Report to Members & Friends
February 1999
MacGregor Retires: MCCR President Bob MacGregor leaves MCCR this spring to accept positions in Beirut, Lebanon as President of the INDEVCO Foundation and Country Director for the International Executive Service Corps. The Board of Directors at its February 4 meeting appointed an Interim Management Team led by Dr. Michael Evers, Dean Emeritus of the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Business, and including Clinton Larson, retired senior vice president at Honeywell and an MCCR director, and Michael Lynch, a former Carlson Marketing Group executive. The Board conferred the title of President Emeritus on MacGregor in recognition of his distinguished service. He will continue to assist MCCR, including developing international relationships.
Initiative Plan OK’d: While planning is still in progress, the MCCR Board at its December 15 meeting approved a new strategic direction for the Center. The mission: creating ethical business cultures – in companies, in communities and among nations – puts special emphasis on international ethics and corporate responsibility issues. Research, education and information services for business will be carried out in affiliation with the Carlson School of Management and the St. Thomas Graduate School of Business. The Center will help business identify and implement best practices and tackle key societal issues.
Work«Life Network: On February 11th, 60+ participants of The Work«Life Network™ heard from Bradley Googins, Executive Director of Boston College’s Center on Corporate Community Relations as well as Director of its Center on Work and Family. Googins is one of the nation’s leading experts on work/life strategies for business and designer of the Business Week National Work/Life Survey. He provided the Network with updates on national trends, measuring work/life impacts, community partnerships, and international work/life issues.
Board of Directors News: MCCR’s board added one new director – David Kidwell, Ph.D., Dean of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. We want to thank resigning board member Philip Heasley, Vice Chairman of US Bancorp, for his service on the Board.
Annual Meeting Report: The 350+ guests registered for MCCR’s 20th Annual Meeting heard Presidents Mark Yudof and Dennis Dease announce an exciting new collaboration between MCCR, the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Business – with which MCCR is already affiliated, and the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. Combining the intellectual capital of the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota with the experience of business leaders will make MCCR one of the leading centers of excellence in ethics and corporate responsibility around the globe. Directors David Koch, Chairman of Graco, and Tony Anderson, Chairman of H.B. Fuller, outlined the Center’s new direction.
Denny Receives Citizenship Award: Charles M. Denny, Jr., former Chairman & CEO of ADC Telecommunications, was presented with the second annual MCCR Corporate Citizenship Award at the Center’s December 15 Annual Meeting. This award reflects the commitment of all member companies to the ideals embodied in the Center’s mission. Denny exemplifies this vision in every respect. Denny’s sustained and imaginative leadership in business and in public life stands as a model for all of us and for all future Minnesota Business leaders. We are proud of his service to MCCR and to our communities.
11th Annual Multicultural Forum is February 24, 1999. MCCR is proud to once again co-sponsor the Annual Multicultural Forum. Medtronic Chairman and CEO Bill George will keynote the program. MCCR Program Director David Rodbourne will offer a workshop on Work/Life – as will Beverly Mills-Novoa from Medtronic. The day will conclude with an inspiring and challenging speech from Myrlie Evers-Williams, Chair Emeritus of the NAACP Board of Directors. To register, call St. Thomas at 651/962-4255.
Thank You Planning Committee: We’re going to put them back to work, but first we want to thank them for their fine efforts in Phase One of our planning. Particularly we thank Clint Larson who has led this effort with great insight and determination. Committee Members serving with Clint include: Lars Carlson of H.B. Fuller; Patti Hague of HealthPartners; Pat Hoven of Honeywell; Alfie Marcus, Ian Maitland, Bob Ruekert, and Mary Nichols of the Carlson School of Management; Mike Evers, Ken Goodpaster and Dawn Elm of the St. Thomas Graduate School of Business. We’ve also had wonderful input from Judy Corson, founder of Custom Research and Jim Secord, CEO of Lakewood Publishing. Norman Bowie, who has held the Andersen Chair in Corporate Responsibility at the Carlson School and is now with the Aspen Institute, has provided valuable counsel to our planning efforts. Also a special thanks to Kathryn Brewer, our consultant, and David Rodbourne for providing excellent staff support for this planning effort.
Civility in the Marketplace – Problems and Solutions: The April 27 Stakeholder Dialogue, sponsored by the Koch Chair in Business Ethics at St. Thomas and co-sponsored by MCCR, features Stephen Carter, author of Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at the UST Minneapolis Campus Thorton Auditorium. Open to the public.
Travels With Bob: Our peripatetic President, Bob MacGregor, has been on the road speaking about principled business leadership and the Principles for Business. He spoke in Bangkok, Thailand at a conference marking the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with over 700 business and government leaders. (The keynote speech from that conference, by the Thai Prime Minister, will be published by MCCR later this month.) In Bucharest, Romania, Bob spoke at a conference for some 300 mayors and economic development leaders on the changing role of enterprise emphasizing the role of responsible business practices. In January, he spoke here in Minneapolis to a group of consultants from France. For the second year, MCCR co-sponsored an international conference on business and consciousness in Mexico. This month he joins former Medtronic CEO Win Wallin and other leaders of the Caux Round Table (CRT) in a meeting with top Mexican business leaders to establish a CRT principled business leadership group in their country.
MCCR WEB Site: Check out MCCR’s WEB site at www.stthomas.edu/mccr If you are looking for the Principles for Business you can find them on MCCR’s site or try the Caux Round Table (CRT) site which is managed by MCCR at www.cauxroundtable.org The Principles for Business are on-line in several languages.
Work/Life Article: Check the November-December issue of the Harvard Business Review for an excellent article on how managers can win at work by creating work practices that respect the personal priorities of employees. Work and Life: The End of the Zero-Sum Game by Stewart Friedman of the Wharton School. It takes work/life thinking to a new level and is consistent with research by MIT’s Lotte Bailyn.
Sustainable Carpets? Ray Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Interface generates floor covering sales of $1.2 billion by focusing on manufacturing based on sustainability, renewables, and recycling. He’ll talk about the next industrial revolution February 24 at the Science Museum of Minnesota. MCCR is a co-sponsor. Call 651/221-4511 for more information.
Area Code Switch In Effect: MCCR has a new area code - 651. Although the Center’s offices are in Minneapolis, the University of St. Thomas exchange, which we share, is in the new area code. For calls or faxes to MCCR, please use Area Code 651.
Center for Ethical Business Cultures
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Phone: 651 962 4120 or 800 328 6819 Ext. 2-4120 ▪ Facsimile: 651 962 4042
Email: mail@cebcglobal.org
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