Being an Impact Champion: Enacting Corporate Social Consciousness

Social consciousness is neither corporate social responsibility (CSR) nor public relations but a mindset that understands and accepts the interconnectedness of an organization's economic, social, and natural environments. Socially conscious organizations come into existence when led by socially conscious managers. This book enables socially conscious managers to become Impact Champions through three pathways to successfully initiate and run socially responsible business innovations, CSR projects, and social entrepreneurial ventures. The book is organized into five parts. The first part sets the context and provides the readers with tools to reflect on contemporary social and environmental issues and orient themselves towards action. To develop the skills necessary to contribute to the triple bottom line, young managers need to deepen their understanding of social problems, developmental issues, threats to the environment, and long-standing issues of sustainability and environmental management, all of which are woven into various chapters. In the following four parts, the book progresses through three pathways: socially driven business innovation, CSR, and social entrepreneurship. Being an Impact Champion hopes to instill confidence in new managers to talk about socially and environmentally sensitive issues facing the corporate world and thereby expand their capacity to influence.