6/1/13

Get the boss on board with sustainability | Ethical Corporation

Ethical Corp Business St rat egy Et hical Corporat ion's magazine and business int elligence resources Subscribe now The Et hical Corporat ion Awards 2013 2 4 /06 /2 01 3 - 2 4 /06 /2 01 3 , London, UK A celebration of sustainability and CSR best practice from around the world Get t he boss on board wit h sust ainabilit y By Toby Webb on May 1 , 2 01 3 Toby Webb has 1 5 ideas y our chief executiv e wont be able to resist Conv incing senior leadership that sustainable business m atters rem ains a m ajor challenge. Heres a few prov en way s of doing so, in no particular order. 1) Get a non-execut ive/independent direct or on y our side Find the one m ost am enable to the agenda, and hav e them tabling board agenda questions and adding som e steel to y our corporate responsibility com m ittee m eetings. Inv est som e personal tim e and ask them to m entor y ou. Flattery works. 2) Lay t he breadcrumb t rail Your ideas dont m atter. Your CEOs, of course, do. So find sm art way s to plant seeds that m ay take a y ear or two to take root. Then when y our CEO sum m ons y ou to hear their idea, feign y our surprise well, and put y our pre-prepared plan into action quickly . 3) Map out board roles and t asks, based on personal int erest What does y our CFO like to do in his/her spare tim e? How about y our legal director? This can be connected to the responsibility agenda specifically or in general. Map out roles and tasks/speeches for the board aligned with their interests. 4) Use t he family As creepy as this sounds, it can work. Gaps president, Paul Pressler, said in 2 004 that when he joined the com pany from Disney , his daughter asked, dont they run sweatshops? and the path was set for disclosure leadership. I cant tell y ou exactly how to do this, but kids count. 5) Present y our CEO wit h solid case st udies of opport unit y Yes, this is blindingly obv ious. But too m any heads of corporate responsibility let CEOs find shaky Michael Porter Harv ard Business Rev iew articles on their own. Why leav e it to chance? Create a quarterly CEO update on way s com panies are com m ercializing sustainability 6) Pit ch it as a governance issue Few heads of corporate responsibility do this well. It should be an easy win. Make it clear to y our board/bosses that badly m anaged com panies trade at a discount, and that transparency and engagem ent is clearly linked to better m anagem ent by inv estors. 7 ) Link it wit h where t hey are going next Lets say y our CEO isnt a lifer. Most are not. Its quite helpful to plant a seed that m eans wherev er they work next, this stuff is going to m atter there too. Theres not an industry or organisation that wont expect som e knowledge of the responsibility agenda.
www.ethicalcorp.com/business-strategy/get-boss-board-sustainability?utm_source=http%3a%2f%2fuk.ethicalcorp.com%2ffc_ethicalcorporationlz%2f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1679+Xmas1641Bds+and+Past+FM+Ma 1/3

6/1/13

Get the boss on board with sustainability | Ethical Corporation

8) Pick an issue and offer a leadership opport unit y Note how som e CEOs jum ped on the UN CEO water m andate som e y ears ago and m ade the issue their own. What else is m ov ing up the agenda? The Plastics Disclosure Project is a new one gaining traction. Why not use it, or som ething else? 9) Evoke t he compet it ive spirit The idea of keeping up with peers, and ov ertaking them , is v ital to get a CEO m otiv ated on corporate responsibility . Com petition should be fram ed in way s they can understand: less truck m iles per tonne, lower power costs, better em ploy ee engagem ent 10) Use a bucket of cold wat er This is a serious point. Shock tactics are risky , but som e can work. Bring in a couple of outside v oices (not consultants) who can tell a business leaders m eeting som e hom e truths about the com petition. This m ust be followed quickly by a focus on the opportunity to catch up and ov ertake. 11) Send t hem int o t he supply chain Back in 2 01 0, I trav elled to Ghana to v isit cocoa farm s with the UK CEO of Kraft, Nick Bunker. He was clearly v ery affected by what we saw. Theres nothing like m eeting a sm allholder farm er on two dollars a day to conv ince a CEO of the m oral and logical case. 12) Put t hem in front of some crit ical st akeholders CEOs m ust understand how others see them . Middle age m ale (m ostly ) delusion is a big problem . One-on-one m eetings with a conserv ation NGO could be followed up with som ething m ore substantiv e, such as a non-tam e stakeholder m eeting where the CEO m ust stay quiet(ish). 13) Show t hem just how t he really unfort unat e live Its a sim ple idea. Take y our board or som e of them , and show them the pov erty that exists so close to top financial centres all ov er the world. Just because its old school doesnt m ean it cant be effectiv e. 14) Demonst rat e how mot ivat ing responsible business is for employ ees Rely ing on the em ploy ee annual or quarterly surv ey is not enough. Use proper studies, books, credible sources, and tell stories. Create annual indiv idual sustainability innov ation awards and m ake the board judge them , with som e outside help. 15) Take out t he jargon CEOs hate to feel left behind. That m ay inv oke a reaction of retreat. Take out the acrony m s and talk the language of sim ple business im prov em ents. Toby Webb is founder of Ethical Corporation and Stakeholder I ntelligence. He blogs daily at tobywebb.blogspot.coluk.

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6/1/13

Get the boss on board with sustainability | Ethical Corporation

C-suite tactics: Selling sustainability Sustainable business Keep the business case in its proper place Chief sustainability officers: CSOs in the C-suite Em bedding sustainability : Make m anagers leaders Essay : Why com panies m ust build the business case Big business on the sustainability offensiv e The Et hical Corporat ion Awards 2013 2 4 /06 /2 01 3 - 2 4 /06 /2 01 3 , London, UK A celebration of sustainability and CSR best practice from around the world

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