Business and Society: Taking Responsibility

This is not going to be a long post, because you know what you need to do and what your responsibilities are - both as part of business and part of society.

Recently, I was asked to update a White Paper I wrote a few years ago for the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants on corporate reputation. Part of what I was asked to update are the case studies - and that got me looking closely at what had changed in the years since I first wrote the thing. And that got me looking at Goldman Sachs.

Did you know that within a month period Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman's CEO, gave an interview where he explained that people were going to have to lower their expectations of the government help they receive (everything from Medicare and Social Security to Veteran's benefits, Disability and Food Stamps) because the Government simply can't afford it and made the decision to pay his executives their 2012 bonuses a month early so that they would miss the tax increase that was occurring as of January 1, 2013?

The optics of the decision were bad enough.

It's the fact that he preceded it by telling those who can't afford multi-million dollar homes, let alone multi-thousand dollar suits, that they have to change their expectations...because people like him were going to make decisions making sure that others' living expenses couldn't be met...that makes it worse.

Because it didn't matter. Not to him and not to his company.

That has to stop. Business leaders - at all levels from micros- and SMBs to multi-nationals - in all industries and sectors need to recognize that they have a greater responsibility to society than just making their businesses a success.

That shareholders are societal stakeholders, too - and that the other stakeholders who don't hold shares are directly and immediately impacted by the financial and other decisions that executives and board members make.

There's nothing wrong with making money. In fact, there's nothing wrong with making lots of money if that's what you want to do.

But this is more. This is a business industry-driven social change that looks beyond the next day's profits or next quarter's analyst meeting and recognizes that there really is such a thing as a greater good that business - more than any other entity - is designed to achieve.

Do that. Look at the decisions you make - from employee benefits to environmental impact and beyond - to see exactly what impact you and your business are making on your world every day.

Then make it better.
Reputation: Why It Matters and How You Can Manage It (CIMA original version - I'll let you know when the update is live)
Reputation and Profits: The "Good Corporate Citizenship" Question (llk)