At Paradigm, we are passionate about bringing industry leaders and thought provoking speakers together to create positive change. On September 25^th – 26^th we held our 10^th Innovation Symposium in Chicago where we collaborated with clients and colleagues on a topic that has been getting a lot of attention recently, Corporate Social Responsibility and Advocacy: Are you on the front line or the sidelines?

Business leaders in workers’ compensation and every industry are in the midst of an unprecedented opportunity. Recent research indicates that a significant number of employees and the general population believe that corporations can simultaneously make money and improve society.

According to the 2019 Trust Barometer by Edelman, a global insight and analytics consultancy, 73% of the general population surveyed agreed that a company can take specific actions that both increase profits and improve the economic and social conditions in the communities where it operates. Employees’ expectation that prospective employers will join them in taking action on societal issues (67%) is nearly as high as their expectations of personal empowerment (74%).

With this potential level of trust, comes responsibility. Challenges arise as you lead your corporation into political and social impact areas, often motivated by increasingly active and hyper-connected customers and employees.

This year’s Innovation Symposium covered these areas, among others:

• Where and how do leaders, their employees and customers engage with balanced and factual news and information?
• How does taking a stand on societal issues impact a company as the tone of polarized opinion infiltrates the workplace?
• What knowledge and tools encourage thoughtful and empathetic communication?
• How do leaders demonstrate and encourage ethical behavior within your teams and in society?

Wednesday evening’s presenter was satirist Bassem Youssef, known as the Jon Stewart of the Middle East. He is a TV personality, former cardiothoracic surgeon, International Press Freedom Award winner, and Google’s most searched figure in 2013. He spoke about the controversies and challenges of negotiating social and corporate change in our current era of hyper-connection among consumers and employees.

Thursday morning, bestselling author Emily Bazelon detailed recent issues involving corporate social responsibility and took powerful questions from the audience on many more. Among the topics discussed: the #Me2 movement, the minimum wage debate, mandatory arbitration, and lack of confidence in news reporting and commentary. Bazelon is a senior research scholar at Yale Law School, staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, participant in weekly podcast Political Gabfest, author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy.

The final session was a one-on-one conversation with Paradigm CEO John S. Watts, Jr., and Tyler Shultz, the whistleblower who alerted The Wall Street Journal to concerns about the efficacy of Theranos’ blood testing technology. Prompted by Watts, Shultz detailed his interactions with Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and with his grandfather, former Secretary of State George Shultz, who was a leading member of Theranos’ board of directors.

The event was a successful gathering of Paradigm colleagues and industry leaders, reaching the intended goal of tackling issues of broad interest to those in Workers’ Comp and well beyond. Bringing people together to expand everyone’s knowledge about how to lead employees and to provide better care for injured workers is a key value at Paradigm.