% of pretax profits (nearly four times the national average) to social causes and the introduction of a salary ratio of five to one between the highest and the lowest salaries. The prosperity of Ben and Jerry's was also directly linked to its local community through a share offering restricted only to Vermont residents, so that in 1984, after the first offering, "nearly 1% of the households in the state owned shares of Ben & Jerry's". One of the first cause marketing campaigns undertaken by Ben & Jerry's was the sale of Peace Pops, under the One Percent for Peace banner, a new organization supported by Paul Hawken and other visionaries to rechannel 1% of the U.S. defense budget to cultural and economic exchanges between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. </div>
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<b>The Three Part Mission and the Challenges of Pioneering CSR </b></div>
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In 1988, Ben & Jerry's unveiled its social, economic and product centric three-part mission, a precursor to the triple bottom line we all are familiar with today. Later, the company started to include non-financial disclosures in annual reports and gradually progressed to fully audited social accounts. In the book, Brad Edmondson describes the risks that this pioneering approach brought for Ben & Jerry's, alongside the detail of the challenges of performing full social audits and paving the way, by establishing new methodologies, so that larger companies such as Disney and Nike could move into this space as well. This significant role that Ben & Jerry's played in moving CSR forward is probably not widely known and it makes for absolutely fascinating reading. The path to sustainable sourcing was also not as smooth as the new range of sorbets that Ben & Jerry's brought out to compete with Hagen Dasz in 1996. Fair trade vanilla farmers in Costa Rica became a less reliable source and alternatives had to be found. The apple-pie social enterprise source La Soul sued Ben & Jerry's when apple-pie flavored frozen yogurt didn't sell.
Other challenges that plagued Ben & Jerry's included finding the right leadership, especially when the company was under financial pressure in the 90s, and this was so much harder given the founders' determination to give equal weighting to each part of the Ben & Jerry's three-part mission. Ironically, Perry Odak, the externally-hired CEO in the late 1990s, whose belief was "let's make the economics work first" and who started to try to quantify the incremental costs of the social mission for the first time, was the one who managed to save the Ben & Jerry's balance sheet. But he was also the one who is attributed with moving the company towards its historic sale to Unilever.
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<b>Selling Out? </b></div>
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And this is probably the part of the book that almost every wants to read first (though it's much better if you take in the first eight chapters before you do). What really went on behind the scenes that led to the iconic socially-led progressive premium ice cream small-guy Ben &Jerry's to be gobbled up by the global powerhouse Unilever is the big attraction of this book. We all recognize that today, Ben & Jerry's largely survived the Unilever gobble-up, and emerged with its values, creativity, social identity, great flavors and even a little of its irreverence as a brand intact. How Ben & Jerry's managed to do this in the face of Big Business is the most compelling part of this book, even before you read it. Chapter Nine is where the stakes are upped. The account doesn't disappoint. Albeit containing less drama, door-slamming and storming-out of meetings than we might have anticipated, the sale negotiation process was not without its ups and downs and the roles of the different characters involved on both sides is illuminating, and shows, ultimately, they even Big Business is about people with values and their determination to make things happen. </div>
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<b>Happy End </b></div>
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Ben & Jerry's secured terms for this acquisition deal which helped preserve much of its character and a good degree of its independence, even though, down the road, the company would have to take Unilever to hand for breaching the agreed provisions. Eventually, after Paul Polman took the helm at Unilever, and brought with him a great focus on strategic CSR and a new openness, the path to a cautious rebalancing of the three-part mission became navigable. In urging Unilever to take on greater sustainability goals, Polman cited Ben & Jerry's as one of the model companies in the Unilever family in terms of championing social environmental causes and others confirmed they sought to learn from Ben & Jerry's in areas of sustainable sourcing and fair trade. Ben & Jerry's had come full circle, and the founding partners could continue to feel proud of the institution they had developed, despite the devastating feeling of having sold their company. </div>
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<b>A Book Worth Reading </b></div>
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There is much more to this book than I expected, and if anything, one of the greatest insights is that it is really no picnic trying to be a socially responsible company and thrive. The five to one salary ratio disappeared when it became untenable, the costs of sustainable sourcing almost bankrupted the business, and the relationships between board and management became strained beyond measure. The ability of Ben & Jerry's to survive and grow through all of this is as much due to the perseverance of principle in general, allowing some flexibility of principles in practice, as it is to a smart group of people who appeared in the right place at the right time to make the right decisions, powered by a vision of linked prosperity, the spirit to see it through and a shared sense of the inevitability great-tasting ice cream with a backbone. </div>
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There's only one secret that Brad Edmondson didn't reveal about Ben & Jerry's – and that's how to get membership of the <b>Free Ice Cream for Life Club</b>. Now <b>THAT's</b> something I'd like to know.
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong>elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </strong></span><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong> AND </strong></span><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong> . Contact me at </strong></span><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.twitter.com/elainecohen</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong> or via my business website </strong></span><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><strong>www.b-yond.biz</strong></span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 19.5px;"><strong> (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)</strong></span>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-973283831831170022013-03-31T03:44:00.000-07:002013-03-31T03:50:03.232-07:00Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4Juj006bj3zdobwyb8wLOLqr242Z1uZROjFTNZgWs3t6QOCvxYyluj7PIyGuNtob_o8yMq88NwXrZx8dzAYFvqFFVJ17CsF334NbyeJJYoRrIjB6n20FW0s5LHDxF8xJyX2I8WY5lKg/s1600/talent-transformation-and-the-triple-bottom-line.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb4Juj006bj3zdobwyb8wLOLqr242Z1uZROjFTNZgWs3t6QOCvxYyluj7PIyGuNtob_o8yMq88NwXrZx8dzAYFvqFFVJ17CsF334NbyeJJYoRrIjB6n20FW0s5LHDxF8xJyX2I8WY5lKg/s200/talent-transformation-and-the-triple-bottom-line.png" width="127" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Transformation-Triple-Bottom-Line/dp/1118140974"><span style="font-size: large;">Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line</span></a><br />
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By: Andrew W. Savitz with Karl Weber<br />
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Published by: Jossey Bass, February 2013<br />
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ISBN-10: 1118140974
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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Employees are central to creating sustainable organizations, yet they are left on the sidelines in most sustainability initiatives along with the HR professionals who should be helping to engage and energize them. This book shows business leaders and HR professionals how to: motivate employees to create economic, environmental and social value; facilitate necessary culture, strategic and organizational change; embed sustainability into the employee lifecycle; and strengthen existing capabilities and develop new ones necessary to support the transformation to sustainability.
<strong><em>Talent, Transformation, and the Triple Bottom Line</em></strong> also demonstrates how leading companies are using sustainability to strengthen core HR functions: to win the war for talent, to motivate and empower employees, to increase productivity, and to enliven traditional HR-related efforts such as diversity, health and wellness, community involvement and volunteerism. In combination, these powerful benefits can help drive business growth, performance, and results.</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span><br />
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Since the publication of my book, <a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</a> (Greenleaf, 2010) and even for some time before that, my mantra has been "It is time for HR to wake up to CSR!" The opposite is also true, and business-led CSR also needs to wake up to the potentially massive contribution that the HR function can make in advancing sustainability efforts. This is why the CSR-HR partnership is so necessary. My book was hailed as the first on the market which covered this aspect of embedding CSR in corporations. Too often, we hear about employees being critical to sustainable success, being the heart of the business and a key actor in sustainability efforts, but all too frequently, the role of HR in galvanizing, catalyzing and activating employees in support of an aligned organizational sustainability-enabled culture, is overlooked. My book was an attempt to bridge that gap, showing how HR can and should get on the playing field and attempting to provide a highly practical approach to doing so. <br />
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Since 2010, I have been engaged in many conversations around this topic: I have chaired a conference on CSR for HR, presented to groups of sustainability professionals in companies, and at local CSR events in several countries (see <a href="http://www.csrforhr.com/">www.csrforhr.com</a>), written in several publications, <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/35156-Making-the-CSR-HR-Partnership-Work-CSRwire-Launches-Webinar-Series-with-CSR-for-HR-Leader-Elaine-Cohen">run a training webinar series</a> and also, a 12 <a href="http://www.master.steinbeis-icrm.eu/lecturers/elaine-cohen">hour online course for Masters students at Steinbeis University</a> for the past three years. I was also delighted when HR-profession-thought-leaders at the SHRM Foundation commissioned an <a href="http://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/products/documents/4-12%20csr%20report%20final%20for%20web.pdf">Effective Practice Guideline on HRM's role in Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, which I co-wrote with distinguished professors, Sully Taylor and Michael Muller Camen, and which is now freely downloadable</a>, showing that the profession is starting to sit up and take note. <br />
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And now, I couldn't be happier to note that a second book has been published, adding important context and background to the role of HR in organizations and the role of business leaders in understanding the HR contribution.
The book is <em><strong>Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line</strong></em>, by Andrew Savitz and Karl Weber. Andrew Savitz is a well-known player in sustainability fields and many will know his excellent earlier book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Triple-Bottom-Line-Companies-Environmental/dp/0787979074">The Triple Bottom Line</a>, published in 2006, also with Karl Weber as co-writer.<br />
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This new offering is a fabulous review of all the points of interaction of the HR function in a business and a further call to action for business, sustainability and HR leaders.
The book is structured in four parts: <br />
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Part One provides an overview of how GE drove sustainability core product offerings, and an overview of the evolution of sustainability;<br />
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Part Two examines HR processes and products in the light of sustainability needs;<br />
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Part Three looks at organizations and culture change; and <br />
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Part Four examines employee engagement and its role, and that of HR, in advancing sustainable business. <br />
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The book offers examples of thinking from several large companies such as GE, Campbell's Soup, PepsiCo, Nike, AEP, J&J, BT, as well as some case studies from smaller companies. Each chapter concludes with questions that business leaders could ask themselves to help them identify the state of Sustainable Leadership and Sustainable HR practices in their own organization. <br />
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The first part of the book, an in-depth study of the way GE has transformed itself into a company focuses on sustainability practices and the opportunities provided by <a href="http://www.ecomagination.com/">ecomagination</a> and <a href="http://healthymagination.com/">healthymagination</a>. These initiatives now only hit the "sweet spot" of sustainability (using the term coined by the Savitz -Weber partnership in their earlier book) but also have become attractors of talent. 75% of students want to work in ecomagination, says Beth Comstock, GE's SVP and CMO, quoted in the book.
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The rest of the book takes us on a journey through all traditional and new HR processes, products and activities, providing important context and persuasive arguments that support HR becoming a full partner in sustainable business, and also, the opposite...that business is not optimally sustainable without this contribution. Take the example of J&J, whose performance in product quality and product recalls in recent years has deteriorated, despite <a href="http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/10/07/the-fight-to-save-tylenol-james-burke/">the Tylenol affair of the 1980s</a> which gave J&J significant credibility as a responsibly-led business. Savitz writes: "<em>In the case of J&J, we believe that at least on significant cause of the failure involved flawed personnel practices, especially related to the hiring and firing of employees</em>". Recruitment and "winning the war for talent" is a key theme of Sustainable HRM and PepsiCo is featured, showing how "Performance with Purpose" has become a "powerful recruiting tool". Onboarding for sustainability, career development, leadership programs and compensation for sustainability are discussed, making the CSR-HR link clear. Andrew Savitz says: "<em>Many of HR's traditional corporate roles - whether linked to employment processes managed by HR or to specific products or deliverables that HR is expected to create for the organization - are being transformed by the advent of sustainability. But the age of sustainability is also creating enormous opportunities for HR professionals to accomplish many traditional objectives and guide the companies they work for in even more innovative ways</em>". <br />
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In Part Three, the focus is on organizational capability, and Savitz talks about seven "<em>of the most crucial capabilities that organizations need in order to become more sustainable</em>". These are: Innovation, Collaboration, Long-term Orientation, Outward Focus, Interdependent Thinking; Learning and Adaptability. Savitz maintains that "<em>HR is uniquely positioned to ensure that these and other essential capabilities are nurtured across departmental and divisional boundaries</em>". In the book, examples are provided of how the HR function can support the development of these capabilities. <br />
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In a chapter entitled "The Link between Sustainability, Engagement and Profit", the book refers to the movement toward sustainability which may strengthen the loyalty, motivation and commitment of workers but cites lack of awareness as blocking the realization of these benefits. "<em>The failure to connect these dots may be a huge missed opportunity for sustainability leaders, HR professionals, CEOs and the organizations they serve</em>". Savitz's "Golden Triangle" of Sustainability - Business Results - Employee Engagement demonstrates that "<em>as employee engagement increases, the company may enjoy related business benefits such as higher productivity, reduced turnover and absenteeism, and lower costs of employment..."</em> The case of Marks and Spencer is offered as an example of turning "bystander employees" into participants in the company's sustainability efforts under the umbrella of Plan A, "<em>which was deliberately designed to involve rank-and-file employees throughout the organization</em>". Plan A, as most of us probably know, has yielded impressive results since it was launched in 2007. Employee engagement is noted in <em><strong>Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line</strong></em> as "perhaps the most critical component of the .. transformation process".<br />
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This book reinforces the message that HR leadership is necessary for sustainability, and sustainability is necessary for HR leadership. For those business and sustainability professionals who are not yet convinced, or who do not understand the multiple linkages or even the potential power of the HR contribution, <strong><em>Talent, Transformation and the Triple Bottom Line</em></strong> will help you get things in perspective. <br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen or via my business website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)</span></strong>
elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-1554164604900438162013-02-11T11:07:00.001-08:002013-02-11T11:08:21.986-08:00Sustainability Reporting for SMEs<div style="text-align: justify;">
While this blog was intended as a place where I could review books that other people have written (and I apologize for a long silence, as I have not managed to make the time both to read AND review some great books in recent months), I will break the mould by making a temporary role-switch. This time, instead of a review written by me of a book by somebody else, it's the other way around. Please find below a great review written by <a href="http://idealcsr.co.uk/">Debbie Griffiths of Ideal Word Ltd</a>, a CSR and Sustainability communications and consulting firm, based in the UK. Ideal Word practise what they preach as an SME and have published six fabulous own CSR reviews for their own company - <a href="http://www.idealconsulting.co.uk/PDF/ideal_csr_review_2012_final.pdf">the latest one being their 2012 CSR Review </a>. </div>
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Here is my new book:<br />
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<a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html"><strong>Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage through Transparency</strong></a></div>
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<strong>Author:</strong> Elaine Cohen <br />
<strong>Publisher:</strong> part of the DōShorts series by DōSustainability<br />
<strong>Publication Date:</strong> February 2013
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<strong>Page extent:</strong> 97 pages
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<strong>Formats and ISBNs:</strong>
pdf 9781909293380
epub 9781909293373
print 9781909293366<br />
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Here is Debbie's review, <a href="http://idealword.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/book-review-sustainability-reporting.html">first published on her blog, Ideally Speaking,</a> on 11 February 2013.<br />
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Sustainability Reporting for SMEs by Elaine Cohen was sizzlingly hot off the press when I bought a limited-edition hard copy at the Smarter Sustainability Reporting conference last week. Published by DōSustainability, the book is intended to be downloaded as a DōShorts 90-minute e-book for your commute. </div>
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As one half of an ethical micro-enterprise that has been publishing CSR reviews for the past six years, I was instantly attracted to the title. At last, a respected name in the industry was providing advice for people in my position. Also, Elaine Cohen runs her own SME, so she knows exactly what she’s talking about.
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That said, I agree with her assertion that the book would be equally valuable for sustainability managers in larger companies whose success depends on the transparency and accountability of their supply chain – a very hot potato in the UK food chain right now! Anyone wanting to encourage their SME suppliers to report on sustainability issues would do well to start them off with this book.
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Elaine gives clear descriptions and definitions that would be helpful to SMEs doing this for the first time, along with real-life case studies and practical how-to guidance. One of the things I found most illuminating was the fact that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework and the UN Global Compact Communication of Progress were tools that could easily and usefully be used by SMEs. I’d always thought they were for large companies, not one of my size.
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The ‘Roadmap to Transparency’ chapter is my favourite and I’ve gleaned many ideas that I want to put into practice to take our sustainability reporting onto a higher level. I also got a lot out of the ‘Guidance for Developing a Sustainability Report’ chapter.
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My only concern is whether the book’s title is appealing enough for a more mainstream SME audience? Elaine talks about the importance of giving sustainability reports an eye-catching title and says she wanted to call this book: ‘Make More Money: Sustainability Reporting for SMEs’. I think she should have gone with that if she wanted to reach a wider variety of SMEs, way beyond those of us who are already converted to the cause.
