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CEBC IN THE NEWS
Ron James is on the Go
Published Wednesday, October 2, 2002 in the Pioneer Press.
By Dave Beal, Pioneer Press Columnist
Ron James is everywhere these days.
In August, he was one of about 200 people invited to the White House summit meeting on corporate responsibility. James was among a handful of the participants who gave tips directly to President Bush to pass on to businesses in dealing with the issue.
Early this year, he was named to a 15-member group formed to advise a commission led by U.S. appeals court justice Diana Murphy in refining the guidelines for helping businesses comply with the law.
He's speaking out more this year, as the troubles dogging corporate America roll on.
But James is nowhere more than at the Center for Ethical Business Cultures in Minneapolis. He's moving into his third year there, as CEO and president of an entity trying to position itself as a bigger player in the post-Enron era.
Four well-known Twin Cities business leaders — Chuck Denny, David Koch, Richard McFarland and Dale Olseth — have identified the center as a promising vehicle in raising the profile for corporate responsibility issues in Minnesota.
Last week, they met with about 30 current and retired top executives for five hours at the Oak Ridge Conference Center in Chaska. They plan another brainstorming session late this month. After that, they could formalize steps they think leaders here should take to help restore trust and confidence in business.
A significant part of the job could fall to James and the center.
"Business has stumbled,'' says James. ''Within the past three or four months, there's been a great demand for the center to share its messages.''
Little has come easily for the center, launched 25 years ago as the Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility. At first, it focused on corporate citizenship — a company's role in its communities — and benefited from heavy involvement by CEOs.
As the 1980s wore on, the stress moved more to companies' ties to ''stakeholders'' — employees, customers, suppliers and others.
Then came the development of a set of universal guidelines, known as the Caux Principles, for conducting business ethically around the world.
Shortly before James arrived, the organization adopted its current name and began emphasizing the need for ethical cultures within corporations.
Since James came, the center has added eight directors to its 24-member board, mostly to replace retired directors.
Today, it provides compliance and training services for a fee, helps companies build ethical cultures, offers seminars and workshops and does research. It has close ties with the business schools at both the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota.
One common thread has persisted through all of its eras. The organization has fought to maintain the characteristics that have differentiated the Twin Cities business community from others.
By various measures, the levels of business volunteerism, philanthropy and corporate involvement in community affairs have been higher here than in most other metropolitan areas. Over the last two decades, however, rising economic pressures have worked to dilute the regional differences.
CEOs of Minnesota's big, publicly held companies once mostly were natives of the state; seldom are anymore.
They spend less time in community affairs, because they see their companies under greater demands from Wall Street to perform financially. Some Minnesota-based companies have merged, and moved part or all of their headquarters out of the state.
This year, corporate membership has slipped to just below 70 from more than 80 two years ago. Dues from members rose 20 percent to about $240,000 in the year ended June 30, 2001, but fell to $160,000 is fiscal 2002.
Recently, two benefactors, Koch and Tony Andersen, have given the center large donations to offset the losses of members.
The tougher economy has led to the membership decline, according to James and Judith Corson, a board member and president of GfK Custom Research in Golden Valley.
Banker David Andreas, another board member, thinks the center's role as a font of information on corporate ethics codes will spur interest in its services. The Sarbanes-Oxley bill, passed this summer to help curb corporate abuses, requires companies to enact such codes.
James adds that many studies have found that ethically minded businesses do better financially than those which care little about ethics or values.
His career before coming to the center gives him a special insight into the difficulties plaguing one of this year's most troubled companies, Qwest. James, 51, joined Northwestern Bell in 1972 when that firm was one of the most community-minded of the AT&T affiliates.
He rose to become chief executive for 6,000 Minnesota employees of Northwestern Bell's successor firm, US West, in 1990, then left the company in 1995. Then Qwest won a takeover fight to gain control of US West. This year, Qwest is reeling from disclosures about accounting irregularities.
© Copyright 2002 Pioneer Press. All rights reserved.
Center for Ethical Business Cultures
1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 331 ▪ Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005 ▪ USA
Phone: 651 962 4120 or 800 328 6819 Ext. 2-4120 ▪ Facsimile: 651 962 4042
Email: mail@cebcglobal.org
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