The Culture Cure

Daniel Diez with Andrew Hoffman

How do we make progress in a world polarized between Left and Right? Andrew Hoffman, a professor of sustainable enterprise at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, argues that whether you’re talking about global warming or corporate citizenship, the conversation needs to start with the cultural issues at the core.

Andrew Hoffman on the role of culture and ideology
I believe very strongly that environmental and social problems are, at their root, cultural issues—that technology may be the proximate source of environmental pollution, but it’s our culture that tells us what kind of technology to make and how to use it. When we want to change the way we live around environmental and social issues, we really have to change our values and beliefs.

Andrew Hoffman on the great debate
The climate change debate is not about climate change anymore. It’s about ideology. It’s been immersed in the culture wars along the same lines as abortion and gun control and the whole suite of issues that divide the left and right.

Andrew Hoffman on corporate culture
The culture you create determines the success you have, and when you try to integrate new or emergent issues like corporate citizenship or sustainability, it has to fit the culture. It has to work internally, and that affects who they engage and how they engage.

Read the full interview with Andrew Hoffman on page 28 of Interbrand IQ: The Corporate Citizenship Issue