It must be nice to have it all figured out.
In his new book, "Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference" (2008), business lecturer and former Yahoo chief solutions officer Tim Sanders proposes a "Responsibility Revolution" that he claims will not only cure our environmental ills, but make us better workers, better citizens and happier people.
A complete overhaul of the corrupt, cynical and unsustainable status quo will be ours if we see the revolution through the five phases Sanders identifies, he claims.
Afterwards, "Social responsibility will be the new king. Companies that contribute more than they deduct from people, community and the planet will make more money and will be more attractive as business partners," Sanders writes.
After laying out this plan, Sanders reels off statistics and invents multi-step programs with catchy names, showing his readers how to become "saver soldiers." At a certain point he trips over his own formulas, and it becomes clear that the overwhelming number of lists and outlines is meant to make the impossible seem as easy as one, two, three.
There's a dark underside to Sanders' thesis, though.
It seems like arch-cynicism when you command the cynics to act like human beings so they'll get richer; and it's even worse when Sanders works in tear-jerker anecdotes like the story of Lisa Millard, the H&R Block regional marketing director who offered a spare kidney to her coworker's daughter, or the Timberland worker who took the shoes off his own feet to give to Katrina victims while he worked to reconstruct New Orleans' Ninth Ward.
Try as I might to believe that a "new order" of corporate responsibility will emerge soon, I can't get past my initial cynicism.
While the motivational speaker in Sanders makes overly hopeful long-term projections, he offers some good advice and makes a progressive contribution to the "green" conversation. He paints both human rights and environmental initiatives as equal parts of the work that remains to be done.
Sanders also presents some compelling information: according to Deloitte Research, hiring managers anticipate that the next few years will bring a major "talent shortage" now that baby boomers are beginning to retire in droves. That's good news for all of us preparing to enter the job market.
Sanders believes our cohort, the "Them Generation," will become the leaders of the imminent Responsibility Revolution. Noting the increase in volunteerism among undergraduates in the past generation, he is most idealistic when talking about us.
Aside from the numbing effect of Sanders' steps within plans within programs, "Saving the World," gives the ThemGen reader an inspiring -- or terrifying -- reminder of just how much depends on our professional and personal choices.
May we all be as optimistic as Comrade Sanders, and march towards the revolution responsibly.
