Purpose 360: Recent Episodes
TruStory FM
Business is an unlikely hero: a force for good working to solve society's most pressing challenges, while boosting bottom line. This is social purpose at work. And it's a dynamic journey. Purpose 360 is a masterclass in unlocking the power of social purpose to ignite business and social impact. Host Carol Cone brings decades of social impact expertise and a 360-degree view of integrating social purpose into an organization into unfiltered conversations that illuminate today's big challenges and bigger ideas.
Journalism’s “Golden Age” was very different from the profession today. It’s no longer about getting the big interview or capturing the nation’s attention with a blockbuster story. Now, anyone can simply go online to report their own news.
The field is far from dying though. Gen Z’s entrance into the workforce highlights how the generation's values, combined with technological shifts, are shaping a different yet equally impactful era for journalism.
We invited Gen Z’er Alexa Mikhail, reporter at Fortune Magazine, to share her journey from the classroom to the newsroom. Alexa also delves deep into her generation, exploring their resolute pursuit of authenticity, purpose, and work-life balance.
Listen for insights on:
- How to attract and retain Gen-Z employees
- The mental health crisis and its impact on employees and work
- Navigating fields that traditionally value experience as a young professional
Resources + Links:
- Alexa Mikhail’s LinkedIn
- Alexa’s Mikhail’s Email for Article Pitching
- Alexa’s Fortune Magazine Articles
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“A crisis of confidence is plaguing women in menopause—and workplaces are failing to support them”
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:14) - FORTUNE Gen Z Reporter
- (02:17) - Meet Alexa
- (06:21) - CNN
- (08:42) - Fortune Media
- (13:22) - Barbie
- (14:21) - Silicon Valley Bank
- (15:30) - Story Prep
- (17:51) - Advice for Those Interested in Journalism
- (20:07) - Mentors
- (20:55) - Future of Journalism
- (22:26) - Work Style
- (24:55) - Gen Z and Purpose
- (26:33) - Pitching Alexa
- (27:01) - Final Advice
- (29:05) - Wrap Up
From designer fashion to sports equipment, the resale market is experiencing a renaissance like never before. In fact, the resale market has grown so exponentially that it is projected to reach $77 billion within the next few years.
This is a big victory for sustainability, especially given the carbon footprint of the fashion industry. Keeping a t-shirt or pair of shoes in circulation longer is one of the greatest ways to counteract the impacts of fast fashion.
With this rise in resale, there is a golden opportunity for the brands behind the products to get involved. This idea led Adam Siegel, now CEO, to co-found Recurate. Recurate is a platform that empowers clothing brands to embrace the circular economy through the potential of resale, offering tools to allow customers to buy resale and secondhand products seamlessly. By facilitating the transition to a circular business model, Recurate not only helps brands make a positive impact on the planet but also opens up new revenue streams and enhances their brand image in an increasingly conscious marketplace.
Listen for insights on:
- The consumer data supporting the resale model for individuals and brands
- How to help consumers balance their desires for sustainability, convenience, and price — and how Recurate satisfies all three
- Recurate’s vision for a fully integrated resale experience
- Ways you can buy and sell through Recurate’s brands — and how to become one!
Resources + Links:
- Adam Siegel’s LinkedIn
- Recurate
- Recurate’s Brands
- The Circular Fashion is Now Report
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Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Butterfly Diagram for Visualizing the Circular Economy
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:13) - Recurate
- (03:09) - Meet Adam Siegel
- (04:49) - Founding Recurate
- (06:51) - Circularity
- (08:25) - How They Work
- (09:39) - Resale Models
- (12:55) - Doing the Research
- (15:12) - Brand Loyalty with Recommerce Options
- (17:16) - The Terms
- (19:03) - Motivations
- (21:03) - Successful Business
- (22:16) - Examples
- (25:26) - Challenges
- (27:45) - Death to Fast Fashion in EU?
- (29:24) - Measurement
- (30:54) - By 2030...
- (31:55) - Recommendations
- (33:27) - Last Comments
- (34:09) - Wrap Up
Food security is now a worldwide issue. To keep up with a rising population, the global agriculture sector will need to produce more food by 2050 than was produced in the last 8,000 years combined. Yet, the agricultural sector is confronted with growing challenges, ranging from less arable land and water to a lack of broadband access in rural America, which impedes innovation and growth.
Land O’Lakes, one of America’s premier agribusiness and food companies, is a farmer- and retailer-owned cooperative that is inextricably linked to the success of the people producing and growing our food. Driven by their purpose, Rooted in Tomorrow, the organization is actively advancing solutions to build a sustainable future for farmers and a safe and reliable food supply. Land O’Lakes’ initiatives support farmers globally through grantmaking, leveraging the latest tools to help farmers profitably transition to more sustainable agriculture practices, and increasing the representation of women in agriculture.
We invited Kim Olson, Chief Communications Officer, to share how Land O’Lakes is strengthening its role as a leader in sustainable production while building on sustainable practices that farmers have been implementing for generations.
Listen for insights on:
- Driving strategic and substantial impact as a company that serves all stakeholders
- Creating resonant and inspirational communications that educate consumers about the journey of food from farm to table
- Collaborating with stakeholders to identify the right solutions
- Advice for the C-Suite related to remaining authentic and developing a strong relationship with your CEO
Resources + Links:
- Kim Olson’s LinkedIn
- She-I-O
- American Connection Project
- Truterra
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Venture37
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:14) - Kim Olson • Land O' Lakes
- (03:03) - Meet Kim
- (06:05) - Being a Steward
- (07:00) - Rural America Today
- (11:24) - Engaging Stakeholders
- (15:18) - CEO Beth Ford
- (16:49) - American Connection Project
- (22:55) - Innovation and Truterra
- (27:18) - Packaging
- (28:40) - The Foundation
- (30:48) - What's Next?
- (31:35) - Insights
- (34:07) - Last Word
- (35:30) - Wrap Up
Mark Clouse entered Campbell Soup Company in 2019 as its 14th CEO in the company’s 153-year history. Recognizing the upheaval that the food industry has been undergoing for the last decade and the need for a fresh strategic direction in a rapidly evolving business landscape, Mark sought to define a new, resonant purpose that would guide the company's decisions and inspire employees, customers, and stakeholders alike.
But as a long-lived company, it was vital for the purpose to evoke Campbell’s legacy while shaping a new chapter of the iconic company’s story.
We invited Mark Clouse to share the journey behind Campbell’s purpose: “Connecting people through the food they love.” Accompanied by a set of new and compelling values, the purpose has become the driving force behind the company’s recent transformation – from their steadfast commitment to their hometown in Camden to its new employee value proposition. Through this lens, Campbell has embarked on a transformative journey that builds off the company’s impact over the last 150+ years.
Listen for C-level insights on:
- Being a steward for a legacy company
- Absolutes and direction for re-shaping a purpose
- How purpose enables a company to simultaneously create sustainable shareholder value and better society and the environment
- AI and its role in business today
Resources + Links:
- Mark Clouse’s LinkedIn
- Campbell Soup Company’s Purpose and Values
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Full Futures
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:13) - Campbell's
- (01:46) - Meet Mark Clouse
- (05:00) - Being a Steward
- (06:56) - Campbell's Purpose
- (10:01) - 'Through Food', Not 'To Food'
- (11:22) - Purpose vs. Mission vs. Vision
- (13:22) - Absolutes for Purpose
- (15:07) - The Five Cs
- (18:00) - Camden and Full Futures
- (23:24) - Volunteerism
- (24:12) - New Employee Value Proposition
- (26:30) - E, S, and G Pillars
- (29:14) - Accountability
- (30:49) - Integrating AI
- (32:53) - Mark's Last Word
- (34:36) - Wrap Up
“A tapestry is made of many threads woven into one story. So are we.”
Tapestry, the parent company of renowned brands Kate Spade, Coach, and Stuart Weitzman, plays the vital role of seamlessly integrating the distinctive narratives, products, missions, values, and focus areas of each brand into a single tapestry. All three brands are united under Tapestry’s purpose – Stretch What’s Possible – which provides both cohesion and autonomy to each organization.
We invited David Casey, Chief Inclusion and Social Impact Officer, to unveil the company’s comprehensive approach to one of its most valuable stakeholders: its employees. In his first year, David immersed himself in the experiences of employees, gaining valuable insights into their realities, particularly with store associates. Equipped with this knowledge, Tapestry developed a framework focused on four core objectives to promote equity, inclusion, and diversity (EI&D).
Tapestry is also weaving new environmental practices into the way they source and sell, from embedding circularity into designer fashion through Coachtopia to supporting the World Wildlife Fund for responsible leather sourcing.
Listen for insights on:
- Uniting brands with unique social impact focuses under a parent company’s purpose
- Embracing circularity through second-generation designer products
- Advice to the C-Suite on prioritizing equity as a company
Resources + Links:
- David Casey’s LinkedIn
- Stretch What’s Possible
- Coachtopia
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Business of Fashion: Tapestry’s Strategy to Increase Equity and Diversity at All Employee Levels
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:13) - David Casey at Tapestry
- (01:51) - David's Role
- (04:08) - Active Listening
- (05:45) - The Front Line
- (07:06) - Calling It E, I, and D
- (07:52) - How Tapestry Was Formed
- (10:05) - To Stretch What's Possible
- (11:16) - Each Brand's Approach
- (13:55) - Circularity
- (16:42) - Global Nature of Brands
- (21:17) - Keeping Your Commitments
- (24:23) - Employee Resource Groups
- (26:09) - Partnership with WWF
- (27:55) - Marine Background and Its Influences
- (28:51) - Advice to Take to Heart
- (30:11) - Last Word
- (30:49) - Wrap Up
In a world where connectivity is increasingly essential, the digital divide stands as a formidable obstacle. Millions of Americans are denied opportunities to improve their daily lives, succeed in work and school, and have a fair chance in the global economy, all of which come from broadband and digital connectivity.
AT&T is deeply committed to bridging this digital divide. With a comprehensive $2 billion commitment, AT&T aims to bring the life-changing benefits of internet access to underserved communities. The commitment’s approach goes beyond access to and affordability of high-speed internet to encompass digital skills education and essential community resources to ensure the safe and successful adoption of technology.
We invited Mylayna Albright, Assistant Vice President of CSR, to explain how AT&T’s work to bridge the digital divide has opened doors, empowered communities, and led to meaningful social and economic progress.
Listen for insights on:
- What the digital divide looks like now and AT&T’s threefold approach to addressing it
- Selecting and maintaining local community partnerships
- Remaining nimble as a large organization executing a nation-wide program
- Inviting employees to participate in and live the corporate purpose
Resources + Links:
- Mylayna Albright’s LinkedIn
- AT&T’s Commitment to Bridging the Digital Divide
- Connected Learning Centers
- AT&T Believes
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The Achievery
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:13) - Mylayna Albright • AT&T
- (02:16) - Meet Mylayna
- (03:05) - Explaining AT&T's Purpose
- (04:31) - Access, Affordability, Adoption
- (05:16) - COVID and the Digital Divide
- (06:47) - Connected Learning Initiative
- (09:12) - Connected Learning Centers
- (12:33) - Selecting Local Partners
- (13:30) - Coalition and Collaboration
- (15:33) - Vulnerable Communities
- (17:28) - Family Example
- (19:15) - Employee Engagement
- (23:45) - Insights
- (26:46) - Last Word
- (27:27) - Wrap Up
What is your organization’s employee purpose iQ?
Host Carol Cone is joined by Wendy Salomon, Managing Director of Reputation & Corporate Strategy at The Harris Poll, to walk you through this first-of-its-kind tool to measure the success of your organization’s purpose. EPiQ, or Employee Purpose iQ, is an analysis of strengths and opportunities to activate your company's purpose with employees—backed by a custom roadmap to drive growth.
Based on a survey of an organization’s employees and using a succinct set of targeted metrics exploring Credibility, Talent, and Activation, EPiQ helps organizations understand and diagnose where purpose is not optimized while identifying efficient strategies to move the organization forward.
Listen for insights on:
- The EPiQ score and how it’s measured
- The specific areas for growth the EPiQ dashboard pinpoints
- How the EPiQ dashboard can inform investment and strategy decisions
- The long-term impact of knowing and advancing your employee purpose iQ
Resources + Links:
- Carol Cone’s LinkedIn
- Wendy Salomon’s LinkedIn
- Employee Purpose iQ
- Sustainable Brands: “Measure What Matters: Are You Optimizing Purpose to Uplift Your Workforce?
- Searching for the Soul of Business with Alan Murray: Part 1
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Searching for the Soul of Business with Alan Murray: Part 2
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(00:00) - Welcome to Purpose 360
- (00:13) - EPiQ: Employee Purpose IQ
- (02:28) - Meet Wendy Salomon
- (04:31) - Essential Ingredient
- (05:27) - The Impetus
- (06:47) - Broader Sense of Why to Measure the Purpose Investment
- (08:47) - How We Work With the Company
- (10:00) - Where the Need Is Greatest
- (11:29) - National Survey
- (14:07) - Three Core Dimensions
- (15:55) - Identifying Who's Bought In
- (16:41) - The Deliverable
- (18:17) - What Is Our Company's Purpose?
- (19:19) - Closing Comments
- (20:32) - Wrap Up
Has a statistic ever shocked you so much you can’t forget it?
In 2011, David Heath learned the most requested item in homeless shelters was socks. For such a small and ordinary item, David couldn’t stop thinking about the impact they had on people experiencing homelessness. He began carrying extra pairs of socks with him while walking around New York City and handing them out to people he met. While it was a small expense for him, it mattered immensely to these people, some of whom had resorted to wrapping their feet with plastic bags and banana peels.
David and his friend, Randy Goldberg, wanted to do more. They began researching athletic sock technology and developed two products: one for consumers seeking top-tier socks for athletic pursuits, and one for a person experiencing homelessness. This was the start of Bombas and its buy one, give one model.
Eleven years later, Bombas employs 200+ people, generates $300+ million dollars annually, and has donated more than 75 million new clothing items. We invited David Heath, CEO and Co-Founder, to share how a desire to do good launched a multi-million-dollar business, how Bombas has evolved over time, and how it remains focused on helping the homeless.
Listen for more insights on:
- Starting a business with the sole mission for impact.
- Building and maintaining partnerships.
- Enabling employees to drive innovation based on their passions.
- Exploring new impact areas while remaining aligned with a core focus.
Resources + Links:
- David Heath’s LinkedIn
- “This is the Impact Socks, Shirts and Underwear Can Make” Video
- 2022 Impact Report
- 60K Day
- The Black Hive Collection
- The Pride Collection
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - Dave Heath • Bombas
- 03:15 - The Genesis
- 12:43 - Response
- 14:48 - The Name and How It Works
- 20:47 - Favorite Stories
- 23:35 - Giving Network
- 27:23 - Real Time Needs
- 29:18 - Equal Branches
- 31:00 - Numbers
- 31:29 - Black and Rainbow Hives
- 34:45 - Finding Focus
- 36:13 - Buy One Give One Model
- 39:58 - The Future
- 43:48 - Last Advice
- 46:36 - Wrap Up
Legacy companies are still around today for a reason: they’ve developed exceptional products or services, nurtured their workforce, and committed to serving their communities. Take New York Life: at 177 years, the company and its Foundation have a long history of supporting family legacies and leading on the issue of child bereavement.
Recent events, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasized the importance of this work. It also highlighted how underserved communities are disproportionately impacted by many issues, including loss. Already committed to providing financial security, protection, and peace of mind, New York Life created a new pillar focused on social justice to address and drive access to generational wealth.
We invited Heather Nesle, President of New York Life Foundation and Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility, to share how the Foundation launched its new pillar and continues to drive impact for families around the country.
Listen for more insights on:
- How a legacy company maintains and develops philanthropic focus areas to remain relevant and impactful.
- How to engage employees and stakeholders in difficult or sensitive topics.
- Training your workforce to be advocates for issues that matter to your company and stakeholders.
- Advice on how to approach social impact work when you’re creating a new campaign, starting a new project, or launching a new pillar.
Resources + Links:
- Heather Nesle’s LinkedIn
- New York Life Foundation Grantmaking
- “New York Life Foundation adds social justice pillar”
- Grief Sensitive Schools Initiative
- Kai’s Journey: A Book Series About Grief, Strength, and Love
- Purpose 360 (2020): New York Life Foundation’s Heather Nesle & Maria Collins on Grief and Bereavement During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Purpose 360 (2018): Leadership Through Focus — New York Life Foundation President Heather Nesle
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - New York Life
- 02:20 - Heather Nesle
- 04:05 - Heather's Role
- 05:07 - Focus and Alignment
- 06:41 - Pillars of Their Focus
- 08:23 - Kai's Journey
- 10:14 - Defending Against Naysayers
- 11:53 - Agent Training
- 14:02 - Agent Experience
- 15:28 - New Third Pillar
- 17:53 - Supporting Generational Wealth
- 18:49 - Billion Dollar Commitment and First Loss Protection
- 20:20 - Mixing the Pillars
- 23:11 - Being a Pleasure to Work With
- 24:21 - ESG
- 26:03 - Benchmarking
- 28:44 - Power of Focus
- 30:27 - Volunteerism
- 32:39 - Last Thoughts
- 34:03 - Wrap Up
We use appliances like refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines daily to save time and improve our quality of life – often without recognizing their impact on our lives. Aside from noticing our monthly electric or water bills, we rarely think about the environmental impact of these appliances – but Whirlpool does.
Whirlpool and its portfolio of impressive brands like KitchenAid, Maytag, and Consul understand both the environmental and social impact of its products – and have for the past 111 years. From its net zero and energy efficiency targets to a 23-year long partnership with Habitat for Humanity, Whirlpool is committed to bettering the planet while producing quality products that improve life at home. Purpose is deeply embedded in the company’s operations, products, and community involvement so everyone – regardless of where they live or what they make – can have an improved life at home.
We invited Pam Klyn, Senior Vice President of Corporate Reputation & Sustainability, and Deb O’Connor, Director of Global Corporate Reputation and Community Relations, from Whirlpool to discuss the company’s legacy, its House + Home programs, and how Whirlpool balances environmental impact while still delivering a quality product.
Listen for more insights on:
- How to bring environmental sustainability and social commitments under one umbrella.
- How to communicate CSR accomplishments while maintaining humility and staying true to values.
- Real challenges and lessons learned from working in and with local communities.
- How to start and engage in effective internal mentoring.
Resources + Links:
- Pam Klyn on LinkedIn
- Deb O’Connor on LinkedIn
- Net Zero Target
- House + Home
- House + Home World Tour
- Racial Equality Pledge
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - Whirlpool
- 03:35 - Pam's Background
- 04:49 - Deb's Background
- 05:48 - Learning from Dreams
- 09:58 - Getting That First Job with Whirlpool
- 13:35 - Historic Engagement & Sustainability
- 16:00 - Corporate & Community Relations
- 19:11 - Net Zero
- 24:54 - Partner Relationships
- 29:45 - Build Better With Whirlpool
- 32:05 - Embedding
- 34:44 - Generating Ideas
- 35:56 - Working in Their Own Community
- 40:20 - Dealing With Challenges
- 42:46 - Newsroom
- 44:45 - Embedding Purpose
- 47:25 - Innovations in the Underdeveloped World
- 50:12 - Mentoring
- 54:05 - Last Words
- 55:31 - Wrap Up
Non-fungible token. Seed phrase. Ethereum. Cryptocurrency. These are terms that have emerged in recent years and may still leave you puzzled. But what if you learned that these terms and their meta counterparts mean opportunity, inclusivity, representation, creative freedom, and, yes, financial profit?
Still a relatively new concept for many, this episode breaks down what NFTs are and illustrates the opportunity that exists for corporations, nonprofits, and individual donors who embrace NFTs.
We invited Nick Fontova, Chief Marketing Officer of the Metaverse Team at Landmark Ventures – known as MrPinkNFT – for a crash course in what NFTs are, how they can be used for good, and why you should get involved now.
Listen for more insights on:
- Why NFTs are a necessary technological advancement to recognize new forms of art.
- The new donation opportunities NFTs present to nonprofits.
- How you can support underrepresented groups through NFTs.
Resources + Links:
- Nick Fontova’s LinkedIn
- Ethereum
- Coinbase
- Bored Ape Yacht Club
- The Guardian: “Cryptocurrency ethereum plans to cut carbon emissions by 99% with upgrade”
- World of Women
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - NFTs for Dummies... and for Good
- 03:18 - Meet Nick
- 04:06 - The Basics
- 11:50 - Buying Them
- 16:05 - NFTs for Good
- 22:08 - FOMO
- 24:06 - Saving Energy
- 26:19 - Fundraising Potential
- 30:21 - Using the Money and Security
- 33:55 - Crypto Winter
- 36:02 - Setting One Up
- 39:36 - Who's Collecting?
- 43:07 - Top Insights
- 45:00 - Last Thoughts
- 47:07 - Wrap Up
Purpose has proven to be a solution for a major business challenge: The Great Resignation.
The pandemic has given us a lot to think about. Employees are rearranging their priorities to pursue greater meaning (and values-alignment) in their work, placing significant new demands on their employers.
Where does purpose fit in? Purpose Under Pressure, a research collaboration between Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, The Harris Poll, and Allison + Partners, unpacks the benefits of a strong Purpose during turbulent times, its value for recruitment and retention – as well as some early red flags for Purpose practitioners – and tools to embed Purpose within organizations for maximum benefit.
