Mooching in Malaysia

My first emotion, on stepping out into the baking heat of Kuala Lumpur (KL), was relief. I was back in a developing country (albeit a fairly prosperous one), with all that implies. For me, it is like the difference between classical music (Europe, or Singapore), pop (USA) and jazz (the Third World). I like all three styles, but jazz countries are where I feel most relaxed, most soulful.

I am staying at Tune Hotel, downtown KL. This is part of the low cost airline group, Air Asia, and in some ways it shows. Any luxuries (like a bathroom towel, toiletries, air conditioning and wireless) cost extra. Also (a new first for me) there are billboard adverts inside the room: McDonald's above the bed and Maggie (noodles) in the bathroom. However, it is clean and rather spacious (even a separate toilet and shower!).

My first week here has been more work than play - what with my Indian visa application, La Trobe University assignments and exams to mark, a Journal of Business Ethics paper to review and a backlog of Cambridge interviews to analyse, not to mention preparing for tomorrow's Future of CSR workshop. The Starbucks across the road has become my virtual office (caffeine + aircon + free wireless internet = happiness in KL :).

I have had a few excursions beyond the hotel and "office". On Monday, Nabil Muruga (my host) treated me to a Malaysian-Indian style lunch (deliciously spicy) and on Thursday Sanjukta Choudhury Kaul took me out for an "uptown" dinner. She is an amazing person. Despite losing most of her hearing during pregnancy, she is full of energy for life, and is now working on a PhD on CSR and disabilities.

I had a chance to meet and interview Puvan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Sime Darby (I had met him briefly at the EU conference in Singapore). With the Greenpeace Nestle/Kit-Kat story having just hit the headlines, and with Sime Darby supplying nearly 10% of the world's palm oil, it was an interesting time to speak with him. I also met and interviewed Tan Lin Lah, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact for Malaysia, and had a drink with some of the members.

Saturday was a tourist day, so I headed for the Petronas Twin Towers (88 storeys and still the highest building duo in the world), walked around the park (discovered a beautiful whale sculpture), then got on the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus. The panoramic view 250 metres up, from the KL Tower viewing deck, reveals extensive green space among the gleaming spires and sprawling asphalt. On the tour, I heard about Malaysia's long trading history in tin, rubber and now palm oil.

Over the weekend, I watched two movies - the quirky Chinese film, Just Another Pandora's Box, and the melodrama, Remember Me. With no TV in the hotel, perhaps I am suffering from audiovisual deprivation :). I also discovered Malaysia's love (or is it obsession?) with shopping. Ten storey shopping malls are the new cathedrals to modernisation, and this gorging consumerism seems to have most of Asia in its grip. Perhaps an inevitable consequence of rapid economic development and Westernisation. And who are we to judge?

Today, I did a 30 minute radio intervciew with the gorgeous Freda Liu on BFM (The Business Station) and tomorrow I run the workshop. I hope my voice holds out. I'm still battling a throat infection. I'm sure the fluctuations of hot weather and cold aircon haven't helped. With the Heat Index (comining temperature and humidity) reaching into the 40s (Celsius) some days, and night temperatures of around 25 degrees, aircon buildings serve as a welcome respite. The afternoon tropical storms with lashings of rain are also a glorious relief, recharging all the heat-doped senses.

My Singapore Sojourn

20 March 2010 - It is raining steadily, as I sit overlooking the Singapore River, with my hot tea and curly fries. Not exactly sightseeing weather, but as it is not cold, I am content enough. It’s only a bit of water after all. Besides, having nearly lost my voice through a throat infection and a bit of a cold coming on, I’m not bouncing off the walls. It seems a good time to reflect on my few days here, before I make my way to Malaysia tomorrow.

Apart from the balmy weather, there’s a lot to like about Singapore. It is organised without feeling over-policed (despite the joke that it is a fine city – for everything, there is a fine). Everything works, and the people are friendly. Because of the mix of cultures and the cornucopia of shopping malls, there is a very cosmopolitan feel about the place. And yet, it is not all neon lights and concrete; there are plenty of green spaces and cultural sites to visit.

