What Constitutes Character?

In team sports, rarely is character, leadership, and chemistry absent from a run at a championship. Many other factors, talent being the most obvious, are at play when a team puts together the pieces necessary to achieve success. But character counts, morale counts, and team chemistry counts. Together these factors constitute the "intangibles", a sort of X factor that separates the best from the great.

A recent article in USA Today details the organizational drive of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies to stack their clubhouse with "character guys". It's in the Rockies' criteria for what constitutes character where some have found offense. The Rockies have embraced a Christian-based code of conduct, and have focused their organization around the principles of Christianity.

"From ownership on down, it's an approach the Rockies are proud of - and something they are wary about publicizing. "We're nervous, to be honest with you," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd says. "It's the first time we ever talked about these issues publicly. The last thing we want to do is offend anyone because of our beliefs."

It's this kind of tension that often permeates an organization's efforts to tap into the passion within their people. While the Rockies as an organization have coalesced around a set of principles to unlock the passion of their employees and players to do good, they risk alienating fans and employees who may feel threatened or offended by the religious framework that generated these principles.

Baseball is the business environment that the Rockies operate within. Part of the Rockies' success is defined on the field, and part of its success is defined in its financial reporting. There is a business case to be made for the Rockies' values-based approach.

The first element of that case is that its focus on the "intangibles" can create a competitive advantage on the field.

The second element is the establishment of a brand or product that fans can respect and proudly support, whether that is through ticket sales, retail purchases, or television viewership. A longtime Rockies fan commented on the noticeable transformation of the team's on-the-field demeanor since it began focusing on "character guys":

"It makes sense because of the way they conduct themselves. You don't see the showboating and the trash talking. ... They look like a team and act like a team."

With baseball parks as family-friendly a venue as you will find, the Rockies will benefit from such on-field values.

The final major element of the business justification for the Rockies' transformation is found in the importance of sound resource investment and stewardship. In a sport like baseball, players command considerable salaries, and players' off-the-field behavior can have serious financial consequences for an organization.

While the Rockies' approach may cause apprehension or offense with some, it is defensible from a business perspective, and not so overbearing a focus that it risks serious erosion of its fan base. The organization is quick point out that it's philosophy is not an exclusive one, and whether one believes that or not, it is important for the Rockies to continue making this point. We are talking about America's pastime, after all.

Ethics in the Influence Industry

A friend of mine once recalled to me an evening out (well away from DC), when, fueled by good spirits, he took the stage at a piano bar to struggle out his version of whatever song the night had degenerated into. Asked his profession by the man with the mic on stage, my friend responded naturally, "I'm a lobbyist". He was booed off the stage.

The influence industry is huge, and growing. It is an essential component of our system of government. The 20-30K registered lobbyists include committed, ethical and hardworking individuals, whether they advocate on behalf of the disenfranchised or on behalf of big oil. There are also some shady characters, operating boldly through the grey areas or in other cases flagrantly breaking the law.

The ethical scandals du jour have brought focus again to the influence industry, with PBS doing a credible job of reporting on that industry's current state and some of the ethical nuances that permeate it.

I've always been struck by the lack of significant self-regulation from the influence industry. Most professional orders have well-established ethical guidelines and enforcers, as any physician or attorney can tell you. However, anyone can be a lobbyist, and there is a complete absence of industry pressure or mechanisms that ensure those in the profession have even the faintest knowledge of, or commitment to, a baseline professional ethic. The American League of Lobbyists has tried to tackle this deficiency. Kind of. The fact remains that the state of real trust between a good majority of Americans and those who advocate (often on their behalf) in DC is sour. Until major changes are made on the industry side (not just the hard trust legal framework side), my friend knows he's much better off simply telling the piano bar audience he's a lawyer. And that's saying something.

UPDATE:

How might one go about establishing trust as a lobbyist? It is an interesting question, and I would argue that honesty and trustworthiness are the most important traits to hold in that particular profession, despite the reputation that lobbyists enjoy with the general public.

At its core, government relations serves to broker information between stakeholders. Real trust is often sought and built on a per-issue basis, with coalitions and actions generated out of a common interest that may be fleeting.

The idea of the "win-win" is most apt. Good public policy is by and large good politics, and successful lobbyists do well to align a particular policy pitch with its potential benefits politically. But ethics have been known to take a backseat to political expediency, despite the ever-looming social conscience that can be exercised through popular elections in this country. As a result, the "win-win" by itself leaves room for unscrupulous behavior.

There are very few transparent checks to ensure that lobbyists act within this professional ethic as an honest broker, leaving ample opportunity for unethical exploitation.

Ultimately, much success in lobbying is based on relationships, and in order to maintain such relationships, one must act with forthrightness, honesty, and integrity. That is the single greatest guiding principle for real trust in the influence industry. The risk of alienating those with whom you have or wish to have a strong professional relationship generally keeps the actors in line. In this particular industry, real trust is frequently linked with personal trust.

The Importance of Branding as a Framework for Corporate Responsibility

How do you instill a culture of corporate responsibility? And how do you maintain that culture as your organization grows? One strategy is to focus on corporate branding, and to align the values of an organization with that organization’s public brand identity. The establishment of brand trust with external stakeholders can help to frame the actions of an entire organization, allowing for a common cultural identity and ethical outlook.

A great example of a company embracing the integration of its corporate responsibility efforts with its branding efforts is Starbucks. In management’s 2005 corporate responsibility report, Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz wrote that “while the company is strongly positioned for continued growth, we instinctively know that our future depends on deepening our commitment to CSR and then effectively communicating to our stakeholders what we do.”

An article in Ethical Corporation explores the Starbucks approach, and the successes they’ve had in branding Starbucks as a responsible corporation in the United States. Interestingly, much of this domestic branding success has not translated internationally as Starbucks has globalized. The article points to the need for more effective communication from the corporation to bring attention to its focus on corporate responsibility (a focus widely regarded as very progressive).

The establishment of the real trust that results from integrating a corporation’s social responsibility values into its brand identity has many advantages. It helps to inculcate an organizational commitment to those social values, serves as a thematic framework for all corporate actions (from strategic to tactical), and serves as a constant check against abuses. Such an approach does carry risk, however, as it creates broad openings for criticism should there be inconsistencies between a company’s issued credos and its actions.

UPDATE:

Back to Starbucks and their real trust approaches, I wanted to dig a little deeper into how exactly the company aligns its incentives and delivers on its corporate promises.

First, Starbucks' Corporate Responsibility Report, linked to above, is a publication that provides a transparent accountability mechanism. Details on volunteer hours logged, greenhouse gases emitted, and quantities of coffee purchased directly from farmers quantify actions and align those actions with the corporate responsibility mission the Starbucks corporation. In fact, the Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy is central to its corporate mission, and is supported by a strong business case.

CSR benefits all Starbucks' stakeholders by attracting and retaining partners, reducing operating costs through such efforts as energy efficiency, fostering customer loyalty, and strengthening the supply chain. In this way, employees can tangibly see how good CSR translates into good business, and nurtures those employees to integrate CSR into their work missions, much as the larger organization has.

In creating a work environment that supports Starbucks' corporate responsibility credos, such institutional mechanisms as the Starbucks Standards of Business Conduct and the Business Conduct Helpline have been established to provide avenues for reporting unethical behavior. Interactions through these mechanisms are confidential, and the operators are afforded a degree of independence that provides gcredibilitydibilty to the grievance or reporting process.

Finally, Starbucks as an organization has put its money where its mouth is, operating The Starbucks Foundation, a separate charitable organization working in line with the corporation's social responsibility agenda.