Listen to host Carol Cone; Wendy Salomon, Managing Director of Corporate Reputation & Strategy (The Harris Poll); and Whitney Dailey, Executive Vice President of Purpose (Allison + Partners) for insights on:
- What employees expect from employers
- Why there is a disconnect between employees and leadership when it comes to purpose fulfillment
- How marketing and strategy-building functions are the least “bought in” to purpose
- Shifts that have occurred since the start of the pandemic
Resources + Links:
- Purpose Under Pressure
- The B2B Purpose Paradox
- Carol Cone ON PURPOSE
- The Harris Poll
- Allison + Partners
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - Purpose Under Pressure
- 02:37 - Meet Wendy Solomon and Whitney Dailey
- 04:58 - Wendy's Background
- 07:36 - Whitney's Background
- 09:27 - Top Findings
- 15:57 - How to Embed Purpose
- 20:09 - Tools
- 22:18 - Purpose in Sales, Marketing & Strategy
- 26:12 - Who's Doing It Well
- 30:26 - Identifying Personal Purpose
- 32:03 - Transparency
- 36:59 - CEOs Refining Purpose
- 39:12 - Getting the Message Out
- 42:52 - Next Couple Years
- 45:50 - Advice
- 48:29 - Wrap Up
The climate is in crisis.
Low-income groups are disproportionately impacted in health.
Racial minority students struggle to enter the STEM field.
While these topics may appear unrelated, Biogen is at the intersection of all three. From approaching the climate crisis as a health crisis through Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives – its $250-million, 20-year commitment – to investing in STEM education and development of young students underrepresented in STEM, Biogen is at the forefront, applying its scientific expertise and resources to address health equity and STEM representation.
We invited Johanna Jobin, Global Head of Corporate Reputation & Responsibility at Biogen and Executive Director of Biogen Foundation, to discuss Biogen’s approach to CSR and ESG and the victories they’ve accomplished along the way.
Listen for Johanna’s insights on:
- How to operationalize and integrate ESG across your organization.
- How to develop a strategic and measurable ESG initiative – and act on it.
- Why it’s vital to engage legal teams in ESG work and how to foster a relationship for long-term harmony.
- What to look for when building your ESG team of do-ers.
Resources + Links:
- Johanna’s LinkedIn
- Biogen’s Year In Review
- Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives
- Biogen Foundation
- Biogen Community Lab
- Biogen Foundation and Community Lab’s 20th Anniversary
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - Biogen
- 02:50 - Meet Johanna
- 04:44 - Lessons and Secrets
- 08:13 - Inspiration
- 09:40 - Healthy Climate, Healthy Lives
- 13:12 - Size of Commitment
- 15:29 - Innovation Challenge
- 18:16 - Collaborations
- 21:55 - Community Lab
- 26:47 - Community Lab 2.0
- 28:59 - Transparency in Reporting
- 33:36 - Working With Legal
- 35:46 - Insights
- 39:03 - Last Thoughts
- 41:18 - Wrap Up
Millions of Americans lack the stability and security that wealth bestows. Even many two-income households are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to meet their basic needs and lacking financial security in case of an emergency. Strikingly, the bottom 25% of households have a medium net worth of only $300 and 26% of workers have no money saved for retirement.
Ownership Works, a nonprofit organization, is working to change that by partnering with companies to provide employees with the opportunity to build wealth at work. Through shared ownership, all employees – from management to the assembly line – become owners in the company.
We invited Pete Stavros, Founder of Ownership Works, to explain the nonprofit’s approach to broad-based employee ownership and its proven impact on company culture, financial returns, and employees’ financial security.
Listen for Pete’s insights on:
● How shared ownership directly impacts corporate performance.
● How Ownership Works uses data to track equity by level and demographics.
● What pitfalls to avoid when introducing shared ownership.
● What is necessary for shared ownership to be successful in a company.
Resources + Links:
● Pete’s LinkedIn
● Ownership Works
● Ownership Works & Ingersoll Rand Case Study
● Ownership Works & C.H.I Overhead Doors Case Study
● Employee Ownership: Wall Street Agrees That Ownership Works (Forbes)
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:13 - Pete Stavros – Ownership Works
- 05:33 - Pete's Background
- 09:07 - The Genesis
- 13:47 - Making It a Not-for-Profit
- 16:32 - Vision
- 21:11 - Video Clips
- 22:48 - Case Example
- 27:23 - The Type of Company for This
- 33:05 - How Investors Feel
- 34:10 - Potholes
- 37:47 - Partners
- 40:13 - The Future
- 42:36 - Handling Growth
- 44:51 - The Name
- 46:02 - The Last Word
- 50:09 - Wrap Up
Andre Norman’s early life put him on a path to prison. He worked his way up to being one of the top leaders in the Massachusetts prison system and, when presented with the opportunity to be Number One, he had an epiphany that he was the King of Nowhere.
Thus began his educational journey. Norman took classes to receive his GED, studied law to reduce his sentence, and, when he finally got out, became committed to transforming the prison system and the lives of those within it. He and his team even went to the Lee Correctional Institute shortly after it was faced with the worst riot in America’s prison system in 25 years. After their work concluded, there were zero fights, staff assaults, or use of force or weapons. No longer a King of Nowhere, Norman became an Ambassador of Hope.
Norman is a living example of how purpose can be a powerful journey. Regardless of what stage you are at (as either a company or as an individual), Norman’s story serves as a guide: recognizing a need to change, committing and acting, encouraging others to join, and refreshing purpose so it remains relevant and leads to new opportunities.
Resources + Links:
- Andre’s LinkedIn
- Andre’s Website
- Academy of Hope
- Book: Ambassador of Hope
- Academy of Hope 2022 Video
- Andre Norman TEDxSt.Louis on How to Fix the American Prison System (2010)
- 00:00 - Welcome to Purpose 360
- 00:12 - Andre Norman
- 03:27 - By the Numbers
- 05:52 - Growing Up
- 11:52 - The Trumpet
- 16:12 - The Epiphany
- 19:22 - Bubble of Chaos
- 21:22 - Finding a New Purpose
- 23:36 - Helping People
- 24:54 - Parole
- 29:22 - When Your Mentor's Jealous
- 30:33 - Academy of Hope
- 34:36 - Demons Catch Up
- 39:17 - Current Purpose
- 41:34 - Advice
- 46:18 - Engaging at the Corporate Level
- 47:07 - Son and Dad
- 48:31 - Wrap Up
Meet Shannon Schuyler“We are about our people, but we are a people business. That's what we do. We don't sell widgets. We are people and people have changed. What people desire has changed over the course of time. We have needed to dig into that to have an appreciation of what people wanted and the way in which they worked. And the motivations for working a hundred years ago are different than they are now.”
Shannon Schuyler, PwC’s U.S. Chief Purpose and Inclusion Officer, leads the professional services firm’s efforts to deliver and embed purpose throughout culture and operations. Her work enables employees to be stewards of organizational purpose and embrace social transformation both internally and externally through coalitions and skills development.
We invited Schuyler to share how PwC has aligned its purpose with all 295,000 employees to upskill talent for a global, digital economy; engage authentically with social issues; and have honest conversations about inclusion and diversity.
Listen for Shannon’s insights on:* How PwC approaches each employee as an individual when it comes to their purpose, experiences, background, and skills. * How PwC is building trust with stakeholders, clients, and society to deliver sustained outcomes through the New Equation strategy. * How to collaborate with competitors in order to address industry-wide issues while amplifying societal impact. * How PwC changed the way it approached topics of diversity and inclusion.
Resources + Links:* Shannon Schuyler’s LinkedIn * PwC’s Purpose and Values * The New Equation * New world. New skills. Program * Trust Leadership Institute * CEO Action for Racial Equity * CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion
Carol has been an attendee of the Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) Summit for over 20 years, but 2022’s Summit felt different. It was the first time colleagues were reuniting since the pandemic started, infusing the Summit with excitement and eagerness to share the latest in purpose insights.
Step into the Summit with Carol as she reconnects with purpose leaders from Tata Consultancy Services and Blackbaud to explore what they learned during the past two years.
Listen for insights on:
- How to introduce virtual volunteerism opportunities that both engage employees and deliver impact.
- How smaller companies with fewer resources can help employees identify their personal purpose and link it to organizational opportunities.
- Why investing in human connections can accelerate purpose success.
Resources + Links:
- Kari Niedfelt-Tomas’s LinkedIn
- Balaji Ganapathy’s LinkedIn
- Rachel Hutchisson’s LinkedIn
- Nandika Madgavkar’s LinkedIn
- CECP’s Website
“When you are aligned, you instinctively know what to do. You’re equipped to close the gap between the leader you are and the leader you want to be. When your professional and personal values are aligned, you lead with authenticity and everything becomes possible.”
Many guests on Purpose 360 have shared how they activate employees, collaborate in partnerships, communicate to customers, and engage in the community. It is clear that purpose work requires companies and leaders to care for and focus on many different stakeholders. But while leaders must focus on internal and external stakeholder alignment, it’s vital to also invest in yourself to maintain alignment.
Hortense le Gentil, Executive Coach and Author, defines alignment as the congruence of who you are with what you do. Much like how an organization looks to its values to define purpose, individuals must do the same to be the best version of themselves, drive change, and create impact.
Listen for Hortense’s insights on:
- The most effective ways to find alignment
- Why showing emotion is vital in effective leadership.
- How to break down “mind traps” to unleash your potential
- What leaders can learn from model CEOs, including Satya Nadella (Microsoft), John Donahoe (Nike), and Corie Barry (Best Buy)
Resources + Links: Hortense le Gentil on LinkedIn * Hortense le Gentil’s Website * Aligned: Connecting Your True Self to the Leader You’re Meant to Be*
Many first jobs are not forever jobs, but that’s not how it worked out for Dawn Jones at Intel. Now Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, Dawn began her career at Intel almost 25 years ago, thinking that she’d only stay for a few years. Intel’s support for her and her goals – from paying for her higher education to offering an inclusive culture – was what made the difference. The result is an incredibly committed and intelligent woman determined to advance inclusion for future Intel employees, and for the industry at large.
Intel’s purpose is to create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet. Dawn’s work directly brings this purpose to life, driving inclusion internally by embedding it in Intel’s culture and advancing inclusion externally through language in coding, bringing more girls in STEM, and providing educational support to underrepresented students in STEM at community colleges.
Listen for Dawn’s insights on:
- Why listening and respecting others’ perspectives are the best mindsets when collaborating.
- How to work with a diverse and representative workforce to activate them for good, whether it's in the work that they're doing or in the community.
- Why it’s important for industry leaders to collaborate in standardizing goals and metrics, for the industry and world as a whole.
- Why it’s important to devote time and resources to pursue awards and rankings.
Resources + Links:
- Dawn’s LinkedIn
- CSR at Intel
- 2021-2022 Corporate Responsibility Report
- 2030 RISE Strategy and Goals
- Alliance for Global Inclusion
- Intel Commits $50 Million with Pandemic Response Technology Initiative to Combat Coronavirus
Anheuser-Busch has been making beer for 170 years. But even with legacy brands that have stood the test of time, like Budweiser and Stella Artois, Anheuser-Busch is a company in constant pursuit of a better, more sustainable future.
Sometimes a company’s purpose needs to be refreshed in order for it to remain relevant and meaningful both internally and externally. At the start of 2022, Anheuser-Busch launched its new purpose: We dream big to create a future with more cheers. From creation and piloting to introducing and activating, Anheuser-Busch ensured that this purpose reflected the company’s history while being meaningful to both employees and customers into the future.
We invited César Vargas, U.S. Chief External Affairs Officer, and Lindsay King, U.S. Chief People Officer, to discuss how the purpose came to be, ways internal and external stakeholders were engaged, and how they activate purpose so Anheuser-Busch will serve its beers for another 170 years.
Listen for César and Lindsay’s insights on:
- How to pilot a new purpose to ensure it resonates with employees across an enterprise.
- Why it’s important to create a strong foundation for internal engagement.
- How to inspire employees to serve as ambassadors for your company and its purpose.
- Why consistency in communicating purpose lends greater meaning.
Resources + Links:
- César Vargas on LinkedIn
- Lindsay King on LinkedIn
- Anheuser-Busch’s Ten Principles
- “It’s Time to Dream Big and Create a Future with More Cheers”
- “We’re taking flight. Here’s to our next chapter” video
For some, purpose’s integral role in business is a newer conversation topic. But others have seen the power of purpose for decades, including company founders like Ray Anderson, pioneers like host Carol Cone, and business journalists like Alan Murray.
Alan Murray has a unique perspective of the purpose movement. While Ray strategically aligned Interface with environmental commitments and Carol advises and supports companies in establishing purpose-based commitments, Alan followed CEOs from nescience to enlightenment to implementation. In his new book, Tomorrow’s Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business, Alan reveals how he observed corporate CEOs recognize the significance of human-centered sustainability – not just so their companies could continue to operate, but so they would thrive.
We invited Alan Murray, CEO of Fortune Media, to discuss Tomorrow’s Capitalist, his experience with the widespread cynicism of the broader public when it comes to businesses and purpose, and how companies can have both a soul and a future.
Listen for Alan’s insights on:
- How leadership must change for there to be strategic, long-term success in human-centered business.
- What should guide CEOs when deciding whether and how to advocate for an issue or defend an action.
- How to effectively amplify communications in today's snackable, hard-to-get-anybody's-attention media landscape.
- The three areas all CEOs and leaders need to think about when looking to the future of human-centered business.
Links & Notes* Alan Murray’s LinkedIn * Tomorrow’s Capitalist * Fortune: “Why I wrote ‘Tomorrow’s Capitalist,’ my upcoming book on the stakeholder capitalism movement” * Leadership Next * Humans Are Underrated by Geoff Colvin
For some, purpose’s integral role in business is a newer conversation topic. But others have seen the power of purpose for decades, including company founders like Ray Anderson, pioneers like host Carol Cone, and business journalists like Alan Murray.
Alan Murray has a unique perspective of the purpose movement. While Ray strategically aligned Interface with environmental commitments and Carol advises and supports companies in establishing purpose-based commitments, Alan followed CEOs from nescience to enlightenment to implementation. In his new book, Tomorrow’s Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business, Alan reveals how he observed corporate CEOs recognize the significance of human-centered sustainability – not just so their companies could continue to operate, but so they would thrive.
We invited Alan Murray, CEO of Fortune Media, to discuss Tomorrow’s Capitalist, his experience with the widespread cynicism of the broader public when it comes to businesses and purpose, and how companies can have both a soul and a future.
Listen for Alan’s insights on:
- How leadership must change for there to be strategic, long-term success in human-centered business.
- What should guide CEOs when deciding whether and how to advocate for an issue or defend an action.
- How to effectively amplify communications in today's snackable, hard-to-get-anybody's-attention media landscape.
- The three areas all CEOs and leaders need to think about when looking to the future of human-centered business.
Links & Notes * Alan Murray’s LinkedIn * Tomorrow’s Capitalist * Fortune: “Why I wrote ‘Tomorrow’s Capitalist,’ my upcoming book on the stakeholder capitalism movement” * Leadership Next * Humans Are Underrated by Geoff Colvin
In 2007, the recently merged Sprint Nextel was only six months away from going bankrupt. But under Dan Hesse, its new CEO, the company focused on a new strategy and internal culture that prioritized employee satisfaction to improve customer experience. This led to Sprint Nextel placing first in the wireless industry in customer satisfaction and ranking #1 in total shareholder return among all S&P 500 companies in his final two years as CEO, 2012 and 2013.
Dan believed in the power of stakeholder-based capitalism to build culture and drive business success before many of his peers. Now retired from the C-suite (he also served as President and CEO of AT&T), Dan serves on various boards to help companies build and elevate purpose-driven cultures that support ESG commitments.
We invited Dan, Board Member of JUST Capital, PNC, and Akamai Technologies, to share how purpose remains the driving force behind his leadership, business success, and counsel for companies today.
Listen for Dan’s insights on:
- The three things CEOs and boards must do to advance purpose initiatives that build both stakeholder and shareholder value.
- The biggest barriers to boards embracing purpose as a business strategy, and how leaders can overcome them.
- The three principles of a culture that creates business success: employees, customers, and purpose.
- How the role of boards in overseeing purpose has changed and what boards expect in terms of ESG today.
- How employee input, company values, and culture come together to shape strategic decision-making.
Links & Notes * Dan Hesse on LinkedIn * Dan Hesse’s Website * Articles + Resources Featuring Dan Hesse * Forbes: “ESG Insights From A Courageous CEO Pioneer” * CEO Forum Magazine: “Culture Unifies Companies and Nations”
After two years of a pandemic and the need for many employees to work from home, creating connections has never been more important – to your coworkers, company, and work. Thomson Reuters recognized the significance of these connections and the need to facilitate them, especially given that the company formed a new operating entity and welcomed a new CEO days before the pandemic began.
The answer was purpose – but Thomson Reuters’ purpose still needed to be defined. Knowing that an authentic purpose is driven from the inside out, Thomson Reuters embarked on a process of collecting employee insights, experiences, and stories, coupled with the power of its AI. With insights from over 800 employees and, eventually, 4,000 customers, Thomson Reuters found its purpose: Inform the Way Forward.
We invited Alex Thompson, CCO of Thomson Reuters, to share the story of uncovering Inform the Way Forward and how it has unleashed the passion, power, and unlimited potential of Thomson Reuters.
Listen for Alex’s insights on:
- How to purpose can unite siloed employees and enable them to understand and appreciate each other’s contributions.
- Why purpose needs time to settle so it can be fully embraced.
- How to engage employees and their expertise in advancing social objectives.
- Why you should invite critics to be your counselors, and how to select them.
- How to communicate individual and departmental victories at a corporate level to inform and motivate colleagues.
Links & Notes * Alex Thompson’s LinkedIn * Thomson Reuters Value Principles * Inform the Way Forward * Steve Hasker on Inform the Way Forward * Thomson Reuters’ Partnership to Investigate Human Trafficking at the Super Bowl
“Don’t play with your food” may be a phrase you heard as a child, or perhaps have said to your own children. As it turns out, children really should be playing with their food. Because when they do – especially with vegetables – they’re more likely to eat them later in the day and in the years to follow.
Today, 30% of UK children are classified as overweight or obese by the time they turn 5. Ella’s Kitchen, the UK’s number one baby food brand, believes intervention is coming too late. The company’s purpose–to improve children’s lives through developing healthy relationships with food–started with founder Paul Lindley in 2006 and lives on today with CEO Mark Cuddigan. Determined to raise the next generation, Ella’s Kitchen has marched on the House of Parliament with children, engaged retailers, launched new products, made healthy products more affordable, and launched informative campaigns. In addition to caring for the health of their little consumers, Ella’s Kitchen is implementing sustainable practices into operations and bringing its supply chain partners along for the journey.
We invited Mark Cuddigan, CEO of Ella’s Kitchen, to share how he advanced the company’s purpose and sustainability initiatives since taking over from Lindley.
Listen for Mark’s insights on:
- How a new CEO can sustain and advance a company’s purpose while leaving their own mark after the departure of a founder.
- How to maintain a values-based culture after a company has been acquired.
- How to help supply chain partners adopt sustainable and purpose-driven practices.
- Why it’s sometimes okay to take a financial loss if an investment advances purpose over the long term.
Links & Notes * Mark Cuddigan’s LinkedIn * Ella’s Kitchen’s “The Good Stuff We Do” * Ella’s Kitchen B Corp Certification * Eat, Play, Love Campaign Video * Veg for Victory Campaign * Paul Lindley on Purpose 360
To GAF, the roofs over the heads of the company’s customers do far more than provide shelter. Each shingle designed and produced by GAF – North America’s largest roofing manufacturer – upholds the company’s purpose: We protect what matters most. Whether those shingles sit atop family homes or small businesses, GAF works to protect the people, belongings, and memories the company serves.
In the spirit of this purpose, GAF developed Community Matters, its social impact program, to support and empower the communities in which the company operates. Community Matters unites GAF employees, partner organizations, and community members to empower, connect, and inspire the community.
We invited Andy Hilton, Chief Communications Officer and Head of CSR at GAF, for an in-depth conversation on how GAF is bringing Community Matters to life.
Listen for Andy’s insights on:
- How GAF worked directly with employees and residents in Shafter, CA to refresh and expand the community’s beloved Learning Center.
- How GAF partners with nonprofits like Project for Public Spaces to involve communities in the co-creation of local initiatives.
- How the Build Back Better initiative has influenced GAF’s relationship with partners in addressing climate resiliency.
- How to create micro volunteerism moments for employees in roles with limited flexibility, such as shift work.
Links & Notes * Connect with Andy Hilton on LinkedIn * GAF Community Impact * Shafter Project * Project for Public Spaces * Habitat for Humanity * Good360 * Rebuilding Together * SBP * Team Rubicon * Xylem Watermark Program
The truly great companies of today are the ones that lead in purpose and invest in stakeholders to ensure long-term profitability. But for investors, differentiating and evaluating companies’ “goodness” can be challenging, even as more companies make and report on ESG commitments. And for business leaders, determining how to create long-term value for all stakeholders can be unclear. JUST Capital provides a solution.
JUST Capital, a nonprofit organization with a purpose to equip the market with these insights, released its annual JUST 100 rankings at the beginning of 2022. The organization’s methodology combines polling from the American public to define the issues that matter most in a given year with weighted standards that are then used to rank companies. “Just” companies are assessed based on their performance across five core categories: Workers, Communities, Shareholders & Governance, Customers, and Environment. This year, the top three concerns of the American public included paying a fair living wage, creating US jobs, and prioritizing stakeholder value creation.
