Gap, Inc. Is the New Leading Force in CSR Says Leadership Expert Will Marre

Will Marre, leadership expert and author of Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner (Capital Books), recently addressed Gap, Inc. at their San Francisco headquarters in a leadership training speech. Marre applauded Gap's efforts for using their economic clout, market reach and worldwide workforce to turn their global business into a force for good.

Gap has an impressive and comprehensive CSR agenda (http://www.gapinc.com/socialresponsibility/). A large part of their social responsibility efforts are geared toward women. One initiative is P.A.C.E (Personal Advancement, Career Enhancement), a program that helps female garment workers in developing countries advance beyond entry-level positions through education. Other initiatives include making huge strides in improving factory working conditions, encouraging employees to take part in the giving process through volunteering, and minimizing their environmental impact. Gap has embraced their CSR whole-heartedly. As Dan Henkle, SVP of Global Responsibility at Gap states, "Acting in an ethical way is not only the right thing to do - it also unlocks new ways for us to do business better."

According to Marre, this accelerating trend toward CSR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJtUF1_UjHU&feature=related) that Gap so clearly demonstrates comes down to consumer and employee demands. A new study conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS207957+09-Feb-2009+PRN20090209), for instance, reveals that even amidst the economic turmoil, 82 percent of consumers are still buying green. Marre points out that as more and more consumers and employees have demanded greener, healthier products responsibly made, the number, choices, and quality of these products has skyrocketed.

Marre asserts in his blog, Who Do You Work For (http://www.thoughtrocket.com/blog), that a sustainable future for humanity depends on CSR efforts becoming the basis of business strategy. He states, "Global corporations and fast acting enterprises are the institutions most able to drive fast positive change. They operate across boarders without political inhibitions." He continues, "They must respond in real time to consumer and employee attitudes. Corporations are self-interested, but consumers determine where that self-interest leads them. As long as we escalate our insistence on sustainable, responsible products and processes we will get more of them."

In his leadership training Marre also draws on research from his American Dream Project which confirms that a new younger Gen Y workforce is focused on remaking business into institutions of global sustainability. He states that in companies like Gap, whose management ranks are filled with 30 to 40 year-olds, past assumptions are quickly giving way to new disruptive innovations that increase competitive strength.

Marre states, "The energy of sustainability and social good is contagious, and I am seeing an epidemic of virtue take over business-as-usual." Marre encourages all enterprises to take their lead from Gap whose made the statement from their founder, Don Fisher, their motto: "Make a difference beyond just selling clothes."

About Will Marre: Will is an Emmy Award-winning writer, speaker and coach. He is the co-founder and former president of the Covey Leadership Center (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and CEO of the REALeadership Alliance where he helps leaders identify, communicate and implement new socially strategic business models. Will has been a personal leadership coach and advisor to multi-billion dollar global companies such as Nike and Johnson & Johnson. For the past 10 years he has focused on making corporate social responsibility strategic. His new book, Save the World and Still Be Home For Dinner (Capital Books), is available now at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/World-Still-Dinner-Capital-Cares/dp/1933102780).

For more information on opportunities to have Will speak, please visit WillMarre.com (http://www.WillMarre.com), or for more information on Will's consulting practice, please visit Realeadership.com (http://www.Realeadership.com). You can also follow Will on Twitter (@WillMarre) and Facebook.

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