Report to Members & Friends

May 1998

Kofi Annan Links UN and Business: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan addressed 200+ senior business leaders May 18 on the importance of business involvement in finding solutions to global issues. The meeting was organized by MCCR, the Minnesota Business Partnership and the Caux Round Table. Secretary-General Annan applauded MCCR and the Caux Round Table for promoting active business leadership on global issues.

Supportive Managers Key to Work/Life Productivity: Sixty-five participants from 50+ companies at The Work«Life Network™ meeting on April 15 heard Canadian researcher Linda Duxbury, Ph.D. hammer home the importance of supportive managers in creating a workplace culture that yields productivity on the job and work/life balance. Duxbury, of Carleton University in Ottawa, has conducted extensive research with businesses and thousands of employees across Canada. Duxbury’s presentation was sponsored by Ceridian.

MCCR Active Globally: President Bob MacGregor has been active on the international scene promoting the Principles for Business and principled business leadership:

• Met with business leaders and government officials in Egypt and led a Lebanese American University seminar and secured an Arabic edition of the Principles.

• Joined a US-European delegation meeting with business leaders in Mexico City and Monterey, Mexico to discuss the Principles and formation of Caux Round Table chapters in Mexico.

• Chaired a seminar on principled business leadership at the UNESCO Business Forum in Stockholm.

• MCCR co-sponsored Humphrey Institute Policy Forum featuring US UN Ambassador Bill Richardson on Estrangement or Engagement: Local Responses to Global Challenges.

Getting the Work/Life Message to Business:

• At the Tenth Annual MultiCultural Forum on March 5, which was attended by a record 532 people, MCCR’s David Rodbourne and Sharon Klun of American Express Financial Advisors presented a workshop of Work/Life Strategies to over 80 business, nonprofit and government managers.

• David Rodbourne wrote an article on Work/Life strategies for the Minnesota School Boards Association.

• MCCR was recognized as a key Work/Life resource by St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Amy Gage speaking before a capacity crowd of 300 attending a UST Alumni First Friday Club luncheon

• Two members of MCCR’s Work/Life Task Force, Jim Grubs of Reell Precision Manufacturing and Sharon Klun of American Express Financial Advisors, addressed a Hennepin County Community Health Department’s March 10 small business breakfast on Building Healthy Organizations: Balancing Work and Home Life. David Rodbourne distributed information on The Work«Life Network™ .

New Speeches in Print: Thanks to support from General Mills and The St. Paul Companies, the Center is distributing new speeches by Carol Johnson, superintendent of Minneapolis Schools, and by Amy Gage, business columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Johnson, in Partners in Education: We Can’t Do It Alone, delivered an incisive analysis of the challenges facing public education in Minneapolis. Under the title, A New Way to Manage Work and Life, Gage presents a hard look at work/life policies and the issues and inequities that employers have not yet addressed.

MCCR In The News: The Star Tribune cited MCCR in its May 19 editorial on Kofi Annan’s speech to business. The May 25 Star Tribune carried Bob MacGregor’s commentary on "The Minnesota Advantage - Responsible Corporate Citizenship."

Program Alert

Assessing Global Readiness: June 5, 1998 ~ 8:30 am - 12:30 pm

Deciding to enter the global market is not easy, but done properly, your company can benefit. Larry Koslow, chair of the International Business Law Group of Fredrikson & Byron, will help us prepare for the unique challenges related to business and ethics in countries whose political, legal, and cultural systems differ.

Business Leaders Roundtable: June 9, 1998 ~ 7:30 am - 10 am

Esperanza Guerrero-Anderson, CEO of Milestone Growth Fund, will help us explore how we can align our work and our values. Aligning Values and Action: Leadership and Balancing Life's Personal and Work Dimensions focuses on the personal experience of being a leader and wrestling with value conflict.

Eighth Annual Stakeholder Dialogue: MCCR cosponsored Poetry and the Corporation: Should I Bring My Whole Self to Work? featuring consultant and poet David Whyte along with Mary Ann Donahue from Medtronic and Peter Vaill from the University of St. Thomas. The Dialogue, organized by Ken Goodpaster, Koch Endowed Chair in Business Ethics at St. Thomas, attracted and an overflow crowd. For those who missed it, check out Regional Channel 6 for a broadcast of the video tape this summer.

Other Spring Programs and Activities:

• The Ownership Solution on April 23 featured consultant and author Jeff Gates speaking to MCCR members and friends on his new book which argues that broadening ownership, partly through ESOPs, is one important and under-utilized solution to the challenges facing capitalism.

• Aided the University of St. Thomas conference on "Labor-Management Relations in a World of Change."

• Participated in a Fredrikson & Byron seminar on Going Global? Ethical Issues to Consider in International Business organized by attorney Larry Koslow.

• MCCR Program Director David Rodbourne provided input to the Keystone Program Advisory Committee as part of their future planning process. The committee is chaired by Patti Hague of Health Partners.

• Co-sponsored the April 15 lecture by Jean-Loup Dherse, deputy chair of the Caux Round Table, Vice President of the World Bank, and a member of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum. He spoke on Responsibilities of a Global Organization: The Challenge of World Hunger.

Ethics Management Strategies Outlined: Jon Pekel, Doug Wallace and Paul Johnson from The Fulcrum Group shared practical suggestions, in a checklist format, for anticipating ethics problems and creating effective ethics management strategies with MCCR members at a luncheon workshop on May 11. Fulcrum delivers MCCR’s Ethics and Integrity Services™ which helps companies identify issues and set up useful ethics management processes. To find out how to use this confidential service, call MCCR.

Study Abroad Rescheduled: MCCR’s study tour on business, culture and ethics in Western Europe is rescheduled for January 9-23, 1999. The group will be led by UST faculty member Dr. Pat Hedberg. A number of MCCR Member Companies will assist with site visits in England, Belgium, France and Germany. For information, call MCCR.

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