Cultural Misunderstanding and Meaningful Profit
(427 words) Can we create meaningful diversity? Reaching across cultures is challenging. I’d flown halfway around the world to be introduced. “Mom, this is my new boyfriend,” my girlfriend says in Mandarin. Mom looks me up and down and scoffs. Then she scolds my...
Leadership, Insecurity, and Conscious Capitalism
(421 words) Have you ever felt scared people would think you’re incompetent? I have. Today. And yesterday. And the day before that. There’s a portion of almost every day I feel scared of what others think of me. I look at my teenage son and think of the first...
Impossible Impact and Social Responsibility: Meaningfully Changing Our World
(378 words) So your business promises to improve society. How will you follow through? My sons love to architect in the rain. They try to dam a stream one stick at a time. A lighthearted giggle floats on the air as the boys jab their first stick into place. The...
Should You Be Evil? Social Responsibility and Meaningful Profit
(391 words) Should you be evil? Or, should you take social responsibility to heart? I ask my son a related question. “Will you behave now?” I’m floored by the truth, “No, Dad. I won’t be good even if it means I miss dessert.” I understand my son’s feeling...
Is Social Responsibility a Part-Time Gig?
(370 words) Are socially responsible companies ethical only some of the time? My son, Reuben, tried to change his approach from one day to the next. Most of the time, Reuben is unassuming and sweet, if a little cheeky. One day, Reuben is asked to be aggressive and...
Drowning in Potential: People Solving Problems
(422 words) How can we survive digital technology? My son, Reuben, sounds like he has the answer. “Dad, these shoes are too slow!” Reuben won’t budge from our car outside his baseball game. I want to give him the better technology he desires, but the emerald green...
Original Social Responsibility and The Trillion Dollar Opportunity to Redesign the Food Industry
(397 words) What’s a trillion dollar opportunity look like? Consider bodyweight. I know many people (72% of all Americans) struggle with weight, but me? I mean, I had my son’s wiry frame as a teen, I swam in college, and played water polo in grad school. Yet, I was a...
Connected Play: leading social responsibility through shared perspective
(377 words) You promote social responsibility– but do you deliver truly meaningful change? The challenge is like my sons’, who learn to build amazing structures together. Initially, chaos reigns as one brother builds a car’s body while his brother builds wheels for an...
Conscious Capitalism, Prison, and Quality Job Candidates
(394 words) How do you align social responsibility with effective recruiting in a tight labor market? Question your hiring assumptions. I returned late from the #ConsciousCapitalism conference. I’d been gone just two nights, yet I smiled, laughed, and shed a...