Innovation + Responsibility

We are a little more than a week away from publishing Sun's fiscal 2007 CSR report - it should be posted on our Web site some time on Thursday, October 4.  I am really excited about it! The report itself will be Web-based, but we will also do a limited run of a 12-page summary piece - some people just want to hold it in their hands, I guess!

So I was sitting at my desk feeling proud about the report and an email came into my inbox CorporateRegister.com - a kind of clearinghouse site for CSR reports. CorprateRegister.com (note: site may require free registration) is kicking off voting for the 2007 Corporate Responsibility Reporting Awards. Sun's 2006 report is an entrant in two categories: First-Time Report and Honesty and Openness in Reporting. I'm not going to lie - I voted for us. And then I decided to poke around and look at what other companies are doing - companies that have been reporting for a while now.  I have to say, I was pretty blown away by what's out there.

I want to just call out a few reports that I think are pretty outstanding.  Any CSR practitioner who is responsible for her/his company's CSR reporting would really benefit from spending some time with these reports. From design to tone to content, these reports really blew me away.

(in no particular order)
Vodafone Group - for me, Vodafone is a gold standard report. The fact that they have been reporting for a while helps - they have lots of data and can really show progress and explain setbacks in a context
Citigroup - the Citigroup report is, in a word, awesome. It's pretty great in its own right, but what is also so great about it is how much better it is than past Citigroup reports!  When I was in business school I reviewed Citigroup's 2004 report for a class assignment.  I think I titled my paper something like, "Style over Substance." There was little to no data in the report and despite all the controversy  swirling around Citigroup's CEO and some of the company's investment banking and analyst practices, there was no mention of these matters in the report. Now, three years later, Citigroup's report really sets a high bar.
Weyerhaeuser Company - I admit, I was skeptical about a paper company's report. But this report is outstanding in its transparency and (what appears to be) robustness of data.  Weyerhaeuser's carbon disclosure is particularly impressive.
Volvo Car Corporation - I have a hard time seeing car companies as bastions of corporate responsibility (with the possible exception of Toyota these days). But Volvo really impressed me. I don't know if it's the European roots or what, but this report was really good. I liked how the report showed a lot of cars! That may sound silly but I think companies who report could stand to showcase their products a bit more - you know, to help stakeholders make a more direct connection between the products and the corporate responsibility program.
Ricoh Corporation - Okay, so...I don't really get (or like) the chimps on the report cover. But other than that, I think this is a report worth checking out. The feature that really stood out for me on this one was the third party assessment.  It is incredibly robust and transparent. The best I have seen of its kind. 

If you have recommendations for reports I should read, please let me know. I am always looking for best practices, as well as learning and growth opportunities for Sun as we continue to strengthen our overall CSR program, including reporting.

 And don't forget to check back on October 4 for our 2007 report!

note: this entry has been updated since its original posting

In May 2006 I graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, one of the best business schools in the country  and (in my humble view) the best for studying (and learning how to practically apply) corporate social responsibility in a business context. Last time I wrote about Haas I was just a few months out of school, brand new on the job here at Sun, and thrilled that the Wall Street Journal ranked us #5 (the Journal's ranking is based on recruiters' views of MBA programs).  Well, here we are one year later and I am beaming with pride as I tell you that Haas has moved to #2 in the WSJ rankings! Our ranking for CSR education leadership remains at #2 (I am sure we will get to #1 soon enough!).  The overall rankings jump in just one year is impressive and well-deserved.  As is our position as a leading institution of CSR learning - check out  this story  that also ran in the Wall Street Journal (online).

The Center for Responsible Business at Haas is starting a Socially Responsible Investment fund for students to manage.  This sounds like the perfect opportunity to build "traditional" skills - financial analysis, portfolio management - while infusing them with a "responsibility" mindset.  What a great way to attract new kinds of students to socially responsible investing, and an even better way to demonstrate that CSR does not just fall in the "soft skills" category.

I am especially excited about this program at Haas because I spent a lot of time as a Haas student studying Socially Responsible Investing.  Some classmates and I did an independent study one semester and ended up developing a social investment screen specific to Internet companies.  As part of a research project with Prof. McElhaney and another student (investigating the link between CSR and women), I studied the investment behaviors of men and women to determine if there was an untapped market opportunity for SRI among female investors (there is).  During my summer internship in Budapest, I worked with OTP Bank on market research for a planned SRI fund focused on the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe.  Clearly, I had/have a deep interest in socially responsible investing.  

So it's no surprise, though I hate to admit it, that I was very jealous when I learned about this new program - I would have loved to participate in something like this while in school. In fact, in my Haas application essay I wrote about my strong conviction that socially responsible investing has the potential to have the most significant impact on a company's corporate responsibility actions.  Because let's face it, companies listen to shareholders.  And if shareholders start demanding certain social performance from companies (as we are starting to see with the petition filed with the SEC today by state pension fund managers, institutional investors and others seeking to include climate change risk in financial reporting), companies will start acting.

I will watch the performance of this fund closely - there is so much I can learn, even from afar.

Before I even knew what Corporate Social Responsibility was - actually, before I even knew that it was - I knew about Anita Roddick and The Body Shop.  In high school, my sister and I - our political awareness just starting to bud - were fanatic about the brand and religious users of its banana conditioner (perfect for our thick, curly hair) and other beauty products.  Imagine no animal testing. Fair trade with indigenous people. A portion of profits donated to charity.  Natural ingredients. These things were unheard of in the late 80s and early 90s.  But they were part of Anita Roddick's vision and her vision together with her company's actions were the early proof points in the business case for CSR.  

