A bird drinking from the Closed Beaches of the Ottawa River
Did I get your attention?
Today I would like to discuss accountability. Who is to blame for the mess that we are in?
Well the answers I received at a recent seminar astounded me.
- The guy driving the new F150 blamed big oil.
- The one with the slave labour designer clothes blamed the big fashion houses.
- The one with the backyard hot tub that needs to drained and refilled every month complained about how we are not protecting our waterways.
- The one whose dog has viciously attacked and bloodied three complained about others’ human rights track record.
As I looked about the room, I saw discomfort in the faces of many. So I took a stand.
Actually the question has only one answer. “I am.”
We each are responsible for the mess we are in. Until consumers stand up and realize that it is our collective choices that have created this then and only then can we make a difference.
So I asked a second question. “What one thing can you do today to fix a little bit of the mess?”
It took a while for people to warm up to this. I realize that it is because for many of us, when we see a big problem, we can not chunk it into a workable plan. I get that. The problem seems so overwhelming that we feel that we can not make a difference so we don’t do anything at all. Or we consume. The tragedy is that as we continue to consume the wrong products, many of us are contributing to making the problem even bigger.
There are those among us who have the gift of being able to chunk massive problems into workable plans. They can create order out of chaos. We need those people to speak up and take a stand…..four people did.
Jessica Alba, Brian Lee, Christopher Gavigan and Sean Kane built the Honest Company….
But more on that Thursday….
yours in Corporate Social Responsibility
Cara MacMillan MBA