Report to Members & Friends
November 1996
THE WORK-LIFE NETWORK: MCCR will convene a Network for employers interested in Work-Life issues on Wednesday, December 4 from 10 a.m. through lunch at the UST Minneapolis campus. The session is open so if you are interested, please call us. The Network will meet regularly to compare strategies and results. Expect a mailing.
AIMING HIGHER: David Bollier, author of Aiming Higher which profiles 25 Business Enterprise Trust award winners, spoke to an MCCR audience on October 4. The Trust honors companies that attack social problems through daily business practices. The defining characteristic of outstanding companies is "top flight managers who bring their values to work." Most award winning firms tend to be very open and flexible. Their road to excellence is improvisational and rarely driven by any grand design. The Trust offers short videos and case studies of each winner.
ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY: Ola Ivarsson, of Scandic Hotels, addressed MCCR members on October 8 on how The Natural Step (TNS) environmental strategy improved his firm's performance. Scandic Hotels, Sweden's largest hotel chain, implemented TNS as a core business strategy. Ivarsson, who described himself as a businessman not an environmentalist, used TNS to develop a 97% recyclable hotel room made from environmentally sound and attractive wood products. Sixty Swedish firms use TNS to achieve a competitive advantage and increase customer, employee and shareholder loyalty.
HONG KONG ETHICS DEVELOPMENT CENTRE: As the 1997 change of government approaches for Hong Kong, government and business leaders are pressing an aggressive business ethics campaign. MCCR hosted Catherine Chui and Phoebe Chan of the Hong Kong Ethics Development Centre who were visiting the U.S. to learn how ethics are practiced in the U.S.. MCCR arranged meetings with St. Thomas faculty, Honeywell, the Minnesota Trade Office, the Deputy Attorney General for Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota. Catherine Chui said interest in business ethics is growing in China. The Hong Kong Centre is distributing 5,000 copies of Principles for Business in English and in Chinese.
WORK-LIFE EDUCATION: Interested in a lunch hour course for employees? The Sandwich Generation, an MCCR Families That Work! course, helps boomers struggling to balance work, parenting AND care for aging parents. Call Patty Schneider at 962-4120. Across town, St. Paul's Working Parent Resource Center, reports 1,235 workers at two firms took courses on "Change" and "Men Are from Mars; Women Are from Venus" in mid-October. Marcie Brooke, a MCCR Task Force member, can be reached at 293-5330.
WORK-LIFE ONLINE: Susan Seitel opened a Web Home Page for her business, Work & Family Connection. Access via http://www.workfamily.com on Netscape or AOL. Susan publishes two outstanding national newsletters NewsBrief and Trend Report on Work-Family practices. Subscribers can tap her extensive Work-Family database. Another online source is The Children, Youth and Family Consortium at the University of Minnesota. Search for http://www.cyfc.umn.edu.
CEO'S NEEDED: We are looking for a few good CEO authors for future Executive Summary articles. Are you a CEO with 650 words on a compelling issue in corporate responsibility? call us! Or, call to volunteer your CEO!!!
ALIGNING VALUES: MCCR's 3rd Roundtable on Aligning Values and Actions convenes November 6. The last Roundtable for fall 1996 will be held December 5. The October 10 session discussed how to deal with collisions between competing, deeply-held values inside companies. To register, call 962-4120.
KUTTNER SPEECH AVAILABLE: Printed editions of Robert Kuttner's address on the Battle Over Corporate Responsibility at MCCR's 1996 Annual Meeting are available for purchase for $5.00 each.
SPREADING THE WORD: Articles on MCCR's Work-Life activity appeared in The Circulator, Honeywell's internal newspaper, and in Consortium Connection, the newsletter of the Children, Youth and Family Consortium, a key MCCR partner at the University of Minnesota. Business and the Environment, a newsletter of the Cutter Information Group, reported on Bob MacGregor's role in promoting the Caux Round Table Principles for Business worldwide.
WORK-FAMILY IN ROCHESTER: This regional conference has been rescheduled at the request of our partners in Rochester to March 7, 1997.
NEW MEMBERS: Please join MCCR in welcoming new members Holden Graphics Services and Lurie, Besikof, Lapidus & Co., LLP.
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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