Strategic procrastination in ESG: when sustainability quietly slips

Greenwashing is familiar territory. Bold claims, glossy campaigns, and environmental promises that do not stand up to scrutiny.

Increasingly, sustainability commitments are not being abandoned. They are being reframed. Targets are revised. Timelines are extended. Measurement frameworks are softened. Progress still appears visible, but delivery slows.

This emerging pattern is often described as greenrinsing.

Unlike traditional greenwashing, greenrinsing operates through delay rather than deception. Companies keep their ESG ambitions alive on paper, while subtly lowering the bar in practice. The narrative becomes reassuring: we’re still committed, just not yet. And then “not yet” keeps moving.

This matters because credibility is built over time. When organisations quietly dilute their targets, trust erodes. Stakeholders become sceptical. And ESG shifts from being a strategic asset to a reputational risk.

What makes greenrinsing particularly challenging is that it often looks reasonable. Companies cite operational realities, market conditions or evolving methodologies. In isolation, each adjustment seems pragmatic. Collectively, they can amount to strategic procrastination.

At the same time, scrutiny is rising. Investors, customers, employees and communities are paying closer attention to what is delivered, not just what is announced. Litigation, public campaigns and reputational pressure are accelerating globally, even where regulation lags.

The implication is clear: ambition alone is no longer enough.

Avoiding greenrinsing requires a shift in mindset. ESG cannot sit on the margins as a reporting exercise or brand story. It needs to be embedded into governance, decision-making and accountability.

That means grounding commitments in measurable outcomes. Being transparent when targets are at risk. Resisting the temptation to quietly lower expectations. And treating sustainability as part of core business strategy, not a parallel narrative.

Leadership today is defined less by how bold a pledge sounds, and more by how consistently it is upheld.

In an environment of growing scrutiny, progress is built quietly through execution. And increasingly, that is what stakeholders are watching.

Today marks a special milestone in Baldwin Boyle Group’s history. 

On August 10, 30 years ago, our Group Managing Director, Kylie Taylor joined our firm as an Intermediate Consultant in our Singapore office. She made her mark in a comparatively short period of time. I can remember working out of the Singapore office at that time and observing a first-class contribution from her at an internal strategy planning session.

It was her intellect, her analysis of the issues we were striving to address and her critical approach to finding the right solution that was going to make a real difference. She was outspoken even then about “window dressing”.  It was clear to me as the founder of the firm that Kylie was one to watch.

Some 18 months later we had a significant new business opportunity, based in Tokyo, leading a stakeholder strategy across 14 countries in the Asia Pacific Region. My instinct was to give her that opportunity and I still marvel at how that investment has paid off. 

Subsequently Kylie has worked across all our offices and today is the strategic sounding board for all our country Managing Directors. She is across all regional strategies and makes insightful contributions on the majority of our clients. Our senior people know where to go if they need a frank review of their thinking. 

But I think it is her ability to balance her idealism with hard-nosed commerciality that we all enjoy most. Combine that with the qualities I have outlined, and you see a consummate professional. Today, Kylie is the same as the first day I met her, unqualified in her commitment to our people and making a lasting and meaningful difference for any company that seeks our counsel.

Today marks a special milestone in Baldwin Boyle Group’s history.

A 30-year commitment - Kylie Taylor

Welcoming the Year of the Rabbit - Chinese New Year

As our teams across our offices celebrate Chinese New Year with their families, we thought we would take a moment to reflect on the deeper meanings behind the many colours, flavours and dishes of the traditional celebrations.

We asked our team to explain some of the more well-known symbols.

Kumquat (金橘- Jīn jú) “Jīn” means gold, while the 橘-jú sounds like 吉-Jí which means “lucky”. During Chinese New Year, many families will decorate their house with a kumquat plant – because the kumquat symbolizes wealth and good luck.

Sweet rice cake (年糕- Nián gāo) is delicacy that is mostly served during this festivity. It symbolizes progress, advancement, and growth. Nián (年) means “year,” and “gāo” (糕) is a homonym for “gāo” (高), which means, “tall,” “high,” or “expensive”. This delicacy, of which is usually gifted to the family and friends symbolizes getting promoted or raising oneself to a higher level in the year ahead.

Fish (鱼-Yú). Eating a whole fish for Chinese New Year dinner is one of the most popular customs. Serving fish as part of the meal is a way to extend greetings of 年年有餘- Nián nián yǒu  yú. The fish should be the final dish served at the celebration dinner, and any leftovers should be saved for the first supper of the new year. This is symbolic to “having surplus year after year”.

Whether you are adorning your place in kumquats, sharing sweet rice cakes with friends, or tossing fish as high as you can, we wish you a happy new year, good luck and a prosperous year – "Xīnnián kuàilè" (新年快乐) to one and all!

