The Nestle' corporation, in an attachment to its 2007 Nestle' Management Report and Governance Report claimed that for a business to be successful in the long-term it has to "create value, not only for its shareholders but also for society." At the same time, David Vogel, professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkley, wrote in Forbes, "To assume that the business environment has fundamentally changed and that we are entering a new world in which CSR has become critical to the success of all or even most firms is misinformed." So which is it? Should you focus on building a CSR strategy into your business and role as a corporate executive or should you focus instead on identifying efficiencies, increasing the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and adapting to the lean (and sometimes mean) Great Recession Economy. You don't have to choose between ROI and CSR If one assumes that business society and the greater society are intricately linked, and that the corporate world is looking for long-term success and brand enhancement, CSR is a competitive advantage. Karan Chaudhry and Venkat Krishnan write in the 2007 (issue 8) publication Global Business Review: "Corporate social responsibility is becoming more of a necessity by the day." A recent report by Junior Achievement Worldwide in 2009 shows CSR, specifically philanthropy through volunteer activity, impacts long-term revenue, brand image, as well as employee satisfaction, engagement and loyalty. Creating true synergies: Case in point By creatively combining the desire to be socially responsible with the need to develop leaders and employees, companies can achieve both objectives at once. In a 2008 study by Deloitte and Touch, LLP, 70 percent of young workers felt companies should use volunteering as a professional development. With this growing trend, over 81 percent of corporations with volunteer programs now focus them on core business functions. Recently, IMPACT Consulting and Development, LLC had the opportunity to design and deliver a blended program to a major automotive finance company. While economic pressures and obvious challenges in the industry were mounting, the Chief Executive felt that a lack of leadership engagement would undermine long-term success. Instead of letting short-term focus absorb the thinking and resources of his leadership team, this CEO committed to a development program allowing the leaders to re-engage and acquire skills necessary to face oncoming challenges. In a typical leadership program, activities such as decision-making games and simulations replicate the conditions the leader faces on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately, these simulations normally suffer from lack of true impact. Failure or success is not consequential since it is a mock situation to begin with. Through partnering with three non-profit organisations, the trainers developed a program where simulations were tied to actual results. Participants took the exercises much more seriously since there were concrete results attached, and the learning was more easily applied in the workplace. Through this combined focus, the leadership program was successful in its learning objectives as well as contributed over $20,000 to a local youth athletic field, completely rebuilt a children's "Safety Town" for a local civic organisation and created a marketing strategy to attract individual donors to a national youth arts organisation. The bottom line Non-traditional philanthropy provides a unique opportunity to meet development needs while supporting the community at a fraction of the cost of the past. Through innovative programs such as leadership and employee development activities tied to social responsibility, companies can provide a unique opportunity to support the community at an efficient price. Continuing to focus on developing Employee Volunteer Activities and allowing the community to benefit from the skills and talents within an organisation will provide not only a strong internal development program, but a contribution to the loyalty and commitment of customers and employees. This approach requires ingenuity and a true desire to make a difference. But in the end, it is a win-win approach for all involved. Todd Thomas holds a PhD in Human Communication, Masters in Educational Psychology, Masters in Interpersonal Communication and is the founder of IMPACT Consulting and Development, LLC. For a special report from Dr. Thomas visit www.impactsuccess.com/srtb-report.html

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5 Innovative Ways to Social Responsibility 1 Enhance local skills Partner with a local job development organisation to provide one or two days of in-house practice for displaced workers learning new business skills. 2 Contribute a percentage Chose a cause that is in alignment with your business and contribute a portion of your revenue for a single day to providing a specific outcome for that cause. 3 Collaborate with other companies Approaching companies in your area that offer complementary products or services can be a great way to share the cost and effort of CSR initiatives while increasing the impact of your efforts. 4 Make your leadership development "community development" Work with training providers that examine their processes for opportunities. 5 Get your employees involved in the discussion Give employees the opportunity to share their ideas on how you combine business and social responsibility.