Working Wounded Blog: Earnings vs. Environment, Part II

June 1, 2005 — -- News Flash: Eighty percent of ABCNews.com readers support the position taken by GE to voluntarily cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In last week's blog I wrote about a Wall Street Journal article that was critical of General Electric for making a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Journal article quoted Adam Smith and pointed out that the best thing a corporation can do is to pursue profit and leave the "do-gooder" behavior to others. I encouraged people to tell me what they thought, and I got a flood of responses from all over the world.

Interestingly, I did not get one letter critical of my stance supporting GE. Below are just a few of the reasons why people support corporate social responsibility:

Quote of the week:
"A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear." -- Herb Kelleher, former chief executive officer of Southwest Airlines.

Weekly book excerpt:
From "Transitions: Making sense of life's changes" by William Bridges (Da Capo, 2004)

"New beginnings are accessible to everyone, and everyone has trouble with them. Much as we may wish to make a new beginning, some part of us resists doing so as though we were making the first step toward disaster. Everyone has a slightly different version of these anxieties and confusions, but in one way or another they all arise from the fear that real change destroys the old ways we have learned to equate to 'who we are' and 'what we need.' To act on what we really want is the same as saying that 'I, a unique person, exist.' It is to assert that we are on our own in a much deeper sense than we ever imagined when we were originally setting up shop as adults. That earlier process involved only independence; this involves autonomy and the firm individual purpose on which that is based."

Working Wounded Mailbag:.

"After having been told of the company's sexual harassment policies by the senior HR director and signing the company's policy statement to acknowledge my having been instructed and understood their policies, the HR director wanted to introduce me to some of the department heads in other offices. As we proceeded to walk down the corridor several female employees came out of an office and spoke to the director, a man of about 55 years or so, as they passed us, he placed his hands down by the butts of two of the ladies and made a squeezing motion with his hands while turning to look at me and winked his eye! I could not believe this! I did not laugh or say a thing, I'm thinking: Is this guy for real? Is this a test? He was fired a year later for sexual harassment …"

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.