We are still in the first week of the New Year and some of us already have broken our resolutions! We do not lack good intentions, at least in most cases. Frankly, most of us struggle to make the right promises that are possible to keep.

Here are a few tips that may help you make the right promises in 2005:

By David Batstone and David Chandler

SojoNet Syndicate
Ford vs. Wal-Mart: A Tale of Two Companies

The AFL-CIO has launched a major campaign to draw attention to the business practices of Wal-Mart. "The biggest corporation in America today has a business plan that lowers standards, first among its own employees and ultimately for all Americans," says John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO.

*The original version of this essay was delivered in a speech at the 2004 international gathering of the World Business Academy.

This is my dilemma. As important as personal leadership development workshops or yoga sessions may be, they are disconnected from the kind of operational and financial decisions that are daily made in the company. So much of our good work in corporate social responsibility gets segregated to the outer suburbs, while the key decisions are being made in the city center.

One of the key principles I lifted up in my most recent book, Saving the Corporate Soul, addresses how a company treats the environment. It goes as follows: ?The environment will be treated as a silent stakeholder, a party to which the company is wholly accountable.?

One of the best examples of environmental stewardship I have run across lately is the Aspen Skiing Company.