Lord John Browne: beyond CSR – why business needs to engage more radically with society

Purpose This interview with petroleum executive John Browne, lead author of Connect: How Companies Succeed by Engaging Radically with Society, discusses sustainability practices that could be more successful than those of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) movement. Design/methodology/approach Lord Browne, a British peer, was CEO of BP (British Petroleum) from 1995 to 2007 and is currently executive chairman of L1 Energy, He was interviewed by Prof. Brian Leavy, an S&L contributing editor Findings Connected leadership means integrating societal and environmental considerations into core business strategy at every level of the company. Practical implications The key lesson for business leaders in the wake of …accidents and scandals is that reputation is an outcome of your core business activity, not something constructed alongside it. Social implications Shareholder value, as a theory, presents a false tension between serving stakeholders and shareholders. Originality/value Browne was the first Big Oil chief executive to acknowledge the link between man-made carbon emissions and global warming. His insights into integrating social responsibility and corporate strategy are cutting edge.