We’re delighted to announce the appointment of Stefan Herrick as our Group Content Strategist based out of our Singapore office. Stefan brings to BBG a vast amount of experience. He has worked at the highest levels in politics and business, advising sector leaders on strategy, managing crisis, business transformation and how to best position themselves in the eyes of regulators, investors, media and the public. As a former award-winning journalist, Stefan will focus on helping clients create narratives that capture attention, deliver insights and truly set them apart.

We delivered some good news today to the new parents at BBG. We have announced today that we are extending parental leave to six months fully paid leave for the primary carer, with all benefits maintained, available to all employees who become new parents through childbirth, surrogacy or adoption. Plus we are applying the new policy to our employees currently at home with their new babies.

We believe this is an important move towards greater equality and inclusion. It’s good for women, good for men and good for families. The first few months after welcoming a new child can be a challenging time for parents, and we want to support our employees during this important time. With this new policy, our aim is to offer our employees the flexibility and time they need to bond with their new child and take care of their family.

new-parental-leave-policy-for-bbg

To nomad or not to nomad – is it even a question anymore?

The global pandemic taught us all to work differently. We achieved things working remotely that we never thought possible. At the same time, as more remote and flexi arrangements become the norm, the collective fear that we will forever lose the productivity and people development that comes from an office-based work culture is palpable. Are we denying young people the opportunity to learn by osmosis in the hustle and bustle of a busy office if we all stay at home in track pants?

This is one of the key issues vexing senior leaders in our industry and across all sectors.

Vast stretches of empty office cubicles, closed down cafes and emptied out cities are no longer just the stuff of apocalyptic movies. They remind us that so long as there is stable internet you can work from anywhere. This is of course not a new phenomenon. People have been experimenting with all forms of remote work for years – but the limits of technology and accepted work norms generally made it a part-time novelty to spend some time at home, or working from a cafe, library or holiday house. But the pandemic pushed us over that cliff, and we all became Digital Nomads of some sort.

It's an official term in the Merriam-Webster: a Digital Nomad is someone who performs their occupation entirely over the internet while traveling. The name itself, like the Grey Nomads that came before, suggests an even greater sense of freedom and wanderlust. At its extreme, its relocating to beautiful remote places being freed from the need to be in an office. It can even be a “no fixed address” life as digital nomads in camper vans hold down a full-time job. And it’s not just something for gig economy workers or freelancers – plenty of people have discovered they can do their corporate job from a villa in Ubud.

Now we also have the ‘Corporate Nomad’. According to Harvard Business Review in ‘The Rise of The Corporate Nomad’, this group of people maintain full-time employment with an organisation but without the traditional limits on mobility and place, they get to work across different geographies, teams, cultures and different  work assignments from where they are – without having to leave and find a new job. So, this new flexibility may be a way to keep people as they nomad through an organisation.

And this is not just for the Gen Zs. There is great appeal for the 30-50 year-olds who may have thought the constraints on place due to family or other commitments would rule them out of putting their hand up for new opportunities – now they can zoom in and be part of a team on a new assignment on the other side of the world, bearing some time zone issues.

However, not everyone is convinced that “nomading” is the way to go. Research by the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) conducted in 2019 and published by the Association for Information Systems, found that being present in a conventional corporate ‘work-at-office’ culture is key to understanding a certain situation for what it actually is. Factors such as body language, eye contact, and sensing the atmosphere were all vital cues lost over the fibre cable. It also cited time zones, unstable network, and different choices of communication tools as other barriers to effectiveness. 

Whatever way you look at it, the nomads are here to stay. The challenge will be to navigate this new normal and find the balance between flexibility, opportunity and human connection so that everyone can grow, develop and flourish.

We are making sure that there are set days that everyone comes together, encouraging teams to get together for their own work meetings, making sure we are seeing clients face-to-face, and creating opportunities for social interactions. It’s a start.

Build wealth for the country's future generation

In December 2022, Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) held its first public engagement with Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan (LPDP) alumni to share what INA has been doing to “Build Wealth for the Country’s Future Generation”.

The event was an opportunity to introduce INA to the wider audience and explain their focus and goals. 

Kudos for our Indonesia team that helped to make it happen.

build-wealth-for-the-countrys-future-generation

A warm welcome to Olivia Neill who will be working as an Intern within our New Zealand team. Olivia is a 4th year management student at the The University of Waikato who has focused her studies on Public Relations and Communications. She is an accomplished student, being the president of the Management Communications Students Association, an active PRINZ - Public Relations Institute of New Zealand member, and was awarded the Paul Dryden Tertiary Award in 2020 for her analysis on crisis communication. She brings with her a drive and passion to learn how BBG helps their clients grow their social capital, and is excited to build a practical understanding of the industry.

Business is our most trusted institution, so don’t squander it

An ongoing pandemic and economic crisis, coupled with global political instability, has created an environment of misinformation, deeper inequity, and widespread distrust of societal institutions.

