These times are certainly not for the timid or small thinkers. Confronted with perhaps the greatest challenge of our lifetime, we face the urgent task of reinventing the future for our businesses and our society. Read the rest of this entry »

As I’ve been watching the brinksmanship going on between Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom and the European Union, I am reminded of a seminar I participated in a few months ago with 20 Russian oil executives representing privately-owned enterprises.

As I reflect I think of how corporate citizenship is playing out. Frankly, with Gazprom, it seems they are being driven by self-interest and political clout. That is very different than what is motivating the Russian oil executives I met at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development training center. Read the rest of this entry »

As we head into an increasingly distressed economy, corporate citizenship practitioners are challenged more than ever to maintain investment in citizenship. The Center’s 2008 Profile of the Practice survey of more than 400 corporate practitioners offers insight into how to best support and illustrate the value of corporate citizenship to a company. Read the rest of this entry »

In monitoring conversations with companies around the globe, those who are leading the corporate citizenship or sustainability space are understandably nervous about potential negative implications going ahead.

It was only a very few months ago that things could not have been rosier, and there finally seemed to be a significant breakthrough in the Sisyphean task of the past decade. Even the Economist in January admitted it might have been too harsh in viewing the corporate responsibility movement as a flash in the pan.

But how quickly things can change. A whole new meaning of climate change has been introduced into the public dialogue. Instead of a focus on the environment, a very different and much more powerful climate change conversation has been thrust upon us, one that may in fact be reshaping capitalism as we know it. Read the rest of this entry »