To share insights on this year’s rankings, we welcomed back to the show JUST Capital’s CEO Martin Whittaker.
Listen in for Martin’s insights on:
- The attributes of high-ranking companies and recommendations for companies looking to invest in the interests of the American public.
- The transition from a “trust me” to a “show me” mentality with sustainability reporting.
- The role of boards and how successful boards are able to put talk into action.
- Why social sustainability will be the prominent focus in 2022.
- What factors caused a shift in companies rising and falling on the 2022 JUST 100 rankings.
Links & Notes * JUST Capital Mission & Impact * JUST 100’s 2022 Rankings * JUST Capital Core Issues of JUST Business by Stakeholder * Martin Whittaker on LinkedIn * JUST Capital Report: “In 2021, Americans Told Us They Expect Companies to Lead on These 7 Imperatives. 2022 Is the Time to Act”
In July 2020, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to close down its workhouse jail and reinvest its operating funds into community programs. The victory was shared by members of the community, politicians, a coalition of activists, and Ben & Jerry’s.
While most associate Ben & Jerry’s first with its variety of ice cream flavors, the company’s purpose is to be an advocate for progressive social change in the world. With 66 global activism campaigns, the company uses its channels, platform, products, and fans (they don’t call them customers) to elevate messages, bring communities together, and take a stand.
We invited Chris Miller, Ben & Jerry’s Head of Global Activism Strategy, to discuss what cutting-edge corporate activism looks like today and how Ben & Jerry’s remains authentic to its values while using ice cream to change the world.
Listen for Chris’ insights on:
- How to identify the right issues to engage with.
- Why values-based actions are critical in activism, and how to articulate your company’s values.
- How relationships with NGOs and grassroots organizations create value in amplifying a message and uniting stakeholders around a campaign.
- The value of addressing controversy head-on and practicing transparency when engaging in activism.
Links & Notes * Chris Miller on LinkedIn * Ben & Jerry’s Values * Ben & Jerry’s 2020 SEAR Report * “Activists’ Work Pays Off: St. Louis Votes Unanimously to Close the Workhouse Jail!” * Change is Brewing Ice Cream Flavor * Americone Dream Ice Cream Flavor * “Why Ben & Jerry’s Speaks Out” HBR Article
The fashion industry is facing a reckoning. Clothing production accounts for 10% of global CO2 emissions and textile dying yields 20% of global waste water. And shamefully, 85% of all textiles are disposed of each year. Additionally, some businesses are trying to convince consumers that their products are more sustainable than they are by using “greenwashing” buzzwords like “zero waste” and “organic.”
Ethical Clothing, a search engine for sustainable clothing brands and products, was founded with the goal to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions as they navigate the world of sustainable clothing brands. We invited Ben Heinkel, Ethical Clothing’s Co-Founder, to discuss the fashion industry crisis and their solution of directly connecting well-intentioned consumers with truly ethical fashion companies.
Listen for Ben’s insights on:
- How Ethical Clothing provides consumers with the tools and knowledge to make ethical purchasing decisions.
- The characteristics of ethical and sustainable brands and products.
- Why it’s important to align your personal values with those of your business or project values for it to be long-lasting.
Links & Notes
- Ben Heinkel on LinkedIn
- About Ethical Clothing
- Ethical Clothing for European Shoppers
- Ethical Clothing for North American Shoppers
- Ethical Clothing Footprint Calculator
- Ethical Clothing Blog
Stakeholder expectations of companies today are clear: They must serve a purpose beyond profit alone, and they must do so authentically. One stakeholder group leading the call for purpose-driven business is young professionals. Increasingly, they’re seeking out internships and then careers with organizations that align with their values and personal purpose. Today’s business leaders hoping to capture this nascent talent must ensure their organizations are operating with purpose at the core.
To better understand what the next generation of talent wants, and how companies today are responding, we invited a father-son team to Purpose 360. Alan VanderMolen, CCO of SC Johnson, the company with the purpose goal to be the planet’s most trusted, and Elijah VanderMolen, a junior at NYU studying Public Policy and Environmental Studies, joined the show to share their insights and experiences.
Listen for Alan and Elijah’s insights on:
- Why we should ask how to live up to the expectations of our children.
- The best ways to reach and engage Gen Z, especially when it comes to sustainability.
- Cultivating a sustainability and purpose mindset at home and in the workplace.
- The danger of purpose washing today and the importance of authentically acting and reporting on purpose claims.
Links & Notes * Alan VanderMolen on LinkedIn * SC Johnson’s Purpose * The Climate Clock
In social impact partnerships, we often talk about ‘unlikely bedfellows ’—partners with whom you may not expect to collaborate but whose collective impact is transformational. The alliance between GOOD Worldwide Inc and Net Impact, however, just makes sense: These two powerhouse organizations have long rallied and amplified some of the most important figures and voices in social impact. Now, they’ve come together with Upworthy to create the GOOD Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization to address social issues, drive social action, and reimagine the possibilities of our shared future.
To share more about this new endeavor, we welcomed to the show Peter Lupoff, CEO at Net Impact and GOOD Institute, and Max Schorr, Co-founder, and CEO at GOOD Worldwide Inc. Listen for Peter and Max’s insights on:
- How this groundbreaking alliance came together, and the unique strengths each organization brings to the Institute—from Net Impact’s 160,000+ members to Upworthy’s growing digital audience.
- Why collaboration and ‘think tank’ style hubs are critical to solving some of the world’s most challenging social issues in innovative and inspiring ways.
- How GOOD Institute is bringing together next-gen talent, global policy leaders, and some of the world’s most iconic companies to drive change.
Links & Notes * GOOD Institute * GOOD Institute Launch Release * Leaps.org * Peter Lupoff on LinkedIn * Max Schorr on LinkedIn
Joy. Wonder. Delight. Grief. These feelings are all deeply associated with the holiday season, but that last one isn’t talked about much. Talking about grief has become even more urgent during the pandemic, with 86% of Americans now saying grief should be addressed as an important mental health issue. Yet, 70% of adults don’t have the skills they need, saying they’re often unsure what to do or say when someone they care about is grieving.
Experience Camps is seeking to change that by championing the nation’s 5.3 million bereaved children running no-cost programs that help grieving children thrive. The organization focuses on kids who have gone through the death of a sibling or parent/primary caregiver, organizing week-long overnight summer camps and year-round programs to help children build the community and coping skills they need to thrive.
To hear hard-won insights from nearly 450,000 hours with grieving kids and actionable ideas for supporting others through grief, we welcomed to the show Sara Deren, founder and CEO (that’s Chief Experience Officer) of Experience Camps.
Listen for Sara’s insights on:
- Why it’s important to ‘Talk About Grief,’ and how you can have hard conversations in constructive ways.
- How Experience Camps is navigating a 500% increase in demand over the last five years, expanding programming and resources to meet the unprecedented need.
- The lifelong impacts that healthy coping skills can provide grieving children, and how Experience Camps extends support beyond camp sessions.
If you or a loved one is struggling with grief this holiday season, or want to help someone who is, please find grief resources here. If you would like to light a virtual candle for a loved one, please click here.
Links & Notes * About Experience Camps * The Issue * Donate to Experience Camps * Grief Resources * Sara Deren on LinkedIn
Chipotle revolutionized fast-casual dining with its fresh ingredients, open kitchens and assembly lines, and inventive menu. But Chipotle’s real innovation happens before the food gets into the hands of hungry customers. From the farms where ingredients are grown and raised to the impact of its supply chain on the environment, Chipotle is committed to sourcing and serving “food with integrity.” Its leadership in these areas and others has set a new bar for QSR and fast food, and the food system as a whole.
This is all embodied in Chipotle’s purpose to cultivate a better world. This purpose is made real through the company’s support of ventures that make responsibly sourced and sustainable food more accessible, an executive compensation structure tied to ESG goals, and support for family farms. One meal might not change the world, but the way Chipotle makes it might.
To share Chipotle’s purpose journey—including the ups and downs—we welcomed Laurie Schalow, Chief Corporate Affairs and Food Safety Officer, to Purpose 360. Listen for Laurie’s insights on:
- How Chipotle identified and committed to addressing a “disruptive” issue that other organizations weren’t addressing.
- Why you should continuously monitor and address the needs of your stakeholders - from your suppliers and partners to your employees and customers.
- Why working on projects that haven’t been successful is a powerful way to display your leadership capability and make a mark.
- Why having a small sustainability team is not a deterrent to driving impact if you embed purpose responsibility cross-functionally.
Links & Notes * About Chipotle * Chipotle’s 2020 Sustainability Report * Laurie Schalow on LinkedIn * “A Future Begins” - A Short Film Supporting Farmers * “A Future Begins” Press Release * “Can a Burrito Change the World?” — Chipotle’s 2021 Super Bowl Ad * Chipotle Aluminaries Project * Chipotle’s Free Degrees * Chipotle Executive Compensation Tied to ESG Goals Progress
The Hershey Company has a distinct purpose of “making moments of goodness. The company’s iconic brands include the much-beloved Reese’s, York, Twizzlers, Good N Plenty, Almond Joy, barkTHINS, and, of course, the Hershey’s chocolate bar. Over a century before social and nutritional concerns came to light in a transparent world, they created the Shared Goodness Promise based on the values of its founder.
The Shared Goodness Promise was born nearly 125 years ago with Milton Hershey and has grown to be The Hershey Company’s commitment to sustainably grow the business, protect the planet, enrich communities, and provide joy and opportunity to children. From monitoring and enforcing ethical supply chain management to improving childhood wellness through nutrition education and social and emotional learning support, The Hershey Company continually identifies new ways to bring its purpose to life.
To talk about creating lasting change through embedding its purpose, we welcomed Jeff King, Senior Director of Global Sustainability and Social Impact at The Hershey Company, to Purpose 360. Listen for Jeff’s insights on:
- How The Hershey Company identified where and how it could create more moments of goodness across the supply chain and in its communities.
- How to use the voice of stakeholders to support and bolster sustainability decisions and strategic directions.
- Why small sustainability successes are important to build momentum - especially earlier in the journey.
- How employees are critical to authentic purpose.
Links & Notes * Jeff King on LinkedIn * About The Hershey Company * The Hershey Company’s 2020 Sustainability Report * The Shared Goodness Promise * The Hershey Company’s Sustainability Goals and Progress * Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation Systems * The Heartwarming Project * International Cocoa Initiative
Interface has some of the most ambitious climate goals in business, and is achieving them by deeply integrating purpose and sustainability throughout the organization. While Interface may not be a company you’ve heard of, you might step on its products every single day.
Founded by Ray C. Anderson in the 1970s, Interface designs and manufactures modular commercial flooring, including a revolutionary carbon-capturing carpet tile. Long before such innovative products, Interface was a “typical” company with a negative impact on the environment. In 1994, after a customer asked Anderson what his company was doing for the environment, the founder developed a task force to come up with the answer. Since then, Interface has achieved its “Mission Zero” commitment to be net zero by 2020 (and did so a year early) and has embarked on Climate Take Back, an initiative to create a climate “fit for life.”
To talk about Ray’s vision and Interface’s radical journey, we welcomed Erin Meezan, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer, to the show.
Listen for Erin’s insights on:
- How Interface operationalized Ray’s original vision into strategic initiatives that have transformed the way companies approach sustainability.
- Why and how Interface engages its supply chain partners in achieving sustainability goals.
- How purpose-driven products and services can mobilize customers under a shared mission.
- Transformational lessons learned along Interface’s sustainability journey.
Links & Notes * Erin Meezan on LinkedIn * About Interface * Ray Anderson Obituary * Ray Anderson’s Author Page * Interface’s Lessons for the Future * New York Times | “Has the Carbontech Revolution Begun?” * Interface’s Sustainability History * Climate Take Back Video * The Four Pillars of Climate Take Back * Carbon Neutral Floors
For many of us, issues like malnutrition or access to clean water are difficult to fathom. For the team at Action Against Hunger, a global nonprofit, these issues are part of their daily work —and the lives of millions of children hinge on how successfully they carry out their purpose.
Action Against Hunger’s work has always been critical, but recent data from the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World reports that world hunger increased by roughly 10% in 2020. To talk about this age-old purpose that has troubling new relevance, we welcomed to the show Dr. Charles Owubah, CEO of Action Against Hunger.
Listen for Charles’s insights on:
- How Action Against Hunger is applying bold solutions and working to scale evidence-based programs that address hunger from various angles—from combatting drought to empowering mothers to monitor their children’s nutritional wellbeing.
- Why Action Against Hunger applies a business lens to achieving its mission (for example, by demonstrating how $1 invested in hunger programming returns $16 to the economy), and how they bring partners along on the journey.
- The role of data in combatting humanitarian crises like hunger, and how Action Against Hunger is innovating new approaches to data and technology to improve operational efficacy and transform key parts of the humanitarian and development sector.
Links & Notes * About Action Against Hunger * Dr. Charles E. Owubah on LinkedIn * Impact Stories * Support Action Against Hunger * How Nonprofits Can Help Tackle Three of the World’s Top Challenges
“We are at this crucial juncture where we really have to decide if we're going to live together in harmony and in sync with planet Earth or if we become one of the statistics of extinguished species. I know which side of history I want to be on.”
Paul Polman: influencer, business leader, campaigner, and one of the pioneers of the stakeholder capitalism movement. From creating the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) during his tenure as CEO of Unilever to supporting CEOs in their work to implement purpose, Paul believes that the true definition of a billionaire is serving billions. His new book, Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take, is a roadmap for embedding purpose into an organization. In the book—and in this episode—Paul explains how Unilever brought the USLP to life through employees and embedded it into culture, operations, innovations, supply chain, customers, consumers, and communities.
Paul joined host Carol Cone on Purpose 360 to explain what it means to be a net positive business today and why he will always be a “prisoner of hope” when it comes to solving our shared global challenges.
Listen for insights from Paul on:
- How a business philosophy that supports shared prosperity creates both social impact and financial returns.
- Why exercising humility and recognizing that you can’t do everything on your own is vital to creating great impact.
- Why it’s important to bring in NGOs and partnerships to learn and grow.
- The three lessons Paul would share with a CEO trying to be net positive.
Links & Notes * Paul Polman on LinkedIn * Buy your copy of Net Positive: Bookshop.org Barnes & Noble Apple Books Amazon * IMAGINE * Unilever Sustainable Living Plan 2010 to 2020
No one wakes up on a Saturday morning eager to purchase garden and lawn control products, and ScottsMiracle-Gro knows that. Consumers buy these products to use on something that they enjoy — their vegetable garden, their flowers, or the lawn their kids play on.
That’s why ScottsMiracle-Gro’s purpose is to bring goodness to every person and every patch of the Earth. This applies to the next generations of gardeners, too: ScottsMiracle-Gro is encouraging childrens’ love for the outdoors through gardening programs in an effort to nurture future stewards of the environment.
Jim King, EVP and CCO of ScottsMiracle-Gro, has returned to Purpose 360 to share an update on the company’s purpose commitment, GroMoreGood.
Listen for insights from Jim on:
- How ScottsMiracle-Gro makes purpose “sticky” to engage employees, connect with consumers, and support future stakeholders.
- Why organizations require executive leader buy-in and commitment to live their purpose.
- How employee engagement and storytelling drive authenticity and trust in purpose.
- If you can’t live and be your purpose, then you should move on from it.
Links & Notes * About ScottsMiracle-Gro * Jim King on LinkedIn * GroMoreGood * Associates on GroMoreGood Everywhere * [Associates on GroMoreGood for Others](https://youtu.be/wpXtmHDDVHE * ScottsMiracle-Gro Campus
Many people are familiar with Kiva.org’s crowdfunded microloans, which support more than 3.5 million entrepreneurs worldwide. Fewer know the extent of Kiva’s efforts to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive. Today, the international nonprofit promotes innovations in financial inclusion through Kiva Labs, helps countries build more inclusive financial systems with Kiva Protocol, and unlocks scalable investments via Kiva Capital.
To learn more about Kiva’s purpose-driven growth, we welcomed Chris Tsakalakis, CEO of Kiva, to the show. Chris and his team have created a cycle of impact, fostering person-to-person connections that have resulted in $1.6 billion in loans to 4 million borrowers around the world.
Listen for insights from Chris on:
- How Kiva identifies and leverages gaps in the financial inclusion market to develop new solutions and scale impact.
- Why making innovation a responsibility for all employees enables a mindset of continuous improvement and adaptability.
- How expanding financial inclusion initiatives can help address other urgent social issues, from gender equity to human rights.
Links & Notes * About Kiva * Chris Tsakalakis on LinkedIn * Kiva Capital * Kiva Labs * Kiva Protocol
It’s fitting that the 100th episode of Purpose 360 features an organization helping more businesses be a force for good. Founders Pledge, a nonprofit organization with a mission to “empower entrepreneurs to do immense good,” leverages a unique model to enable founders to direct a portion of personal proceeds to vetted charities and initiatives.
To talk about Founders Pledge and the incredible impact the organization achieved in 2020, we welcomed to the show David Goldberg, Co-Founder and CEO.
Listen for David’s insights on:
- How Founders Pledge harnesses the innate problem-solving nature of entrepreneurs to address some of society’s biggest challenges
- Why making a commitment via Founders Pledge inspires many entrepreneurs to infuse purpose in their own companies
- How the organization applies a venture capital lens to philanthropic giving efforts, and why data is vital to direct dollars to initiatives that will produce the greatest return for society
Links & Notes * About Founders Pledge * The Founders Pledge Model * 2020 Impact Report * David Goldberg on LinkedIn
It’s hard to go a day—and for some, even an hour—without interacting with a Google product or service. The global internet company, which is best known for its flagship search console but now sells everything from education software to smart home speakers, has another, lesser-known arm: Google.org.
Google.org is aimed at bringing “the best of Google to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges” with a focus on leveraging Google’s people, products, funds, and world-class innovation to better our world. To learn more, we welcomed to the show Megan Wheeler, global project manager at Google.org. In her role, Megan leads global giving and volunteering campaigns across the enterprise.
Listen for Megan’s insights on:
- How Google’s well-known “20% time” initiative, which has launched some of the company’s most successful products, services and solutions, enables Googlers to find their personal purpose while driving organizational impact.
- The importance of localizing and humanizing opportunities to give or volunteer, especially in an organization as massive as Google, and how doing so can result in deeper employee engagement.
- How to balance reactive giving campaigns (such as those in response to natural disasters) with planned campaigns—and how to develop a program framework that allows for both.
Links & Notes * Google.org * Google.org’s approach * Google.org’s programs and projects * Megan Wheeler on LinkedIn * Google’s COVID-19 response
When something happens to a US Bank customer or their community, the company takes it personally. It’s that ethos that drove US Bank and its leadership to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and tragedies like the murder of George Floyd with heart and empathy. From caring for employees and their families to investing in minority-owned businesses, US Bank continuously puts the needs of its stakeholders first.
To talk about these initiatives, we welcomed back to Purpose 360 show Reba Dominski, Chief Social Responsibility Officer at US Bank, and President of the US Bank Foundation.
Listen for Reba’s insights on:
- Why and how US Bank has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to address social and economic inequities, including initiatives to increase access to capital for Black-owned businesses
- How US Bank bridged the personal impacts of the pandemic and movement for racial justice with the company’s values and culture
- Why US Bank conducted an “agile sprint” to better focus and integrate its social impact efforts with overall business strategy
Links & Notes * About US Bank * US Bank Access Commitment * Reba Dominski on LinkedIn * Community at US Bank * DE&I at US Bank * US Bank Foundation
The pandemic has brought us face-to-face with the reality that today’s world can be volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. As a result, brands are faced with the responsibility to not only work to better understand the deep human needs we have individually, as communities, and as a society at large, but also be helpful in ways that are meaningful.
To learn more about what it takes to create a sustainable organization that is more people-, product-, and planet-oriented, Purpose 360 welcomed KoAnn Skrzyniarz, CEO and Founder of Sustainable Brands. Through Sustainable Brands, she and her team have led the global conversation about how 21st century brands can deliver new business value through innovation for environmental and social purpose.
Listen for insights from KoAnn on:
- What it means and why it matters for brands to define themselves in a way that shows who they are, what they do, and how they do it.
- How shifts in consumer demands are reshaping the environments brands are selling into.
- Why brands need to lean into vulnerability and humility to come up with the solutions necessary for the complex environmental and social challenges we will continue to experience post-COVID-19.
Links & Notes * KoAnn Vikoren Skrzyniarz * About Sustainable Brands * Flourishing: A Frank Conversation About Sustainability by John R. Ehrenfeld * Sustainable Brands Flagship Conference * The Good Life Initiative * Brands for Good * Brand Transformation Roadmap
From employer vaccine policies to shareholder activism, JUST Capital continues to rank and report on the companies, leaders, and trends advancing the stakeholder capitalism movement. As the leading voice in ‘just’ business behavior, JUST Capital is a nonprofit organization with a mission to equip the market with the data, tools and insights to deliver on the promise of an economy that works for all Americans.
To talk about the evolution of this movement and continued impacts of the pandemic, we spoke with Martin Whittaker, CEO of JUST Capital. On his fourth Purpose 360 appearance, Martin discussed new initiatives including the Corporate Racial Equity Tracker and how companies can better “walk the talk'' to address some of the world’s most intractable social issues.
