Last fall, I was teaching a business ethics course at the American University of Beirut and explaining the ‘double bottom line,’ the concept that in modern business, a healthy bottom line must also include a firm commitment to corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. Two of my students, Omar Touma and Linda Sawaya, asked me how Executive could call itself a responsible company, and presumably claim to have a double bottom line, when it prints 25,000 copies of a magazine every month.
They had a point. So much so that Executive immediately set about improving its green profile. We started by only sourcing paper made from wood grown in sustained forests, while internally we began recycling. But it still wasn’t enough. We still felt we were falling short of being on good terms with our carbon footprint.
It was only back in the classroom this spring, this time teaching strategic management, that the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place. Another group of students suggested that for every magazine we distribute, we should make a commitment to collect up to three more, of any publication, for recycling.
We are empowered and inspired by the enthusiasm, awareness and talent shown by our young business leaders. What is all the more remarkable is that they have demonstrated such maturity in the face of a society that has dragged its heels in embracing the ethics, not only of the modern business community, but the wider world. That they have done so is a testament to the power of the media to cross borders and positively affect us all.
I am telling you this, not only because I am proud of the way Executive has reacted in its own small way to embrace best practice, but because the solutions came from our youth, our future leaders. It is the duty of our generation to ensure that they, and the generations that will follow as they mature, have a world worth inheriting.
Finally, it was with profound sadness that Executive learned of the sudden death of Melhem Karam, who for 50 years was head of the Lebanese Journalists’ Union. He was 78.
As a journalist and writer, he penned many works including ‘The Storm,’ ‘A Thousand and One Nights’ and ‘The Secrets.’ Karam also founded the Arabic weekly Al-Hawadeth, the daily Al-Bayraq and the magazines La Revue du Liban and Monday Morning.
He will be missed.
