The Business of Being Good

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 9:30pm EST

A few weeks ago, I went to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. for a Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) awards ceremony. Since 2003, PR News has celebrated companies and creative agencies that successfully protect their own interests while protecting the interests of others; last year, 321 was nominated for an award.

On the morning of the ceremony, I began to wonder why companies get awards for CSR - loosely defined as the enforcement of a triple bottom line of People/Planet/Profit, or "doing well by doing good" - at all. Today, it seems that CSR is suddenly as stylish as long wavy curls. In fact, the practice has a long history, and many companies engaged in CSR before it became an actual term.

Let's look at Cadbury, a company founded by British Quakers in the 19th century. During World War I, more than 2,000 of Cadbury's male employees joined the Armed Forces. Cadbury supported the war effort, sending warm clothing, books and chocolate to the soldiers. The company also supplemented government allowances to their workers' families and dependents. When the war was over, workers were able to return to their old jobs and take educational courses. Injured or ill employees were looked after in convalescent homes.

What Cadbury did was to build the idea of morale + profits into their Corporate DNA.

So while PRNews does a wonderful duty in honoring companies that do good, I am hoping in the future that CSR will be an indistinguishable part of corporate structures, just like it was with Cadbury. The transition is already underway with a new business structure called the B Corp. Sister of the S Corp and Corp, B Corps are companies with a higher purpose Ñ "Higher standards of accountability, transparency, and performanceÉ leaders across the United States [that] have created profitable, competitive businesses while taking care of their employees, community, and environment."

The award? I didn't win. But I'm still proud to follow in the footsteps of Cadbury and others, who understood that it was more important to do than to be noticed.