Comments on: A Bird In The Hand http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-bird-in-the-hand/ CSR - Why and what's in it for me? Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:05:05 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: bbrian017 http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-bird-in-the-hand/#comment-250 bbrian017 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:59:19 +0000 http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/?p=533#comment-250 What an amazing read David! So insightful for a beginner such as myself and advanced enough to maintain your readership. I enjoy following your blog greatly and have learned so much to date! Your writing style is impeccable and I can only wish to be this unique at some point in my life. Interesting you throw out the Shell about Nigeria situation. You’re absolutely right! Shell would never spend money they don’t have to as with any other company. I never noticed how gullible I was thinking these companies do CSR things to better the communities. It’s all money related and nothing is done at will. It would be cool to see an article that had a positive twist on some CSR examples. I wonder who leads the industry with the most stand up, care about their customer and the environment attitude, especially the ones that don’t have to but still comply to the standards. What an amazing read David! So insightful for a beginner such as myself and advanced enough to maintain your readership. I enjoy following your blog greatly and have learned so much to date! Your writing style is impeccable and I can only wish to be this unique at some point in my life.

Interesting you throw out the Shell about Nigeria situation. You’re absolutely right! Shell would never spend money they don’t have to as with any other company.

I never noticed how gullible I was thinking these companies do CSR things to better the communities. It’s all money related and nothing is done at will.

It would be cool to see an article that had a positive twist on some CSR examples. I wonder who leads the industry with the most stand up, care about their customer and the environment attitude, especially the ones that don’t have to but still comply to the standards.

]]> By: Peter Korchnak http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-bird-in-the-hand/#comment-249 Peter Korchnak Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:21:47 +0000 http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/?p=533#comment-249 David, I appreciate your bringing up the issue. Corporate CSR efforts tend to be evaluated a lot more closely and judged a lot more harshly than other activities. People tend to want to see perfection, and when they don't, complaining ensues. Perfection is an ideal, not a goal, I say. If you're a company that started out as non-CSR (sustainable) and are now transitioning to be more responsible, you have to start somewhere and you have to start small. If you scale that to the whole marketplace, every company, you got yourself serious results. I disagree that any CSR is better than none. Superficiality is just that, superficial (though by no means abhorrent). In order to implement CSR well, your values and intentions must back it up. Starting small is only the first step. Continuous improvement must follow. I dare say that if you're trying to always be better, occasional mistakes will be easier to correct and easier to communicate. Peter David,

I appreciate your bringing up the issue. Corporate CSR efforts tend to be evaluated a lot more closely and judged a lot more harshly than other activities. People tend to want to see perfection, and when they don’t, complaining ensues. Perfection is an ideal, not a goal, I say.

If you’re a company that started out as non-CSR (sustainable) and are now transitioning to be more responsible, you have to start somewhere and you have to start small. If you scale that to the whole marketplace, every company, you got yourself serious results.

I disagree that any CSR is better than none. Superficiality is just that, superficial (though by no means abhorrent). In order to implement CSR well, your values and intentions must back it up. Starting small is only the first step. Continuous improvement must follow. I dare say that if you’re trying to always be better, occasional mistakes will be easier to correct and easier to communicate.

Peter

]]> By: davidcoethica http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-bird-in-the-hand/#comment-248 davidcoethica Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:59:04 +0000 http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/?p=533#comment-248 Hi Mario. I thought you might like the post. One of the biggest misconceptions about CSR is the difference between the strategy and the implementation, more importantly the middle section, people. CSR to be most effective should have integrity, unfortunately throughout the globe there are millions that only care about profit. Even within those in businesses that we may assume are on the higher moral ground with CSR are either fanatically obsessed with making money or constantly fighting against those around them that couldn't care less about the environment or society, i.e. accountants, advisors, investors. That's why such effort is being focused around SRI to come at this from the shareholder perspective, after all they are the eternal scapegoat, allegedly demanding a return (financial) on their investment. I do probably have a diifferent perspective because I spend so much time challenging very real small & medium businesses to begin or refine their CSR journey, but the approach does have to be pragmatic, hence my position. Your statement about people being selfish is spot on, and we all are in someway, we have to be to survive. The real trouble arrives when you combine selfishness with greed, then you have a potentially catastrophic mixture, as the credit crunch demonstrated. I personally think that it's the uneducated mainstream marketing industry that causes most of the problem by distorting naive enthusiasm from businesses by trying to exaggerate their abilities to justify ridiculous fees. Their are many good people out there and CSR is becoming clearer and more defined with age. I see a bright future for those with vision. Hi Mario. I thought you might like the post.

