I can't believe that I am already home. After being gone for a week, it's nice to be home, but I will have a lot of work ahead to catch up.

After a late night on Tuesday (and I didn't even make it to the hospitality suites!), I have to admit that I got off to a late start.

I am surprised to find that after a much longer Tuesday, plus my final presentation, I am not as tired as I was yesterday.

The morning started with the Women in Quality Networking walk, and then I had the priviledge of seeing Jerry of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream talk about how they started a company that ended up doing well through doing good for the community. Since I am a fan of both their company and how they do business, it was a real treat to listen.

I attended the panel discussion on social responsibility Tuesday after lunch. Three speakers from local Minneapolis firms - Target, Ecolabs, and 3M - each gave a brief presentation. Then they addressed questions from the audience.

The Triple Bottom Line was mentioned several times:

• Profit
• Planet
• People

 The proper mix of all three is necessary for corporate (and government and NGO) success.

I also picked up the importance of transparency. It forces accountability, which tends to result in more attention to social responsibility.

Dennis Arter

ASQs 2009 freshman class of Fellows (that's me in the first row, first person on the left sitting next to Joanne Mayo).

We get to ask questions of others and explore topics deeper. (Yes, that's me with the hat!)

Dennis Arter