Business has remained the most trusted institution

As distrust in government and other leaders becomes the default, business has remained the most trusted institution, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2022. When government is seen as unable to solve some of our most existential challenges, people are expecting business leaders to step up. In fact, stakeholders across the spectrum are saying they are holding businesses accountable – 58% of respondents buy or advocate for brands, 60% choose a place to work, and 64% invest based on their beliefs and values. 

This doesn’t mean that businesses can do or say whatever they want. What this means is that organisations should not squander the opportunity to step up, offer an authoritative voice, and lead a way forward in a chaotic world – it also means people are watching closely.

1.	Business must embrace its expanded mandate. 

During this reflective period, people are increasingly looking deeper to understand what brands stand for and who they share common beliefs with. As such, more brands are shifting into purpose-driven communications – boosting CSR efforts, adopting diversity and inclusion principles, and taking a stand on issues. 

For instance, Nike responded to the unrest in the US in May 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, with a call to consumers and companies to stand together in the fight against racism. Patagonia released an anti-Black Friday campaign that went viral, as part of its broader “Buy Less, Demand More” movement to spotlight pollution caused by the clothing industry, of which it is a part. The company has also released statements following the recent US Supreme Court decision against regulating carbon emissions. 

But companies should back up what they say with what they do. 

During International Women’s Day this year, many companies went on Twitter to celebrate their female workers or make commitments to gender equality. Every time a company in the UK tweeted, a Twitter bot would retweet with data showing the company’s gender pay gap. In the face of this contradiction and embarrassment, many companies ended up deleting their tweet.

Take meaningful action first, before communicating about it.

Those that were found to have policies or operations that go against their public statements were seen as, at best, posting platitudes or, in the worst-case scenario, hypocritical and untrustworthy.

The past two years have shown us the importance of effective internal communications, as employees look to their companies for leadership and moral support in a challenging time. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer cites employers as the most trusted source for most people. 

The public is also interested to know how companies are treating their employees. It’s not enough for example to know that Tesla is one of the leaders in the electric cars category. In June, internal memos leaked to social media that Tesla boss Elon Musk ordered staff to return to office full-time, putting an end to remote working. His comments sparked widespread debate, as he insinuated that people working from home were “pretend[ing] to work”, while declaring that “If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”

Such a top-down approach might not be palatable to today’s generation of workers, and it also ignores people’s growing demands for flexibility in the workplace. To engender trust, businesses must first demonstrate that they are listening to their employees and accommodating their needs within a changing context. 

Gone are the days when “internal communications” meant a company could send an email and put up a poster. Employees are looking for more timely and humanistic dialogue – companies should keep the lines of communication open, which will serve as the foundation of a company’s relationship with its workforce.

3.	Facts are important, but so is empathy.

As more people look to business to fill informational gaps, there is opportunity for organisations to pivot their communications to become a trusted content brand. Offer insights, real-time updates, relevant information to connect with people where they are. This means moving away from pushing products or corporate narratives to audience-centric storytelling.

When businesses take this newsroom approach, they should see themselves as journalists and content publishers, by making sure their information is always based on facts and proper sources. 

People remember moments where they felt rather than learned something.

But taking a fact-based approach does not mean your communications should be boring or robotic. People remember moments where they felt rather than learned something. If you can seek to understand your audience, put yourself in their shoes, and respond with authenticity, you can better connect with your audience. 

At the end of the day, empathy is not just a nice-to-have, but a strategic imperative.

A new kind of social capital ecosystem for a Covid World

Over the last 18 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all aspects of life. Businesses are adapting to a new world, working flexibly, serving customers differently, looking for new markets, cutting costs and seeking support wherever they can. 

But on top of this is a more existential crisis: COVID is the planet saying enough is enough. Humanity has been threatened in a way that hasn’t happened for a long time, and the psychological impact is deep. It has brought a new level of scrutiny to everything we do as individuals and as businesses.

The deficiencies of current institutions and structures are now clear. Resources are scarce, supply chains are precarious and complex — and easily disrupted — and we face unprecedented environmental challenges. The complexities of the world exceed our ability to maintain balance and order and ensure safety and security for all.

Yesterday’s models won’t work. We are beyond sponsorships, corporate giving and social responsibility. While all well-meaning, they too easily reduce to mere lip service or what is now known as green-washing, purpose-washing or social-washing. 

The pandemic called upon organizations to re-evaluate their role in society and deliver benefits for all. How do organizations measure up against this new idealism? How do they even start to approach what they need to do? How do they stay ahead of stakeholder expectations and stay relevant? As communication professionals, how do we help them navigate this new world?

Businesses and their leaders’ actions have become ever-more more important, as stakeholders and society are looking to them to lead the way out of pandemic-related challenges. Society expects more and is applying an enhanced level of scrutiny.

An Ecosystem Built on the Principles of Social Capital

As has always been the case, it’s about building an environment of deep understanding, trust and integrity with all stakeholders so organizations can conduct their business with absolute confidence. It’s about building social capital or social license to operate. This is the critically important role for all communication professionals today.

