The Challenge of Confirmation Bias People tend to confirm their beliefs by seeking out information that aligns with how they see the world and disregard and devalue information that contradicts their view. This cognitive phenomenon, called the confirmation bias1, is an information processing error that causes the mind to become narrow and rigid in its awareness, creativity, and foresight. Combined with our inherent tendency to be overconfident in our estimates2 and excessively optimistic about outcomes3, this narrow frame of mind is … “Managing Confirmation Bias in Stakeholder Engagement”
A few weeks ago, we at GlobeScan successfully facilitated our first collaboration forum in Brazil for the beverage company Brasil Kirin. This online dialogue brought together stakeholders and experts from all regions of the country to talk about the material issues facing the company, understand the different perspectives and priorities of each stakeholder group, and to help set strategic priorities for the coming years. Brasil Kirin first developed its materiality matrix in 2013 and will now use the results of … “Brazilian Dialogue to Discuss Materiality: Our Latest Collaboration Forum”
Gail Klintworth is the Group Customer Director and Responsible Business Lead at Old Mutual plc. In this role, Gail helps the business units deliver on their customer, brand and digital growth strategies and the critical strategic objective of becoming “the recognised financial services leader in Responsible Business.” Gail joined Old Mutual from Unilever, where most recently she was its Chief Sustainability Officer. In prior roles, Gail led Unilever’s global Savoury category, a number of global brands and was CEO of … “Recognizing Leaders: Gail Klintworth, Old Mutual Group”
M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights This is the last blog post of a series of three uncovering key insights from the recent stakeholder study on transparency that GlobeScan conducted for Marks & Spencer (M&S). After defining what corporate transparency really means and assessing the state of corporate performance in this area, we are now closing our blog series with a deep dive into M&S’ response to the survey findings. Here are three ways in which M&S is using stakeholder feedback … “Three Ways M&S Is Improving Its Transparency”
Following our first blog post in which we drew on the Marks & Spencer (M&S) Stakeholder Transparency Study findings to define what transparency really is, we are now delving deeper into the stakeholder findings to assess how transparent large companies are perceived to be today. There is a strong business case for corporate transparency. Benefits of transparency clearly outweigh the risks. When asked to list them, online survey respondents cited nearly one-third more benefits than risks. In today’s wired world, … “M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights: How Transparent are Global Companies Today?”
We recently had the opportunity to conduct a stakeholder study on transparency for the Plan A team at Marks & Spencer (M&S). Combining an online survey with global stakeholders and a series of in-depth interviews with a selected group of experts, the study aimed to identify stakeholder expectations on transparency and help M&S prioritise its transparency efforts. In this first of a series of three short blogposts, we are drawing on the survey findings to define the notion of transparency. … “M&S Stakeholder Transparency Study Highlights: Corporate Transparency Defined”
I was delighted to attend the Start Network’s annual conference Start for Change. During the event, we announced a new partnership between Start Network and GlobeScan, aiming to make progress toward the creation of a global humanitarian aid movement and to make strides toward enhanced engagement with stakeholders. The Start Network focusses on collaboration within the humanitarian aid system across three areas: Financing for emergency response (Start Fund) Strengthen civil society capacity (Start Build) Innovation through partnerships and learning (Start Beta) … “Start for Change: Collaboration to Future-Proof the Humanitarian System”
During the May 7th webinar, Robert Blood from SIGWATCH, along with Chris Coulter and I, discussed the changing place of NGOs in the mix of strategic stakeholders (click here for the full recording and presentation slides from the webinar). As Chris proved, stakeholder engagement has solidified its position as a strategic management tool for companies that are serious about thriving in our overpopulated, uncertain and volatile world. He convincingly made the case that there is an expectation that these collaborations … “Three Reasons Why NGOs Have Lost Some Attractiveness as Partners for Companies”
Nigel Topping is the CEO of We Mean Business – a coalition of organisations working on climate change with thousands of the world’s most influential businesses and investors. Previously, Nigel was Executive Director of CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). GlobeScan co-CEO Chris Coulter recently interviewed Nigel to gain insight on the value We Mean Business puts on stakeholder intelligence to help build recognized leadership in an uncertain world. From your perspective, what are the most pressing challenges facing the … “Recognizing Leaders: Nigel Topping, We Mean Business”
Consumer engagement is now the primary focus of green marketing – harnessing the innate CSR values that most consumers have and creatively engaging them to actively purchase from brands and companies that have differentiated, positive CSR performance, write William Ratcliffe of Collected Conscience and Chris Coulter of GlobeScan in a recent article for WARC’s Admap magazine. This article outlines three best practice strategies for engaging with consumers on issues around sustainability and the environment, at a time when people have … “Consumer Engagement is Now the Primary Focus of Green Marketing”