Listen for Martin’s insights on:
- How JUST Capital made strategic changes to the JUST 100 annual rankings framework, evolved based on the pandemic
- Why the organization launched the Corporate Racial Equity Tracker to bring greater transparency and accountability to the corporate world through a DE&I lens
- How CEOs can make authentic decisions using honest internal assessments
Links & Notes * JUST Capital * JUST 100 * The Corporate Racial Equity Tracker * Martin Whittaker on LinkedIn * Martin Whittaker in Forbes
Last year, the pandemic wrought disruption on workforces around the world. Now, as corporate offices welcome employees back, HR and people managers face new and unprecedented challenges. With 488,000 employees in 46 countries, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has proven to be a case study in how to navigate uncertainty, with the company experiencing its lowest attrition rate in history, employees investing 43 million hours in learning, and social impact programs meeting ambitious goals ahead of schedule.
To talk about how TCS put its employees, communities, and customers first throughout the pandemic, we welcomed back to the show Balaji Ganapathy, Chief Social Responsibility Officer at TCS.
Listen for Balaji’s insights on:
- Why purpose is an anchor during trying times, and how it can allow for reinvention while maintaining long-term vision and growth
- How companies of any size can adapt to “borderless” workplace models which allow for flexibility and accountability while still upholding culture, and values
- Why companies must recognize the shifting roles their employees have taken on since the start of the pandemic, including the burden that caretakers will continue to shoulder even as they transition back to a “normal” work routine
- The importance of recognizing employees’ mental health and providing both benefits and an environment in which employees feel empowered to invest in their mental wellbeing
Links & Notes * About TCS * Balaji Ganapathy on LinkedIn * TCS Empowers
This fall, employees around the world will return to offices and desks they may not have seen for 18+ months. Not only will they face a physical transition—trading familiar work-from-home routines for workspaces that will either look like time capsules or be redesigned to accommodate distancing—but many will face mental and emotional barriers. Returning to offices and the human-to-human interactions they enable will be a reminder of just how much has changed since the pandemic started.
It’s important that employers get this transition right, and purpose will play an important role. To talk about the realities of returning to in-office work, and the critical need for empathy and humanity in the process, we welcomed to the show Jonathan Atwood, a former global communications head at Unilever, provocateur, and champion for the voice of employees.
Listen to this special two-part episode for Jon’s insights on:
- How his personal journey led him to be radically vulnerable with colleagues, in turn providing them with the space to have honest conversations at work
- How employers can navigate the return-to-office period with humility and transparency, and how purpose can act as a compass for decision-making
- The watch-outs surrounding this transition, including the reality that millions of front line employees never left their essential roles
- Why and how creating space for open communication and sharing can empower employees to bring their personal purpose to work, for the benefit of the entire organization
Links & Notes * Lifebuoy Helps a Child Reach 5 — YouTube * Connect with Jonathan Atwood on LinkedIn
This fall, employees around the world will return to offices and desks they may not have seen for 18+ months. Not only will they face a physical transition—trading familiar work-from-home routines for workspaces that will either look like time capsules or be redesigned to accommodate distancing—but many will face mental and emotional barriers. Returning to offices and the human-to-human interactions they enable will be a reminder of just how much has changed since the pandemic started.
It’s important that employers get this transition right, and purpose will play an important role. To talk about the realities of returning to in-office work, and the critical need for empathy and humanity in the process, we welcomed to the show Jonathan Atwood, a former global communications head at Unilever, provocateur, and champion for the voice of employees.
Listen to this special two-part episode for Jon’s insights on:
- How his personal journey led him to be radically vulnerable with colleagues, in turn providing them with the space to have honest conversations at work
- How employers can navigate the return-to-office period with humility and transparency, and how purpose can act as a compass for decision-making
- The watch-outs surrounding this transition, including the reality that millions of front line employees never left their essential roles
- Why and how creating space for open communication and sharing can empower employees to bring their personal purpose to work, for the benefit of the entire organization
Links & Notes * Lifebuoy Helps a Child Reach 5 — YouTube * Connect with Jonathan Atwood on LinkedIn
Vitamin Angels is a nonprofit organization that seeks to combat malnutrition by providing lifesaving vitamins to the most vulnerable and often overlooked individuals: pregnant woman, new mothers, infants and children under 5. Globally, Vitamin Angels serves 60 million mothers and children each year, in 65 countries and every U.S. state.
To talk about the organization’s genesis and growth, we welcomed to the show Howard Schiffer, President and Founder of Vitamin Angels, and Chris Hortinela, Associate Director of Sustainability.
Listen for Howard and Chris’s insights on:
- The value of storytelling to amplify and advance the Vitamin Angels mission and critical work to save lives around the world
- How the organization develops and evolves long-term relationships with mission-aligned corporate partners like Walgreens and SmartyPants
- How Vitamin Angels developed a robust network of local program partners and national governments to deliver vitamins and nutrition resources
Links & Notes * Vitamin Angels * Approach * Corporate Partners
CECP, or Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, is a CEO-led coalition that believes a company’s social strategy – how it engages with key stakeholders including employees, communities, investors, and customers – determines company success. A critical component of CECP’s work involves measuring and benchmarking cutting-edge work in CSR and purpose, from overall corporate philanthropy to volunteer programs. One of the organization’s latest reports, Value Volunteering, explores the multi-layered inputs and outputs of workplace volunteer initiatives.
To learn more about volunteering and purpose within corporates today, Purpose 360 welcomed Carmen Perez, former Senior Director of Data Insights at CECP; Lalita Badinehal, former VP of Corporate Citizenship at Credit Suisse; and Matthew Nelson, AVP Corporate Responsibility at New York Life Insurance Company.
Listen for insights from Carmen, Lalita, and Matthew on:
- Why corporate volunteering initiatives should be rooted in community needs, and how that grounding supports ongoing participation and program impact.
- The motivations behind workplace volunteering initiatives, and the shared value generated for companies and their employees, beneficiary organizations, and communities.
- How volunteering initiatives affect consumer sentiment and drive objectives around reputation and trust.
Links & Notes * CECP * Data Insights at CECP * CECP Resources * Download Value Volunteering * Carmen Perez on LinkedIn * Lalita Badinehal on LinkedIn * Matthew Nelson on LinkedIn
“Business as usual” is no longer viable—the landscape has changed, the definition of success has shifted, and the responsibilities of a business now land far beyond merely generating profit. It’s this thesis that frames the insights in a new book called The Six New Rules of Business.
To talk about these insights and more, we welcomed to the show author Judy Samuelson, Founder and Executive Director of the The Aspen Institute Business + Society Program, and Vice President of The Aspen Institute. Beyond sharing what those six new rules are, Judy spoke about the Institute’s work to gather diverse, nonpartisan thought leaders, scholars, creatives, and members of the public to address some of the world’s most complex societal problems.
Listen for Judy’s insights on:
- The forces reshaping the role of business and value creation, and what purpose-driven leaders today need to understand about those forces
- Why employees are a business’s greatest “ally” and accountability mechanism, and how they are aligned with the long-term health of an enterprise
- Why purpose is “ground zero” and an organizing principle for a business’s activity and growth
Links & Notes * About Judy Samuelson * Judy Samuelson on LinkedIn * The Six New Rules of Business * The Aspen Institute
By bringing neighbors together, we can cultivate a kinder world, where everyone has a community they can rely on. That’s the idea behind Nextdoor, the growing social network for neighborhoods and the people, businesses, and organizations that make them unique.
To talk about how Nextdoor brings purpose home, and how the platform played a critical role in COVID-19 response, we welcomed to the show Maryam Banikarim, Head of Marketing. Listen for Maryam’s insights on:
- How Nextdoor built a productive platform for individuals, small businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, and local governments to connect and support one another
- How Nextdoor rapidly implemented new functionality in response to the pandemic, to better support communities and mobilize resources
- Why Nextdoor integrated local nonprofits and community organizations so deeply into the platform, and how it empowers neighbors to support them
- How Nextdoor is taking a big-picture approach to community engagement, with neighborhoods as powerful “units of change” that can drive civil progress (and kindness) at scale
Links & Notes * About Nextdoor * Nextdoor Sell for Good * Nextdoor Research & News * Maryam Banikarim on LinkedIn
Since pioneering personal computing, Microsoft has continued to push the boundaries of innovation through its growing suite of products and services. With more than 75 million customers, 160,000 employees, and presence in 190 countries, Microsoft is truly a technology behemoth. So, it’s no surprise that the company has a long list of global social impact commitments, ranging from digital inclusion initiatives and rural broadband access to robust employee engagement programs.
To talk about all things “good” at Microsoft, we spoke with Kate Behncken, Vice President and Lead of Microsoft Philanthropies. Listen for Kate’s insights on:
- How Microsoft focuses its far-reaching social impact efforts, ensuring every program ladders up to corporate purpose and values, while having localized, meaningful impact.
- Why Microsoft places employees at the center of many of its social impact programs, and how their ideas are instrumental to the pursuit of the company’s purpose.
- How Microsoft brings digital “skilling” initiatives to life around the world, for beneficiaries ranging from urban children to adults in rural areas.
- The role of innovation in purpose, including examples such as Xbox’s adaptive controller for disabled gamers.
Links & Notes * About Microsoft * 2020 CSR Report * Microsoft Philanthropies * Kate Behncken on LinkedIn
Not many consumers know that American Express pioneered modern cause marketing. In 1983, the company launched a breakthrough campaign to support the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. (Even fewer know that American Express launched its very first employee giving campaign in 1885!)
Since then, the company has continued to evolve as an outstanding corporate citizen. To talk about American Express’s initiatives, we spoke with Timothy McClimon, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility and President, American Express Foundation.
Listen for Tim’s insights, including:
- How philanthropy, citizenship, and purpose have evolved over the company’s century-plus history
- Why the company is committed to being a low-carbon organization, and how it’s working to protect the environment
- How the company’s pioneering support of the Statue of Liberty—dating back to 1885—has evolved into a long-term commitment to preserving historical places
- How American Express transformed its iconic Green Card to raise awareness for the ocean plastics crisis
- Why employee volunteering and giving are essential to the company’s purpose efforts, and how they make American Express an employer of choice
Links & Notes * About American Express * Corporate Responsibility at American Express * Green Card supporting Parley * Timothy McClimon on LinkedIn * American Express and the Statue of Liberty
At Unreasonable, impatience is a virtue. That’s because the most pressing social-global challenges of our day require immediate action, and the relentless pursuit of solutions can literally save lives.
This week, we continue our conversation with Daniel Epstein, founder of the Unreasonable Group, an organization working to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges by investing in bright ideas and early-stage social enterprises. Today, Unreasonable has a community of more than 240 companies across 180 countries, which have collectively impacted nearly 550 million lives.
Listen for Daniel’s insights on:
- The value of polarities in addressing challenges—confidence vs humility, patience vs impatience, collaboration vs independence—and how balancing often opposing mindsets can accelerate progress.
- How culture, especially in early-stage companies, truly does “eat strategy for breakfast,” and how to scale an authentic culture during rapid growth.
- Why and how Unreasonable has partnered with big companies like Goldman Sachs to help find and scale ideas.
Links & Notes * Unreasonable * Unreasonable Stories * Unreasonable Group Companies * Manifesto * About Daniel Epstein * Daniel Epstein on LinkedIn
At Unreasonable, impatience is a virtue. That’s because the most pressing social-global challenges of our day require immediate action, and the relentless pursuit of solutions can literally save lives.
To learn more, we spoke with Daniel Epstein, founder of the Unreasonable Group, an organization working to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges by investing in bright ideas and early-stage social enterprises. Today, Unreasonable has a community of more than 240 companies across 180 countries, which have collectively impacted nearly 550 million lives.
Listen for Daniel’s insights on:
- The value of polarities in addressing challenges—confidence vs humility, patience vs impatience, collaboration vs independence—and how balancing often opposing mindsets can accelerate progress.
- How culture, especially in early-stage companies, truly does “eat strategy for breakfast,” and how to scale an authentic culture during rapid growth.
- Why and how Unreasonable has partnered with big companies like Goldman Sachs to help find and scale ideas.
Links & Notes * Unreasonable * Unreasonable Stories * Unreasonable Group Companies * Manifesto * About Daniel Epstein * Daniel Epstein on LinkedIn
As a community bank, PNC has always had a strong commitment to areas and people the company serves. That includes a strong commitment to PNC employees and their families.
Throughout COVID-19, PNC has doubled down on its efforts to support employees, customers, and communities. To talk about the company’s rapid, human-centric response to the pandemic, we welcomed back to the show Sally McCrady, President and Chair of the PNC Foundation and Director of PNC Community Affairs.
Listen for Sally’s insights on:
- How PNC’s relationship-driven culture guided decision-making during COVID-19 and empowered employees
- How PNC handled PPP funding and went above and beyond to support its small business customers at the height of the pandemic
- How PNC’s signature early childhood education program, Grow Up Great, was adapted to continue serving beneficiaries throughout the pandemic, from employee volunteerism to partnerships and programming
Links & Notes
- [About PNC](https://www.pnc.com/en/about-pnc/company-profile/corporate-overview.html
- The PNC Foundation
- PNC Grow Up Great
- PNC COVID Hub
Natural and organic foods are pantry staples for most consumers today. But the movement is taking on new meaning—and urgency—as societies better understand the link between the food we eat and the health of our planet.
Mark Retzloff is one of the pioneers of the natural, organic, and sustainable food industry. Over his 5+ decades in the industry, Mark has started, led, and managed a roster of big-name natural food and beverage brands, including Horizon Organic Dairy, Alfalfa’s Markets, Aurora Organic Dairy, and more. Today, Mark leads Flock, an organization aimed at fast-tracking innovations in regenerative agriculture through investments, a network of experts, and an accelerator program with Techstars, among other initiatives.
Listen for Mark’s insights on:
- How he co-founded Horizon Organic Dairy (at a time when organic wasn’t a thing) and scaled it to be one of the nation’s leading dairy brands
- Why listening to consumers is vital on a journey to disrupt big, traditional industries like agriculture and food
- How the power of holding onto a dream can help innovators navigate challenges and execute on visions
Links & Notes
- Flock
- Mark Retzloff on LinkedIn
Natural and organic foods are pantry staples for most consumers today. But the movement is taking on new meaning—and urgency—as societies better understand the link between the food we eat and the health of our planet.
Mark Retzloff is one of the pioneers of the natural, organic, and sustainable food industry. Over his 5+ decades in the industry, Mark has started, led, and managed a roster of big-name natural food and beverage brands, including Horizon Organic Dairy, Alfalfa’s Markets, Aurora Organic Dairy, and more. Today, Mark leads Flock, an organization aimed at fast-tracking innovations in regenerative agriculture through investments, a network of experts, and an accelerator program with Techstars, among other initiatives.
Listen for Mark’s insights on:
- How he co-founded Horizon Organic Dairy (at a time when organic wasn’t a thing) and scaled it to be one of the nation’s leading dairy brands
- Why listening to consumers is vital on a journey to disrupt big, traditional industries like agriculture and food
- How the power of holding onto a dream can help innovators navigate challenges and execute on visions
Links & Notes
- Flock
- Mark Retzloff on LinkedIn
Akhtar Badshah is an expert on social impact, CSR, philanthropy, and international development—in addition to being an author and artist. Akhtar spent a decade at Microsoft, acting as a senior director of citizenship and public affairs to lead the company’s global community investment and employee programs.
After leaving Microsoft, Akhtar founded Catalytic Innovators Group, a consulting practice focused on accelerating social impact through catalytic innovation. Additionally, he teaches at the University of Washington School of Business, and Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. His most recent book, Purpose Mindset, helps people recognize their deeper purpose in life—both in terms of who they want to become, and who they want to serve.
Listen for Akhtar’s insights on:
- How Microsoft developed, evolved, and scaled its global citizenship efforts, including groundbreaking programs like YouthSpark; and how it engaged and empowered employees around the world through skilled volunteerism, gift matching, and more
- How to advocate for investments and advancements in citizenship, philanthropy, and purpose within your organization
- How adopting a “purpose mindset” can help both senior leaders and ground-floor employees bring personal purpose to work, and thus better invest in an organization’s purpose and the stakeholders it serves
Links & Notes
- About Akhtar Badshah
- Akhtar Badshah on LinkedIn
- Catalytic Innovators Group
- Purpose Mindset: How Microsoft Inspires Employees and Alumni to Change the World (Microsoft Alumni Network) by Akhtar Badshah
Pioneering business and bioscience leader Saundra Pelletier embodies resilience and fortitude. Her company, Evofem Biosciences, exists to give women control over their sexual and reproductive health. It’s doing so with a first-of-its-kind hormone free, on-demand prescription birth control gel, Phexxi.
Leading, funding, and scaling a biosciences company is challenging, let along one with an unyielding commitment to social impact at its core. Saundra, who fills the role of CEO, President, and Executive Director, calls Evofem’s sole purpose its “soul” purpose—and that centers on bringing to market products that address unmet needs in women’s reproductive and sexual health. It’s been a challenging road, but one that Saundra has been proud to travel with the growing Evofem team.
Listen for Saundra’s insights on:
- How social issues and user insights can guide business and product development
- Why Evofem put social impact at the center of the business, and how Saundra has evolved and scaled the model, including plans to eventually distribute Phexxi in the developing world
- Why focusing on “the little things”—like kindness and thoughtfulness—can make all the difference in building a successful business and empowering employees
Links & Notes
- About Evofem Biosciences
- Phexxi
- Inc. Interview with Saundra
- Saundra Pelletier on LinkedIn
Pioneering business and bioscience leader Saundra Pelletier embodies resilience and fortitude. Her company, Evofem Biosciences, exists to give women control over their sexual and reproductive health. It’s doing so with a first-of-its-kind hormone free, on-demand prescription birth control gel, Phexxi.
Leading, funding, and scaling a biosciences company is challenging, let along one with an unyielding commitment to social impact at its core. Saundra, who fills the role of CEO, President, and Executive Director, calls Evofem’s sole purpose its “soul” purpose—and that centers on bringing to market products that address unmet needs in women’s reproductive and sexual health. It’s been a challenging road, but one that Saundra has been proud to travel with the growing Evofem team.
Listen for Saundra’s insights on:
- How social issues and user insights can guide business and product development
- Why Evofem put social impact at the center of the business, and how Saundra has evolved and scaled the model, including plans to eventually distribute Phexxi in the developing world
- Why focusing on “the little things”—like kindness and thoughtfulness—can make all the difference in building a successful business and empowering employees
Links & Notes
- About Evofem Biosciences
- Phexxi
- Inc. Interview with Saundra
- Saundra Pelletier on LinkedIn
Long considered the “gold standard” for purpose-driven companies, Patagonia might be considered an activist organization that happens to sell apparel and outdoor gear. This week, we continue our conversation with Corley Kenna on the organization’s move to becoming a B-Corp, scaling community activism and more.
Listen for Corley’s insights on:
- How Patagonia developed and evolves key purpose-led initiatives including Patagonia Action Works, Tin Shed Ventures, Patagonia Provisions, Patagonia Films, and Worn Wear
- How Patagonia enforces transparency throughout the business and supply chain, including addressing its own ills and articulating clear steps forward
- Why Patagonia has thrived as a business while taking sometimes contentious, and frequently unapologetic stances based on values—such as telling customers “don’t buy this jacket” or encouraging advocates to “vote out the a**holes”
- How Patagonia empowers its employees to live the company’s values—and their own—through industry-leading initiatives and benefits
Links & Notes
- About Patagonia
- Activism at Patagonia
- Patagonia Action Works
- Corley Kenna on LinkedIn
- Patagonia Films
- The Cleanest Line
- 1% for the Planet
Long considered the “gold standard” for purpose-driven companies, Patagonia might be considered an activist organization that happens to sell apparel and outdoor gear. While founder Yvon Chouinard placed the stewardship of our Earth at the center of the business from day one, Patagonia has only deepened its foothold in environmental issues, from climate activism to the protection of public lands.
To talk about Patagonia’s radical journey and trail-blazing approach to purpose, Purpose 360 welcomed Corley Kenna, Director of Global Communications and Public Relations. Listen for Corley’s insights on:
- How Patagonia developed and evolves key purpose-led initiatives including Patagonia Action Works, Tin Shed Ventures, Patagonia Provisions, Patagonia Films, and Worn Wear
- How Patagonia enforces transparency throughout the business and supply chain, including addressing its own ills and articulating clear steps forward
- Why Patagonia has thrived as a business while taking sometimes contentious, and frequently unapologetic stances based on values—such as telling customers “don’t buy this jacket” or encouraging advocates to “vote out the a**holes”
- How Patagonia empowers its employees to live the company’s values—and their own—through industry-leading initiatives and benefits
Links & Notes
- About Patagonia
- Activism at Patagonia
- Patagonia Action Works
- Corley Kenna on LinkedIn
- Patagonia Films
- The Cleanest Line
- 1% for the Planet
Cox Enterprises, parent company of Cox Communications (the nation’s third-largest cable company) and Cox Automotive (owner of well-known consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book) has a powerful, deeply-integrated purpose. As a company founded on hard work, respect for employees, and a penchant for bold decisions, Cox exists to “empower people today to build a better future for the next generation.” How the enterprise brings that North Star to life is incredible.
To talk about how purpose guides Cox Enterprises, we welcomed to the show Maury Wolfe, AVP Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs, and Bob Jimenez, SVP Corporate Affairs. Listen for Maury and Bob’s insights on:
- How Cox is investing in STEAM Education as part of its future
- How Cox is working to fight racial inequity inside and out
- Insights learned from years of engaging communities for impact
Links & Notes
- About Cox
- Purpose at Cox Enterprises
- Cox CSR Report
- Cox Conserves
- Maury Wolfe on LinkedIn
- Connect with Bob Jimenez on LinkedIn
Cox Enterprises, parent company of Cox Communications (the nation’s third-largest cable company) and Cox Automotive (owner of well-known consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book) has a powerful, deeply-integrated purpose. As a company founded on hard work, respect for employees, and a penchant for bold decisions, Cox exists to “empower people today to build a better future for the next generation.” How the enterprise brings that North Star to life is incredible.
