On November 4th, 2008, the world changed. Hope was restored not only for millions of Americans, but for billions of people around the world. Although it has been said that the word ‘change’ was overused by Obama’s campaign, on that day, the transformation was indisputably palpable.
As a Canadian who is unable to vote in the US election, it was an incredible gift for me to have been in New York City on that fateful day. When I landed in the city on Tuesday afternoon, the atmosphere was electric. The weather was unseasonably warm for November and people were giddy on the streets. While strolling down Fifth Avenue, I overheard a man on his cell phone telling a friend that he was so excited that he “couldn’t work and left the office early” just so he could go and watch the election coverage. There was truly something in the air that day.
Watching the World Change
The next day, as the 2008 Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Conference took off, all talk was about the consequences of Obama’s presidency for the future of the country and the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on a global scale. In a room full of the top leaders of the business community both in the US and internationally, I felt as though I was in the presence of visionaries who had hope for the future. It didn’t matter whether they were Democrats or Republicans; in that room at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, there was discussion about the next level of collaboration between corporations, NGOs, foundations and supranational organizations such as the United Nations to make the world a healthier place for all of us to live and work.
One of the most prominent messages that kept coming up again and again throughout the three days of the conference is that it is no longer a viable option to keep CSR on the periphery of business activities. It needs to be incorporated into the mainstream and daily plans of organizations to ensure continuity and sustainability in their activities, but most of all to create meaningful impact for society. Throwing a wad of cash towards an issue is the old system and an outdated way of thinking. The new dialogue is around intentional collaboration towards real change.
In Conversation with Peter Senge
To explain this idea further, Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact, emphasized that it is now “time to invest in what connects us.” In many ways, Kell is joining the voice of creative thinkers such as Peter Senge in providing momentum for the movement towards a shift of collective consciousness. Senge’s recent book, The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World, provides successful case studies of such collaborations in action. Although the word ‘revolution’ in a political sense has often been associated with a type of surrender and uprising against the existing structure, the revolution that Senge and his co-authors are encouraging is slightly different in that it “is not about giving up; it’s about rediscovering what we most value.”
In his panel at the BSR event, Senge asked us to break up into groups and think about a hypothetical situation where we lived on an island of only 1,200 inhabitants and were brought together to create the new governing principles to ensure that this island survives and grows with only the resources that are within its confines. Most of the ideas that came out of the discussion were generally centred on cultivating integrative communication practices to encourage transparency, balance and a sense of community. One of my favourite suggestions was to make all decisions on the island thinking about not only ourselves or our children, but with the next seven generations in mind.
Within that mindframe, what choices are you making that would need to change?
