Judging a book by its cover

There is an interesting article in the recent RSA journal called Bringing values back to the boardroom by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at Harvard Business School. Kanter is a prolific business writer and, according to her profile, the article serves as a preview of her upcoming (and 18^th) book, The Vanguard: How Principle-Led Companies are Changing the World of Business (and Maybe the World).

It sounds like a page-turner: new business models “arise from the ashes of a failed capitalist model” while the titular vanguard of corporations is “putting social value at the heart of its operations – and is gaining the competitive edge.” I don’t want to judge a book by its coverage, but when reading her article I can’t help but be a bit nervous about the energy she gives the companies and the bit-part she gives to ordinary people, to consumers: “Enlightened self-interest makes efforts sustainable, because employees, customers, and shareholders reward good conduct with their loyalty.”

Kanter describes her ‘vanguard’ as those companies where “values, principles and attention to society have moved from the sidelines to the centre of business strategy” and strong leadership results in them “being guided by standards and principles that are not reducible only to economics.” It strikes me that what Kanter neglects to mention is that, while many companies are going through a period of great change and some are being more progressive and extensive than others in their reform (and should be applauded), this is all happening against the backdrop of rapidly increasing expectations.

In recent times, the emergence of the internet has given activists the means to better organise and share information, while also enabling them to easily disseminate it among the wider population. During the same period, the man in the street has become a more critical and sophisticated consumer and environmental concerns have risen up the political and social agenda. It is amid this change that CEOs are waking up and looking ahead. They are looking ahead to a world of increasing transparency in which the inner workings of their business will be submitted to ever greater scrutiny and top talent will be drawn toward the most socially-acceptable competitor.

‘Transparency’, ‘scrutiny’ and even ‘fear’ are all words notable by their absence from Kanter’s piece, but ones that must be part of any truly honest analysis of corporate reform today. Surely there is a perception of necessity, rather than just aspiration, driving the “enlightened self-interest” that Kanter talks of?

Compare for example, the way in which she and Greenpeace evaluate IBM. Both rate the company highest in its category and remark on the importance of its leadership, but in their style of analysis, they diverge. Greenpeace’s ranking is transparent and relative whereas, for the moment at least, Kanter’s ‘vanguard’ has the air of a gentlemen’s club with mysterious entry requirements: you are either in or you are out.

Her last paragraph reads: “Values and principles, including respect for people and concern for the environment, contribute to numerous business capabilities: sensing opportunities and stimulating innovation; enhancing customer success and value for end users; attracting and motivating top talent; working collaboratively to react or change quickly; and tapping the extended family of business partners for new ideas or market reach. All of this creates sustainable institutions capable of survival and renewal in the interests of social good.”

I do not believe that these sustainable institutions are an impossibility, but am convinced that transparency and a great deal of scrutiny are vital in order to maintain them in the face of other strong market pressures. With such a long way to go, it is you and I, Greenpeace, William Shatner and initiatives like this that will help keep ‘the vanguard’ from resting on their laurels.

Now, one thing is for certain after that diatribe: I had better go and read that book.

// It is clear from flicking through Rosabeth Kanters’ profile that I am about as far out of my depth here as it is possible to be: 18 books versus 5 blog posts, to say the least. I do however, think it is relevant and in the interests of transparency to point out that Kanter works with IBM on their ‘Global Citizenship portfolio’ and that after writing the piece for RSA, a charity, it seems she renamed her book from ‘The Vanguard: How Principle-Led Companies are Changing the World of Business (and Maybe the World)‘ to the slightly more commercial ‘SuperCorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good.‘ //

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