To talk about how purpose guides Cox Enterprises, we welcomed to the show Maury Wolfe, AVP Corporate Responsibility and Public Affairs, and Bob Jimenez, SVP Corporate Affairs. Listen for Maury and Bob’s insights on:
- Why Cox considers employees its most important resource, and how the company empowers them to live, iterate, and build on purpose to embed it in organizational DNA
- How Cox Conserves, the company’s decade-plus national sustainability program, empowers the company, its people, and its communities to advance environmental goals and give back in meaningful ways
- How purpose directs Cox Enterprises’ New Ventures arm, which invests in sustainability-minded companies in cleantech, agriculture, and other emerging sectors
Links & Notes
- About Cox
- Purpose at Cox Enterprises
- Cox CSR Report
- Cox Conserves
- Maury Wolfe on LinkedIn
- Connect with Bob Jimenez on LinkedIn
Dorie Clark believes the best ideas win, not the loudest voices. Unfortunately, we live in a society where those loud voices are often the ones that come out on top. That’s why Dorie has made it her purpose to help individuals and companies find ways to get their messages heard in an increasingly noisy and crowded environment.
Dorie is an author, thought leader, and part-time professor at the business schools of Duke and Columbia universities. She’s also a believer in the power of purpose to drive reinvention and growth, both personally and professionally. (And, we might add, the #1 Communication Coach in the World and one of the Top 50 Business Thinkers in the World.)
Listen for a fascinating conversation that covers Dorie’s insights on:
- What it really means to reinvent yourself—personally, professionally, or as a company—and why it’s such an important process.
- How clarity in identity, messaging, and presentation are critical to reinvention—even if an individual or brand doesn’t yet have all the answers.
- How to navigate today’s content ecosystems (think: social media, conferences, publications, and more) so that your or your organization’s ideas and voice break through.
Links & Notes
- About Dorie Clark
- Connect with Dorie Clark on LinkedIn
- Entrepreneurial You by Dorie Clark
- Reinventing You by Dorie Clark
- Subscribe to Dorie Clark’s LinkedIn Newsletter
You know those Levi’s in your closet have a storied history—but did you know about the more sustainable future they’re building?
Levi Strauss & Co., the iconic brand behind blue jeans (and now a robust catalogue of apparel, shoes, and accessories) has a pioneering approach to purpose and sustainability. Rightly so, as the apparel industry is by nature a resource-intensive one. Yet, Levi’s has leveraged purpose as a north star to revolutionize its entire supply chain, from the cotton (and now hemp) it uses to how products are reused or recycled at the end of their useful life.
To discuss purpose at Levi’s, Purpose 360 welcomes Kelly McGinnis, SVP and Chief Communications Officer at Levi Strauss & Co.
Listen for Kelly’s insights on:
- How breakthrough sustainability initiatives like WATER* How Levi’s leverages its iconic brand and loyal following to advance key social issues such as voter’s rights, and how it engages employees in doing so.
- Why Levi’s takes a stand on contentious social issues such as gun violence, and how it backs up its position with initiatives that enact grassroots change.
Links & Notes
- About Levi Strauss & Co.
- Values at Levi Strauss & Co.
- Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co.
- Kelly McGinnis on LinkedIn
- Levi Strauss & Co. 2019 Sustainability Review
You know those Levi’s in your closet have a storied history—but did you know about the more sustainable future they’re building?
Levi Strauss & Co., the iconic brand behind blue jeans (and now a robust catalog of apparel, shoes, and accessories) has a pioneering approach to purpose and sustainability. Rightly so, as the apparel industry is by nature a resource-intensive one. Yet, Levi’s has leveraged purpose as a north star to revolutionize its entire supply chain, from the cotton (and now hemp) it uses to how products are reused or recycled at the end of their useful life.
To discuss purpose at Levi’s, Purpose 360 welcomes Kelly McGinnis, SVP and Chief Communications Officer at Levi Strauss & Co.
Listen for Kelly’s insights on:
- How breakthrough sustainability initiatives like WATER* How Levi’s leverages its iconic brand and loyal following to advance key social issues such as voter’s rights, and how it engages employees in doing so.
- Why Levi’s takes a stand on contentious social issues such as gun violence, and how it backs up its position with initiatives that enact grassroots change.
Links & Notes
- About Levi Strauss & Co.
- Values at Levi Strauss & Co.
- Sustainability at Levi Strauss & Co.
- Kelly McGinnis on LinkedIn
- Levi Strauss & Co. 2019 Sustainability Review
On the anniversary of Milton Friedman’s prophetic—and now contentious—statement that the sole social responsibility of a business is to produce a profit, we spoke with one of the foremost champions of the B Corp movement.
B Corps, of course, are businesses built to drive returns for the “triple bottom line” by balancing
purpose and profit. To talk about the movement, the future of purpose-driven business, and how things have changed since the Friedman days, we welcome Chris Marquis, PhD, a professor at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and expert on the B Corp movement.
Be sure to pick up a copy of his newly-released book, Better Business: How the B Corp Movement is Remaking Capitalism.
Listen for Marquis insights on:
- Why and how the B Corp movement started, and how it has evolved—today encompassing 3,522 companies representing 150 industries, across 74 countries
- Why pursuing the triple bottom line is better for business, and how companies large and small, global and local, are focusing or refocusing operations, culture, and innovation on it
- How business, capitalism, and stakeholder relationships have changed since Friedman’s statement, and what the future holds for companies that commit to serve all stakeholders—not just shareholders
Links & Notes
- About Chris Marquis
- Certified B Corporations
- Marquis’ Published Research
- Book: Better Business
Grab your tissues and put down your phone: Elliot Kotek’s films engage the heart and head in profound ways. Elliot is CEO & Founder of The Nation of Artists, a thought leader and production partner for innovative, inspirational, and wildly impactful storytelling brought to life through documentaries and docu-series, shorts, animations, VR, and more.
While the list of honors bestowed upon his teams is long, spanning Emmy nominations, 5 Cannes Lions, SxSW awards, and more, the greatest testament to his work is the impact it achieves. Elliot joined Purpose 360 to talk about the power of storytelling to engage citizens, drive progress, and touch hearts.
Be sure to catch Elliot’s new documentary Black Boys, created for Peacock.
Listen for Elliot’s insights on:
- The critical importance of empathy in storytelling—whether the content is brand-sponsored or independent journalism
- How he and his teams captured authentic, humanity-driven moments in situations ranging from war-torn Sudan to pediatric cancer wards
- The role of collaboration between content creators, their clients, and their subjects to draw out and tell empathy-driven stories
- How content creators—and their clients—can adapt to story capture and distribution in a COVID world
Links & Notes
- The Nation of Artists
- Elliot Kotek on LinkedIn
- Elliot Kotek on IMDB
- Watch Black Boys on Peacock
- Suggested Viewing: Little Miss Sumo, My Special Aflac Duck, Project Daniel, Queen Mimi
3M — the company behind Command Strips, Post-Its, and thousands of other consumer and industrial products — has a profound commitment to purpose and innovation. The company’s tagline “Science. Applied to Life.” captures 3M’s massive R&D investments, vibrant culture, and comprehensive community engagement efforts, including a signature focus on STEM education and equity.
Joining Purpose 360 to speak about 3M’s purpose is Gayle Schueller, PhD, VP and Chief Sustainability Officer, and Michael Stroik, VP, 3M Foundation and Director, 3Mgives Community Relations.
Listen for Gayle and Michael’s insights on:
- How 3M engages its people via community engagement programs, concretely linking employee skills and roles to opportunities to help youth succeed in STEM and beyond
- The role of innovation in 3M’s operations, culture, and approach to community engagement and giving
- 3M’s COVID-19 response, from ramping up mask, face shield, and N95 respirator production to philanthropic giving and enabling e-volunteering and engagements
- How 3M inspires people to join them in creating a more positive world through science
Links & Notes
- About 3M
- 3M Giving and Volunteerism
- 3M Impact Skills-Based Service Program
- 3M Foundation
- Gayle Schueller on LinkedIn
- Michael Stroik on LinkedIn
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, Carrie Fox and her daughter Sophia join us to share the story behind their journey to spread kindness and their book, “Adventures in Kindness”.
Mars Incorporated—the company behind some of your favorite brands, from Snickers to Seeds of Change—is guided by a simple statement: We believe the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.
This purpose comes to life through the company’s Sustainable in a Generation Plan, which focuses on a healthy planet, thriving people, and nourishing wellbeing; through its four subsidiaries — Petcare, Mars Wrigley, Food, and Edge; and through many of its brands. To talk about Mars’ purpose, Purpose 360 welcomed Andy Pharoah, VP Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Mars.
Listen for Andy’s insights on:
- The interrelationship between the Mars Compass and Five Principles, and how they jointly guide decision-making at all levels of the organization.
- How Mars is putting purpose at the center of long-term business strategy and R&D to transform supply chains and operations to be more sustainable, while creating healthier products.
- Why and how Mars committed $1b+ in the Sustainable Generation Plan to put its “purpose into practice” and help billions of people around the world.
Links & Notes
- About Mars
- Mars Compass
- The Five Principles
- Sustainable in a Generation Plan
- Connect with Andy Pharoah on LinkedIn
- Sustainable in a Generation Scorecard (2019)
Meet the food transport and storage company with a purpose to feed the world. Lineage Logistics is a $2 billion enterprise driving more than a third of the temperature-controlled food distribution in the U.S., moving 8% of the global food supply. The company is deeply purpose-driven and operates on a stakeholder-driven model, focused on transforming the food supply chain to positively impact customers, communities, and beyond.
Sean Vanderelzen, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Megan Hendricksen, VP Marketing & Communications at Lineage, joined Purpose 360 to talk about the company lives its purpose. Listen for their insights on:
- How Lineage developed an authentic purpose, rooted in the journey from farms and factories to shelves and tables
- How purpose helped Lineage act swiftly during COVID-19 to transport food to areas in need as well as donate $5 million and 100 million meals alongside nonprofit partners
- How Lineage leverages its purpose and capabilities to tackle a massive social problem: food waste
- The impact of purpose on recruiting and talent retention, as well as employee engagement
Links & Notes
- Lineage Logistics Story
- “Our Purpose” Video
- COVID-19 Response
- Lineage Innovation in Action
- Sean Vanderelzen
- Megan Hendricksen
Every time we switch on a light, we make an impact on the environment. While most of us have limited choice in our energy providers, NRG’s 3.7 million customers can feel good about the company powering their lives.
NRG is a publicly-held energy company with a purpose to bring the power of energy to people and organizations. The company’s social impact platform, positiveNRG, engages employees, communities, and nonprofit organizations around NRG’s purpose, to drive impact at home and around the world. Purpose 360 welcomed Jennifer Brunelle, Head of Charitable Giving at NRG, to share the company’s purpose journey.
Listen for Jennifer’s insights on:
- How purpose guides NRG in transforming the energy sector through a radically customer-focused approach
- How positiveNRG engages and empowers employees at all levels of the organization to mobilize them in their home communities
- The evolution of charitable giving, and how purpose allows NRG to up-level giving efforts strategically to be more impactful
Links & Notes
- About NRG
- Jennifer Brunelle on LinkedIn
- Community at NRG
- NRG 2019 Year in Review
Professional services powerhouse Deloitte has always believed in the power of its people to provide outstanding insights and competitive edge. Deloitte was also one of the first of the Big Four to deeply integrate purpose into its business, leading to transformational change for the organization and its clients.
To talk about the power of people and purpose, we welcomed Michele Parmelee, Deloitte Global’s aptly-titled Chief People and Purpose Officer. Michele shared Deloitte’s purpose journey, including how the organization uses purpose as a guide to reinvent itself and its services in a rapidly-changing world.
Listen for Michele’s insights on:
- The role of purpose in Deloitte’s talent strategy, and why people choose to work at (and stay with) Deloitte because of its values
- How purpose builds trust with clients and enables Deloitte and its people to work with integrity
- Deloitte’s World_Class_ambition and how the initiative empowers their people make an impact around the world
- The critical importance of industry research, including the long-running industry benchmark Deloitte Millennial Survey
Links & Notes
- About Deloitte
- Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability
- Deloitte 175
- Combating COVID-19 with Resilience
- 2020 Deloitte Millennial Survey
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity focusing on several FIRST Robotics teams – The Iron Mosquitos from Babbit, MN, The Thunderbots from Sacramento, CA, and The Bionic Wolves from Chicago, IL.
New York Life has a long-term commitment to a difficult issue: childhood bereavement. As a life insurance company, aligning with bereavement is entirely authentic, and the company has made great strides to provide support and comfort to grieving children and their families.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of bereavement has only become more acute. Heather Nesle, President of New York Life Foundation, Vice President Corporate Responsibility and Maria Collins, Vice President of New York Life Foundation, joined Purpose 360 to talk about New York Life’s innovative efforts to give back during COVID-19.
Listen for Heather and Maria’s insights on:
- How New York Life quickly scaled up The Brave of Heart Fund, a $100 million joint initiative with Cigna to provide cash and mental health resources to the family members of essential workers who have died of COVID-19.
- Why New York Life created The Golden Sweater, a children’s picture book (with accompanying resources) that helps children cope with the bereavement journey.
- How New York Life is going above and beyond to provide COVID-19 support services to employees, customers, and their loved ones—from expert Q&As to resources to ease social isolation.
Links & Notes
- About New York Life
- New York Life Foundation
- NYL Bereavement Resources
- The Brave of Heart Fund
- The Golden Sweater
- “Speaking Grief” Documentary
- Connect with Heather Nesle on LinkedIn
- Connect with Maria Collins on LinkedIn
- Previous Episode: New York Life on Purpose 360
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity. Elliott Charbonneau and Luca De Blasis deliver food and support to frontline medical heroes with GroceryHero. And Tom Masterson talks tech with Caregiver Support Technologies.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), part of the Tata Group, takes its leadership position seriously. As one of the leading information technology companies in the world, TCS embraces a profound role in harnessing the power of technology to drive significant change in society.
Balaji Ganapathy, Global Head of CSR and Chief Social Responsibility Officer for TCS, joined Purpose 360 to talk about TCS’s legacy as a purpose-driven enterprise, and how the company is reinventing the role of businesses to serve and support society.
Listen for Balaji’s insights on:
- Why “purpose is the new tech,” and how TCS is creating inclusive and diverse pathways for women, youth, and marginalized groups through its CSR efforts
- The power of the 4C’s (intellectual capital, technology capital, human capital, and financial capital) and cross-sector partnerships to create shared solutions to business and societal problems
- How purpose helped TCS act swiftly in the face of COVID-19, both to build business resilience and meet the immediate needs of employees and their communities around the world
- Why Tata Group founders believed they were not in the job of building business, but in building nations, and how that translates to TCS’s commitments to uplift communities and the people who live in them today
Links & Notes
- About Tata Consultancy Services
- Balaji Ganapathy on LinkedIn
- Balaji Ganapathy on Twitter
- TCS Corporate Social Responsibility
- TCS Business 4.0
- Corporate Sustainability Report 2019
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity. Dana Rachlin digs deeper with NYC Together. A story of healing with Pearl's Memory Babies. And Hospital Heroes supports healthcare workers with volunteers willing to share homes, meals, and caring.
P&G has the distinct honor of being one of the oldest companies on our show, and one with a purpose that honors the organization’s legacy as much as it guides the multi-national CPG company into the future.
Damon Jones, P&G’s Chief Communications Officer, joined Purpose 360 to talk about the company’s efforts to be “a force for good and a force for growth” across a portfolio of dozens of brands, with nearly 100,000 employees around the world.
Listen for Damon’s insights on:
- How P&G crafted a purpose that is “built in, not bolted on” to be truly integrated in the company’s DNA—and that of its brands
- How purposes guides innovation across the organization, from global operations to brand-level improvements
- Why P&G pursues advocacy efforts around issues including gender and race equality, among others, and what the company has learned about embracing issues important to citizens
- The importance of authenticity and “walking the walk” of corporate purpose, and how P&G lives its purpose through commitments to fair and equal advertising, responsible supply chain, sustainability, and community engagement
- How the CPG company has responded to COVID-19 to protect employees in markets around the world, as well as consumers and communities
Links & Notes
- Procter & Gamble
- P&G COVID-19 response
- Damon Jones on LinkedIn
- Citizenship Report 2019
- WSJ – P&G’s Mission to Be a Force For Good and Growth
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity. Natasha Danielovich brings stories from the Anti-Corona Zone. Bas Welling shares Hearts for Healthcare Heroes. And two sisters spread kindness, not the virus, with Nest4Us
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity with small business care from AshevilleStrong. Dr. Reshma Khan supports the needy with quality free healthcare at Shifa Clinics. And stories from the front line of education with Karen who shares the story of adapting her third grade class — students AND parents — to the new normal with joy and enthusiasm for learning.
TRU Colors is a brewery that stands for unity across all kinds of communities—starting by breaking down racial barriers, stopping street violence, and bringing people together (often over a good beer). But this is a brewery unlike any other: TRU Colors was founded by and employs active, rival gang members who come together to do honest work and advance a shared mission to stop gun violence.
George Taylor, President and CEO of TRU Colors and founder of online beer community Untappd, joined Purpose 360 to share the TRU Colors story. The brewery is slated to open late summer 2020 in North Carolina.
Listen for George’s insights on:
- Why founders opted for the brewery model as a way to employ local gang members (and why George considers TRU Colors to be “in the opportunity business”)
- How the “unpitch” helped forge an authentic partnership between fledgling TRU Colors and Anheuser-Busch InBev
- How Community Ambassadors and the TRU Work initiative engage gang members in their communities to advance the mission to stop gun violence
Links & Notes
- TRU Colors
- TRU Colors Culture
- Connect with George Taylor on LinkedIn
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today Chris Ide, CAMH VP of Corporate and Community Partnerships, joins us to talk about mental health care in the COVID era and what Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital can teach all of us about taking care of ourselves, each other, and our businesses as we look toward rebuilding.
Links & Notes
- Managing your Stress and Anxiety by CAMH (iOS • Google Play)
- Workplace Mental Health Playbook
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity from Ami Dar and Idealist. Maggie Stone tells us of her campaign to bring joy to senior citizens at A.G.Rhodes. And Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy is working hard to keep the uninsured healthy through the COVID-19 crisis.
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity from Buddy Benches and Sending Smiles with Sammie Vance, The Maven Project, and a timely pivot that keeps people working and giving back with Simms Fishing Products.
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy.
Today, conversations exploring the best of our own humanity from Ireland with LocalSupport.ie, Dining at a Distance, and US Bank.
Two previous Purpose 360 guests joined us to talk about the evolving corporate response to COVID-19. Martin Whittaker, CEO of JUST Capital, and Reba Dominski, EVP, Chief Social Responsibility Officer, and President, US Bank Foundation, shared their insights and experiences in the midst of the pandemic.
Listen for Martin and Reba’s insights on:
- How JUST Capital sees COVID-19 putting the “stakeholder capitalism” movement to the test
- How US Bank moved quickly to support its employees, customers, and communities—and direct a $30 million donation to relief efforts
- What the business world will look like post-COVID-19, from the workplace to the communities where companies operate
Crisis communications is a practice every company needs experience in, but hopes to never have to put to use. Companies that prepare for downturns and crises are better equipped to respond with speed, empathy, and innovative solutions. Yet, even companies who haven’t invested in crisis comms planning can utilize this moment to learn and craft their crisis strategy.
To help our listeners navigate communications during the COVID-19 pandemic, we invited Kith CEO Bill Coletti to the show. Listen for Bill’s insights on:
- The tenets of successful crisis communication: always be communicating, always be listening, and manage stakeholder expectations.
- The importance of articulating a company’s core values during challenging times, and demonstrating how those values guide the company in standing for something bigger than itself.
- Three considerations companies should balance in planning to come back from a crisis: financial, social, and moral.
Links & Notes
- Kith
- Bill Coletti on LinkedIn
- Resources + Insights from Kith
Humanity at its Best shines a light on people and organizations bringing hope and inspiration to the world amid the pandemic. COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of joy. Please join us by sharing your story: email the team at p360podcast@gmail.com.
The most powerful force in the world is the individual. This belief guides Points of Light, the world’s largest nonprofit accelerating people-powered change.
Natalye Paquin, Points of Light’s CEO, joined Purpose 360 to talk about why the organization is partnering with us to share stories of hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen for her insights on the power of individual actions to drive collective change, how storytelling can connect us in times of crisis, and what is means to create a society where it’s easy to take action and no one sits on the sidelines.
Learn more at pointsoflight.org.
The Harris Poll is one of the nation’s oldest and preeminent public opinion organizations. It’s no surprise the global market research and consulting firm moved quickly to quantify the public’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wendy Salomon, Managing Director Reputation & Corporate Strategy, The Harris Poll, joined Purpose 360 to talk about the trends her firm is highlighting as the pandemic continues to evolve.
Corporate purpose and reputation are at the forefront of the crisis. Beyond looking to their local and federal government, the American public is turning to big business for answers: how are you supporting your employees? How are you using your capabilities to help address critical shortages? How are you keeping the lights on and food on the shelves? Americans feel that the way all institutions respond now will chart the course for our collective future.
