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corporate social responsibility

CAREERS   |  2 comments

Diversity and the Healthcare Sector

Current demographics show that the healthcare sector in the US is faced with a more diverse patient-base than ever before, and this demographic trend is set to continue. This change in America’s demographic poses several challenges for the healthcare sector. What steps can healthcare organizations take in the short-term that will support them in better-serving the needs of an increasingly diverse population in the future, positioning them as leaders as health services providers, and as employers. READ»

Kenan Samms

Business People Interested in Nonprofit Boards: Up or Down In This Economy and Post-Madoff?

My perspective is based on my work helping businesses with their CSR/philanthropy strategies, training and placing business executives and professionals on nonprofit boards, and consulting to global, national, and regional boards ...READ»

Kenan Samms

Transforming Nonprofit Boards for Effective Governance and a Better World

The challenge facing a number of nonprofit organizations is that the boards are not suitably organized, structured, or prepared for their authority to guide, shape, and govern the organization.  And some boards are lacking board ...READ»

Kenan Samms

Who’s Got The D: Why Governance Matters for Nonprofits

According to Harvard Business Review, “decisions are the coin of the realm in business. Every success, every mishap, every opportunity seized or missed stems from a decision someone made-or failed to make. Yet in many firms, ...READ»

What's the True Impact of Your Employee Volunteer Program? Glad You Asked

Almost every conversation we have regarding employee volunteer programs involves a vigorous discussion of metrics. Business managers want to determine the value of hours contributed to the community via employee volunteers. Non-profits are trying to assess whether or not it is worth the trouble organizing massive employee volunteer events for corporations. Stakeholders question whether business should be distracted by activities that seem to offer little to no bottom line impact. READ»

Kenan Samms

CSR: When Doing Good Has to Be Good for Business

I’m all for businesses engaging in corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, service, and any and all good for the world.  But it was never smart to sell good deeds to businesses on the sole merits of being nice neighbors ...READ»

Kenan Samms

You're Hired but Don't Come to Work: Good for the World

Consulting firms, law firms, and banks are reconciling their desire to build talent with their need to cut costs by deferring “start dates to new hires, giving them six months or a year to travel or do public service. This ...READ»

Kenan Samms

President Bill Clinton, CSR, and New Business Models for Economic Success

“My daughter, who is studying healthcare policy in graduate school, is schooling me that the biggest financial burden on our healthcare system will not be the aging baby boomer population; it will be the outdated healthcare ...READ»

Kenan Samms

How to Reduce Restaurant Waste and Cost by Over 50% AND Power a City

Last week I had the benefit of meeting the team that is revolutionizing the way restaurants will look at their waste.  The group is Fox Pollutions Systems from the UK and Germany and I met them in the corporate offices of Ted’s ...READ»

Make your CSR believable? How? Create and Leverage Social Capital

Trust: Why Business Lost It, And How To Win It Back (Part 2) Many companies are turning to Corporate Social Responsibility as a strategy to win back the trust of their stakeholders and customers. It won’t work. Why? Because you don’t become trustworthy by asking people to trust you even more.READ»

Kenan Samms

Clifford Chance’s DC Forum on CSR and Leadership Development

Business people and nonprofit leaders participated this week at a forum convened in Washington, D.C. by leading international law firm Clifford Chance.  The event explored ways to advance global, national, and regional agendas in ...READ»

MBA Program Trashed on Harvard Business Podcast

What does it take to create an outstanding leader? Apparently, not a Harvard MBA. Based on a study by Henry Mintzberg of 19 Harvard trained CEOs identified as superstars in 1990, ten were outright failures and another four are mediocre at best. Only five of the 19 seemed to be doing all right. This year alone, another 150,000 MBA's step into leadership positions in corporate America. How do MBA's become leaders we can trust?READ»

Kenan Samms

Graduation Speeches: The Rules of Life and CSR

Having attended over 30 high school, college, and graduate school commencement ceremonies (my children’s, and also institutions where I have been involved), and having been a graduation speaker myself, I have noticed that ...READ»

CAREERS   |  Comment

Diversity and Academia

With a rapidly increasing diverse population, US college classrooms ought now to begin filling up with higher numbers of minority students. With regards to matriculation, the academic environment, faculty, and staff will need to actively support this more diverse student body. Going forward, academic institutions cannot rely solely on the increasingly diverse demographic eligible for higher education. They must acknowledge and address the cultural and economic barriers that may prevent students of color and first-generation college students from pursuing a college degree, ensuring that the student body more accurately reflects the population that the academic institution serves. READ»

How Good Is ‘Doing Good’?

