While in New York recently, I encountered firsthand the early stages of the protest occupation of Wall Street. The protest against “the 1 percent” who have the most is conducted on behalf of “the 99 percent” who have less and less. OccupyWallStreet.org is an ostensibly leaderless movement that seems to have been conceived by the nonprofit creative collective, Adbusters. The one thing participants claim to have in common is that they “are the 99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent.”

Among the images that present the contrasts between these percentages, one of the most widely reported was of the group of affluent citizens attending a cocktail party on the balcony of the legendarily exclusive Cipriani’s during the first week of the protest (now into its third week). Attendees were filmed sipping champagne, looking down on the thousands of protesters, and even snapping photos of the throng with their smartphones. That moment has been compared in the press to the Roman circuses and the comparison is sobering given how apt the analogy seems and how the Roman era ended. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s hard to believe but in recent days and weeks, creating jobs is an even hotter topic. President Obama has called for business to “get in the game” on job creation but there was already ample evidence that companies need to consider that the short term gains of a jobless recovery may not be the best route to a sustainable economy.

As our most prominent global leaders departed Davos, Gallup released several polls that highlighted related themes. Among them, one conducted January 7-9 noted that 67 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the size and influence of major corporations today, the highest level since Gallup first asked this question in 2001. Read the rest of this entry »

The findings of the 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship in the United States released today reveal that, despite the recession, corporate citizenship practices are ingrained in increasing numbers of American businesses. A majority (54 percent) of business leaders report that attention to corporate citizenship efforts is even more important in a recession. Read the rest of this entry »

The economic downturn of 2008-2009 has taken a toll on some corporate citizenship programs, but has it also served as a wake-up call for companies to re-evaluate the way they do business and identify new opportunities from corporate citizenship? As the results of the biennial State of the Corporate Citizenship Survey conducted this June come in, we are examining whether business aspirations and behavior have changed over the six years since the survey began, and particularly during the recent economic turmoil. Results will be released during a Center webinar on September 16. Read the rest of this entry »

Does the recession have you questioning spending on cause-related marketing (C-RM)? If you are your company’s C-RM Champion, or would like to be, it may be up to you to make the case for maintaining C-RM, or even ramping it up to meet business goals. In hard times, your business values will show through, loyalties will be built, and your employees and other stakeholders will notice. Read the rest of this entry »

In these tough economic times, we know that it is difficult to maintain your business, let alone your volunteer programs. While the community benefits of volunteering are clear, many companies are asking themselves if volunteering is really a business essential in these difficult times. Read the rest of this entry »

Does reputation build revenue? And if so, how does corporate citizenship help build reputation?

These are two of the issues illustrated in the second tool in our “Toolkit for a Tough Economy” series that highlights insights from our engagement with corporations. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »