All Posts

sponsoring zoos

While the proportion of most zoos’ incomes derived from corporate sponsorship is generally small, the question remains as to whether this type of funding is ethically used.[read more]

your big year

Sometimes the world can feel like an overwhelmingly big place and we, as individuals, can do little on our own to make it better against the tide of challenges and barriers, especially our own self-limiting beliefs.[read more]

taking risks

Given the changes in the world economy, every day, there are more risk averse companies and employees. However, risk-taking is an essential part of innovation, and key to the survival and success of a company.[read more]

The Iron Lady

CSR can be seen as some sort of unacknowledged grandchild of Mrs Thatcher: a knock-on effect of her policies, but certainly not one she would have approved of.[read more]

employee motivation

One of my clients recently asked me, “Why are you so interested in writing about optimal and suboptimal motivation? All managers care about is productivity, accountability, and results—isn’t it like pushing water uphill with a toothpick?”[read more]

I would suggest that by in large leaders don’t examine deeply enough the moral dimension of their actions or their decisions. Too much other stuff gets in the way. But people can see the effect of lack of moral leadership.[read more]

Integrated Reporting is underway in a handful of companies worldwide. Initial efforts are good, but some bad habits of not connecting the environmental and social to financial dots permeates nearly each one. Simply adding your financial statements to your sustainability report and vice versa is not enough.[read more]

No doubt the issue of sustainability is on the minds of executives. Countless studies confirm this. The now-infamous UN Global Compact Survey (2010) indicated 93% of global executives believed sustainability would have an impact or a profound impact on their operations.[read more]

potential resistance

Leadership is not an accomplishment you check off your daily to-dos. At the heart of leadership is the omnipresent, bold belief that influence, relationships, dialogue and faith in people call forward our best leadership abilities.[read more]

rethinking charity

The big challenge is to encourage a significantly stronger entrepreneurial approach to social impact and mitigate the unease created by the increased blurring of the boundaries.[read more]

motivation

With endless examples of ethics scandals, greed, and the disregard for treating employees as people, the time is ripe for surprising leadership that motivates employees and you. Employees, customers and you need encouragement.[read more]

Cause

Imagine a bar and restaurant that, like Newman’s Own, gives all of its profits to charity. That’s the idea behind Cause, a philanthropub that opened last October in Washington, D.C.[read more]

Oxfam's new campaign

A new report analyzes the largest food companies across a range of sustainability dimensions, including nutrition and obesity, environment, tracing and trust, poverty and international development.[read more]

China's carbon emissions

It's easy to see the economic growth of China as evidence that it should be responsible for fixing its own emissions. However, that growth is fueled by exports to Western nations, so don't they have a part to play?[read more]

Bloomberg's soda regulation

Monday’s news from New York puts the topic of corporate responsibility and food back on the agenda. One of Mayor Bloomberg’s flagship projects, the ban to sell soda or sugary drinks in larger than 16oz servings was blocked.[read more]

board of directors/shutterstock

What is the executive leadership team (ELT) and the board worrying about? What are the topics on their agenda? To be successful, they need both the risk management and internal audit functions to be aligned with them.[read more]

Nikki Wright

Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept embraced in theory, even if its implementation can mean many and varied things from small acts of corporate philanthropy to an overall strategy.[read more]

green office/shutterstock

Becoming more eco-friendly, or going green, will benefit both the environment and your business. For one, it cuts down on costs. By saving money in certain areas, you can spend more in other areas, such as marketing to grow your business, or just take more of a profit.[read more]

Business leaders of today face a high level of complexity. Globalization, technological evolutions, market shifts, an increased pace of change. These have changed the business landscape.[read more]

global food waste

Waste is the enemy of the green movement. It leaves unsightly blemishes on landscapes and waterways, it poisons the natural environment and the species that live in it.[read more]

cash flow/shutterstock

‘Invoice discounting’ is a form of short-term borrowing used to improve cash flow. It can allow for quicker access to the credit your business is due, thus improving your cash flow and opening up more working capital.[read more]

sustainability trends

Marketplace expectations have moved sustainability into the category of “business as usual”, meaning that to stay ahead of the pack, leaders will need to push their ambitions further.[read more]

company culture

When you get sick, you go to a doctor. When your company gets sick, it’s hard to know where to turn, and a bad culture is not a minor cold — it’s a chronic disease.[read more]

small businesses

Big-box retail and sustainability might sound like mutually exclusive business endeavors, but some major players are going to great lengths to change that perception.[read more]

green energy/shutterstock

Over a week ago EU leaders agreed on historical cuts on the Union’s 2014-2020 budget, which is now waiting to be approved by the parliament. The reduced budget may delay decarbonisation.[read more]

Go through any household in a western industrialized nation and chances are good you’ll find at least one product that reads: “Designed in the USA. Assembled in China.” But how does this impact global CO2 emissions and climate negotiations?[read more]

You do not have to save the world from an Armageddon; rather the world needs something more important from you and that is making your workplace and home more environmentally sustainable.[read more]

Your employees want to perform community service; they really, really do…but amidst their busy schedules they just can’t seem to find the time.[read more]

From a CSR perspective one could argue that the food industry has been overlooked for quite some time. Food companies shape the way we live. In particular, it is conspicuous that the current scandal evolves around meat.[read more]

The business world is undergoing a dramatic shift as it begins to value sustainability as a worthy policy to pursue.[read more]