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Thanks to all who joined our July 14^th CSR Chat on Twitter.  We featured special guests Dave Stangis from Campbell’s Soup (@DaveStangis) and Suzanne Fallender from Intel (@Sfallender).  The session’s topic covered “Creating and running a Corporate Social Responsibility Department.”  The one-hour session was vibrant, well-attended and featured more than 75 participants representing organizations including Abbott Labs, AMD, @BSRNews @BCCCC, @Intel_CSR, @MurnPost and Brocade.  300+ tweets were exchanged.

Initial discussions centered how both Dave and Suzanne landed their current positions. Surprisingly, Dave used to work at Intel in CSR.  Both find the profession to be constantly evolving and progressing and no two days are alike.  We then moved ahead to gather their thoughts about how to measure success, impact and a return on investment:

Dave commented, “It’s a great question.  ROI should be tied to other biz metrics – total delivered cost, resource use per unit of production, engagement.”

Suzanne followed with “ROI is the holy grail. But, I have been working with Corporate Finance at Intel to create a framework and tools so that we can better measure and quantify going forward.”

When asked which departments they interface with, Human Resources, Corporate Finance and Legal were mentioned.  Both Suzanne and Dave felt they had the support of the C-Suite and the respective boards and agreed that is a key requirement for success and credibility.

Looking to land a job in the industry, Dave responded that certain skill-sets are critical: communications, negotiation, influence and business acumen.  @ElaineCohen added that many early practitioners were ones who had initiative to initiate the development of an actual CSR department in forward-thinking companies.  Dave also added advice for those that already have established careers but may want to switch tracks and join the CSR industry. “You should temper passion, demonstrate a deep business knowledge, understand risks and opportunities and add value to the company that no one else has.”

When Dave and Suzanne were asked which organizations they participate in and recommend, both responded that @SustAbility & @CCitizenship, @BCCCC, @NetImpact and @BSRNews were quite valuable.

Which companies are doing Sustainability right? Dave commented, “I respect many in my sector – General Mills, Pepsico, Unilever, Danone, Kelloggs.  Many retailers are doing great things too”  Suzanne then added, “There are many great companies and experienced people I learn from that include, but are not limited to, Abbott, Timberland, AEP, Dell, GE, PepsiCo, McDonalds, SAP, British Telecom (BT) and  Boeing.  Dave then added, “Show me any company, and I’ll show you something I can learn about CSR.”

One overarching theme was that as practitioners, we can all do better and the tweet below from @stacymccoy captured the chat’s spirit.

“The chat today was so good that I felt it necessary to tweet from not one but two twitter handles.”

Special thanks to Dave and Suzanne along with Tracey Noe (@TraceyJNoe) from Abbot Labs who also provided some valuable insight.  Look forward to “seeing” you all in two weeks.