Put simply, social capital is the stock of goodwill that supports or impedes the business’ strategy. It helps businesses earn public trust, protect reputation and preserve their license to operate. It is not an image. It’s about understanding the social context in which you operate and the expectations of your stakeholders. It’s about articulating your purpose, sharing your values and explaining your strategy.

What is new is the expectation that, now more than ever, businesses and organizations will be part of the solution. People do not see governments and public policy as providing all the answers. Organizations have a role to play in creating a world where business, people and the planet can all exist and thrive in natural balance. After all, we are in this together.

Enabled by a digitally hyper-connected world, people today want to know more about the businesses they buy from and are demanding more in terms of transparency, integrity and responsibility to the communities and environments in which they operate. When companies don’t meet their standards, consumers are more willing to cut them off permanently.

What businesses and organizations do today matters tomorrow. It sets them apart. It puts them on the right side of history. It sets them up for success and earns them the right to win. 

Businesses will thrive when they do their work in a way that benefits the world and its people. This goes far beyond environmental sustainability and climate change. It’s also about social injustices, social infrastructure, equality, inclusion, diversity and accessibility. It’s how we treat our world and how we treat each other.

To thrive after the pandemic, organizations will need to embed a clear sense of purpose throughout all they do. They must make environmental, social and community commitments part of the business and engage internally and externally with authentic communications about the actions being taken to make a difference. The green-washers, social-washers and purpose-washers won’t be here tomorrow.

Smart companies know that this commitment to deliver on a clear, humanity-inspired purpose is not just a driver for corporate reputation. It’s a driver for growth.

Customers and consumers both expect and demand to know how products are produced; what actions and decisions are made through supply chains; how workers are treated; how materials are sourced; and the carbon footprint of a product and its journey.

Companies want their own suppliers to meet standards to protect the integrity of their own claims; employees want to work for companies that are aligned to their values; and investors are increasingly looking to direct money into investments that are reducing negative impacts on the environment and on society.

Companies have seen employees walk out over climate issues, and today around two-thirds of millennials take a company’s social and environmental commitments into account when deciding where to work.

Environmental and social programs can reduce costs, for example, by improving energy or water efficiency or more efficient operations due to restrictions on travel. The list goes on.

Where to From Here? Creating a Social Capital Ecosystem for Our Times

As some of us slowly venture from our homes again, businesses can take exceptional steps to be part of the solution in a post-COVID world. 

It all starts with a deep understanding of business, social and cultural context. Awakened companies will be listening and paying close attention to their stakeholders.

Develop a clear humanity-inspired purpose statement and make it your true north. Identify what you need to do every day as a business to live that purpose, and involve everyone in the process.

Smart leaders will walk the talk, live the purpose, create clarity around the strategy, inspire and connect to what people do. 

Authentic engagement internally and externally will create an exchange of trust and value and long lasting connection.

This is a communications ecosystem built on the principles of social capital, and it’s an antidote to a COVID world. Communication professionals who can help organizations embed this approach will help them lead today and build resilience for the long term.

Unice Liu re-elected to the Australian Chamber of Commerce Shanghai

We are delighted that Unice Liu, Managing Director and Partner at BBG Shanghai has been re-elected to the Australian Chamber of Commerce Shanghai Board of Directors.

Australia is a key partner for China and AustCham Shanghai represents more than 350 businesses and individuals who form part of the Australia-China relationship, facilitating connectivity and promoting bilateral trade between the two countries.

If you are not paying for the AI products you use, you are the product

For strategic communication advisors, it is essential to adopt tools that increase efficiency, save time, and ultimately clients' money, but as a workforce often trusted with client information, there's also an obligation to move with caution, and remember there's no such thing as a free lunch – or a free AI tool.

There is a tenet that applies to all new technology: if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.

It took a while for users to grasp this with social media, but eventually they realised they paid for free platforms like Facebook and Instagram with their data, which the tech giants used to sell targeted advertising and make billions. 

AI tools are no different, and users risk paying with not just their data, but also their skillsets, and possibly even their secrets. The nature of many generative AI tools and large language models (like ChatGPT and Google Bard) mean every interaction is a learning opportunity for the base model, and every back-and-forth with a chatbot is potentially another lesson taught.  

Strategic communication advisors need to be particularly wary, not only because they might be training their replacement, but because they could accidentally divulge clients’ confidential information. Take a scenario: a consultant working up material for a carmaker’s new electric vehicle. The consultant might use an AI to streamline their research and compare the range of the new car to competitors’ vehicles. The consultant might then use the AI to draft promotional material. They might ask the AI to tweak the copy, bring a statement higher, or phrase it in a more casual tone. In one swoop, that consultant might have educated the AI about what features are most important in selling a car, how to write a good press release, and divulged sensitive information about the new car’s range capabilities. 

Those learnings may not be incorporated into the model immediately, however as OpenAI states: “Your conversations may be reviewed by our AI trainers to improve our systems". Users can toggle their settings to stop conversations being used in this way, but how many people do is questionable. Add that to the black-box  nature of these AI systems, and there may be cause for concern.  

