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McGill Japan Magazine

Spring 2008

Meet Patricia Bader-Johnston, McGill MBA 2000 Alumni

Emerging from the private sector with a breadth of knowledge in communications and corporate social responsibility, McGill MBA Japan Alumni and former IBM executive Patricia Bader-Johnston discusses the importance of values and transparency to organizations and why as a society, we are not on a sustainable path.

INTERVIEW

Other than being instrumental in getting the McGill MBA Japan program started more than 10 years ago, can you let us know about your career here in Japan?

When I first enrolled with McGill, I was working for the Canadian Embassy, and was recruited by Goldman Sachs halfway through, so when I finished the program I was working at Goldman Sachs.

I worked in financial services for a few years and then for various family reasons decided to relocate to Canada. My family ended up coming back to Japan just a few months later when I was recruited to work for British American Tobacco (BAT), which was where I first got involved with CSR--Corporate Social Responsibility--programs. During my time at BAT I had an opportunity to pioneer BAT’s first social report in Japan. After a three-year assignment with BAT I went back to financial services to work for Standard Charter Bank (SCB) who were also active in CSR. My last move happened when I was recruited into IBM where I have been Director of Communications for the last couple of years.

Can you tell us about Standard Chartered Bank’s approach to CSR?

I think as opposed to thinking of it as charity, Standard Charter Bank wanted to introduce a corporate social responsibility program. SCB is a very interesting organization, The way SCB approached this was to look at their geographic footprint, and determine where they made most of their revenue. They had been active in many areas of the world, particularly Asia, Africa and the Middle East for over 150-years. You have to remember that SCB formed out of three of the four banks Queen Victoria chartered during the imperial colonial era.

To develop corporate social responsibility (CSR) within their organization, SCB approached the World Health Organization (WHO) to find out what they could do in terms of community engagement and social responsibility that would have the most impact on productivity and economic results in the areas where they did business the most.  The WHO advised that HIV-AIDS and preventable blindness were the two areas where SCB could have the greatest impact. Preventable blindness was an area that there wasn’t much awareness of. There are over 45 million people in the world who are blind, for the sake of a $30.00 operation. Preventable blindness really is a developing world situation. Initially, SCB aimed to cure one person for each of their 350,000 employees. This objective was accomplished in the space of about 6 months, so SCB upped the ante and decided to set a goal of 2 million over a two or three year span. Once again SCB were far ahead of schedule on their aim, so they have now set their target at 10 million cured by 2010.

SCB are literally restoring sight to people, this is something that will last a lifetime. Through this goal they are not only restoring the blind person to productivity, but the caregiver of that blind person as well. Every family that had supported essentially two unproductive individuals can now be more constructive within itself; you can imagine the impact that a program like this can have. This initiative was a very exciting program to be involved with, and I had a chance to help introduce it to Japan. As part of their 125th anniversary activities, SCB started the Seeing is Believing program. The Japan office alone helped cure over 6,000 people of preventable blindness in the space of a year, so it was very effective.

What did the McGill MBA program do for you?

I think that the biggest thing that the MBA did for me was to open my eyes to the scope of possibility and the range of employment that was achievable in an international environment.

While at McGill I majored in International Business. It was a perfect degree to take because my experience had been in Japan, I had worked with Japanese Government, I’d worked with the Canadian embassy for a number of years, and it had really become apparent to me how important the economic relationship between Canada and Japan was.

The McGill MBA tied together a lot of the work experience that I had, but it also opened up so many more possibilities. I never would have thought of working for a financial service institution before I took the MBA. I thought I was reading the newspaper and understanding economics and finance until I took the MBA and realize that my interpretation of the words was really not completely correct, it was a new vocabulary, a new language that I learned. This was really fascinating to me, to open up a new facet of understanding and it became a really exciting area to explore.

How was your interest in CSR developed during your time at McGill?

