Written by: Santarvis Brown, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What is socially responsible leadership? Social responsibility is quickly becoming crucial for leaders to include as part of their leading personas for a few different reasons. As the outside world itself becomes more focused on social inequities and wrongs, individual members of society are increasingly taking “sides” when it comes to social issues. And as they become more inclined to publicly stand behind their beliefs, they expect the businesses they support to do the same.
Whether we’re talking about employees, customers, or investors, people around the world want to support businesses that support the things that matter to them. As a leader, your job is to build positive relationships on behalf of your organization. One of the biggest ways you can do this is by championing social issues that mean a lot to your employees and customers.
Image, engagement, and retention
Three of the biggest areas where social responsibility in leadership is most important in image-building, engaging both potential and current customers and employees, and retaining interest and goodwill among both populations. We’ll take a look at all three of these areas in this section.
Image-building
First, social responsibility is crucial to building a positive reputation and image at the personal and organization-wide levels. Customers and stakeholders, in particular, are only growing more aware of the values they are supporting and the way that their support impacts the people in their communities. At the same time, employees are also becoming more likely to take a company’s values regarding social issues into account when applying for or accepting work, too.
If you plan to work in the public sphere and hope to continue securing funding from above-board investors as well as attracting talented individuals with a passion for building a stronger, healthier world, focusing on environmental and social issues, in particular, is important. As a strong leader, your responsibility is to embody the kind of valuable social responsibility values you’d also like to see when tying your name with a business.
Engagement and retention
One of the biggest challenges most businesses face is positively engaging their employees, customers, and investors beyond the point of sale. Socially responsible leadership can inspire passion in customers and workers alike. This leads to workplace and customer bases that are thriving with activity concerning the business in general rather than a specific purchase. Instead of only logging online when their product is broken, for example, when they are in need of help, customers wholly engaged with a business might connect with fellow consumers when things are going well and reflect on their good experiences. Similarly, employees who are proud to be working for a specific person or business might be happy to shout about their achievements from the rooftops.
When the people directly involved in your business love what you’re doing as a leader, they’re a lot more likely to stick with you than they are to seek out a new option. You are better able to grow and maintain groups of loyal customers and workers interested in helping improve your business in the future.
Socially responsible leadership is crucial in today’s competitive business landscape and can be the difference between fostering goodwill for a successful future and losing business to more socially considerate competitors.
Santarvis Brown, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Santarvis Brown has spent 15+ years serving as a leader, innovator, and changemaker in education, showcasing in-depth insight as an administrator, educator, and program director. A noted speaker, researcher, and full professor, he has lent his speaking talent to many community and educational forums, serving as a keynote speaker. He has also penned several publications tackling issues in civic service, faith, leadership, and education.
