As a leading thinker on corporate social responsibility, Oded Grajew is challenging businesses, consumers and governments to join in acting ethically towards a sustainable social good. With early roots in the Brazilian toy business, Grajew now heads the Ethos Institute for Business Social Responsibility. In this personal reflection, he shows that business can be a powerful force for positive change, and shares methods of enlisting everyone's help to build a sustainable society.

Elements of our modern era bring an unprecedented urgency to social and economic problems. Half the world lives in poverty and the distances between rich and poor (people and countries) is intensifying. Social inequities fuel conflicts, and with modern weaponry, conflicts that may once have been limited, now take on a global dimension. What is the responsibility of the business sector to promote social justice? Grajew points out that the private sector has great influence, and those with power bear responsibility.

As a young businessman, Grajew recognized the need for a new kind of movement, one that moved the idealism of social responsibility into the practical realm so that business could be engaged. He founded the Instituto Ethos to counter the stress of life and create space and time to engage new ideas and consider the meaning of our lives and actions. Grajew describes the many initiatives that have grown up around alliances between businesses, banks, consumers, educators, investors and social organizations. Consumers are able to influence company practices, and it has been helpful to develop metrics and indicators that allow them to choose between socially responsible and non-responsible companies.

Given what we know now about the world, Grajew asks us to consider the consequences of inaction. Do we want to face the questions of later generations on why we failed to act when faced with the need to build a sustainable world? Or, can we gain the satisfaction of joining together to build that world now.