Corporate-Social Responsibility or Profits

An entire issue of the Economist (The Future of Corporate Responsibility - January, 2005) was dedicated to the discussion of whether the two concepts of corporate-social responsibility and profits could be said in the same sentence in a synergistic fashion. The perspectives covered quite a range from the belief that companies, by existing, are meeting all their social responsibilities to whether the societal approval of the corporate-social responsibility as a concept has resulted in truly authentic responses or the appearance as in ‘smoke and mirrors’.

You can find some of the articles on line at www.economist.com.

The point is that it is not about either it is corporate responsibility or it is profit. It is both.

How can that be? I call it a no-brainer but just in case the dots are not connected clearly enough here are a few signals:

• The advent of pandemic diseases is becoming a threat to business. The existence of chronic diseases like HIV, and the full range of cancer, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses trace themselves back to stress or imbalance. To pretend that the health care system will look after it is to pretend it is all looked after. Taking charge of what used to be a social system service is not going to be an option.
• The planet is undergoing some major changes and it is showing up in the weather patterns. The cost to society and to business of natural disasters, such as Katrina, is high. To say social responsibility is not in the corporate job description is to deny that you have people working for you and that you have strengths. The relationship is direct in many cases.
• The cases of bullying, violence and aggression in the workplace express the stress that people are experiencing from a changed business environment. In the cases where the business has not noticed and has maintained a business-as-usual approach, the pressures that the business feels is passed on to employees automatically. The cost to human welfare, to society and to the unrealized value held within the business is high. Flying blind is not an option.

Sticking to using a narrow lens to view the situation is simply too limiting. You need the wide angle version. The entire principle of leadership involves holding two opposing views in balance with each other at the same time. There is plenty of corporate leadership available to tap into. You will find them using the wide angle lens.