After arriving on Monday night, I had a ‘rest day’ and took a city tour. My favourite part was the story of how the merlion represents Singapore’s past as a fishing village – hence the mermaid’s tail - and the future, a lion representing power and progress. Singapore literally means ‘lion city’ and has 5 colossus merlion statues in the city. Another memory I will take away is walking along a busy boulevard (Orchard Road), just when the sun was setting and the trees roaring with the deafening sound of birds roosting for the night.

The botanical gardens, which I only visited briefly, are extensive and beautiful. I was hoping to see the Singapore Symphony Orchestra playing there tonight in an open air amphitheatre, but they are playing in another public venue. I might still go to listen, depending on how the weather holds up. Meanwhile, I will head down the Singapore River towards the waterfront. I have heard there are some sculptures in the area.

The food is, as one would expect, a fabulous mix of Asian cuisine. I had a particularly delicious dinner on Thursday evening at Tambuah Mas, an Indonesian restaurant. I was also spoiled with a dinner at the top of the 64 story Republic Plaza Tower, hosted by the EU ambassador to Singapore. Besides the food, a trip to the Singapore Art Museum was more weird than wonderful, but it was interesting to see several exhibitions making political statements against oppression in countries like Indonesia.

My work in Singapore has been quite good, despite being unpaid. On Wednesday I gave a 2 hour talk on The Future of CSR hosted by the Singapore Compact for CSR and had about 80 people in attendance, and there were about 250 people at the EU conference on CSR, where I gave the concluding talk. My accommodation – the YMCA Orchard Road – has also been a pleasant surprise: far more hotel than hostel. Unlike in my Melbourne pad, the toilet was not actually in the shower cubical! :)

Lentil As Anything: An Experiment in Generosity

Recently, I had the good fortune to spend some time with Shanaka Fernando*, founder of the Melbourne based restaurant chain, Lentil As Anything. Shanaka is one of those rare pioneers who are prepared to live by their convictions, flaunt social convention and challenge the status quo.

After a failed stint as a Buddhist monk in his home country of Sri Lanka (he fell in love with a nun, had a torrid affair and got kicked out), he came to Australia and dabbled in law studies. It wasn't fulfilling, so he gave it up to travel on a shoestring around the third world for six years, learning about culture and community along the way. When he returned to Australia, Shanaka started a business importing saris made from recycled fabrics, which made him enough money to start his current social experiment - Lentil As Anything.

I call it a social experiment, because the business goes beyond simply being a social enterprise. Like other social businesses, Lentil As Anything embraces the entrepreneurial spirit while it "seeks to have a significant, positive influence on the development of the community". But there is something more unique, more challenging, more sublime and more subversive - because it gets to the heart of human nature and the essence of Western capitalism. I am talking about generosity and money.

Through Lentil As Anything, Shanaka is trying to foster a culture of generosity. What would happen, he wondered, if there were no prices? What if people only paid what they could afford, or what they thought the food was worth, or what they were inspired to pay? Is there enough generosity left in Western society to run a viable business on the principle of giving and sharing, rather than profit maximisation? Would the 'free rider' problem kick in, with people taking advantage of the 'free' food?

According to Shanaka, all kinds of interesting things happen when people are faced with 'the magic box' - the treasure chest that people can place their donations in as they leave. A few (very, very few) take advantage. Some, who genuinely can't afford to pay, offer to chop vegetables or do dishes. Others make their own assessment of what is a fair price to pay. Some are quietly generous, while others make a theatrical gesture of placing their donation in the magic box.

But it goes beyond the money. Other unexpected things happen too. As you look around, you notice that this is not a 'people like me' experience, where you are surrounded by those from your own socio-economic or ethno-cultural strata. Lentil has succeeded in mixed it up, cutting across traditional divides. And because of the philosophy of the place, you may find a wealthy businessman striking up a conversation with a subsistence artist.

When you create these kind of creative connections, it is a potent recipe for innovation, for rediscovering what it means to be human. Shanaka insists that Lentil is first and foremost about good food (interestingly, vegetarian food, because that is the most inclusive, making concerns about halal or kosher or meat-based preparation irrelevant). But it is clearly more than that. It is an invitation to restore our faith in the essential goodness of humanity and the wholesome nature of community.