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To read an extract of the book, or to download or rent a copy, visit: <a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/">www.dosustainability.com</a> </div>
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Debbie Griffiths is a sustainability consultant, copywriter and co-founder of Ideal (<a href="http://www.idealconsulting.co.uk/">www.idealconsulting.co.uk</a> ), a values-led business specialising in wordsmithing, branding and CSR.</div>
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Many thanks, Debbie for this great review! I hope this short book will also be useful to the many many SMEs out there who would benefit from Sustainability Reporting (and make more money) but don't quite know where to start. </div>
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Elaine Cohen, CSR Consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. </span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and </span></strong><a href="http://www.dosustainability.com/shop/sustainability-reporting-for-smes-competitive-advantage-through-transparency-p-17.html"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: competitive Advantage through Transparency</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">
Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a> elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-61944374267623615162012-04-12T21:41:00.000-07:002012-04-12T21:41:45.963-07:00Onward<div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AZyEm24e07McXU0CUdIAyazEBkr69visJPX6WTHxWr3yIqdtyrpzXz1wEvxrjySW4NyXx_hdwGwIZ0AcXefmu9_t1xr2Zj3HQ2a0Zg04jhh2DlkoyfYhzPCsYR3T0Awvjm3SUBSwKn0/s1600/onward_howard_schultz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0AZyEm24e07McXU0CUdIAyazEBkr69visJPX6WTHxWr3yIqdtyrpzXz1wEvxrjySW4NyXx_hdwGwIZ0AcXefmu9_t1xr2Zj3HQ2a0Zg04jhh2DlkoyfYhzPCsYR3T0Awvjm3SUBSwKn0/s200/onward_howard_schultz.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.starbucks.com/onward">Onward : How Starbucks Fought for its Life without Losing its Soul</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
ISBN: 978-1-60529-288-5</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Published by Rodale</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2008, Howard Schultz, the president and chairman of Starbucks, made the unprecedented decision to return as the CEO eight years after he stepped down from daily oversight of the company and became chairman. Concerned that Starbucks had lost its way, Schultz was determined to help it return to its core values and restore not only its financial health, but also its soul. In Onward, he shares the remarkable story of his return and the company's ongoing transformation under his leadership, revealing how, during one of the most tumultuous economic times in history, Starbucks again achieved profitability and sustainability without sacrificing humanity. Offering readers a snapshot of a moment in history that left no company unscathed, the book zooms in to show, in riveting detail, how one company struggled and recreated itself in the midst of it all. Onward is a compelling, candid narrative documenting the maturing of a brand as well as a businessman.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have never actually tasted a Frappuccino, but, after reading Onward, by Howard Schultz, I am tempted to try it out the next time I am in the vicinity of a Starbucks. Onward is the story of how Howard Schultz came back to turn Starbucks around after its plummeting performance in 2007, the year in which the company's stock dropped 42 percent. A deeply personal account of the day-by-day deliberations, decisions and consultations that led up to Schultz's decision to remove the then CEO, Jim Donald, and reposition himself in the driving seat, and everything that followed up until late 2010, when Starbuck's was enjoying its "best financial performance in its almost 40 years history" with stock prices up 400% in two years, is compelling reading. Written in an easy narrative, sharing dilemmas, challenges and aspirations, this is Schultz's second book and continues the story of both Starbucks the company and Starbucks the man through all their different facets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Building a Different Kind of Company</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Schultz created the Starbucks of today when, in 1987, at the age of 34, he bought the Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Company for $3.8 million, "determined to create a different kind of company… which would act through a lens of social consciousness". The original Starbucks sold coffee beans and ground coffee. Schultz had created a small chain of coffee bars modeled on the Italian coffee shop tradition. The new Starbucks was a blend of both. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, for Schultz, coffee is a way of bringing people together. Starbucks' stores are a place for people to connect. The "Starbucks Experience" creates personal connections. "We are all hungry for community", writes Schultz. When, in 2007, seven years after Schultz had stepped down from the role of CEO to become Chairman, with a mandate to guide Starbucks' international expansion strategy, Schultz began to perceive that profit considerations and non-core opportunities to sell music, food, books, movies and more, were weakening the positioning of Starbucks in the U.S. market, moving the Company away from the true coffee-flavored soul of the business. Schultz wrote a memo, sharing his concerns at this mission drift. The memo, which was to become known as the "Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience", was designed for internal distribution but, when leaked to the press, it created a public debate about the essence of Starbucks and its strength as a business and role in society. In many ways, this was a catalyst for new insight about the relevance of Starbucks and its future path. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Transforming Starbucks</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The revitalization of Starbucks was ultimately to rest on a "Transformation Agenda", propelled by Howard Schultz, which was framed around Seven Big Moves, which were:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. <strong>Become the undisputed coffee authority:</strong> After the ultimate insult, when a Consumer Report taste test rated Starbucks' coffee behind McDonald's, leaving Schultz "stunned", Starbucks had to regain the upper hand in becoming known as the best coffee sourcer, roaster and brewer. This aspiration led to the decision to shut down Starbucks all over the U.S. for an afternoon in 2008, to spend time retraining 135,000 baristas on how to make great coffee. Apparently it's not as easy as it looks and closing stores to deliver synchronized training of every single employee, was quite an unprecedented and bold act.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. <strong>Engage and inspire our partners:</strong> Partners, in Starbucks-speak, are employees. Schultz tells how employees were always given a decent deal at Starbucks, including full health insurance benefits, in a business context in which this was a long way from being the norm. Engaging employees in community service has also been a strong factor in the Starbucks culture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. <strong>Ignite the emotional attachment with customers:</strong> Improve customer service, making it ever more personal. The Starbucks Loyalty Program was to become a big winner. Free wifi also helped. Starbucks' regulars are treated to personal notes from baristas on their coffee cups. <a href="http://mystarbucksidea.com/">MyStarbucksIdea.com</a> invited customers to help make Starbucks better, while social media was jacked up to best-in-class levels, supported by a corporate website that receives 12 million visitors each month. Improved store décor and more added to Starbucks new blend of customer-first thinking. A change in advertising strategy got the message out with greater clarity. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. <strong>Expand global presence:</strong> With less than 1 percent of the global coffee market, Starbucks had to make itself relevant in other countries and exploit great growth opportunities. China became a target market and localized innovation even included specialties such as Black Sesame Green Tea Frappuccino.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5. <strong>Be a leader in ethical sourcing and environmental impact:</strong> Working with <a href="http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/">Fairtrade</a> and <a href="http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx">Conservation International</a>, Starbucks needed to strengthen these partnerships in order to gain true value for the company. By 2009, Starbucks was the largest purchaser of Fairtrade coffee in the world. <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19">LEED-ification</a> of stores reduced energy and water consumption significantly. Hooking up with <a href="http://www.joinred.com/aboutred/about_red__partners">Product RED</a> gave Starbucks an additional social benefit by contributing to AIDS HIV relief in Africa. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">6. <strong>Create innovative growth platforms:</strong> Everything from the design of new espresso machines, the development of a new <a href="http://www.starbucksstore.com/pike-place-roast/011017854,default,pd.html">Pike Place Roast coffee flavor</a>, <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/coffee/via">Starbucks instant coffee</a>, and new food offerings were rolled out at a pace.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">7. <strong>Deliver a sustainable economic model:</strong> Returning to pre-crisis profitability, including closure of hundreds of stores, employee layoffs, revamping the entire supply chain and introducing new technologies for store management and communications, plus aggressive cost-cutting in many and varied ways, contributed to Starbucks' increase in operating margins. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Telling the Story</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By far, the greatest appeal of this book is the way the narrative is driven by Howard Schultz's personal account of all the dilemmas he faced, combined with insights from Starbucks' employees in letters they sent to Schultz. As CEO, Schultz instituted an "open inbox' policy, whereby employees can write to him and get a response, time permitting. A regional director of operations wrote: "I can't begin to tell you how proud I am to be a partner". A district manager in Canada wrote: "I have absolute faith that fantastic things are ahead." A district manager in California wrote: "You can be sure that the Spirit of Starbucks is alive and well in San Diego!" The ability of Schultz to inspire with a vision of creating emotional connection through the Starbucks brand appears to have worked internally as well as externally. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to sharing insights from employees, Schultz describes in detail the relationships he struck up with mentors, which included Michael Dell of Dell Corporation, and communications agencies, organizational specialists and more. Schultz's knack for hand-picking his own leadership team as well as engaging external specialists appears to have been pivotal in executing the Starbucks' transformation. The blow-by-blow account of the way Schultz put in place the right people to deliver his renewed vision is well worth reading. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Values First</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At all times, Howard Schultz takes pains to reiterate the importance of values and the way conflicts were resolved in the organization from a values-based standpoint under his leadership. While this book is clearly written from the Schultz autobiographical perspective, which at times is rather rosy, it is an engaging account of turning around a global business with a sustainability focus. Schultz is not usually the first name that springs to mind when people talk about sustainability visionaries of stature from the business sector – Anita Roddick, Yves Chouinard, Ray Anderson, and Ben and Jerry, and a few others, generally make the list. Schultz doesn't usually figure. However, in Onward, Schultz stands out as a visionary and a person of principle, striving to make his business as relevant and valuable to society and environmentally sustainable as have any of the other business sustainability celebs. Another demonstration of this is the way Starbucks confirms its impacts on society and accepts accountability through the <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility">transparent reporting practices of the Company</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are lessons for CEO's and many others in <a href="http://www.starbucks.com/onward">Onward</a>. It is certainly a gripping, entertaining and worthwhile read. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a> </div>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-76334872738514283802012-04-10T23:14:00.000-07:002012-04-10T23:14:06.979-07:00Reality-Based Leadership<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2ppqpvgbvYB6VSYZqnlFVxYm3wKLv235W5WTnAK9Pyqf_H1h9MoSQ38f6m06fEJooK7imCmNrt-N86Q2_4-T6YEvm3kRCLYGTNB_yg5sYYX0-aJ-ircfPySUDnuqrgK4xDZcKxbIS1c/s1600/reality+cy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig2ppqpvgbvYB6VSYZqnlFVxYm3wKLv235W5WTnAK9Pyqf_H1h9MoSQ38f6m06fEJooK7imCmNrt-N86Q2_4-T6YEvm3kRCLYGTNB_yg5sYYX0-aJ-ircfPySUDnuqrgK4xDZcKxbIS1c/s200/reality+cy.jpg" width="135" /></a><a href="http://www.realitybasedleadership.com/" target="_blank">Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace and Turn Excuses Into Results</a></div><br />
By: Cy Wakeman<br />
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ISBN: 978-0-470-61350-4<br />
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Publisher: Jossey Bass<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/329-a-business-book-for-sustainability-leaders" target="_blank">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on March 8, 2012</a><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Book Description</strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Recent polls show that 71 percent of workers think about quitting their jobs <em>every day</em>. That number would be shocking -- if people actually were quitting. Worse, they go to work, punching time clocks and collecting paychecks, while completely checked out emotionally.In <a href="http://www.realitybasedleadership.com/" target="_blank"><em>Reality-Based Leadership</em></a>, Cy Wakeman reveals how to be the kind of leader who changes the way people think about and perceive their circumstances-one who deals with the facts, clarifying roles, giving clear and direct feedback, and insisting that everyone do the same, without drama or defensiveness. Filled with dynamic examples, innovative tools, and diagnostic tests, this book shows you how to become a Reality-Based Leader, revealing how to:</div><ul><li>Uncover destructive thought patterns with yourself and others. </li>
<li>Diffuse drama and lead the person in front of you. </li>
<li>Stop managing and start leading, empowering others to focus on facts and think for themselves.</li>
</ul><h3><strong><span style="color: red;">Commentary</span></strong></h3><div style="text-align: justify;">Leadership accountability is one of the most underplayed themes in sustainability today. This shows up when heads of companies receive massive bonuses that are not directly tied to corporate performance. It shows up in the way employee performance is evaluated – using inputs (what people do) rather than outcomes (what results they deliver). It shows up in the fact that <a href="http://www.blessingwhite.com/EEE__report.asp" target="_blank">31 percent of employees are actively engaged in their jobs</a> (and 17 percent are actively disengaged). It shows up in the fact that "71 percent of workers think about quitting their jobs every day." It shows up in the fact that far too many <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/blogs/work-in-progress/the-weakest-link-managing-underperforming-staff-20110506-1eakw.html" target="_blank">underperforming people</a> remain far too long in organizations in which they are not positively contributing (and in some cases, they are actually causing damage).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Sustainable Reality-Based Leadership</span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wakeman’s book was, perhaps, not written for the sustainability bookshelves. It was written for the Business Leadership, Management and Human Resources sections of business literature. However, its relevance for sustainability is compelling. Business sustainability requires leaders who deliver sustainable results through people. A business cannot be sustainable when only a third of the workforce is engaged or two thirds are thinking about how to get out. Here are some of the issues Wakeman lists as holding organizations back through lack of effective leadership feedback:</div><ul><li><strong>Tenured employees whose skills are not current </strong>– leaders must raise the bar for performance and decide who makes the grade and who doesn’t.</li>
<li><strong>Employees at the top of their pay scale who no longer deliver top value</strong> – this happens when "leaders over-reward and under-coach employees over the course of their careers".</li>
<li><strong>Righteous top performers</strong> – "great employees whose performance is compromised by their righteousness and judgment of others."</li>
</ul><strong>Stop Managing, Start Leading</strong><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Effectively addressing these issues requires executives to stop managing and start leading. First of all, Wakeman writes, they have to "stop arguing with reality." This means relating to the facts of different situations at work, rather than the stories we tell ourselves or making judgments. An example might be when a coworker receives a promotion – you tell yourself that it's not fair, you should have received the promotion, you work harder than the coworker, you deserve it etc. This line of thought is judgmental and reflects "entitlement" thinking. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, if "you embraced reality, you would note that a promotion occurred and do the appropriate thing in such a situation: congratulate your coworker, offer to help and resolve to learn how to deliver what the company values. You'd be high on professionalism, low on drama and investing in better relationships and mutual support in the future…You are arguing with reality whenever you judge your situation in terms of right or wrong instead of fearlessly confronting what is."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<strong>Reduce the Drama</strong><br />
<br />
By the same token, instead of trying to keep employees happy, leaders should focus on helping them understand reality, while empowering them to build their capabilities to deal with all situations that arise. If you want to evaluate the behavior of the people you lead, you can take Wakeman's Freak-Out Factor test, which will show you how your organization or team measures up in terms of level of drama in the workplace. </div><br />
<strong>"Empowerment without Accountability is Chaos"</strong><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Restoring sanity to the workplace is about the adoption of leadership behaviors that drive accountability. The problem with employee engagement surveys, writes Cy Wakeman, is that they don't measure accountability. They are simply "invitations for people to critique their reality". All you end up with is a list of "what would need to change in order for your staff to grace you with their performance". However, one can never create a perfect working environment which meets everybody's aspirations. Engagement surveys are setting leadership up for failure. Instead, Cy Wakeman recommends two questions for employees:</div><ol><li><div style="text-align: justify;">What is the one thing you need to be more productive in your work?</div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><li><div style="text-align: justify;">What are the three things you are willing to do to get it?</div></li>
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div></ol><div style="text-align: justify;">Such an approach eliminates the "victim factor" and builds accountability, while enabling leaders to understand what they need to do to truly empower their teams.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Work with the Willing</strong><br />
<br />
In leadership, playing favorites is "fair game," Wakeman observes. "Too many leaders I work with have surrendered to the idea of mediocrity in order to never, ever offend anyone. Some leaders are so concerned with treating everyone the same that they are hesitant to give honest feedback". Leaders should spend most of their time coaching the employees who are delivering the best results. In reality, leaders spend "on average 80 extra hours per year thinking about and working with a single person who's in a state of chronic resistance". These people won't change and worse, the best employees will be dragged down by a negative office culture. The idea is to "compensate value, not effort" and give your focus to the employees who deliver. " You will have problem employees for as long as you continue to hire them and put up with them".</div><br />
<strong>Everybody's Opinion Counts. Not.</strong><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Wakeman says your workplace is not a democracy. Ninety percent of the people in any organization at any given time are not key decision makers. Leaders need to set clear expectations and goals and focus the energy of their teams on working towards the desired results, rather than wasting hours complaining about why certain decisions are made. Offering constructive feedback is positive. Fighting against decisions that are not yours or your team's to make is futile.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<em><a href="http://www.realitybasedleadership.com/">Reality–Based Leadership</a></em><em> </em>contains practical, mindset-changing and entertaining advice, anecdotes, tools, and recommendations that anyone who leads people in organizations should read. Just as sustainability relies upon a realistic assessment of business impacts on people, society and the environment and the formulation of appropriate strategies to improve these impacts, so leaders must confront the realities of how they behave in organizations, how accountable they are and how they leverage reality-based tools to ensure their sustainable contribution. </div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-88364365429915071132012-03-03T00:28:00.000-08:002012-03-03T00:28:28.875-08:00Women and the New Business Leadership<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidgU9KRGJiW8hedPHfS_LEzgZher7w5Fa18fvFSTlT1wOiIg3hA8_QR-J4P5UxR97b5R7lwlpLKWkFpv65lS6HdUx4KvtziiW5pyTHHbrSglEUgKA-jTadw-6apfffQAdXLWnckBYpFU/s1600/women+new+biz+leadership.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiidgU9KRGJiW8hedPHfS_LEzgZher7w5Fa18fvFSTlT1wOiIg3hA8_QR-J4P5UxR97b5R7lwlpLKWkFpv65lS6HdUx4KvtziiW5pyTHHbrSglEUgKA-jTadw-6apfffQAdXLWnckBYpFU/s200/women+new+biz+leadership.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><span class="gry short"><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=412709">Women and the New Business Leadership</a></span><div class="divider" id="press-detail-info"><div class="loc"><br />
</div><div class="loc"><strong>By: </strong> Peninah Thomson with Tom Lloyd</div></div><div class="divider marginbottom10" id="post"><br />
<strong>ISBN:</strong> 978-0-230-27154-8<br />
<br />
<strong>Publisher:</strong> Palgrave Macmillan<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/267-women-and-the-new-business-leadership-a-book-review">This review first appeared on CSRWire.com on 10th January, 2012</a><br />
