“Everything can look like a failure in the middle; success comes from not giving up in the middle when the going is tough.”

Calling this axiom "Kanter's law," 2005 Conference keynote Rosabeth Moss Kanter, founder and chair of Goodmeasure, Inc. and professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, urged participants not to become discouraged with what might seem to be a slow pace of progress.

“There’s a correlation between a company’s financial success and corporate social responsibility,” she said. She noted that “there’s a lot more generosity” toward companies engaging in good corporate citizenship; they are perceived as good companies, which leads to business success. And a perception of success is important.

The CSR movement is entering the middle stage in its growth, observed Kanter.

"This is a powerful movement,” she stressed. “The concept is now established. Look at all the resources, the collective economic power [devoted to it]. There’s a new expectation by the public and by employees that this will be built into how a company does business.” Being a good corporate citizen gives a company public clout, she said. “This has become incredibly important, and companies fight for distinction over it.”

In that light, she offered some strategies for proceeding:

1. Focus on the core business.
“We know that companies do better using their core skills and knowledge base in their outreach to their communities,” she said. “This strategy makes a high impact.” The goal of CSR should be to serve people who are underserved and thereby solve problems, not just give a handout. She offered as examples Coca Cola, which located facilities in communities where jobs were needed, and Merck, which is finding drugs to cure river blindness in Africa. “Real change,” she stressed, “comes from a long-term effort at the core of the business. Deploy your best brains, focus on the core of the business, and innovate.”

2. Figure out who decides what activities the company should be engaged in, and who determines the priorities.
With companies, she said, it’s not always clear how decisions are made. Some are based solely on the values of the CEO, which is not very representative. Companies often choose non-controversial causes, which may be safest for the shareholders but not the ones most important to the communities. Where then, she asked, are the voices of the employees and the customers and the community? “We are entering an era in which employee voices will become important,” she said. “And since employees are often from the community, it is also the community’s voice.” Kanter believes that “there must be strategies for lots of voices,” as initiative on the part of the people being served is increasingly important.

3. Realize that collaboration may be necessary.
Undertaking CSR initiatives has the great advantage of adding value to a company, she said, but it’s often also a big risk or expense. “High-impact social change comes through partnerships,” she stressed. “Collaboration, not competition, is the key.” She urged companies to spread the risk, to not “go it alone” when a program may be too expensive or challenging.

Kanter ended by charging the participants to innovate, to think creatively about where their companies could add distinctive value to solve a problem. Think about the long term, she urged, as success in the short term is not always easy.

“Think about what you want to do and how you’re going to get there,” she said. “Be a voice internally to your colleagues to make sure that the company reflects its values and is thinking about the impact they’re going to have on the public. Be a voice for the community and the public, to bring back to your colleagues in your workplace.”