Here’s a challenge: next time you are on an international flight, grab the in-flight magazine and see if you can find an advertisement from a European or Asian country touting their ideal conditions for setting up a business.  Many of the advertisements discuss in great detail their pro-business policies and highly educated workforce as well as the necessary infrastructure to make your overseas enterprise successful. 

In an opinion piece in last week’s Washington Post, the respected author and global editor of Thomson Reuters, Chrystia Freeland, blasted corporate social responsibility as a “cult” and a “fetish.”    At first glance, I found Ms.

What if we did a webinar?  Or took more grant applications?  Or created a foundation?  Or launched a new community program?  Or gave out more money?  My clients regularly toss around questions like these as they search for novel strategies and new ideas in social impact.  While these kinds of brainstorming sessions are fun and exciting, they can also be risky, even futile, if not linked to goals and objectives.