Happiness and CSR Talk
A year ago, my friend Christopher asked me, “What makes you happy?” and for a week, I dove into this sad realization that maybe I really had no clue. If he were to ask me the same question now, it would probably revolve around the everyday activities and the people I have been so lucky to be surrounded by. They make the bumps along the road bearable. It’s funny how much can change in one year or even a month or a week, but I guess that’s just life.
It’s also funny how little a person’s life can change in a year’s time. Last year, I was pondering an MBA. I was not yet clear on when or where, but I was attending various MBA fairs to get to know the programs and the schools. A year later, I’m still there. I attended the Forte Foundation’s Forum: The MBA Value Proposition last night, listened to a panel, and picked up some brochures. I’m not heading back until at least 2010, and who knows where my life will be then? What will I want to focus on in a few years?
I know that as of last year, I was particularly interested in Non-profit Management and Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR]. I still am now, but with the recent turn of events in the economy, who knows what areas of focus will stand out in the business world?
A snippet I read on JustMeans led me to this blog entry: Will Corporate Social Responsibility Survive the Bust? It led to some fairly interesting discussion with friends. Our conclusion was very similar to that of the author of the entry. While initially, companies might be tempted to cut back on spending on CSR programs, that’s what their investors will be focused on and will continue to ask their questions about. Just like the Sarbanes-Oxley work performed by accounting firms though, companies will cut back on their spending, not in the sense of reduction and removal, but more with the aim of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of programs. When they had the money, they could very easily dump money into creating x, y, and z. Without it, rather than dumping x, y, and z completely, they’ll need to streamline it all into an affordable package.
But that’s enough rambling from me…
