Weekly 3: Topic - 'Buying' Earth Day

• Earth Day, at the Mall - Marc Gunther explores how Earth Day has become a "shopping holiday" and how some  companies are doing it right.
• The Perils of 'Green Watching' - Wood Turner of Greenbiz.com shows the challenges of vetting Earth Day Green claims.
• A Free Market Earth Day List - Jeff Seigel from Triple Pundit explores how to encourage business strategies that create real positive environmental impact.

What do you think?

Keep your behind the scenes visionary experience coming!

I've heard some great feedback from those of you with experience working in the front lines with visionary.  Keep your input coming and look for my summary post in the next week!

• How did you steer your visionary leader to or away from trouble?
• What do you wish you knew then?

Have you ever worked for a "visionary" putting his/her ideas into practice?

"The people behind the visionaries are the ones who truly change the world."

Have you ever worked for a "visionary" putting his/her ideas into practice? It's both exhilarating and challenging.  We have all heard stories about visionaries who are changing the world through CSR and sustainability but you never hear the story of the people behind the visionary who are actually implementing the change.  

Did any of you work for a revolutionary tech wiz, a VC tycoon, public health prophet or a person whose genius can transform CSR? If you have this experience and can share some advice, I'd love to hear from you.

Weekly 3: Topic - What's New at the Bottom of the Pyramid

As companies begin to invest again, the Corporate Social Responsibility community has been buzzing about how to harness the power of the bottom of the pyramid and bring positive social change. Here are three thought provoking articles to give you insight on current BOP issues.

• The Bottom of the Pyramid: A Disruptive Force to be Reckoned With? - Mark Beckford shows how BOP strategies force companies to toward innovation.
• Selling water to the global poor - Marc Gunther looks at how for-profit companies, like The Water Initiative, can bring water (and jobs) to the BOP.
• Multiple Facets of the Pyramid: Defining the BoP - NextBillion's Bloggers tackle how to identify the characteristics of BOP markets. Hint: It's not just low income level.

What do you think?

Weekly 3: Topic - CSR and Social Media

• Lessons from Nestlé on How to Handle CSR and Social Media - Associates from BSR give their advice on how to avoid CSR pitfalls in Social Media
• Social Media CSR Tips for Small Businesses - David Coethica shows how social media provides an effective way for small businesses to do good
• Opportunities to make business better - Straight from the WSJ: There are two revolutions going on in business: Social Media and Corporate Social Responsibility.  This posting explores how they can work together.

How to be a Full time CSR Advocate during your job search

Over the past few months, I have been thinking about how to embed social responsibility in the job search process.  I believe that Corporate Social Responsibility, like any revolutionary business strategy, is like a cause that needs to be advocated for and promoted.  While a job search is a great time to take on volunteer projects with non profits that may not have been feasible while working full time, another way to further social responsibility in a job search is to become a CSR advocate in the business community.  Any MBA-level social impact job search requires lots of networking and lots of meeting with interesting people who happen not to be working in your chosen field.  I see these conversations as an opportunity to advocate and educate the business community about what CSR is.

While networking around the city of Chicago, I have met some very impressive people. When they hear that I am passionate about CSR, they often volunteer some aspect of their job where they see social or environmental responsibility “may sort of” be involved. For example, a brand manager who was asked to weigh in on the costs of the new EH&S (Environment, Health and Safety) commitments being asked of the company.  Or a Hospital HR executive who wants to find new ways to engage employees and help them to understand the purpose of the latest gold star certification scheme.  

I find these parts of my conversations exhilarating. As we talk more and I probe them about these aspects and how they relate to overall business strategy, I can sense the wheels turning in their heads. I can often suggest a contact at another company or at a non-profit that is doing a similar project. It is wonderful to be able to provide concrete help to someone who is giving up their precious time to help me. Also, by brainstorming about how CSR relates to other parts of the organization, we both learn more about the complexity and power of CSR. We learn what CSR touches at that their organizations and the language that their organizations us to discuss CSR strategies.  And isn’t that what CSR is all about: making small changes that have the prospect to make huge changes?

Here is my advice to others who want to be a full time CSR advocate during their job search:

1. Look at every informational interview as an opportunity to learn more about how CSR affects different groups.
2. Don't go for the hard sell.  An informational interview is not the place for a lecture on CSR or a place for you to tell your interviewee how to do their job.  
3. But look for any opening.  Listen closely to what your interviewee says and if it relates to something in CSR, speak up and explain yourself.  
4. Offer contacts and resources freely.  By connecting people who are working on similar issues in different companies you really can bring value to your interviewee and help move the needle on CSR issues.

What do you think? How do you think I can further the cause of CSR in my job search?

Weekly 3: Topic - CSR and the Job Search

What does it mean to pursue a socially responsible job search?  My thoughts on the how any job search can utilize Corporate Social Responsibility strategies will be in my next blog post.

But first, three links (with my comments) to get you thinking:

• Using ‘Strategic’ Volunteering to Help With the Search Angela Dorsey, a blogger for the Wall Street Journal, writes about how volunteering for professional organizations or your target companies can help you network.  While I agree with her argument, I think she missed out by not mentioning how volunteering for other type of non-profits can help you to exhibit your relevant skills in another way to an employer and will give you a perfect way to talk about those skills with any professionals you meet via networking.
• Sustainability Is a Growing Theme: Corporations Work With Schools to Train Potential Employees, but Jobs Are Scarce This article makes it clear that some MBA employers realize that CSR is important for recruiting top talent and also touches on what CSR skills professionals need and how schools are teaching those skills.  Rather than just speaking at schools and hosting recruiting events, I would love to see more companies follow Dow's lead and actually ENGAGE with the students outside recruiting events.
• CSR Jobs Report - The State of the CSR Job Market: Key Findings and Trends Ellen Weinreb of Sustainability Recruiting shares the state of the market for CSR professionals in a very complete and academic analysis.

What do you think?