By Quentin Langley
"The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones," said Shakespeare's Mark Anthony. According to the notion of karma, one is set against the other to produce a karmic balance.
If we accept, arguendo, that the allegations of serial rape and sex with under age women are true, then it would seem that no record of success in charity fundraising can offset that evil. But the raising of more that £40 million plus many years of voluntary work as a hospital porter still counts in Savile's favour. The charity work and the predatory sexual behaviour are logically unconnected. But were they psychologically connected. Did Jimmy Savile's guilt at his sexual predation spur him on to help Stoke Mandeville hospital?
Some people argue that corporate social responsibility is a figleaf for bad behaviour by corporations. But, if so, this cannot ever work. We only have to think of Jimmy Savile's reputation to see why. Now that the allegations have become public his hitherto saintly reputation has taken a well-deserved nosedive. No quantity of charity work can undo rape. Indeed, it is easy to imagine Savile's victims having to regularly relive their trauma every time they saw him praised for his fundraising.
CSR has to be much more than an attempt to undo or make up for bad behaviour. It has to be built in to the way an organisation operates: minimising harm and maximising benefits.