photo credit: Jasmic

Looks like Apple is the latest company that has chosen to end its affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the Chamber’s stance opposing legislation aimed at controlling greenhouse gas emissions and other factors in climate change. On the one hand, the Chamber’s position makes a certain kind of sense: as an organization whose primary mission is to serve its member businesses, working to prevent oppose legislation that would be difficult and/or costly for members to effect seems as if it would be the default position. And yet, according to a post at Forbes.com:

That stance isn’t sitting well with some members of the chamber, one of the most powerful lobbying forces in Washington. In the last week of September, three major energy companies left the organization: PG&E (PCG), PNM Resources (PNMPRA) and Exelon (EXC). Two days later, Nike (NKE) resigned from its board. Other members, like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and General Electric (GE), have complained about the chamber’s positions on the issue.

It’s an interesting day for ecology when large, influential companies are taking bold actions in support of it. Granted, a lot of the incentive for change still probably boils down to money, no matter which side you’re on, but it’s encouraging to see green issues winding up with some allies in their corner, whatever the reasons.

Updated to add: more on this story at Mother Jones.

photo credit: melissaclark

Nietzsche once said, “I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”

Amen, brother!

Often we are so focused on the fact-based realities of whether or not we have “lied,” as if that is itself the arbiter of right and wrong, of positive or negative consequences. Isn’t the real issue whether or not we have nurtured trust with other people?

There is a lot going around about the technical aspects of truth in some local community dealings. And it really seems to miss the point by a wide, wide margin. The point is that in order to continue to function as organizations, as government, as friends and neighbors and lovers and the rest, we have to have a bedrock belief that the information we exchange with one another is not only technically correct but that it comes from a place of purposeful honesty, not evasion.

Sadly, it is so easy to take for granted the good will and belief in us that most people offer up front; you only internalize what you have lost when you realize that gift is gone once you’ve treated it too casually. Getting it back can be a long road.

What holds you back from purposeful honesty, in personal as well as public life?

This post was originally published on www.essediem.blogspot.com on May 11, 2009 and is reprinted with permission.

photo credit: juanpol

Making its way through the business blogs this week is a discussion of an article Umair Haque wrote for HarvardBusiness.org blog musing about how Apple could produce its devices in the USA under fair labor conditions and how much more it would cost them and cost the consumer:

how much would it cost to produce a “Good iPod”? One not produced in a sweatshop, but under decent labour conditions. Like, for example, one produced in the USA — hardly a paragon of labour standards, but a starting point.

That’s what I calculated. The Sloan Foundation data estimate just $4 of an iPod’s cost is the final assembly in China. Using average Chinese hourly compensation costs, that’s about 2.7 hours of labour. I then used American hourly compensation costs to adjust for what that final assembly might cost in the States.

The results are surprising. An American made iPod Classic costs just 23% more than a Chinese made iPod Classic: $58 more, to be precise.

A 23% increase in price would almost certainly deter a subset of consumers, but one has to assume that the fair labor practices would attract a different subset, and one that would potentially exhibit loyalty to Apple as it demonstrates the values these consumers espouse. In the end, would it even out? Who knows. It’s a meaningful thought exercise, though, and moreover, it’s the kind of question American businesses should be asking in order to aid the recovery our own economy and workforce.

Hague goes on to say:

If goods cost what they should, we would consume what we could authentically afford, instead of overconsuming what we couldn’t. If their prices reflected real human costs, perhaps yesterday’s unsustainably large macro imbalances wouldn’t have built up in the first place. And that, from an economic point of view, would be good for everyone.

I couldn’t agree more.

But how about you? Does this seem like an unnecessary step, or is it a change Apple should be exploring immediately? What is your take?

photo credit: kennymatic

A debate has sprung up in the business blogosphere prompted by an article written by Nicole Williams in the Huffington Post called 5 Lies You Should Tell Your Boss.

There are indeed situations in the workplace where not telling the truth is just fine, but you have to know when it’s appropriate. (Oh, and make sure to keep track of all your fibs or you could be out of a job in no time!)

She goes on to list 5 things she’s ” giving you permission to lie about:”

1. Your worth.
2. Your future plans.
3. Your experience.
4. Your health.
5. Your tardiness.

In response, Mike Henry Sr. at Lead Change Group posted to his blog, asking What types of relationships start with a lie?.

When someone lies, they do it because of fear. I used to say the only acceptable lies are when someone asks you if they’re pretty or thin. But in reality, my own faults not excepted, there are no acceptable lies because a fear based life makes us selfish and empty. It takes courage to tell the truth and our world needs courage more today than in recent memory.

As we discussed last week, the economy has many people feeling like they’re in a position where they are required to lie. A highly competitive job market coupled with the normal tendencies people have to want to cover up gaps or flaws in their employment history makes for a tempting test of truth.

