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Corporate Social Responsibility
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Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. These words by the great President John F. Kennedy encapsulate the very core of nationalism and patriotism, yet I believe it could be aptly applied to social responsibility. The 21st century catapulted humanity to globalization and the use of state-of-the art technology without his full understanding and consent to a brand new lifestyle where recreation and pure human heart-to-heart discourse becomes a luxury. The rich nation with all its multinational corporations and high technology armaments subdues and leaves lagging behind nations which have never experienced true economic and social development. The need for social action and response is not only a moral obligation but a saving grace. However, such action and response must be done with the ability that springs from the heart and with the desire to touch and change lives for the good of all and without harm or injury to anything or anyone.

To stir and expand the wave of social responsibility, the fire must commence from deep within the consciousness of the mover for the level of commitment extends only to the level of his awareness of both the latent and overt social ills and sins prevailing in society.

It is a recognized reality that the citizens’ effort to initiate and stir social actions could only last as far as it could get support from the generous hands of the few and that for the corporation’s effort to respond to the needs of society can only be sustained to the extent that it can protect its profits and interests. Hence, these two sectors must awake and rouse each other from this slumber and perplexity of mind to move towards a concerted effort for the upliftment of the human race as a whole.

To begin with, a sector must be willing to sacrifice something for the sake of the worthy and noble cause for the concerted effort towards its realization should not be in vain. A citizen must be willing to live a lifestyle of moderation and reject a lifestyle of extravagance. The culture of consumerism must be eradicated from the heart of everyman. The demand and quest to amass wealth and the consequent mass reproduction of goods must be disciplined. It is the root cause of all kinds of exploitation be it their fellowman, animals, plants and all living and non-living creatures.

On the side of the business sector, it must bring to an end the conceptualization and creation of “wants” or products that can seize and confine men to vanity and pushes men to want more beyond what is necessary and worse beyond his means!

To attain a concrete action, sincere partnerships and linkages must be created between the citizens and the business sectors, among the local governments, community folks and members of the academe and non-governmental organizations. Each one coordinates with one another with the objective of creating a web of connections for fast and efficient social actions. It is the responsibility of the local mayors and the academic and non-governmental institutions to promote social actions and consciousness-raising education for the citizens on the responsible utilization of this worlds goods and sharing it to the less privileged underserved sectors while inculcating in them a social conscience.

The business sectors may practice corporate social responsibility through sponsorship and support of social welfare and environmental projects while sharing their surplus though admittedly, such are insufficient to arrest the problem of hunger, illiteracy and environmental degradation. Therefore, social action and responsibility must start from the very first activity of their company, be it dealing with personnel, buying, selling, and exploration of raw materials or transformation of it. It is ideal that their business ethics and professional code of conduct and responsibility be a reflection of social responsibility, of caring and sharing to those who have less in life and in law.



by:Mover 5

August 25, 2008 | 8:52 AM Comments  0 comments

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Value-centered Leadership
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic



Value-centered leadership


A book on value-centered politics tells a story from India of a bird that lays its eggs in the stratosphere. The egg plunges down, while the embryo is madly gestating into a little bird that, at the last minute, mere yards above the rocks and branch-spikes, breaks from its shell and flies skyward toward the clouds. This kind of transformation is a real edge-of-the-seat affair, isn't it?

Everyday around the world, we see on television how power is used to manipulate the public to think that their interests are served by the same things that serve them. In all honesty, even our economy, technology and media environment are all dedicated to dish up their own interests… but what about the things that matters most to ordinary people --- like plain housewives, farmers and other underprivileged people. Who really cares about what they are going through in their day-to-day struggles?

In truth, there is much to thank for the efforts of these advocacy groups who vigilantly make the voice of the weak and marginalized heard. Their advocacies for environmental protection, agrarian reform and just labor management serve the larger society but which definitely undermine the interests of a few, who conveniently call them as "special interest groups." Over the long run, we all hope that this will change and is in fact starting to change but in the meantime during this transition, we'll have to do things in the old ways to buy time and space in which to do (and learn to do) things in new ways. Then slowly, we may be able to replace the adversarial/power-over methods with more sustainable and holistic brand of leadership.

Everyone, without exception, is ready for a new kind of politics or leadership. A value-centered politics that is! It can occur when social and political change happens in tandem with personal change. We already figured it out by now that many of our political and social problems can no longer be solved at the same level of thinking that has caused these problems. A fundamental shift in consciousness in order to find solutions to these problems is necessary ----perhaps, a change in consciousness that comes from our hearts.

A transformed kind of politics is what we truly need. Those people with the kind of politics that does not consider running for a form of office as the end all and be all-- they are those people who would most likely take direct action in a particular field either through employment, health, housing, all sorts of educational initiatives, parenting, environmental action, anti-racism, anti-nuclear, peace groups or whatever…such practice of politics that connects the information in the head to the feelings in the heart. Value-centered politicians are those that question deeply both what they think and feel when they are in a position of leadership or are planning for changes or evaluating a policy.

Though it seems many people have given up the idea that politics could ever be driven by deeper values than just self interest and personal power or the lust for position. To dare to bring heart qualities into the political arena holds a fascination for even the most cynical.

It is high time to start erasing the common people’s cynicism in leadership which leads to a lack of involvement in community affairs. While there is no doubt that the democratic system we have is better than the political system endured by our ancestors, there are still many shadows within our democracies today... shadows that hide the real workings of power, and shadows that are preventing the work for the common good.

A value-centered kind of leadership truly has the potential for maturation. In the same way, we common citizens also need a maturation of our emotional response to the problems of the world. Unlike many people, who in their desire to escape the real pain and darkness of our times, divorce themselves from the real pains that are in the world
The real transformation we all need is one that is not lost to feelings of vulnerability, or a real sense of compassion but at the same time it should also be tough ...with a warrior's heart, a heart that is not just feeling but also allows wisdom and judgment, a heart that takes courage in doing difficult things and that knows when to be fierce. Yes, there should be balance….and then direction follows. In my analysis, the heart of the matter is ----- to stay rooted to our values in order to gain balance and direction.

Karen Israel-Iniego

July 27, 2008 | 12:55 AM Comments  0 comments

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Social Responsibility
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

• On social responsibility of companies and citizens.
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Social responsibility is an act which directly affects the society and its citizens. It goes beyond the act of philanthropy-donating money, old clothing, feeding and building houses all for the poor. It is a proactive act that counters the root causes of social ills & sins and its proliferation. In one of the fundamental spiritual and religious teachings, social responsibility is no less than the upholding of the dignity of each human person, as his image is the derivative to the Supreme Creator whose nature is all good. On the physical plane, social responsibility is an act of preserving God’s creation that sustains life on earth and transforming such creation that can in turn preserve the web of life…the life of each individual that has been upgraded to its maximum creative potentialities!


Hence, corporate social responsibility for me is an act of stewardship grounded on the philosophy that life begets life, and profits can only be called income when it has explored and utilized resources (manpower, money, machine and time) that construct life rather than destroy it thus, making the utilization sustainable. For me, social responsibility should not only be the mission of the non-stock, non-profit entities, but more so a vocation for each and every company or business or