Corporate Responsibility

10:15 a.m. The hearing opens and Chairman Henry Waxman sets the stage for the grilling of Charles Prince, former chairman and CEO of Citigroup; Stanley O’Neal, former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch; and Angelo Mozilo, founder and CEO of Countrywide Financial, on executive compensation in the subprime mortgage industry.

Starbucks’ 2006 Corporate Social Responsibility report promises a "great work environment" and notes that it expects its suppliers to respect "the rights of individuals" and to adhere to international standards regarding worker treatment, but the Seattle-based caffeine retailer reportedly fell a little short in its stance toward some of its U.S. employees who may have been exercising their lawful rights to support unionization efforts at some Starbucks locations.

 They talk about it in crisis communications all the time--come clean and take decisive action to fix the problem and protect your brand. Well, someone obviously forgot to relay that message to Jim Dolan, the CEO, director, chairman and titan of Madison Square Garden and the hapless New York Knicks.

We’ve seen a bunch of blog posts and reports on the Web about our Sept. 12 confab in Chicago, which dealt with the gamut of corporate responsibility and sustainability issues.

Dear Jay Whitehead (aka, my boss): I hear you say this almost every day–that is, the Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) profession is the fastest-growing career track in the hemisphere. And, the industry is spending more boatloads of billions of dollars annually than I can count.So, I see what you mean.Check out a few headlines about developments that made me briefly turn away from the New York Mets’ collapse and the Isiah Thomas/Madison Square Garden sexual harassment case (talk about blunders in crisis communications) over the last few days.

There’s a battle under way for the "hearts and minds" of the corporation.

Here’s the deal. The CRO Conference has got you curious for one of two reasons. You were there and because so much went on you’re afraid you missed something. Or you weren’t and you’ve got the same fear. In addition to 1,000 little things, three big things happened Sept. 12 — one of the items is difficult to hear. Failing to recap all 3 would be a mistake.

What struck me yesterday during a focus group, the cocktail hour, numerous one-on-one conversations and panel discussions today at the CRO Conference in Chicago, is just how much the corporate responsibility industry is in flux.