Working Wounded Blog: Earnings vs. Environment, Part I

May 25, 2005 — -- News Flash: General Electric recently released its first ever "Citizenship Report" which, among other things, took the step of self-imposing restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

I have never challenged an article from another publication in the 10 years that I have been a columnist. However, last week The Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled "Will 'Social Responsibility' Harm Business?" The article attacked General Electric's commitment to "corporate social responsibility" saying that Adam Smith would have spanked the company for caring about anything other than its shareholders and its quarterly profits.

To me, the Journal's GE article was troubling on a number of levels, and I could not remain quiet. First, it wasn't on the Editorial page, so for me it crossed the line of putting opinions in a place where more balanced journalism should appear.

But an even bigger concern was the argument that the author (Alan Murray) could teach General Electric a thing or two about selling light bulbs or turbines. He wrote: "Why should GE impose restrictions on itself, at a potential cost to shareholders?" He argues that since President Bush has taken the stand that the Kyoto Accords will punish U.S. businesses, it is therefore wrong for GE to voluntarily pursue its own policy to minimize the damage that it inflicts on GE customers in specific and on the planet in general.

GE is simply acknowledging that it has responsibilities to not create profits by leaving a mess on someone else's doorstep. For Murray to pick a fight with the most widely held stock in the world -- suggesting that it has no responsibility to the planet that provides its raw materials, workers and customers -- is wrong.

GE should be congratulated for accepting responsibility and for providing leadership. Environmental responsibility isn't a luxury; it's quickly becoming a requirement of doing business today. Even Murray acknowledged that GE isn't alone; there is a long list of corporations that are taking similar environmentally responsible positions.

Murray quotes Adam Smith saying 200 years ago that people pursing their "enlightened self interest" is better than "misguided" attempts to serve society. It is fascinating to me that much of the corporate community is standing up to acknowledge its environmental responsibility at the same time the government is in denial.

Thank you GE for once again bringing good things to life.

I will be glad to turn next week's blog into an open forum on this topic. Please let me know if you agree, or disagree, with my position and I will run a representative sample of responses that I receive via bob@workingwounded.com.

Quote of the week:
"I am convinced that if the rate of change within an organization is less than the rate of change outside, the end is near." -- Jack Welch, former chief executive officer, GE

Weekly book excerpt:
From "The Lessons of Experience: How successful executives develop on the job" by McCall, Lombardo and Morrison (Lexington Books, 1988)

"The five types of hardship executives experienced were:

1. A personal trauma threatening the health and well-being of the executive or the executive's family.
2. A career setback involving demotions and missed promotions.
3. Changing jobs, in which some executives risked their careers to get out of a dead end job.
4. Business mistakes, in which bad judgment and poor decisions led to failure.
5. A subordinate performance problem forcing the executive to confront people with issues of incompetence or with problems such as alcoholism.

As research has shown, the recognition and acceptance of limitations, followed by an effort to redirect oneself, are characteristic of successful people in general. It was how the executive responded, then, not the event itself, that is the key to understanding hardships."

Working Wounded Mailbag:.

The worst excuse I ever heard was from a certified nurse's aide who called her supervisor to tell her that the reason she couldn't come into work that day was because "her dog was constipated!" She was trying to help the dog and just couldn't come in during this uncomfortable time for her dog.

Here are the results from a recent Working Wounded Blog/ABCNEWS.com online ballot:
When is it OK for even the best kind of a boss to be a jerk?

Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, an internationally syndicated columnist, popular speaker and a recent addition to the community of bloggers. He welcomes your comments at bob@workingwounded.com.

This work is the opinion of the columnist and in no way reflects the opinion of ABC News.