Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility

While the term “hijacking” is a somewhat provocative way to describe what’s happening to corporate ESG initiatives, the reaction from attendees at the RIMS ESG/ERM conference confirmed the growing urgency of this issue. Fueled by actors and groups online, social media has turned companies’ ESG agendas into a matter of public discourse that can alter the speed and direction of these initiatives.

When the World Economic Forum (WEF) came out with their Global Risks Report 2021 earlier this year, it highlighted the need for a greater focus on improving risk readiness as a way for organizations to build resilience. In their view, many organizations’ approaches to risk mitigation looked “increasingly outdated,” adding that “in a world of accelerating challenges, static annual documents need to make room for continuous horizon-scanning for early indicators of change and associated timelines for action.”

Like two sides of the same coin, digital chatter is a vehicle for certain groups to intentionally or unintentionally harm a brand, and also a vital source of intelligence for communications leaders to stay ahead of issues and mitigate crises.

Don’t like the weather? In some places they’ll tell you to wait five minutes and it’ll change. The risk landscape isn’t all that different. It changes constantly and the rising frequency of unknown risks makes it difficult to predict when a storm will hit.

For 400 American companies, the new year is starting off with a welcome accolade: they have been named to the Newsweek 2021 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies.

For leadership teams and boards, 2020 will be remembered as a time when chief communication officers stepped up and shined in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty. As brand communicators responded to the ever changing COVID-19 landscape, seamlessly pivoting strategy became the norm.

The choice seems like an easy one. Stand up for what you believe in. Commit to your brand values and demonstrate them in your actions, not just your words.

Brands have traditionally steered away from politics for the same reasons you don’t get into it with your angry uncle at Thanksgiving. No matter which side you land on, discussing politics will always alienate someone—a risk most brands aren’t willing to take. Until now.

Every year, Nielsen takes a measured look at corporate social responsibility initiatives to see if they change the way organizations perform, both in reputation and with increased sales. What they find, year-after-year, is that consumers are willing to pay extra for products and services from companies that support their same values. 

In 1970, Milton Friedman, an American economist who won a Nobel Peace Prize, famously said, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”