Lessons from the CSR Suite: Marcus Chung on Credibility, Opportunity, and More

As the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Talbots Inc., Marcus Chung throws his whole self into his work, even if it means pitching to his boss at 2 a.m. in an airport lounge. But this doesn't mean it's easy-from his first role at a hybrid think-tank-consulting-firm called the Corporate Executive Board to his current one at Talbots, with ten Net Impact Conferences in between, Marcus has been building relationships and affecting change from the inside out. Profiled in our expanded Career Center's new How They Did It Section, Marcus has plenty of know-how from his years in the field. Here's his take on a few topics:

On Identifying the Opportunities for Impact

My first job out of college was a great experience and I learned a ton there. But I looked around at my colleagues and many people fit the same demographic profile - me included, to an extent. These were people who were relatively affluent, had succeeded in life academically and who, by and large, were white males. I was an anomaly in terms of not being white, but there wasn't large representation in regard to gender or ethnicity or socio-economic background. And here we were as an organization that was really trading in ideas and looking for ways to connect with companies and advise companies. So a number of us got together and we thought, There has to be a way we can make the profile of this company better reflect the world out there. Initially, our effort was under the radar. The conversations were lunchroom conversations that emerged as we saw this disconnect between the world and how we operated as a company. This was a side project in addition to our day-to-day work obviously, but we succeeded in getting diversity to be included as a pillar for the organization.

On Being Prepared

I was travelling with our chief supply chain officer last June and...I had told him about this idea around community investment. So we had a 4 am flight between Jordan and Italy. We're in an airport lounge. And he said, I want to hear more about this idea that you mentioned - do you have a presentation we can go through? So I pull out my laptop and walk him through this presentation that I hadn't even finished yet. But I was able to explain to him the vision, the rationale, and how I thought it benefits the company and also our workers - as well as the relationships we have with our key suppliers. And he was so enthusiastic for it he was able to secure immediate funding. It was critical to be able to explain what the vision was in such a way that demonstrated the benefit to Talbots as a brand, and also to the basic work of managing vendors and factories.

On Establishing Credibility

You absolutely have to build your credibility internally. CSR professionals often come into conversations saying we need to consider workers, or we have to think about communities, but it's very easy for the CSR person who's having that conversation to be stereotyped as not having strong financial acumen. So I always come in saying this is how I believe this work is going to benefit the company's bottom line. Or, this is important to mitigate X, Y, and Z risk that we're facing. Always in these conversations I lead with why it's good for the business, but it's going to also be important to have a positive impact on whatever stakeholder group we're going to work with as well.

On Finding Your Community

I can still remember my first Net Impact Conference. Just how powerful that was to me personally and how exciting it was to be in a room full of people hundreds of people from tons of business schools who were thinking about these same issues. As lucky as I was at business school to have a big cohort of people who thought similarly about this stuff, Net Impact ratcheted up the excitement and energy level in ways I hadn't anticipated. I credit my sticking with this career partly to Net Impact, and it makes me want to figure out more ways to make it easier for people to have this type of career. In almost everything I do, Net Impact has played some sort of role.

Marcus Chung isn't kidding. As a Net Impact Board member, an active member of our community, and an intrapreneur, Marcus continues to make his impact and pay it forward. Read more about Marcus' career path, along with others', in our How They Did It section.