Some big players are already thinking this way. PwC banned employees from sharing firm or client data with ChatGPT in February, partly due to accuracy concerns over the content being produced, but also because of unresolved “intellectual property, security and privacy issues”. Amazon urged employees not to input any confidential information or code into the chatbot. 

When I was a journalist, I interviewed some of Salesforce’s top executives in San Franscisco as the software giant unveiled a host of their own AI tools, and I put this exact carmaker scenario to them. The same word kept cropping up in their responses – “siloed”. If you paid for a Salesforce AI, I was repeatedly assured, the content, learning, and insights were retained. They were not shared with the wider model, or used to train it, reducing the risk of a competitor benefitting from the lessons the user imparted.  

So it might be worth considering paying for the AI products used. This also insulates against another rude awakening coming down the line – bill shock. This has happened before with cloud provides. Many businesses were hooked by free or cheap data storage, and then got a nasty surprise when prices went up, or they received unexpected bills for additional space or tools. This left a bitter aftertaste and an unexpected expense on the balance sheets, and a similar situation is likely to play out with AI tools.

Right now in the tech world, it's all about being first, and gobbling up market share, and that's why so much is being given away for free. That won't last forever. In the long run, it may be best to know the price-of-use now, rather than finding out the true cost of using these "free" AIs later.

At Baldwin Boyle Group we are developing policies that enable us to harness the benefits of AI for us and our clients while also protecting intellectual property, confidentiality and workers’ dignity. Our business is based on rigorous analysis, insight, intellect and imagination and for now, at least, these remain the domain of humans.

Taste, technology, and tradition: Creating Asia’s food future

Take massive advances in food technology, add rapid urbanisation, consumer demand for nutrition, convenience and sustainability, and you have the recipe for Asia’s agrifood story over the next decade.

In the coming years, the way food is produced, distributed and consumed in Asia will change dramatically. It’ll have to – Asia will add another 250 million people by 2030 and food demand in Southeast Asia will rise by 40% by 2050.

The UN says farming practices are unsustainable as they place too much of a burden on the world’s natural resources, and it will be crucial to find ways to feed people with less.

Combine this with rapid changes in food technology, a generation of consumers whose lifestyles and food preferences will be vastly different from their parents, and a growing awareness of health and wellbeing, and the stage is set for an unprecedented agrifood transformation.

By 2033 we will be eating entirely new categories of food, we will know where the food was grown and the farmer who grew it at the touch of a button, our food will be better for us, and formulated to address our health issues and elevate our wellbeing.

The fresh vegetables on our plate might have been grown in a vertical garden in an inner-city skyscraper rather than in a field in the countryside, and our steak might have come from a 3D printer rather than an animal.

We may send our children off to school with energy bars made from insect larvae or, when they get home, cook them a snack of chicken tenders made from fungi.

Asia is urbanizing faster than any other region globally. Households will be smaller, consumers more educated, better travelled and have very selective tastes. People will expect a wide variety of fresh food available almost everywhere 24/7 to cater for their busy lives and flexible schedules.

To meet the demand, the entire food supply chain – from farm to fork – will be digitised. An app on their phone will tell farmers when to plant, what to plant, when to harvest and how much fertilizer to use. Produce will make its way from the countryside to the city with unprecedented efficiency and arrive in peak condition.

There will be no guesswork, much less waste and if a Big City resident wants to buy a fresh artichoke at 2 am on a Sunday, it’ll be there for them.

By 2033, we will not only be eating different food, but we will be thinking differently about food. As well as taste, price and convenience, we will be more aware of the environmental impact of our food consumption, and the ethical and social aspects of how food arrives at our plate.

To meet these expectations, food producers will incorporate sustainable sourcing, eco-friendly packaging, and waste reduction practices into their products to reduce the burden on the environment. An entire new economy will develop around giving new life to food waste and packaging.

How can I say with such certainty that this will happen? We have some amazing agrifood clients who are already imagining and creating Asia’s food future. 

They’re people who not only understand the pressures that are coming to bear on how we produce food, the changing demographics and preferences of Asian consumers, and how to feed millions more people while using less land, nutrients and water, but something just as important.

They understand that in Asia, food is life. It is central to the many cultures that make up the region, it brings people together, creates bonds, and makes our festivals and special occasions truly memorable.

Creating a new food reality, while respecting the taste and traditions that people have enjoyed for generations, takes incredible skills, foresight and understanding.

In this space, navigating highly nuanced social, ethical and regulatory matters, staying ahead of issues, building support from all stakeholders and maintaining a strong social license to operate is business critical. 

We feel privileged to join them in their kitchen of innovation and ideas and help them create Asia’s food future of tomorrow.

Today, companies need to work harder than ever to gain public trust and fulfil their commitments to disparate stakeholders. Amid a business environment reshaped by Covid and rife with emerging issues including increased media scrutiny, cultural sensitivities, generational power shifts, stakeholder activism and a disengaged workforce, companies must not only define what they do, but why they do it.

