Tags
Accountability, aman singh, aman singh das, Aneel Karnani, Brand Management, Business, Career advice, corporate citizenship, corporate social responsibility, creating shared value, CSR, CSRwire, diversity, ethical markets, Ethics, Events, fair compensation, human rights, Job search, Jobs in CSR, jobs in CSR, joe sibilia, leadership, Management, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, rosalinda sanquiche, shared value, Social Enterprise, Social Impact, social justice, social responsibility, Social Responsibility, Stakeholder Engagement, supply chain, Sustainability, sustainable business practices, transparency, Wall Street, what is CSR?, Work culture
Earlier this week I was at the annual PRSA conference in humid and beautiful Orlando, Florida. Before you think that I have switched tracks from journalism to PR, stop right there! I was on site to speak on an interestingly personal topic: Sustainability: Walking the Walk.
Sustainability: Walking the Walk with CSRWire & Ethical Markets
Joining me on the panel were CEO of CSRwire Joe Sibilia and Executive Director of Ethical Markets Rosalinda Sanquiche. Sibilia started off the panel by talking about Occupy Wall Street. Not because he wanted a room full of dissent but because for Sibilia, as he emphasized on a recent Fox Business show, OWS goes to the heart of corporate social responsibility: A responsible capitalist system that takes into account a business’ social, economic and environmental stakeholders.
From a room of roughly 45 attendees, almost everyone raised their hands. However, when he followed up by asking how many understood what the protestors are demanding, the hands fell to a single digits. So, before I go any further, here’s a two-part question for you:
And:
Here’s the thing: Because so many continued to disagree with the holier-than-thou voice of CSR, claiming it is another cost business doesn’t need, a burden, not a business priority, so on and so forth, Michael Porter gave us an easier concept to embrace: Creating Shared Value.
You Don’t Get CSR? How About “Shared Value”?
Many more understood the economical efficacy offered by shared value than the tardy, accusatory and undefined acronym of CSR. But CSR as well as creating shared value are concepts spearheaded by economists, business leaders, researchers and activists.
Now we are all being forced to recognize and acknowledge a movement created by the average Joe (no pun intended!) demanding business to be more responsible, equal and just.
They want to be able to work, to have a home, a family. They want the right to live comfortably.
In other words, corporate social responsibility.
Yes, it’s one and the same thing, except now it’s not the activists or the bloggers taking up the case but an undefined mass of people who come from different backgrounds, experiences and age but are commonly united on one front: Fairness.
Regardless of whether you physically join the Occupy Wall Street protestors, it is far more important that you understand their message and recognize that this is your one chance to make things right.
Yes, You the Average Employee Can Make a Difference
So, go ahead: Nudge your boss to offer job sharing opportunities to candidates.
As a job candidate, question the recruiter on the company’s mission, values, priorities. As a student, ask your faculty to discuss business cases in context of economic recessions, environmental degradation and social upheaval.
Ask the tough questions, the right questions. As Michigan’s Ross School of Business Professor Aneel Karnani recently said, “You get the kind of government you vote for.” We as professionals and students get the kind of corporation we choose to work for.
This is your chance to influence business as an employee, a manager, and as a prospective candidate. For the longest time we have been told to vote with our dollars. Now it is time to vote with our expertise and professional skills.
Question is, are you up for it?
In Good Company: Singh on CSR 
I think you could add an option to the second question: my take on the protests is that the OWS folks just want to live in a society that is structured more fairly, and where government isn’t completely controlled by those who have money (meaning it therefore ends up doing the bidding of those who have money).
LikeLike
Done, thank you “Pip.”
LikeLike
Pingback: Coverage of 2011 Commit! Forum - Commit Forum
In general, i believe the answer to #2 is “all of the above” although c) “more regulation” is the key to the rest. I have traced this back pretty carefully, and you could pick a lot of key events. But in my opinion the root cause was in late 1980s allowing commercial banks, insurance companies and investment houses to play in each other’s business. One of the needs of bank customers is reserves behind deposits e.g., for money to lend. But banks can make more money speculating in “good times”. Similarly you want insurance backed by reserves, not ious. Combination in 2008 was disaster waiting to happen. BTW, it surprises me no one voted for jobs.
LikeLike
Well noted Frank. I had thought jobs would get way more picks than it has. Thanks so much for adding your perspective.
LikeLike
Great blog, Aman!
In terms of explaining why folks are ticked off, this is an outstanding set of slides from a business friendly website: http://read.bi/o1dA5Y
Once you look at these slide the “why” question changes and becomes why isn’t EVERYONE ticked off?!
