Catherine has been part of the Link TV family for over two years. She is Link TV's only personality based in the city of Los Angeles. She is very proud of her Venice neighborhood, where the preferred method of transportation is the flip-flop, the hottest lunch spot is farmer's market, and most of the community's thinking is done off the grid. She is a passionate environmentalist, and enjoys growing her network of social innovators who are leading the charge in sustainable business.An Interview from the Sustainable Brands Conference ’09 with Kellie A. McElhaney, PhD, UC Berkeley
PART ONE: A Force of Nature
One of the ways in which the Sustainable Brands Conference 2009 fulfilled their mission of showcasing the innovators and stories of emerging best practices and successes in sustainable business is by getting Dr. Kellie A. McElhaney (below) on the roster.
While reading her book, Just Good Business, The Strategic Guide to Aligning Corporate Responsibility & Brand, I couldn’t stop imagining how exciting it must be for her students over at UC Berkeley to take classes from the woman who founded the Center for Responsible Business six years ago. It’s probably safe to say that Kellie’s work at UC Berkeley is a huge reason for why Haas is currently recognized as one of the best graduate business schools in the country. She has helped to place corporate responsibility squarely as one of their core competencies and competitive advantages. She was named a Faculty Pioneer by the Aspen Institute, and she bridges her academic focus into the practitioner world by consulting to several Global 1000 companies on how to develop integrated CSR strategy.
We got to the conference just in time to see her give a presentation on “Best Practices in Driving Brand Value Through CSR”. What immediately struck me as we got seated was how young, attractive, and seriously cool Kellie is. With credentials like hers, I didn’t expect her to be so hip! She showed us adorable and funny videos, made jokes, and referenced P. Diddy. The latter was to explain a phenomenon the rapper had coined as “The Lioness Factor,” which stresses the fact that women make almost all household purchase decisions and therefore should always be considered when a company is sculpting its brand. She taught us how crucial it is for messaging in this distracted time to be simple, fun, and empowering.
Next year at SB10 I would not be surprised if they decide to open up the conference with Dr. McElhaney. One thing’s for sure, I was becoming super excited about the fact that we had scheduled an interview with Kellie right after her presentation! That’s when I learned what she thinks the missing link is for Corporate Social Responsibility. I’ll give you a hint: double entendre.
Part Two: Being Effective Is More Important Than Being Right
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