One of the biggest misconceptions about CSR is the difference between the strategy and the implementation, more importantly the middle section, people. CSR to be most effective should have integrity, unfortunately throughout the globe there are millions that only care about profit. Even within those in businesses that we may assume are on the higher moral ground with CSR are either fanatically obsessed with making money or constantly fighting against those around them that couldn’t care less about the environment or society, i.e. accountants, advisors, investors. That’s why such effort is being focused around SRI to come at this from the shareholder perspective, after all they are the eternal scapegoat, allegedly demanding a return (financial) on their investment.
I do probably have a diifferent perspective because I spend so much time challenging very real small & medium businesses to begin or refine their CSR journey, but the approach does have to be pragmatic, hence my position.
Your statement about people being selfish is spot on, and we all are in someway, we have to be to survive. The real trouble arrives when you combine selfishness with greed, then you have a potentially catastrophic mixture, as the credit crunch demonstrated.
I personally think that it’s the uneducated mainstream marketing industry that causes most of the problem by distorting naive enthusiasm from businesses by trying to exaggerate their abilities to justify ridiculous fees.
Their are many good people out there and CSR is becoming clearer and more defined with age. I see a bright future for those with vision.

]]> By: Mario Raimondi http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/a-bird-in-the-hand/#comment-246 Mario Raimondi Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:08:41 +0000 http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/?p=533#comment-246 Good topic. I think there is a very thin line in this one and I've been questioning it for long. I do think that there are a lot of contradictions in the concept of CSR, which is basically trying to convince bussiness people that being decent and having integrity in what you do is actually GOOD. I do see that most of the CSR reports and information are going in this direction, which it is dissapointing too. Do we really need to tell all these grown up people that doing the right thing, being honest, not polluting, be good to your employees, to your community, be aware of your impact and not focus 100% in the profit at any cost is actually good??? Isn't it obvious? Well, apparently it is not, and that tell us where the main issue is: people are still selfish and don't see further than their own nose. This is the esence we need to change, the minset that needs to develop to see the issue. Therefore, motivation it is important of course. I don't agree with your final statement. The intentions of someone doing CSR are important! If you see they just want PR at a particular moment because that's fashion, it means that in couple of years they would stop doing it, when trends move on. And then, the change we are looking for won't be there. I do agree however, that making isolated CSR actions (specially small and medium bussinesses) should be an opportunity for a learning experience and open doors for the change. Good topic. I think there is a very thin line in this one and I’ve been questioning it for long.
I do think that there are a lot of contradictions in the concept of CSR, which is basically trying to convince bussiness people that being decent and having integrity in what you do is actually GOOD. I do see that most of the CSR reports and information are going in this direction, which it is dissapointing too. Do we really need to tell all these grown up people that doing the right thing, being honest, not polluting, be good to your employees, to your community, be aware of your impact and not focus 100% in the profit at any cost is actually good??? Isn’t it obvious? Well, apparently it is not, and that tell us where the main issue is: people are still selfish and don’t see further than their own nose. This is the esence we need to change, the minset that needs to develop to see the issue. Therefore, motivation it is important of course. I don’t agree with your final statement. The intentions of someone doing CSR are important! If you see they just want PR at a particular moment because that’s fashion, it means that in couple of years they would stop doing it, when trends move on. And then, the change we are looking for won’t be there.
I do agree however, that making isolated CSR actions (specially small and medium bussinesses) should be an opportunity for a learning experience and open doors for the change.

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