Mar 24, 2011 – This article was first posted at Matthew E. May’s American Express Open Forum Blog. I earlier reviewed Matt’s book, The Shibumi Strategy, with a Q & A here.

There is growing appreciation for the idea that social responsibility is core to a good business. But there are many old mindsets and practices that make it hard to move away from old, irresponsible ways of doing business—and it’s not always clear what the new approaches need to be.

I asked Carol Sanford, author of a brand new book called The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success, for a list of the 10 most important changes any business needs to consider.

1. Reimagine responsibility.

Move the business from a position approach to a pervasive approach. That is, move the effort to become responsible away from the purview of a corporate responsibility officer or department to the whole business and all of its work. It is no longer appropriate to focus on responsibility when making some decisions, while allowing whole arenas where it is not even discussed. Everyone in a business must develop a “responsible ethic.”

2. Reimagine effectiveness.

Shift work from the incidental to the consequential. Often businesses work on practices they think are related to what matters; for example, fair trade, which has a great image and often a great outcome. But many certified fair-trade businesses are not viable and do not create economic viability for local communities. They simply avoid unfair labor practices and often don’t even attempt to foster good ecological practices.

3. Reimagine success.

Move the business from measuring efforts to measuring effects. The Responsible Business no longer measures and reports activities or practices as progress. Instead it measures and works on how decisions and actions affect its stakeholders’ lives.

4. Reimagine giving.

Think less about giving back and more about ensuring that the business is giving as. It’s not about what the business does after the money is earned (donations of time and resources) or as part of their efforts (supply chain sustainability) or even in addition to what is not responsible at all (wasteful practices). A healthy philanthropic and community function is laudable but real giving is in how people do business every day.

5. Reimagine impact.

Move the business from decreasing harm to increasing benefits—contributions to ecosystems, communities, customers’ lives, suppliers’ successes, employees’ sense of personal and professional meaning and their contributions to stakeholders and investors’ roles in pervasive responsibility

Read the final five on “10 Ways To Become A More Socially Responsible Business” is now on OPEN Forum.