Innovation + Responsibility

Earlier this week Susan Landau, a Distinguished Engineer at Sun (one of only a few women who hold that title) was recognized with the Women of Vision Award from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.  Well, Sun engineers are pretty brilliant and win awards all the time, so why am I writing about this one? Well, the Women of Vision Award covers three categories: Innovation, Leadership and Social Impact. Susan Landau won the Social Impact category, so I thought it was worth giving her a shout out here. Susan's work is focused primarily in the area of security and its intersection with public policy.  It's interesting because Sun considers - and reports on - security and public policy as parts of our corporate responsibility profile; but you don't hear much about security as a social issue, even though the security of the network (and what it means to us as users of that network) - is one of the most important social issues of our time.  This will continue to be true as developing nations join the network at increasing rates. I like that the Anita Borg Institute recognizes Dr. Landau's work in this arena, as well as her other important work in the broader technology community, as having a meaningful social impact. Here is the blurb from the Anita Borg Institute announcement:

Susan Landau, Distinguished Engineer, Sun Microsystems Inc.

Susan Landau is the Women of Vision Award winner in the Social Impact
category. Landau’s focus is on the interplay between security and
public policy. She has profound impact in at least three areas of
computer science: as an extensive commentator and advisor on U.S.
wiretapping and encryption policy; as a world renowned expert in
computational algebra and number theory (mathematics intimately related
to cryptography), and in developing numerous programs to benefit women
in computer science. A Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer, Landau
is a leading scholar in all three areas and publishes widely. Her book,
co-authored with Whitfield Diffie, Privacy on the Line: the Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption, attracted immediate international attention and played a significant
role in the 2000 loosening of U.S. cryptographic export-control
regulations, stimulating the global technology economy and offering
protection to consumers in all non-embargoed countries. Her unusual
blend of technical expertise, policy insight, industry connections and
drive, along with her dedication to the advancement of Women in
Computing, make Landau a true Woman of Vision.

What is BSR Thinking?
So, I have tried to limit these blog postings to things related to my job.  Much as I would love an outlet to express myself about the other parts of my life - my marathons, the lovely Englishman I met, my family, this historic election - I am sticking to the job. But I do need to take this opportunity to merge these two worlds for the purpose of complaining a bit.  I know, nobody likes a whiner...but hear me out.

I am a politics junkie - American politics fires me up. I started my career in politics in 1992  (I'll spare you my political resume) and although I ended my professional political career in 1996 after a devastating campaign loss, I have remained active and interested in politics, particularly at a national level.  But it doesn't take a political maniac to be riveted by this year's presidential election. And you don't have to be a die-hard to be deeply invested in the election's outcome. 

 So explain to me why the premiere corporate responsibility conference - one that presumably attracts a lot of people like me who are in these jobs to align their professional pursuits with their personal values and therefore are probably quite interested in this presidential election - WHY would BSR schedule its annual conference on Election Day? 

Maybe I am making too big a deal out of this.  I don't actually need to be home on Election Day. I can vote absentee and then head to NYC for the conference. But this election is too important and I don't want to be shmoozing at a cocktail party in NY talking about CSR when I can be on the phone encouraging voters to get to the polls, and watching excitedly and nervously with my family and friends to see if our country will have a chance to get back on track or if we will be mired in Iraq for the next 100 years.  Somehow, I expected an organization that promotes social responsibility to support the social responsibility of every American to fully participate in her country's political process.

No, this isn't a Steely Dan tribute.  Today Sun was named #19 on the Top 100 Corporate Citizens list by The CRO magazine. This is the third year we have appeared on the list, which tracks companies on various dimensions of corporate responsibility, and this is our highest ranking to date.  Now, before you get too excited that we moved from #71 to #19 in one year (believe me, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that!), it's important to note that the methodology for the list has changed considerably.  Despite that change in methodology, I am quite proud of our jump up the list.  Think about it - the examination period for this list was August 31, 2006 to August 31, 2007 and those dates just happen to coincide - almost to the day - with the first year of our formal CSR program. 

I know lists like this aren't the end-all be-all yardsticks of a good CSR program.  Only measurable goals - and progress toward those goals - will be able to tell stakeholders how we are doing.   And we can talk for hours about the methodology - for instance, is it enough for the research firm to evaluate companies on their publicly available information? Transparency is important, but is this methodology reporting quantity over quality?  And what do you think about the fact that the list is "best in class" rather than just "best" - in other words, the best oil and gas company is eligible for this list; some might argue that even the best oil and gas company is still an oil and gas company and therefore can never be a truly "top" corporate citizen. These are valid points, and we in the CSR community should continue to discuss and debate them. 

But today I am not going to debate the list and the methodology (I'll surely do that another day). Instead I am going to simply bask in Sun's accomplishment.  This list is based on the Russell 1000 - that means that compared to 1000 other companies our one-year-old program landed in the top 20.  In our industry, we ranked fourth (that news was announced in December).  Now, we know there is plenty of room for improvement, not only in our practices but also in our data collection and reporting.  And regardless of where we fall on lists like these, we will do our best to stay focused on our efforts to create meaningful, positive change for our business as well as society at large.   These lists don't direct our CSR strategy or programs.  Instead they are one of the signals we use to check if we are on the right - or wrong - track.  And when I think of all we have been doing since that August
31 cut off date for this list - all our eco responsibility progress,
our supply chain CSR program, our strides in green procurement, our
stakeholder engagement program and on and on - I get excited. Because it demonstrates our consistent commitment to transparency and progress. Regardless of what the list makers say about us.

For more details on the methodology for compiling the list and Sun's scores, go here.