Date: 2025-08-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00008907
BRITISH PETROLEUM (BP)
BP IS WHAT KIND OF A FORCE?
Christine Bader: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist (TED@NYC)
BP IS WHAT KIND OF A FORCE?
Christine Bader: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist (TED@NYC)
Original article: www.youtube.com/embed/jAh7YJFxgLg
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Part of the genius of conventional financial accountancy is that it measures both the bad side of calculating profit (costs) and the good side of calculating profits (revenues). Both of these are needed to understand profit and to do things to improve profit.
In daily life ... and especially in the presentation of news, there is a tendency to consider only one side of any subject, when in reality there is more than one side, and frequently a large number of 'sides' that should be taken into consideration.
Far too many people are of the view that corporate organizations are all bad. Another group of many people think that corporate organizations are all good. Neither of these groups are right. Most companies ... in fact most of anything ... is comprised of both good and bad. The challenge is to make decisions that build on the good in anything and everything and to minimize the bad.
Christine Bader experienced both the good and the bad of BP. I have observed some years back that BP's engineering in drilling with precision to plug the massive leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexica after the Deepwater Horizon disaster was absolutely brilliant while the behavior of BPs top brass for years before the disaster was obnoxious (but profitable) beyond belief.
I am committed to the idea that we need better metrics so that the goals go a long way beyond merely maximizing profit and benefit to executives and investors .... but optimizes for all stakeholders and takes risk into consideration as well.
Peter Burgess
Christine Bader: The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist (TED@NYC)
Published on Dec 10, 2014
TED
There is an invisible global army of people in big companies pushing for more responsible and sustainable practices. They are trying to prevent the next Rana Plaza factory collapse and the next Deepwater Horizon disaster. Obviously, they don't always succeed.
Christine Bader was one of those people. She fell in love with BP during her nine years with the company, but a string of fatal accidents made her question not just her time there but the whole notion of responsible business. She proceeded to interview peers at Yahoo!, Coca-Cola, Gap Inc., and more, which led to her book, 'The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil' (http://amzn.com/1937134881).
This talk was recorded at TED@NYC, TED’s annual salon at Joe’s Pub in New York City, on July 8, 2014.
For more on Christine, visit http://christinebader.com.