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A few years ago, Nike paid the price for the bad labor and human rights practices of its suppliers.  Now it's Apple's turn in the penalty box.

I recently had the privilege of sitting on a panel with some real corporate responsibility luminaries: Ann Cramer from IBM, Stephen Jordan from the US Chamber's Business Civic Leadership Center, Bill Novelli from Georgetown, and Mark Shamley from the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals. We went in-depth on the issue of the profession of corporate responsibility and the dialog quickly centered on whether or not CR professionals need credentials to ply their trade.

As Executive Director for the professional society for corporate responsibility, I'm sure you think my obvious answer is yes. Actually, my answer is I don't care. Or more specifically, I'm not married to the outcome, but I'm dedicated to the process.

This year I jumped on the Corporate Responsibility cocktail circuit. I've attended literally a dozen events this year already and at every one, I eventually end up in the same conversation: cornered by a pundit opining on what companies should do.

Don't get me wrong. Many of these people not only have good intentions, they often have very good ideas. But here's what they don't have: responsibility. They're not in the chair with the actual responsibility for delivering on these programs. I used to be a consultant -- and I'm married to one -- so I know that consultants can offer a lot. But I also know, that companies can learn a lot from each other.

That's why, in cooperation with NYSE Euronext, we started the CR Best Practices Survey last year and why we continue it this year. Last year we had a terrific response rate, with over 650 companies responding. We want to beat that this year and produce the most comprehensive survey of actual successful practices; what's really working in live operations at real companies.