Establish a Community Advisory Board

In every city, in every town, in every state, there are people who make things happen. As a business leader you should have a relationship with those people.

Churches, civic organizations, civil rights groups, parent councils, fraternities, professional organizations, small businesses, political groups and many others make up the civil society that keeps our system free and prosperous.

Leaders of these organizations and community groups can be immensely valuable to a business leader. They can provide you with more informed opinions and insights into your business than most well-orchestrated focus groups or research surveys. They can tell you how your company is perceived in the community. In short, they can provide the kind of rich feedback and information that a concerned business leader needs to receive on a regular basis

Seize the opportunity to tap into this resource by establishing a community advisory board. Find the leaders of the community and meet regularly to discuss matters of concern to them and to you. Don’t limit your discussions to company matters. There just might be something about your industry or region that you discover as a result of the interactions with the group.

(c) Adonis E. Hoffman, 2008.

Support Local Communities

"Many business leaders are asking fundamental questions about what business they’re in, why they are doing it and how it can be used as a means of healing human and natural communities."

Amory Lovins, Chairman, Rocky Mountain Institute



In many communities throughout the United States, and indeed throughout the world, corporations have the largest single footprint and impact. Aside from providing jobs for the citizens and tax revenue for the city and state, corporations also help local communities to develop and shape their identities.

With that in mind, it is a good thing for your company to actively support the local communities in which it operates. Support in this regard means that you give of your money, your people and your time. So many companies believe their commitment stops at the first level—giving money. But your good citizenship depends on how engaged your company is in local affairs.

Do you support the local soccer team(s)? Are your employees volunteering at the local schools, community centers and civic groups? Have you taken the time to get to know the local leaders, movers and shakers in the community?

Keep in mind you are much more than a source of jobs—you are an institutional part of the communities in which you operate, and the people of those communities will look to you for more than money.

(c) Adonis E. Hoffman, 2008.

Embrace Globalism

"We all have to expand our capabilities to encompass the changing world, its growing diversity and,indeed, its complexity."

Lachlan Murdoch, Businessman


Corporations today are citizens of the world. Companies draw on employees, suppliers, manufacturers, raw materials, and capital from around the globe to sell products and services to consumers and customers virtually anywhere on earth. In today’s global marketplace, what happens in Indonesia can have a direct effect on a company’s home base in Indiana.

Embracing globalism is a necessity in today’s business environment. Business leadership requires you to view things through a much wider prism than “working at headquarters” or “staffing the Tulsa field office”. It requires a company-wide appreciation of the global dimensions of business.

Today’s business leader must seize every opportunity to communicate the global realities and a global vision with employees and managers—in written communications, in speeches, in policies and practices, and in the intangible ways that CEOs provide leadership.

Globalism also requires that you become intimately involved in the communities where you are located. Sponsoring local soccer teams, dance troupes, and art galleries easily qualifies, but more importantly, companies must seek deep roots in these communities. As the slogan goes: “think globally—act locally.”

(c) Adonis E. Hoffman, 2008