What Do You Love?

One of the best things about being in grad school and conducting a job search is getting to do informational interviews.

As an MBA student I had the opportunity to connect with and ask questions of professionals in CSR, philanthropy, social enterprise and sustainable business. Luckily, even though business school is over, I’m still able to call on friends and others in my network for in-person coffees, lunch dates and phone calls.

In total I’ve met with probably 80 people over the last year and a half – definitely a good sample size! Why do I do it?

First and foremost, these conversations are a lot of fun – I enjoy talking to people and hearing their own stories about the career choices, successes, and even mistakes they’ve made along the way.

But more than that, it’s a great learning opportunity. As someone trying to carve out my own path and figure out my next steps, I find it incredibly helpful to get other people’s perspectives and advice.

What’s funny is that even though I talk to someone different each time, the advice I receive is often similar from conversation to conversation.

For example, I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times people have told me: “If you want to work “in-house” in a corporate responsibility team, get a functional job first (ie: marketing, strategy etc) and work your way in to a CSR job later.” (Seriously – if you also want to work in CSR, I can’t stress enough how often this bit of wisdom has come up in conversation!)

Sometimes I get frustrated hearing the same thing over and over again. Yet other times the messenger relays the advice in a way that’s just different enough to make it stick.

The best and most recent example was a phone call I had last week with a woman who previously worked in CSR communications and reporting at a major consumer products company. As is customary for most of my conversations, I ended our talk by asking what advice she might have for me as someone who wants to get into the field.

Her response: “Think about what you love.”

Now ok, I’ll admit it: at first I rolled my eyes a little. I have definitely heard this one before! Still, she pressed on: “Don’t think about what brand you want to work for,” she cautioned, “or what function you want to work in. Instead, think about what you love to do, what you love to talk about – and find a job doing that.”

What’s funny is that even though this idea wasn’t new, the way in which this woman said it really resonated.

Since our talk last week I have challenged myself to identify what I really love. And to be honest, it’s not a simple question to answer!

Think about it this way – how often do you ever give yourself the freedom and the space to actually stop and think through what you love to do, what you love to learn about, or what you love to share with others? And how often to you actually bring what you love to work?

Some people know right out of the gate what it is they love. For me, I’ll admit it – I’m still working on it. But I guess, in the end, that’s the point.

People like us – that is, people who are motivated to make change in our communities and have an impact on the world – have to follow our hearts. That’s really, in my opinion, the only way we’ll actually be sure that we successfully accomplish what we set out to do!

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the importance that enthusiasm and passion can play in our jobs. Instead, we focus on salary, title, or prestige. I know as a recent graduate it’s been easy for me to get hung up on these issues.

At the end of the day, though, I think we’re all actually motivated by questions of greater value:

• Do we feel satisfied at work?
• Are we having the impact we wanted or hoped for?
• Do we need to explore something new?

Ultimately, it comes down to figuring out your passions – that is, the things that make you feel complete and fulfilled – and finding ways to make them your life’s work.

And yes, often this is easier said than done. Many of us have family or other commitments that make it tough to simply “follow our bliss” all of the time. But my hope is that you will take just a moment to sit quietly, listen to your heart, and figure out what you love. I know that’s my goal right now and I’ll be sure to update you when I have some answers.

In the meantime, my job is to find a job. And hopefully that job will touch upon those things I love – once I know what they are!

The Business of Business

Well folks – I’m all done with business school!

After a whirlwind week of celebrations – and just a little pomp and circumstance – the dust is finally settling and life is returning to normal (although, one quick plug, I'm still looking for a job!)

But before we close this chapter completely, I wanted to share a quick story.

My mom was in town for graduation, and practically as soon as her plane touched down, she told me she needed to go to a book store. She wouldn’t tell me why.

After a day or two of being reminded regularly of her need to get to a book store, I finally gave in and took her to the closest one I could find. Once there, she bolted away on her quest – leaving me to hang out in the New Releases section and wait for her.

