“A company’s sustainability officer might be described as someone who installs a system that can then continue on its own. His goal must be to make himself dispensable.”

Florian Nehm, head of the Sustainability Department, Axel Springer AG.

A good CSR manager fulfills many roles: He* is an initiator, a translator, a bridge builder and an implementer. A sustainability officer is located at the interface between stakeholders, his colleagues in the corporate divisions and his supervisors in corporate management.

What characteristics distinguish a good CSR manager?

• A CSR manager needs to have essentially the same skills as managers in other corporate divisions: He needs to be a good communicator and a skillful negotiator, someone who is willing to take risks, shows a high level of motivation and is capable of thinking analytically. Also important is a solid interdisciplinary background so that he can understand and promote the company’s core business, and champion environmental and social concerns.
• He must be aware that the company’s goals need to be broader than merely achieving a profit, and that the company plays an important role in the society in which it is doing business.
• A CSR manager must be conscious of the positive and negative consequences of corporate action.
• He must be able to take social challenges and opportunities and transform them into corporate strategies and CSR initiatives, if possible incorporating them into the value chain.
• He needs to have a good grasp of the language of NGOs as well as that of top management and the operational units of the company, so that he can act as a credible representative of the company in dealing with stakeholders, make management aware of CSR issues and convince the various departments to support CSR activities.
• In the international environment, intercultural factors are also important. Cultural sensitivity is essential in developing strategies and initiatives that will be successful over the long term in the foreign market.

* While we have chosen to use the masculine pronoun in the interest of simplicity, it goes without saying that women are included as well.