Society expects corporations to play by a new set of rules today. Customers, shareholders and investors have come to demand greater accountability, ethics and responsibility from business. We also want companies to help protect the environment, build roads, fight corruption, advance human rights, support the arts, contribute to local communities, compete globally and create shareholder value at the same time. In short, we want corporations to do well and to do good, even during a challenging economy. In the aftermath of ethics scandals and the largest oil spill in history, this mandate has never been stronger. Doing Good lays out 55 key rules business leaders can follow to prove responsibility and improve their company's reputation, recognizing the intense scrutiny coming from consumers, policymakers and the media. Chapter-by-chapter, Doing Good makes a clear case for a new standard of corporate responsibility, especially for large publicly traded companies who have more opportunities and resources. Seasoned with practical, common-sense, advice from notable business and political leaders, and a survey of best practices from leading companies, Doing Good challenges today's corporations to help build a better humanity. It covers governance, ethics, philanthropy, diversity, customer relations, globalism, privacy and more. Doing Good is a must read for anyone who cares about the increasingly important role of business in our society.
Doing Good
The New Rules of Corporate Responsibility, Conscience and CharacterBy Adonis E. HoffmanAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 Adonis E. Hoffman
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4520-4818-5 Contents
Preface..............................................................9Introduction.........................................................17I. Values............................................................24II. Standards & Ethics...............................................34III. Governance and Accountability...................................44IV. Conduct and Best Practices.......................................54V. Employees and Workers.............................................64VI. Sustainability...................................................74VII. Citizenship.....................................................84VIII. Inclusion and Diversity........................................94IX. Philanthropy.....................................................104X. Government, the Law & Public Policy...............................114XI. Consumers, Customers and Clients.................................124Doing Good by Top Corporations.......................................134End Notes............................................................144Index................................................................155Acknowledgements.....................................................160About the American Business Leadership Institute.....................161About the Author.....................................................162
Chapter One
Values
Rule 1: Accept Responsibility
Harry Truman epitomized responsibility in a chief executive. His now famous words, "the buck stops here," became part of the national lexicon and changed the way Americans viewed their leaders from that point forward. "The Buck Stops Here" became an instant euphemism for responsible leadership.
President Truman's sense of accountability and his acceptance of responsibility for the actions of his administration fundamentally changed the way all chief executives were to be viewed from that point forward. It was a classic lesson in the principle that responsibility begins at the top.
In today's business environment, leadership must come from the top. Directors, CEOs and key executives should establish the tone for the rest of the company. The classic excuses employed by Enron CEO, Ken Lay, that all of the misdoing was some other executive's responsibility do not hold water in today's environment.
Business leaders need to accept responsibility for every facet of corporate affairs, recognizing that their employees, shareholders, investors, and customers will be judging their actions and the world will be watching.
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, and with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world. You impoverish yourself if you forget this errand." Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States
Rule 2: Develop Vision
According to the Proverbs: "Without vision, the people perish". Likewise, without a clear sense of vision, a business leader cannot effectively lead an organization in today's highly competitive marketplace.
Very few people are born visionaries and business leaders are no different—most must work hard at it. By carefully following macro trends, studying all of the external factors that affect the company and its industry, a business leader can learn to develop uncanny and extraordinary vision.
The first step is to develop a broad worldview—well beyond the narrow interests of the company. Look at the world. Where does the organization fit? Where does it want to be? How will the company operate in the future political and economic climate? What are the larger geopolitical and global economic factors at play?
How will employees, customers and shareholders buy into the vision, and how will you communicate in a way that inspires confidence, commitment and concerted action? These are all challenges for the business leader, but not insurmountable. Develop a vision and let it guide the organization's actions. Without vision, the profits, too, will perish.
"A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme." Jim Collins, author, Good to Great
Rule 3: Put Value on Values
Corporate values are just as important as brands. Companies today become associated with broader values whether they like it or not. Developing, defining and articulating those values are among the business leader's most difficult, but important, challenges.
In a recent survey of leading CEOs, "the internal communication of values and policies" received more votes than any other option as a key way to measure the integration of corporate citizenship into the performance of corporate leaders.
As fundamental as this may be, many business leaders fail to state their values explicitly, even though doing so provides their customers, clients and partners with a great sense of comfort. In essence, they undervalue their values!
When the leadership of a company lays out its values, it is telling customers, investors, and the market what it believes, and what it aspires to become.
For many consumers, it is comforting to know which values a company prioritizes. Business leaders should spend whatever time it takes to define, develop and deliver a values-based company and do their best to integrate those values into every corporate message.
"Ultimately, what distinguishes a company's practice of corporate citizenship is expressed by the way in which it delivers its core values. The competitive companies of the future will find how to fundamentally align and embed their core values — including the values that society expects them to hold. Values are becoming a new strategic asset and tool that establishes the basis of trust and cooperation." Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship
Rule 4: Be Good for Something
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything". At the time, those words were a clarion call to his countrymen to become people of principle and to work for the greater good. It was a reminder that unless our lives and work are tied to bigger things, we risk failure and marginality.
When it comes to business, the notion of goodness presents an entirely new set of thorny issues. Corporations exist to produce and to profit. By design, they are not persons, but institutions of commerce, trade and service. In human terms, companies don't have a heart or a soul. Goodness—beyond what is legally required and expected—has no place on the corporate agenda, some would argue.
But they would be wrong.
Today, society expects corporations to act differently than in the past. Consumers, activists, regulators and policymakers have come to believe that corporations should have a heart, if not a soul. As a society, we believe a company must stand for something other than productivity and profit. It is one of the greatest challenges for today's business leaders, but more companies are meeting the challenge by digging...