I come from a public service background, I’m also from a part of Canada, Saskatchewan, which I think is still listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most charitable per capita location on earth. I started as a teenager working with the Special Olympics, and my mother worked at a home for handicapped individuals. I’ve been a volunteer with the handicapped and the elderly since before I can remember, I grew up with a charitable tradition. The Idea of communism and voluntarism was always natural to me but when that was expanded through the McGill MBA program into the realization of the reach of business, particularly private sector, it was a very stimulating. When you think about it, a company like Standard Chartered Bank or British American Tobacco (BAT) work across 180 countries, their reach is actually much longer in some contexts than that of any government. The potential for good and the positive impact that they can have on local communities it is a profound thing. Although the MBA didn’t particularly prepare me for a career in CSR, it raised my awareness; it expanded my scope for possibilities in terms of directions my career could go to do something that mattered.

So the MBA helped to introduce you to private sector?

It introduced me to private sector and the role that private sector can play in making a difference.

What challenges do you face in your work?

I have been working for the last number of years as a member of senior leadership teams in three different companies. One of the biggest challenges is to be aware of the big picture and everything that is happening in an organization. Particularly when you are talking about CSR, making sure that the activities you are involved with are connected back to the business and to the sustainability of the business so that everything makes sense, can be especially difficult.

As a communications leader another big challenge is making sure teamwork is happening and that relationships are established so that as much synergy as possible can be created in an organization.

In another context, one of the big challenges is work life balance. When you work for a global corporation, with a headquarters in London or New York, you’re faced with a lot of time demands. Time management then always becomes a big issue, how do you get everything done in the day? How do you keep a focus on not only your work life but also your family life, and still find time to give back to the community?

With Goldman Sachs you were brought in for a role in internal communications, why is it important for an organization to develop this particular area?

Yes, with Goldman’s my role was almost 100% internal communications, it was really a change management role, a culture change role, and in a way it was a CSR role because it was stakeholder relationship management by another name. At this time CSR terminology wasn’t being used, but one of the first things I did was find out who all of the stakeholders were, understand what their concerns and priorities were and try to put them together into an action plan, which could meet their needs. This is essentially what a good internal CSR program looks like.

So you really helped them to understand some of the challenges they were facing within their company as well?

Goldman Sachs was at an interesting point, it was at the height of the bubble, they had just expanded more than doubling their employee population over a couple of years. When I joined over 50% of the employees in my division had only been with the firm for three to six months. My role as head of people development was really a culture-building role, to put a lot of internal process in place, and to create a corporate culture.

Who has been the most valuable mentor in your career?

I have had so many mentors it would be difficult for me to say who has been the most valuable. My first mentor and probably my most important, was my mother. She was widowed at a young age and raised five children on her own. She always found time for the priorities in life and never lost sight of what was important. I think she was able to instill in all of her children a strong sense of values and a work ethic I still try to emulate.

In terms of work I’ve had some wonderful bosses. I had a terrific boss at Goldman Sachs named Tim Cole who really inspired me. He was my first boss in the private sector and was the managing director I reported to. He had a way of making everyone around him feel important and valuable. That is something that as a manager, I try to emulate.

In terms of you interest in CSR, has there been anyone who has inspired you in how they approach sustainability problems?

I have met so many incredible people involved with CSR. The first person that focused my attention to CSR was a workshop leader by the name of Philippe Foster-Black, who runs the institute for business ethics in the UK and advised the UN global compact. I had a chance to participate in some workshops that she gave for BAT and it was the first time that I really understood what CSR was all about and how private sector fit in. She was the first one to open my eye to the really interesting aspects of CSR.

What is most vital to organizations when developing a CSR program?

CSR is a very broad topic and I don’t see CSR as a particular process or function, I see it as a method for making informed business decisions. Essentially it is understanding who your stakeholders are and what their concerns are. It encompasses knowing what the organization believes, what its values are and then linking those together into an alignment with practice. To me CSR is a value based approach to making good, well informed decisions within an organization. I think that should be the starting point for any CSR program.

Do you think for many organizations it takes a crisis to precipitate attention to CSR?

I think there have been crises like Enron and WorldCom that have spurred companies into putting processes around the thinking behind CSR, but the big driver is really the expectations of society, social expectations. When you see the social repercussions of a failed company, the backlash through the media and more individual consumers using blogs, the loss of trust that results from not meeting the needs or expectation of your stakeholders or society in general, is a large motivator for organizations to adopt CSR programs. If you are thinking in the short term, this loss of trust might not matter so much, but as business become more global that type of thinking just doesn’t belong in the world of business anymore.

