In late March, your editor attended a dinner meeting where a very, very lively discussion of the newest and “hottest topics” that attendees feel are out there on the Annual Meeting front super- charged the entire evening.
“I think the biggest new thing is the growing number of social, environmental, fair-employment and so- called ‘sustainability issues’ we face” one attendee volunteered. “I think that corporate governance officers need to be devoting a lot more time, attention and active ‘engagement’ – and much more ‘active listening’ to this,” she added.
“Oh, no!” at least three attendees loudly groaned in unison…“We can’t spend a lot of time with all these fringy do-gooders… and professional pot-stirrers… and the nuns…or give them a lot of ‘air time’ at our conferences either. It just encourages more of the same annoying old thing!”
“Wait! Wait!” one of the younger attendees, whose company caters primarily to the younger generation yelled out – in what your editor feels is the top Quote of the Quarter:
“It just not ‘about the nuns’ anymore!… My employees are genuinely concerned about these issues… And our customers are too! My company has – and wants to have – a lot of employee and customer stock ownership - And it’s critically important to us to be – and to be seen as being good citizens. The very last thing we need is to be seen as being deaf and dumb to these issues, or worse, for people in our jobs to be seen as professional stonewallers.”
“What about your company?” we asked one of the attendees, from a major financial institution. “It seems to me that you have one of the smallest carbon footprints in the Russell 3000 – butthatyouaregetting more social, environmental and “sustainability proposals” than anyone.”
“This is absolutely a critical set of issues for us” she confirmed: “Our lenders and investment bankers now look closely at the way these issues impact every single company in every single deal we are asked to consider, before we’ll do it.”
Ironically, this discussion occurred on the very day that Exxon Mobil summarized the kind of disclosures it would make in detail, to settle a shareholder proposal on “carbon risk” disclosures – anoil industry “first.” It was also the same day Ernst & Young announced that this year – for the first time ever – “social and environmental proposals” constituted the majority of all shareholder proposals files to date: a whopping 56% vs. 40% in 2012 and 2013.
Even the initial naysayers ended up agreeing with this issue’s QUOTE of the QUARTER:
“No, it’s not ‘just about the nuns’ anymore.”
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