Sustainability conference

The best thing about the Bay Area is the fact that there is always something going on!  A couple of weeks ago I attended a great Sustainability conference at Mills College.  Had I known about their sustainable MBA program earlier – I may have considered it.  It’s not in the city, but the campus is gorgeous.  The conference was held on a Friday from 8 am to 5pm in their new LEED-certified building. 

The morning started off with a great panel with reps from Clif, Title Nine, and Eileen Fisher.  This was, in my opinion, the best panel of the day. There were a few things each person said that really inspired and excited me. 

So the panel was:

-       Kevin Cleary, Clif Bar

-       Susan Schor, Facilitating Leader & Chief Culture Officer, Eileen Fisher

-       Janis Abbingsole, Director of Operations, Title Nine

So the main takeaway from this panel was: it can be done.  Making a profit and doing good can work!  So how does each company do that?  Clif bar actually has a fully integrated model that includes 5 different components (going beyond the triple bottom line): People, brand, planet, community, and business.  Clif holds the company as a whole and every employee accountable to each of the 5 bottom lines.  Title Nine and Eileen Fisher mention that their integration isn’t as structured but rather just in everything that the company does.  Title Nine values independence.  The company always holds themselves accountable without answering to any others (such as outside lenders or a Board of Directors).  Eileen Fisher believes that work in a way of which you can be proud and the profits will follow. 

One thing that all of these companies have in common is their commitment to the people who work for the company and their community.  Eileen Fisher provides a physical allowance for employees; if your employees are sluggish or not taking care of themselves – how are they supposed to bring good energy to their workday? 

Title Nine makes sure to trust each other – they don’t answer to a Board of Directors or outside lenders.  The employees are encouraged to own their mistakes.  In fact Janis mentioned that her biggest mistake last year was hiring from the outside.  She should have hired from within, but even though the new hire turned out to be a mistake – it was a great learning opportunity.  Every person adds to the culture of the company and the wrong person can throw it all off.  Janis accepted her mistake and presented it at the company’s annual  “biggest mistakes awards.” 

Clif bar makes sure to promote from within.  On top of that, the employees are encouraged to give back to the community, on company time.  20 – 40 hours per year.  Clif believes when your employees are happy so is the company and encourages its employees to do things that make them passionate.  

Basically, what I learned was that I really want to work for any one of these companies! Their employees are happy, the companies are profitable, and the community loves them! It’s a win-win(-win)!

Bad CSR?! How can it be??

We have a great GBA this year.  They listen to the students and try to give them what they want.  This includes guest speakers in certain topics of interest that are not necessarily portrayed through the curriculum. Last Tuesday there was a CSR guest speaker – Mike Kanze.  President of Cornerstone Services. 

Mike has been a key player in many corporations but most notably in progressive responsibility with The Procter & Gamble Company. He has also acted as a consultant, which ranged from giving procurement strategic direction to client supply chain functions, savings identification and implementing organizational mergers, to individual coaching and project management.

Mike is a great and enthusiastic speaker – he really got the group engaged.  It was actually a smaller group, which allowed us to ask questions, participate, and work in small groups.  We got started with defining CSR and the triple bottom line.  People, planet, and profit.  This goes beyond business as usual.  Sounds great right?  We are all about that - but sometimes CSR can have bad implications.  And, yes obviously it can affect the profits, but even if it doesn’t affect the bottom line - how can it ever be bad? I am all gung-ho about CSR but I heard two examples I never thought of:

·      Nestle – gave women the baking tools but then the women baked unhealthy foods

·      Possibly socially responsible in one country but it doesn’t translate for all countries

So later in the night we got into a debate about whether or not companies should really invest in CSR, is it bad or good?  Is it even worth it?  Most people in that classroom knew the benefits of CSR or were interested in learning more.  However, as the daughter of two attorneys, I understand the power of knowing your opponent’s side.  Unfortunately, because of a lack of time, the argument was mostly one sided.  The for-CSR side gave its opinion and we didn’t get to hear much from the anti-CSR side.  Without knowing your opponent you will not be able to give a good argument.  So even though we were cut short – it was definitely an eye opener.  It gave me a lot to think about.  I am still pro-CSR, but you can’t just run into a business and say, “invest in your community, go organic, save the whales!” without knowing the benefits (yay whales!) or the potential issues.  We’re MBA students – we need to look past the passion to the business – but it doesn’t have to be either/or.