Listen for Wendy’s insights on:
- How the wildly-changing landscape of COVID-19 is putting corporate purpose and reputation to the test, and why consumers want businesses to “do more, say less”
- How companies are flexing to meet situations they may not have ever forecasted or prepared for
- The changing face of the American workforce and workplace, including the impact of isolation on workers and growing role of technology in human connectivity
- The critical social issues that are rising to the forefront for companies—like worker’s rights and supply chain transparency
Links & Notes
- The Harris Poll
- The Harris Poll COVID-19 Tracker
- Survey Wave 5
- Wendy Salomon on LinkedIn
- "Americans Favor Aggressive Coronavirus Measures, Poll Finds" — WSJ article on Harris poll
COVID-19 has altered life as we know it. Yet despite uncertainty, fear, and tragedy, there are still stories of good—good deeds, acts of kindness, moments of hope and joy. Purpose 360 is highlighting much-needed stories of positivity and inspiration amid the pandemic through our new series, Humanity at its Best. Please join us by sharing your story: email the team at p360podcast@gmail.com.
As the name suggests, DoSomething exists to give young people the inspiration, tools, and power to make change. DoSomething is the largest not-for-profit organization exclusively for young people and social change, with a community that spans every U.S. area code and more than 130 countries.
From voter registration and clothing donations to celebrating pride and neighborhood cleanups, DoSomething is a digital platform that allows any young person to catalyze IRL (in real life) change.
Aria Finger, CEO of DoSomething, joined Purpose 360 to talk about the importance of giving youth the capabilities to create change, and how brands can better connect with and empower Gen Zers. Listen for Aria’s insights on:
Why DoSomething’s youth-led approach to change is so empowering, and how the organization creates community around critical social issues The social issues that resonate with young people today and how brands can support them authentically Myths and keen insights surrounding how to connect with Gen Z--start from a place of service and know that this is a highly diverse generation
Links & Notes
- About DoSomething.org
- DoSomething Causes
- DoSomething Strategic
- Aria Finger on LinkedIn
Habitat for Humanity, which started as a grassroots effort on a community farm in Southern Georgia, now works in communities across all 50 U.S. states and more than 70 countries. The organization’s astounding growth is due in part to its focused mission: help people (29 million to date) obtain a safe place to sleep at night and the stability and self-reliance to build better lives.
Colleen Finn Ridenhour, Chief Development Officer at Habitat for Humanity International, joined Purpose 360 to discuss the organization’s evolution and ongoing innovation. Listen for Colleen’s insights on:
- Balancing very different needs in communities around the world, without losing focus on Habitat’s mission
- How Habitat’s model integrates robust and meaningful employee volunteerism opportunities, and how corporates can supercharge efforts
- How corporations can leverage their partnerships with NGOs, including Habitat.
- How Habitat built an ecosystem around its core home-building model, including its retails ReStores to generate revenue
Links & Notes
- Habitat for Humanity International
- Habitat’s history
- Volunteer with your local Habitat
- Impact
- Colleen Finn Ridenhour on LinkedIn
As one of the leaders in the ‘stakeholder capitalism’ movement, JUST Capital was a key participant in this year’s World Economic Forum convening in Davos.
Martin Whittaker, JUST Capital’s CEO, joined Purpose 360 to talk about core themes, conversations, and ideas from Davos. Most centered on the growing call for a new system of capitalism, one which places the needs of all stakeholders—employees, customers, communities, the planet, and more—before shareholders.
Listen for Martin’s analysis of Davos, including:
- How companies will approach measuring a stakeholder economy
- How today’s leaders are defining and building “just” companies
- Why climate and equity will be defining societal issues over the next few years
Links & Notes
- JUST Capital
- JUST 100
- 2020 Davos Manifesto
The aviation industry is tough. Airlines bear one of the largest carbon footprints of any industry, and the rising threat of global climate disaster—plus trends like “flight shaming”—are challenging companies to find solutions.
JetBlue, long considered a “beloved” brand in a beleaguered industry, is putting the climate issue at the core of its business. Most recently, the airline announced that all domestic flights would be carbon neutral by mid-2020. We spoke with Sophia Mendelsohn, Head of Sustainability and Environmental Social Governance, and Sara Bogdan, Manager of Sustainability and Environmental Social Governance, about JetBlue’s efforts to tackle the climate issue.
The core insight: JetBlue treats the environmental crisis as an opportunity, not a threat. Fervor around climate issues is spurring innovation and inventive solutions across the company, from in-flight recycling efforts to new sharklets on the aircraft wings to increase fuel efficiency. Plus, JetBlue continues to invest in programs to support local communities, including Soar With Reading, in addition to inspiring small business innovation through programs like BlueBud.
Listen for Sophia and Sara’s insights on:
- How JetBlue pushes for innovation across the business, with a focus on generating long-term value and impact
- How transparency, honesty, and unrelenting dedication to customer service makes JetBlue a beloved brand
- How JetBlue drives grassroots impact in the communities where the company operates
Links & Notes
- About JetBlue
- JetBlue for Good
- JetBlue and the environment
- JetBlue Foundation
- Sustainability efforts
- Sophia on LinkedIn
- Sara on LinkedIn
Consumers know TOMS, the shoe company that pioneered the one-for-one business model (spurring, by some accounts, more than 1,800 other “one-for-one” businesses). But few know what the name “TOMS” actually means: Tomorrow’s Shoes.
The name is prescient, especially considering the social, political and economic climate today compared to 2006, when TOMS was founded. While the world has changed, the TOMS promise holds fast: captured in the company’s mission (We’re in business to improve lives) and vision (Stand for a Better Tomorrow).
Purpose 360 welcomed “rebel optimist” Amy Smith, Chief Giving Officer at TOMS, to explain why TOMS is moving away from the one-for-one model to a broader focus on “building a tomorrow where everyone thrives.”
Listen for Amy’s insights on:
- How TOMS expanded from a single one-for-one product—shoes—to several products, each supporting a critical social issue (vision, water, safe births, bullying, solar light)
- How to smartly and authentically evolve a social impact model to remain relevant, innovative and effective in a turbulent society
- Why TOMS launched a campaign to end gun violence, and how the company navigated a hotbed social issue
- How TOMS works with hundreds of Giving Partners around the world to make a more meaningful and sustainable impact on local communities
Links & Resources
- TOMS Story
- Your Impact
- 2019 Impact Report
- Amy Smith on LinkedIn
- Open IDEO
- B Corp
Now in its 15th year, PNC’s Grow Up Great has served more than 5 million children in the U.S. through early childhood education grant-funded programs, educational materials and mobile engagement tours. A $500 million bilingual initiative, Grow Up Great launched in 2004 to support children birth to five, particularly the underserved, achieve success in school and life.
Sally McCrady, President of the PNC Foundation and Executive Vice President and Director of Community Affairs and CSR, joined Purpose 360 to explore how this long-term initiative has made a measurable difference in the communities where the bank operates. For the bank, supporting the issue simply made good business sense: research shows that investments in early childhood education are long-lasting, with impacts on children, society, and the economy.
Today, PNC continues to evolve Grow Up Great to remain relevant and meet the needs of today’s children and communities. The award-winning initiative helps to plant the seeds for the dynamic workforce of tomorrow.
Listen for Sally’s insights on:
- How to sustain an issue focus over 15 years to scale impact and continue to deliver innovative, high-quality programming
- How a commitment to employees, including a generous 40 hours paid time off to volunteer, has deeply embedded Grow Up Great into PNC’s culture, business and overall growth
- How internal and external research led PNC to be a “first mover” in corporate support of early childhood education, bringing the issue to national prominence
- How to identify mission-aligned partners and work together in innovative ways—such as PNC’s partnership with DonorsChoose to fund the platform’s first Pre-K and Head Start classrooms
Resources:
- About PNC
- A Conversation with Sally McCrady
- Grow Up Great
- PNC’s 2018 CSR Report
- Questions for Sally? Reach out to the Purpose 360 team on Twitter @Purpose360Pod
“What matters is what you do next.” This is the opening section in Jeff Fromm’s newest book, The Purpose Advantage. It’s an apt statement, considering the Business Roundtable’s recent proclamation that the purpose of a corporation is to serve all stakeholders—from employees to suppliers to communities. Arguably, we’re now beyond the tipping point of capitalism. Purpose is no longer a “nice-to-have.” So, what we do next matters more than ever.
In this episode, we spoke with Jeff Fromm, author, thought leader, and leader of Barkley and Futurecast, about purpose today and how Millennials and Gen Z are reshaping the role of business in society.
Listen to hear Jeff’s insights on:
- Understanding today’s Millennials and Gen Z’ers and their evolving relationship with purpose—at work and as consumers
- How to move past generational “myths” and unearth data to drive insights around purpose
- What the “purpose advantage” can achieve for brands today, and why purpose must be baked into a company’s DNA—not tacked on
- How brands leverage purpose to tell meaningful stories that move consumers to action
Links & Notes
- Jeff Fromm
- The Purpose Advantage
- Futurecast
- Barkley
BBMG was founded on the idea that branding can be a force for transformation for people and society. In the 16 years since launch, BBMG has shifted the way consumers and industry views brands: not as transactional entities, but human-centered connectors between business and people.
Raphael Bemporad, BBMG’s founding partner, joined Purpose 360 to explore insights from The Pull Factor Project, which BBMG released this fall with Sustainable Brands. The Pull Factor is aimed at helping marketers make sustainable living desirable to the masses, and includes actionable tools for brand leaders and marketers to “design communications that drive business growth while shaping a culture of sustainable living.”
Listen for Raphael’s insights on:
• How to define brand challenges, discover human factors, identify drivers of behaviors, and pilot and implement best practices
• The cultural shifts and emerging social issues shaping the role of business in society
• Nine core behaviors that brands can focus on to drive change for people and planet
Resources:
• Download the Report
• The Pull Factor Project
• BBMG
• Raphael Bemporad on LinkedIn
• Sustainable Brands - Brands for Good+
• Branding Mag on The Pull Factor
In an era of fake news and alternative facts, the media is finding a new purpose rooted in transparency and truth.
The New York Times’s purpose, “We seek the truth to help people understand the world,” hinges on a critically important idea: that the truth is worth it. In this episode, Amy Weisenbach, Senior Vice President of Marketing, talks about how this core tenet was driven by purpose and brought to life through the power of storytelling.
First aired in 2017, the New York Times’s “The Truth is Worth It” campaign unpacks the journalistic process behind real New York Times headlines, and continues to probe topics ranging from the failing MTA and Trump’s tax returns to ISIS and children at the border.
At the center of the campaign, said Weisenbach, is the idea that journalists are seeking the truth by holding power to accountability, bearing witness to moments of tragedy and triumph, giving a voice to the disadvantaged, and creating a shared baseline of facts. Which ultimately helps people understand the world, making their lives richer, and hopefully forming a more just society.
Listen for Amy’s insights on:
- The value of transparency and honesty in advancing purpose in a divisive nation
- How to leverage key cultural moments to tell stories that matter
- The evolving role of purpose in the media, and why storytelling is an inherently purpose-driven field
Resources
- New York Times Company
- The Truth is Worth It
- The Daily podcast
- Amy Weisenbach on LinkedIn
- The News Literacy Project
- She Said
Giving in Numbers, CECP’s annual report on corporate social investments, is often considered a bible for corporate and nonprofit professionals alike. Now in its 14th edition, and based on 18 years’ of benchmarking data, Giving in Numbers is based on company-reported information from more than 300 companies.
Carmen Perez, Senior Director of Data Insights, and Andre Solorzano, Senior Manager of Data Insights at CECP, joined Carol to share the story behind this nearly two decades-long effort to track and analyze the far-reaching impact of corporate giving.
Listen for Carmen and Andre’s insights on:
- The evolving expectations of employees: how they want to give their time, talent, and money
- How purpose can direct an organization’s giving strategy
- The social issues that are garnering the most (or least) corporate support today
You can listen to our episode with CECP’s CEO, Daryl Brewster, here.
Resources:
- CECP (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose)
- Data Insights at CECP
- Giving in Numbers 2019
AB InBev exists to do a lot more than brew your favorite beers. The company’s purpose — to bring people together for a better world for the next 100+ years — comes to life in more ways than we could cover in one episode. Yet it is grounded in a very simple idea: that culture defines the company.
Pablo Jimenez, AB InBev’s Global Vice President, Reputation & Communications, joined Purpose 360 to unpack the company’s “Dream. People. Culture.” approach to bringing people together for a better world. This guides initiatives like Budweiser’s commitment to use entirely renewable energy by 2025 (a bold goal given that 41 million Budweisers are sold daily around the world), Stella Artois’ partnership with water.org, programs to enforce safe drinking habits, and much more.
We invite you to crack open one of AB InBev’s 500 beer brands and listen for Pablo’s insights on:
- How a simple question – “What would the world miss if your company didn’t exist?” – inspired CEO Carlos Brito to bring the company together for soul-searching, and ultimately, to develop AB InBev’s purpose.
- How to create hyper-local connections and be part of the solution in culturally diverse markets while maintaining an overarching global vision and purpose.
- Why purpose must be a long-standing commitment, and how AB InBev’s 10 principles and focus on ownership is helping the company look to the next 100 years.
Resources
- AB InBev Corporate
- AB InBev Sustainability
- Brand Initiatives
- Budweiser 100% Renewable
- Pablo Jimenez on LinkedIn
- 100+ Accelerator
Reputation is corporate currency today. Yet reputation can seem hard to quantify—and at a time when transparency and authenticity are expected by all stakeholders, the ability to measure and track reputation is critical.
Enter Reputation Institute. Now in its 21st year, the organization is a data, analytics, and insights platform powering companies to understand and build reputation. Kylie Wright-Ford, the Institute’s CEO, joined Purpose 360 to discuss the company’s approach to measuring and analyzing the reputation of companies, cities, and leaders—primarily through its RepTrak platform. She also discusses other products related to corporate responsibility through CR RepTrak and CEO reputation through CEO RepTrak.
Wright-Ford also unpacks the importance of reputation, and its seven dimensions today—from products and innovation to workplace and citizenship. Listen for her insights on:
The difference between brand (a promise) and reputation (whether that promise is kept).
How companies can balance the rational and emotional aspects of their reputation, and why those emotional aspects are on the rise.
The potential impacts of a healthy reputation, and how companies can leverage that reputation to build stronger ties to key stakeholders.
Resources
About Reputation Institute
RepTrak
Kylie Wright-Ford on LinkedIn
Global RepTrak 100 Report
CR RepTrak
CEO RepTrak
This Climate Week, the future of our earth is top of mind. But for Restore the Earth Foundation, this is just one week out of the year that the nonprofit dedicates to our planet—starting with restoring 1 million acres in the Mississippi River Basin, known as the North American Amazon.
It’s a huge task, and one that Restore the Earth Foundation can’t tackle alone. The organization’s pioneering model, which leverages the power of multi-billion dollar corporations to fund boots-on-the-ground restoration work, is making a measurable difference on Earth.
In this episode, Restore the Earth Co-founder and Executive Director PJ Marshall joins Purpose 360 to share the story behind her organization’s genesis, and how Restore the Earth is changing the way the private and public sectors work together to support critical environmental projects.
Listen for PJ’s insights on:
- The significant regional, national, and global impacts of Restore the Earth Foundation’s work in the North American Amazon— such as the potential to reduce the U.S. carbon footprint by 2% and generate more than $12 billion in economic value.
- How Restore the Earth created the EcoMetrics Model, which accounts for the environmental, social, and economic co-benefits and impacts of Restore the Earth’s reforestation work.
- This allows the organizations funding Restore the Earth’s efforts to account for the value created by their investments—ensuring stakeholder and shareholder buy-in for these critical reforestation projects.
- How Restore the Earth has built partnerships and coalitions with organizations like Dow, VMware and U.S. Fish & Wildlife.
Resources
- Restore the Earth Foundation
- EcoMetrics Model
- PJ in Sustainable Brands
- Video: Restoring North America’s Amazon
- Dispatches from China
Cisco is in the business of connecting people. To Cisco, that means more than providing industry-leading technology—it means creating a world of potential to make the impossible possible.
Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and CSR, joined Purpose 360 to talk about Cisco’s legacy of connecting people for business and societal impact, and bold goal to positively impact 1 billion people via digital solutions by 2025. Core to this effort is the Cisco Networking Academy, an initiative providing students around the world with critical networking and technology skills. Beyond setting students on the path to school and career success, Cisco Networking Academy has supported local economies around the world, generating new jobs and inspiring the next generation of innovators.
Listen for Tae’s insights on:
- How the Cisco Networking Academy helped introduce Cisco to new markets, such as its growth in sub-Saharan Africa
- How being a tech company with a “higher risk tolerance” drives Cisco to collaborate and innovate on solutions that can positively impact society
- How embedding sustainability in the organization, and giving business units ownership and accountability, has helped Cisco reduce environmental impacts
Links & Notes
- About Cisco
- Tae Yoo on LinkedIn
- Cisco CSR
- CSR Report 2018
Imagine a world where all businesses exist to help society – and make a profit in the process. That’s the future CECP (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose) is building. Founded by Paul Newman in 1999, CECP is a CEO-led coalition working to redefine the ways in which companies engage with stakeholders to better serve society.
In this episode, Carol talks with Daryl Brewster, CECP’s powerhouse CEO and former Nabisco and Krispy Kreme executive. Under his leadership, CECP convenes 200 of the world’s largest companies, representing $6.6 trillion in revenues, more than $20 billion in social investments, 14 million employees, 23 million hours of employee engagement, and $15 in assets under management.
Listen to hear Daryl’s insights on:
- Balancing short- and long-term social and business strategy to maximize impact, and how vanguard companies are bringing investors into their social impact strategy
- The growing value of transparency and trust in embedding and operationalizing purpose
- Building coalitions to advance business and capitalism as a whole – because re-shaping the role of business in society takes a movement
Resources:
- CECP
- CECP’s Coalition
- Daryl Brewster on LinkedIn
- CECP Resources & Data
570 hours per day.
That’s the number of hours US Bank employees volunteered, daily, in their communities last year. US Bank’s 74,000 employees don’t give back just because they have big hearts for helping those around them – giving is a core value at US Bank, driven by purpose and activated through the company’s Community Possible platform.
Reba Dominski, Chief Social Responsibility Officer and President of the US Bank Foundation, joined Purpose 360 to talk about how purpose drives community, economic, and workforce development inside and outside the company. Community Possible, which encompasses giving and community engagement across three pillars—work, home, and play—guides US Bank to achieve business and societal goals, driven by data and an ethos to “Make possible happen.”
In this episode, Reba shares insights on how purpose helps US Bank:
- empower employees to make decisions that are good for business, people, and planet;
- develop fair and responsible products that create economic opportunity for all;
- create a meaningful community presence through projects like the US Bank Pullman Community Center on Chicago’s south side.
RESOURCES:
- About US Bank
- Reba Dominski on LinkedIn
- Community Possible
- Community Possible Relay
- Volunteerism at US Bank
- Charitable Giving at US Bank
The world needs more just companies. But what makes a company “just”?
JUST Capital is an NGO working to help corporations evolve their business and societal commitments to make capitalism more “just.” That’s a big task, but one that JUST Capital’s CEO, Martin Whittaker, relishes. Martin joined Purpose 360 to discuss the genesis of JUST Capital (which was founded by legendary investor Paul Tudor Jones II) and how it’s setting a roadmap for corporate America – defining the actions and behaviors companies should adopt as they interact with employees, customers, consumers, communities, and shareholders in a meaningful way.
Central to this is the JUST 100, an annual ranking that recognizes the top 100 most “just” companies in America. Companies are ranked based on how they perform on issues that Americans care most about – such as safe and secure jobs, truth in advertising, environmental responsibility, and 33 other components. Since launch, the JUST 100 has influenced the way companies are approaching their ESG commitments.
Aside from its flagship rankings, JUST Capital is doing a lot to harness the power of American business for good. In this episode, Martin expands on the JUST ETF, JUST Index, and what comes next in a “just” economy.
Listen in for Martins insights on:
- How purpose and corporate social responsibility can drive ROI across a business – if it’s implemented authentically, and smartly.
- Why Wall Street is putting more money behind companies with robust ESG commitments.
- The vital importance of culture in an organization, and how “crowd sourcing the DNA of a 21st Century company” supports long-term success.
Resources:
- JUST Capital
- JUST 100 Rankings
- The Values of a Just Business
- Martin Whittaker on LinkedIn
- Martin Whittaker in Forbes
Since 1943, global health powerhouse Johnson & Johnson has been guided by a simple credo. You wouldn’t think that something etched in stone (literally) could help a multi-billion-dollar brand navigate decades of changing consumer needs, drastic shifts in healthcare, and turbulent global markets—but it has. That’s because Johnson & Johnson doesn’t just dust off the credo now and then—the company lives it every single day.
Michael Sneed, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs & Chief Communication Officer at Johnson & Johnson, joined Purpose 360 to share how the company’s behaviors and beliefs shape culture, empower employees, drive bold innovation, and guide the enterprise in navigating setbacks. Sneed expands on the intricate link between its legendary credo and Johnson & Johnson’s recently-developed purpose: to blend heart, science, & ingenuity to change the trajectory of human health.
Listen for Michael’s insights on:
- How employees from around the world collaborated to craft Johnson & Johnson’s authentic purpose
- How management is kept accountable by bi-annual employee surveys, which essentially grade leadership how well they guide the company in living its credo
- How Johnson & Johnson’s purpose is challenging the company in innovation and risk-taking—after all, changing the trajectory of human health is a big task!
