3p Contributor: Cindy Mehallow
Recent Articles
Employees Get Involved in Social Media at Nokia
by Cindy Mehallow
When organizations use social media, it should be all about listening and having a two-way conversation. That’s a radical departure from traditional corporate communications and marketing which rely primarily on talking to an audience, rather than engaging with them.
That was the message I heard repeatedly at the Justmeans “Social Media, Technology and Change Conference” in New York recently. As a communicator who helps companies tell their sustainability stories to their stakeholders, I’m always interested in learning how other companies are successful using new technology to advance their sustainability agenda. The panelists at the “Listening to and Engaging With Customers and Employees” did not disappoint.
Nokia’s Social Media Agenda:
Teaching Sustainable Values through Serious Gaming
This is the first of two posts on serious gaming and corporate social responsibility. Part 2: Games that Can Change the World.
Are you a Farmville addict? Does your son spend hours playing World of Warcraft? While you and millions of others play on-line games to have fun, an increasing number of business leaders, government officials and academicians want to tap the popularity and power of on-line and video games to create serious games that spur players to solve problems, learn and change their behavior. They believe that serious gaming has the potential to help achieve the systemic change that society needs to reach its sustainability goals.
Speakers from Deloitte, Advanced Micro Devices and E-Line Media shared their vision for the future of serious gaming at the recent Justmeans “Social Media, Technology and Change: The Future of Stakeholder Engagement” conference in New York.
The Future of ESG Investing and Disclosure
By Cindy Mehallow
Green actions and rhetoric are no longer sufficient to maintain a strong reputation as a sustainability leader. Companies which fall short in disclosing their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance will bear increasing consequences as investment analysts, shareholders and stakeholders demand greater transparency. That was the clear message I heard from two of the top voices in ESG investing and reporting who spoke at the Just Means “Social Media, Technology and Change“ conference yesterday in New York.
Michael Muyot, founder and president of CRD Analytics, spoke from his experience in developing the SmartViewTM Platform, a methodology which drives the new The Global 1000 Sustainable Performance Leaders as well as the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index. The G1000 ranking includes companies which are publicly traded on a major global exchange, have a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion USD — AND have published a sustainability report with a full year of ESG data. The SmartView methodology relies on 200 individual qualitative and quantitative performance metrics composed of traditional financials, as well as ESG data.
CSR Reporting: When is Enough, Enough? Views from Intel and Merck
This is the third column in a three-part series on CSR Reporting.
Producing CSR reports requires a substantial investment of time and money. Is all the work worth it? I was surprised by some of the answers I heard during a panel on CSR reporting at the recent Financial Times Conference “Investing in a Sustainable Future.” Panelist responses ranged from firmly committed (Intel), enthusiastic (the Global Reporting Initiative), skeptical (Merck & Co.), and selectively supportive (California State Teachers’ Retirement System – CalSTRTS).
Merck takes a step back
I was surprised when Merck’s Director of Corporate Responsibility, Maggie Kohn, announced that Merck will not be publishing a CSR report this year. Instead, it will take some time off to reassess its reporting activities. Kohn intends to seek additional stakeholder input, identify short-, medium- and long-term metrics for the company and explore different methods of reaching stakeholders.
“When is enough reporting enough?” queried Kohn. “When you’re trying to please everyone and in the process pleasing no one.”
CSR Reporting: What Investors Want
Who really reads CSR reports? Do investors really use them? I heard speakers from Intel, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Merck & Co., and CalSTRS offer differing answers to these questions during a panel on CSR reporting at the recent Financial Times Conference “Investing in a Sustainable Future.”
Merck’s Director of Corporate Responsibility Maggie Kohn seemed skeptical that CSR reports are reaching intended audiences. She cited a Corporate Register report which identified investors as the third largest group of readers (12 percent), behind fellow CSR reporters and consultants and service providers.
But others were more upbeat about the value that CSR reports deliver to certain stakeholders, a feeling shared by Mike Wallace, GRI Director of Sustainability Reporting Framework groups. Investors are becoming a more important report audience, in light of developments. Wallace cited growing evidence that investors are hungry for environment, health, and safety (ESG) metrics and GRI performance indicators. Financial information providers –- and CSR reports — are feeding that demand for ESG data.
CSR Reporting: An Insider’s Update on the Latest from GRI
This is the first column in a three-part series on CSR Reporting. Coming next — Part 2: What Investors Want from CSR Reports and Part 3: CSR Reporting: When is Enough, Enough?
