Turns out, people are the answer and figuring out how to engage us is the question.  Sound familiar? 

I am at the annual conference of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, along with 400 corporate citizenship functionaries and their acolytes.  The good news is that in the teeth of an epic, category 5 economic storm, corporate responsibility is moving to center stage and the new frontier is inside the corporation. 

Evidence is all the crazy talk I am hearing around me about employees emerging as individuals with hearts and minds, not homogeneous labor to be deployed as community service volunteers.

And, in session after session, whether from the stage or audience, I hear about individuals taking personal responsibility, adopting a single practice, what Adam Werbach calls a PSP, a personal sustainability practice. 

Just as charity begins at home, sustainability is intensely personal.  When pushed for a commitment, we tend to see sustainability as a way to extend our own lives--a healthy practice like exercise or stopping smoking.  We need to put our own oxygen mask on first before assisting others.

Speaking of engagement, I wonder when the corporate tribe will start thinking of me not just as an anonymous customer, but someone with a stake in their success.

At a session yesterday, I was astonished to realize that I was surrounded by representatives of the companies and brands I rely on daily.  On stage was my grocery store, my primary software company, and the overnight delivery company I used to see while still addicted to Amazon Prime.  Next to me in the audience was my bank--well the people who just bought my bank--and the executive director of an association to which I belong.  (I am beginning to suspect they don't know they are an association as they are way too hip for that designation and exempt from managing the unruly mobs that call themselves chapters.)

As customers become an endangered species, maybe next year's conference will feature customer engagement in community the next big idea.

Originally posted @ Ann Oliveri