#55 Alison Taylor: How Can Companies Do the Right Thing

Is it really is possible for companies to "do the right thing"?

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Welcome to the third Frankly Speaking season! We’re kicking it off strong with a crucial topic: trust and what can drive improving it in business?

To discuss this, Richard Howitt welcomes Alison Taylor, author of Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World. Alison is a clinical associate professor at NYU Stern School of Business, Executive Director of the organization Ethical Systems, and has been involved with some major consulting organizations, including Control Risks, Preventable Surprises and Business for Social Responsibility.

In this episode, you’ll hear more about:

How companies saying a bit less and doing a bit more is the recipe that Alison wants to advocate for
If there is a danger in companies saying less and doing more in relation to sustainability
How to reconcile the argument for doing what matters against having a broader, comparable attempt at accountability
What is the difference between trust and reputation management

Listen in and follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠!

"I think I would rather see companies take on 1 to 3 issues that they can actually solve and that they can actually influence, rather than the kind of overpromising that we saw until very recently with a company like Unilever, whose previous materiality map had 30 or 40 issues on it, many of which Unilever can't directly impact. I think it's that kind of overpromising and treating sustainability as sort of the paramilitary wing of the marketing department, that I can understand why it happens, but I think it started to become part of the problem."

Alison Taylor in Frankly Speaking