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Climate Change and Social Responsibility . A Reality Check Dr James Bellini 20 April 2008 . CSR Defined. CSR is about corporate behaviour That behaviour includes: What you do or say What you do not do or say CSR is not only about climate change.
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Climate Change and Social Responsibility A Reality Check Dr James Bellini 20 April 2008
CSR Defined • CSR is about corporate behaviour • That behaviour includes: • What you do or say • What you do not do or say • CSR is not only about climate change
It’s All In The Mind The successful companies of the future will base their strategies on a healthy corporate psyche founded on clarity, integrity and authenticity
The New Scarcities • Time • Attention • Trust
‘The pressure to deceive is felt everywhere in business and deceptions are ethically justifiable … departing from the strict truth and the golden rule is part of the strategy of business.’ Albert Z Carr Is Business Bluffing Ethical? Harvard Business Review
What ‘Trust’ Is Not • Familiarity • Heritage • Low cost • Local • Availability
Who trusts whom? trusted to tell truth - % of sample MORI
Future Conditional Blueprint for Tomorrow?
The Millennials’ Agenda • Authentic companies • Courageous leaders • Sustainable future
Millennium Poll • Public opinion on the changing role of companies • 25,000 citizens worldwide • Most important corporate values by rank: 1. Social responsibilities 2. Brand quality / reputation 3. Financial success
The World in 2032 % Key Issues Oil famine Climate change impact Future Leaders Survey 2007
The New Agenda • 86% agree material consumption must reduce • 66% think 4x4s should be banned from city centres • 41% support personal carbon quotas Future Leaders Survey 2007 - 08
‘This world cannot continue to function the way it is if we wish to live out the next hundred years. Not only do both government and the individual’s perspectives on the environment need to change, but also the way we relate to each other’ Camilla van Klinken, 18, Netherlands Future Leaders Survey 2007- 08
‘There is no trade-off between economic growth and responding to climate change. Either we do something about it, or all our growth will go to waste when climate change begins to wreak havoc with markets, international relations and the world in general…’ Matt Bardley, 18, Cardiff University Future Leaders Survey
Corporate Denial Casebook
‘The national science academies of the G8 nations and Brazil, China and India, three of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the developing world, have signed a statement on the global response to climate change...and call on world leaders to ... acknowledge that the threat of climate change is clear and increasing’ June 2005
Case Study in Denial “We in ExxonMobil do not believe that the science required to establish this linkage between fossil fuels and warming has been demonstrated” Lee Raymond Chairman/CEO ExxonMobil 2002
‘In September 2006, the Royal Society wrote to ExxonMobil to express concern that some of its corporate publications were presenting a misleading view of the scientific evidence about climate change The Society raised concerns about Exxon's position on climate change and the company's funding of lobby groups that misrepresented the science Although we have exchanged further letters with ExxonMobil, it has still not addressed this issue’ Royal Society press release
EXXON VALDEZ • Good Friday 1989 • 1100 miles Alaskan coastline affected • Clean-up bill $3.5bn + private lawsuits • Two years after 70% believed still polluted • 34th largest spill in history - not large but effects on reputation critical
Case Study in Denial Alaska Oil Spill: “An Act of God” ExxonMobil management
Case Study in Denial On oath before Congress 1994: “The presence of nicotine does not make cigarettes a drug or smoking an addiction” Q: “Does smoking cause lung cancer? A: “I do not know.”
A Crisis of Trust The 21st Century Corporate Agenda
Dishonesty Pandemic • Enron • WorldCom • Tyco • Qwest • Global Crossing • Arthur Andersen • ...........
Dishonesty Pandemic • HIH -- $4 billion • Parmalat -- €10 billion • Ahold -- €500 million • Mannesmann – six execs tried for ‘breach of trust’ over €57 million bonuses • Multiple scandals in Japan
10 of the 15 biggest bankruptcies in history have occurred since 2001 All have been driven by massive corporate dishonesty
Corporation n. artificial person created by charter; an entity unto itself under the law.
‘The corporation’s legally defined mandate is to pursue, relentlessly and without exception, its own self-interest, regardless of the often harmless consequences it might cause to others.’
Traditional ‘Mistrust’ Model You are here
Virtual Trust-based Model Contingent specialist Knowledge broker Customer
The Company – A Living Organism • A company has ‘psychological verities’ • Corporate psyche can be analysed • Psyche can develop dysfunctions • Dysfunctions block clarity • Lack of clarity • imperils psychological contract • threatens corporate survival
Doing Business in 2020 The successful organisation of 2020 will have no HQ, no CEO, own no IT and will have one-tenth the fixed assets it has today It’s most vital competitive resource will be the authenticity and trust it has built with its stakeholders
CSR Value Curve Growth platform Efficiency Value-based self regulation Strategic philanthropy Legal and compliance IBM Institute for Business Value
HYPER-ORGANISATION ‘Win’ Strip out unnecessary Ps Positions Processes Purchases People Order workplace lives to match corporate goals The Future Company?
HYPER-ORGANISATION ‘Win’ Strip out unnecessary Ps Positions Processes Purchases People Order workplace lives to match corporate goals DISORGANISATION Align with personal values Mirror individual identities Flatten hierarchies Integrate workplace lives with non-work goals The Future Company?
Lost Opportunity % % engaged in CSR activities IBM Institute for Business Value
Exploring Corporate Psyche What drives corporate behaviour?
A New Psychological Contract We are moving from the Industrial Age to the Connected Age Business needs a new mental model of how to engage in relationships with its stakeholders Trust and truthfulness are key
‘The central theme of The Bullshit Factor is that organisations and people inhabit the same psychological universe and that, like people, organisations can have psychological issues. These issues are manifested in patterns of behaviour that reflect levels of ‘untruthfulness’, misperceptions, delusions or some other deceit.’ The Bullshit Factor p 171
What Makes A ‘Healthy’ Psyche? • Objective perception of reality • Naturalness; simplicity; spontaneity • Empathy for humanity • Democratic characteristics
Goodbye Gordon GekkoA New Business Ethos • Healthy Corporation • Civilised Workplace • Nice Company • ‘No-jerks rule’ • “Our people are hired and fired for attitude” SouthWest Airlines
Case Study in Arrogance [ Caught with their pants down?]
Case Study in Arrogance Food Is Survival
Portrait in Courage: GE’s Jack Welch • Routinely fired worst-performing 10 per cent • ‘Neutron Jack’ • 100,000 jobs disappeared during his tenure