As my readers know, I am a strong proponent of good data collection. What’s more, I firmly believe that unless employer-sponsored volunteerism is tied to the functional strategies of business (such as HR or Marketing), it can easily be relegated to peripheral niceties. In order for corporate volunteering programs (and Corporate Social Responsibility as a whole) to fully realize the associated costs, they must begin to function as a business strategy - not as philanthropy.READ»

Kenan Samms

Bad Apples Do Spoil the Barrel: How Companies Can Use their CSR Dollars to Develop Leaders While Also Making the World Better

In “How, When, and Why Bad Apples Spoil the Barrel: Negative Group Members and Dysfunctional Groups,” the authors explain how bad apple behaviors are real and consume “inordinate amounts of time, psychological resources, and ...READ»

Trust: Why Business Lost It, And How To Win It Back

What happened? Wall Street, in collusion with institutions around the world, have not only lost our wealth and our jobs, they have stolen our trust. Now we are “left to rely increasingly on governments for the creation of our wealth, something that they have always been conspicuously bad at doing.....Trust is fragile. Like a piece of china, once cracked it is never quite the same. And people's trust in business, and those who lead it, is today cracking." - Charles HandyREAD»

Kenan Samms

Leader in Corporate Sustainability Arena Comments on Wal-Mart's Position

Scott Seydel remarks on my recent post on Conscious Capitalism as it relates to Wal-Mart.READ»

Kenan Samms

UpMo for Leadership Development: Volunteering is the Yellow Brick Road

  UpMo (for upward mobility), recently featured here, is an online service that promises to help you accelerate your career success.  As a lifetime volunteer, and a matchmaker for business volunteers and nonprofit boards, ...READ»

Kenan Samms

Jack Welch, A Proponent of Conscious Capitalism?

Right now, denizens of young corporate leaders and entrepreneurs who are fighting the good fight –getting investors and their corporate leaders on board with new and more sustainable ways to view business – are perking up at the recent words from former GE Chairman and CEO, Jack Welch. If you have been reading my blog, you have followed my discussions of sustainability as a part of corporate consciousness for the past months. Today, I was pointed towards the latest word from Mr. Welch, publically stating that it was “a dumb idea” for executives to focus so heavily on quarterly profits and share price gains. Wait, wasn’t it Welch who originally created the “shareholder value movement” in the early 80s? READ»

Corporate Social Responsibility - Competitive Advantage? Maybe.

Corporate Social Responsibility will never offer companies a competitive advantage - unless it is both competitive and advantageous. If you are a risk taker, and step out from the herd, CSR may offer you the edge. If you can tie it to key business strategies, it will also make you more successful. Mediocre action coupled with reporting ‘company niceties’ won’t do it.READ»

Kenan Samms

Getting a Job in the Nonprofit Sector: Making Your Move from Corporate

“Definitely consider making the transition from the for-profit to the nonprofit sector. Your skills are transferable, and it definitely feels good to do good. But don't assume that it is exactly the same; social impact is a lot ...READ»

CAREERS   |  Comment

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY LEADERSHIP SERVICE LAUNCHED

Executive Search firm launches "CSR Insights" (http://www.csrinsights.com) - a free service for social responsibility leadersREAD»

Korea Shoots For The Moon Using Green Energy

For some, the present financial crises signals a defense against the many variables of an uncertain future. For others, it is the impetus to create the future of our imaginations. Nations with an emphasis on sustainability are about to emerge as the architects of the new global economy.READ»

Kenan Samms
ENERGY   |  Comment

Building Green Cities Online with Renewable Energy

Online games which teach us how to retool our world are extremely valuable in educationing ourselves and the next generation, but we must be mindful that the lessons are real.READ»

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