Viewpoint November 16, 2009, 9:47AM EST

Change Big Business From the Inside

It's great that public service is popular again, but it's the private sector that sorely needs young people who are looking to make a difference

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One silver lining in the current economic cloud is that job-seekers are answering President Obama's call to service: Applications to Teach for America are up 42% from last year; AmeriCorps applications have nearly tripled.

But, People of Principle, please don't turn your backs on the private sector. The $35,000 commode, Bernie Madoff, bankrupt companies' CEOs on corporate jets, a financial industry unchastened and unchanged a year after wreaking havoc on our economy: There's far too much evidence that we must realign our economic system with our moral compass.

Regulators can't do that, no matter how much power they have; an ethical corporate culture can only be created and sustained from within. As Ben Heineman, the former general counsel for General Electric (GE), writes in High Performance with High Integrity: "Yes, regulators, outside gatekeepers, and directors all play their important roles, mainly by providing guidelines and checks and balances. But the CEO and senior leadership make it happen." (Or don't: In August, GE agreed to pay $50 million to settle with the SEC over accounting fraud.)

Business will continue to change the world—for better and for worse. Nokia Siemens Networks "provides the mobile technology for millions of people in Iran to communicate with each other and the outside world," as its Web site proudly proclaims—but also concedes that it enabled the Iranian government to monitor calls. The debate over whether factories in poor countries are good (providing employment opportunities) or bad (exploiting disempowered workers) has raged for decades.

The market requires another infusion of capital: not tax dollars, but human capital. We need smart, skilled people who understand how business works and who want to make it work better for all. We need CFOs who know that "fiduciary duty" is not obsession with quarterly results at the expense of all else, such as honesty (Enron), but stewardship of long-term performance—which demands attention to ethics and the environment. We need energy and mining CEOs who understand that good community relations is as critical as technology to getting resources out of the ground.

Ready to change the corporate world from within? Here's how:

Do Your Due Diligence. Ignore the glossy photos of executives planting trees. How does the company assess the impacts of its core business on communities? Does it take an active interest in the labor and sustainability practices of the companies it buys from? Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) is starting to do so, having recently announced a set of questions it will ask its suppliers on topics from greenhouse-gas emissions to community giving.

Check Up On the Company's Signed Commitments. If you're considering going into finance, is your prospective employer a signatory to the Equator Principles, a set of environmental and social standards banks commit to for certain investments? (Don't ask that in the interview; signatories are listed at www.equator-principles.com.) If not, why not?

There are similarly important initiatives in other industries: the Fair Labor Assn. enforces a workplace code of conduct for factories; the Global Network Initiative brings together the unlikely coalition of Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), and Microsoft (MSFT) with human-rights advocates to protect free expression and privacy. Companies should be part of a program relevant to their sectors or have a good explanation for why they aren't.

Once You're In, Learn the Ropes, Then Fill the Gaps. Don't expect to transform a company before you've found the bathroom. Get to work and demonstrate that you're committed to the company's success. When you spot where you can make a change for the better, explain how it will help the business; if you've built a track record of great performance and judgment, you'll be given license to do it.

For inspiration, check out the 16 people the Aspen Institute has recognized as First Movers who have innovated within their companies "where business growth and our collective well-being intersect."

Americans should keep filling the ranks of the Peace Corps, City Year, and other social endeavors. But we will continue to see crises in capitalism if people don't see the private sector as a place where they can make a difference. If anything, that's where change is needed the most.

Christine Bader is adviser to the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for business and human rights. She worked for energy company BP from 1999 to 2008, including managing human rights for some of the company's biggest projects. She wrote this piece in her personal capacity.