Politics of Poverty

A year for people & the planet: 10 New Year’s resolutions for CEOs

January 4, 2016 Posted by Irit Tamir

As we all get started on our 2016 resolutions, here are a few goals CEO’s should set for their businesses.

It’s a new year, and while many of us set our goals for being happier and healthier, I’d like to challenge businesses to set their own resolutions for making 2016 a year of improving their commitments to people and the planet. Since CEOs are often in the best position to set these goals and signal new priorities to their staff, these recommended actions are for them. So, without further adieu, 10 New Year’s resolutions for every CEO should make to advance human rights and sustainability this year:

Read the UN Guiding Principles – The Protect, Respect and Remedy framework was endorsed in 2011 by the United Nations and applies to all businesses and reinforces the principles that businesses must respect the human rights of individuals and communities.
Re-configure your Corporate Social Responsibility department from one with a philanthropic objective to one that embeds human rights respect and environmental sustainability throughout your core business operations.
Take note of your litigation and lobbying efforts, to what extend do they counter worker rights, tax justice, and environmental regulation? Consider how to re-align your government relations and litigation efforts for progressive policies that reinforce the rights of others.
Make gender equality and diversity within your company a key performance indicator and put some budget behind achieving it.
Think of sustainability as a part of your product or service that can give you a competitive edge and think of doing less harm rather than more good.
Visit a community that may be negatively impacted by your business operations or supply chain.
Consider your workers as your greatest asset rather than a cost to be manipulated.
Talk to your investors about the risks your company faces from climate change and how you will address them.
Consider how you are externalizing costs in your business and work to make them internal.
Take one action that will make your company’s policies and practices more transparent to stakeholders.

The good news is that companies finished 2015 by becoming more aware of promoting human rights and sustainability in their business operations and supply chains, so we’re on the right track for success. Let’s keep the momentum going and make 2016 a banner year for people and the planet.

Irit Tamir

Irit Tamir is the Director of Oxfam America's Private Sector Department. In her role, she is focused on working with companies to ensure that their business practices result in positive social and environmental impacts for vulnerable communities throughout the world. She leads a team of advisors that engage the private sector on tax, business and human rights, vaccine equity, legal advocacy, supply chain and labor relations, climate change and gender and racial equity. She oversees the private sector engagement from campaigns and advocacy to collaborations and programs focused on corporate behavior along with a work focused on investors and shareholder advocacy.

Prior to working at Oxfam, Ms. Tamir was the Director of Government Relations at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, where she successfully lobbied for an extensive federal and state legislative agenda. She co-led the effort to pass the Sudan Divestment Bill in Massachusetts, which required the state pension funds to divest from companies doing business with the Government of Sudan in an effort to halt its human rights violations in Darfur. Ms. Tamir is an attorney with a masters in international law and has taught Business and Human Rights as an adjunct at Boston College Law School. She sits on the Board of the Fair Labor Association and co-chaired the Working Group on Business and Human Rights for the New York City Bar Association. A devoted human rights activist, she has spoken publicly about inequality, human rights, climate resilience, and the food system. Ms. Tamir has had years of experience in government relations and is a former prosecutor who supervised civil rights prosecutions and hate crimes.

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