—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Bob Langert led McDonald's Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability efforts for more than twenty-five years before retiring in 2015. Currently, he is a columnist and editor-at-large for the GreenBiz Group and Senior Sustainability Advisor, The Context Network, the premier global and agribusiness consulting firm in advancing agriculture.
His first book, The Battle To Do Good: Inside McDonald's Sustainability Journey, was published in January 2019.
He has engaged in social responsibility issues at a global level since the late 1980s, leading environmental affairs, animal welfare, and Ronald McDonald Children's Charities grants. He was appointed McDonaldss first vice president to lead sustainability in 2006 with contributions spanning sustainable fish, coffee, palm oil, beef, packaging, extensive animal welfare progress, protecting the Amazon rainforest, nutrition strategy and CSR reporting, measurement, and accountability. Langert also led the development of McDonald's 2020 Sustainability Vision and Framework. As part of this work, Langert has worked with numerous organizations, including Conservation International, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and World Wildlife Fund.
Widely known as a subject-matter expert, Langert has spoken at numerous events for various organizations, including Aspen Institute, Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, Lewis University, National Research Council, the State of Green Business Forum, University of Michigan, University of Oregon, and Yale University. He has been featured in a wide variety of media, including ABC News, AdAge, Christian Science Monitor, Crain's Chicago Business, The Guardian, The Independent, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He and his work also have been cited in numerous publications, including Organizational Behavior by Don Hellriegel and John W. Slocum (Cengage, 2008), The Global Corporation: Sustainable, Effective and Ethical Practices by Laura P. Hartman and Patricia H. Werhane, Eds. (Routledge, 2009), and Beyond the Bottom Line by Joel Makower (Simon & Schuster, 1994).
Langert received his BA from Lewis University and his MBA from Northwestern University. In 2007, Langert was named as one of the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics by Ethisphere.
I got an email that Bob Langert, McDonald's former head of Corporate Social Responsibility, wrote a book on his experience in over two decades at the corporation. With my goal of seeking to reduce how we're diminishing Earth's capacity to support human civilization, I see places like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Exxon, and Monsanto, to name a few, as places with the greatest potential. Many protest them, which I consider important, but I also believe they could use help. I don't know how many large organizations can change without outside help. Am I the one to do it? I'm not sure, but I can't ignore their potential for change. I read the book and scheduled a conversation with Bob. My goal is to understand the man and his experience to find opportunity for help, if desired. I took more notes on his book than any other, a lot critical or challenging. I opted to make my goal with the conversation meet the man, not debate or criticize. If you think I should have acted otherwise, let me know. My goals, as ever, are, regarding the environment: to lower our effects that threaten life and human society and on leadership: for people to find meaning, value, purpose, joy, growth, and so on. I feel compelled to share personal context since I want to support the man but not imply I support the company, while still trying to support some of its changes, if sincere. I last ate meat in 1990, which would have been about the last time I spent any money on fast food. I've avoid packaged food and food with fiber removed for about four years and counting. I pick up a piece of trash per day and McDonald's is up there with Coca-Cola and Starbucks as the greatest sources of litter. I've watched the McLibel documentary multiple times. I stopped in one the other day to charge my laptop and one of the closest ATMs to my home is in a McDonald's, so I find myself in them periodically. I don't like the place. I worked in a Burger King on the Champs-Elysees during my first summer in Paris, in 1989. Read the transcript.