<h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"></span> </h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"></span> </h3><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;">Book Description</span></h3><div style="text-align: justify;">In <em>Women and the New Business Leadership</em>, the authors discuss the role women directors can play in the reform of corporate governance systems following recent financial, crises in leadership, governance and the economy. The financial and economic crisis and the public belief that failings in corporate governance were partly to blame for it have politicized the debate about how, and by whom, our companies should be run. There is a new belief within the political establishment that companies would be better run, and less likely to act recklessly and so put the financial system in jeopardy, if there were more women on their Boards. This is accompanied by an expectation that companies will respond appropriately when filling Board vacancies. Progress towards gender-diverse boards will be watched closely as a proxy for corporate governance reform and a sign that the lessons of the crisis are being learned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To quota or not to quota? That's a controversial question and one, which is central to the multiple themes discussed in <em>Women and the New Business Leadership</em>. How do we repurpose our corporations to ensure gender parity in the boardroom? Opinions on the issue are sharply divided. Some feel that quotas undermine the "meritocratic principle" and deny companies the right to appoint the best person for the job. Some see quotas the book acknowledges, "as heavy handed interventions in the market that are sure to inhibit the movement of directorial talent to its highest value deployment". Others argue that a reduction in market efficiency is a price worth paying to correct the gross under-representation of women on Boards—something that represents a far greater market inefficiency in the first place.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In recent years, several countries have adopted laws to advance representation of women. For example, in 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a law that imposed minimum quotas for the representation of women on French listed companies and public enterprises; Iceland adopted a similar quota law covering listed and privately owned companies; the Netherlands passed a law requiring 30 percent of Board seats and 30 percent of executive positions to be held by women, and new quota laws are being considered in several other countries. Wherever you are on the spectrum, what is clear is that the voluntary actions of corporations have not created gender balance or gender equality on company Boards. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The authors quote <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Harman" target="_blank">Harriet Harman</a> who said, "The world would not have been plunged into recession if the most conspicuous bank casualty of the crisis has been Lehman 'Sisters'", claiming that the "more gender-diverse Board has become an important symbol of the new “post-crisis enlightenment."<em> Women and the New Business Leadership</em> is a review of these very challenges facing companies and their Boards with regard to the position of women and their absence in the global financial crisis of 2008. Perhaps, as the author goes on to suggest, appointing "more women to corporate Boards may be a more effective way to achieve the desired changes in behavior than trying to change the behavior of male directors?”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nevertheless, it is important to note that the backdrop for the New Business Leadership message delivered in this book is the <a href="http://mentoringfoundation.co.uk/history-of-the-programme/" target="_blank">FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme</a>, in which FTSE 100 Chairmen mentor senior executive women in other FTSE companies, with proven success. Author Peninah Thomson founded this program in 2003 and it became a separate not-for-profit organization called <a href="http://mentoringfoundation.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Mentoring Foundation</a>. This followed the November 2010 publication by the <em>Financial Times</em> of a special report called <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/women-at-the-top" target="_blank">Women at the Top</a>, which suggested that Europe lagged behind the U.S. and other countries in terms of the rise of women to CEO positions. "By November 2010, 15 of the mentored women have been appointed to the board of the FTSE company they worked for, nine were appointed as non-executive directors in a private sector company, seven were appointed as non-executive directors in not-for-profit organizations, eight were appointed to a public sector or government role, 15 were promoted in their own company and three were appointed CEO of a non-FTSE 100 company. A total of 57 "advancements" among a total of 62 mentees."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, <em>Women and the New Business Leadership</em> explores the qualities that women bring to Boards, and the roles they play after appointment. Part of the advantage of the presence of women is the limiting effect on "groupthink", as well as the depoliticizing of Boardroom conversations. One mentee is quoted as saying: "Women tend to want to get everything on the table, because they believe it is only when all the sometimes painful facts are on the table that the truth of the matter can emerge."</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Additionally, the presence of women in the Boardroom supports greater empathy, adaptability, and full and fair discussion, leading to more considered and higher quality decision-making processes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Positioning women on boards as one of the urgent challenges of corporate governance in the post-crisis 21st century and <em>Women and the New Business Leadership</em> makes a powerful contribution to the body of knowledge and experience of what works and what hasn’t worked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Peppered with profiles and quotations as well as input from a range of the FTSE 100 Chairmen participating in the mentoring program, this book offers a fascinating range of perspectives on women and leadership, practical directions that can make a difference and compelling arguments for more gender-diverse corporate leadership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a> </div>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-10213707723617080692012-01-02T08:36:00.000-08:002012-01-02T08:36:55.042-08:00Dilemmas in Responsible Investment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg1I3M7NZuvH5yMOjBDh4odL4dRds71gHi-6_x9MfruzlZb9Y5yQal3L7LMiooy3F4iah4rioqkw2aE16uzWiP-k9wShFYf_spPAbc2KRu5hGyo1glPniCOJRVA8PLU6ysPxL6SQ6fbbI/s1600/dilemmas+in+resp+investment.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg1I3M7NZuvH5yMOjBDh4odL4dRds71gHi-6_x9MfruzlZb9Y5yQal3L7LMiooy3F4iah4rioqkw2aE16uzWiP-k9wShFYf_spPAbc2KRu5hGyo1glPniCOJRVA8PLU6ysPxL6SQ6fbbI/s1600/dilemmas+in+resp+investment.gif" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3349">Dilemmas in Responsible Investment</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By: Celine Louche and Stephen Lyndberg</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">ISBN: 978-1-906093-51-8</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Publisher: Greenleaf Publishing</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/248-dilemmas-in-responsible-investment-a-review">This review first appeared on CSRwire.com on 21st December 2011</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Book Description </strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Dilemmas in Responsible Investment</em></strong> examines the problems responsible investment (RI) practitioners face daily. It emphasises the importance of asking the right questions as well as getting the right answers; and the importance of process as well as product. The authors pay attention to the diversity of opinion and variety of approaches available. They also raise fundamental questions about the very purpose of investment and the responsibilities of investors, both economic and societal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although dilemmas in RI are not always easily resolved, Louche and Lydenberg believe that they are also a source of valuable and necessary debate about the appropriate role of corporations in society and the ability of the financial markets to appropriately serve the societies in which they operate. Such dilemmas provide a valuable framework for public debate and can encourage the emergence of innovative answers and approaches.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Social Responsible Investment sounds easy enough.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Step 1:</strong> Negative screening, positive screening, decide and place your cash where it will do what you want it to do.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Step 2:</strong> Review the financials with set values in mind and pick your portfolio.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Step 3:</strong> Against sin stocks, for the environment, what could be simpler?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When you read <strong><em>Dilemmas in Responsible Investment</em></strong>, you realize that it isn’t as simple as it sounds. While written for responsible investment practitioners, the book has much to teach anyone with an interest in how money makes the sustainable world go round. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Dilemma 1: Conventional Money Manager & Responsible Investment</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You are a conventional money manager and have become interested in the responsible investment market. You advertise your responsible investment services and four different types of potential clients approach you.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A single working mother, passionate about sustainability issues with a modest sum to invest; a wealthy investor, who is toying with the idea of directing his investments towards a more environmentally friendly portfolio; a CFO for a small church with an endowment to invest and a focus on fairness and societal justice; and the head of the board of trustees for a large pension fund, pressured by retirees not to invest in companies that manufacture landminess. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">How do you prepare for these meetings? You can either start with one general presentation for all four clients or tailor your response to each one's specific needs right? Or you can target your presentations with a focus on ethical issues or sustainability issues, highlighting business risk/opportunity elements and, therefore, potential consequences for your clients' return on investment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dilemma One is a taster for the series of progressively more specific and detailed dilemmas or case studies (12 in total), which teach us the detailed considerations that come in to play when responsible investment is the subject. This first dilemma shows how each potential responsible investor comes with certain expectations, a greater or limited understanding of responsible investment options and the need for investment practitioners to develop customized investment products to accommodate different needs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dilemma One may not sound that complicated, however, so let’s consider some other dilemmas that come up:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1. A client has read about a manufacturer of electronic games in China which has abusive labor conditions, and wants you to sell the stock. However, the company in question denies the allegations and the facts are not altogether clear. Sell, buy time to investigate or tell your client not to believe everything he reads?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2. Ten years ago, you sold a large successful company that was criticized for poor labor conditions, poor environmental record, discrimination in the workplace and more. In the two years, the company has apparently turned things around and is now talking CSR. Do you continue to stay away or recommend your clients to invest?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3. You want to develop a Responsible Investment product that will have global appeal. However, responsible investment standards are different in several countries and many have conflicting demands or standards. How do you balance local values and practices in a single new investment product?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4. Your client, an environmental foundation, wants you to hold back on any investments, which include use of nanotechnology. She fears that use of nanotechnology can be potentially harmful with unpredictable consequences for human health and the environment. Scientists are divided on the issue – there is no clear cut case against nanotechnology. Do you immediately sell all nanotechnology-related stocks or do you try to persuade your client that it is premature to exit?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is but a small selection of the interesting questions posed in the field of responsible investment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the book, <strong><em>Dilemmas in Responsible Investment</em></strong>, Louche and Lyndenberg dissect these issues from multiple angles and offer possibilities for action and the implications of each. A fascinating read, like I said before, for anyone even remotely interested in understanding the connections between sustainability, ethics, financial services and our global economy.</div><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-29579318443753309692011-11-05T23:40:00.000-07:002011-11-05T23:40:56.959-07:00Fighting Poverty Together<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb83OGW2q0FCLK-gqFij3qHNAK2nxsgF5oUXTpUlBbJmCjLvo2fTps-7E_XEWs5WB56eX-cxMlESlNU4W2bbsLoJRhVqiMQ8Jisd9X9Nzi9IJ9H3muvJh1vjRwsSaH6bZwl1czNR8bRPA/s1600/fighting+poverty+together.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb83OGW2q0FCLK-gqFij3qHNAK2nxsgF5oUXTpUlBbJmCjLvo2fTps-7E_XEWs5WB56eX-cxMlESlNU4W2bbsLoJRhVqiMQ8Jisd9X9Nzi9IJ9H3muvJh1vjRwsSaH6bZwl1czNR8bRPA/s200/fighting+poverty+together.jpg" width="129" /></a></div><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=470387" target="_blank">Fighting Poverty Together: Rethinking Strategies for Business, Governments and Civil Society to Reduce Poverty</a><br />
<br />
By Aneel Karnani<br />
<br />
Published by Palgrave Macmillan. <br />
<br />
ISBN: 978-0-230-10587-4.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/183-a-review-of-fighting-poverty-together">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 24th October 2011</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description </strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Global poverty continues to be a major problem, one that has received much attention and resources for the last 60 years. The developed countries, international institutions such as the World Bank and United Nations, various aid agencies and civil society have contributed trillions of dollars to fight poverty; yet, there are more "poor" today than there were a decade ago. In this hard-hitting polemical, Karnani demonstrates what is wrong with today's approaches to reducing poverty. He proposes an eclectic approach to poverty reduction that emphasizes the need for business, government and civil society to partner together to create employment opportunities for the poor. He argues the only way they will ever be truly lifted out of poverty is to create jobs that provide financial support for entire local communities in developing nations. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aneel Karnani, who shot to fame following his <a href="http://csr-reporting.blogspot.com/2010/08/response-to-case-against-csr.html">Wall Street Journal article that created online uproar in 2010</a> by provocatively denouncing CSR, remains true to his convictions in this book, <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=470387">Fighting Poverty Together: Rethinking Strategies for Business, Governments and Civil Society to Reduce Poverty</a>. We have all got it wrong, says Karnani. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What we have been doing so far has not lifted the poor out of poverty, in fact, much of what we have done so far, well-intentioned or otherwise, has helped the poor to stay poor. Karnani uses the first chapters in his book to take the shine out of microcredit (which Karnani describes as being "touted as one of the newest silver bullets for alleviating poverty") and the <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1020">Bottom of the Pyramid</a> (BOP) theory, which Karnani says is "riddled with unrealistic expectations and false hopes for both businesses and the poor, empirically false, logically flawed and morally problematic." Both <a href="http://www.muhammadyunus.org/">Muhammad Yunus</a> and <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_18/b4176020893376.htm">C.K. Prahalad</a>, two of the most admired figures of modern social entrepreneurship and business thinking, suffer a miserable fate in Karnani's book.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Grameen Bank: A Failed Business Model</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">First, Karnani explains, <a href="http://www.grameen-info.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=114">The Grameen Bank</a> model has not worked. Loans provided to the poor through Grameen Bank have not lifted them out of poverty. On the contrary, since most of the money loaned is used to fund consumption, and not the growth of new business ventures, microcredit has succeeded only in postponing the bitter pill of having to pay up sooner or later with money the poor don't have. Most of the people who use Grameen services are not entrepreneurs; they just want to make a living. Even if they do have some financing, they lack the necessary skills to grow businesses. Also, microcredit interest rates are extremely high, sometimes reaching up to 100% interest, making the overall proposition unattractive as a tool for lifting poor people out of poverty, he argues. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similarly, he goes on, the <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1020">Bottom of the Pyramid</a> theory is untenable. The BOP market is grossly overrated, estimated at only $0.44 trillion and not $13 trillion as identified by Prahalad. Additionally, explains Karnani, the total number of people living at the BOP is also grossly overestimated. So, in a small market with a much smaller critical mass of poor people – who have close to zero disposable income to purchase anything other than basic needs – the fortunes to be made at the BOP are fallacy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>A Libertarian Approach</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even Hindustan Lever, hailed as a hero for introducing <a href="http://www.unilever.com/careers/insideunilever/oursuccessandchallenges/annapurna-iodised-salt/index.aspx">Annapurna iodized salt</a>, has not succeeded in penetrating mass markets. All this microcredit and BOP thinking creates what Karnani calls a libertarian approach, romanticizing the poor through a belief that creating the right kind of opportunities for the poor will turn them into significant value-conscious consumers, entrepreneurs and savvy leaders of a new kind of egalitarian society. Instead, these initiatives according to Karnani are simply an extension of capitalist greed in which companies look to profit from creating new markets targeting poor people, often immoral and exploitative.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unilever's <a href="http://www.fairandlovely.in/">Fair and Lovely</a> is another example quoted by Karnani: Unilever portrays Fair and Lovely, a skin whitening product for women, as supporting "choice and economic empowerment for women." Karnani says its simply sustaining racist prejudices (while making lot of profit for Unilever).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Karnani: Don’t Give the Poor Microcredit; Give Them Jobs</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The key to lifting the poor out of poverty, according to Karnani, is to regard them as producers and not consumers. Give them jobs, he says. Create employment opportunities. This is the role of business.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Governments have a role to play, too. By facilitating business growth and job creation, they can ensure provision of basic services for the poor. Civil society and NGOs must ensure businesses and governments do the right thing and provide equitable opportunities without exploitation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For example, many of the products targeted at the poor are "harmful" and not in the self-interest of the poor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Companies repeatedly try to introduce new products that not based on a true understanding of the poor and their habits. Initiatives, such as <a href="http://www.danonecommunities.com/en/content/shokti-ladies-part-supply-chain">Shokti Ladies</a>, developed by Danone in partnership with Grameen Bank, to distribute yogurt to the rural poor with an army of trained local women micro-entrepreneurs, were not successfully commercialized. Unilever's program for <a href="http://www.unilever.com/careers/insideunilever/oursuccessandchallenges/shaktiprogrammeindia/">Shakti women</a>, trained to sell Unilever products in remote parts of India, did not meet its objectives, according to Karnani. Almost every initiative targeted at improving the employability of the poor has not succeeded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Instead, business and governments must act on their primary role as creators of conditions in which equitable employment can thrive in any country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a free market economy, businesses create employment opportunities and NGOs support them by providing extra skills. This is all fine as long as markets thrive. When markets fail, according to Karnani, governments must regulate to protect the vulnerable poor. However, "Too much falls through the cracks between the markets and governments. It is the role of civil society to fill this gap." NGOs must act as catalysts for change as well as watchdogs to help markets regulate themselves effectively.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Karnani's arguments are presented clearly and supported by select data and some case studies. They are also very cleverly organized to support his preferred regulatory-driven approach, assigning very distinct, non-overlapping, boundaries between the roles of business, government and NGOs. He further embellishes by providing data, stories and anecdotes to prove the failure of voluntary corporate responsibility, even in the more enlightened areas of conscious capitalism such as microcredit and BOP products, claiming these approaches are subordinate to a profit-mindset and not really about the needs of the poor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Alleviating Poverty: A New Blueprint</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Aneel Karnani's blueprint is that governments should do their job, businesses should play along and NGOs should keep it all under control. It may just be, however, that while Karnani accuses many writers and public figures of "romanticizing the poor," he himself is indulging in some romanticizing about the role government can and will play.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not every country can be Norway, highlighted as an example of a proactive, sustainability-minded government. And yet, the doubts about microcredit and BOP approach hold a certain truth. Data does show that the Millennium Development Goal of "eradicating extreme poverty and hunger" is still far from being achieved by 2015.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Fighting Poverty Together</em></strong> challenges current mainstream thinking and raises important questions about ways in which our developed societies can address the economic and moral issues related to poor people and how governments should act to correct market failures and inadequacies. The issues Karnani presents attack very specifically the "silver bullet solutions," which he maintains haven’t worked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over two billion people are still living on less than $2 per day. Karnani claims that the poor are misunderstood and that solutions to date have not met their true needs. Karnani's answer: create employment opportunities suited to the poor, ensure the poor have adequate access to public services, market beneficial goods to the poor at prices they can afford and use the power of government to protect the vulnerable poor. Appealing in its simplicity but, I feel, no less challenging.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many questions remain as to how these solutions can be practically implemented on a scale large enough to make a difference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Karnani makes it clear: "To significantly reduce poverty requires resources. Only the business sector and the government can provide resources on the scale needed." Perhaps the winds of change are blowing in Karnani's direction. The Arab Spring and <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/tag/occupy%20wall%20st">Occupy Wall Street</a> citizen uprisings have gained voice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Time will tell whether these interventions create the kind of consensus Karnani advocates or if political consensus to eradicate poverty is just another romanticization of the will and capabilities of governments and business to act in the interests of anyone but themselves.</div><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-85681572390534494582011-10-23T04:02:00.000-07:002011-10-23T04:02:03.727-07:00Childhood Under Siege<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KCFZU8TBiIG5J3tTexmzGOdOujR4mhJnKSjsk8lCzONvXhpT6gYWHxkN0yKEZjkfqX-9HnhOVdBZ0B8mAz3kqvNzSeR16dKtu5eIIVt47LmIbR1yonyVkBB8UUJyxwXHNkpV6HQU4eI/s1600/childsiege.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8KCFZU8TBiIG5J3tTexmzGOdOujR4mhJnKSjsk8lCzONvXhpT6gYWHxkN0yKEZjkfqX-9HnhOVdBZ0B8mAz3kqvNzSeR16dKtu5eIIVt47LmIbR1yonyVkBB8UUJyxwXHNkpV6HQU4eI/s1600/childsiege.bmp" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.joelbakan.com/childhoodundersiegebook.htm">Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children </a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
