Disengaged employees. Every company has them and for a long time, we’ve been lost in terms of motivating them. What if we could infuse purpose and meaning into an individual’s job description?Imagine yourself volunteering for a charity of your choice, and helping them to achieve their goals. Let’s pretend it’s an animal shelter, you love animals and soon you realize that while the work is hard, you are genuinely enjoying it.
Leading Innovation: Measuring and Reporting on India’s CSR/Shared Value Work
India is the first country in the world to mandate corporate social responsibility. Companies by law are required to give back 2% to support community. BUT how do they make sure their support has a real impact and makes a difference for the community AND the business.Enter NextGen: India's leading CSR & Sustainability Management Company that works with Fortune 500 clients in 16 different sectors across 6 countries.
India’s CSR Law Sparks Social Innovation & Shared Value
This past September I had the privilege of accompanying my husband on a business trip to India. Incredible India lives up to its billing. India is modernizing and is dynamically and rapidly becoming a force for social innovation. India is a new CSR leader. Why and how has this happened?It’s been a little over a year since the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) law came into effect on April 1, 2014 in India.
The Meaning & Purpose of Community Investment!
Mount Royal University Launches New Community Investment CertificateThis past year I had the privilege of overseeing the development of a new community investment certificate for Calgary-based Mount Royal University. The certificate course will be offered online and will be open to students from any sector and will be available across Canada.Today community investment (CI) is a key business function for corporate Canada.
Profits + Purpose: Trico Homes - A Calgary Success Story
Is it possible for a company to achieve a social purpose while also delivering solid profits? Forward-looking organizations are already focusing on how to balance profit and purpose. Calgary-based Trico Homes is an excellent example of a business that has integrated a strong social purpose into its very core. Wayne Chiu and Trico Homes have redefined how they support community in a way that delivers value for the community and the business.
Cause Marketing at it's Best: Checkout for Charity
This past spring my colleague and friend, Boston-based Joe Waters of Selfish Giving and I had a chance to work together with a leading Canadian restaurant chain and their national charity partner. Our task? - To elevate their cause marketing program and take it to a new level.Joe and I love collaborating to give do-gooders, nonprofits and businesses the tools and strategies they need to raise more money, deepen engagement, build stakeholder loyalty and change the world.
New Power + Shared Value: Change Built to Scale
What is New Power?New power is an emerging trend of people who are rejecting traditional business, government and society as a whole. New power is more transparent, participatory and collaborative than traditional business.Jeremy Heimans describes new power as being like a ‘current’ or a wave. New power picks up energy and gains strength as it goes, rallying more and more people along the way.To contrast, he describes old power as being like currency.
Shared Value: Business at it's Best!
This year’s Shared Value Leadership Summit theme was acceleration - from Shared Value theory to action. Companies around the world are intentionally designing business models and strategies around shared value that create both business and social value. As a practitioner and member of the affiliated professional network of the Shared Value Initiative, I am pleased to share my top take-aways from this year’s conference, with more to come in subsequent blogs!
Creating Social Value Through Behavioral Change
Changing human behavior is an incredibly strenuous process that can potentially have immense long-term benefits for society. 50 years ago who would’ve thought that smoking would someday be seen as detrimental to one’s health or that driving without a seat belt could land you a huge fine?Cause marketing initiatives often work to encourage positive alternatives to negative behaviors.
What Corporations Can Learn from Great Non-profit Brands
Spotting an exceptional brand is easy, but building one is one of the most important challenges every organization faces. So how do you build a brand that breaks through? And is there a difference from one sector or industry to the next? That was the challenge that I was presented when approached to write a chapter for the internationally published book “The Brand Challenge”. My biggest takeaway - business can learn a lot from great non-profits!