A few minutes later she came bounding back toward me with a bright red book in her hand. In big black letters, striking on the red background, it read: The MBA Oath.

“This,” she said, “is what I wanted to get you.”

The MBA Class of 2010 was just beginning its first year of school when the Financial Crisis really started to accelerate in September 2008.

I remember sitting in finance class when, in the throes of the biggest crash since the Great Depression, my professor decided to skip the theory and formulas and instead devote big blocks of time to breaking down what exactly had happened. It was an engrossing and overwhelming conversation, to say the least.

As the magnitude of the Crisis became clearer, my classmates and I found ourselves faced with an uncomfortable truth: many of the people responsible for this financial collapse were also MBAs.   

Suddenly, everywhere I turned there seemed to be a debate over whether the MBA curriculum had anything to do with this. What role did business education play, people wondered, in churning out managers whose only motive was short-term (and short-sighted) gain?

And, by extension, many asked: Is the MBA a degree to be trusted?

As a fresh-faced first year student, this was a tough pill to swallow. I came to business school to put new tools in my tool kit, to strengthen my analytical and leadership skills – not so I could follow in the footsteps of those irresponsible managers. We all know the saying, “one bad apple spoils the bunch” – and I felt like a handful of bad apples had spoiled it for all of us.

Throughout that first year of school, the question of ethics in business decision making was a constant theme. As students we were challenged by our professors, and by each other, to consider what steps we could and would take to ensure we did not follow the example set by those “bad apples.”

Around the same time, Harvard Business School student Max Anderson and his classmates launched what they called the MBA Oath, a “voluntary pledge for graduating MBAs and current MBAs to create value responsibly and ethically.”

Considered “a Hippocratic oath for business,” the MBA Oath outlines principles and actions each signer must uphold, from accurate reporting to ensuring the health and dignity of employees. You can read the full language of the Oath here.

While it was originally started as a Harvard campus initiative, the MBA Oath has now reached students worldwide and claims over 3,000 signatures from schools and students. Which brings us back to my mom and the book store.

Max and co-author Peter Escher have just released an accompanying book – a guide that not only tells the story of the Oath, but that also takes a look at classic MBA case studies through the lens of business ethics.

It looks like a fascinating read, and you can bet it’s at the top of my summer reading list.

When I reflect back on the education I received over the last two years, I can see now to what extent my thinking and learning has been framed by the Financial Crisis – and ultimately by the short-sighted and dangerous decisions made by people who chose to put profit above all else.

As this year's class of MBA graduates enters the workforce, we must prepare ourselves to face choices, scenarios and decisions that may seem to pull us in opposite directions. Charged with balancing short-term gain and long-term thinking, we’ll continually be asked to make tough decisions and weigh the conflicting interests of multiple stakeholders.

Tools like the MBA Oath can help guide us in our choices – but in the end I believe they are only tools. Ultimately the decision to use both our heads and our hearts is ours alone.

As you go out in to the professional world – whether you’re a newly-minted MBA or a “gray-haired” professional – I ask you to remember to always pack your moral compass with you.

Milton Friedman might have said “the business of business is business” – but I argue it’s about much more than that.

Yes, the goal of business is to make money. But at what cost?

The Changebase Turns 1

I’m incredibly pleased to announce that May marks the one year anniversary of The Changebase! It’s amazing to think that what started out as just a small experiment has actually become one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve ever worked on.

The Changebase has not only been a great vehicle to learn and share ideas, but it has given me an incredible opportunity to meet and connect with people doing great work in our communities and around the world.

I have been overwhelmed by the interest people have shown in my writing and I so appreciate all of the feedback, advice and support each of you has given me.

I’m definitely looking forward to Year Two!

In the spirit of celebrating, I thought I’d create a “Top Ten” list for my most favorite* posts from the last year. Enjoy and thanks again!

-Ashley

The Changebase Top Ten

10. It's Too Late to be a Pessimist

9. Diary of an Intern: My Summer in Corporate Giving

8. Defining Local

7. What Yoga Can Teach Us About Sustainability

6. Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants.