Obviously, ethics are on the side of honesty. But if that’s not a good enough reason not to lie, there are also practical considerations: if you’re in a small town or a tight-knit community, you can probably expect that even the most trivial exaggeration will be easily verifiable and could ruin your credibility. And let’s face it, your environs need not be that small. While hiring in the densely populated Bay Area, I occasionally encountered resumes from candidates I’d heard cautionary stories about from other hiring managers. Word does get around, and you want your name to be associated with integrity and reliability, not mistrust.

Moreover, when you get to the specifics of what people might lie about, such as your future plans as Ms. Williams suggested, what becomes apparent is that we’re not so much talking about lying as about understanding relevance and context.

In other words, If you’re in a corporate interview for, say, a graphic design position and you’re asked about your future goals, the interviewer is not looking for a treatise on your ambitions in the fine arts; what the interviewer seeks is an understanding of what relevant aspirations you have relative to the job in question. In which case you might answer something about contributing to the successful visual identity of a beloved brand — whatever it is that actually would make the work you’re applying for meaningful to you. It’s not lying to restrict your answers to that scope; it’s merely being specific about the context of your possible responses.

In his post, Mike Henry, Jr. touches on this point, too, when he writes that Ms. Williams’ HuffPo piece raised questions, such as:

Would you prefer someone who knew the truth and hired you anyway?

As long as your truth is a contextually relevant truth (and provided the job you’re interviewing for is a decent fit), there’s no reason an honest answer should hold you back. Just remember that honesty is not a substitute for thoughtfulness; they work best when they work together.

Also in his list of questions is:

Is there an acceptable excuse for lying?

Ultimately, it’s up to you and your conscience to decide. But as many others before me have pointed out (including Ms. Williams), the truth is far easier to maintain than deceit, and personally, I generally choose the truth for all of the reasons above plus one more: I have too much on my mind to keep up with various versions of reality.

What’s your take? When is it OK to lie, or is it ever? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

The economic wasteland we find ourselves has me thinking, and many of you as well. How far would you go to get the job of your dreams? Would you lie? Would you cheat? Would you misrepresent yourself and provide false information? Would you fake your references, having a buddy pose as a former supervisor to ensure a ‘glowing’ recommendation? Would you lie about your GPA or the degree you received? Where do you draw the line? How far are you willing to go to stand out from the rest?

What say you? Leave a comment here or there. We’re interested in following the discussion either way.

photo credit: quinn.anya

As I mentioned on Mother’s Day, I grew up in a household where both parents were business people. (My mother, as I said in that post, spent years as a chamber of commerce executive and is now an elected official in my hometown.) My father spent 30-some years in industrial sales and sales management, and he worked out of our house when he wasn’t on the road, so I saw him in work mode a great deal of the time.

Both my parents were role models for me in many ways to become the Corporate Idealist I am today. Below are a few lessons I learned from my father, and which I hope are similar to lessons other people have learned from their own fathers about business.

Act sensibly, but be passionate about what you do.

My father was a likable, friendly guy but he had a short fuse and I sometimes heard him getting angry on the phone with suppliers, colleagues, and probably even customers. I know that what set him off the most was when people didn’t match his expectations of quality and service.

While I don’t think yelling at people on the phone is necessarily the best way to conduct ourselves in business, it shows passion. If you’re passionate about what you do, the challenge is to use your zeal to fuel others’ enthusiasm, and to spark your own creativity and innovation. Even slightly hot-headed dads would probably agree.

Don’t start fights, but stand up for yourself if you’re bullied.

This lesson comes not so much from the workplace as from the playground, but it applies everywhere. Unfortunately, even in the most mundane office environments, there are often still playground bullies. Sometimes they’re the CEO; sometimes they’re just at the next desk. Fortunately, Cy Wakeman recently posted an entry over at Fast Company about dealing with office bullies.

Invent and innovate.

My dad and I were on the front porch swing one time, and he started talking about inventions, and how much money there was in inventing something, and how I should try to think of something I could invent. I remember describing a concept I had for a typewriter that would type down onto paper underneath of it so it could work on odd size pages and bound paper. I don’t think he was very impressed, and I chuckle when I think of it.

Still, while I have not invented something in a classic sense, I have certainly tried to apply a philosophy of innovation to my work and other areas of my life.

In the end, your relationships matter.

When my dad was dying from cancer in 2005, he asked me to help him write some letters to some of his friends. He had a very difficult time finding a way to express what he wanted to say, so we came up with something that said “thank you for everything – your support, your kindness, your prayers, and most of all, your love.” Several of his friends approached me at his funeral to tell me how much they cherished that letter. Many of us may not suffer long enough to get the bittersweet chance to write those kinds of letters, so it’s important to express our love and gratitude to each other as often as we can.

