Standard business skills are just as important as they have always been. But today's top corporate leaders also need to demonstrate their competence in, for example, managing relationships with a wider range of stakeholders, empowering knowledge workers, negotiating a secure licence to operate and managing across cultures. Having watched many global corporations struggle with their CSR challenges, investors now expect share price to suffer in cases where serious problems arise. While some companies can recover, the consequences can be hard to shake-off. Monsanto's ground-breaking corporate apology last month will be of little value in the short to medium term.
Prevention is cheaper and more effective than cure.
Despite serious investment in addressing the CSR challenge, Nike continues to face scrutiny which some of its competitors have, at least until recently, managed to avoid. This is not fair but, like love and war, the CSR debate has its own logic. The chemical industry's Responsible Care programme has probably improved access to credit and reduced insurance premiums. BT's research into the health consequences of mobile telephones will probably serve the company well if ever there were to be litigation covering risks that are not proven today. Thousands of companies have made gains from dealing with health and environmental issues.