When I joined Sky seven years ago, one of the directors told me that he had heard of corporate responsibility, but wasn’t sure what it had to do with us. He was grateful that I was there to tidy up the random cheques we appeared to be writing to charities, but that was about it.

I don’t think he quite realised how clever this was as an approach to managing a corporate responsibility professional. What better way to motivate a campaigner to drive change, fast, than to tell them their issue is marginal?

But that urge for speed has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. Corporate responsibility professionals everywhere are fighting to place responsibility right at the heart of their businesses. But the speed with which we are trying to get to that goal can sometimes result in a lack of clear thinking and focus about where we want to be when we get there. This can make it a rather ill-disciplined discipline.

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