Thanks to our many sponsors and the more than 650 professionals who joined us in Boston, the 2013 International Corporate Citizenship Conference was a terrific success. For 2-1/2 days we convened to learn, network, and share challenges and successes, and to examine the many ways that companies are Designing Opportunity for business and society. Closing keynote Seth Godin noted that new opportunities don’t come without a willingness to take risks because “If you say failure is not an option, then neither is success.”

Our keynote speakers each addressed how their firms approached the design process. Read the rest of this entry »

More than 600 corporate members will arrive in Boston for our 2013 International Corporate Citizenship Conference this month.  We look forward to welcoming all those who will be with us – and to keeping those of you who aren’t able to be with us on-site involved via social media in the important conversations that will take place.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. will get us off to a great start Sunday evening when Andy F. Bessette, Travelers executive vice president and chief administrative officer, introduces a panel of The Travelers Companies, Inc. colleagues who will talk about how they connect the areas of public policy, diversity, and community relations, with a continuing focus on aligning with the company’s business objectives. This collaborative style has been at the core of the firm’s successful efforts in executing corporate citizenship in a decentralized, matrixed organization. Read the rest of this entry »

Corporate citizenship professionals must approach their work with a vision for tomorrow. The theme of our 2013 International Corporate Citizenship Conference – Designing Opportunity – recognizes that corporate citizenship has the potential to improve company performance and create value. Linking citizenship activities to core business strategy can lead to a more engaged workforce, improved reputation, superior risk management and, ultimately a stronger financial performance.

Realizing the potential of citizenship programs requires an enterprise-wide approach. Read the rest of this entry »

At the end of 2012, I was honored to be invited to speak to a group of 500 executives in Seoul at the Korean Institute for Social Responsibility (KOSRI) meeting and film festival (original news item on Korea’s Etoday – English translation).  Business has been an impressive engine of change in Korea – moving the country over the past 60 years from war-torn poverty to levels of prosperity that are on par with developed economies.  It seems like progress can be endless in Korea and that anything can be achieved with hard work. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no shortage of perspectives about climate change, its causes, or the effects it has on the Earth and its inhabitants. With New York and the Mid-Atlantic States experiencing two “100-year storms” in the past 10 years, climate change has been on the minds of many.  The economics are worth considering.  According to a recent report issued by Munich RE, just shy of half of overall losses due to natural catastrophes happen in well-insured countries (the U.S. and Canada, the EU and Australia) but almost 90 percent of insured losses happen in those countries.  As we think about how to manage risk, and as more people and corporations in developing economies seek to protect their economic progress, this challenge looms larger.

Executives who participated in our 2012 State of Corporate Citizenship survey make it clear that environmental concerns are growing in importance to their companies’ business success and survey respondents predict environmental programs will have the highest increases in investment among corporate citizenship priorities. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been on the road extensively and have met with executives from across North America, Latin America, Asia, and Europe over this past year. Consistent with the findings in our 2012 State of Corporate Citizenship research report that will arrive in members’ inboxes this month, we continue to see evidence that business leaders recognize that corporate citizenship delivers real business results. This fifth biennial survey of the attitudes and commitments of business executives toward corporate citizenship will be available to members in print and via our website as well as in an executive summary PowerPoint presentation. Highlights of the report will be available to non-members in a PowerPoint presentation on our website. Read the rest of this entry »

Norman Rockwell’s painting “Freedom from want” is perhaps the most iconic image of our national Thanksgiving holiday — a proud mom and pop presenting an enormous turkey to the head of a table of scrubbed family members. I had forgotten about this painting until listening to drive-time radio on my way to work and had not remembered it as anything other than an innocuous image of Americana. Read the rest of this entry »

In September I attended the Concordia Summit as the guest of a young Boston College alumnus. The Summit convened political and industry leaders from across the United States and around the world to discuss and promote industry/government initiatives in developing economies.  This august group included U.S. political leaders President Clinton and Senator John McCain, Woodrow Wilson Institute leader and former congresswoman Jane Harmon; current and former world leaders, including Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former president of Poland, Laurent Lamothe, prime minister of Haiti; leaders of organizations that routinely intermediate between public and private interests, including Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, and Ian Bremmer president of the Eurasia Group; and leaders from corporations including Donna Karan (represented by herself), Kate Spade New York,  and Abbott Pharmaceuticals. Much of the discussion centered on how companies might think about their global citizenship and the need for private investment. Read the rest of this entry »