BSR Report 2010: Redefining Leadership
Table of Contents
Letter From the CEO
The State of Sustainable Business
Our Impact and Case Studies
Our Challenges
Videos
Financial Statements
About This Report
Download the Report
Our People: Staff Profile
More About Kara
Kara Hurst, Vice President | New York office
What is your role at BSR?
As a member of the management team, I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of BSR—where we’re going, how to structure the organization, and how to bring new ideas and new people into the CSR space. My operational role is to oversee several of BSR’s functions—including our Conference and global events, and the Partnership Development team—as well as our U.S. East Coast offices.
Measuring Our Individual Impact: Three Questions for BSR Staff Members.
Depending on whom you ask, you’ll get a very different response to the question, “What do you do at BSR?” To provide a sense of the various ways we accomplish this, we asked several BSR staff—in each of the regions where we have offices—three questions.
How do you measure the impact of your work?
The most compelling impacts are in the subtle shifts of the private sector. Ten years ago, when I joined BSR, I was doing a lot of convincing and cajoling companies that sustainability was important. But after years of BSR’s thought leadership, persistence, and sheer sweat equity, sustainability is now an accepted cornerstone of a successful business. Our fingerprints are everywhere in many of the world’s largest companies and in industries that were not looking at their impacts before.
What’s the biggest impact you experienced in your work at BSR in 2010?
The work I led with the travel and tourism sector ramped up quickly, and those companies are having a tremendous impact on the environment, guests, and employees in hotels. Eventually, it will affect how we all make more sustainable travel choices, influencing one of the world’s largest and most visible industries.
