Is it really is possible for companies to "do the right thing"?
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:
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"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."
Do our ideas about what makes companies competitive actually hinder the shift toward sustainability?
There's very little pressure being applied to companies by investors looking at how they're actually behaving and treating human rights as a core business priority. This needs to change.
Investors shouldn't just take companies' word for what they're doing; they should investigate what the companies are actually doing regarding human rights.
