No Turning Back: A Corporate Social Responsibility Imperative
Presented by Deanna D. Sellnow, Ph.D.
Free for Members – Register Now
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 | Noon EST
Corporate Social Responsibility — often referred to as CSR — has to do with all things corporations do to honor and meet the needs of stakeholders and the environment now and for future generations. Measured by the “triple bottom line,” a phrase coined by John Elkington in the 1990s, CSR operates on the premise that in honoring people and planet, firms will also generate profit. Hotly debated for decades, the landscape shifted dramatically during and since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Today, stakeholders are more intentionally making decisions that hold corporations accountable for their environmental footprint and treatment of people in the process of producing goods and providing services. Effective communication is vital for success in gaining and retaining stakeholder trust and support in an era where reputation and success is being measured by the triple bottom line.
In December 2022, PR Week published an article about what to expect PR trends to be in 2023 that was based on a Prowly survey of PR professionals. Results showed the leading trend PR professionals expect to see in 2023 is “social responsibility” incorporating DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), CSR (corporate social responsibility), and ESG (environmental, social and governance). In this webinar, Dr. Sellnow will explore what society expects from our organizations and how we can use effective communication to establish trust and manage relationships in this time of heightened expectations.
Dr. Deanna D. Sellnow is a Luminary Research Professor of Strategic Communication in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida. She conducts research on strategic instructional risk and crisis communication in a variety of contexts (e.g., natural disasters, health epidemics/pandemics, biosecurity, terrorism and agricultural biotechnology). She has written textbooks, given presentations around the world and taught classes on crisis and strategic communication, corporate social responsibility and the rhetorical power of pop culture.
Dr. Sellnow is also dedicated to creating bridges between the research being done in the academic community and the practitioners in the field who could greatly benefit from the findings. To that end, she co-hosts the International Crisis and Risk Communication conference which seeks to bring researchers and practitioners together to share insights. She also served as President of the Central States Communication Association where she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
She has conducted funded research for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her work is published in several books, as well as in national and international journals. She has presented her research across the United States and in many countries around the world, including Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Vietnam.
Communicating with Confidence, Power and Authority
Presented by Cari H. Coats
Free for Members – Register Now
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | Noon EDT
Have you ever had trouble being heard in the workplace? You’re not alone. It’s well documented that women and men communicate differently. Some of this is the result of nature (science). Alternatively, nurture (learned) plays a role. In this interactive session, you will delve into Accendo’s “A Woman’s Checklist for Communicating with Power and Authority.”
Key takeaways include:
- Understanding the facts around the differences in gender communication
- Exploration of the role confidence and competence play in leadership success
- Creation of your personal action plan for Communicating with Confidence, Power and Authority
This webinar will offer tangible tools for those looking to be strong female leaders in the workplace as well as those working to foster strong female leadership on their teams.
Cari H. Coats is a business advisor, leadership strategist, executive coach, author and speaker, leveraging her extensive executive and C-suite experience. Coats is co-founder and managing partner of Accendo Leadership Advisory Group, offering advisory services for the full spectrum of leadership development, including executive and transitional leadership coaching, high performance executive team development, professional development for high potential women leaders, and next generation succession coaching for family business leaders.
Coats is a certified executive coach, a member of the Forbes Coaches Council and co-author of “Women: Get Promoted Now! 4 Must-Have Ingredients to Accelerate Your Career.” A key advisor to CEOs and executives of numerous innovative and high-growth companies, Coats was most recently executive-in-residence, focused on leadership and entrepreneurship, at the nationally ranked Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.
Prior positions include chief operating officer for CNL Financial Group, a leading private investment management firm providing global real estate and alternative investments with a cumulative $28 billion in assets under management, and a 16-year career with the Orlando Magic where she played a key part in securing the franchise for Orlando, joined as a member of the founding management team and quickly rose to one of the highest-ranking women in professional sports as executive vice president of the NBA franchise. Coats was instrumental in the start-up and growth of RDV Sports and all of its holdings, the Orlando Magic, Orlando Solar Bears of the IHL, Orlando Miracle of the WNBA and RDV Sportsplex. Coats was president of RDV Team Charities and worked closely with RDV Corporation, the family office of the DeVos family. Earlier in her career, Coats was producer/co-host of the nationally syndicated television show PM Magazine.
Coats is a graduate of the Global Executive MBA program at Duke University. She served on the board of visitors and chaired the alumni council for the top-ranked Fuqua School of Business. Her undergraduate alma mater is the University of Central Florida where she was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year and served on the UCF Foundation board for more than a decade.