NOTE: This Circle of Fellows broadcast has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 31 at noon EDT.

The evidence continues to mount that companies need to move beyond traditional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):

• Edelman’s 2017 Trust Barometer found that 75% of people worldwide believe organizations need to take actions that not only increase their profits but also improve the economic and social conditions in the communities where they operate.
• More than half of Millennials are more likely to do business with companies led by a CEO who speaks out on issues they agree with, according to the second annual Weber Shandwick’s survey on how Americans view CEO activism.
• MWWPR research found that one-third of Americans base their behaviors on corporate reputation, not just product price and quality.
• Ninety-eight percent of institutional investors believe companies with strong environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives are better investments, according to a Burson-Marsteller report.

And those are just the most recent studies pointing to a profound shift in expectations of business. In short, companies that live their values will increasingly be the winners in the marketplace.

It is timely, then, that the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) has set “Fostering a Socially Responsible Organization” as its editorial theme for August. It’s the topic four IABC Fellows will discuss on the August episode of Circle of Fellows, set for Thursday, August 31, at noon ET. The panel will explore the importance of embedded social responsibility in building organizational reputation and discuss trends like social entrepreneurship, impact reporting, and advocacy (leaders or companies taking positions on social issues). The panel will answer your questions during the session; send them via Twitter using the hashtag #COF24.

You can watch the panel on this page or on YouTube. If you can’t make it for the live broadcast, the video replay will be available shortly afterward. You can also subscribe to the Circle of Fellows podcast to get the audio for listening later (and never miss a future episode). Past episodes are also available on the Circle of Fellows podcast page.

Priya Bates is a senior communication executive who provides strategic internal communication counsel in order to ensure leaders, managers, and employees understand the strategy, believe in the vision, act in accordance to the values, and contribute to business results. She is president of Inner Strength Communications in Toronto, and previously served as senior director of Internal Communications at Loblaw Companies Limited.

John Gerstner is a strategic communications leader whose work has spanned 30 years and 30 countries on five continents. He has career experience as an internal communications and intranet manager, consultant, marketer, website developer, video producer, book author, magazine editor, photo-journalist, conference producer, radio announcer and public speaker. He is CEO and founder of Communitelligence, an online learning community for corporate communicators. Previously he managed diverse communication assignments at John Deere. These included launching John Deere’s internal communication program and intranet, serving as the company’s first manager of environmental and safety communications and authoring an award-winning coffee-table history book, Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey. 

Mary Hills‘ career as a marketing and communication professional has been in companies undergoing significant evolution, change and growth. She has held leadership positions with responsibility for developing plans and schemas to support long term growth and business sustainability goals. She has more than 20 years experience and expertise in designing and delivering training and development programs for companies and organizations, bringing theories, models and frameworks into everyday practice. In addition to her role at HeimannHills Marketing Group, Mary serves as Adjunct Faculty in the MS – Global Strategic Communication program at Loyola University Chicago. Mary speaks internationally and nationally on marketing, communication, standards and practices and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions.

George McGrath is founder and managing principal of McGrath Business Communications, which helps clients build winning corporate reputations, promote their products and services, and advance their views on key issues. George brings more than 25 years in PR and public affairs to his firm. Over the course of his career, he has held senior management positions at leading strategic communications and integrated marketing agencies including Hill and Knowlton, Carl Byoir & Associates, and Brouillard Communications.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio