Heineken just seemed to be a beer company to me; one with a ripened value due to years of good reputation. I had never thought about the company's ethics toward profitability or brand positioning until this week when I had dinner with Heineken USA's VP of Corporate Responsibility and Ethics during a business trip to Washington, D.C.

During our conversation, some key discoveries were made.

I learned how Heineken uses market access to help others. The company, the Heineken executive said, has a responsibility to be “of service” and to teach "Heineken citizens" how to be part of a new way of thinking. For example in sections of Africa, the company works with a non-governmental organization to support the community’s diverse concerns. Though I am only now growing increasingly aware of this initiative, I am impressed with the scope of the company's stewardship, ranging from creating innovate child survival approaches to sickle-cell anemia research.

Living a life within an organization that creates sustainable, community-minded initiatives is indeed happening at this beer company—a concept echoed in the book, The Communitarian Persuasion, where author Philip Selznick offers many thoughts regarding how gross inequalities “weaken solidarity and erode respect.”

More…