Some critics believe that CSR programs are often undertaken in an effort to distract public from ethical questions posed by their core operations, and that CSR is really PR. How can a company legitimize their CSR initiatives to be seen as earnest?

About five years ago The Economist newspaper ran an article on CSR with the criticism that CSR is PR by another name, an attempt to pull the wool over people’s eyes. I think it is very interesting to note that The Economist magazine ran another series of articles earlier this year, which had a very different tone to it. There is a growing sense of critical mass, there is now awareness of what CSR is really about and CSR is being linked to sustainable business practice as opposed to PR spin.

What advise would you give someone who is looking to implement a better CSR program for an organization?

The first thing I would recommend is that you understand what the values of the company are. Find out the business principles, what rules the company plays by, and the 10 commandments that are used as a filter for any decision that comes up. Based on what the beliefs are, on what the values of the company are, have the stakeholders been identified? Do you know the various groups that are impacted by the behaviour of your company, both in a positive and negative way? Do you understand what issues any of those particular groups consider important? Based on understanding these questions, make sure that business practices are aligned with both the values and the expectations of the stakeholders. Finally, insure that a solid communications program is in place to ensure there is understanding, accountability and transparency around any actions taken by the company. As a goal, the organization should function in a way that behaviour is defensible if something does go wrong.

What was the most innovative CSR policy or initiative started during your time at IBM?

That is a difficult question because IBM CSR programs are so established. They are ahead of the curve in the sense that everything related to the CSR program is very linked in with the core competencies of the business that is IBM.

Their CSR is very focused around technology, and telecommunications.

IBM have a sophisticated process for stakeholder dialogue. These are fed into business decisions including where to invest research and development money, what products to develop and where to focus the energy of the company. This has led to adoption of a whole mindset around green technologies, smart IT and energy saving. This is the leading edge of CSR thinking, companies focus on things that matter to society, to the company, find the synergies and then really work on making them realities. These are going to be the future products, the future services and are have an impact on the health and the well being of the world.

Did you want to make any mention of non-profit organization you are involved with?

I spend a lot of time doing volunteer work. Some of my associations have been work related, such as Seeing is Believing. My family is involved with an organization called Hope International. My daughter actually just returned from Cambodia doing a school building expedition for them. On a local level, I’m involved with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan of which I’m President.

I chair the CSR committee for the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and vice-chaired the Government relations committee, and I’ve also been a member of the European business council. The reason I spend time on these local community organizations is that I think they have a huge impact on mobilizing the local corporate community into focusing on increasing productivity. Through collaborating together and helping develop a much more global mindset, private sector, public sector and third sector (NGOs and NPOs) can work together to achieve a lot more. I get a lot of personal satisfaction out of the time I spend with those organizations.

Is there a reason you remain quite involved with McGill University? How is it different from other organizations you have been involved with?

I have a soft spot for the McGill MBA Japan program, McGill is one of Canada’s finest universities and the Financial Times wrote up the McGill MBA Japan program in its first year of existence as McGill’s most innovative program internationally. I was lucky enough to be involved with some of the early development of the program and to be president of the first graduating class. Living and working in Japan, I have had a chance to be close to the program. I have been back as a guest lecturer on a number of occasions, and it has been quite fun to see how the program develops. It has been a great tool to stay connected with other Canadians and to see the very diverse student population that is attracted to the program in Japan. I think it really speaks well of McGill University and their forward thinking. It is great to see a Canadian university presence in Japan, it’s the only one.

Any particular area you want to develop your knowledge in?

I continue to learn about CSR. I’m really interested in environment and energy issues at this point in time. Having worked for a technology company for the past couple of years has really honed my interest in how telecommunications and technology is really going to shape the world we live in. To keep on learning more about that is my focus at the moment.

Anything you would like to say to fellow alumni or current MBA McGill students?

To my fellow alumni, well perhaps more to those who are involved in the program now or are thinking about doing an MBA. To me it has been a degree that has really been an eye-opener and a mind-opener in many ways. I think that looking at the world without considering the role of private sector and how the corporate presence and investment in how the world is developing is very narrow view, so use this opportunity to learn about business and to really consider the endless opportunities and possibilities that business development can offer.

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