What, you may ask, has all this to do with CSR? Well, I believe it is entrepreneurs like Shanaka that are at the forefront of the CSR 2.0 wave. If we subject Lentil to the 5 tests of CSR 2.0, it scores well: 1) Is Lentil creative? (yes), 2) is it scalable (not sure), 3) is it responsive (extremely), 4) is it glocal (yes, it thinks globally but acts locally), and 5) is it circular (mostly, yes, local production and recycling are part of the philosophy and practice).

Even on scalability, Lentil gave me pause to think about what I mean by that. If we accept the 'Long Tail' approach to scalability (popularised by Chris Anderson), Lentil doesn't have to go from 4 to 40,000 restaurants to be scalable. It could be that 10,000 independent restaurants - inspired by a similar philosophy - pop up all around the world and turn the generosity experiment into a global movement.

As the world recovers from the Age of Greed that culminated in the global financial crisis, it is refreshing to be reminded of the rightful place of money in society. Money is always a means to an end; never the end in itself. Melbourne - and indeed the world - would be a poorer place if brave experiments like Lentil As Anything were allowed to fail**. Let us make sure that, in the battle of generosity versus money, generosity wins hands down.

* You can listen to Shanaka tell his own story in this brief video interview that I conducted with him.

** You can find details on how to make a donation to Lentil As Anything are on their website.

The best of Melbourne

This past week, I have been sampling the best of Melbourne - from art to football, academia to social enterprise. Last Saturday, Bob Kochen too me to an Aussie rules football match (St Kilda v Sydney). It was surprisingly easy to get the hang of, and great fun to watch, made more exciting because it was a close match - the Saints won by a single point.

Still on the sporting theme, I went to see the movie, Invictus. It brought back some strong memories, as I thought back to that tense and magical time in South Africa's history. I was in Johannesburg at the time and apprehension and ecstasy were palpable. I found the first half of the movie - which gives some insight into Mandela's mind - more captivating than the rugby-dominated second half.

On Sunday, Leeora Black and Bob Kochen took me out to the Dandenongs (a mountainous area on the outskirts of Melbourne), to visit the William Ricketts Sanctuary. As a self-confessed sculptophile, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The clay sculptures of aboriginal people emerging from rocks and trees in the forest are breathtakingly beautiful. It was also interesting to learn how Ricketts' art was inspired by a deeply spiritual eco-animistic philosophy.

As if I hadn't been spoiled enough, yesterday Kate Hardiman went with me to a Ron Meuck exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. Mueck is a super-realist sculptor who messes with your mind by changing the scale of his (mostly human) pieces. Hence, a giant (maybe 20 foot) newborn baby and a miniature (2 foot) old woman in the foetal position. Really fascinating!

It hasn't been all play and no work. On Friday, I gave a presentation at an event on responsible business organised by Victoria University, sharing the platform with Colin Higgins (Vic U), Neil Birtchnell (Transfield Services) and John Prince (Social Compass). Colin then took me to meet Shanaka Fernando, founder of the social enterprise Melbourne restaurant chain, Lentil As Anything (I will blog separately about Shanaka).

Apart from the delights of Melbourne's sights and citizens, I also experienced all four of its seasons yesterday - from sunny blue skies to a freak hail storm in the space of a few hours. I ended up spending a wonderful afternoon in St Kilda, then wondering back in the rain through the memorial park and along the Yarra river.

CSR 2.0: The Evolution & Revolution of Corporate Social Responsibility

By Wayne Visser

Why has CSR failed so spectacularly to address the very issues it claims to be most concerned about? What would be far more productive than all this wishing and pretending that CSR is good and fluffy and cuddly and will help to solve the world’s problems is to simply see it for what it is: an outdated, outmoded artifact that was once useful, but whose time has past.

We need to let the ‘old CSR’ die gracefully and give it a dignified burial. By all means, let us give it the respect it deserves – a fitting eulogy about brave new frontiers of responsibility that it conquered in its heyday. But then, let us look for the next generation of CSR – the newborn that will carry the torch forward.