5. The Challenge of Translating Sustainability

4. High Risk, High Reward

3. Want a CSR Job? Read This First.

2. The Value of Storytelling

1. Request from a CSR Job Seeker 

*In this context “favorite" means: the posts I most enjoyed writing, as well as the ones that were most popular with readers and on Twitter.

The Challenge of Translating Sustainability

Let’s face it: sustainability can be a challenging topic for many people to understand. For example, when you hear someone on the news or in business talk about alternative energy or cap and trade policy, can you honestly say you understand it all?

I’ll go out on a limb and admit that when I hear the word “carbon,” I sometimes struggle to pay attention – let alone understand what’s being discussed. That’s why tools like Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff are so powerful – they take complicated subjects and translate them into everyday, actionable language.

This idea – the challenge of translating sustainability – was front and center for me at this week’s Ceres Conference: “Roadmap for a Sustainable Future.” Let me explain.

Ceres is a well-known and well-respected national network of investors, environmental organizations, companies, and other public interest groups working together to address issues of sustainability.

This year’s Conference included a number of interesting panels – covering topics like sustainability reporting, environmental policy, corporate governance, and energy. As a challenge, I decided to stay away from familiar topics (like social media for CSR) and instead really immerse myself in learning about issues I'm not as familiar with.

Over the course of the day, I sat in on two sessions:

• Tiers of influence: driving change throughout the supply chain, and
• The ripple effect: exploring financial risks along the water value chain.

When it comes to supply chain and water issues, I would call myself “an experienced novice” – so it was exciting to hear and learn about the work that companies, NGOs and investors are doing in these two areas.

And, I’m pleased to say, it’s clear that they really are doing work.

From the open source, apparel “eco-index” created by the Outdoor Industry Association, to the water management system implemented by Molson-Coors Brewery, I was pleased to learn that these organizations are truly digging into some very important sustainability challenges – and that they’re actually driving change in their business and in their communities.

Yet throughout the panels, I kept wondering about how these organizations communicate, and perhaps more importantly, translate the value and importance of this work to “everyday” people like you and me.

Transparency kept coming up as a central theme throughout the day. Apparel manufacturers talked about how the internet has transformed information sharing, while water utilities talked about the importance of explaining where water comes from and how we use it. (Seriously, if I could have collected $1 for every time “transparency” was used in conversation, I might not be rich, but I could certainly go out to nice dinner!)

Yet, in my opinion, talking about transparency just isn’t enough.

The way I see it, there’s a big empty space that exists on the spectrum between companies and consumers – and in theory, transparency is supposed to fill this gap. “Transparency,” after all, as it is used in a sustainability context, is meant as a proxy for information sharing, for education, and perhaps even engagement.

The issue, though, is that being transparent is really not the same thing as providing education. Disclosure of information doesn’t do any good if no one explains to me what I should do with that information.

What are companies doing, I asked myself, to educate and inform me and others about why I should care? This “next step” in transparency was missing from the conversation – and while some might argue that it’s beyond the scope of a conference like Ceres, I would disagree.

Companies clearly need to enlist the help of their stakeholders in order to achieve their sustainability goals – they simply cannot do it alone.

But if, for example, I’m not supposed to buy clothes made from cotton sourced in Uzbekistan (a country currently engaging in forced child labor in the cotton industry), I need companies to explain this to me in ways that are understandable, resonant, and actionable. In essence, I need companies to translate their sustainability programs and activities into language I can understand.

Transparency in theory is important – and it’s certainly a topic on everyone’s mind these days. But transparency without action, engagement, and most importantly translation, just won’t work.

I was encouraged to learn about a new website created by Anvil Knitwear that’s trying to close that gap I was talking about by providing education to children about organic cotton. Seeing the site made me wonder what other examples of powerful consumer education tools might exist.

What you have seen or used that has translated a company’s sustainability program into language that makes sense and moves you to act? I’d love to hear your ideas.

