Check out a recent post by Jeffrey Hollender at The Inspired Protagonist blog: Smoke & Mirrors?.

In short, Hollender, who will be speaking at a CSR conference that also includes a speaker from Philip Morris, has been asked by an anti-tobacco group to withdraw if the Philip Morris representative does not. While I agree that there is some a lot of discrepancy between a CSR event that includes a company such as Philip Morris, I really like and respect the approach Hollender has chosen in response to the anti-tobacco request:

“While I agree that their position as an official conference speaker sends a mixed message to the world, Philip Morris clearly isn’t going to pack up and go out of business. We need to engage with anyone who wants to sit at the table and be part of the discussion to explore new ways to transform their business and its purpose.

“That’s why I’m suggesting that the format of the event be designed to allow participants to challenge Philip Morris. And – thanks to the challenge from Global Partnerships – when I open the conference with my key note address I will encourage all the attendees of the conference to ask Philip Morris direct and challenging questions about their vision of and commitment to corporate responsibility.”

Hollender is a great leader and continues to surprise me with the approaches he takes to such complex situations. While change may be possible through agressive measures, such as forcing a cigarette company out of a CSR conference, greater change is possible (on average) through active dialog and debate.

Thank you, Mr. Hollender, of reminding us all of the power of dialog and debate.

[Update, 6/6:] A set of fairly passionate responses against Hollender’s plan have cropped up in the post’s comments. Most offer a very good justification for not participating, both as a statement as well as a methodology for change.

TAGS: Philip Morris | CSR | Corporate Social Responsibility | Smoking | Cigarettes | Jeffrey Hollender

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 at 10:40 am and is filed under Business Ethics, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.