A McKinsey study on the value of corporate social responsibility found “…highly innovative Fortune 1000 companies derive greater financial returns from their corporate-responsibility activities than their less innovative counterparts do,” and suggested three actions to improve CSR ROI,
“Upwards of 40 percent of industry’s energy efficiency improvement opportunities can be realized through low or no-cost projects rooted in corporate culture change”
They must know something since dollar savings to date are not millions, or even hundreds of millions, but billions.
“The key to this model is the formation of multi-disciplinary, cross-functional site teams, with insight from operators, maintenance, mechanics, core process experts, energy experts, engineers and management.”
Two of the biggest stumbling blocks on this path are Wall Street, with its short-term, i.e., quarterly, focus and the current definition of “stakeholder.”
Typically, stakeholders are viewed as investors, management, customers and workers; progressive companies have added the local communities where they do business and a few have tiptoed further.
Whereas Richard Branson points out in Screw Business As Usual every living thing and the planet itself are stakeholders.
Sadly, rather than being in the lead, the majority of US corporations are staying focused on short-term results and narrow definition of stakeholder.
But the winners in the future will be those companies, large or small, whose thinking is longest and definition is broadest.
I hope you are one of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kung Hei Fat Choy (Wishing you an abundance of wealth and prosperity!) Happy Year of the Dragon
It’s not often that I unequivocally recommend a book, but Richard Branson’s Screw Business As Usual meets all my criteria.
It’s not a do-gooder book, per se, although Branson is passionate about “doing good by doing right.”
I realize that his take on entrepreneurism will fall on deaf ears for anybody who starts a company with the prime motivation of getting rich, but even they might reconsider after reading it—Branson started Virgin so he could afford to make a difference.
And there is prime proof that doing right pays.
“Companies that consistently manage and measure their responsible business activities outperformed their FTSE 350* peers on total shareholder return in seven out of the last eight years.”
Branson believes that the right focus is your employees and your customers; take care of them and the rest will follow.
The people, stories and advice in Screw Business As Usual are about, and dedicated to, entrepreneurs, business people and anybody else who believe that there is more to work and business in the 21st century than making money.
What worked in the past isn’t going to work in the future, from top-down, command and control management to companies whose policies destroy people, resources, etc., in the name of profit.
The doing-good-by-doing-right bandwagon is picking up steam, fueled by a vocal new generation that is disgusted with business as usual and older generations (maybe not as noisy) with the same feelings who are learning to vote with their feet—as US banks so recently found out.
Business needs to recognize that if they want to keep making money they need to do it responsibly—assuming, of course, they need both workers and customers to succeed.
In other words, screw business as usual.
*FTSE 350 is the British version of the Fortune 500.
Entrepreneurs: Screw Business As Usual (book review)
I rarely read book that I unequivocally recommend, but Screw Business As Usual meets my criteria.
It’s not a do-gooder book, per se, although Branson is passionate about “doing good by doing right.”
I realize that his take on entrepreneurism will fall on deaf ears for anybody who starts a company with the prime motivation of getting rich, but even they might reconsider after reading it.
And there is prime proof that doing right pays.
“Companies that consistently manage and measure their responsible business activities outperformed their FTSE 350* peers on total shareholder return in seven out of the last eight years.”
Branson believes that the right focus is your employees and your customers; take care of them and the rest will follow.
The people, stories and advice in Screw Business As Usual are about, and dedicated to, entrepreneurs, business people and anybody else who believe that there is more to work and business in the 21st century than making money.
What worked in the past isn’t going to work in the future, from top-down, command and control management to companies whose policies destroy people, resources, etc., in the name of profit.
The doing-good-by-doing-right bandwagon is picking up steam, fueled by a vocal new generation that is disgusted with business as usual and older generations (maybe not as noisy) with the same feelings who vote with their feet as US banks so recently found out.
Business needs to recognize that if they want to keep making money they need to do it responsibly—assuming, of course, they need both workers and customers to succeed.
*FTSE 350 is the British version of the Fortune 500.
A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read allIf the Shoe Fits posts here
Have you ever had something you were aware jump up and hit you in the face? It’s not new information and your reaction is the same, but the impact is enormous?
That is what’s happening to me as I read Richard Branson’s Screw Business As Usual (I’ll be reviewing it next Thursday, December 22)
Maybe it’s just the entrepreneurs Branson talks about, but their goals seem so different from the entrepreneurs in the US.
The “already done it”entrepreneurs in Branson’s book grew up, as did Branson, with an eye to improving the world and knowing that they needed to a financial base from which to do it, but they never lost track of their main goal.
The current entrepreneurs he describes, many of them young, have a keen focus on creating jobs and improving their communities and see their company as a way to accomplish that.
They buy whole-heartedly into Branson’s basic idea for running Virgin, i.e., doing good is good for business.
Whereas a large segment of US entrepreneurs, especially the younger ones, seem to see their startups as the fastest way to get rich since the financial, consulting and legal sector jobs dried up.
Obviously, not all of them, but a significant number.
“Doing well by doing good” just isn’t mainstream in the US.
Or is it?
Where do you fit?
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Is culture sustainable? Ask Jim Sinegal who, over 28 years, took Costco from $0 to $78 billion and built it into a global powerhouse without catering to Wall Street—workers have health benefits, margins are 14% (15% for house brands) and the price of a hot dog and drink hasn’t change since 1985. Does it work?
Shares of Costco have risen nearly 40 percent in the past year, whereas Wal-Mart shares are up just 6 percent even though the world’s largest retailer enjoys a gross profit margin of close to 25 percent compared with Costco’s 10.8 percent. Shares of another competitor, BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc (BJ.N), have risen about 21 percent over the last year.
Any day you look you’ll find an account describing problems in the money-losing airline industry. But if you keep looking you’ll also find bright spots, such as Southwest and Jet Blue, whose cultures engage their people’s passion and that translates directly into dollars.
A 2009 study by Gallup found that companies in the top decile for employee engagement boosted earnings per share at nearly four times the rate of companies with lower scores.
What do 3M and Virgin have in common? Cultures that invite, enable and revel in creative employees—intrepreneurs—that drive innovation, profits and keep their new product pipelines packed.
3M is 109 years old, the company continues to churn out new products like a young startup which explains why 31% of 3M’s 2010 revenues came from products that were developed during the past five years.
“Virgin could never have grown into the group of more than 200 companies it is now, were it not for a steady stream of intrapreneurs who looked for and developed opportunities, often leading efforts that went against the grain.” –Sir Richard Branson
Finally, and mostly to give you a laugh, here are the totally obnoxious actions from some of today’s truly monster egos.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
A McKinsey study on the value of corporate social responsibility found “…highly innovative Fortune 1000 companies derive greater financial returns from their corporate-responsibility activities than their less innovative counterparts do,” and suggested three actions to improve CSR ROI,
Have you ever had something you were aware jump up and hit you in the face? It’s not new information and your reaction is the same, but the impact is enormous?
Is culture sustainable? Ask 