By Joel Bakan </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Published by Free Press / Simon and Schuster. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">ISBN: 978-1-4391-2120-7</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/171-a-review-of-childhood-under-siege-how-big-business-targets-children">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 12th October 2011</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In <em><strong>Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children</strong></em>, Joel Bakan reveals the astonishingly callous and widespread exploitation of children by profit-seeking corporations-and also society's shameful failure to protect them. The creator of the award-winning film and internationally best-selling book The Corporation, Bakan shows how corporations pump billions of dollars into rendering parents and governments powerless to shield children from a relentless commercial assault designed solely to exploit their unique needs and vulnerabilities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This book by Joel Bakan, <em><strong>Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children</strong></em> is a true eye-opener and a "must read" by everyone who is in government, business, a parent, or simply a concerned citizen. As a mother of two under fifteens (and a corporate responsibility professional, I am familiar with some of the phenomena Joel Bakan exposes, particularly with regard to marketing to children and corporate greed. But Joel Bakan goes much further than this—demonstrating how business interests place our children (and ourselves) at risk. A clear denunciation of self-regulated corporate responsibility, Children Under Siege is a wake-up call for regulators, corporations and parents and as important a motivator for action as we could require. It there is one book on your reading list, make it this one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One theme running throughout this book is regulation and enforcement versus voluntary activities of corporations to do the right thing. Joel Bakan clearly comes down on the side of regulation (despite inadequacies of enforcement in many cases), demonstrating that "corporations, as large, powerful, and dominating institutions, deliberately programmed to exploit and neglect other in pursuit of wealth for themselves, are central players in causing environmental and social harms and fomenting injustice across the globe."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The author's indictment of the pharmaceutical industry is nothing short of frightening. Story after story of how pharma companies promote prescription of <a href="http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-psychotropic-drugs.htm">psychotropic drugs</a> to young children, resulting in permanent behavioral and mental disorders in children are horrifying. Drug companies, according to Joel Bakan, seeing a lucrative market in child prescriptions, rush to create drugs to treat apparent child medical disorders such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder">ADHD</a>, without due disclosure of their sometimes fatal side-effects, and promote these drugs aggressively to physicians, when all the while, other causes of behavioural problems in children such as dysfunctional homes, abuse, learning difficulties, poor nutrition and more may be the true non-medical causes of their symptoms and demand a treatment not dependent upon psychotropic drugs. Pharma companies hire armies of "cheer leaders" to hawk drugs to doctors, promoting drug sales at the expense of what's best for chid (and adult) patients.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A former drug rep from the Eli Lilly Company admits that he promoted an Eli Lilly drug, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olanzapine">Zyprexa</a>, despite the drugs causing side—effects of weight gains and diabetes and being banned from use for children. Eventually, after having boosted Zyprexa's sales to over $1.2 billion, Eli Lilly was called to account and paid a $615 million criminal fine for unlawful behaviour. The fine is a "paltry sum when compared to the company's gains from the drug". Eli Lilly is not the only drug company, however, to have engaged in similar unlawful activity – Abbott, Merck, Biovail, Cephalon, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Purdue, Aventis, Serono Labs and Bayer are all listed on Joel Bakan's "rap-sheet" for having been fined hundreds of millions of dollars for deliberately misleading doctors, providing kickbacks, marketing drugs for unapproved uses and price fixing . All these fines have hardly dented big pharma's profitability but have left many people's lives destroyed, with many children among them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But this is only scratching the surface – the manipulations and manoeuvrings of pharma companies in false marketing, use of ghost-writers to provide apparently independent endorsements of drug benefits and cleverly positioning clinical trials to deliver results which favour their drugs are all part of the behind-the-scenes machinations which are so prevalent, despite most drug companies publishing Corporate Responsibility Reports, that, Joel Bakan maintains, self-regulation is ineffective.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similar stories can be found in Childhood Under Siege relating to the marketing industry. In fact, the book starts off with mind-shattering stories of the child-targeting video games market which "ramps up media violence, cultivates addiction, cynically exploits social network friendships, sexualizes girls and promotes hyperconsumerism." Manipulation of children's emotions and carefully crafting strategies to hook kids into the most vile media violence as well as other addictive online attractions may make big money for corporations but they also make big problems for society, by immersing kids in a world where "violence is fun, especially when it is cruel and sexualized… and that as human beings, we are naturally prone to be violent and brutal."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another key theme running throughout the book is the issue of parental responsibility. Joel Bakan makes the case that parents should be vigilant but in most cases, they are up against a system which limits the choices they can make and the possibilities available to them to protect their children. The "social conditions" in which parents are able to choose what's best for their children severely limit real choice and freedom of action. The education system, asserts, Joel Bakan, is heavily influenced by corporate interest with reliance on standardized testing which in 2008, created a demand for 45 million test to be produced and graded each year in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act">No Child Left Behind program</a>, generating $1 billion revenue for the testing industry. The growth in the EMO sector (Education Management Organizations) has led to "narrow utilitarian purpose of preparing children to be future workers" instead of providing them with a fully rounded education which encourages them to broaden their minds and realize their potential. With regulators passing education reforms, and big business interests gaining large profits, parents face an uphill struggle in going against the system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other issues addressed by Joel Bakan in <em><strong>Childhood Under Siege</strong></em> include the widespread cases of child labor in the U.S.A. where it is still legal for children to work at the age of 12, and the scandals around the ongoing use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A">BPA</a>, promoted for years as safe by the American Chemistry Council after clear evidence to suggest its adverse health effects. These case studies are important reading and illuminate the tangled web of corporate interest and its influence on government policies and the lives of people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For those of us who like to believe that corporations are truly committed to responsible practices and the true spirit of sustainability, Joel Bakan's book is a harsh reality check. For those of us who have suspected that corporations are less responsive to the wellbeing of humanity, the book is still a shocker. There is no sense here of sensationalist headlines, but more of a well-researched deep-dive into the negative aspects of corporate behavior that never get shared in corporate sustainability communications. Read it. Think deeply about it.</div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-68259551076242534132011-09-18T22:26:00.000-07:002011-09-18T22:26:04.662-07:00We First<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIiLzvee8BOjqqOyv-fipNLoXFk_p-C691dmbIcCNd6BAYDqaV7IxzqptU1ucwB_23SVp22IpU5UFrwrpdfOSKFbSkT4bAtJNsUdyiBL6xA0EVRbRAwoKG-ufcujJ8PFOuO2ltiVCCKE/s1600/we+first.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYIiLzvee8BOjqqOyv-fipNLoXFk_p-C691dmbIcCNd6BAYDqaV7IxzqptU1ucwB_23SVp22IpU5UFrwrpdfOSKFbSkT4bAtJNsUdyiBL6xA0EVRbRAwoKG-ufcujJ8PFOuO2ltiVCCKE/s200/we+first.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><strong><a href="http://bit.ly/kk2opl">We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World</a></strong> <br />
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<br />
By Simon Mainwaring<br />
<br />
Published by Palgrave Macmillan. <br />
<br />
ISBN: 978-0-230-11026-7<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/144-a-review-of-we-first-how-brands-and-consumers-use-social-media-to-build-a-better-world">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 13th September 2011</a><br />
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<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">A social media expert with global experience with many of the world’s biggest brands —including Nike, Toyota and Motorola—Simon Mainwaring offers a visionary new practice in which brands leverage social media to earn consumer goodwill, loyalty and profit, while creating a third pillar of sustainable social change through conscious contributions from customer purchases. These innovative private sector partnerships answer perhaps the most pressing issue facing business and thought leaders today: how to practice capitalism in a way that satisfies the need for both profit and a healthy, sustainable planet. Mainwaring provides case studies from companies such as P&G, Walmart, Starbucks, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Nike, Whole Foods, Patagonia and Nestlé as well as a bold plan for how corporations need to rethink their strategies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Simon Mainwaring's book, <em>We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World</em>, is the kind of book that makes you think. What's even more daunting, it drives you to form an opinion. I read (and review) many sustainability books and most are the kind you just agree with. They tell you how to be greener, or more social, or create more shared value, or how to put a sustainability strategy together and why. They are informative, enlightening and often very well-written. But they don't really require you to form an opinion because most of the content is rather non-controversial. You either agree with "sustainability" or you don't and the book you read reinforces your own start-point.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>We First</em> is different. After making the case for sustainability, author Simon Mainwaring goes on to suggest how companies should make a contribution in a way which engages consumers for good and even form a "Global Brand Initiative" through which brands can collaborate to build a better world. At first glance, given the state of capitalism today, these ideas are rather utopian. All this makes you wonder if Mainwaring is making a serious contribution to the sustainability discussion or whether his proposals are so prophetic that, just maybe, they are the next phase of sustainability that is waiting to happen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his book, Mainwaring introduces concepts such as contributory consumption, "a new paradigm for free market capitalism" in which every purchase incorporates a contribution to society. Mainwaring himself writes, "Many corporate executives might reject it as fanciful or just plain silly," but counters with the notion that it is "nothing less than the logical extension of current forms of corporate social responsibility, rooted in economic pragmatism and marketing logic."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Others might say, however, this is somewhat divorced from the current thinking, which is taking sustainability to a shared value business model that does not rely on the goodwill of corporations or consumers but a fundamental change in the way products are designed, marketed, distributed and sold? This is a fascinating debate and, as I read <em>We First</em>, I felt compelled to give these concepts and proposals some serious thought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But let's back up a little. <em>We First</em> gradually leads us towards these concepts. The book starts with a view of current ills of capitalism and the growing impact of social media and consumer activism, followed by an exposé on why capitalism must move from selfish pursuit of profit to the empowering and engaging pursuit of purpose ("Consumers want a better world, not just better widgets") and how corporations should leverage this massive social movement towards a more just system. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Creating sustainable capitalism, then, should be developed based on economic, moral, ethical, environmental and social domains. Walmart is Mainwaring's poster child for this worldview through "the company is still transitioning to a true model of sustainability in the way <em>We First</em> proposes." Ultimately, Mainwaring says, "capitalism should be both enduring and life-giving." All this should be based on a strong bedrock of values.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mainwaring then introduces three pillars of change: government, philanthropy and the private sector, explaining the strengths and weaknesses of each, concluding that the private sector must take its place alongside government and charities, as it has vast resources that are needed. It's here the argument for consumer activism starts to emerge. Companies, after all, only exist as long as they have consumers. The growth of the Internet ("the single most important driver of corporate responsibility") is enabling citizen media to have a voice. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So far, much of what we read in <em>We First</em> is similar to what we can read in other pro-sustainability literature. The author now turns to the role of brands. Citing <a href="http://www.refresheverything.com/">Pepsi Refresh</a> as the new model of the transformation of brands and business, Mainwaring goes on to define how brands can engage consumers and involve them in "meaningful cause investments." There are of course many examples of cause marketing that have been wildly successful, though I believe this is far from mainstream today. <em>We First</em> proposes that mainstream it should become, and more importantly, that's what consumers want.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Achieving "Brandhood" means sharing stewardship of the brand with the community, engaging in philanthropic activities and being socially responsible. "Consumers are now in a position to co-create – with corporations – the world we want to live in." Social media can link brands and consumers to good causes and socially responsible shopping options. Ultimately, <em>We First</em> proposes a social contract between brands and consumers with a 10-point charter made up of positive commitments that represent "We First" capitalism.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The logical outflow of this social contract is contributory consumerism where both corporations and consumers donate to good causes as they consume, leading to the development of a Global Brand Initiative, a federation of brands that work together to advance CSR and charitable donations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mainwaring says: "The evolution of revolution is contribution." We First capitalism, as proposed, engages consumers in partnership with corporations to ensure consumption in the new capitalism has some element of contribution to society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So that's the proposal. Like it? Believe it can work? Worth fighting for? Is this the same as creating <a href="http://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value">"Shared Value"</a> from a business-model-driven kind of sustainability strategy or is it an enhanced, modern form of Social Giving 2.0, wrapped in a framework of engagement and collaboration? I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As you are contemplating these questions, I recommend you read <em>We First</em>, which presents many examples of approaching-"We First" actions by corporations and interesting arguments for We First capitalism, which, even if the utopian state is not achieved, certainly offer corporations, and consumers, new ways of thinking from which we could all benefit.</div><br />
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<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-27507250050966043782011-08-27T00:35:00.000-07:002011-08-27T00:35:12.295-07:00Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZRCyeXqaZRdIag1yWf6VqZUtlTzYnUkXclrbf-0kk96Sxh04CK108jm9Gpql9GG8roHzmoFt6BpRWJdmGFiuJKoVCeEsoqfEdQCpjLB2U8xf2c7MzcjgCA8RnSPOX1Xn-2ONjj41H6g/s1600/Corp+social+and+human+rights+responsibilities.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" qaa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIZRCyeXqaZRdIag1yWf6VqZUtlTzYnUkXclrbf-0kk96Sxh04CK108jm9Gpql9GG8roHzmoFt6BpRWJdmGFiuJKoVCeEsoqfEdQCpjLB2U8xf2c7MzcjgCA8RnSPOX1Xn-2ONjj41H6g/s200/Corp+social+and+human+rights+responsibilities.jpg" width="124" /></a></div><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=363441"><strong>Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities: </strong></a><br />
<a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=363441"><strong>Global, Legal and Management Perspectives</strong></a><strong> </strong><br />
<br />
<br />
Edited by Karin Buhmann, Lynn Roseberry and Mette Morsing <br />
<br />
Published by Palgrave Macmillan<br />
<br />
ISBN: 978-0-230-23089-7 <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/97-a-review-of-corporate-social-and-human-rights-responsibilities-global-legal-and-management-perspectives">This review was first published on CSRWire.com on 22nd August 2011</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><em><strong>Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities: Global, Legal and Management Perspectives</strong></em> – what has the law to do with Corporate Social Responsibility? Do Business Responsibilities for Human Rights (BRHR, with an acronym introduced in the book) differ from CSR? This book challenges the separation between CSR and law. It also demonstrates that BRHR may be gradually separating from CSR through emphasis on state obligations. Authors from around the world discuss how businesses engage in CSR and human rights, and how governments and intergovernmental organizations may support businesses in taking responsibility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In this book, you will find a group of exciting chapters written by management scholars, lawyers, CSR practitioners and business ethicists. Drawing on cases from around the world, they want to set a new agenda regarding divergence and convergence between CSR, BRHR, and the law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The interrelation between CSR and law is a fascinating subject and one which many have written about. It's kind of chicken and egg, inferring on the practice of CSR a potential to drive standards which ultimately level the playing field for entire sectors and markets while understanding the power of law has the potential to drive more responsible practices of business which have previously been considered entirely voluntary. Some say CSR and the law are completely opposed. Some say they feed each other. Most companies do not understand the complexities of human rights in relation to their business and have tended to associate human rights with governments rather than businesses, despite the many connection points between what businesses do and how this affects people and societies. Partly as a result of the strong focus placed on human rights through the work of <a href="http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/965591">John Ruggie and the Protect, Respect, Remedy framework</a>, more businesses now understand a human rights position is an essential part of their CSR framework. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities</em></strong> adds a set of perspectives to this entire field, which is still in evolution—and some are quite fascinating and far-reaching for business. The book is a compilation of contributions that were developed for the <a href="http://www.cbs.dk/en/Research/Konferencer/BRHR">CSR, Business Responsibilities for Human Rights and International Law Conference, organized by the University of Copenhagen in 2008</a>, supported by the CSR-progressive Danish government. This was an attempt to strengthen the legal influence of CSR on management decisions while retaining the fundamental principle of CSR as a voluntary management policy. (Sort of having your cake and eating it too.) This was also at a time when the Danish Government introduced the pioneering <a href="http://www.businessinsociety.eu/resources/3145">Financial Statements Act</a> in which large companies were required to report on sustainability or provide reasons for not doing so. The contributors in this volume include international lawyers, economists, investment management specialists, accomplished academics and a representative of Danish commerce—an impressive group delivering an equally impressive set of informative, thought-provoking papers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The book is in three parts: first, an overview of the relationship between law and CSR including discussion of the <a href="http://www.unglobalcompact.org/">United Nations Global Compact</a> and the Human Rights Framework developed by John Ruggie; second, regional examples about the way businesses adopt responsibilities for human rights as part of CSR; and third, a view on law and management with CSR Codes of Conduct and more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">An important concept which falls somewhere between CSR and the law is "reflexive law" which, in layman's language, is the way law promotes industry self-regulation, e.g. requiring companies to disclose on sustainability but not prescribing the performance standards they should adhere to (such as the Danish Financial Act mentioned above). This is also the principle upon which the UN Global Compact rests (though it is not a legally binding framework): beyond a declaration to uphold principles, the key commitment companies make is to publish an annual report of their progress. Andreas Rasche, Professor in Business and Society at Warwick Business School, makes the point that criticism of the Global Compact is based on a misunderstanding of the mandate of the UNGC and classifies the UNGC as a "necessary supplement" to more existing and emerging regulatory efforts in the business environment linking business and civil society through learning events, dialogue events and partnership projects and acting as a "moral compass." He describes the UNGC as the largest corporate citizenship initiative in terms of size while admitting there are almost no "empirical insights on the implementation of tem principles in corporations."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Karin Buhman, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Copenhagen, writes about multi-stakeholder public-private regulatory forums, of which the UNGC is one, which function at the level above national lawmaking. She writes that while such bodies are clearly not conventional law-making institutions, they do have normative ambitions. She also points to the UNGC's "reflexive" approach as one of the ingredients in its success. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In another piece, Jette S. Knudsen, Associate Professor at Copenhagen University, looks at the organization of CSR as a means of corporate control (subtitled "From do-gooding to mainstream?"). Using HP and Ben and Jerry's as core examples, with some reference to IBM, Nike and others, Knudson looks at offensive CSR (clear link to business strategy) and defensive CSR (no clear link to business strategy), the role of boards in shaping the CSR agenda and position of CSR management within companies. Ultimately, he shows CSR will grow in importance to boards, and CSR managers need to be much more "business savvy." No surprises there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the more fascinating articles is by Dominique Bé, deputy head of the European Social Fund, who compares the way human rights are reflected and upheld in corporate Codes of Conduct and <a href="http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/industrialrelations/dictionary/definitions/internationalframeworkagreement.htm">International Framework Agreements</a> (IFAs). The first IFA was between Danone and the International Union of Food (IUF) back in 1988 in which agreements on social responsibility and employee rights were reaffirmed. IFAs are not collective agreements, though they are often established with union bodies. However, there is no legal requirement for companies to sign an IFA. Most IFAs therefore build on the commitment of signatory MNEs to respect them worldwide, over and above adherence to national regulations – a kind of voluntary acceptance of a legally binding agreement, going beyond the unilateral nature of corporate Codes of Conduct.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another interesting article by Lauren Caplan, counsel to an investment company, refers to the way CSR considerations are or are not integrated into the process of raising capital. The author notes the lack of disclosure in corporate social responsibility reports on risks relating to corporate social responsibility. No surprises there either.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all, the book <em><strong>Corporate Social and Human Rights Responsibilities</strong></em> does what it promises and more. It provides some engaging perspectives on CSR, human rights and the law, as well as some detailed discussion of the finer issues most CSR practitioners would be wise to have on their radar.</div><br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a> elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-51268086154798890642011-08-14T22:50:00.000-07:002011-08-14T22:50:43.925-07:00The Green Executive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyhh5uAQpGVlQagLb3Onak7Ji-OYrbdA6XDLlR9c5PeHx86WhL-khoStiF40xUbOqe_1k9sfsZiTdpkdRUi4A2JFOloTQYFLUKSTkWkOelVr6yH5iFbuDGBSal3_phzqkpcLurJEjMKo/s1600/green+exec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYyhh5uAQpGVlQagLb3Onak7Ji-OYrbdA6XDLlR9c5PeHx86WhL-khoStiF40xUbOqe_1k9sfsZiTdpkdRUi4A2JFOloTQYFLUKSTkWkOelVr6yH5iFbuDGBSal3_phzqkpcLurJEjMKo/s200/green+exec.jpg" width="156" /></a></div><a href="http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102762"><strong>The Green Executive: Corporate Leadership in a Low Carbon Economy</strong></a><br />
<br />
<br />
By Gareth Kane<br />
<br />
Published by Earthscan. <br />
<br />
ISBN: 9781849713344<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/86-a-review-of-the-green-executive-corporate-leadership-in-a-low-carbon-economy">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 8th August 2011</a><br />
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<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description </strong></span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The Green Executive: Corporate Leadership in a Low Carbon Economy provides everything you need to know to develop a winning sustainability strategy and the leadership skills you require to implement that strategy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first part of the book explores the business case for action taking into consideration opportunities, threats of inaction, risks of action and the ethical dimension. This is followed by an overview of global environmental problems, including the big three: climate change, resource depletion and toxic materials, and global solutions – including eco-efficiency and industrial ecology. The third part translates these large-scale solutions into practical actions for a single business ranging from simple housekeeping measures through to innovative business models. The final, crucial part introduces the sustainability maturity model and provides an insight into how the highest level of that model can be achieved. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A range of personal views is provided in the form of 18 exclusive interviews with senior level executives from a wide range of sectors including retail, transport, manufacturing, logistics and the service sector, from small businesses through to international giants like Canon, BT, Marks & Spencer, National Express and GlaxoSmithKline.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Commentary</span></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Having attended a fascinating webinar where Gareth Kane, author of <a href="http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102762">The Green Executive: Corporate Leadership in a Low Carbon Economy</a>, presented some of the key themes of his book, I knew I was going to be in for a treat. There are many books around that talk about what it means to be green, how to do it and what insights can be gained from all of them. What's so appealing about the way Gareth goes about presenting this subject is not only his skill in covering all aspects of green and sustainable business with clarity but also his very down-to-earth, pragmatic and plain language approach. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Green Executive is structured logically: first comes the business case for becoming a green executive, next an explanation of what creating a sustainable economy actually means, then the actions required and finally the processes that need to support the actions. Each chapter closes with a helpful summary and is followed by an interview with a range of senior executives from a diverse group of companies. Each chapter is fairly short and almost can be taken as a standalone lesson in sustainability.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rather than using this review to describe the details of how to become a green exec (yes, sometimes you just have to buy the book!), I thought I would share some of the insights from company execs. Here are my faves:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"The mainstream consumer wants performance and value and sustainability."</strong> Peter White, Procter and Gamble.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Initially we wanted to develop a feel good factor among the staff."</strong> Julie Parr, Muckle LLP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"The sustainability programme saved Northern Foods £2 million last financial year."</strong> Paula Widdowson, Northern Foods.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"We launched 31 new products during the recent recession."</strong> Nigel Stansfield, InterfaceFLOR.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Give responsibility for sustainability to someone with a real passion for it."</strong> Sally Hancox, Gentoo Housing Group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"The most important driver is to protect and enhance our brand."</strong> Richard Gillies, Marks and Spencer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Reputation has become a much more important part of the corporate structure than it was in the past."</strong> James Hagan, GlaxoSmithKline.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"The single most important quality in this game is perseverance."</strong> Roy Stanley, Tanfield Group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"We've received many awards for reporting, diversity, and for specific sustainability projects."</strong> Chris Tuppen, formerly BT. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Senior management commitment is essential."</strong> Roberta Barbieri, Diageo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Our next big challenge is water."</strong> Stephen Little, The Sage Gateshead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"We have been instrumental in the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles."</strong> Martin Blake, Royal Mail.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"You have to start breaking all the old rules of business."</strong> Vic Morgan, Ethical Superstore.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"We see the low carbon future as a really exciting, positive future."</strong> Nick Coad, National Express Group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"We have found it very useful to get an external set of eyes to come in and do an audit – this gave us an action plan of how to move forward."</strong> Glen Bennett, EAE Ltd.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"A big challenge is to motivate middle management. The top level management can be committed, the general staff can be committed but middle management have sales targets, costs targets and organization to run…."</strong> Surrie Everett-Pascoe, Canon Europe Ltd.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>"Sustainability is fast becoming a reputational issue for our clients."</strong> Chris Jofeh, Arup.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Green Executive is an essential book for those who want a leadership view of how to make a business sustainable, from how to address the risks to how to exploit the opportunities. The book is nicely populated with models, frameworks and ways to advance, and is pitched exactly right to make it interesting without getting bogged down in academic texts. Using tools that include Gareth Kane's Sustainability Maturity Model or his summary of new and emerging green markets, green executives may just become a mainstream feature of business. </div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-82322158478556573682011-08-02T00:05:00.000-07:002011-08-02T00:05:34.084-07:00Embedded Sustainability<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9KhnrAsaxEumctZKHBHf-ioQEdPsIiKKRnuLdZ1i0g0a12BeX37GTXQXaxx0gVo7MpBFgAaPm14jJzMuMVloVyUr1u7HVfz3IAGqfZSQG1DJqY3B0cYHCod_tiaLj16ijQuLyhHTsvw/s1600/embed_sus.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9KhnrAsaxEumctZKHBHf-ioQEdPsIiKKRnuLdZ1i0g0a12BeX37GTXQXaxx0gVo7MpBFgAaPm14jJzMuMVloVyUr1u7HVfz3IAGqfZSQG1DJqY3B0cYHCod_tiaLj16ijQuLyhHTsvw/s1600/embed_sus.gif" t$="true" /></a></div><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3313"><strong>Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage</strong></a> <br />
<br />
By Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva<br />
<br />
Published by Greenleaf Publishing<br />
<br />
ISBN: 978-1-906093-58-7<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/73-a-review-of-embedded-sustainability-the-next-big-competitive-advantage">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 29th July 2011</a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Embedded Sustainability, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva explain and predict how companies can better leverage global challenges for enduring profit and sustained growth. They introduce the marquis concept of embedded sustainability: the incorporation of environmental, health, and social value into the heartbeat of the product life-cycle with no trade-off in price or quality – no social or green premium. This book helps readers to comprehend and implement the notion of embedded sustainability. At its best, embedded sustainability is invisible, similar to quality. In addition to delivering socially and environmentally conscious products for consumers, it is capable of considerably motivating employees. Most of all, it enables smart companies to create even more value for both their shareholders and stakeholders. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although I didn't, in many ways, it makes sense to start reading this book at the penultimate chapter, Chapter 9, entitled "The world in 2041." Now, 2041 is not all that far away, but the description of the fictional young Jake Marstreng attending an interview with "Septad Corp" is as futuristic as the best sci-fi movies, as surreal as the best fantasy productions and as realistic as the best documentaries on <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/">National Geographic</a>. It's a future which is so far-fetched as to be a perversion of the authors' imagination and yet so possible as to be just around the corner. Detailed descriptions of the radically changed global economy, sci-fi lifestyles and new technologies are truly exciting: solar cell conversion of light into electricity, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl">PCB</a> destruction using photozymes, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_retinal_display">Virtual Retinal Display</a> contact lenses, 3-D virtual conferencing, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming">vertical farms</a> using hydroponics and crop stackers powered by methane digestion, vehicles powered by solar photovoltaic thermoelectric generator hybrid systems, construction incorporating zero-energy technologies and hydro botanic water treatment and more. And all this happens after the Water Wars and the Dark Years. All that's missing is <a href="http://www.startrek.com/database_article/spock">Dr Spock</a> (who, in 2014, is probably Indian, Chinese or Brazilian). Reading Chapter 9 helps you make sense of what Embedding Sustainability is all about. It's not another shmoozy look at how companies are "doing well by doing good." It's not another collection of glowing MNE case studies that have more reputational value than sustainability substance. It's not a how-to-succeed-at-sustainability-in-3-days recipe. It is a highly intelligent (and intellectual) roadmap of the gearshift in corporate thinking and actions that are needed to transform sustainability bandaids into sustainable business.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva do a magnificent job of whetting our appetites for creating sustainable value. They describe the book as organized around "central themes of business strategy and change management, with two bookends." The first "bookend" is about the mega-trends that are driving the new business environment and the last "bookend" is about a future vision of business and some of the key questions we often wrestle with as we move forward on the sustainability journey.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The authors shape the mega-trends around three core issues: declining resources, radical transparency and increasing expectations, offering compelling arguments relating to each. For example, <a href="http://article.wn.com/view/2011/01/06/Huge_bluefin_tuna_fetches_record_price_in_Tokyo_but_whale_is/">blue fish tuna has become so rare that a single adult fish fetched $396,000 at an auction in Tokyo</a>; <a href="http://www.dole.com/LiveRight/Prevention/PreventionDetails/tabid/837/Default.aspx?contentid=4471">use of Google Earth to view the plantations where bananas are grown by Dole</a>; <a href="http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=72011">the sale of 190,000 organic cotton yoga outfits by Walmart in the first 10 weeks of launch</a>; or <a href="http://sourcemap.org/">Sourcemap.org</a> which exposes environmental impacts of anything manufactured.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now convinced, the heart of this book provides an excellent backdrop for envisaging sustainable value creation. Seven key drivers are discussed: risk mitigation, efficiency opportunity, factor of differentiation, pathway to new markets, protect and enhance the brand, influencing industry standards and driver of radical innovation. However there are many paths to Rome and strategic approaches may differ from company to company. Embedded Sustainability then takes us on a journey of strategy development using three strategic frameworks: <a href="http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml">Porter's Generic Strategies</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy">Kim and Mauborgne's Blue Ocean Strategy</a> and <a href="http://www.claytonchristensen.com/disruptive_innovation.html">Clayton Christensen's Disruptive Innovation</a>, showing how all these can have their place in the ways in which companies create superior sustainable value.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, even if you are on board so far, there is still much to debate. The final chapter of this book is an articulation of some underlying questions (the authors' "starter-kit of Big Picture questions"):</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><ol><li><div style="text-align: justify;">Growth or No growth? Is growth itself sustainable? </div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">What is the role of government and the nonprofit sector? Can regulation achieve what voluntary initiative cannot?</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Stopping the bad or creating the good? Is your agenda <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_green_environmentalism">bright green or dark green</a>?</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Having or being? Is a moral awakening imperative?</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Evolution or revolution? Can we expect a global breakdown and rebuild to occur within a few decades?</div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Restoring or transforming nature? Should we aspire to the preservation of nature in its untouched state or use our technologies to "fix" and "improve" nature? </div></li>
<li><div style="text-align: justify;">Fear or enlightened self-interest? Are we motivated to change by fear or by positive images of the future? Does inspiration drive us more than the threat of an impending disaster?</div></li>
</ol><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3313">Embedded Sustainability: The Next Big Competitive Advantage</a> truly stretches our minds and turns sustainable value into a compelling direction which is within our capability, though not without fundamental repositioning of the way we perceive sustainable value and the routes to achieve it. This book is both delightful and frightful. The vision of an accessible sustainable reality created by Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva is delightful. The effort needed to get there is frightful. But, no gain without pain, right? </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-57486629619942095222011-07-26T14:05:00.000-07:002011-07-26T14:05:36.032-07:00Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCCt5vbrGmcYd3VCOffwsaYyhorklegj9BCSF6NRxeJdD__JhyzNpMT6C45vtcNWJAZgVFqFYvFOObAniHemrEC0Xz_AKI6YX0Eeupc5F9kJcvqNahSvn175JLhIoDf1yWLfpvvE9GIk/s1600/CSR+Scwartz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCCt5vbrGmcYd3VCOffwsaYyhorklegj9BCSF6NRxeJdD__JhyzNpMT6C45vtcNWJAZgVFqFYvFOObAniHemrEC0Xz_AKI6YX0Eeupc5F9kJcvqNahSvn175JLhIoDf1yWLfpvvE9GIk/s200/CSR+Scwartz.jpg" t$="true" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Ethical-Approach/dp/1551112949/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1306582692&sr=8-1">Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach</a><br />
By Mark S. Schwartz<br />
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Published by Broadview Press. <br />
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ISBN: 978-1-55111-294-7<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/65-a-review-of-corporate-social-responsibility-an-ethical-approach">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 25th July 2011</a><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach</strong>. The term corporate social responsibility (CSR) is often used in the boardroom, classroom and political platform, but what does it really mean? Do corporations have ethical or philanthropic duties beyond their obligations to comply with the law? How does CSR relate to business ethics, stakeholder management, sustainability and corporate citizenship? Mark Schwartz provides a concise, cutting-edge introduction to the topic, analyzing many case studies with the help of his innovative "Three Domain Approach" to CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility also provides a chronology of landmark contributions to the concept of CSR and includes CSR resources on organizations, global codes and criteria, corporate CSR reports, and websites and blogs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Corporate Social Responsibility, for some of us, may have become a regular part of our approach to business, but the concept is still one that invokes debate about its real meaning, boundaries and scope. Even though we think we are clear about the underlying ethical foundations of CSR, sometimes a book comes along which raises questions that reinforce the fact there is no one right answer, no mathematical formula for ethics and no option but to go back to basics and rethink our underlying assumptions and values. CSR, at its root, is driven by ethical considerations as much as by strategic business thinking. Ethics may mean different things to different people but the need to recognize an ethical question and develop an approach to address it intelligently is common to all of us in business and, indeed, life. This is the contribution of Mark Schwartz' book, <strong>Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach.</strong> Mark takes us back to first base and gives us a thorough grounding in the different aspects of the ethics debate, which should be part of the toolkit for all students of business ethics or managers of ethical businesses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mark Schwartz defines seven "moral standards" that can be used to analyze and guide the moral behavior of firms: Core Ethical Values, including trustworthiness, caring, responsibility and citizenship; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism">Relativism</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egoism">Egoism;</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism">Utilitarianism;</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kantianism">Kantianism;</a> Moral Rights; and, Justice/Fairness. If you don't know what differentiates each one of these, well, neither did I, so Mark's thorough explanation of each one was enlightening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The heart of the book, however, is a grand debate between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman">Milton Friedman</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Shop">The Body Shop</a> positions on a range of CSR-related case studies. Friedman and The Body Shop represent the extreme ends of the spectrum of business behavior and the conflict between profit and purpose. After a detailed analysis of both approaches, the author uses a set of case studies as the backdrop of an examination of the possible responses according to Friedman or The Body Shop. For example, how would Friedman have responded in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto">Ford Pinto</a> case in which a design defect was potentially life threatening but a recall expensive? Would Friedman have advised pursuing profits and continuing sales without disclosure of the defect because the assessment was that even if an issue arose, it would be less costly to the company than the profit generated by maintaining sales? On the other hand, how would Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, have responded in the Ford Pinto case? Is there any doubt at all The Body Shop would have recalled all cars known to be faulty? (Ford went the Friedman route and it wasn’t until 27 people had died and some years after the issue arose internally that a recall became unavoidable.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Similar treatment is afforded to other cases studies on the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster, the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol contamination and the river blindness story and Merck, the pharmaceutical company. None of these cases are new to most of us, I suspect, but Mark Schwartz' treatment of them is fascinating and even somewhat entertaining.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, Schwartz closes with his proposal for a new analytical tool for understanding the behavior of corporations. He calls this the Three Domain Model and it has three core parts: economic, legal and ethical (not people, profit and planet). This model is influenced strongly by <a href="http://www.cbe.wwu.edu/dunn/rprnts.pyramidofcsr.pdf">Archie Carroll's Pyramid of CSR</a>, but modified by Schwartz (for example, it excludes philanthropy, which, in the author's view, does not constitute a responsibility but more a discretionary activity). This is an interesting approach that could help students of CSR and managers in business understand and even guide motivations for decision making and the impacts of decisions on society and the environment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Designed for use in the study of ethics and CSR rather than as a general interest book on ethics, Mark Schwartz provides an informative, creative and comprehensive discussion of business ethics from both a theoretical and practical standpoint. Oh, and if you don't know your Kantianism from your Utilitarianism, go read this book! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-32424538329877462192011-07-25T20:12:00.000-07:002011-07-25T20:12:57.714-07:00Responsible Management in Asia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-pWQ_au_GLBNNiy9ViLpQifh64tzlvPdAQSydEWSvgu6TAy-9juEeAoqWTxozWNx-mbqnSsT_hDExgCnSIzCxSmgB01rPMyRAKW1koqDqjQ73cscvgdyretlFHUA57Y37NS6YesFagM/s1600/responsible+management+in+asia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-pWQ_au_GLBNNiy9ViLpQifh64tzlvPdAQSydEWSvgu6TAy-9juEeAoqWTxozWNx-mbqnSsT_hDExgCnSIzCxSmgB01rPMyRAKW1koqDqjQ73cscvgdyretlFHUA57Y37NS6YesFagM/s200/responsible+management+in+asia.jpg" t$="true" width="127" /></a></div><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=410133">Responsible Management in Asia: Perspectives on CSR</a> <br />
