How the EEA Selects Golden Rule Companies, and Why Some Proponents Don't Make the Cut

To help people visualize what stakeholder capitalism looks like in actual practice, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance launched the Golden Rule leadership awards. Making public statements in support of stakeholder capitalism is not a criteria for selection. Here’s how the EEA selects organizations and people for the growing list. Readers are invited to submit their own nominations based on these criteria to Bruce Bolger at Bolger@The EEA.org.

How the EEA Selects Companies
Why Microsoft and Salesforce, Prominent Stakeholder Capitalism Supporters, Don’t Make the List

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a golden rule company

Every week or two, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance adds to the list of Golden Rule organizations and leaders who authentically promote or practice the principles of stakeholder capitalism—enhancing returns for investors only by creating value for customers, employees, distribution and supply chain partners, communities, and the environment.

The list has reached 15 and continues to grow. Nominations are welcome.

To underline the fact that public statements in support of stakeholder capitalism are not a factor, Microsoft and Salesforce, two excellent companies whose CEOs have publicly supported stakeholder capitalism, are not included in this list because only actions count.

How the EEA Selects Companies

The EEA only highlights organizations that score 21 or better out of 25 in the scoring process. The process provides a score of 1 to 5 on an organization’s demonstrated results related to the following stakeholders:

Customers
Employees
Distribution and supply chain partners
Communities
The environment.

Aided by AI, this process involves a search of all independent sources as well as personal experiences when relevant to score how well the organization authentically engages with these stakeholders. Five represents the best score, making 25 the perfect score. A score of 21 is required to make the Golden Rule list. AI is not the only criteria; it is also based on other policies related to layoffs, customer and channel partner, communities and the environment from other independent observations with no axe to grind.

The EEA provides no points for public statements in support of stakeholder capitalism or publication of corporate sustainability reports unless they are independently audited.

Note that the ratings are partially curved against current norms versus perfection.

Why Microsoft and Salesforce, Prominent Stakeholder Capitalism Supporters, Don’t Make the List

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance makes a practice of not singling out companies or people for criticism, preferring a positive approach that focuses on examples worthy of attention. Making a rare exception, here is why two otherwise excellent companies publicly supportive of stakeholder capitalism principles have not made the cut. Both are excellent companies to do business with, work for and to invest in, but both fall short when it comes to employee, channel partner, customer experience, and impact on the environment.

Both Microsoft and Salesforce signed the Business Roundtable updated charter of the organization to focus on the needs of all stakeholders, and both CEOs Satya Nadella and Marc Benioff have made multiple statements in support of its principles; however, neither quite reach the score necessary to make the list.

In the case of Microsoft: it scores 19 out of 25.

Despite excellent benefits, training, and opportunities, it gets score of 4 on employee management. While it offers exceptional benefits and opportunities, it has demonstrated a willingness to undermine trust by over hiring and then firing thousands of people with a likely unaccounted-for impact on productivity, quality, and innovation.
For service for the average customer, it gets a 2. It has continually degraded customer service first to phone-based services using offshore people from different languages to now using the same people chat, so that the most basic issues require tedious processes. Of course, premium-tiered customers get better service, but that's not the metric by which to measure companies.
For channel partner engagement, it gets a 4. It provides invaluable tools that enable a world of solution providers to bring value to their clients. On the other hand, like most software companies makes changes in the bests interests of Microsoft or the “community” that can cause inconvenience to solution partners.
For community engagement, it gets a 5 relative to most companies. Beyond enabling many entrepreneurs to make a comfortable living or better--a major component of stakeholder capitalism--it supports communities in multiple ways.
In terms of sustainability, despite many efforts to improve sustainability, the demands of its AI business make it difficult to assign it a score of better than 4.

Using the same process, one finds a similar profile at Salesforce, with a score of 19 as well.

Despite excellent benefits, training, and opportunities, it receives a score of 4 on employee engagement. It too has demonstrated a willingness to undermine trust by over hiring and then firing thousands of people with a similarly unaccounted-for impact on productivity, quality, and innovation.
For customer service, it gets a 4, with high volume customers of course experiencing much better service.
For channel partner engagement, it gets a 3. Despite providing invaluable tools that enable a world of solution providers to bring value to their clients, it is known to have a high-pressure relationships with distribution partners, including pressure to support irrelevant marketing programs in order to get leads and other aggressive tactics.
For community engagement, it gets a 5 relative to the average company. Beyond enabling many entrepreneurs to make a comfortable living or better, it supports many causes.
In terms of sustainability, despite many efforts to improve, the demands of its AI business make it difficult to assign it a score higher than 3. At the current pace, it, like Microsoft, is offloading the impact of its energy requirements on to society. On the other hand, it appears on the path to publishing audited sustainability reports.

Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services

Celebrating our 15^th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:

1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:

ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996. Click here to subscribe; click here for media kit.
EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards since 2020

2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder

Management Academy to enhance future equity value for your organization.

3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.

4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.

5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.

Contact: Bruce Bolger at TheICEE.org; 914-591-7600, ext. 230.