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Article

22 May 2013

Author:
Louis V. Galdieri's Blog

Ruggie and the Red Priest – A Lesson in Listening

From the introduction to the final chapter [of Just Business], Ruggie emphasizes the need for businesses to listen to stakeholders and host communities as well as the serious consequences that failing to listen can have...When Ruggie met with Father Marco [human rights advocate & campaigner against Newmont's gold mine in Cajamarca, Peru], he wanted to know how things in Cajamarca got from legitimate worries about water to a state of siege...“They don’t listen to us when we come with small problems,” came the reply, “so we have to create big ones.” [he said]...The Guiding Principles Ruggie eventually developed offer a number of ways business can improve on its ability to listen and engage with communities and individuals before a problem gets to Cajamarcan proportions...Listening is about hearing and heeding the other...To listen is to change practice. That doesn’t have to mean you do what the other asks of you; but it suggests some new relationship, a reorientation, some re-negotiation of positions...[W]e may not be able to close the great distances between us, between listener and the petitioner, but there can be dialogue. There can be respect. [Refers to Newmont Mining, PNC Bank (part of PNC Financial Services), Rio Tinto]