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Edited by Geoffrey Williams<br />
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Published by Macmillan Publishers Limited. <br />
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ISBN: 978-0-230-25241-7<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/64-a-review-of-responsible-management-in-asia-perspectives-on-csr">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 25th July 2011</a><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Responsible Management in Asia: Perspectives on CSR</strong> covers the history and development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Asia and how it has helped to create pathways to social and environmental sustainability across the region. Drawing on case studies from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere, leading specialists describe the emergence of CSR from philanthropy and charity to a uniquely Asian form of responsible management. Community-based partnerships between business and civil society are discussed from a practical, Asian perspective. Decent work programmes through social partnerships and concrete action programmes at the factory level offer new insights into workplace management.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether CSR is the same world-over or differs substantially from country to country and culture to culture is an important question and one which I have often pondered. It seems to me that basic universal true-north values are pretty much the same anywhere, but ethical standards definitely differ based on local cultural norms, and socio-economic and business circumstances in a particular country (and at a particular time) may dictate a set of material issues which provide quite a unique setting for the advancement of CSR. So it was with relish that I started reading a compilation of perspectives of CSR in Asia, edited by Geoffrey Williams, a senior figure in the CSR world in Asian circles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The book did not disappoint. Whilst it may not be an exhaustive account of CSR in such a wide range of countries that make up the Asian continent, it certainly offers often fascinating perspectives on a wide range of issues including human rights, public policy approaches, social partnerships, responsible tourism, green building, socially responsible investment and sustainability reporting from an Asian standpoint. To what extent must CSR strategy be guided by a local setting? This was the question in my mind when I turned to Geoffrey Williams' introduction to this book, which refers to "a strong emergence of a separate Asian dimension to CSR, with several key drivers which differ from those in the West."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The compilation includes works from a range of credible and experienced authors from business, not-for profit and academic sectors, each providing insights or research-based knowledge on one or other aspects of CSR in one or other Asian country. The book is peppered with case studies from local businesses, many of which, not knowing the Asian market well, I had never heard of before, which is refreshing. (Most CSR books lead with case studies from the large MNE's that we all know and with stories that we have almost always already heard.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the highlights for me included:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A deep-dive into CSR practices in Bangladesh which concludes that CSR is played out primarily in the form of discretionary responsibilities, not deriving from legal or ethical pressures, but voluntary contributions to social causes such as health, education, female empowerment, disability etc. In other words, CSR has not reached the level of core business strategy but remains as separate social projects in the communities in which businesses operate, despite the fact that "many business organizations in Bangladesh are not conducting their business in a socially responsible way."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The role of civil society in Asia offers several interesting NGO stories such as <a href="http://www.magicbusindia.org/">Magic Bus in India</a> and its "sport for development program for children; <a href="http://www.dasra.org/">Dasra, India, a catalyst for social change</a> ; <a href="http://www.sri-kehati.com/en/about-us/kehati-biodiversity-foundation">Kehati Biodiversity Foundation in Indonesia;</a> <a href="http://www.gk1world.com/">Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation in the Philippines</a> and <a href="http://www.humantrafficking.org/organizations/175">Tenaganita in Malaysia</a>, operating to support human and migrant rights. The sense is that the time is right for the rapid advance of NGO influence in Asian countries. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The development of the Factory Improvement Program and ILO training in Vietnam which has led to over 50% of factories undergoing major changes in their operation and over 20% going through transformative change. However, the call for greater regulation to advance change in a more broadscale way is still needed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The case of <a href="http://www.hero.co.id/">Hero supermarket in Indonesia</a> which used CSR-related themes to resolve a labor dispute in a collective bargaining approach with the local union. Real economic business issues were resolved resulting in a win-win for all. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A good overview of the issues for responsible tourism, in particular child prostitution and gender equality within the industry. A real opportunity for businesses in Asia to add real social value through ethical practices and capitalize on a growing industry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">An interesting overview of climate change risk implications discussing green energy development and strategies for Asian companies, summarizing the diverse targets set by 10 Asian countries and the implications of effective carbon management over the next 15 years. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A study of Asian financial institutions' approach to green building based on qualitative research among 8 members of the Banking Association of Hong Kong. The research shows that all participating institutions have a strong commitment to CSR and see CSR as integral to doing business. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, in answer to my question: "To what extent must CSR strategy be guided by a local setting?"; Geoffrey Williams pulls it all together, concluding that "CSR in Asia is not the same as it is in the West." A key recommendation by the author is that Western companies cannot use a "one-size-fits-all" approach to CSR base on Western premises and that companies should engage more deeply to understand their new Asian stakeholders. Responsible Management in Asia serves to highlight some of those areas in which differences may be found that might inform Western companies expanding into Asia. The book does not provide a checklist of "How to do CSR in Asia" but certainly provides some enlightening insights. Next time in am in China, Malaysia or Bangladesh or the Philippines, I will certainly feel more informed. </div><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-20837956096994102562011-06-19T07:18:00.000-07:002011-06-19T07:18:48.338-07:00The Age of Responsibility<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZNxgf_9VQGxJbeN-4EAIfvTRXYGUvurvvDAfosox2zM5FHSsVoyXU7mPGfJ_RIIcn9UxJBWxAXtsBD-4pZKcAwMSCZx_h_fohbs26l4xiZgTzVQsBsWqHD9y6CUwzLgXPpwWznvnSMp0/s1600/age+of+responsibility+visser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZNxgf_9VQGxJbeN-4EAIfvTRXYGUvurvvDAfosox2zM5FHSsVoyXU7mPGfJ_RIIcn9UxJBWxAXtsBD-4pZKcAwMSCZx_h_fohbs26l4xiZgTzVQsBsWqHD9y6CUwzLgXPpwWznvnSMp0/s1600/age+of+responsibility+visser.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/books/411-The-Age-of-Responsibility-CSR-2-0-and-the-New-DNA-of-Business"><strong>The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the NEW DNA of Business</strong></a><br />
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By Wayne Visser<br />
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Published by John Wiley and Sons. <br />
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ISBN: 978-0-470-68857-1<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4699-A-Review-of-The-Age-of-Responsibility-">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 15th June 2011</a><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">In this landmark book, Wayne Visser shows how the old model of Corporate Sustainability &; Responsibility (CSR) is being replaced by a 2nd generation movement. This generation goes beyond the outmoded approach of CSR as philanthropy or public relations (widely criticised as 'greenwashing') to a more interactive, stakeholder-driven model.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 and the New DNA of Business</em> is possibly Wayne Visser's greatest work yet. It is deeply reflective of the state of the world, society, business and people who change our lives. It is as much an intimately personal account of Wayne's evolving relationship with Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility as it is a guide to the way these concepts have emerged to drive practices - which have in some ways made a positive difference in the world, but failed spectacularly in other ways to harness the power of capitalism into a force for positive impact.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In many ways Wayne's view of the state of CSR today is rather depressing. Wayne writes: "At worst, CSR in its most primitive form may be a smokescreen covering up systematically irresponsible behaviour. At best, even the most evolved CSR practices might be just a band-aid applied to a gaping wound that is haemorrhaging the lifeblood of the economy, society and the planet." At another level, it is quite uplifting: "We are on the brink of the post-industrial revolution and we need to decide whether we will be accomplices in slowing that transition, or catalysts in speeding us towards a better future." The core message, however, is that CSR as we know it has failed to create a demonstrable improvement in the quality of social, economic and ecological life. For CSR to succeed, it needs to transform itself into something new, CSR 2.0.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wayne Visser's 9th book on CSR, <em>The Age of Responsibility</em>, is cleverly structured walking us through the "Ages and Stages" of the CSR movement. There are five ages according to the author:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>1.The Age of Greed:</strong></span> characterized by "bigger is better" and shareholder rule in which unfettered growth is fueled by the concept that "greed is good" and that corporations who make more money (for shareholders) actually benefit society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">2.The Age of Philanthropy:</span></strong> characterized by the concept that business should give back to society, personified by John D. Rockefeller, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and categorized by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/10/corporate-philantropy-bishop-green-kinsley">Matthew Bishop and Michael Green as "philanthrocapitalism."</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">3.The Age of Marketing:</span></strong> characterized by the concept that reputation and brand matter most, leading to CSR for PR gains, with a good measure of greenwashing thrown in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">4.The Age of Management:</span></strong> characterized by the alignment of CSR with business strategy and adoption of voluntary codes and industry standards. Embedding CSR is the name of the game.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">5.The Age of Responsibility:</span></strong> characterized by what Wayne Visser calls "CSR 2.0, or Systemic CSR, based on a new set of principles." The Age of Responsibility has been heralded by iconic leaders such as Anita Roddick of The Body Shop, Ray Anderson of Interface and Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia. CSR 2.0 also makes use of the new social media era as business begins to "redefine its role in society."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">CSR 2.0 is based on five principles - creativity, scalability, responsiveness, glocality and circularity. Each principle is explained in turn and a host of examples are provided to ensure we understand it can be done. <a href="http://www.slashphone.com/vodacom-to-launch-vodafone-m-pesa-mobile-money-transfer-service-in-tanzania-08142">Vodafone's M-PESA service</a> for mobile-phone banking in Africa is an example of creativity. <a href="http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/tata-nano-the-worlds-cheapest-car/">Tata's Nano car</a> and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/04/07/us-walmart-cotton-idUSN0727133420080407">Wal-Mart's conversion to organic cotton</a> are scalable initiatives; while GSK, the pharma giant, showed responsiveness by creating a <a href="http://www.scidev.net/en/news/patent-pool-starts-to-attract-interest.html">patent pool for developing drugs for neglected diseases</a>. Glocality is about ensuring the right local solutions, such as the experience of <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/22876-SC-Johnson-Public-Report-Highlights-Commitment-to-Doing-What-s-Right">SC Johnson in Kenya</a> who reformulated cleaning products to adapt to local consumer conditions. Circularity takes us in the direction of cradle-to-cradle and examples can be seen from Patagonia, Nike and Timberland, as well as <a href="http://www.forumforthefuture.org/greenfutures/articles/Tesco_to_go_zero_carbon">Tesco's promise to be carbon neutral by 2050.</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Getting to CSR 2.0 requires inspired, committed and capable people who understand their role in leading change to make the new promise of CSR 2.0 a reality. The final part of The Age of Responsibility is a lesson on change and includes a Change Matrix which plots the many change agents who have emerged to date to advance CSR and several change models that can assist our thinking as we aspire to make it happen.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wayne Visser distils four types of CSR change agents within the community of CSR professionals: the Expert (whose motivators are projects, systems and technical excellence); the Facilitator (who shares knowledge and creates opportunities); the Catalyst (who initiates change and gives strategic direction) and the Activist (whose motivation is related to broader social and environmental issues in the world). The point is that motivation for change in business organizations comes in different forms and driving change successfully requires recognition of individual motivators and organizational context. At the heart of it all are individuals and their actions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">What is rather unique and appealing about this book is that it is not simply an erudite chronicle of the evolution of CSR together with a nicely packaged solution to all CSR's inadequacies. The appeal is the sense you are actually working through the dilemmas and challenges at each step of the way with the author, who ultimately asks whether working in Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility is a good answer to his life's question: Is advancing CSR truly a worthy enough cause for us to devote our energies to? Or is it a hollow shell that provides capitalism with a softer face but doesn't make any substantive difference to the way businesses work?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">From Wayne's early beginnings as a strategy analyst with Cap Gemini, through leadership with KPMG's Sustainability Services in South Africa and then back to academia to pursue a Ph.D., Visser has grappled with the manifestations of the ages and stages of CSR in a way that reflects his deep sense of personal responsibility to make a difference. This journey has led him to develop a vision of a new CSR, which is more holistic and "judged by its success in improvements in the overall socio-cultural, economic and ecological system." In the forward to the book, <em>the Age of Responsibility</em> protagonist <a href="http://www.jeffreyhollender.com/">Jeffrey Hollender</a> writes: "The hour may be late and the clock loudly ticking, but the story of responsible business is not over yet. There's still room for a happy ending. And the time has come to write it for ourselves."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We should all read this book. We are all potential change agents. We are all part of the problem and part of the solution. We are all living in World 2.0, where CSR 2.0 can become a reality. We are all likely catalysts in the Age of Responsibility.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">PS Thanks to Wayne for a mention of ME on page 259 :)</div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-67786240224935126232011-06-11T01:00:00.000-07:002011-06-11T01:00:32.831-07:00The Whistleblower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9h10Kp4p-7zGPrM4DMFNpmBprd4cBwPE1edc6NwCuo31QtftZ3at_Xp35Zr-wfo2ZQlzydyViYxJ1LSLEWsItcsb0Rhhc6nYCLMBSpQhCrdufbhyphenhyphenTCcgKZc6IsFvYtVxhmLK9GH7Zua4/s1600/whistleblower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9h10Kp4p-7zGPrM4DMFNpmBprd4cBwPE1edc6NwCuo31QtftZ3at_Xp35Zr-wfo2ZQlzydyViYxJ1LSLEWsItcsb0Rhhc6nYCLMBSpQhCrdufbhyphenhyphenTCcgKZc6IsFvYtVxhmLK9GH7Zua4/s200/whistleblower.jpg" t8="true" width="133" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=475275"><strong>The Whistleblower - Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice</strong></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By Kathryn Bolkovac and Cari Lynn</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Published by Palgrave Macmillan </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">ISBN: 978-0-230-10802-8 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4607-The-Whistleblower-Sex-Trafficking-Military-Contractors-and-One-Woman-s-Fight-for-Justice">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 31st May, 2011</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. Good money, world travel, and the chance to help rebuild a war-torn country sounded like the perfect job. She was soon shipped to Bosnia, where DynCorp had been contracted to support the UN peacekeeping mission. She was assigned as a human rights investigator, heading the gender affairs unit. The lack of proper training provided to her sounded an alarm bell, but once she arrived in Sarajevo, she found out that things were a lot worse than she imagined. At great risk to herself, Kathy began to unravel the ugly truth about officers involved in human trafficking and forced prostitution, and their connections to private mercenary contractors, the UN, and the U.S. State Department. Soon, she was demoted, then fired. Feeling threatened with bodily harm, she fled the country, bringing the incriminating documents with her. Thanks to the evidence she had collected, Kathy won a lawsuit against DynCorp, finally exposing what they had done. Here, Kathy warns of the inherent danger when we contract out our wars and that it is our responsibility to protect the weak and disenfranchised in times of peace. Both gripping and inspiring, this amazing true story of courage and honour in the face of insurmountable odds shows that just one voice can make a difference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now an <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896872/">award-winning movie</a> taglined "a drama based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal," The Whistleblower is much more than that. It's an exposure of the worst kind of corruption, human rights abuse, vile self-interest, lies, fabrications and corporate cover-ups present at the intersection of the United Nations, the U.S. Government and military contractors who exploit tax-payers' money by complying with human rights crimes in the name of peace. It is also the compelling story of a woman who refused to remain silent about these abuses in the face of significant personal danger. It's a lesson for everyone involved in allocation of national budgets and procurement about the controls necessary to administer contractors and the way they fulfill their responsibilities. It's also a drama, a love-story, an action-packed thriller and a fascinating read. For anyone involved in corporate responsibility, it's a case study about ethics, human rights and the need to protect those who speak out about corrupt practices in business. Finally, it's a wake-up call to shake all those in positions of authority out of complacency and complicity and urge them to clean up the system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kathy Bolkovac's story begins when she applies for a role in the <a href="http://www.international.gc.ca/arms-armes/isrop-prisi/research-recherche/intl_security-securite_int/king2000/section09.aspx">International Police Task Force (ITPF) in Bosnia</a> in 1998. The organization providing these "rent-a-cop" services is <a href="http://www.dyn-intl.com/index.aspx">DynCorp International</a>, "a global government services provider in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives, delivering support solutions for defense, diplomacy, and international development." In this case, the contract was in the framework of the UN mandated IPTF in <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.html">Bosnia and Herzegovina</a> (formerly Yugoslavia) following the Serbian attack on Sarajevo and the ensuing war for which <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87">Slobodan Milosevic</a> was later charged with genocide. The ITPF is composed of UN member countries' national police force representatives. The U.S., not having a national police force, would play its role through providing the services of private contractors. Enter Dyncorp and their recruitment drive, which propelled Kathy Bolkovac to a role as a Human Rights Investigator.