The corollary to that lesson is that life is too short to spend your time with people you don’t care about, or who don’t share your values.

How about you? What did you learn from your father about business, or about life in general? Leave your lessons and stories in the comments.

And Happy Father’s Day to all fathers and children of fathers!

There’s been a lot of discussion about elevating corporate responsibility to become a strategic driver of your business. Most companies would like to benefit from their ethical efforts in the form of increased customer attraction and loyalty, yet few have figured out how to do it successfully. When marketing and PR are relied on, it can often backfire in accusations of greenwashing. The secret is to apply brand-strategy principles to build your ethical reputation.

Brand: Who you are, not what you say

First, let’s back up and define what a brand is. More than a logo, tagline or campaign, a brand is a promise delivered. It’s no longer about marketing; it’s about co-creating your reputation with your customers and managing perceptions through your actions. That means your brand could be favorable or unfavorable, depending on how you interact within your ecosystem and whether you’ve actively managed your brand or not.

A brand strategy is, in essence, a focused strategic platform that guides every aspect of the business. It should incorporate 4Ds: desirable by customers, deliverable by the company, distinctive from the competition, and durable over time. It’s a blueprint for how you do business, as well as for the entire customer experience.

Since brand is inherently about building a reputation, it’s not a stretch to say that strategic CSR is all about brand-building… not philanthropy or community programs. The latter are among the tactics to be judiciously identified and tailored to support a desired outcome, which should be to build a clear, consistent and believable reputation among your constituents that engenders preference and loyalty. That desired outcome informs the entire customer experience as well as how you do business.

Five strategies for aligning brand with values

There are five brand strategy approaches that are directly relevant to building your ethical reputation.

chart showing options for ethical brand building

1. Align with Brand Differentiator

Ideally your ethical initiatives will directly support your brand promise. Remember, a brand is a promise delivered… so consider what makes your brand unique from competitors and develop key initiatives to support that. For example, one of Target’s philanthropy programs is to support the arts and design, which directly supports Target’s “affordable design” brand differentiator. Instead of cutting your CSR programs during the downturn, consider shifting resources from generic programs to those that support and drive not just your category, but your brand.

2. Create an Ingredient Brand

Think Westin’s Heavenly Bed or, in the CSR space, Marks & Spencer’s Plan A or GE’s Ecomagination. This is the ‘special sauce’ that makes your brand preferable to values-based buyers and employees. Creating a brand for your ethical initiatives accomplishes several important objectives:

• Helps clarify for employees and customers your ethical value proposition
• Makes it easier to allocate human and financial resources to your initiative (hint: assign a brand manager to own, drive and measure)
• Serves as a growth platform for customer experiences, products and services
• Elevates your social and environmental initiatives above me-too commodity status.

There are a few risks of goodwashing with this approach, so be sure that everyone is committed to creating something of unique value that’s completely aligned with the vision and values of the parent brand. And any misstep by the parent brand may end up discrediting the hard work done to build the ethical ingredient brand.

3. Create a Product Brand

If there are values-driven buyers in your category (highly likely), consider launching a product just for them. Clorox GreenWorks and BP Solar are good examples. Note that these brands are tied closely to their parent brands, so don’t consider this option unless the parent company is doing its part on the ethics front. But a product brand is an excellent opportunity to help customers experience your values and simultaneously boost the profit part of the triple bottom line. Case in point, GreenWorks has now captured 42% of the natural cleaner category in a little over a year.

4. Create a New Sub-Brand

A separate brand (with its own customer experience, distribution channels, etc.) that’s completely anchored on the triple-bottom line puts a bit of distance between it and the parent company. Good examples include Starwood’s Element or, through acquisition, Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s. Why use a sub-brand strategy?

• To lead your category in capturing hearts and minds of values-oriented consumers without being saddled with baggage of the parent company
• To minimize claims of greenwashing, as all actions of the sub-brand are (should be) congruent.
• To help “turn the Titanic” and reposition the parent company as an ethical brand. The parent company can “borrow” the positive brand equity from the sub-brand while going through the process of cleaning up its act.

Acquisition is the easier route, but often the ethical brand gets flack for “selling out” if it’s not handled carefully, and core values still need to be aligned. Building it yourself is harder, but the benefits could easily outweigh the effort required.

5. Reposition the Brand

This option is especially important for companies with a history of contributing to the problems of the planet rather than the solutions. Formerly “evil” companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and BP have made great strides in redefining their brands as more responsible. With a very large company, this is a process that takes years and top-down dedicated effort to fundamentally change the essence and ethos of the company. For a smaller brand it’s definitely easier.

No hard and fast rules

Please note that there are no easy answers or guidelines here. The most appropriate approach for your company depends on the unique combination of your customers, their expectations and perceptions of your brand versus other options, the progress you’ve made in the ethical realm, whether or not you actually have a clearly defined brand promise, the commitment level from your executive team… I could go on, but you get the point.

