Ideas

Five Signs of a CSR Leader

September 1st, 2011

The passing of Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface, and the associated obituaries made me pause and reflect on the impact he had made and whether his genuine approach could be replicated in some fashion.  Celesa Horvath recently did a great job of summing up the values and the behavior or a CSR leader if they were to follow in Ray Anderson’s footsteps. With this in mind, I have taken the liberty of expanding the dialogue somewhat.  What follows are some well worn nuggets that when taken collectively can demonstrate true leadership in CSR both individually and corporately.

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The Latest and By Far the Most Recent List of 10 Great Bloggers for CSR and Community Engagement

May 12th, 2011

Much has been written about the value of social media and CSR, and I am always a bit perplexed about how the notion of “social” is used as it tends to be cursory a great deal of the time.  So much of my work has been built upon the notion and importance of relationship development, which in turn is reciprocal and supportive.   The folks listed below are just a few I have encountered in the social media – primarily on Twitter, that seem to “get it”. They are generous with their knowledge and their time. They share ideas via their blogs, promote concepts started by other people and understand that the story is not just about them but about building a community.

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Have We Lost the Plot on the CSR Story?

February 11th, 2011

I recently came across an older report released by Canadian Business for Social Responsibility –(CBSR) that focused on engaging small and medium enterprises into the world of CSR.  The report is a great grass roots look at the what and the why of CSR from the SME lens and covers off some very important motivations for engagement.  Including but not limited to – “We have a responsibility to our customers, the environment and our staff”; “We want to be the best at what we do” – “It is the only way we know to engage in a hands-on manner with our community”  – and finally “It is the right thing to do”.

The question now becomes… how do we measure personal passion? Metrics for ROI, gas emission reductions, GRI standards etc are all valid tools that address the hard facts of the business advantage that motivates many of the larger players in the CSR sphere.  But, and this is a big but, if people are the greatest resource,  and part of the motivation for engaging in CSR is to do what matters to people – How should we measure the personal and professional impact of CSR work?

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Evaluation and the Effectiveness of Social Innovation – A Call for the Long View

February 1st, 2011

The rush to report CSR activities continues and while this is to be welcomed, surely a cautionary note is necessary.  The world of evaluation is constantly shifting and there can be no “single” truth per se as to how all evaluation should occur – in fact, we should perhaps be skeptical of any body that proclaims to have the definitive approach pinned down. When it comes to measuring social innovation however, perhaps

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Why Don’t Companies Get CSR?

February 1st, 2011

Vault CSR’s Aman Singh queried earlier this month “Why Don’t Executives Get CSR?” – specifically why one particular executive would not “get” that gender equality is a strategic CSR issue. I offer two possible answers.

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Taking a Bite out of the Millennium Development Goals – We can END Poverty 2015

February 1st, 2011

The first of a series of blogs on the MDGs and how they inform CSR, community development, and leadership and learning. With only five years left until the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on world leaders to attend a summit in New York on 20 – 22 September 2010 to accelerate progress towards the MDGs’. – The Call to action on the UN Website for the MDGs

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Gender Bias in CSR – Where Are All the Men?

February 1st, 2011

Over the last several weeks our company has engaged in a series of social media notices leading up to a webinar on FAQs regarding our leadership development experience in Guatemala. Of those who showed an interest and signed up for the webinar – entirely 100% were women.

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