Zero Zero Zero: zero emissions, zero crashes and zero congestion. This profound goal is CEO Mary Barra’s approach to reinventing General Motors for today, tomorrow, and the next 100 years.
Few industries have evolved as rapidly (and sometimes turbulently) as the automotive industry. In its 100-year history, GM has faced challenges, both internal (faulty ignition switches) and external (the recession). Yet today, the company is thriving. That’s in large part to Barra’s commitment to evolve GM’s culture, influence purpose-driven behaviors, and phase out processes that don’t support the company’s evolution.
In this episode, Tony Cervone, SVP of Global Communications, shares how GM’s commitment to “moving humanity forward” acts as a north star for the company to chart a bold and innovative path forward for not just GM, but the automotive industry as a whole.
Listen for Tony’s insights on:
- Using GM’s purpose and Zero Zero Zero commitment as filters for decision-making at all levels of the company.
- Balancing a parent company’s purpose with its consumer-facing brands in an authentic way.
- Shifting company culture by re-shaping company character and values, and equipping employees with the tools necessary to adopt them.
Resources + links
- GM Corporate Website
- GM 2017 Sustainability Report
- GM Social Investment Page
- GM’s Zero Zero Zero Ethos
- Connect with Tony Cervone on LinkedIn
- Cruise Self-Driving Cars
- Detroit Children’s Fund
Roving reporter Carol Cone spoke with leaders in social purpose at the CECP (Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose) Summit last month. A global convening of 300+ of the world’s top minds in purpose, this year’s Summit addressed growing societal and stakeholder expectations that companies serve a purpose beyond profit. Catch a behind-the-scenes “listen” into the Summit in this special episode of Purpose 360.
Resources:
•CECP – Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose •CECP Summit
Happy chickens are Pete and Gerry’s north star.
You’ve likely seen the organic egg brand in your local supermarket dairy aisle. And if you haven’t tried the eggs, add them to your shopping list.
Pete and Gerry’s, through a network of 40+ independent family farmers, produces free-range, organic, Certified Humane® eggs. Passed down through three generations, the enterprise puts the health of its hens—and its customers—above all else. In this episode, CEO Jesse Laflamme shares the Pete and Gerry’s story and how purpose helped the company navigate shifting consumer-food relationships, the rise of factory farming, and animal welfare challenges.
RESOURCES:
- Pete and Gerry’s
- The Almanac
- Jesse Laflamme on LinkedIn
- Pete and Gerry’s FAQs
Would you sacrifice more than a billion dollars in sales to do the right thing for people’s health and wellness? That’s the decision CVS Health made in 2014 when the company removed tobacco products from all stores nationwide.
CVS made this decision because selling tobacco products was at odds with its vision to become a healthcare company with the distinct purpose to help people on their path to better health. Eileen Howard Boone, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility & Philanthropy at CVS Health and President, CVS Health Foundation, joined Purpose 360 to talk about this bold decision as well as the company’s focused approach to social impact and how their compelling purpose drives the company forward.
Listen for Eileen’s insights on:
- The “extraordinary courage” behind the decision to remove tobacco products—and how that decision was made
- Finding an authentic purpose, and then leveraging it to lead change in the rapidly-evolving and increasingly competitive healthcare industry
- Finding mission-driven partners and building sustainable, long-term relationships
- Merging social impact commitments following CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna
Resources + links
- CVS Health corporate
- CVS Health Foundation
- CVS Health Social Responsibility
- CVS Health 2018 CSR Report
- Tobacco Free Generation
- Eileen Howard Boone on LinkedIn
- Why CSR Should Put Business Imperatives and Social Impact Ahead of Reputation
You probably know the Aflac Duck, but do you know the company behind it? Catherine Hernandez-Blades, Aflac’s SVP, Chief ESG and Communications Officer, joined Purpose 360 to share how Aflac deftly manages reputation in a volatile world and bestowed a new social purpose on its beloved mascot.
As a cancer insurance pioneer, Aflac has a now 24-year, $131M commitment to childhood cancer. Two years ago (in partnership with Carol), the company evolved and deepened that commitment by creating My Special Aflac Duck, a social robot and comforting companion for children with cancer. That duck, designed through 18 months of child-centered research at a leading U.S. pediatric cancer center, is now in the arms of 4,000+ children in the U.S., is the recipient of nearly 20 awards, has 4 patents pending, and is soon set to debut in Japan.
Listen to hear Catherine’s insights on the My Special Aflac Duck journey, as well as:
- Aflac’s shift from the “Four Ps” to the “Four Es” – environment, engagement, experience, and exchange
- Why doing good is no longer enough to connect with stakeholders and attract the best talent
- The key to keeping long-term cause commitments relevant, engaging, and impactful
Resources + links
- Aflac Corporate
- Catherine Hernandez-Blades on LinkedIn
- Between a Cause and a Hard Place
- Aflac Childhood Cancer Campaign
- My Special Aflac Duck video
- Sproutel
This Earth Day, we’re joined by Jonathan Propper, Founder and CEO of Dropps. He’s the maverick behind the original laundry pod, and has guided Dropps to a number of firsts, including eliminating detergent dyes and adding bittering agents to deter children from eating pods.
Behind all that innovation is a desire to create a healthier Earth. Laundry isn’t going away (as much as we wish it would!), and the ways in which we consume products is becoming more critical. As a social enterprise, Dropps has, from day one, focused on making an everyday chore more sustainable—while raising awareness for how our purchasing choices can impact society and the environment.
Listen for Jonathan’s insights on:
- Building a business that helps the Earth without sacrificing convenience, quality, or price
- Leveraging purpose to navigate industry challenges and increasing competition
- Creating purpose-built, purpose-driven products—and constantly innovating on them
Resources + links
- Meet Dropps
- Jonathan Propper on LinkedIn
- Meet the Disruptor: Dropps
-
everydroppscounts
United Way isn’t new—but it’s creating a new way for NGOs to engage with people around the world through technology.
William Browning, United Way Worldwide’s Chief of Digital Transformation and Technology, joined Purpose 360 to talk about the organization’s shift from transactional to transformational.
As the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit, United Way’s scope is vast: 2.9 million volunteers, 10 million donors, and 60 million people served in 2017. Now, the legacy organization is adopting an entrepreneurial mindset to reinvent the dynamic between nonprofits, issues, communities, and employers.
Listen for William’s insights on:
- Remaining relevant (as a 130-year-old organization) in a world rife with pressing social issues
- How United Way and Salesforce teamed to create an all-new technology platform, Philanthropy Cloud
- United Way’s business-minded, customer-centric approach to transforming how employers and employees give at work
Resources + links
- United Way Worldwide
- Philanthropy Cloud
- William Browning on LinkedIn
- William Browning on Twitter
Are you tapping every opportunity to draw power from your organizational culture? In this episode, Henk Campher, VP Brand and Communications at Salesforce, shares insights from a company that challenges its people and customers to do good, especially in the face of challenges.
It starts with putting Ohana – Hawaiian for “family” – at the center of Salesforce’s purpose journey. For the company, Ohana includes employees, customers and other stakeholders, and requires focus and the ability to face uncomfortable decisions head-on. With more than 150,000 customers and $10 billion in revenue in 2018, Salesforce is a testament to the power of purpose and collective storytelling.
This trailblazing mentality matches Henk’s lifelong goal to never be bored. You won’t be, either, as this activist-turned-business leader talks about:
- How simplifying operations can amplify impact
- What an activist approach to problems can bring to the business world
- How to stay focused on purpose using hard data from customers and employees
Don’t miss the candid thoughts from our favorite “angry African” on what it takes to bring people together as a purposeful family, change the world, and have fun along the way.
Resources + links
- Salesforce.com
- Salesforce.org
- Connect with Henk Campher on LinkedIn
- Follow Henk Campher on Twitter
Carol tagged along with her roving reporter — My Special Aflac Duck — to South by Southwest in Austin earlier this month. Together, they celebrated the success of the duck as a finalist for the best invention award.
This week, we offer a special bonus episode in which you can learn more about My Special Aflac Duck and hear stories of impact as Aflac works to put the duck in the arms of more kids around the world.
Links and Resources
- See My Special Aflac Duck in action at The Aflac Childhood Cancer Campaign™
The American Heart Association (AHA) launched its Go Red for Women campaign 15 years ago when Kathy Rogers, AHA’s EVP for the Western States Affiliates, was charged with creating a consumer- and patient-facing campaign that would change the way we think about heart health. Did she ever!
Since Go Red for Women launched, it has helped more than 2 million women learn their personal risk of developing heart disease by taking the Go Red Heart CheckUp; generated 5 billion media impressions; helped the American Heart Association raise nearly $660 million in 2017; been featured as a Harvard Business School case study; and saved more than 627,000 lives.
Download to hear insights on:
- How you can change popular perception of a cause—such as linking heart disease with women, not just sterile lab coats
- Ways the social impact landscape has changed in the 15 years since the first Red Dress appeared
- How to keep a long-term campaign fresh without compromising the relationships that build it
- Creating interest and awareness around a topic most people try to avoid (until too late). Hint: it involves unlikely pairings and challenging the status-quo at every level.
Don’t miss this rare peek behind-the-scenes into the creation of a movement, as Kathy Rogers shares how she worked from the grassroots to the grass-tops to turn a fashion icon into an icon of women’s heart health.
Resources + links
- Go Red for Women
- Harvard Business Review Case Study
- Project Baseline—Research Goes Red
- CVS Go Red
- Kathy Rogers on LinkedIn
- Kathy Rogers on Twitter
- What Kathy’s Reading:
- Leadershift, John Maxwell
- Becoming, Michelle Obama
- Be Fearless, Jean Case
Timberland is well known for its Yellow Boot. You know the one—chunky sole, nubuck upper, black leather collar. It’s a design that has weathered 40-plus years of footwear trends and market shifts, maintaining its position as both a functional work boot and fashion item. It doesn’t get much more sustainable, in terms of product design.
Sustainability is at the heart of Timberland. To talk about the footwear and apparel brand’s sustainability and social purpose journey, we welcomed Atlanta McIlwraith, Senior Manager of Community Engagement at Timberland, to Purpose 360.
In this episode, Atlanta shared what it means to be an “Earthkeeper,” a term that encapsulates Timberland’s three core CSR foci: creating responsible products, protecting the outdoors, and serving communities around the world. Core to these efforts are Timberland’s global workforce.
A few of our favorite insights from this episode:
- Equip employees to “own” their employer’s mission. Timberland launched its employee volunteering program in 1992 with 16 paid hours of community service. Today, employees get 40 hours of paid time off each year. Timberland has a 45% utilization rate of those 40 hours in North America, with 72% of employees serving at least once per year. Globally, 51% of employees serve once per year. That commitment has an important trickle-down effect: an understanding of the communities Timberland serves and what the company’s mission means results in more sustainably-designed products.
- Find global social impact champions. Employee engagement programs can be siloed at corporate offices, simply due to lack of people resources. To ensure consistency in programming and engagement across Timberland’s locations, the company has a Global Stewards program. Volunteer “stewards” in 28 locations in 19 countries manage service programs over a two-year term. This keeps Timberland’s mission alive worldwide while ensuring efforts are localized and relevant to the needs of each community.
- Think global, act local. Timberland’s commitment to its suppliers and manufacturers involves global standards. The company also considers the needs of specific suppliers and surrounding communities on a local level—in one instance, the company found that factory workers lacked access to clean drinking water. That led to a partnership with Planet Water Foundation to install purified water towers in several worker communities. Not only did these efforts result in higher productivity and lower absenteeism rates, but it supported the vitality of the community as a whole.
Resources + links
- Timberland
- Employee Engagement at Timberland
- Atlanta McIlwraith on LinkedIn
- Atlanta McIlwraith speaking at Engage for Good
- Willow Brook Farm & Art Center
- Atlanta McIlwraith in Sustainable Brands
- Social impact at Timberland
- Timberland Smallholder Farmers Alliance in Haiti
Alaska Airlines is serious about sustainability. For the past two years, the airline has ranked ^1 for North American aviation on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), a coveted honor.
To Alaska Airlines, sustainability is more than an environmental or financial decision. Even as more airlines invest in fuel efficient fleets, cut in-flight waste, and adopt “green” biofuels, Alaska Airlines stands out for its commitment to sustainability.
Kirk Myers, Director of Sustainability at Alaska Airlines, shared how the company has integrated sustainability into the business to drive innovation, engage employees, and have a meaningful impact on the people and places Alaska Airlines serves—all 115 destinations and 44 million passengers (in 2018 alone).
Our favorite insights from Kirk’s episode include:
To authentically advance social and business impact, balance hearts and minds. “It’s important to remember that everybody in your organization is a holistic person and has a business mind and an amazing heart of values,” said Kirk. This has helped Alaska Airlines succeed in making sustainability the heart of the business.
While more companies are taking a shared value approach to non-profit partnerships, many remain transactional. Alaska Airlines has taken shared value to the extremes by presenting social challenges to two key partners—and then solving them, together. Lonely Whale worked with Alaska Airlines to drastically reduce in-flight waste, including positioning Alaska to be the first airline to eliminate plastic straws. With Neste, Alaska Airlines explored opportunities for the ongoing use of sustainable aviation jet fuels.
You might think an airline’s greatest assets are its planes. But as a service industry, employees are as important as the fleet, if not more. Some of Alaska Airlines’ most innovative sustainability programs have come from employees—such as a recent initiative to reduce in-flight waste. When employees have that level of investment in their organization (literally, in this case, thanks to Alaska Airlines’ profit-sharing), customers notice.
Resources
About Alaska Airlines
Kirk Myers on LinkedIn
Sustainability at Alaska Airlines
Gary Hirshberg, co-founder and Chief Organic Optimist at Stonyfield Organic, started his business with seven cows and funding from a group of Catholic nuns. Today, Stonyfield is one of the nation’s leading yogurt brands, with a commitment to healthier people, healthier business, and healthier planet. If you haven’t caught on from Gary’s title, organic is central to Stonyfield’s history, purpose, and market leadership. It’s not a buzzword—Stonyfield product is currently produced by thousands of organic cows, 200,000+ acres of organic fields, and hundreds of family farmers. Gary joined Purpose 360 to share his company’s history of social activism and how Stonyfield stuck to its values, mission, and culture (get it?!) through two sales and a rapidly-shifting consumer marketplace. Our favorite insights include:
- Be a supply chain champion: Many purpose-at-the-center companies integrate purpose in every aspect of operations. A fraction of those integrate purpose into their entire supply chain (and, not all companies have the capacity or control to do so). Stonyfield’s success is attributable in large part to the company’s extensive investment in supporting an organic supply chain—key to that is equipping small family farms with the resources they need to thrive.
- Look for unexpected, but authentic issues: Stonyfield’s support of organic farming and small farmers will never change. But today, the company supports a somewhat unexpected—but logical—social issue: the use of harmful chemicals on community playing fields. The StonyFIELDS #PlayFree Initiative aims to help communities across the U.S. convert playing fields to organic fields.
- Let your product do the talking: Literally. Stonyfield had limited-to-no advertising budget early on. Instead, Stonyfield used its packaging to tell the company’s story. Lids—the most visible part of the package—educated consumers not just about the company, but about social issues the company supported, from climate change to solar energy.
Resources + links
- Stonyfield
- Company History
- StonyFIELDS #PlayFree
- Gary’s book: Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World
Purpose 360 is about inspiring and empowering the purpose leaders of today and tomorrow. More than that, we’re committed to giving listeners actionable insights they can apply day-to-day along their purpose journey, and that of their organizations. In this episode, Carol and Chris highlight some of their favorite insights and anecdotes from our first ten episodes.
During his time at Panera, Jonathan Yohannan, former Vice President, Public Relations*, saw the company’s shift to an all-clean menu. No preservatives. No antibiotics. No artificial ingredients.
Just clean food. Food as it should be.
That’s Panera’s purpose today, and it’s especially commendable given how price-competitive fast casual chains are. While more chains are adding healthy choices to their menus and eliminating “bad” ingredients, none have completely overhauled their menus like Panera did.
These changes are not just to benefit Panera. The company and its founder and former CEO, Ron Shaich, have been vocal about shifting the industry’s approach to food. “Food as it should be” isn’t just about what’s served at Panera, but the options every consumer has, anywhere they eat.
Here are some of the insights Yohannan shared in this episode:
- Be vulnerable. Panera is ahead of cultural conversation about food. But that can be challenging, especially for a food brand – by publicly removing artificial sweeteners from your menu, you’re also admitting there have been artificial sweeteners in people’s food. Panera addresses this by inviting customers into the conversation. “It’s the trust factor. We’re not perfect, but we’re going to at least tell you where we are along the journey.”
- Consult with a diversity of experts. This trail is not blazed alone. Dietitians, farmers, scientists, policy writers, and other experts guide Panera’s decision-making and adoption of new policies. It’s a communal process that allows new and diverse voices to be heard.
- Change, don’t replace. Creating an all-clean menu doesn’t have to mean replacing the entire supply chain. Of the vendors that provide Panera’s 460 ingredients, many with sub-ingredients, only one was removed from the supply chain. This is because Panera collaborated with vendors to update their practices and products.
- Embrace criticism. As with any brand pushing boundaries, there are occasionally critics attacking Panera for going too far or not going far enough. Panera uses that criticism as a metric for success. “If you don’t get criticism, you haven’t stood for anything. And that’s the truth
Resources + links
- Panera Corporate Information
- Clean Food Promise
*Yohannan now serves as SVP, Integrated Communications at KIND Snacks.
McDonald’s serves 70 million people every day, worldwide. As one of the world’s most visible brands, McDonald’s has both an obligation and opportunity to create meaningful connections with those 70 million people and their local and global communities. Today, the company has a focused purpose to use its “scale for good.”
Getting there wasn’t easy.
Bob Langert, former VP of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at McDonald’s, gave Purpose 360 a candid look into the company’s journey from reactive to proactive. It started in the 1980s, when the company was attacked for its use of CFCs in polystyrene clamshell packaging. Langert was tasked with addressing the challenge. Since then, he has helped the company navigate issues ranging from animal welfare and landfill waste to obesity and nutrition. Highlights from the episode include:
- Considering every touchpoint with society. In transforming the relationship between the business and society, McDonald’s considered macro and micro issues, from nutrition and animal welfare to the environment and the economy. That holistic view helped McDonald’s drive industry-wide change in practices like the treatment of animals.
- Treat purpose like a mindset, not an endpoint. For Langert, purpose has always been a journey – and one without an endpoint. When integrated within the business – from values to operations – purpose becomes a mindset that guides decision making at all levels of the organization.
- Partner with your challengers. Greenpeace in particular challenged McDonald’s for its supply chain practices in the Amazon. Rather than shrug off criticism, McDonald’s acknowledged its poor practices and asked Greenpeace for counsel. It took a similar approach to partnerships with organizations like the Environmental Defense Fund. Langert urges purpose leaders to look to partners for expertise and accountability.
- Support internal ethics. Through years of turbulence, Langert attested to the company’s internal ethics. Stakeholders from the C-suite down to franchise owners wanted McDonald’s to “do the right thing.” And that made difficult decisions easier to navigate, from publicly addressing negative actions to transforming its approach to animal welfare.
This episode is just a taste of Langert’s story. Take a look into McDonald’s evolution in Langert’s new book, The Battle to Do Good: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey.
Resources + links
- Bob Langert LinkedIn
- Bob Langert on Greenbiz
- McDonald’s Scale for Good
Let’s talk about toilets.
One in three people around the world lack basic sanitation. Of that 2.3 billion people, nearly 892 million relieve themselves in outside spaces. Beyond the obvious health dangers (nearly 800 children die every day from diarrhea caused by inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene), lack of access to safe and clean toilets expose women and children to the threats of violence and harassment, according to UNICEF.
LIXIL – the $17 billion global company you may have never heard of – made social purpose a core business driver and is on a powerful path to change millions of lives by addressing some of the sanitation challenges above.
LIXIL brands (notably, American Standard, Grohe, Tostem, and Inax) are in almost a billion households around the world. Jin Montesano, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director at LIXIL, joined Purpose 360 to talk about LIXIL’s long-term commitment to improve basic sanitation for 250 million people around the world by 2021.
LIXIL partnered with UNICEF to achieve this goal through the cheekily-named Make a Splash program. Core to the program is LIXIL’s social enterprise to manufacture and distribute the proprietary $5 SATO toilet. Beyond providing basic sanitation, LIXIL and UNICEF say that the toilet can “transform lives – boosting child survival rates, making communities healthier, and even improving children’s chances of attending school.”
In this episode, Jin shares the “three As” process -- Articulate, Assimilate, and Activate -- that guided LIXIL’s purpose journey, as well as experiences in the field that ignited that purpose for her and her team.
Here are some of our favorite highlights:
- Parent companies and their brands can share a unified purpose. LIXIL created a dynamic solution to unify its reason for being among its brands and business units. Jin shares the decisions that led LIXIL to ask: “Why do we need to exist as a company? Why should American Standard belong to this Japanese company versus some other company? We wanted to dig deep and to understand what our purpose is, as a social ‘actor’ around the globe.”
- Tap your employees’ passions. LIXIL’s unified purpose led to the discovery of two American Standard engineers developing a low-cost toilet, now the SATO toilet. Seeing an opportunity, Jin made an ask to her leadership: “I need these two guys to leave their current jobs to build this into a proper organization, because 2.3 billion people could be served with this product.” SATO is now its own P&L and central to LIXIL’s Make a Splash program with UNICEF.