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It doesn't take the smart, conscientious and rather outspoken Kathy Bolkovac long to realized that all is not kosher in Sarajevo. She quickly starts to fight for the protection of female victims of domestic violence, winning a breakthrough court ruling which would serve as a base to advance programs addressing violence against women in the region, while unraveling the grim details of the involvement of DynCorp personnel in the trafficking of young girls across East European borders, detention of women for prostitution, visits to brothels and holding women captive for all of the above. After facing many setbacks (disappearing files, delaying tactics, intimidation, etc.) in trying to bring these issues to light, in 2000, Kathy sent a desperate email to 50 personnel involved in the Bosnia mission, entitled "don't read this if you have a weak stomach or a guilty conscience." The email detailed the difference between prostitutes and trafficking victims and the stages of how women end up as prostitutes and sexual slaves, imploring all involved in the mission to ensure they serve and protect people rather than playing a role in facilitating and engaging in human abuses and crime. Her boss immediately informed her that her email was "not a good idea" and Kathy was subsequently dismissed, ostensibly for falsification of work records, a claim which was entirely fabricated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bravely battling against all the corporate muscle DynCorp could muster, Kathy had her day in court (taking home a settlement of a mere $175,000) <a href="http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,222,html?CaseID=688">winning her case for unfair dismissal</a> while exposing the illegal, unethical and irresponsible practices of DynCorp International and their poorly trained, inadequately managed and ineffectively deployed personnel. Kathy ends her account of her own story by making some recommendations on policies for police officers recruited for international missions. Kathy writes: "I have spent many sleepless nights… wondering why these blatantly illegal behaviors were simply allowed to be swept under the rug. And yet reports of immoral and illegal behavior among DynCorp's civilian peacekeepers …continue to make front page news with alarming regularity." You can get a sense of this from <a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/section.php?id=18">Corpwatch's Dyncorp page</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Beyond the personal story of heroine Kathy Bolkovac and the horrors of how she was treated for simply doing her job, as well as anger about the plight of defenseless women caught up in immoral exploitation, this book is an eye-opener about the inner workings of a highly profitable industry which should be head and shoulders above the rest in terms of protecting human rights, revealing it to be a hotbed of the worst kind of intrigue, politics and abuse. Questions about the responsibility of the U.S. government in monitoring the activities of its contracted service providers as well as the integrity of this multi-billion dollar corporation remain in your mind. Despite DynCorp's <a href="http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/DCP/1271566441x0x186353/0e4cca68-3f34-48a9-88f6-43f627ac8229/DCP_Code_of_Ethics.pdf">Code of Ethics</a>, complete with Q and A's, The Whistleblower leaves you with a sense of despair that so much is yet to be done while few people are prepared to speak out and be accountable. The Whistleblower is a sobering, important read with all the romance, tension and intrigue of a bestseller title in the crime fiction category. Regrettably, this one is actually true. Oh, and I can't wait to see the movie.</div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-67438469345208562672011-05-10T09:11:00.000-07:002011-05-10T09:11:16.320-07:00CSR Author Spotlight: Veronica Scheubel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVGtbitHgqXsTPdgkFPE5h366zloftxoS2kG3Z7QeBfFo1SfMGpmu870s_KmVEGhccmWA-SCfA33sIsxHtmAkUUSe0XMvhplYyYrhAQQhSSs_-mP9oSr2OWZLY8z6RgNkpnJKaaVwj0U/s1600/veronica.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVGtbitHgqXsTPdgkFPE5h366zloftxoS2kG3Z7QeBfFo1SfMGpmu870s_KmVEGhccmWA-SCfA33sIsxHtmAkUUSe0XMvhplYyYrhAQQhSSs_-mP9oSr2OWZLY8z6RgNkpnJKaaVwj0U/s1600/veronica.JPG" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Snapshot: </strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Born in:</span></strong> St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canda </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Lives in:</span></strong> 'The Vermont of Germany,' the Red Hair Mountains (about 100 miles east of Cologne and north of Frankfurt) with German high school sweetheart, after 22 years apart. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Educated at:</span></strong> Educated at: Baccalaureate in Germany, Political Science at Concordia University in Montreal and Masters in Organisation Consulting at Ashridge Business School in the UK. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Favorite CSR Book:</span></strong> Adrian Hodges' and David Grayson's Everybody's Business, as it was the first book to educate the world about CSR. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Favorite non-CSR book:</span></strong> Kenneth Leung's The Zen Teachings of Jesus (it's not a religious book); Edward Said's Representations of the Intellectual, Milan Kundera's Immortality. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Favorite movies:</span></strong> 'Il Postino,' 'Monsoon Wedding,' 'Smoke,' 'Smoke Signals,' 'The Royal Tenenbaums,' 'Gosford Park,' 'Lisbon Story,' 'Lost in Translation,' 'Eat Drink Man Woman'. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Favorite musician</strong>:</span> Jazz trumpet player Chet Baker on 'The Best of Chet Baker Sings'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">Favorite CSR report:</span></strong> SAP - for being accessible from mobile tablets, for the interaction and engagement, for the view of developing sustainability reporting as a journey. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: red;">If I could, I would ...:</span></strong> Go live in Buenos Aires for a year or two and then explore business opportunities in India!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4435-CSRwire-Author-Spotlight-Veronica-Scheubel">This spotlight on Veronica Scheubel was first published on CSRwire.com on 4th May 2011</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Having co-authored, with Nick Lakin, <a href="http://greenleafpublishing.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/cpsl%E2%80%99s-top-40-sustainability-books-of-2010/">number 7 on the Cambridge University Sustainability Leadership Programme's top sustainability books of 2010</a>, together with over 10 years of hands-on business practice and consulting experience, Veronica Scheubel, former Senior Corporate Responsibility Manager at Nokia, is a superstar amongst experts in how to mastermind and execute ways for businesses to engage with the community. Her book, <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/books/397-Corporate-Community-Involvement-The-Definitive-Guide-to-Maximising-your-Business-Societal-Engagement-">Corporate Community Involvement: The Definitive Guide to Maximising your Business' Societal Engagement, (Greenleaf, 2010)</a> is the most comprehensive, practical and well-researched guide available for those wishing to devise, plan, manage and succeed in delivering business engagement with local communities and employee volunteering programs. According to Veronica, there was a clear gap in the market for this kind of book: <em>"Nick and I noticed that between the two of us, we had written so many internal company manuals on how to practice Community Involvement from inside a company. Nick asked why nobody had ever thought of turning this into a book, so companies don't have to re-invent the wheel. He convinced me that the two of us had to do that, so we set out to write our book. Working to a strict schedule, we got it done in 6 months. It helped that we had our previously-written manuals to refer to, and that we had all our personal experience from managing global Community Involvement programs to draw on."</em> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since publication, Corporate Community Involvement has generated positive reactions. Veronica mentions that <em>"quite a few people have contacted us to let us know that they found the book really useful, particularly the Chapters on Strategy, Employee Involvement and how to operate as a company-internal change agent."</em> According to Veronica, the most important messages in the book for succeeding in community involvement are:<em> "Be strategic and contribute your company's core competencies, engage in real cross-sector partnerships in the community, and involve key functions in the company as well as employee volunteers</em>." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The practice of community involvement is by no means uniform across all companies, according to Veronica. <em>"As with so many other aspects of corporate life, there are the visionaries, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority and the laggards. What strikes me after more than 10 years of my own work in this area is that we still have players in every field! We have visionaries like IBM, early adopters like Nokia, many companies in the early majority, but shockingly many companies still in the late majority that are still dabbling in philanthropy and are only just discovering Community Involvement. And then of course, there are laggards that still claim Community Involvement is not relevant to them and that shareholder value is all that counts ... The 'early' half encourages and enthuses me while the 'late' half creates the gap versus my expectations and shows me that there is still so much more work to do!"</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most of Veronica's professional time is spent in organizational change and corporate responsibility consulting, training, executive coaching, team development and Action Learning. She is also active in <a href="http://thepartneringinitiative.org/">The Partnering Initiative</a> at the International Business Leaders Forum in London which leads in matters relating to cross-sector collaboration. Veronica is an Associate, offering training, facilitation and mediation, including a three-day certification training in cross-sector partnering practice, offered in different countries. In addition, Veronica and her partner bought a home with a garden and, for the past two years, have been busy with renovation and redecoration. They both enjoy travel and the sun, hiking, cooking and nice restaurants, movies and good books. Every few days, they 'borrow' the neighbor's four year-old twin boys for a play session which is fun for all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But this does not prevent Veronica from considering what her next book will focus on: <em>"A few colleagues and I are really passionate about the opportunities of bringing organizational change consultants together with Sustainability Managers in companies, as we have experienced first-hand how much can be achieved for embedding Sustainability throughout an organization when both work together and pool their knowledge, resources and approaches. It is still a very new message out there, and we are a small cohort, but we'd like to spread the word and the practice, so there will have to be a book about it!"</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Indeed, Veronica has a passion for making change in organizations more accessible.<em> "The world is changing, and participative approaches within organizations as well as with stakeholders will become increasingly important and unavoidable. This is where I see a focus of my work - I'd like to support people in organizations, who might be used to the 'old ways' and perhaps a bit unused to and afraid of 'sharing power', in familiarizing themselves with new concepts, trying them out and experimenting with them. As a facilitator, I can help create a 'safe environment' for that."</em> As Francois de la Rochefoucauld once said, "The only constant thing in life is change." Anyone who can help us navigate that is playing an important role in society, and Veronica, both in her practice and with her book, surely demonstrates what it means to be an agent of change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>I would like to thank Veronica Scheubel for sharing her insights</strong></span> and for her great guide to Corporate Community Involvement which features highly on my always-keep-close book list.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-37442576847961144612011-05-09T13:18:00.000-07:002011-05-09T13:18:05.824-07:00The HIP Investor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcX4oeF5mya4JX-y9bHo3ZFDsYeifYGpat3Vot3DtF3MIWYCvmzYxhV8rGpHWqJeTYSy5rEzvdYC2GVl6K1tsGis1RAqash9Tj2ivTAXL-xBNc8u86m-IxWL4e7BOpqs4J0zb3dmwS9Tg/s1600/HIPbookCover-Apr2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcX4oeF5mya4JX-y9bHo3ZFDsYeifYGpat3Vot3DtF3MIWYCvmzYxhV8rGpHWqJeTYSy5rEzvdYC2GVl6K1tsGis1RAqash9Tj2ivTAXL-xBNc8u86m-IxWL4e7BOpqs4J0zb3dmwS9Tg/s200/HIPbookCover-Apr2010.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.hipinvestor.com/the-hip-investor-book-pre-order-available-now/"><strong>The HIP Investor : </strong> Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By R. Paul Herman</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">ISBN: 978-0-470-57521-3 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4451-The-HIP-Investor-Make-Bigger-Profits-by-Building-a-Better-World">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 6th May, 2011</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In <em>The HIP Investor: Make Bigger Profits by Building a Better World</em>, R. Paul Herman - creator of the HIP methodology and a leading investment manager - introduces a systematic approach for investors that is designed for more attractive profits and positive human, social, and environmental impact. Based on comprehensive research of the S&P 500, HIP assesses and values measurable results over well-intentioned policies and philosophies, and shows how higher-performing companies can deliver both human impact and profit for shareholders. This HIP approach is shown to outperform the financial returns of the S&P benchmark in both up and down markets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Written for investors of all types and their financial advisors, this detailed guide will help you construct a portfolio of firms that are boosting their bottom line by meeting five core human needs. Leading firms benefit customers, engage employees, and deliver sustainable, profitable growth for their investors through innovative products, measures, and decision making. Each chapter reveals a fundamentally strong analytical approach enriched with real-world case studies that show you how your portfolio can capture substantial financial returns and generate positive impact while also mitigating risks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whether you are an investor or not, <em>The HIP Investor</em> will teach you a lot about how businesses can make profit while having a positive impact on society and environment. <em>The Hip Investor</em> is not a theoretical discussion. It's a highly practical, well-researched, coherent encyclopedic guide, full of examples of how businesses have leveraged their capabilities to create better business and a better world. The proof is that the HIP (human impact and profit) investment portfolio outperforms multiple benchmarks , for example, the HIP 100 has done 4 percent better than the S&P 100 every year between mid-2004 and 2009.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The HIP methodology was masterminded in 2004 by R. Paul Herman, after he gained a finance degree at Wharton and worked at McKinsey & Co. on incentive regulation in the energy sector and advised Fortune 500 corporate clients on investments. The HIP method identifies five core dimensions of the way companies drive financial, social and environmental value through innovating new products that improve the quality of life, operating with higher environmental efficiency and effectively managing their social impacts. An analysis of the extent to which a company embraces the concepts and practices in these five dimensions can produce a HIP Scorecard with over 20 indicators whose value indicate positive results for society, thereby providing a useful tool for investors, because, "typically, the better the human impact performance, the bigger the profits". The HIP methodology overlap to a large degree with other leading rankings of corporate responsibility or sustainability practices, though it also offers a fresh way of looking at companies and their impacts, providing specific quantifiable metrics in each of the five HIP dimensions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five core dimensions of the HIP methodology are:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">1.<span style="color: red;">Health</span>: refers to both physical and mental well-being, including quality of life. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">2.<span style="color: red;">Wealth:</span> encompasses ways for people to earn more, save more or better secure their financial future. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">3.<span style="color: red;">Earth:</span> covers the water we drink, the air we breathe and the overall ecosystem balance. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">4.<span style="color: red;">Equality: </span>seeks fair representation, whether classified by gender, ethnicity or income class. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">5.<span style="color: red;">Trust:</span> includes open, transparent information and ethical and respectful behavior.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The HIP investor builds an investment portfolio using data collated and analyzed in these five categories to produce an overall performance scorecard, showing how HIP a company is, and how the company's HIPness stacks up against other companies in the same sector or in general.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The author has not been content to simply explain the methodology. <em>The HIP Investor</em> is one of the most extensive and detailed catalogs of corporate sustainability-related practices as I have read in the past few years. Examples abound from almost every company you can think of, from the leaders to the laggards, culminating in a persuasive argument which substantiates the need for a HIP mindset, HIP practices, HIP analysis and HIP investing. Additionally, the author presents a set of sector "face- offs" comparing the HIP scores of giants such as <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1646746/sustainability-faceoff-coca-cola-vs-pepsico">PepsiCo / Coca Cola</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1655187/sustainability-faceoff-procter-gamble-vs-colgate-palmolive">Procter and Gamble / Colgate-Palmolive</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1656410/sustainability-faceoff-dow-vs-dupont">Dow / DuPont</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1653464/sustainability-faceoff-raytheon-vs-lockheed-martin">Raytheon / Lockheed Martin</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1643275/sustainability-faceoff-verizon-vs-sprint">Verizon / Sprint</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1651796/sustainability-faceoff-jp-morgan-chase-vs-bank-of-america">J.P. Morgan Chase / Bank of America</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1648898/sustainability-faceoff-mcdonalds-vs-starbucks">McDonald's / Starbucks</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1650270/sustainability-faceoff-microsoft-vs-apple">Microsoft / Apple</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1634995/hip-scorecard-faceoff-walmart-vs-target">Walmart / Target</a> and <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/1637852/sustainability-faceoff-chevron-vs-exxonmobil">Chevron / ExxonMobil</a>, which have also been published on Fastcompany.com.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the final sections of the book, the author teaches potential investors how to build a HIP investment portfolio, maintaining that the HIP approach leads to more appropriate valuations than sector-weighted approaches as adopted by S&P 500 and others and providing insight on a wide range of investment options. Finally, R. Paul Herman ends up with his optimistic view that a HIP world is possible and that investors have the power to create it and reap the rewards, both in financial and non-financial terms. A HIP world is one where corporations compete in areas which add positive social and environmental impact. With $175 trillion in global financial assets available to investors, Herman maintains that there is certainly a sufficient supply of capital to make a HIP difference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">R. Paul Herman makes a convincing argument for HIP. Understanding companies from a perspective of the three core HIP investor questions (How HIP are the company's products? How is the company measuring its human, social and environmental impact? How do existing management practices reflect a HIP approach?) presents a novel way of evaluating companies' long-term sustainability and predicting their long-term financial performance. Using the 5 core HIP scorecard factors to assess companies provides a tangible framework for investment decision making. Even if you are not an investor, you are probably a customer, an employee, a supplier or even a community member and the HIP approach can help you decide whether to engage with a company in one way or another. I guess that to write a book about HIP investment, you have to be pretty HIP yourself, so I find myself compelled to round of this review with three cheers - HIP HIP Hurray - for the highly HIP R. Paul Herman and <em>The HIP Investor.</em> </div><br />
<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-29832621080340605452011-04-29T22:37:00.000-07:002011-04-29T22:37:43.760-07:00Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjslyYVE010zdniM-yJriOoZwwKQevMvDuFn_NlWdBb8doDJIydxWFrmc_Bqv69xVCylg_KI-2debqm5GvH9I03nuyVV7vAzPDTn_wZG8BwgtcShZAGsz9S5uCPQOBUJFqsC5-J59cS9gY/s1600/Trafficking+for+Begging+Old+Game%252C+New+Name.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjslyYVE010zdniM-yJriOoZwwKQevMvDuFn_NlWdBb8doDJIydxWFrmc_Bqv69xVCylg_KI-2debqm5GvH9I03nuyVV7vAzPDTn_wZG8BwgtcShZAGsz9S5uCPQOBUJFqsC5-J59cS9gY/s200/Trafficking+for+Begging+Old+Game%252C+New+Name.bmp" width="132" /></a></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trafficking-Begging-Game-Name-ebook/dp/B004J4X1AE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=APZETQFSWU1YM&s=digital-text&qid=1295180681&sr=1-1">Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name</a><br />
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By Iveta Cherneva<br />
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Published by Amazon Digital Services. <br />