Years ago, Roddick sold The Body Shop to L'Oreal and I remember thinking she was such a sellout - the exact kind of business she was seeking to redefine now owned her brilliant creation.  Over the years my thinking on this has changed as I have seen companies like Stonyfield Farms, Tom's of Maine and Aveda also sell to large multinationals and, as a result, the large multinational companies themselves have shifted their perspective a bit. The best example of this is Danone's purchase of  Stonyfield Farms - as a result, Danone has fully embraced sustainability, starting with adopting some long-held Stonyfield Farms practices, such as using foil-only lids on their yogurts. So it seems that once again, Anita Roddick was ahead of her time. Perhaps she realized the dual benefits of L'Oreal's ownership - having solid and reliable resources to invest in her business while influencing the way the larger organization operates.

 
Anita Roddick is, to many, the godmother of corporate social responsibility. I am grateful for her leadership, her outspokenness and her commitment to doing business in a way that honors and respects the planet and its inhabitants.
She paved the way for so many of us to make careers out of using the power of business to create positive social and environmental change. Her legacy will be felt for generations to come.

Yesterday was one of those days when I thought, "I have a really cool job."  Sun hosted a group of 15 representatives from the ICT (Information Communications Technology) sector in Kenya at our Menlo Park campus - they called their group "ICT Village."  I learned that this group was coming to town from a contact at Google - Google was helping them set up meetings in Silicon Valley and my contact reached out to me to help make a Sun visit happen.  I am so glad I was able to pull it together.

First we hosted them on a tour of our Executive Briefing Center, where they got a look at some of Sun's great innovations, like Project Blackbox (a modular datacenter) and our SunRays (thin clients).  Then we sat down for an informal dialogue about what is happening in Kenya with respect to the ICT sector, what are Sun's plans in the region, and how we might work together.  It was a productive and inspiring meeting and a great example of the potential for Sun to use our technology to create positive business and social value.  The Kenyan group had representatives from all sectors - government, nonprofit and business. In attendance from Sun were Bill MacGowan, our EVP of People and Places (he's in charge of Sun's HR and also our location strategy, among other things); Keith Tabacek, who works in our location strategy group; Ed Hunter, Chief Engineer in Sun Labs; Larry Nelson, Sun's new Director of Global Citizenship, overseeing the Sun Foundation, employee volunteering and other programs aligned with Sun's mission to eliminate the digital divide; and me. 

It sounds like there is a lot going on in Kenya that is aimed at getting the country connected and enabling its citizens to participate more fully in the global community.  It turns out that 70 percent of the population of Kenya lives in rural areas. Out of a population of 33 million people, only approximately 3 million actually access the internet.  With a goal of becoming a middle income country by the year 2030 ("Vision 2030"), Kenya recognizes the importance that connectivity will play in its success. This group wants to address the digital divide that exists between rural and urban populations, creating economic empowerment for Kenya's citizens, a majority of whom are between the ages of 15 and 35.  To do this they are launching the "Digital Village" program, which will roll out across Sub-Saharn Africa but will start in Kenya. 

Digital Villages
The Digital Village campaign aims to set up a network of facilities around the country - digital "centers" and digital schools - that will enable people to access the internet and therefore open up the world to them. (Interesting point to note: we hear so much in the US about how mobile phones are the new "personal computer" that people in developing countries are using to access the Internet. With that in mind, these digital centers sound, well, anachronistic. When we asked this group about that, they told us that (at least in Kenya) this is not actually the case.  The mobile phones that enable Internet access tend to be higher end models and these are not available to the rural population. So for sustainable and broad access, actual facilities are going to have the broadest impact. Who knew?)

Campus Connections
Kenya is also focused on job creation - the country turns out many thousands of engineers from its universities each year (not to mention thousands of graduates majoring in other subjects, like business and certificate programs) and is committed to creating sustainable, long-term opportunities for these bright young minds.  And Sun is interested in creating stronger ties with engineering schools around the world, engaging and exciting the next generation of technologists with Sun innovation. And then there is the Sun Academic Initiative, which gives universities access to our training and other programs, free of charge, as well as Sun's other education-focused programs.

The connection points to Sun seemed endless and we all left the meeting brimming with enthusiasm about building a relationship that is good for Kenya and Kenyans, and good for Sun. And I was giddy with the thrill of another one of those days - you know the kind where you can see how your job actually has potential to create positive change.  Speaking of which...

Time Flies When You Are Doing Something Cool! 
Today marks my one year anniversary with Sun Microsystems.  I can hardly believe it! When I first started, I wasn't sure I would make it six months! Leaving graduate school and re-entering the "real" world - a world in which one can't travel to foreign countries for weeks at a time just because; in which the day doesn't start at 10:30am, the week doesn't start on Tuesdays and the weekend doesn't start on Thursdays; in which you can't just go for a run in the Presidio or a bike ride in Marin anytime you want; in which Tom Skapars doesn't plan most of your social activities; a world in which you don't always know your way around (so much so that you can help people find their way around), don't quite know what you are doing (let's face it, business school isn't that hard), and aren't totally sure where you are headed (in business school the goal is the job; once you get the job, the goal is slightly less clear).  Add to this the fact that nobody at Sun ever held my job before and I had somehow convinced them I knew what I was doing and, well, you can understand why I was totally freaked out and thought not so much that this job might not work out, but rather that any job, might be a stretch after two years of relative leisure in the ivory tower. 

But not only am I still here, I am proud - if surprised! - at how easily Sun has entered the CSR arena, how much we have accomplished in the past year and where we are headed.  A special shout out to my boss and Sun's leadership team for (1) hiring me (2) encouraging me (3) supporting me and (4) being committed visionaries.