Three Often Ignored Factors in CSR – Are you doing all Three?

Written by Deborah Rozman, President and CEO of Quantum Intech, Inc. (dba HeartMath Inc.) Monday, 13 June 2011 11:36

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Corporate Social Responsibility begins with self-responsibility. If not, social responsibility can’t sustain. When we aren’t self-responsible, we drain personal energy needed to power our social mission. We punch a hole in our energy bucket, limiting our effectiveness. Social responsibility is not an entity that survives with people feeding it only when they have energy to do so. It is an expression of who we are, individually and collectively. There is a consciousness shift going on, and part of the shift is realizing that the end cannot justify the means. We have to be the change we want to see. It’s just math. To do that, we have to include three often ignored factors in our definition of sustainability:

1. Emotional Sustainability – balance and self-management of our emotional energy expenditures; emotional alignment
2. Mental Sustainability – managing time and overload
3. Environmental Sustainability (internal) - healthy attitudes and behaviors; respect and care for others and for oneself

Often, what drains sustainability initiatives is neglecting one or more of these factors. A major drain is stress overload, which gets justified as necessary in the name of mission. But this is an inefficient use of our internal energy. Stress compromises mental and emotional well-being, health, relationships, creativity, intuitive discernment and more.

Internal energy management is realized as people operate more from the heart. It’s interesting that more mission statements are mentioning the importance of the heart in leadership, teamwork and client service. Whether this implies listening from the heart or practicing heart values like respect, non-blame, compassion and appreciation, there is growing awareness of the need for more heart connection and a growing understanding of the stress and dysfunction that are created without it.

The Institute of HeartMath has developed researched-based tools for developing these three factors of sustainability. As people increase their capacity for internal energy management and heart-infused intentions (not just mind-infused), they can progressively establish an ascending octave of self-responsibility, resilience, passion and social responsibility. This gives new life and new meaning to what it takes to sustain sustainability.