Innovation + Responsibility

I was in Boston this week at the 2007 Ceres Conference (and yes, I did offset my travel). I must say, this is one of the best conferences on the topic of sustainability that I have ever attended (and I have attended several). There was an interesting mix of attendees: large and small companies, investors, NGOs and academics. There was a smattering of consultants though I have to say, not nearly as many as attended the BSR conference, either in quantity or proportion. That was refreshing because most of my interactions with people (aka "networking") were not with anyone trying to sell me anything.

I was really impressed with the quality of the speakers and panelists and, more importantly, the level of discourse among the attendees. There was vigorous debate, and everyone, including the corporate attendees, had a bit of activist in them over the course of the two days. And, finally, a conference where there was no discussion of "the business case" for sustainability. Though I guess the reality is that when one of your keynote speakers is the Chairman and CEO of State Street Corporation, one of the world's largest institutional investment and asset management firms, the business case hardly needs to be made.

The Standing Ovation - Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben got a standing ovation from a room packed to the edges with people from all corners of the sustainability conversation. If you do not know who this man is, you should. In fact, stop reading this right now and go here and maybe even buy some of his books (one of which was the first book ever written about climate change). I was first awakened to Bill McKibben's work when I was up at Sundance in January. He was featured (along with several other incredibly important climate activists) in a film that a friend of my sister's made called, "Everything's Cool" (which you really should see when you get a chance). "Everything's Cool" is a documentary about global warming and showcases some incredible and controversial work being done to address this urgent problem facing our society.

And Bill McKibben continues his inspirational and engaging push to draw as many people as possible into the push to address climate change. Check out this cool campaign he spearheaded. I am convinced that if he could talk to every American, one at a time, there would not only be no disbelievers, there would be a hell of a lot more people taking action.

The Demographics
I have been noticing that the world of sustainability/corporate responsibility practitioners is made up overwhelmingly of older men and younger women, with a smattering of younger men and older women here and there. I have engaged in a lot of conversations, and even did some research, about the link between women and corporate responsibility as a career path, and am somewhat concerned that this field runs the risk of being relegated to the "pink collar ghetto." I have no conclusions about this - it was just an observation. As I looked around the room I was quite struck by the apparent age gap and thought it worth mentioning as a specific phenomenon in this field of work.

Free Product from the President of Aveda!
I went to a panel - "Armchair Conversations with CEOs" - that featured the leaders of three interesting companies - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Aveda. It was a great and engaging panel and really cool to sit in a small room with these leaders who are engaged in their companies' corporate responsibility programs, not just as important brand campaigns, but on a granular level. These guys knew the details about the details! It was impressive and refreshing and inspiring. But the best part was after the panel was over.

During the panel the Aveda CEO had pulled a tube of lipstick out of his pocket to show us some innovative packaging that Aveda had recently launched. "I never leave home without product," he quipped. Now, anyone that has ever set foot within five feet of me knows that I, too, never leave home without product. So, it is not surprising that I leaped at the opportunity to meet the man who makes sure that my hair (usually) looks good and that I have something to apply to my (oh-so-delicate) skin on those rare occasions that I choose to wear make-up. And I tried to bond with him about our shared commitment to having Aveda with us everywhere we go. And so what did he do? He reached into his pocket and pulled out the very lipstick and tube he had used as a demonstration to the room a few minutes earlier. "I do not know eef zees eez your colour," he said in his perfectly authentic French accent, which is exactly what you want from the CEO of a beauty company!

Our Country will be in Good Hands...Eventually
The last panel of the conference was also one of the best. The panel topic was, "Mobilizing Americans Around Climate Change," moderated by NPR's Steve Curwood (who, if you close your eyes, sounds just like him!). The panelists included two young men - Peter Griffin and Jared Duval - who did nothing less thatn blow me away. Peter works at thinkMTV, which is essentially the social activism/engagement arm of the giant network. Jared runs the Sierra Club's national student organization, Sierra Student Coalition. These two young men were so impressive and I was immediately lifted at the idea that this is America's youth (not just the kids on My Super Sweet 16 or Laguna Hills - the underside of Peter's job, I guess). After the panel I told Jared that I looked forward to voting for him some day. Because I am certain that I will have the chance to do so. And when you have the chance to vote for him, I hope you do, too. If this is where our country's leadership is headed, I am a little less worried.

Jared Duval did say one thing that has stuck with me, and I suspect I will continue to return to it again in the future. He said (I am paraphrasing here) that one challenge with trying to "mobilize" Americans to act on climate change might be this:

Once people (and he was referring specifically to young people, but this might be true across the age spectrum) understand the scale of the problem, they are interested in being part of a solution on the same scale. So, he argued, let's not only ask people to take the small steps, let's challenge them to do the big stuff, too. Because we may be surprised at how readily they step up to do so.

This weekend I had the privilege of attending an event sponsored by the Clinton Foundation's Millenium Network - a network of people under 40 working to engage our generation in the work underway to repair the world through action and philanthropy. I was invited to the event by Sarah Granger who was on the host committee. The event was expected to draw between 500 and 600 people. Instead more than 1400 turned out! It was amazing to stand in that ballroom and see hundreds of people my age gathered to learn about how we can, as Gandhi said, be the change we want to see in the world. It raised $200,000 for the Clinton Foundation - impressive and important cash to put towards solving some of the world's most pressing challenges.

