Last week, I had the chance not only to take the requisite trip down memory lane, but also get a boost from the 2,500 MBA students and professionals who descended upon Ann Arbor, Michigan Thursday for the annual Net Impact 2010 conference. Since I attended my first Net Impact conference back in 2003, the conference has more than doubled in size and now attracts a regular flow of leading CSR professionals, many of whom remarked that this is one of their favorite CSR conferences (click here to read nice summary of conference from Marc Gunther). And I have to whole-heartedly agree.
Why? Because of the energy. The students attending this conference are laser sharp in their questions during the sessions and passionate about the potential for corporations to think and act differently in the future. I had the opportunity to talk with a number of students 1:1, during the sessions and breaks and also during career counseling sessions I signed up to do. Across the board, they exhibit systems- thinking and a strategic view of how the resources of the private sector can be brought to bear to address today's challenges, from water conservation to human rights. And they are being creative and passionate about carving out a future career path that will let them leverage their B-school skills and provide them with personal meaning in the long term.
And that's what I mean about this conference being a shot in the arm. This year's conference reminded me of just how far we've come in the past few years in integrating sustainability and CSR into business education and business more generally. Even a complete cynic about the value of CSR would find it hard to deny that there's something happening in business schools and major corporations today. Do we still have a long way to go? Of course we do. But the conversation is shifting more toward the importance of integrating sustainability and CSR into business strategy and making it more relevant to the traditional B-school disciplines. What does sustainability look like in a supply chain/purchasing department? What about IT? What about Finance? What about Marketing and brand management? Each functional area of the business has a critical role to play in impacting the company's overall performance. We talked about this topic in our session on Value vs. Values and in a session on The Direction of CSR: Integration vs. Segmentation - and I firmly believe that this is what will drive us all to the next level of maturity in CSR and where the future new sustainability jobs will be. There will also be an incredible opportunity for MBAs who will work at small and mid-cap companies, who are increasingly faced with new sustainability requirements from the companies they supply to, from Walmart to McDonalds, from Intel to GE.
I know that for many, change in the field of CSR can at times feel slow and incremental. Trying to change culture and strategy for the long haul requires patience and the coordination of many different internal organizations and external stakeholders. When things go wrong, one of my favorite phrases has long been "death by a thousand cuts." But this conference made me think of the reverse - when these students graduate and move out into the economy, they will change and improve thousands of businesses and help them to further integrate and embed CSR and sustainability into everyday business practices.
So, congratulations and kudos again to the Net Impact staff and students at the Ross School of Business and other volunteers who put on such a great and inspiring event. Already looking forward to next year in Portland.
Suzanne Fallender is Intel’s Director of Corporate Responsibility. In this role, she collaborates with key stakeholders across the company to integrate corporate responsibility concepts into company strategies, policies, public reporting, and stakeholder engagement activities to advance Intel’s corporate responsibility leadership and create positive social impact and business value. Suzanne leads a team of experienced professionals who engage with internal and external groups to review Intel’s corporate responsibility performance and to identify new opportunities to apply Intel’s technology and expertise to address social and environmental challenges. The team also works closely with Intel’s investor relations and corporate governance groups to drive an integrated outreach strategy with investors on governance and corporate responsibility issues. Suzanne has more than 20 years of experience in the field of corporate responsibility and socially responsible investment. During her time at Intel, Suzanne has held a number of corporate responsibility-related roles, including leading programs empowering girls and women through technology. Prior to Intel, Suzanne served as Vice President at Institutional Shareholder Services where she managed the firm’s socially responsible investing division. Suzanne holds an M.B.A. from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and a B.A. from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She has served on a number of leading industry advisory boards and committees on sustainability and corporate responsibility over the past decade and currently is a member of the Net Impact Board of Directors. Follow Suzanne on Twitter at @sfallender.