Request from a CSR Job Seeker

I'm thrilled to announce that in two weeks I'll be graduating from business school!

As unbelievable as it sounds (even when I say it), the end of my MBA program is amazingly just around the corner. While it hasn’t always been fun – derivative equations in economics class come to mind – it has been an incredible two years of learning and 100% worth it.

Now with my diploma (almost) in hand, I’m ready to take all of my new knowledge and skills out into the big wide world and get to work.

The only problem? I need a job! Which is where my request for help comes in...

In past posts I’ve tried to stay away from obvious self-promotion – if only because I wanted the CSR stories and innovations to take center stage.

While this will almost always be true here on The Changebase, I also have to own up to the fact that I’m an MBA who’s done enough IT strategy coursework to understand the value of crowdsourcing.

Knowing that I'm lucky enough to have readers from all professions and areas of expertise, I was hoping to enlist your help in my job search. As you'll see below, I've taken a few paragraphs to outline who I am, what I do well, and how I might be able to help your organization with its CSR work.

And, if you like what you read and have some ideas or suggestions to share, of course I'd love to hear from you.

Who I Am: I’m a CSR strategy and communications specialist with a combined 7 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising, corporate philanthropy, marketing, and social media. As an MBA I have consulted with a number of corporate, agency and social enterprise clients on topics including sustainability strategy and reporting, stakeholder engagement, brand management, and consumer marketing. Curious to learn more? Check out my LinkedIn profile.

What I Do Well: While I like to think I’m pretty good at a number of different things, there are a few areas that I think are my core competencies:

CSR Strategy and Communications – I have deep subject-matter expertise and experience in CSR strategy and marketing, and I get especially excited about opportunities to help companies tell their CSR stories in ways that resonate with stakeholders and drive business value. Want an example? Check out this press release to learn more about a sustainability communications project I recently completed.

Social Media Strategy and Execution – Since starting my blog I have basically embedded myself in the social media world and, through thoughtful strategy (and lots of practice), I believe I’ve developed an approach to social media for CSR that is effective and successful. Want to see my social media work in action? Check out my Twitter feed – in just over a year I’ve built an engaged group of almost 1,200 followers through tactics that include developing a point of view, staying on message, and creating genuine conversations.

Research and Writing – Given my blog, it’s probably no surprise that I love to write. It turns out, though, that I also really enjoy doing research. Whether it’s gathering secondary data, creating surveys and analyzing results, or performing in-depth interviews, I have extensive hands-on experience with market research methods and tools. The best of all? I can turn that research into persuasive, actionable white papers for clients looking to create or maintain a thought leadership position in the CSR space.

People, People, People – It's safe to say that, in many ways, a successful CSR strategy hinges on whether you can build relationships and create allies both inside and outside your organization. Whether it's facilitating conversations, building partnerships, leading teams, or even engaging critics - you name it, I enjoy it. And I think I'm pretty good at it too.

How I Can Help You: I believe my experience and background in CSR, philanthropy and marketing can add value to the following kinds of organizations:

1. Corporate brands that have CSR programs and/or a sustainability focus
2. PR, communications, or consulting agencies that specialize in CSR marketing and strategy
3. Start-ups with innovative business ideas for “doing good and doing well.”

Whether it's crafting a CSR communications strategy for your client; integrating social media into your corporate marketing portfolio; or developing a sustainability strategy for your new start-up, I know I have the skills and experience to help you get to where you want to go.

A few other details: as I mentioned, I graduate in two weeks and I’m able to start working shortly thereafter. Oh, and I’m focusing my search in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, WA or Portland, OR).

So, what do you think? Are you looking for help strategizing, implementing, or growing your CSR program? Know someone who is?

Please feel free to contact me - I’d love to hear more and talk through specific ways that I can help you and your company achieve your CSR goals.

Thanks again for all of the support you have given me throughout my MBA journey. It’s an exciting time and I’m really looking forward to starting my next adventure!

-Ashley