One of the important aspects of the Townshend experience is that several times a year, we host visiting guests -- scholars, leaders, or innovators, to give us all a broader perspective, as a way of stimulating our thinking and reflecting upon our own lives and the impact we can have. This week, we welcome Paddy Honan, an entrepreneur, innovator, and life and business coach from Ireland.
This morning at Assembly Mr. Honan gave a presentation that focused on the question of Corporate Social Responsibility -- the role corporations play in impacting society, and the push towards encouraging business to make positive impacts on not just profits, but also on the planet, and on people. Drawing upon his 25 years in advertising, Mr. Honan discussed the shift towards "Emotional Branding", where corporations seek to make emotional connections with consumers and want to stimulate positive feelings about the corporation. All of this sets the stage to develop a platform that connects corporations that want to develop social responsibility, consumers who want to buy responsibly, and social causes that can be supported through this commerce. Mr. Honan is developing such a platform, "Trubrand", and will be working with students during the week to further explore this idea of infusing the principle of justice as an important element of a brand.
We welcome Mr. Honan, and look forward to expanding our thinking as a result of his ongoing presentations this week.