At the recent Financial Times Conference, Investing in a Sustainable Future, GRI’s Mike Wallace admitted that he hears complaints about the GRI Framework. But, he also shared encouraging reports about its growing acceptance. Since he joined the Global Reporting Initiative as director of sustainability reporting framework in 2009, Wallace has devoted himself into understanding just how widely the GRI reporting framework has been adopted and listening to what users think about it.
So what’s new in the world of environmental, social and governance reporting? Here are some of the insights Wallace shared with conference participants:
- more customization available with the GRI framework,
- widening mandates for non-financial disclosures, and
- adoption beyond corporations.
More customization available
Some organizations that try to structure their environmental, social and governance reporting according the framework of performance indicators find that it can be a poor fit, with a number of the indicators irrelevant to their industry or country. But as the GRI continues to roll out industry sector supplements – 15 have been developed so far – those complaints should begin to subside.
Rape, Pillage and … Philanthropy: How Siloed CSR Misses the Point
The bi-partisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission has been studying no less than 22 contributing causes of the financial crisis. At the risk of oversimplifying matters, Jed Emerson of Blended Value Proposition, believes he knows the root cause. It all boils down to values, Emerson told participants at the Economist’s recent 2010 Corporate Citizenship Conference “Doing Well by Doing Good.”
“We experienced a bifurcation of values,” declared Emerson. “In much of our society, how you live life on Monday through Friday has become different from life on Saturday and Sunday.”
Rape, pillage and … philanthropy
The mentality in much of corporate America has become “rape, pillage and philanthropy,” quipped Emerson. Many executives and companies knowingly tolerate gross inconsistencies between destructive business practices and corporate philanthropy because they artificially disassociate these values. Putting your philanthropic arm in a silo can salve the conscience of those in the core business units who feel they can act with impunity because their company engages in “do good” endeavors completely detached from its day-to-day activities. That mentality misses the point, Emerson maintained.
Corporate Oaths: “I’ll Be Good, I Swear”
Can taking an oath make corporate executives more ethical? Yes, according to some speakers at the Economist’s recent Corporate Citizenship Conference “Doing Well by Doing Good.” They hold that responsible citizenship at the corporate level starts with strong personal values.
Stanford University Law School Lecturer Chip Pitts told conference participants, “Society needs individuals who exhibit integrity and consistency in their behavior at their work place and their church, synagogue or non-profit organization.”
“This conversation starts with self,” echoed Jeff Swartz, President and CEO of Timberland. “By blaming CEOs and banks, we miss the opportunity to take personal accountability for our personal actions.”’
Oath of Honor
Economist US Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief Matt Bishop and other panelists pointed hopefully to the small but growing interest in a management oath among the nation’s business schools. In 2005, the Thunderbird School of Global Management adopted a professional Oath of Honor which is taken by students upon graduation. From the TBird website: “The oath was drafted by the student-run Thunderbird Honor Council after their president Dr. Angel Cabrera (also an Economist conference speaker) challenged the students to be the first business school to establish an oath that would guide them during their business careers.”
Follow the CSR Leaders
During the Economist’s Corporate Citizenship Conference earlier this week, I heard nearly three dozen global leaders discuss the challenges, successes and failures of corporate citizenship. From their comments, I gleaned a collection of best practices for developing corporate citizenship programs that generate tangible results. Here’s what these leaders recommend.
Collaborate with competitors. It’s not easy going eyeball-to-eyeball with gargantuan competitors such as Nike or Adidas, but Timberland sat down with other brands, tanners and suppliers in the Leather Working Group to develop an environmental audit protocol for leather tanners and suppliers. With this industry standard in place, shoe manufacturers can now require that their vendors adhere to certain environmental standards, according to Jeffrey Swartz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Timberland. That’s a powerful tool Timberland and other shoe manufacturers can use to drive environmental responsibility down the supply chain.
When to Dismount a Dead Horse
The Economist’s Corporate Citizenship Conference “Doing Well by Doing Good” wrapped up earlier last week and provided a variety of perspectives on what exactly needs to be done, how and by whom to restore our economy, corporate ethics and public trust. It was no surprise that the bleak economic situation was a recurring theme echoed by the speakers, but I was struck by the dichotomy of opinions, with some speakers expressing optimism, while others took a bleaker outlook on the economy and the role of corporate citizenship. One issue all the speakers did agree on was the need to replace failed policies, practices and attitudes, at societal, corporate and personal levels with a truly sustainable approach.
The Road from Ruin
Economist US Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief Matt Bishop kicked off the conference by pronouncing that the economic crisis offers the opportunity to reshape capitalism (no small feat). He admitted that he and The Economist have moved away from their belief that “The business of business is business,” a la Milton Friedman. Given the magnitude of the problems facing our world, Bishop maintains that it is imperative for organizations the size of today’s global corporations to step up to the plate.
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