Creating Societal Value

At the Pacesetter stage, societal value creation becomes an integral part of the fabric of the business: it includes the shaping of product and service offerings and business models, and it involves effecting change in society at large, beyond the walls of the company.

To do this work, the CCO typically will work with the leaders of strategy, business operations, government affairs, finance, human resources and the general counsel.

What You Do

1. Make societal value a permanent part of corporate strategy cycles.
   • In the strategy and budgeting cycle for all business units and functions, determine how each unit’s plan contributes to your organization’s societal value goals, including through product and service offerings and key processes.
2. Manage ESG/sustainability programs to deliver results.
   • Set specific targets for ESG and sustainability programs, measure progress and continuously upgrade them to make a real-time and real-life impact on the world. Work proactively with investors to understand their expectations regarding societal value.
3. Anticipate societal activism and proactively manage issues.
   • Lead the creation of a C-Suite-level management system to set basic policy on this and to manage responses to demands and opportunities in a principled, on-brand, authentic way through business and societal change.
   • Determine whether and where the company should advocate for societal reforms or policies beyond its corporate interests in regulatory and economic policy, and establish programs to enact those reforms.
   • Regularly assess corporate policies to ensure they are consistent with the company’s purpose, ESG programs and corporate positions on societal policy.
4. Engage stakeholders across the company’s ecosystem around societal value.
   • This includes partnerships, both to advance the societal value proposition and to win corporate brand advocates.
   • Examples:
     • AB InBev, partnering with governments and NGOs, reports that “together with local authorities, other water users, and partners such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), we continue to invest financial and technical resources into green infrastructure initiatives, conservation and reforestation projects, habitat restoration efforts, and improved water infrastructure.”
     • IBM, working with the NYC Department of Education and City University of NY, created Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), a pioneering model of 9-14th grade education including a cost-free Associates Degree. The system has now spread to nearly 200 schools across the U.S. and around the world, preparing the next generation of previously underserved students for the “new collar” jobs of the future.