Obama's Call for Corporate Citizenship

Obama's inaugural speech called the nation to responsibility, and asked for a new era of citizenship in which all types of actors, great and small, work together to make the changes necessary for ushering in a more healthy, sustainable era.

Bradley K. Googins, the Executive Director of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, heard in the speech a challenge to corporate America. In a recent blog post, "The price and promise of citizenship: Obama's challenge to corporate America," Googins writes:

This call to the nation is also a call to American business. The price and promise of citizenship is at the heart of the reconfiguration of business that is currently playing itself out in the midst of the most critical economic crisis in several generations.

The concept of business having responsibilities to society has been going through its own transformation for the past 10 years. Indeed, a great deal of rethinking and recalibrating corporate responsibility has been taking place, positioning citizenship at the heart of the enterprise. As Lee Scott, the chief of Walmart, said this month speaking to the National Retail Federation: “Let me be clear about this point. There is no conflict between delivering value to shareholders and helping solve bigger societal problems.”

But just as President Obama is challenging all of us as citizens, the private sector has to take this challenge seriously both as a key component of business success in the 21^st century and as a citizen responsible for doing its part creating a sustainable society. As Lee Scott emphasizes, the two are not mutually exclusive and in fact are intricately entwined with each other.

The post is a clear and important voice for the corporate responsiblty question. Indeed, I love that the name of the center is "Corporate Citizenship," rather than "Corporate Responsibility." Rather than the knee-jerk minimize harm CSR, it suggests a much more forward-looking, value-focused approach to the corporation's role in society. Indeed, Googins writes:

Growing evidence from the consumer movement and the green revolution clearly point to a new set of expectations of a company’s citizenship that not only cares about social and environmental issues, but walks the talk in terms of its practices and its products. Companies are judged less by how they minimize any harm from their footprint of their operations, and more by the lasting handprint they leave through positive contributions to communities and society.

I think this is right on. In the 21st century, marketing will not be enough and companies that create real value - for their clients, their shareholders, and the ecosystems in which they operate - will win. Read the rest of the post here.