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“I need a day when there aren’t twenty crises to deal with, but I don’t see that coming any time soon.” – Iron Man

Holy moly—what a year! As we move towards the end of 2020, it is doubtful that the year-end will allow us to move anything off our desks but our expired calendars. So many issues! So few hours in the day! Corporate citizenship colleagues, this is when we need to dig deep. The issues before us are both complex and urgent and will require both immediate responses and long-term thinking and commitments.

We know that you are at the front lines of addressing pandemic response, disaster recovery, and multiple social justice issues. You are superheroes within your companies and communities. You are not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but you do resemble cinematic superheroes as champions of all stakeholders and as powerful change-makers striving to address injustice and make our world better. Lately it feels like Doctor Unsustainable is up in the stratosphere—with his evil villain mega-crisis creator gun—blasting round after round at us. Our job is to shield and solve. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to do so,” we think to ourselves on our best days. On other days, it can feel like we are all Superman encased in Kryptonite. In these moments when the obstacles seem overwhelming, I encourage you to find strength in your purpose: To create the world in which we want to do business and the world in which we want to live.

Corporate citizenship professionals leverage their superpowers in ways that are specific to both your skills and your company’s core capabilities—where can you best contribute? I encourage you to explore the examples in our just released to think about how you can use your superpowers to create a better world.

2020 marks the 35th anniversary of Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. Since 1985, we have been devoted to championing your work and to supporting and preparing future corporate citizenship leaders to create a more sustainable and prosperous future for all. Our certificate programs, research, and social networks have supported generations of corporate citizenship leaders as they have found and recharged their superpowers. We hope to help YOU find and nurture your superpowers—for many years to come.

“Heroes are made by the path they choose, not the powers they are graced with.”– Iron Man

I, for one, am incredibly grateful to you for choosing your path as a corporate citizenship leader. Thank you for being part of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship community—and most importantly for all the great work you do in the field.