Leading Execution

From IndustryWeek - by John S. McClenahen

Once companies define corporate social responsibility and devise strategies, CEOs and other senior executives must creatively and effectively take the next step: lead the implementation.

Defining social responsibility and devising corporate strategies are but two steps, although vital steps, in the difficult, dynamic and continuing job of connecting manufacturing and society. However, without executive leadership, definitions, be they broad or narrow, and strategies, be they simple or complex, aren't worth the computer memory space they occupy.

'What executives in today's world have to do is . . . be ethical leaders,' insists R. Edward Freeman, a professor at the University of Virginia's Darden School in Charlottesville and academic director of the recently created Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. 'Ethics can't be what I like to call laminated ethics -- laminated on a card or plaque.'"

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