I’m happy to have a preliminary discussion with you about the right approach and key considerations for your business; just contact me at jennifer@fruitfulstrategy.com.

This post was originally published at Fruitful Strategy and is reprinted with permission.

photo credit: Éamonn

A friend once told me, “When clients come to me with something they want to do, I pass it through three tests. If it is not clearly illegal, flagrantly immoral, or physically dangerous, I tell them to go right ahead and do it.” For years I thought this philosophy was unique to the practice of law, but I’ve recently wondered if it should be applied in most professional work.

Often when a client comes to you, he or she is less seeking your advice than seeking your skills in implementing what they already have decided to do. This may create an ethical pull in one or two directions. The most difficult is when the client’s goal or process itself conflicts with your personal ethics.

Recording Your Concerns

We all know people who have succumbed to the pressure to go along with something they believed to be wrong, and the results are disastrous. There is no good end to that story. If you have a supervisor, talk with them in private about your concerns. Most people are supportive of working through the problem, and at the very least if you are now on record with your issue. If you are beyond ethics and into illegal territory, you must refuse participation. If you are the supervisor, you will have to have this conversation directly with the client.

Wants vs. Needs

There is a second type of more nuanced ethical dilemma: You may not think the goal or process is wrong, but you may believe it is not in the client’s best interest. We do what we do to help advance positive results for our clients, and in turn hope to garner a reputation for excellent outcomes. If we do what the client wants, and the outcomes are poor, have we truly succeeded? But if we push our own agendas and become disconnected from the heart and mind of our clients, do the outcomes matter?

Staying Connected for Everyone’s Success

We can do more to balance this equation by strategically building better, deeper relationships with our clients, and by spending more time working through the pros and cons of various decisions. There are no easy short cuts.

I would tweak the story above to say the three tests are for us as providers. Know your own business culture and standards and faithfully enforce them. If we cannot establish shared goals and understanding behind project direction, the client relationship will not be successful. That relationship is the ultimate positive outcome we all want.

How have you handled tricky ethical scenarios at work? Tell us in the comments.

photo credit: nyki_m

When I was growing up, my mother was CEO of a chamber of commerce that served five communities around my hometown. I was frequently roped into volunteering in the chamber office, at networking functions, and so on. As a result, I was very comfortable mingling with business people at networking events by the time I was 12. So when I talk about what I learned about business from my mother, I’m not speaking in poetic abstractions.

But even in those poetic abstractions, there’s a lot of sound business wisdom. Even outside of a traditional business environment, motherly advice never steers us wrong.

Play nice with others. The workplace is so much easier to enjoy when you like the people you work with. At the very least, when people show each other basic respect, collaboration gets easier, resources free up, and good things happen.

Do your homework. Whether it’s preparing notes for a meeting so you don’t waste anyone’s time, reading a report someone has asked you to read, or writing a report to document the knowledge you’ve gained in a project, making a little effort to do what people need from you is still appreciated.

Share. The wisdom goes that the best managers pass down credit and soak up blame. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to work for a manager who lives by this credo, you know how much it can free you up to do your best and most creative work, unafraid of a reasonable amount of failure.

Work it out. Conflicts arise in every workplace, and those who can confront others directly in a non-threatening way to come to resolution are going to come out ahead of those who can’t or won’t.

On the other hand, some motherly advice makes more sense flipped on its head:

Play with matches Be prepared to take risks. While risk takers are more likely to get burnt, they are also more likely to reap great rewards. Volunteer for projects that are outside your comfort zone or experience. Don’t hold back your opinion or point of view, stay in the arena. Just because “we’ve always done things this way” is not a reason to avoid approaching business challenges in a creative manner.

(via Management-Issues)

What about you? What advice did your mother give you that you carry with you in business to this day?

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there, and thanks for teaching us to be better people.

Building Out the Green Infrastructure [The EcoInnovator]

Today, the fundamental underpinnings of the First Industrial Revolution are no longer true. Energy is no longer free; it is expensive in absolute and real terms. The externalities of energy usage are no longer acceptable to the general population. [...] We believe we are at the dawn of the Second Industrial Revolution.

7 Principles of Admirable Business Ethics [The Perfect Life1]

5. Become Community Involved: Remain involved in community-related issues and activities, thereby demonstrating that your business is a responsible community contributor. In other words, stay involved.

Stress Management For The CEO [Forbes.com]

He runs marathons, which he says not only keep him physically fit but provide major stress relief. What really sets his mind at ease, though, is a bowl of chips and some good salsa and guacamole with friends.

The Value of Workplace Practical Jokes [HBR Editors' Blog - HarvardBusiness.org]

In these days of dark morale, I find that an occasional, gentle joke can be quite a bonding experience for colleagues.