- Profit and purpose don’t need to be mutually exclusive. LIXIL’s CEO challenged the SATO team: “I don’t need you to make a profit, but you need to break even” by 2021. With this mandate, the SATO team grew the product into a viable social enterprise, reinvesting profits back into the business to accelerate growth. Their success earned SATO a 5-year grant from the Gates Foundation.
- Ask your stakeholders to discover your company’s purpose. LIXIL started its purpose journey with an eye toward environmental and gender issues. Yet, when LIXIL asked employees which social issues they were most passionate about, they emphatically named “hygiene and sanitation.” Listening led to LIXIL’s commitment to provide 250 million people with access to basic sanitation.
- It’s okay to not always achieve your social goals. Setting ambitious goals helps focus purpose-led initiatives. Yet, Jin counsels purpose practitioners not to fret if those goals aren’t met – as long as shortfalls are used to readjust and refocus efforts. In response to some of her team’s fears, Jin said: “If we don’t make [the goal], whatever that number we made is the number we achieve. Because if we hadn’t set the 100 million goal, then we wouldn’t have helped improve the lives of the ‘X’ million that we did reach.”
Resources + links
- LIXIL Company
- Jin Montesano LinkedIn
- Make a Splash
- SATO Toilets
- SATO Case Study
Gardening is not about immediate success or instant gratification. The same can be said about social purpose.
As a company for gardeners, ScottsMiracle-Gro has a succinct purpose: “helping people express themselves on their own piece of the Earth.” Cultivating a thriving garden takes care, commitment, and flexibility to adapt as conditions change. With that, creativity – and expression – can blossom.
By taking this approach to cultivating social purpose, Scotts has developed a thoughtful, adaptive, and long-term platform for business and social impact. And that’s no miracle.
Jim King, SVP of Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, joined us to share how Scotts honed its green thumb for purpose.
Scotts is the largest marketer of lawn and gardening consumables in the world. The business is healthy, the brand is a household name, and the products enable people to beautify their environments and put food on their tables. Yet, Scotts wanted to do more and be more. Nearly a decade ago, Scotts CEO Jim Hagedorn asked, “What are we here to do?” The answer was not just to help people buy fertilizer.
With a mandate from the CEO, Scotts embarked on its social purpose journey. Part of that was probing the company’s existing or potential weak spots – such as the environmental impact of products. One pain point stemmed from the company’s science-based focus. With the largest team of agronomists in the world and field stations across the U.S. and Europe, Scotts had “a tendency to fall back on the science…and defend the science at all costs because it’s fact based.”
The average consumer doesn’t want to hear about science, especially in regard to potential negative impacts on the environment. Consumers want to connect with brands that are empathetic and have a sense of humanity. In this episode, King talks about the legislative and environmental hurdles that helped Scotts take a more human – and transparent – approach to its business and purpose.
Since that mindshift, Scotts has sponsored a $10M science challenge, the George Barley Water Prize; built 1,000+ community gardens; created the Water Positive Landscapes initiative; built thriving long-term NGO partnerships; and more.
Here are our favorite insights from King:
- Highlight social challenges – even if you’ve played a role in them. Scotts removed phosphorus from its products in 2011 to address the harmful effects of phosphorus runoff and resulting algal blooms, which harm the environment. Even though the impact of Scotts’ fertilizers was minimal, the company wanted to help solve the issue. And not only did Scotts change its products, but it sponsored a $10M prize aimed at addressing the problem.
- Environmental initiatives don’t need to be siloed. Most large companies have some flavor of environmental initiative, whether it involves supply chain, manufacturing processes, offsetting negative impacts, or other. These efforts tend to be siloed and not tied to a larger purpose or touchpoint – and that’s okay for most companies. But as a company founded to directly (and positively) impact the environment, Scotts integrated its entire environmental approach, from product development to community projects.
- Consider the relationship between your product and the customer, and how it ties to purpose. True to Scotts’ purpose of helping people express themselves on their piece of the Earth, King understands that the company’s customers are not buying the product because they love fertilizer. They’re buying fertilizer because they love what they can do and produce with it. A ripe tomato, a vibrant garden, a brilliant green lawn – that’s why customers choose Scotts. Understanding this nuance can guide companies on their journey to an authentic and transparent social purpose.
RESOURCES:
- ScottsMiracle-Gro Company
- Connect with Jim King on LinkedIn
- Responsibility at Scotts
- ScottsMiracle-Gro Foundation
- George Barley Water Prize
- Water Positive Landscapes
Many of our guests are on a journey to social purpose – developing it, finding it, evolving it. What’s rarer are the companies that are founded for a purpose; built from day one to address an urgent social need.
Ella’s Kitchen founder Paul Lindley created his baby food company, Ella’s Kitchen, to give babies a healthy start in life – improving their lives and helping them develop a healthy relationship with food. That may not sound unique, but Lindley’s success can be attributed to his approach: to “put children right at the heart of the company and build everything around them.”
Further, Lindley adopted a toddler’s way of thinking in building and evolving his business. Between ages 3 – 5, 98% of children think divergently, concentrating on one thing, then another, then another, in a non-linear pattern. Divergent thinking is a measure of creativity. By the time those children mature to 25 years old, however, only 2% think divergently. “I argue that we should grow down more to think like that again,” Lindley says. Toddlers are full of self-confidence, ambition, free thinking, imagination, and determination – traits that today’s leaders would do well to embody.
Lindley’s thriving business – which became the UK’s leading baby food brand – went far beyond its products in addressing a social issue. With Ella’s Kitchen, Paul created a platform for the issue of early childhood nutrition, doubling down on critical moments in a child’s development such as the weaning period. The brand and its founder are vocal advocates for childhood nutrition and the healthy development of toddlers, creating reports, commissioning reviews of existing research, convening expert roundtables, introducing legislation to Parliament, implementing pilot programs, and forming coalitions to drive impact. Lindley has since sold Ella’s Kitchen, but his work is far from over. He serves on the board of Toast Ale, which makes beer out of bread that would be wasted; helped launch Equity for Good, where investors dedicate their successful investments to social impact projects; serves as trustee and board member for Sesame Workshop to create educational experiences for children across the globe; and a lot more.
What Lindley’s ventures have in common is their drive to unearth new ways to approach old problems. “What drives me every day is climbing new mountains and not believing that the world is limited. It is unlimited.”
Here are a few of our favorite insights from Paul Lindley:
- Focus on the people your business serves. “The heart of business is people. It’s not money. Understanding what motivates people to invest in you, or to work for you, or to buy from you is the trick to a successful business.”
- Balance the long- and short-term. Ella’s Kitchen provides nutritious options for children and their parents. But Lindley’s company also exists to support a thriving society: “I started my own business because I had an idea that I thought society could benefit from, in that I found a way that I thought children could eat better, therefore be healthier, therefore be happier, therefore contribute to our society better as adults.”
- Trust starts from inside the company. Building trust with stakeholders is table stakes. But building internal trust in a company’s mission, vision, or purpose is just as important – if not more. “Any brand works from the inside out,” and having trust in your company and its purpose builds trust with external stakeholders.
- Invite others into your mission. Ella’s was a relatively small, if not mighty, voice in its advocacy efforts. To amplify and accelerate impact, Lindley challenged a range of stakeholders to join in his advocacy efforts – including government, the food industry, society, parents, and even children.
Resources + links
- Paul Lindley’s Website
- Policy Efforts
- Ella’s Kitchen
- Book: Little Wins by Paul Lindley
- Video: BaByC News
- Video: Veg for Victory
Carol and Chris wish listeners a purposeful holiday season and a hint at what’s to come in 2019.
LG’s “Life’s Good” tagline is well known, but few people can describe what “Life’s Good” really means. Two years ago, LG started a journey to redefine “Life’s Good” through social purpose, turning a marketing strapline into an ethos with the potential to measurably impact the business and society. Mike Pepperman, Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility and Community Relations shares how LG identified its social purpose, aligned with a relevant and authentic social issue, and developed its Experience Happiness initiative. Through Experience Happiness, LG aims to equip 5.5 million youth with the knowledge and skills to achieve Sustainable Happiness.
When school is in session, teens are the most stressed group in the U.S. — nearly one-third of teens struggle with anxiety, the most common mental health disorder in the U.S. And, rates of mental health among teens are growing. Rapidly.
Unfortunately, a stigma remains around the issue of mental health in young people. While many nonprofit and government organizations are working to address the issue, corporate support is lacking. It’s understandable – conversations about mental health are hard, and often focus on elements that are challenging to craft a brand narrative around, like suicide hotlines and rehabilitation programs.
For these reasons, LG was thoughtful in its approach to the issue of youth mental health, leaning on research, data, and evidence-based partners to find a “white space” the company was best equipped to address. Further, the approach needed to align with and support LG’s “Life’s Good” ethos in an authentic manner, without diminishing the brand. LG discovered an opportunity to empower and enable young people to learn Sustainable Happiness skills on their path to better mental health.
The company set a bold but achievable goal: to bring Sustainable Happiness skills to 5.5 million youth in the U.S. over five years. In this episode, Mike shares his insights on how LG identified its social purpose and created a flexible, built-to-last program:
- Controversial issues may be the most relevant to your brand. LG understood that mental health in young people would be a challenging issue to address, especially for a technology company whose devices could be considered a contributing factor. Pepperman explains how LG anticipated and addressed internal hurdles through candid conversation and the creation of a cross-functional steering committee. The process also included discussions with employees, many of whom are parents of their own teens struggling with mental health issues. “It's been really heartening to be in a wide variety of meetings and have employees stop me mid-presentation to express their appreciation or tell a story about how their child has been bullied,” said Pepperman.
- Organically scale programs. LG designed the Experience Happiness platform for strategic growth. One pathway to scale involves connecting with schools across the country to discuss happiness skills. In Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (LG’s U.S. headquarters), the company works directly with local school districts to introduce and administer programming. Nationally, other LG offices are equipped to develop relationships with their local school districts, directly engaging employees across the country to rapidly and organically extend reach.
- Create an ongoing dialogue with employees. To increase awareness about Experience Happiness, LG launched a newsletter that highlights one Sustainable Happiness skill or topic per month. The company hosts a lunch and learn series, convening groups of 25-50 employees and a nonprofit partner to learn Sustainable Happiness skills that families can put into practice. Having more intimate interactions with employees and letting them choose how to engage with the platform has led to increased employee participation at LG – turning them into advocates for the issue and the brand.
- Establish credibility and authenticity through partners. Experience Happiness is grounded in research, data, and evidence-based partners. LG chose to work with two grassroots organizations, Project Happiness and Inner Explorer, because of the organizations’ efforts to help teens incorporate Sustainable Happiness skills into their daily routines. Additionally, organizations like Greater Good Science at U.C. Berkeley and Discovery Education were carefully selected to provide the science-based foundation for the platform.
Share your take on this episode using the hashtag #Purpose360 and tagging us at @purpose360pod on Twitter.
Resources
- Life’s Good Experience Platform
- Mike Pepperman on LinkedIn
Pets, education, and community parks – these are feel-good social impact efforts that brands like to support. Rightly so, as they are worthy efforts that are easy to talk about. Yet, not all companies align most authentically with such issues.
As a provider of life insurance, New York Life Insurance Company faces a difficult reality each day: that their customers may pass away. This reality often means that children lose parents, siblings, or loved ones, at which point they enter a bereavement period. One in 15 children will lose a parent or sibling before the age of 18, according to a recent study with the JAG Institute and the New York Life Foundation.
It’s a sad issue, and one that is under-supported by corporations with the resources and expertise to drive awareness and positive impact. As an issue that directly affects New York Life, its people, and its customers, the company embraced the issue of child bereavement wholeheartedly – making it central for its social purpose.
How does New York Life have such a profound impact for children and families that have lost loved ones?
They partner with experts. Ten years ago, a child bereavement camp asked New York Life for support. The opportunity resonated strongly with the company. A decade later, New York Life has given $7M+ in grants to more than 230 organizations. Experts at the National Alliance for Grieving Children (NAGC) manage New York Life’s Grief Reach program. In addition, the Foundation launched the Shared Grief Project with Experience Camps, which captures stories from celebrities and athletes about losing a loved one at a young age and how they found motivation through their experience. These partnerships aren’t only with experts in child bereavement. The New York Life Foundation recently partnered with StoryCorps to leverage the organization’s capabilities in encouraging powerful conversation through storytelling.
They help smaller organizations scale their capabilities. Since many child bereavement experts are relatively small, they lack the expertise and size to partner with a company as large as New York Life (with 10,000 employees and 12,000 agents). The New York Life Foundation helps these organizations grow. They invite all grantees to special sessions at the National Alliance for Grieving Children Conference each year to educate them on critical elements to growth: board development, fundraising, tax law, and more. Due to New York Life’s extensive national child bereavement network, the organization was positioned to provide rapid relief following the Newtown shooting, establishing the Newtown Resiliency Center. Following the Parkland tragedy, many individuals reached out to the Newtown Resiliency Center, who in turn referred them to the New York Life Foundation. The Foundation was then able to provide 10,000 booklets for members of the community to facilitate conversations about the tragedy.
They engage and activate their people from the top down. New York Life deeply integrates the issue of child bereavement into its culture and operations. This starts at the top with buy-in and ongoing support and participation from CEO Ted Mathas, who also acts as Chair of the New York Life Foundation Board. Strategic programming development, management, and evolution is conducted by cross-functional team that taps expertise from across the organization: from the Chief Diversity Officer and people resources to marketing and government affairs. New York Life’s commitment to child bereavement is activated “on the ground” nationally through the company’s 12,000 agents, who are educated on the issue such that they can have nuanced conversations with their customers – whether or not they may be affected by the issue. Agents often hand-deliver claims, which include child bereavement resources when appropriate, and can participate in grief counseling conversations. It’s a thoughtful and human approach that is authentic to New York Life’s ethos to “be there for people when they need it most.”
This is only a peek at insights from this powerful – and moving – conversation with Heather Nesle about New York Life’s journey to authentically align with a social issue, embed it in the business, advance knowledge of it, and drive meaningful change. Share your take on this episode using the hashtag #Purpose360 and tagging us at @purpose360pod on Twitter.
Resources * New York Life Insurance Company * New York Life Foundation * New York Life Bereavement Resources * New York Life’s Grief-Sensitive Schools Initiative * Heather Nesle on LinkedIn
How do you find your brand’s super power? Kathleen Dunlop, Global Brand VP at Unilever, is back to share the story behind the brand's efforts to take a stand in the market and beyond.
With a mandate to “do good” from one of the world’s largest companies, the team behind the Vaseline brand set out to find their eponymous product’s super power. Kathleen Dunlop, Global Brand VP at Unilever, joins Carol to explore the conversations, insights, and “aha” moments that took “The Healing Power of Vaseline” into conflict zones, refugee camps, and community health centers to provide potentially life-saving wound protection.
Unilever has long been the bellwether of purpose-driven brands. The company’s 360-degree Sustainable Living Plan acts as a guiding framework for the company’s operations, product development, go-to-market strategies, communications, and growth. Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO, mandates that all billion-dollar brands must now embrace a social mission. This visionary strategy has paid off tremendously: in 2017, Sustainable Living brands returned 70% of overall turnover growth for Unilever.
While brands like Ben & Jerry’s have a legacy as mission-driven organizations, and Dove has the now well-known Campaign for Real Beauty, finding Vaseline’s social purpose took some soul searching. As a product that touches the skin of hundreds of millions of people each day, Dunlop and her team understood the need to imbue Vaseline with a focused, meaningful, and exponentially impactful social purpose.
Listen in to hear about that journey – from roundtable conversations to bringing Vaseline Healing Project to Life.
Resources:
- Vaseline Healing Project
- Connect with Katherine Dunlop on LinkedIn
With a mandate to “do good” from one of the world’s largest companies, the team behind the Vaseline brand set out to find their eponymous product’s super power. Kathleen Dunlop, Global Brand VP at Unilever, joins Carol to explore the conversations, insights, and “aha” moments that took “The Healing Power of Vaseline” into conflict zones, refugee camps, and community health centers to provide potentially life-saving wound protection.
Unilever has long been the bellwether of purpose-driven brands. The company’s 360-degree Sustainable Living Plan acts as a guiding framework for the company’s operations, product development, go-to-market strategies, communications, and growth. Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO, mandates that all billion-dollar brands must now embrace a social mission. This visionary strategy has paid off tremendously: in 2017, Sustainable Living brands returned 70% of overall turnover growth for Unilever.
While brands like Ben & Jerry’s have a legacy as mission-driven organizations, and Dove has the now well-known Campaign for Real Beauty, finding Vaseline’s social purpose took some soul searching. As a product that touches the skin of hundreds of millions of people each day, Dunlop and her team understood the need to imbue Vaseline with a focused, meaningful, and exponentially impactful social purpose.
Listen in to hear about that journey – from roundtable conversations to bringing Vaseline Healing Project to Life.
Resources:
- Vaseline Healing Project
- Connect with Katherine Dunlop on LinkedIn
True to our name, at Purpose 360 we believe purpose must be embedded throughout an organization to maximize impact. Kohler takes this ethos a step further – integrating the company and its purpose with the world.
Laura Kohler, Vice President of Human Resources, Stewardship and Sustainability at Kohler – a fourth-generation family executive – joins us for the second episode of Purpose 360 to explore the firm’s evolution as a privately-held company that believes better business and a better world go hand-in-hand. Kohler is an ever-present brand, with products in homes and businesses around the world. Yet, how many of us stop during our morning routine to think about the brand’s reason for being? The reality is, the organization behind our sinks, faucets and bathtubs is changing lives around the world.
The authentic use of collaboration, employee engagement and storytelling to drive business and social impact outcomes has been critical to Kohler’s growth over the past 144 years. Kohler takes a long-term view of purpose with Innovation For Good – the company’s award-winning innovation incubator – being their most recent initiative. Innovation For Good has fostered engagement between engineers and designers, created external partnerships with organizations such as the Gates Foundation, and empowered employees to volunteer worldwide.
The Kohler model is one to emulate. Here’s why:
- Kohler celebrates and builds on its brand history. In Laura’s words, “take care of it, highlight it, and make sure people know what an important legacy you have” as you look forward on your social purpose journey. Creating awareness of the history of your brand can guide you into the future, garnering the attention of the “pivot generation” – millennials, Gen Z, and your new workforce.
- “To whom much is given, much is expected.” This applies to both the individual employee and the company. If we can really say, “how can I make a difference in my work every day with my company? In my work, in my community, as an individual?” then we have the power to improve some of the world’s biggest problems.
- Stewardship and sustainability drive engagement, and engagement drives productivity and retention. Disengaged workers are more likely to leave their place of work, driving massive drops in productivity that result in losses between $450 and $500 billion a year. People come to Kohler to be part of the stewardship and sustainability journey – and they stay.
- Global storytelling v. local storytelling. “Authentic storytelling from the point of view of the person who experienced it is very powerful.” Don’t forget the power of local communication and internal (employee) storytelling as you amplify your global initiatives.
- Finesse in change management. When driving change inside an organization, it is vital to communicate with the most engaged employees. They are your champions and influencers within the organization. If you provide your engaged workforce with a challenge and the tools problem solve, they can help your company navigate change.
Resources * Kohler.com * Innovation for Good * Laura Kohler on LinkedIn
Welcome to Purpose 360. We’re thrilled to make our debut, and even more so because our first guest is celebrating the fourth anniversary of one of the most disruptive and successful social purpose campaigns: REI’s #OptOutside. But first, you might want to know a little about us. Purpose 360, hosted by Carol Cone and Chris Noble, unlocks the power of social purpose to ignite business and social impact. Why listen to us? Carol created the field of social purpose in the 1980s, linking Rockport with the walking movement – creating a billion-dollar retail category while inspiring people to walk for fitness and health. Chris is a digital and cause marketing savant, having created leading campaigns for brands and NGOs, raising $150 million for causes. Every week, we’ll speak with the leading minds and practitioners of social purpose from Fortune 500 companies, social enterprises, and world-changing non-profits to answer the question: What’s your purpose?
Back to REI: one of our favorite purpose-driven brands. We were honored to speak with Alex on the eve of #OptOutside’s fourth year, and encourage you to spend some time in nature while listening to this episode. Here are our favorite insights from Alex:
- Align on a really clear, focused societal goal: for REI, that’s “leaving the outdoors better than we found it.” Social purpose initiatives, especially when operationalized throughout the business, can be multi-faceted and complex. Keeping the end goal simple and compelling will serve as a north star for all the moving parts.
- Need inspiration? Find a challenge your organization is uniquely equipped to address. REI found that 50% of people in the US aren’t going outdoors once a year for outdoor recreation. That 50% of people are unlikely to shop at REI and unlikely to experience the mental and physical health benefits of the outdoors. REI embraced that staggering statistic, putting the full force of the company’s purpose behind it through #OptOutside and other community engagement initiatives. And they are beginning to turn the tide.
- Never forget where you came from. REI was founded as a co-op by a husband and wife with a passion for nature. The company remains a co-op, giving every customer the opportunity to buy into the company and its mission. That’s a powerful asset that REI was a steward of throughout the company’s massive growth. The customer has always come first.
To hear more from Alex Thompson, including how the brand inspired more than 15 million people to go outside on the country’s biggest shopping day, we invite you to listen to our debut episode today.
Links & Notes
- REI #OptOutside
- About Alex
- Alex Thompson on LinkedIn