I also loved that I ran into people from all parts of my life - my triathlon network, my Jewish network, my Haas MBA network, my general social San Francisco network. It made me feel so great to know that this thread of "tikkun olam" - repair of the universe - runs through all kinds of communities here in San Francisco.

I didn't see anyone I recognized from Sun at the event. That could be because I don't know too many people here. Or it could be because not too many people here live in San Francisco. Or are under 40. There were a lot of folks from eBay on hand. That made Libby (my good friend and business school classmate who works at eBay in Global Citizenship) feel pretty great - and I don't blame her. I felt like so many aspects of my life came together there, except for work!

The Flaw in the Clinton Foundation Event
The big flaw in Saturday night's event, however, was that it was unclear to me (or anyone I asked) exactly how one gets involved in the work of the Clinton Foundation. Is our only option to donate money? Or are there other ways to get involved? Something more hands-on. Like a service-oriented trip to a location served by the work of the Clinton Foundation. Presumably we are up-and-coming philanthropists, meaning we have money to burn. So why not let us use that money to travel to a community being served by the great work the foundation is doing, see for ourselves the impact our philanthropy can have, participate in some service delivery, and then "exploit" that experience to get us to donate more money? Just an idea...but I am ready to plunge in and give some time, in addition to money. Being the change I want to see in the world requires me to do more than click a button on a Web site and enter my credit card info.

Worldwide Volunteer Week
All that being said, it is Worldwide Volunteer Week at Sun. That we even have such a designated week on our corporate calendar is encouraging. I organized an event at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. A group of Sun employees will work with the kids coming through the museum to teach them about "The Physics of Toys." About all I could probably handle in the physics realm is something to do with toys at the grade-school level, so this is great for me! The bummer is that only three people (myself included!) have signed up for the event.

My Thoughts on Sun's Employee Volunteer Program: Not that anyone asked!
I am not sure we do the best job of authentically encouraging volunteering as Sun employees. That being said, I do not think this is the fault of the team that is responsible for it - they are a great group of people and work really hard to infuse energy and excitement around volunteering.

The challenge, which I doubt is unique to Sun, is getting employees to take their own philanthropy/service interests and align them with the company's social mission. How do you get employees who are already service-minded to volunteer their time for a cause that their company has chosen, rather than the causes about which they feel most passionate? I think this is particularly challenging when the company, like Sun, does not give employees time off to do this company-chosen volunteer work. Essentially, the message to employees becomes, "Take your personal time to volunteer for the company's cause so that we can use your volunteer time to promote the company's image as a good corporate citizen." Tough pill to swallow even for me, and I am a believer!

So what is the answer? One piece of the answer, in my opinion (and you know I am full of them!) is to engage employees in deciding the company's social mission. At Sun, our cause as a company is to "eliminate the digital divide." An important cause, and one that is a natural outgrowth of our business. But what do our employees think our cause should be? I suspect most employees would agree that this makes sense for Sun given our business goals of increasing access to the network. But just because it makes sense to Sun as a business doesn't mean it's how I want to spend my volunteer time. I have other causes about which I am passionate and when I use my personal time in pursuit of tikkun olam, those are the areas on which I focus.

But I suspect that there are ways my personal volunteering and Sun's digital divide mission could synch up. And if the company would find out what my personal volunteer interests are, then a connection might be more easily made. FOR EXAMPLE...One of the ways in which I volunteer my time is serving food to those in need at area soup kitchens. At first blush, it is hard to see the digital divide connection. But what if I investigated further and asked the food program what kind of technical needs stand in the way of it providing its services to those who need it? Because that is a digital divide, right? I know it isn't the traditional definition...but we are not a company that sees things in a traditional way.

So what if expanded the definition of eliminating the digital divide to include using technology to bridge a gap between those who have a real need for something fundamental (food, shelter, health care, education, etc.) and those who can fulfill that need. That blows the definition wide open, right? So then I can work with the food program to eliminate the digital divide that exists between it and the people it serves. And I am pursuing my personal commitment - to help bring food to those living in this country of vast wealth yet still cannot find enough to eat - and Sun's commitment to eliminate the digital divide.

The other piece of the puzzle, in my opinion, is to give employees time off to do this volunteer work. Then it really is the company's contribution. And let's face it, just because you give me a few hours off to volunteer does not mean the workload changes. So in reality, I will find a way to make up that time and get my work done. It's a win-win for Sun.

Wow. That was my first, and lingering, reaction to Google's inspiring move to use Google Earth to show the world the genocide and destruction that is ravaging the Darfur region of Sudan. Here is a link to an article describing Google's partnership with the US Holocaust Museum on this amazing project.

The title of this blog is "Innovation+Responsibility" because I am fascinated by the potential of technology companies, whose currency is innovation, to have a unique impact on our world. This move by Google is to me a perfect illustration of this incredible potential.

