The Business of Being Human

A few years back, I worked for a multibillion dollar corporation that sold consumer electronics products and were pretty successful at it. At a town hall meeting, the global CEO asked the entire US audience in attendance if they had any questions. This is an Open Kimono culture, he said, so ask away. A colleague of mine raised her hand. Speaking timidly into the microphone, she asked if the company would ever consider providing on-site day care for children of employees, the way other companies sometimes did. Things went very quiet. Then the CEOs answered, “We are not in the child care business.”

Ouch.

More than 10 years later, this response still doesn’t make much sense. Company management had children, employees had children, and our customers had children. We even sold products targeted to children. The CEO’s answer was the linguistic equivalent of: We are not in the human being business.

Flash forward to 2010. Times have changed. A new leadership culture has emerged to address modern challenges. This year, a good company is defined as one that adds value outside the realm of financial success. As a result, CEOs are starting to create value systems that guide their company’s behavior across all disciplines. Companies are embracing programs that address the environment, poverty, literacy and hunger within their communities and beyond. Not incidentally, socially responsible practices are bringing back a renewed sense of employee pride, and attracting talent and new business. Best of all, customers are rewarding this behavior with patronage, loyalty, and an evangelical zeal that is spread through social media channels.

Social responsibility is finally on the rise because it’s good for communities, good for business, and good for the collective soul.

Thankfully, at the end of the day, we are all in the human being business.

Happy New Year.