Numerousstudies show who consumers trust and who they don't. Most recently, the Good Brand Trust Index, which clearly shows that retailers have overtaken NGOs in terms of trust, for example. How can consumers tell how sustainably companies operate?
Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi: The basis of trust is a personal relationship over a longer period of time, which also requires you to open up and make yourself vulnerable. Trust also always represents a risk of being abused. Credibility, honesty, professionalism and competence in dealing with mistakes are therefore important for the consumer. Tools such as quality seals fall short in this respect; personal experience has the greatest impact.
Werner Lampert: Trust absolutely has something to do with relationships, not with marketing and PR. Trust can only work, as Kant says, if the success or freedom of another person also depends on my success and freedom.
Trust is not abstract, it happens in a concrete space: I let a person into my intimate space. That's why abuse of trust is one of the worst things and almost impossible to make amends for. I think trust is based on an archaic experience.
Coudenhove-Kalergi: Trust is the lubricant of the economy. Once trust is gone, cooperation, i.e. relationships, and consequently the exchange of goods does not work. Banks, business and politics are increasingly losing trust. And NGOs also have to work hard for it, they are not automatically more trustworthy just because they have a different agenda than companies.
Lampert: Nowadays, we are no longer prepared to believe in ideologies, and NGOs have failed to transform their ideologies into values. But companies also still have the shortcoming of believing that they can convince people with marketing and PR strategies. This has nothing to do with trust; trust is an attitude that must be honored.
In the past, companies believed they could do justice to sustainability with glossy brochures. I leafed through them with fascination only to realize at the end that they had no content.
But those days are over! The capital of this century is trust. These really big companies that are accumulating capital today will all implode like pillars of clay. Because they have never understood something - how to gain people's trust and how to deal with it in a trustworthy manner.
Coudenhove-Kalergi: Another important factor is credibility. If you are committed to sustainability and don't manage to demonstrate credibility, then any kind of commitment or project is for nothing. Achieving this is the great art.
First you have to deal with your dilemmas and moral conflicts in order to create a basis of values. This is where ethics come into play.
Lampert: If we take credibility apart, then the saying goes: believing is not knowing. I don't know enough, but I'm willing to believe. You have to prove yourself worthy every day.
Credibility is the first level, it's a Herculean task, but we won't be spared it.
Coudenhove-Kalergi: The German business ethicist Ulrich Thielemann says: "It can never be impossible to do the ethically right thing, only difficult.
Whatis ethics?
Coudenhove-Kalergi: Ethics is to morality as theory is to practice. It is thinking about action, about right and wrong. I have the feeling that the hairs on the back of many people's necks stand up when you talk about ethics because they perceive it as a moral cudgel - but it has nothing to do with it. We practice ethics every day by asking ourselves "How should I act"? And applying our moral standards. Ethics also means questioning things critically, examining them from all perspectives. Nothing is automatically right because it has always been that way.
Lampert: Ethics is not a concept but a personal debate. You can't say overnight that we are now an ethical company. First you have to come to values, have an ethical attitude and try to live them. I try to live my private life ethically every day.
Ethics are a matter of course in a corporate culture. Nobody is spared this. Authoritarian structures are coming to an end - participation and solidarity are the ingredients for how we can shape the future and survive in the future.
Frommanagement to employees to individual stakeholders. How can ethical principles be communicated correctly?
Coudenhove-Kalergi: You need a role model effect and support from the top. If you don't get support and there aren't the right structures and processes in place to behave ethically, it can't work. Ultimately, this is precisely the task of managers, to organize and shape the company in this way.
Ifwe look at agriculture - what role do ethics play there?
Lampert: This is a dark chapter. The story of the bee venom has made the attitude of agriculture transparent. It lives from consumers on two levels. On the one hand, through the purchase of products and from taxpayers' money through subsidies. You would think that the agricultural sector only has one thing on its mind: to meet the wishes and expectations of these consumers. Surprisingly, this is not the case. It is probably the only form of business that acts in a way that ignores consumer interests. People love clean water, beautiful nature and beautiful landscapes. Therefore, there is no other task for Austrian agriculture than to make it more ecological. Unfortunately, as the incident with the bee poison has shown, things are currently moving in a different direction.
Willchange happen in the world?
Coudenhove-Kalergi: We are already in the midst of a change in values. Now we need to push for the necessary framework conditions for sustainability. For example, it must be possible for companies to do the right thing without suffering disadvantages on the market. Unfortunately, it often takes crises to trigger a gap that still needs to be worked on.
Lampert: Crises will definitely come. People in countries that are being exploited and where enslavement is also on the rise will rebel against this type of economy at some point. At some point, people will take their fate into their own hands and the consumer will finally have to pay a fair price.
Whatpower can the media have in this discussion?
Coudenhove-Kalergi: The media are seen as the fourth power alongside society, business and politics and play a key role. The information is there, but the question is how we get it into the right channels. You can achieve an incredible amount through social networks, as we saw with the Arab Spring. The responsibility of the media to educate society is enormous.
Lampert: If you ask young people, they hardly read newspapers anymore. Media power as we know it no longer exists. Information is disseminated beyond political structures and all economic rulers.
How doyou practise ethics and values management in your company and everyday working life?
Lampert: I decided 1.5 years ago to dissolve the authoritarian structure of my company and make it a team-led company. And what has happened? The quality of the work has increased enormously - a real success story.
Coudenhove-Kalergi: At the Center for Responsible Management, we have also set ourselves principles on how we align our work. Our aim is to anchor ethics even more firmly in management. We want to show companies how important ethics is and how it makes decisions better and more efficient.
Barbara Coudenhove-Kalergi
15 years of start-up experience in the private sector and NGOs; specializing in global CSR, business & development, social entrepreneurship and stakeholder management; expertise in strategy development and project management; experienced journalist and moderator. Program Manager Business and Development at ICEP - Institute for Cooperation in Development Projects.
Studies in Berlin and Krems: MA Responsible Management (currently leading in Europe), MBA Business Ethics and CSR.
Werner Lampert (born 1946 in Vorarlberg/Austria) is one of the pioneers in the field of sustainable products and their development in Europe. The organic pioneer has been intensively involved in organic farming since the 1970s. With Back to the origin (Hofer) and Ja! Natürlich, he developed two of the most successful organic brands in the German-speaking world.
