Day Two of 2014 Conference Delivers Information and Inspiration
From driving change through employee engagement and deploying the workforce across the globe as mentors, to celebrating Usher’s life-changing youth empowerment initiative, the second day of the Boston College 2014 International Corporate Citizenship Conference delivered as promised with a solid lineup of moderated discussion and lively panel presentations.
The day’s first general session, “Citizenship with Inspirational Impact”, featured conference sponsor The Walt Disney Company as it shined a light on the company’s rich history and its recently refreshed corporate responsibility strategy. Jay Rasulo, Disney’s senior executive president and chief financial officer, said, “For us investing in citizenship is important for our business”. He talked about how adaptable leadership has influenced Disney’s citizenship efforts over time, and was recently demonstrated by the company’s successful refresh of its citizenship – to be more focused, better resourced and more proactive for greater impact.
Rasulo was followed by Mitch Jackson, vice president, environmental affairs and sustainability with FedEx, who gave an overview of his company’s deeply embedded citizenship efforts, particularly as they relate to sustainable leadership. Jackson noted FedEx’s driving principles for sustainability commitments, including:
- Mapping the future
- Identifying your company’s hotspots and business-relevant issues
- Being adaptable
- Leading stability within ourselves
Jackson echoed the previous night’s remarks by colleague Rajesh Subramaniam about the importance of connecting people with possibilities. “Connecting the world responsibly and resourcefully is integrated in the business,” Jackson said. FedEx’s building blocks for leading sustainability, Jackson explained are performance, transparency, and innovation.
