Home » DO YOU KNOW...How to stay off the Black List? CROA Raises the Bar & Lowers the Barriers to Improvement

Earlier this year CR Magazine published the Black List of the least transparent companies in the world; a corollary to the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List.  In planning the release, we had a certain amount of trepidation.  Would the hate mail overwhelm us? Would the list really impact corporate behavior?

One thing told us this was the absolute right decision: an in-depth analysis of year-over-year scores showed that while companies in the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List continually improved, those at the bottom weren't.  In fact, many were getting worse.

I'm happy to say that since publication we've seen a number of the Black Listed firms make significant steps toward improvement -- in fact several reached out to me to thank us for drawing their attention to these important issues.

So this year we're continuing to raise the bar while lowering the barrier to self-improvement with two important initiatives:

1.      Improving the Best Corporate Citizens Methodology, and

2.      Raising the ethical standards of CROA member companies

Throughout 2010 we put the methodology through the ringer, examining every data element, category, and weighting.  We've also heard from many of you that you'd like to learn more about how to improve your transparency.

As a result we will hold a Briefing on the Best Corporate Citizens: How They're Ranked & How You Can Improve at the CRO Summit Nov 3-4.  And through the generosity of one of our sponsors the first 5 firms to register can attend the Summit for just $150.  This is an unprecedented opportunity to make a real contribution to society by learning how to improve your corporate responsibility and transparency. 

Beyond scorings and ratings, there’s also the more fundamental issue of creating an ethical culture.  One of the central figures in my life on this subject has and continues to be Rush Kidder.  I’ve frequently referenced him in these posts and I had the opportunity to catch up with Rush a few weeks ago.  His work continually inspires me and has formed the central piece for one of the most important undertakings of the CROA: its ethics code. 

As Kevin Moss referenced in his recent post, the CROA has just published its draft code.  To test the usefulness of the code we’re going to use Rush’s four classic ethical dilemmas.  But, we need your help.  Tomorrow, we will post the first ethical dilemma, a “ripped from the headlines” hypothetical case.  We need you to play along by reading the code and the dilemma and thinking through how (if at all) valuable it would be in helping you resolve the dilemma and pick your course of action.

We’re also going to continue that discussion live at CRO Summit.  In four interactive sessions we’ll wrestle with these studies in ethics and use them to exercise our ethical muscles and improve the code. 

At CRO Summit you’ll not only learn about how to improve your understanding of the Best Corporate Citizen rankings and how to stay off the Black List, you’ll actually get direct insights into how to become a more ethical organization.

The first 25 folks who register today and input discount code “BestCitizen Scholarship” can attend the entire Summit for just $150, including these workshops.