Corporate consciousness -- (A Letter to the Editor: Is Corporate Social Responsibility Good for Business?)

If you had the chance to read my essay, "Business as Usual?", from December 2008, the following article by Todd Thomas, in www.ExecDigital.com magazine, spurred a response from me to his piece while answering my own essay. The following link to his commentary is followed by my “letter to the editor”. Here is Thomas’ published article -- "Is Corporate Social Responsibility Good for Business?"

Enjoy!
Ted

August 24, 2009

Corporate consciousness -- (A Letter to the Editor: Is Corporate Social Responsibility Good for Business?)

By

Ted Burnett

Dear Editor (ExecDigital magazine),

What’s missing in American capitalism is consciousness not volunteering. As defined by Wikipedia, consciousness is often used colloquially to describe being awake and aware—responsive to the environment, in contrast to being asleep or in a coma.

The American business community and industry for way too long have been “asleep at the wheel” in how they operate from procuring their raw materials (from sensitive regions in the U.S. and from around the world) to how they manufacture their goods and the byproducts produced (hazardous pollutants dumped on land, pumped in the air and water) and their conduct within their organizations (how they treat their employees) and all external communication (how honest is their advertising?).

In the current U.S. economic meltdown, not one member from any of these following industries – mortgage lending, banking, Wall Street brokerage firms and investment banking or insurance “blew the whistle” on the overheating of their company, their industry or our economy.

Too hungry for illusionary revenue and profits all had their head buried in the sand and saw no problems on their radar screen until the storm had already hit. There was no awareness by any of these smart corporate executives working in their boardrooms, in Washington DC or on Wall Street. This is the problem – basic housekeeping. Nobody wanted to face reality.

Volunteering at Junior Achievement or selling cookies for your daughter's Girl Scout Troup, while both are fine activities, they don’t cut it. We need a God-consciousness in how American companies operate going forward. That is the real answer to repeating these expensive national economic crashes where nobody learns a damn thing.

Clean house and mow the lawn!

Ted

Copyright © 2009, 2010. All Rights Reserved. “Corporate consciousness -- (A Letter to the Editor: Is Corporate Social Responsibility Good for Business?)" by Ted Burnett.

I am available for speaking, consulting and political advising. My other essays can be viewed at my blog – http://www.toxicnation.blogspot.com/. I can be contacted via email at – tebjr1@yahoo.com. My bio can be viewed at http://www.tedburnettresume.blogspot.com.