With this in mind we are excited to introduce Social Capital Matters, a new podcast from Baldwin Boyle Group that explores social capital, the network of relationships between businesses, stakeholders and customers, and how they work in today’s complex business environment. 

Over the course of six episodes in season one, host Kylie Taylor, Group Managing Director Baldwin Boyle Group, talks to respected business leaders and advisors in a wide variety of industries to get their insights into successfully managing a restless workforce, the changing preferences of switched-on customers, and the dynamic demands of stakeholders large and small.

From in-depth analysis of cultural trends and purpose-driven problem solving, to the importance of supply chain transparency and insights into the complex media landscape, Social Capital Matters takes an inquisitive and wide-ranging look at the strategies that have allowed business leaders to inspire their stakeholders and build a framework for long-term success.

Listen to all six episodes on our website www.baldwinboyle.com/podcasts, or wherever you find your podcasts. 

1.	Asia is redefining old concepts of East & West, left & right | David Black

2.	Selective transparency won’t fool the media | Sharanjit Leyl

3.	Ignoring sustainability is no longer an option | Dr Darian McBain

4.	Employees are calling the shots as workplace power shifts | Sue Stoneman

5.	Purpose is about solving real problems | Christian Ihre

6.	Cultural literacy is key to success in the age of distrust | Melissa O’Neill

The documentary Seaspiracy has captured the world's attention for a variety of competing reasons and agendas. Whether you are a fish eater, ocean enthusiast/environmentalist, or staunch vegan– everyone around the dinner table seems to have a view.

The facts are being questioned, NGOs are releasing statements distancing themselves from comments in the documentary, and even the documentary itself has had to edit out certain pieces of misinformation.  

Controversy aside, Seaspiracy is the latest example of how a social conscience can be forced upon entire industries and individual companies that are too slow to change. Global industries can no longer stick their head in the sand and hope that these controversies won't happen to them, it’s open season on anyone that fails to live up to society’s expectations.

The saying – how you operate today matters tomorrow, rings true. Institutional investors are making decisions based on companies' environmental and sustainability practices. Governments and local regulators are granting licences to operate based on what companies are willing to contribute back into the local society, while consumers are making value-based purchase decisions instead of on price and convenience.

Examining the current impact of this documentary on the seafood industry, I think it is fair to say it is net/net, despite the awareness created. There will be greater scrutiny in some markets moving forward, and some companies will be forced to make improvements through either legislation or consumer and NGO pressure. In contrast, other markets and operators will very quickly revert to business as usual as the public attention quickly shifts to the next ‘cause de jour’.  

However, if you are a company already doing the right thing, the extra scrutiny and global attention could be a huge opportunity rather than a crisis. Companies willing to embrace the challenge laid out will thrive. This is relevant to all industries in today's environment, where your social licence to operate is just as important as getting through the commercial red tape.

A social licence runs deeper than just throwing money at the problem or offsetting poor practices with investment into CSR.

It starts at the heart of the business – having a clear and well-defined purpose that is socially connected and relevant to the company is fundamental to any business looking for transformational change. It is about better understanding all stakeholders and their competing needs and challenges and then building a holistic strategy that allows it to meet each essential stakeholder group's needs in a mutually connected rather than transactional way.  

Ultimately companies need to build a bank of social capital with each stakeholder group. This will put them in a position that will keep their business relevant to the right people, weather storms like Seaspiracy and outstrip industry peers that fail to recognise that it is an essential business requirement to make a positive contribution to society.

Crisis management: how not to end up as a cautionary tale

Type the name of almost any company or organisation into Google and include the search terms ‘crisis’, ‘failure’, ‘embarrassment’, ‘gaffe’, or your negative descriptor of choice and you are instantly transported to pages and pages of commentary about a time where they failed to meet the expectations of stakeholders. 

And as we are beginning to understand in a professional capacity, unfortunately, the internet has a long memory. So how can you avoid being used as a case study in what not to do?

Have a crisis communications plan and use it

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. 

Have a crisis communications plan and use it. Test it against as many scenarios as you can think of and run semi-regular simulations. This ensures that when the time comes, not only does your crisis plan work, but your people know how it works and their role in making it work. 

It’s time to bring out the Serenity Prayer and accept the things you cannot change. 

At the first whisper of an issue, reach for your trusty crisis communications plan and put the relevant people on standby. If it comes to nothing, brilliant, but if it turns out to be something, then you’re on the front foot. 

While it might feel counterproductive when you don’t have all the information at hand, being visible and showing up goes a long way. Provide updates at pre-determined intervals whether you have new information or not. The modern stakeholder values authenticity and transparency, and any delays in communication could be misconstrued as an attempt at a cover-up.  

In 2014, Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes took to Twitter after one of his company’s planes disappeared, tweeting “This is my worst nightmare”. In an innovative display of crisis leadership, he continued to provide updates in the days following. While this certainly isn’t expected, his displays of transparency and empathy generated goodwill and trust. 