Étienne de La Boétie, a great French political philosopher living in the 16th century wrote what has become a very famous essay (“the Discourse of Voluntary Servitude”) about how tyrants fall.
His great insight was that it doesn’t need ordinary people to actively bring down an oppressive power, it just takes people to stop lending him their support – he will then fall under his own weight since tyrants and their active supporters are in the minority.
How employees do this when jobs are hard to find isn’t an easy question but it’s the right one to really struggle with. One thing that is clear is that approaching this question in a black vs white, all vs nothing manner won’t be so helpful.
In terms of the CSR agenda you mention, jobs clearly are key. But the CSR movement has – so far at least – chosen to ignore the big gorilla in the room, namely corporate political influence or what the former chairman of Deloitte calls “legalised bribery and corruption”. But as Professor Jeffrey Sachs – the man who took economic shock therapy to Russia – explains, this aspect can’t be ignored: http://huff.to/qrC1Fn
In his new book, former advocate of western style globalisation, Tom Friedman, says the USA itself urgent needs political shock therapy. The question is will CSR advocates and employees who want to see more responsible, more sustainable, fairer forms of corporate life be part of this shift? Or will we continue to wait for others to make it happen and if so, who are these “others”?
LikeLike
Thank you so very much for the detailed response Raj. Wonderful analogies. And you pose a great question: Will CSR advocates and employees who want to see more responsible, more sustainable, fairer forms of corporate life be part of this shift? It will be interesting to see what the future brings. And whether OWS is enough to shake us all out of status quo.
LikeLike
I love that the occupy movement is spreading like wildfire and has touched a nerve – the common good nerve – the fairness nerve – the I’m made as hell and I can’t take it anymore nerve. Terrific blog – thanks Aman! Jan Morgan
LikeLike
Thanks so much Jan. Occupy Wall Street has certainly hit several nerves. But it remains to be seen if it is enough stimuli for the majority of us to see reason.
LikeLike
It’s early days for CSR and OWS. Clearly a linkage, perhaps part of the metamovement that Umair Haque talks about. My sense is that CSR is evolving from a business addendum (often over-hyped) to understanding positive & negative impacts to CSR/social enterprise as business model where private sector innovation leveraged to tackle ‘wicked problems’.
Negative impacts such as ‘rent seeking’, use of tax havens and sweat shps are becoming more difficult to hide. Astroturfing and greenwashing as quickly exposed by those with mobile phones & Internet access. (Not unlike Arab Spring where citizens exposed the real state of affairs.)
Transparency has come to business whether you like it or not. And, the ability to track impacts has opened numerous corporate eyes. Business is clearly a social actor.
Let’s not despair. Successful businesses in the future will deliver more thick and meaningful value. (The alternative is to be ‘occupied’.) Consumer, B2B and B2G decisions will increasingly be made based on corporate positive impact. cSR as public relations will transition to real responsibility. As you point out, we might not be calling it CSR in the future.
Occupy Wall Street exposes the business fact that there are many more stakeholders than shareholders. It’s an opportunity for business to understand customer needs. Sure, many of the occupiers are edge cases. But, they might just be further ahead than everyone else!
LikeLike
Really appreciate your perspective Doug. OWS definitely puts a real picture, perhaps for the first time, to the “stakeholders vs. shareholders” debate.
LikeLike
What a great piece Aman. And to see there there is an understanding of what they/we are after as conveyed by the votes here. I get mad every time I hear a media person say, “but it is not clear what they are after.” I think, “are you not listening?” They/we are calling for a combination of a paradigm shift about what is seen as mattering, and how we going about making decisions. It is huge and takes a different mind to grasp it.
Thanks for the offering here.
LikeLike
Thank you Carol!
LikeLike
Pingback: Occupy Wall Street & Corporate America According to Michael Moore « In Good Company: Singh on CSR
I’d like to see more acknowledgement of the fact OWS opposes crime – specifically corporate fraud. The SEC is not doing its job at all, the way derivatives were created, then sold and then bet against is simply illegal – and the consequences of these crimes are devastating! casting OWS as against “greed” makes it a moral crusade that is very “liberal”, when in reality OWS is demanding a restoration of the rule of law, which is quintessentially conservative (in a good way)! I’d like to share some inspiring work being done to teach grassroots sustainability on the ground at OWS: http://www.occupy-wallstreet.com/permaculture/
LikeLike
Pingback: KPMG’s Citizenship Director: Occupy Wall Street Protests Must Drive [Business] Transformation « In Good Company: Singh on CSR
Pingback: Net Impact and BSR 2011: 7 Days, 2 Conferences, 5 Trends in CSR & Sustainability « In Good Company: Singh on CSR