In the March 1, 2012, online takeouts from Fortune magazine's annual "most admired" issue, here is Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, on CSR and the company's Ecomagination program:

Q: In the wake of the Citizens United decision, with the Supreme Court suggesting that corporations are people, what kind of person do you want your company to be?

A: I think we've always been a good and generous company when it's come to corporate social responsibility around education and things like that. But personally, I think one of the things that this cycle is proving is that without competitiveness, nothing else really matters. I think in the end, GE is a competitive company, and in the end that might be the best source of CSR. It doesn't matter how much you're giving; if you're not able to create jobs, it's tough to be a good citizen today. And that's not a bad perspective to have.

Havas CEO David Jones, in his book, Who Cares Wins, credits GE's Ecomagination program as a beacon of good CSR...

You know, the essence of Ecomagination was that competitiveness and innovation are at the heart, and it's not really CSR-driven. It's more about innovation, and I think the more we can think about it that way, there are less trade-offs and more positive thinking.

So it sounds like Ecomagination's reputation as a responsible, admirable program is just a happy side effect.

That's exactly right.

For more of Immelt's views, including the companies and CEOs he admires, please click here.