If you are regular follower of my blog you will have noticed that I have changed the direction of my professional career somewhat in 2011. I moved from exclusively working with topics of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into a more general business-type role next to my old role. Within in the new business my main purpose is to make a profit and far less how to make the world a better place using Sustainability / CSR as a business model. This is the reality.
The main reason for this move all centered around my responsibility towards my family and making sure that they are provided for as mentioned in previous posts over the past months.
The point of this post:
So far the experience this year working in this new role has been quite a positive one I must admit. And this is surprising for me as well. I am a businessman by trade and that was my only experience before getting into the Sustainability / CSR business (if you discount flipping burgers at a famous fast food chain).
So where does this leave me with my commitment to Sustainability / CSR you might ask?
It is stronger than ever. This new found interest in business is, in some ways, extremely helpful. It helps me rediscover the main purpose of why I got into CSR / Sustainability in the first place.
For me Sustainability / CSR is an underlying view of how to conduct business in a responsible way. This is what I realized over the past months. The basics of making business remain the same. Each business needs to earn enough money to make ends meet. You need to know your product, your competitors, your own business (revenues, costs & rights), and (most importantly) your customer. These are the tools of your trade in my view.
But we also have a choice. The choice is to use these basic tools of your trade as responsible as possible in order to influence business best practice. I am doing my bit best I can, so what are you waiting for?