Lincoln on Finding True North

Last night I saw Lincoln, the excellent new Spielberg movie. One piece of dialogue particularly resonated with me.  In a private conversation about compromise and pragmatism Thaddeus Stevens challenges the President’s ethical grounding and his commitment to the morally correct answer.Lincoln uses the brilliant metaphor of a compass. I don’t have the specific dialogue but hopefully the spirit of my recollection is right. “A compass points to true north,” saysLincoln, “ but it gives no indication of the swamps and marshes along the way.  If you just use the compass you will get stuck, and what use is knowing true …

Best of the Best: What’s a Corporation’s Responsibility?

Like many of you, I’m taking some time this week to give thanks for the many good and wonderful things in my life.  But, as I reflect on my personal life, it does bring up questions about what a corporation’s responsibility in sharing the wealth that is created by its activities.  This is a polarizing topic, so I don’t suggest you bring it up at the Thanksgiving table tomorrow, but let me know what you think a corporation’s responsibilities are in the comments.  

The recent debate around Mitt Romney and the role of Bain Capital in job losses …

Best of the Best: A Guest Post from Ford: How IT Put a Charge in EV Infrastructure

I really thought that by the time the leaves had begun to change that I’d be sitting behind my desk writing new posts about all the exciting things I’m working on at the moment.  But alas, I’m more often in an airline seat than at my desk!  So, as I fly back from the U.K., please enjoy another one of my favorite guest posts.

A few months ago I met Nancy Gioia, Director Global Electrification at Ford Motor Company,at a sustainability meeting in DC organized by the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD). Nancy’s comments at that meeting about the role …

Best of the Best: Guest Post from Kim McMann on Why CSR is Good for Business

This week the Clinton Global Initiative held its annual meeting in New York City.  Reading the reports from the conference, reminded me of this post that was first published just over a year ago.  In the post Kim McMann, BT’s President of both the US and Canada region and our newly formed Consumer Packaged Goods, talked about why CSR is good for business and BT’s decision to join the Clinton Global Initiative.  In this blog post she shares some thoughts about how she is approaching CSR in her role.

I joined BT because of our leadership in providing networked IT …

Best of the Best: ICT in the Environment: The Sustainable Shopper

The ‘Best of the Best’ series is drawing to a close and before it ends, I thought I’d share one of my favorite video posts.  I was really pleased to be able to meet with Harriet Hentges, VP Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Ahold USA Inc, at one of the local Giant supermarkets to test out some green technology in the field.  My feelings at the end of the test were quite interesting!

ICT services impact our every day lives from how we work, to how we travel to how we make purchasing decisions for our daily needs. In this …

Best of the Best: When CR and Business Objectives Conflict

This post wasn’t published all that long ago, back at the end of June, but I think it’s such an important topic, particularly at a time when businesses are under such pressure to generate profits and demonstrate success.  And, for the record, the talk at the Ethical Corporations Conference in New York went very well, it generated some interesting discussions and enabled new connections in the CSR community.

A touchy subject I know.   It is all the rage to focus on Creating Shared Value and on building momentum through identifying the positive intersection between  corporate responsibility/sustainability and business success.   But, …

Best of the Best: Guest Post from FedEx

The last in our series of Best of the Best guest posts comes from my friend and colleague Mitch Jackson, Staff Vice President, FedEx Corp Environmental Affairs & Sustainability.  I was inspired by the imminent retirement of the space shuttle and was reflecting on the sustainability implications of past achievements such as the lunar landings.  It seems quite appropriate to revisit this post in the week following Neil Armstrong’s passing.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs

Vinod Khosla recently identified the seven most influential individuals that matter in clean technology at Forbes.com. Frankly, we …