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Responsible Corporate Leadership

Responsible company leadership is an imperative for corporations hoping to maximize both business and social returns from CSR initiatives—and it requires involvement from individuals at all levels of a company and its corporate governance. Whether you are an associate starting your career or a seasoned executive, leadership skills are necessary for success. CSR leaders envision and direct others towards better environmental, social, and business outcomes. As an effective corporate citizen, you must use your own unique competencies to strengthen existing partnerships, build cross-company buy-in, and ultimately act as an advocate for the importance of corporate citizenship as an essential component of company operations.

With corporate citizenship becoming a recognized business imperative, transformational leadership ensures that CSR is well integrated into a company's identity and culture and that it's being recognized for driving business value. Why? Because successful company leaders know that the outcomes and enduring partnerships achieved through corporate citizenship strategy enable performance not only for measuring progress toward a specific CSR initiative, but also for broader business objectives. In an age where leadership and corporate social responsibility are inextricably linked, you—as a CSR professional—are uniquely positioned to ensure that corporate citizenship is a strategic and well-integrated component of your company's operations.

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is here to help you develop effective and ethical leadership skills. Below is a sample of the responsible company leadership examples and research we offer our members.

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Resources and Research on Corporate Leadership

State of Corporate Citizenship

The State of Corporate Citizenship is a research project of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship that examines how executives view corporate citizenship and their firms' performance in the environmental, social, and governance dimensions of business.

going-green-tree-wellness-sustainability

The key to sustainable business

As we head out of the dog days of summer, the transition to Fall brings more bustle to the rhythm of work and life for many of us. It is easy to feel like the grind of our fast-paced business world will govern our every action and bit of our attention for the next 11 months.

Certificate in Corporate Citizenship Leadership

FOR EFFECTIVELY LEADING CSR TEAMS | Join other leaders in corporate citizenship to develop necessary skills to drive change in organizations and communities.

From the Corner Office

THE CORPORATE CITIZEN | Fall 2017: Today, leading executives accept that corporate citizenship is vital not only to the sustainable progress of our economy and communities, but also to business success.

Career Path

THE CORPORATE CITIZEN | Fall 2017: Six corporate citizenship professionals explore the forces and trends they expect to shape the future of the CSR field - and the best practices and resources they utilize most.

Leaders can motivate employees to go above and beyond the job descriptions by engaging in certain behaviors

Researchers looked at the group performance and attitudes of leaders who articulate an appealing vision, provide intellectual stimulation by challenging assumptions or soliciting followers’ ideas, act as a mentor or coach, or listen to followers’ concerns. Findings show this type of leadership may improve employee performance.

Different leadership styles are better suited to initiating, implementing CSR practices

Researchers investigated which types of leaders are best suited to initiating and implementing CSR practices in firms. They found that transformational leaders—inspirational drivers of change—are best suited to initiating CSR practices while transactional leaders—by the numbers efficiency experts—are best suited to deriving business benefits from these practices.

Do Healthy Employees = Happy Employees = Productive Employees?

An increasing number of firms are offering programs that care for their employees’ mental, physical and emotional health. This session focuses on how companies are integrating health and wellness programs into their corporate citizenship and employee engagement agendas.

Interested in More Resources?

Explore our research archives for more on responsible corporate leadership. Search Resource Library