I am inspired by Google's bold action. I can only imagine the pride Google employees are feeling today knowing that the company for whom they work hard (and boy do they work hard!) is willing to take a stand, and use its brains and its brawn to raise awareness about the devastating events that are plaguing this region of the world.

During the Holocaust, the world turned a blind eye to the Nazi genocide. I hope that by using Google Earth to shine a spotlight on what is going on in Darfur, the world will be unable to again stand by while innocent people are systematically slaughtered.

Aren't you?

Almost every conference brochure I receive - and believe me, there are plenty! - has at least one panel about, "Making the Business Case for CSR" or some such nonsense. Lately I have been getting more and more frustrated by this because in my opinion, the business case for CSR has been made over and over again at any company that has chosen to pursue true corporate responsibility practices. The case was made when Nike decided it was in their best business interest to ensure that the people making their products around the world were well-treated and fairly paid (full disclosure: Nike was a client of mine for three years when I worked in public affairs/crisis and issues management - I learned all about CSR from that company and my work with Nike is what inspired me to pursue this career path). The case was made when from the get-go Starbucks understood that in order to attract and retain the best talent (and therefore customers) it had to make it worth their while, so it offered all its baristas - including part-timers - better-than-average hourly wages and health care coverage. The case was made when Sun developed an eco responsibility server line, and then pulled in $400 million in revenue over four-quarters from the sales of these machines.

In fact, I believe we (and when I say "we" I mean the people who are working to bring a responsibility mindset to all organizations) get in our way the more we insist on talking about "making the business case." It reminds me of the saying, "Thou doth protest too much." It actually reminds me of how really progressive political organizations sometimes defeat their own purposes, before their adversaries even get a chance to try! By constantly having "making the business case" on the agenda, we are effectively saying that there is still a debate about this and that we need to assume a defensive stance. What if we stopped focusing on making the business case for CSR and actually focused on making businesses more responsible?

And anyway, are there really people out there who still need to be convinced? I guess there probably are. But realistically, what are the chances they are coming to this CSR-focused conference anyway? They aren't. So why do we waste precious time and resources preaching to the choir? Instead, we ought to focus on ways to help solve some of the challenges facing organizations that are working to make CSR programs an authentic part of their business pursuits. Rather than designing CSR conferences to be day-long (or two-day!) events where we stroke ourselves for being such do-gooders, fend off consultants trying to sell their expertise, and occasionally learn something, what about making conferences useful tutorials with dashes of inspiration and self-congratulation thrown in to keep our spirits up?

If I were designing a CSR conference, here is what my agenda might include:

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: I would like to hear from a CEO at a large multinational corporation talking about one (just one) successful company program, the reason the company initiated it and the results (successes and failures) so far. I like the idea of a conversation - like Inside the Actor's Studio. The less slick the presentation, the better.

SESSION IDEA: CSR Reporting - How do you do it?
Wouldn't it be great if a bunch of CSR folks - not executives, not consultants - sat around and shared some knowledge about how to pull together a CSR report. You know, how do you gather the content? How long does it usually take? What are some things you didn't know going in that you wish you did? How do you use the GRI? Should it be printed or web-based? Etc. etc. All I am looking for is useful information that might make the several-thousand dollar conference fee worthwhile.

SESSION IDEA: Engaging Employees I for one would find much value in hearing from a group of CSR practitioners about how they work to build grassroots support within their companies. We all know that support from employees is a critical success factor. But how do you do it? How do you get employees to care about what you are doing when they are already quite busy caring about getting their jobs done, being with their families and pursuing their own interests? If anyone has ideas, this would be a great place to share them!

SESSION IDEA: Working with Marketing and PR I believe strongly that CSR (or whatever you want to call it) is most authentic when it is driven by authentic business needs and not marketing or public relations desires. That being said, I am a strong supporter of the notion that if you are truly pursuing responsible business practices, you should get a lot of credit for it. So it would be great to have a panel discussion that included CSR practitioners and their marketing/PR partners within the company talking about how they work together successfully. I think this would be really useful to both the marketing/PR folks as well as the CSR people. Because though we have different success measures in our work, we have similar motivations: we want our company to truly do the right thing and be recognized for it.

SESSION IDEA: Stakeholder Engagement What is it? How do you actually pull it off? As I work with Ceresto pull together Sun's stakeholder engagement program, and as I work to develop an employee engagement program, I can tell you that actually doing it is way different than I would have thought. So it would be cool to have a tutorial on stakeholder engagement programs.

NETWORKING IDEA: Speed Dating Okay, I do not mean actual speed dating to find a date (though I am not going to lie, I would be open to finding a date at a CSR conference); rather I think it would be interesting to use the speed dating model for networking. Since I have never done speed dating (honestly, I haven't - I have done all kinds of other dating but not this one!), I cannot describe the exact logistics of how it would work. But you know how it is when you go to these conferences - you find the people you know and you chat with them. And with each conference the networking benefit diminishes because you already know who you know and the people you don't know already know who they know and it's hard to branch out because really no matter how old we are, high school social norms always prevail. A speed networking event would enable/force people to network with those they might otherwise not have met at the conference. And who knows what kinds of connections might come out of that!?