Fall Newsletter 2010
The Balanced Perspective
By Tom Bowes
Prime Minister of Chaordic Possibilities
As we make the final push in to what has been a challenging year, we wonder, on the heels of Thanksgiving, if there is still a balanced perspective of abundance. We can sometimes lose perspective of how good things still are, when clearly things seemed easier in the heady pre-recession days. It is especially important now not to lose that perspective. In that spirit, this newsletter is focused on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - the movement that modern organizations are starting to embrace that describes the balanced perspective for achieving triple bottom line results that includes economical (profit), social (people) and environmental (planet) interests. CSR is an unfortunate term, as it implies companies have never aspired to meet social needs in a responsible way, but regardless of how sloppy the term might be, this is no passing trend, it is a growing and essential movement in business that many are not taking full advantage of.
Corporate Social Responsibility is Not Just Sloppy Language
By Tom Bowes
Prime Minister of Chaordic Possibilities
As the challenge for more profit becomes more formidable, it becomes more tempting to cut corners on social and environmental responsibilities. We can look directly at mines in Chile, a village by the Danube or the Gulf of Mexico for obvious examples, but others abound. Tom's essay points out that the downside of taking that risk can be incredibly costly in the end, and the upside of investing in the drivers of CSR, such as employee engagement and the strengthening of one's brand, can indeed lead to much higher profits. Perhaps that might seem obvious, yet few organizations have integrated CSR strategies that are taking advantage of sizable opportunities.
8th Annual CBSR Summit
By Tom Bowes
Prime Minister of Chaordic Possibilities
The 8th annual Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (www.cbsr.ca) summit on Collaborating for Sustainable Change happened in Toronto on October 21. Keynote speakers included Dr. Graham Baxter of the International Business Leaders Forum (www.iblf.org) who shared that for business to collaborate with government and/or NGOs, there needs to be mutual advantage for all parties; complete transparency; and equity (all parties having equal voice and power). Dr. Karl-Hendrik Robert, founder of The Natural Step (www.thenaturalstep.org) warned that the norm of reductionism - experts drilling deeper and deeper into what they know with no connection between what each other knows - impedes progress and ultimately leads to the kind of group thinking where the group ends up "dumber than the dumbest person in the group". Mike Pederson, Group Head of Corporate Operations at the TD Bank Financial Group shared incredibly innovative ideas the bank is coming up with to create their own offsets to their emissions, which is giving them a strong competitive advantage with other Canadian banks. Many others on panels shared their best practices and challenges including Dave Robitaille, Director of Citizenship & Corporate Affairs at IBM Canada who shared an impressive volunteering program in countries that they believe one day will be important markets for them. Benefits? Employees who are lining up (they can only accommodate 7% who apply) get an enormous intrinsic benefit of volunteering, which engages them at work; communities of 10,000 or less get access to skills they would never otherwise have and; IBM is developing future skills in future markets. This initiative was the most searched for query for any IBM query! The fun part about the conference and CSR as a movement in general, is the creativity that oozes when you are "in good company".
Introducing our Newest Member
We are extremely excited to announce our newest member of the InCourage team. Jim Selman is going to be looking after our existing Toronto based accounts and will be beating the bushes for new clients. Filling this role is long overdue for us and with a last name like Selman, we figure we made the perfect choice. See his profile here and say hello.