values

Is there a Business Model behind that Values Statement?

March 1, 2012

Tweet There are many fledgling businesses that have laudable intent and shaky commercial foundations.   This is a problem because, in an ideal world, the businesses that stand for values we share should also be able to sustain themselves as businesses. That’s the key premise underneath social entrepreneurship and conscious capitalism. Purpose-driven organizations need compelling values, but they also need […]

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Measuring Meaningful Differences: College Rankings and Identity

September 16, 2010

Tweet Here’s a mini-exam for you. College ranking systems are: A. A great way to sell magazines and get your publication’s name in the news B. A scam that preys on the social and economic insecurities of educational organizations C. A somewhat-helpful guide to prospective students D. A process that is entirely gamed by the […]

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Girl Scouts Rebrand Their Cookies: “Every Cookie Has A Mission”

February 18, 2010

Tweet The Girl Scouts have been busy with their organizational re-branding efforts. With the start of the 2010 Cookie Season, they have a new branding campaign specifically designed to make Girl Scout cookies meaningful. Back when I wrote the post Wal-Mart Knocks Off the Girl Scouts, about Walmart entering into competition with the Girls Scouts […]

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The (Feminist) Business Bloggers’ Lament

January 26, 2010

Tweet In the past several weeks I’ve been working with two different groups of businesswomen, developing social-media based movements to advance social change in and around the workplace. Conversations with these women have been intellectually challenging, inspiring and empowering. And they have also been oddly confessional, about a problem that — in my opinion — […]

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Response to 9/11 Tragedy Revealed Business Schools’ Values

September 11, 2009

Tweet You will read many stories today recounting the heroism and the losses experienced eight years ago. We know now how many individuals and organizations rose up to help victims of the WTC & Pentagon attacks, and how individually and collectively  our responses to the 9/11 tragedy revealed important goodness deep within us. Every year […]

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The Only Harvard Business Review Article You Need to Read

January 27, 2009

Tweet Rarely am I inspired by the Harvard Business Review. Despite Harvard Business Review’s efforts to revamp their print edition (with a zippier format, hip graphics and bite-size summaries) and to expand their online initiatives, HBR has always felt behind the times. Even when HBR has addressed issues critical to my own research or summarized […]

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An Agenda for Management Innovation: 25 Challenges

January 27, 2009

Tweet 1. Ensure that management’s work serves a higher purpose. Management, both in theory and practice, must orient itself to the achievement of noble, socially significant goals. 2. Fully embed the ideas of community and citizenship in management systems. There’s a need for processes and practices that reflect the interdependence of all stakeholder groups. 3. […]

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B Corporations and Employer Branding

November 27, 2008

Tweet Branding your organization as being "for purpose and for profit" might help you attract just the right kind of talented job applicants. At least that’s what the HR Folks at Reece Computer Systems seem to believe. In their job posting for a Consulting Engineer , Reece Computer Systems not only describes the position and […]

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Obama’s Website Made Me Cry

September 23, 2008

Tweet It moved me from intent to action. It snuck past my shield of cynicism. It struck me at the core of what I care about. And it made me remember that what really connects people and organizations is the chance for them both to be authentic. What hooked me wasn’t the way the Campaign […]

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Homophobia and (In)Authenticity at Omnicom: What can a leader do?

July 24, 2008

Tweet I am struggling to understand the pattern of reactions to a recent critique of an organization’s authenticity. Bob Garfield, writing in Monday’s (7/21) Advertising Age, has an Open Letter to Omnicom President-CEO John Wren, asking Wren to look at the contradiction between Omnicom’s public Statement on Corporate Responsibility and the homophobia represented in three […]

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