If we succeed in admitting the failure of CSR and burying the past, we may find ourselves on the cusp of a revolution, in much the same way as the internet transitioned from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. The emergence of social media networks, user-generated content and open source approaches are a fitting metaphor for the changes CSR will have to undergo if it is to redefine its contribution and make a serious impact on the social, environmental and ethical challenges the world faces.

Let us explore in more detail this revolution that will, if successful, change the way we talk about and practice CSR and, ultimately, the way we do business. There are five principles that make up the DNA of CSR 2.0: Connectedness (C), Scalability (S), Responsiveness (R), Duality (2) and Circularity (0).

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Read the full chapter

Source

Chapter 21, In: Responsible Business: How to Manage a CSR Strategy Successfully, Edited by Manfred Pohl & Nick Tolhurst (Wiley, 2010)

Poem: Futuristic Man

Just a bit of fun ...

FUTURISTIC MAN

By Wayne Visser

A futuristic man I am

I am a future's man

I come to you across the blue

I come to you I do

I am a hop ahead of you

Just like a kangaroo

And if you listen on the wind

You'll hear my didgeridoo

If I'm down under, what are you?

You must be over up

So if you stand upon your head

We'll be the same, with luck

When you're awake, I am asleep

And when you sleep I wake

No chance to meet in life or dreams

To trick the clock of fate

A futuristic man I am

I am a future's man

I come to you across the blue

It's true, I come to you

Creative Commons 2010

CSR International turns one year old

By Wayne Visser

One year ago, on 4 March 2009, about 100 people gathered at The Hub in Kings Cross, London, to celebrate the official launch of CSR International. Memorably, the event included a funeral service for ‘old CSR’ (corporate social responsibility, or CSR 1.0) and a naming and blessing ceremony for the newborn CSR (corporate sustainability and responsibility, or CSR 2.0).

The ensuing 12 months have been a rollercoaster ride of growth, change, making friends, experimentation and shared learning, with a good deal of trial and error. Along the way, we have created a community of over a thousand CSR enthusiasts, students and professionals from 91 countries. We have conducted 22 learning events in the UK, Germany, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Kenya and Australia, as well as online. We have also shared nearly a thousand knowledge-based posts online.

Over the past year, the website has received 47,690 visits by 34,501 visitors, with 111,349 page views. The offsite CSR International blog has received 29,252 visitors and was selected as a Top 100 Blog by The Daily Reviewer. CSR International has also built a presence across various social media platforms, including Twitter (976 followers), Facebook (850 members), Yahoo (710 members), Ning (128 members) and LinkedIn (95 members).

Despite this strong online presence, there is no substitute for meeting people face-to-face, and this has been the most rewarding part of the past year. Through CSR International’s various learning programmes, I have had the chance to meet CSR friends from around the globe. Happily, this circle of friends will continue to widen through the CSR Quest world tour that I embarked on in January 2010. As to why I am doing the Quest, see the interview by my friends and leading CSR thinkers, Crane & Matten.

The year has not been without its challenges. In its first financial year (ending September 2009), CSR International made an operating loss. The business model of individual membership subscription has proved unviable, and without any sponsors, angel investors or corporate members, the financial security of CSR International remains precarious.

Nevertheless, a lot has been achieved, and there is much to look forward to. In the next 12 months, The World Guide to CSR will be launched, the CSR Quest Tour will be completed and CSR International will have moved more strongly into online learning and supporting CSR professionalization. CSR International’s claim to be “The incubator for CSR 2.0” will also be given a boost when my new book, The Age of Responsibility: CSR 2.0 is published by Wiley.

It has been an invigorating (and at times exhausting) journey, but looking at how far we have come in just one year, I know it has been worth the effort. Much of our success is due to the generous and mostly voluntary support by a team of largely invisible researchers and interns, to whom I am deeply grateful. And to my fellow CSR enthusiasts and friends, I trust you will join us over the next year and beyond, as our profession continues to make a positive difference in the world.