For the length of the crisis and possibly in the days and weeks following, there will be a certain element of ‘just grin and bear it’. It’s important to hunker down and do your best, especially on days when you know you’re about to cop a beating, be it from media, stakeholders or internally. In saying this, if you know the strategy and pre-agreed plans aren’t working, or the crisis has evolved beyond expectations, don’t be afraid to adjust course and find an alternate direction. A cool-headed communications professional who brings an element of common-sense to the discourse is invaluable.

Throughout the crisis, if promises of ‘full investigations’ and ‘learnings’ were made, it’s time to deliver. Yes, it’s possible the results weren’t what you hoped they would be, and responsibility lies directly with the company. In this instance, it’s best to revisit the value stakeholders place on honesty and transparency. They might not like what you have to say, but they’ll like it even less if its uncovered later down the track. This also presents the company with an opportunity to outline what has been learned from the crisis and which processes or policies needs to be changed to prevent it reoccurring. While you may operate in an industry where a crisis is likely to happen again, there are always improvements that can be made across the organisation, perhaps even in the way crises are handled.

The tragic death of four people at the popular theme park on the Gold Coast, Australia, in October 2016 was further compounded by the diabolical handling of the heartbreaking incident by Dreamworld’s parent company, Ardent Leisure.

From pushing ahead with an AGM which approved a $860,000 bonus for the CEO, to reopening the park days later for a ‘memorial day’, Ardent Leisure provided a comprehensive road map of what not to do. 

Household staple, Nanna’s frozen mixed berries, was the subject of a crisis in 2015, when it was linked to an outbreak of Hepatitis A. 

Australian parent company, food manufacturer, Patties Foods, was delayed in getting all the information to consumers, as well as issuing a product recall, resulting in the loss of consumer confidence, leading to losses of up to $1.5 million, and the subsequent sale of its frozen berries business.  

A public information vacuum when there is a health scare, is not a good move, particularly in the age of social media, which can be mobilised in times of crisis. While Patties had a ‘recalls’ crisis plan, it didn’t have a crisis management/communications plan which adequately prepared it to respond to a worst-case scenario crisis such as this. 

Quick to enact their ‘very well-established crisis management plan’, when the Samarco dam disaster hit, causing a mudslide to wipe out an entire village and killing 19 people, BHP proved the benefits of adopting an open and transparent approach. Early media appearances by CEO Andrew Mackenzie (who arrived in Brazil as a matter of urgency) as well the establishment of a communications team on the ground, signalled the importance and priority the crisis had within the company.

It is not every day that you get to work with a company that has the power to meaningfully drive sustainable change

Arkema, a global specialty materials giant, is one such company, and our team in Singapore recently worked alongside them to announce the final phase of construction of what is going to be the world’s largest integrated bio-factory dedicated to bio-circular polymers. As the plastic pollution crisis persists, this new plant, which will produce advanced polymers derived from sustainably sourced castor beans, is set to be a transformational catalyst in creating sustainable solutions through Asia and the rest of the world.

Indonesia's Long-Term Trajectory 'Intact': Wealth Fund Chief

Great to see the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) CEO Ridha Wirakusumah discuss with Bloomberg Indonesia's long-term investment trajectory. In only 100 days since it was formed, INA has made tremendous progress working on deals in key sectors such as infrastructure, technology, healthcare and renewable energy.

Not being aware of today's mental heath environment is one of the biggest mistakes business leaders can make. Thanks for this thoughtful article Greg Lowe and the helpful tips for business leaders.

Supporting mental health is our collective responsibility

Tokyo 2020 was a memorable event for reasons that go beyond the staggering number of record-breaking performances, the introduction of new sports such as skateboarding, surfing, karate and sport climbing, and the overall achievement of making the 32nd Summer Olympics happen during a pandemic. It was also memorable because of the athletes who used the Games as a platform to speak out about the mental health issues they face as part of their professions and everyday lives.

US gymnast Simone Biles was in the spotlight after withdrawing from the Games because of the psychological stresses she faced competing at the highest level of the sport: “We’re not just athletes,” she said. “We are people at the end of the day, so we have to focus on that.”

While she drew flak from more toxic parts of the media and Twitterverse, the 24-year-old received a lot of support for her courage in going public with the reasons behind her decision. Not only did the strength she showed encourage other athletes at Tokyo 2020 to share their personal mental health struggles, Biles eventually contended in the final and took a bronze.

Biles and the other athletes who spoke out in Tokyo are part of a growing movement of public figures who are using their positions to increase awareness about mental health. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is another example. She made headlines for withdrawing from the French Open in May after being fined for not attending a mandatory press conference. "Perhaps we should give athletes the right to take a mental break from media scrutiny on a rare occasion without being subject to strict sanctions,” she said. “I hope that we can enact measures to protect athletes, especially the fragile ones."

World heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury has been fearless as an advocate for mental health awareness, publicly sharing his struggles, which include addiction and attempted suicide. Last month he took part in this advert to support CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a suicide prevention charity in the UK. “Sometimes the toughest opponents are the ones you can’t see,” runs the ad. “Don’t fight it alone.”

Michael Phelps, a former competitive swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, summed up why it is so important for athletes to speak up about mental wellbeing when he supported Biles for taking her bold step at Tokyo.

"I hope this is an opportunity for us to jump on board, and to even blow this mental health thing even more wide open. It is so much bigger than we can ever imagine, he said. "Mental health over the last 18 months is something people are talking about… It is okay to not be okay.”

"Mental health over the last 18 months is something people are talking about… It is okay to not be okay.” — Michael Phelps

It is critical that we all do more to not only raise awareness about mental health, but to create an environment where people feel safe to discuss the issue and seek support where necessary, because it is so widespread, as the data shows:

CALM says 125 people in the UK take their own lives each week and 75% of UK suicides are male.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among young men (those under 45) in many countries.

One-in-five Australians experience a common mental health disorder, such as depression or anxiety, during a 12-month period, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and one-in-10 received government-subsidised mental health services.

The situation is fairly consistent whichever country you look at — many people experience mental health problems, the number is growing and men are generally less willing to discuss such issues or ask for help.

Covid has only amplified the situation, increasing the mental stress on people due to a range of issues, such as seeing loved ones get sick or succumb to the virus, financial worries, job losses, lockdowns, social isolation, wave upon wave of new infections, or simply not knowing when the situation will improve and what our daily lives will look like once that happens. Therapists have seen the emergence of Covid anxiety syndrome where people are fearful of public spaces and getting infected, and extroverts are more likely to suffer from the effects of lockdowns. About three-quarters of Thai people surveyed in May said they felt anxious and hopeless as a result of the pandemic.

Mental health is not a choice, it is something we all have. It is certainly not something people should be judged for. And the data show that many of us experience mental health challenges in our lives and among our families. Despite this, there still exists significant stigma around the issue which makes it harder for many people to reach out when they hit a low point. This is why it is so important that businesses and leaders start to tackle the issue and to prioritise their employee’s mental wellbeing.

The way that we communicate with our team members and colleagues can help create a safe and caring environment and supportive culture where people feel they can be open about any issues they are having.

Leaders have a vital role to play in fostering such an environment and some of the recognised ways for strengthening mental health awareness and mental wellbeing in the workplace follow:

Share by example – Leaders can share some of their own struggles and challenges to help team members feel safe and secure about doing so themselves. Covid has affected the way that each of us thinks and feels, so use this opportunity to share experiences with your teams. This includes sharing how you take time for self-care too.

Connect and check – Take the time to check in with your teams collectively and with each individual team member. If you think someone is struggling, ask them how they are feeling privately and at an appropriate time.

Actively listen – Pay attention to what your colleague is saying. While it may be good to think about the advice you could offer in advance, don’t let this pre-determine the conversation. Remember the mantra: Listen. Think. Respond. You’re there for your colleague, so focus on their agenda.

Be straight – Sensitively address any specific concerns you have, especially if it is affecting their work.

Show empathy – Listen carefully and reflect on what the person is saying. Put yourself in their shoes, show care and concern, help provide perspective and do not judge them.

Don’t assume – You do not know what someone is experiencing, especially if you have not asked them. So ask, and be careful not to say “I know how you feel,” because you cannot.

Provide flexibility – Give people the flexibility they need to manage their situation. This can range from enabling them to work from home, start at different times to manage issues such as stress, insomnia, or medication, and help remove issues or interactions that can trigger or increase their mental and emotional stress. Let people know that taking a mental health day is a good way to help manage such situations.

Offer support – This might start by increasing your own knowledge of how to help support colleagues who are experiencing a mental health challenge (there is a lot of advice available, such as this guide from Mind, research from Harvard Business Review and information from BusinessVictoria). Support can include setting a plan for how you will work with your team member to help address and, where possible, resolve their challenges. You should also have a list of appropriate external organizations, counsellors and doctors who can provide professional support if needed. This information should be shared on your internal communications platforms.

Clearly communicate that mental wellbeing is a priority for your business – Tell your team that their mental health and wellbeing are important to you. Explain how your business is addressing the issue. Share stories and resources on how to manage mental health and how to look out for each other. Ensure your people know there is a framework for dealing with this. If you have an internal communications programme, make mental wellbeing a feature of it.

Mental health is not a choice, it is something we all have. Creating a work environment that positively influences and supports mental wellbeing is our collective responsibility. We all have an important part to play in breaking down the stigma that surrounds the issue. Hopefully your business and its board are already prioritising mental health and communicating clearly about it. If they are not, raise the issue with your manager. And in the meantime, you still have the personal power to help create a safer space with your teammates and colleagues through the way that you connect and communicate with each other.