WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: Ethical Capitalist, New-Age Gandhian or Anarchist?
Who is Julian Assange: An ethical capitalist, a protagonist for corporate social responsibility, a new-age Gandhian, or an anarchist and a menace to society?
Take a look, for example, at this from his interview with Forbes: "You could call it the ecosystem of corruption. But it's also all the regular decision making that turns a blind eye to and supports unethical practices: the oversight that's not done, the priorities of executives, how they think they're fulfilling their own self-interest. The way they talk about it."
I turned to some of today's most prominent thought leaders on transparency, accountability and CSR. Our attempt at deconstructing WikiLeaks and the aftermath of Assange's expose(s) for the state of corporate social responsibility:
Let's begin with a simple realization: Regardless of motive or short term effects, Assange's investigation is changing the way we perceive the government and organizations with respect to ethical behavior and overall responsibility.
What Shelly Lazarus recently called "enlightened self interest," is in fact a realization across the private sector that status quo won't work for too long in an economy of unequals.
Aman Singh Das is the Corporate Responsibility Editor at Vault.com. She is a New York University alum and previously wrote for The Wall Street Journal. Her area of work includes corporate diversity practices and sustainability, and how they translate into recruitment and strategic development at Fortune 1000 companies.