Nature of Business radio, created and hosted by Chrissy Coughlin, is a weekly show on business and environment.

This week, Nature of Business host Chrissy Coughlin speaks with Dave Stangis, VP of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at The Campbell Soup Company. They talk about the evolution of his position and CSR in general, including the importance of having a technical background, Campbell's efforts in this arena, as well as its efforts to address childhood hunger and obesity.

A 140-year-old company, Campbell is a leading manufacturer of high-quality foods and beverages. Its brand portfolio includes V-8, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, Swanson, and Pace and it has built its reputation on nourishment, health, and wellness.

Particularly compelling are Dave's efforts to overcome the obstacles of introducing sustainability concepts into the company by translating the sustainability lingo into something that works and runs close to the values of Campbell employees whether they be from human resources, to marketing, to supply chain.

In his words, "These are ways to do business that help them to do their jobs better. And if I can understand their language and translate these concepts of social impact, environmental performance improvement, employee engagement, community involvement into ways to make their jobs better, more impactful, and improve their innovation and productivity, it's a whole different world. All of a sudden it's a tool and not an obstacle. And that's really the goal."

It seems to be paying off. Dave has managed to create in just three short years an environment of collaboration, trust, while introducing new ways of thinking about business and environment issues. And by the way, his favorite Campbell soup is Chicken Noodle. Mine is tomato and rice. (So is the CEO's.)

_{Photo CC-licensed by Robert Couse-Baker.}