We Have a Choice to Stand By, or to Stand Up

This week the Arthur W. Page Society is excited to introduce a pilot run of a new podcast titled The New CCO, which offers a first-hand look at member stories related to engaging stakeholders through digital platforms. Our first episode features Home Depot CCO Stacey Tank interviewing Starbucks CCO Corey duBrowa about their Upstanders campaign. The two discuss the campaign beginning with its origination at a town hall style meeting with a comment from a single employee in Los Angeles through its evolution into a rich storytelling platform highlighting individual "stories of valor" about people taking positive action in their communities.

As Corey says in the podcast, "one thing that [Starbucks CEO] Howard [Schultz] has said for a long, long time is that Starbucks has always thought of growth as being a byproduct of using our scale for some kind of good." That orientation was the basis for Upstanders, which the company saw as critically important at a time when "the civility of the country was up for grabs" in the aftermath of a contentious and vitriolic presidential campaign. "What a great opportunity to talk about our belief about what a for-profit company can do to contribute to society, not just to shareholders," adds Corey.

Corey and Stacey talk about Starbucks' approach to listening to customers through digital channels, taking action on social issues including whether to allow patrons to carry firearms in their stores, and the "Swiss-Army knife" set of skills (storytelling, visual capabilities, and an understanding of the levers of distribution) that are essential for today's communicators.

Listen to the podcast below or on SoundCloud, and subscribe on iTunes or Android. And if you enjoy it, share it with your network using #NewCCO.