The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist by Christine Bader

The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist by Christine Bader

Author:Christine Bader [BADER, CHRISTINE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781937134891
Publisher: Bibliomotion, Inc.
Published: 2014-10-15T00:00:00+00:00


Distributing Ownership

Other Corporate Idealists know that their success lies in getting others to become champions of their work. Rona Starr, who runs the Supplier Workplace Accountability (SWA) program at McDonald’s, told me about a time when a senior executive in an unrelated function mentioned SWA before she did—and she was thrilled. “Every time I raise my hand people go, ‘Oh crap, SWA, here we go.’ It really gets legs when other people start to talk about it, not just me.” Charlotte Grezo, who has worked in sustainability roles in a range of industries, told me that one of her personal key performance indicators is “when senior people think it was all their own idea, then that’s got to be good.”

As Dave Stangis, vice president of public affairs and corporate responsibility for Campbell’s Soup, told me, “The levers have to be theirs, not mine.” When he first came to the company in 2008, then-CEO Doug Conant was keen to emulate the simplicity and boldness of the sustainability goals that Lee Scott announced for Walmart in 2005—and he wanted to do it quickly. “He said, ‘We can do this right now. Let’s walk down the hall, meet with our [senior vice president] of the supply chain network, and we’ll do this in ten minutes.’ I said, ‘We can do this in five minutes, you and I, but I want to do this collaboratively. Let me get the business and functional leaders to set the goals and agree on the framework. They will be more invested and the strategy will have staying power.’” Doug Conant agreed to Dave’s approach, which ended up with such distributed ownership of the sustainability goals (such as reducing energy and water use and waste) that they’re factored into incentive compensation for managers and senior executives across the company.

Creating ownership is an important skill in all sectors. Arvind Ganesan, director of Human Rights Watch’s Business and Human Rights Division, told me: “The one-sentence description of advocacy that I think is best is: ‘Good advocacy is getting somebody to think that it is in their interest to do what you want them to do.’ The only way you can effectively do that is if you understand where other people are coming from.”

As best-selling author and entrepreneurship guru Seth Godin has written, “If it’s about your mission, about spreading the faith, about seeing something happen, not only do you not care about credit, you actually want other people to take credit.”



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