CR: professional Marmite

Those of us working within CR are the professional version of Marmite. Almost without fail, talking about CR provokes two general reactions from your audience and those reactions can neatly be divided into two (again, general) groups of people. Those encountered socially or those at work who don't have daily contact with CR will remark "Oh really? How interesting!". They may share an opinion or experience, ask some questions, and generally express delight and wonder at your radiating halo and how you are managing to single-handedly save the world. Hurrah! No surprise, haha, that the other group - those whose job title doesn't include CR but who have to engage with it at work in some way - will roll their eyes / cross their arms / have a go at me / all of the above. The worst are just plain rude or vicious, and I can tell you it ain't all that infrequent either. I find it frustrating and amusing in equal measures - I take it personally because I care, but I know they're going to have to care eventually whether they like it or not.

Everyone's reaction will be prompted by their own unique experiences but I do wonder where this antipathy has come from. Are we to blame, have we made it such a bad experience that the reaction is understandable and even proportionate? CR is evolving so quickly in so many different areas that even for those within the discipline it can be confusing and difficult to understand what is going on, so it's no small wonder those who don't really give a damn find the whole lot too much of a kerfuffle to bother. And of course if you don't look at the facts behind the trends or understand the context of each case you won't be seeing the real picture.

By virtue of what I do my outlook is skewed towards thinking in the context of ethical trading within retail, so I must own up to that now. By asking colleagues/brands/agents/licensees/suppliers to ensure products are developed and sourced responsibly you are having the effect of incurring cost (audits, materials, product prices) and it may slow things down (to give us time to check factories aren't using slavery/child labour/death traps). Neither of these things go down well with those being pressed on all sides to deliver better quality products at lower prices within shorter lead times; that's like being between a rock and ten hard places all at once.

I don't think there is a particular solution to this, but I do approach it with a number of things in mind - persistence, willingness to try and make the process understandable and as easy as possible, consistency, patience, and again persistence. If you work within a company whose senior management fully embrace ethical trading then your life is instantly easier, a happy situation I enjoy. If not, yours will be a constant battle from within as well as without. Keep your chin up - every little bit of progress you effect is making real difference to the lives of those in the factories you are dealing with.

I don't think we should be ashamed to mention ethics in a business context, but please don't expect anyone to be interested in the details or your great stories (unless it's for the annual report). Fact - they bore people. I, on the other hand, love nothing more, but that's beside the point! The only tales of this kind that will grab attention are the ones when something bad has already happened and you / a competitor is being publicly roasted on the front of a newspaper.

Despite all this, I revel in the fact that - hate it though they do - the haters are going to have to jump on this particular bandwagon eventually. So quit your whining and get on with it, ok??

I'd rather be an idealist

Of the infinite motivating forces and practical constraints that will affect a business's CR agenda, I think there are two that need to be especially carefully balanced. But pitch the practical (business case, resources required, turning effort into results) against the idealistic (ethics, inspiring people, creating a vision) and the former will win almost every time. It is easy to see why, and I am not saying that isn't the way it should be. However, too much of either and you are taking a risk. Too practical and you may end up with an uninspiring and limited set of activities with equally limited effects. Too idealistic and you could be scoffed at all the while you fail to progress to your utopian fantasies.

I am a champion of the over-looked idealist, though. I worry that if we are too realistic we may be tempted not to really get stuck in or have big dreams. That is not good enough in any area of life or business and it smacks of quitting before you really start - would you think that about product development or marketing? I think not. Now, I am not suggesting going all guns blazing at an idea that seems improbable (or impossible!), but don't give it a miss just because it makes your brain ache or you think it will be difficult.

I call myself a realistic idealist. My ideals are the driving force, with my realistic side creating the day-to-day steps and solutions. Too flaky for you? Well, that's just too bad, isn't it.

It's all in the name

There are endless names for all of this, from CSR to sustainability, green to business ethics. Unsurprisingly there are just as many definitions ranging from the all-encompassing to the nit-picky specific most loved by specialists and geeks. For me I favour the broad - the whole lot can be best summed up by the term corporate responsibility - CR: your business doing what it does, but in a responsible manner. So this is how I shall refer to it from now on, you have been warned. As for what 'responsible' is, who you are responsible to, what it actually means in practice, well, we'll get onto that another time.

First, though, three of the most commonly used terminologies to help you navigate your way through the quagmire. 'Corporate Social Responsibility' or 'CSR' is the most commonly known, although it is now a rather misleading description. As I understand it, two separate streams of activity - the social and the environmental - developed over time, and at various points were paired up, merged, separated, the gaps filled in, evolved. This does well to explain where the 'S' of CSR came from, but while all this is very interesting (err...?!) I think there is little to be gained by dwelling on it; let's just get on with it please?

Another regular is 'sustainability', usually used to describe environmental impact or resource availability. 'Green' is in my opinion the most ridiculous of all and has done the most damage through misguided PR exploitation when talking about environmental impact. Use it and be prepared to hear me laugh at you.

There are all sorts of wonderful places that you can check out definitions and descriptions, although I must say that stalwart of modern day knowledge, Wikipedia, does a pretty good job of explaining CSR if you're interested. Do we need all these different terms? Maybe, maybe not - but if it gets more people talking about it because they get to use their new pet name then all the better, I say. Makes it awfully tricky when you're looking for a job though...