If you have thought that social networking/social media does not really impact your business or the brand you are creating, think again. The board and CEO of Spirit Airlines are seeing the backlash of poor communication around how you treat people. When the company refused to refund a fair for a dying Veteran, people were distraught, however, when the CEO told the public this man bought the wrong product, the public was outraged. Facebook users are demanding this CEO be fired for his comments. The stock is down 5% at the writing of this blog. It will be interesting to see what transpires over the next couple of weeks.
What does this have to do with sustainability? Well I think it is a good example of why companies need to value people. People matter and how you treat people affects company performance. What you do in your everyday business has an effect on people? These people can be your employees, your customers and the people in your community. Treating them as a valuable part of your organization needs to be a core value for the long term sustainability of your organizations. Companies like UPS survey their employees to measure satisfaction and report this in their sustainability report. This is another example of how the triple bottom line once again has merit.
