David Grayson has worked in Corporate Responsibility before there was a term for it. As a former Proctor and Gamble employee, he has taken his skills from that world and applied to the third sector. Today he is an author, educator, and consultant. In this episode, David talks about how Corporate Social responsibility needs to move away from a lens of mitigating risk, to one of opportunity maximization.

In this episode, he referenced a quote from Peter Drucker in which he said, “every global problem and social issue is a business opportunity in disguise”. That David describes as an aha moment for him. For him, he sees the Sustainable Development Goals as a purchase order from the future. The Business and Development Commission has argued that the SDG’s represent a 12 Trillion dollar opportunity.

For him, referencing the work of Don Tapscott, businesses are going to have to get naked and when they do they will need to be buff. We are entering into an era of ultra-transparency. Companies will have to improve the standards of ethical and sustainable impact. For businesses who wish to generate returns for their shareholders, they are going to need to also think about their stakeholders.

In his most recent book All In The Future of Business Leadership, he makes the case that business has a growing role to play in sustainable development. They can no longer be halfhearted in their efforts around sustainability. They can no longer be diffident. Business needs to go All In around five critical interlinking attributes:

They need a purpose:
Businesses need to demonstrate how they create value for themselves and for society.

They need a comprehensive plan:
A plan that includes the entirety of their business. For example, their employees, their value chain and all the stakeholders within their ecosystem.

Sustainable culture:
They need to develop a culture that engages its employees, is open to ideas from all parts of the business ecosystem. Their culture needs to forefront innovation.

They need to be able to collaborate with others business and other parts of society.
Businesses in today’s world need to learn how to work with, or collaborate with, people they would not usually collaborate with. They need to cross the aisle and think about innovative partnerships that meet the needs of SDG's.

Speaking out and Speaking up.
Businesses need to speak up for issues that are unfair and unjust. No longer can they remain neutral on these issues.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of disruptive conversations with David Grayson.

You can find David at: https://davidgrayson.net/