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ASIN: B004J4X1AE<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4378-Trafficking-for-Begging-Old-Game-New-Name-">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 25th April 2011</a><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name</em> describes an ugly industry; the exploitation of beggars is a form of human trafficking. The book gives a voice to the thousands of victims and uncovers details of this criminal activity. Apart from the legal and social discussion, the study also looks into psychological theories as to why people give money to beggars. The author suggests ideas for public campaign messages that can break the exploitative cycle of trafficking for begging based on these psychological theories. If you liked the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is likely that you would also be touched by the main message brought by <em>Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Name</em>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is an important book which will not, regrettably, be mainstream reading for anyone in a corporate setting. The subject of trafficking in humans (especially children) for the purpose of begging and profiteering is one of the low sides of our society which prevails around us and which, as responsible citizens, we should be acutely aware of. I am reminded of several trips to India some years ago where it was impossible to move more than a few meters without being approached by a child asking for money. I recall one particular young girl, carrying a disabled baby in her arms, who touched my heart as she begged me to buy powdered milk for her baby brother and took me down several Mumbai alleys to a kiosk selling cans of powdered milk. My colleagues laughed at me when I recounted the story. In my naiveté, I had not imagined that the infant was not actually her brother. I didn't contemplate that she may have another unfortunate child caught into the web of begging, probably "owned" by someone who would profit from the cash after the tin of powdered milk was returned to the kiosk to wait for another unsuspecting business person or tourist.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iveta Cherneva has published an important work, exposing the intricate operations of begging traffickers in Western Europe, as well as in emerging economies. Yes, even in Geneva, Switzerland, "amidst the wealth and seemingly calm social landscape, an Ugly Industry is quietly sitting on the pavement." Iveta Cherneva says that victims of human trafficking are "part of a ring with organizational complexity comparable to that of a medium-size business enterprise." In <em>Trafficking for Begging</em>, she exposes the factors behind trafficking and the "business" decisions that traffickers make in order to boost profits: "Beggars are forced, abused, beaten and even mutilated by their begging pimps in order to cause more pity. Cut On Purpose. Blinded On Purpose. With broken limbs On Purpose. Without an arm On Purpose."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are many forms of exploitation and trafficking which for most of us will be simply inconceivable in their cruelty and abuse of human life and human rights. These might include "mail order brides, domestic servitude and nannies, recruitment of child soldiers, illegal adoptions, trafficking for ritual purposes and trafficking of prisoners, camel jockeys, drug smuggling, petty theft, construction and agricultural work, etc." Just reading this list engenders reactions of outrage and great sadness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iveta says that "One of the main aims of this book is to suggest an emerging paradigm shift on the international, regional and national level indicating a move away from a purely law enforcement approach to a human rights victims-centered approach. That would hopefully result into a change of mindset in policy making and full-fledged protection and assistance to trafficking victims." In Sweden, for example, this means outlawing the practice of prostitution by punishing the client and protecting the victim. Iveta Cherneva maintains that "by giving money to beggars on the street we only encourage the vicious cycle, which fuels the criminal activity."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Trafficking for Begging</em> is based on the author's observations in Switzerland and much research in international law and domestic legislation from around the world. This self-published book includes some personal stories from begging victims, but it is mainly an intelligent and detailed overview of international legal frameworks that cover trafficking, exploitation and begging in all their forms and a proposal for a policy direction that could assist in curtailing the effects of such difficult issues our society must face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Whilst this subject might not be directly related to CSR policy in most companies, it is certainly related to sustainability and the creation of a just and equitable society for all. How many corporations use their funds and influence to fight this type of crime against humanity in the same way as they poor funds into education, health and other more "acceptable" social needs? <a href="http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/values-campaigns/trafficking.aspx">The Body Shop, always a company to champion a less popular cause, has made anti-trafficking a flagship program</a>, and there may be others. Perhaps Iveta Cherneva's book may spark more initiatives, especially for companies who operate in regions of high-risk for begging trafficking, which, it seems, can be just about anywhere. In any event, reading <em>Trafficking for Begging</em> is a sobering experience and Iveta Cherneva earns my admiration for skillfully bringing this subject onto the radar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-77692495625148354042011-04-26T14:30:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:30:53.901-07:00Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions<h3 class="green" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://admin.csrwire.com/system/vcr_thumbnails/4379/normal/enchantment.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Enchantment" border="0" class="commentary-detail-image" height="200" src="http://admin.csrwire.com/system/vcr_thumbnails/4379/normal/enchantment.jpg" style="cursor: move;" unselectable="on" width="131" /></a> <a href="http://www.guykawasaki.com/enchantment/">Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions</a></h3><div class="commentary_img"></div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">By Guy Kawasaki</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Published by Penguin Books Ltd</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">ISBN: 978-1-58184-379-5</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4379-Enchantment-The-Art-of-Changing-Hearts-Minds-and-Actions">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 25th April 2011</a></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Description</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Enchantme</span><span style="color: black;">nt: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions</span></strong> is Guy Kawasaki's tenth book. In it, he explains how to influence what people will do while maintaining the highest standards of ethics. The book explains when and why enchantment is necessary and what the pillars of enchantment are: likability, trustworthiness, and a great cause. The next topics are launching, overcoming resistance, making enchantment endure, and using technology. There are even chapters dedicated to enchanting your employees and your boss. Finally, because there are times you may want to resist enchantment, there is even a chapter about how to do this too. If you want to change the world - or even part of the world, this book is for you.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Commentary</span></strong></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">I usually review books about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability, and <em>Enchantment</em> does not pretend to fall into these categories. However, there is nothing more fundamental to ensuring a sustainable future than the preservation of relationships, ethics and positive interactions with all we meet and with whom we interact. In this sense, <em>Enchantment</em> is the ultimate required reading for CSR and Sustainability; it precedes and prepares us for the entire journey of changing the world based on universal values and respect for all.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Enchantment</strong> is not the product of a scientific research program nor is it a collection of corporate case studies that define sustainability processes. It is the product of Guy Kawasaki's collective experiences, coupled with his intelligent development of an innovative basic behavioral model which can be summarized in one sentence: Enchantment will save the world. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the heart of this book, is a compelling definition of enchantment which gives this word new meaning and an empowering platform with which we can immediately identify. Enchantment "causes a voluntary change of hearts and minds and therefore actions. Enchantment transforms situations relationships. It converts hostility into civility. It reshapes civility into affinity. It changes skeptics and cynics into believers." When you want to enchant people, you want to fill them with "great delight".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">The book, <strong>Enchantment,</strong> is a how-to guide, describing the multiple situations in which you can genuinely and authentically enchant your colleagues, friends, family, associates, employees, your boss and even yourself in order to promote a worthy cause. Ranging from "Disclose your interests" (a key component of trustworthiness), to "Conduct a Premortem" (preventing potential problems in order to increase the likelihood of success) to "Make it Short, Simple and Swallowable" (when creating marketing messages) to "Default to Yes" (adopt a yes attitude, which buys you time, enables you to see more options and builds rapport), the book is peppered with chunks of great advice on how to build an enchanting attitude, behavioral framework and actually, way of life. Enchantment also applies in the world of social media (maybe, especially in the world of social media), and Guy Kawasaki includes two chapters on enchantment in email, twitter, websites, blogs, Facebook and other online hangouts. One of my favorite sections is the one called "Think Japanese", where lessons from Japanese wisdom inspired by Garr Reynold's book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Presentation-Zen-Design-Principles-Presentations/dp/0321668790" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Presentation Zen Design</span></a>, such as Kanso, Shizen, Datsuzuko, Seijaku, Wa and Ma, will "make people think you're smart and more enchanting" (unless you are Japanese and this is your mother tongue, I guess) and also provide some useful insights. Personal stories from interesting personalities are offered throughout the book, showing how they have applied or experienced enchantment in practice.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, getting back to CSR and Sustainability. There are some enchantment themes which are directly relevant to sustainability programs. "Diversify the Team" is one. "A diverse team helps make enchantment last because people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and skills keep a cause fresh and relevant." "Empower your employees to do the right thing" is another - because employees care, and "money isn't their sole motivation". Also, ethics gets a mention - "not everyone is an ethical enchanter" - and Guy makes the case for resisting situations in which ethics might be compromised - rather like Code of Conduct training.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;">All in all, this is a short book with a powerful message which, actually, does enchant as you read it. Guy Kawasaki radiates throughout his book a certain nice-guy authenticity which makes his message credible and gives you an insight into how he has achieved wide acclaim and success as founder of <a href="http://www.garage.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Garage.com</span></a> and <a href="http://alltop.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alltop.com</span></a> and advisor to many technology and social media ventures, as well as being a popular speaker and writer.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">For all those struggling to sell CSR in organizations or those who want to achieve transformational results in promoting the cause of sustainability or simply improve relationships, Enchantment is well worth the read and will leave you, yes, enchanted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-41512669222399062132011-04-19T11:52:00.000-07:002011-04-19T11:52:24.853-07:00The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQRqSj5rR2no7RnzJILRYEVRz00tmQ8mOluK-NE9H1okU1Vl-6fjegShHshYtQ4Lm7hHLrKmchmz03r20oeTH1HduItaPhnFHAE77S6OovHjWNCUs-0GLs038Cvt4jDvLtKJbrmsVzzMU/s1600/the+responsible+business.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQRqSj5rR2no7RnzJILRYEVRz00tmQ8mOluK-NE9H1okU1Vl-6fjegShHshYtQ4Lm7hHLrKmchmz03r20oeTH1HduItaPhnFHAE77S6OovHjWNCUs-0GLs038Cvt4jDvLtKJbrmsVzzMU/s200/the+responsible+business.jpg" width="120" /></a></div><a href="http://www.carolsanford.com/index.php?id=7">The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success</a><br />
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By Carol Sanford<br />
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Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd. <br />
ISBN: 978-0-470-64868-1<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4339-The-Responsible-Business-Reimagining-Sustainability-and-Success">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 19th April 2011.</a><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The Responsible Business offers a new and strategic approach to doing business that holistically integrates responsibility into all aspects of an organization, allowing for returns at every level, business and social. This book goes beyond the often well intentioned but limited attempts at sustainability to present a framework that allows organizations to bring responsibility into everything they do and re-imagine success. From innovation, product development, and production processes to business management, strategic planning, and shareholder development, the author shows how being a Responsible Business is a practical skill that can be applied day-to-day at every level of the business.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When Carol Sanford speaks, it's well worth listening. In her first book, The Responsible Business, Carol defines what a responsible business is ("a co-creative partner ensuring the vitality and health of all the communities to which it belongs") and what it is not ("a set of metrics to be tracked or behaviors to be modified"). Responsibility is "central to both the purpose and the prosperity of a business and must be pervasive in its practices." Carol goes on to reinforce the concept of responsible business with case studies from her vast experience of consulting to Fortune 500 and other companies, with stories from <a href="http://www.herbanfeast.com/">Herban Feast</a>, <a href="http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/community/ourprodspgs/kingsford_leader.html">Kingsford Charcoal</a> (now part of the Clorox Company), <a href="http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/HomePage.cvsp">Colgate</a>, <a href="http://www.seventhgeneration.com/">Seventh Generation</a> (in the Jeffrey Hollender heyday) and <a href="http://www2.dupont.com/DuPont_Home/en_US/index.html">E.I. Du Pont</a>, before summarizing the five recurring themes that turn companies into responsible businesses: Reality - connecting to the real lives of stakeholders; Systemic Effects - as the only measures of success; Systemic Wholes - to combat fragmentation and promote integration; Self-Direction - the redesign of work to "evoke self-directed people doing self-directed work that is self-evaluated within the context of a business strategy" and Capability Development - building critical thinking skills for internal and external stakeholders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">By this time we have come to understand Carol's approach. It is not one where corporate responsibility is a project to be led by a single person or a group. It is a fundamental redesign of the way a business is led, structured, performs and interacts holistically with stakeholders. This is the point at which we meet the Pentad.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentad_%28Greek_philosophy%29">Pentad</a>, the geometrical framework for responsible business, is Carol's own stakeholder model which sees five core stakeholder groups as most significant to overall business success: (1) customers, (2) co-creators (everyone who is involved in creating the product or service for the customer which includes employees, contractors, vendors and raw material suppliers, (3) Earth, (4) communities and (5) investors. This is not light-years removed from the stakeholder models that have contributed to sustainability thinking in recent years, but the uniqueness of Carol Sanford's model is threefold. First, the concept of co-creators as one indivisible group is new, based on the view that employees and suppliers work together toward one shared goal - serving the customer. This approach is arguably much more suited to today's business, where supply chains are often outsourced, than models which separate employees from the rest of the supply chain. Thinking in terms of a supply chain, maintains Carol, "actually destroys understanding of the co-creative process" because the upstream contributors often get overlooked or undervalued. The second unique aspect of the Pentad model is that it has a defined, and not open-ended, number of stakeholders into which everyone connected with the business in whatever way can find a voice. The third aspect of the model is the way it is used. The stakeholder impacts of any decisions are discovered by evaluating each group's interest in turn, and in the Pentad-prescribed order. In this way, stakeholder understanding follows a logical flow, with the most important impacts finding their place in the right order of things, in a way which can enable a company to take the appropriate action, after all impacts have been assessed as part of an indivisible whole and without giving precedence to any stakeholder group. This integrated approach provides the bedrock for the responsible business as part of the universal ecosystem which aspires to help stakeholders live as "responsible and creative contributors to their communities." There is clear merit in this thinking. Stakeholder understanding and engagement is one of the most under-developed aspects of the sustainability movement today. Having an informal chat with a supplier at a conference, or conducting an annual employee satisfaction survey is not stakeholder engagement and it is not a dialog about sustainability. Deep stakeholder understanding comes from discussing the tough issues in a structured way and truly listening to all points of view.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Responsible Business continues with multiple stories from companies that have applied the Pentad model and the successes they achieved. Taking us through a tour of how the brain works in order to unlock creativity and "conscious choice," Carol builds her case competently and with the wisdom of a business veteran. Much air-time is devoted to the way organizations should be structured to do work of the future and the inappropriateness of many current structures for responsible business. Hierarchies, for example, should not govern decision-making; work teams should be autonomous and self-organizing and learning should be on the job. Ultimately, providing a map of how to become a responsible business and detailing the steps to take, this book forms a sound guide to achieving transformational value.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In The Responsible Business you can read about "urban acupuncture" and the turnaround of a Brazilian city <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curitiba">Curitiba,</a> the way Google changed the game on bandwidth auctions, how Procter and Gamble applied their guiding principles in their plant in Lima and how Seventh Generation and Whole Foods worked together in "co-creation" to provide freedom of choice for customers. And much more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Responsible Business is an intensive read with a worthy central message, substantiated by years of practical experience and deep insights. For anyone who has not yet subscribed to this approach, the Pentad model may be just what you need.</div><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3526857100673041920.post-38487407760939431192011-03-10T22:46:00.000-08:002011-03-10T22:46:45.246-08:00Strategic Governance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZlIkv5oCXRqyNnJNXzaFxtThD5d-Je8JK47ARisK3nVoUBirDC5VThY90ZM8ZeTx-92X4GEcyOX3zjnSk0QHOQol3JY9u9x0Td3gJxdC2TenCPXgLXcKuUeXQhXo5X3htVbjv6lowL0/s1600/strategic+governance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ZlIkv5oCXRqyNnJNXzaFxtThD5d-Je8JK47ARisK3nVoUBirDC5VThY90ZM8ZeTx-92X4GEcyOX3zjnSk0QHOQol3JY9u9x0Td3gJxdC2TenCPXgLXcKuUeXQhXo5X3htVbjv6lowL0/s1600/strategic+governance.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/31434-The-New-Rules-of-Green-Marketing-Represent-a-Win-Win-Win-for-Consumer-Company-and-Environment">Strategic Governance: Enabling Financial, Environmental and Social Sustainability</a><br />
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By Hank Boerner and Mark W. Sickles<br />
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Publisher: Governance and Accountability Institute Inc. <br />
ISBN: 978-0-615-40829-3<br />
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<a href="http://www.csrwire.com/csrlive/commentary_detail/4006-Strategic-Governance-Enabling-Financial-Environmental-and-Social-Sustainability">This review was first published on CSRwire.com on 8th March 2011</a><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Description</strong></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Strategic Governance provides a unique opportunity to reorient your thinking about what’s possible for your business. It introduces you to an enlightened, principle-based governance regime. If you transform this new way of thinking into effective action, you can achieve extraordinary results simply because the "new idea" driving your actions departs from conventional wisdom. For this reason, Strategic Governance book is also an opportunity to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong>Commentary</strong></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Any book which has "strategic" and "governance" in the title just has to be a hit these days. These buzzwords have a lot of influence on our daily lives because they go right to the heart of the way companies do business. In fact, for those who believe that governance is about how you select independent or non-executive directors to the Board, or how much they are paid, or even how many meetings they attend, Hans Boerner and Mark Sickles will enlighten. Boerner and Sickles are experienced business strategists and advisors to corporate directors, and for them this territory is well defined. Governance is about "aligning strategy, culture, leadership and risk management for sustained corporate performance and growth," according to Martin Coyne of Akamai Technologies, who is quoted on the book's back cover. Boerner and Sickles make the case for a global governance standard because "there has been far too little discipline and science applied to this critical function."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Corporate governance," they say, "needs to be better governed, and the roles of directors, officers and mangers need to be transformed." This belief has led the authors to propose a "Universal Purpose of Corporate Governance" which can "integrate ethical, professional and industry values and standards into firm-level cultures that enable winning strategies, managing risk, meet the needs and expectations of the firm's stakeholders and fulfill the firm's responsibility for a sustainable world."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This approach has some high powered backing from <a href="http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/mervyn-king-1081">Professor Mervyn King</a> who is Chairman of the Board of the <a href="http://www.globalreporting.org/">GRI</a> and a prominent figure in the effort to expect greater accountability from corporations. The outcome of discussions involving Professor King and several other thought leaders is a list of ten principles of strategic governance. These principles relate to the alignment of the interests and efforts of stakeholders; the use of strategy to create sustainable competitive advantage; the practice of robust risk management; and the careful cultivation of the relationships between Boards, governance, shareholders and management. What may be new to some is the strong emphasis placed on organizational culture and design as fundamental Board responsibilities. Given that leadership and organizational design are key sources of sustainable competitive advantage, the Board cannot afford to ignore them. Visionary leader <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/cna/analysis_prog/incon/incon_desimone1.htm">Livio DeSimone</a>, former Chairman and CEO of 3M, provides an example. DeSimone created a culture of innovation which has become the engine of 3M's success over the years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Strategic Governance is a refreshingly short book, which makes it a stimulating weekend read. It is only 105 pages, if you include the governance self-assessment questionnaire and a range of governance-related quotations included as appendices. Its message is clear: governance is about the integration and alignment of what the business wants to achieve and the way it will achieve it. The right organizational design, culture, and behaviors set the foundation for how business goals are achieved. The Board of Directors is responsible for applying a clear set of principles to ensure that this takes place. If it does, the business will realize what the authors describe as a "breakthrough opportunity."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hank Boerner is Chairman and CEO of <a href="http://www.ga-institute.com/">Governance & Accountability Institute</a>, a research, news monitoring, and strategic advisory firm. Mark W. Sickles is an organizational architect, advisor to corporate directors and executives, and creator of the Shareholder Value Assurance (SVA) methodology. Boerner and Sickles' credentials lend an air of authority to Strategic Governance. While we do not need Boerner and Sickles to tell us how critically important governance is, their advice on how to make it work is well worth reading.</div><br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainabilty Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of </span></strong><a href="http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=3282"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Contact me via </span></strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/elainecohen"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.twitter.com/elainecohen</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> on Twitter or via my website </span></strong><a href="http://www.b-yond.biz/en"><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.b-yond.biz/en</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></strong>elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07433863039389159395noreply@blogger.com0