EDITION 1 | 2019 - 2020 FROM THE HOSTS | DECEMBER 2020 With this first edition of insights from Purpose 360, you will find powerful ideas from our interviews with 25 guests to apply along your purpose journey.
While this eBook largely includes Purpose 360 episodes recorded pre-pandemic, we added more recent guests including AB Inbev, Procter & Gamble, Tata Consultancy Services, Lineage Logistics, and Mars Inc. to showcase how an authentic purpose guided these organizations to swift, decisive action throughout COVID-19.
We trust the 75 insights within will provide inspiration and direction for any organization or individual as you discover, define, embed, and activate purpose.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that purpose can be an extraordinary “north star” in times of crisis. By remaining true to values, listening to stakeholder needs, deeply supporting employees, and embracing radical innovation, we will emerge from this stronger. Together, we can advance the important and impact of purpose as organizational and brand strategy.
Until then, we ask: What is your purpose?
PURPOSE 360 PODCAST
CAROL CONE CHRIS NOBLE Purpose 360 was created to elevate and illuminate the leading companies, brands, NGOs, and individuals in CEO CEO the field of purpose. Since launching in late 2018, hosts Carol Cone ON PURPOSE Matchfire Carol Cone and Chris Noble have interviewed nearly 60 organizations on the purpose journey, from growing social enterprises to multi-national, multi-billion-dollar conglomerates. Listeners have called it a “masterclass” in social and business purpose. Contents
MICHAEL SNEED PABLO JIMENEZ ZORRILLA EILEEN HOWARD BOONE 21 05 Executive Vice President of Global Corporate Former Global Vice President Reputation & 13 Senior Vice President of Corporate Social Affairs and Chief Communications Officer Communications Responsibility and Philanthropy, President Johnson & Johnson AB InBev CVS Health Foundation CVS Health 07 CATHERINE HERNANDEZ-BLADES 23 LAURA KOHLER Former SVP, Chief ESG and 15 JONATHAN PROPPER Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Communications Officer Founder and CEO Stewardship and Sustainability Aflac Dropps Kohler Co.
09 KIRK MYERS 17 PAUL LINDLEY 25 MIKE PEPPERMAN Director of Sustainability Founder and Former Chairman Former Manager of Corporate Social Alaska Airlines Ella’s Kitchen Responsibility and Community Relations LG TONY CERVONE KATHY ROGERS 19 11 Former Senior Vice President of Global SEAN VANDERELZEN + Executive Vice President, Communications 27 MEGAN HENDRICKSEN Western States Region General Motors Chief Human Resources Officer + Vice American Heart Association President, Marketing & Communications Lineage Logistics Contents, cont.
29 JIN MONTESANO 39 DAMON JONES 47 GARY HIRSHBERG Chief Public Affairs and People Officer Chief Communications Officer Co-founder and Chairman LIXIL Procter & Gamble Stonyfield Organic
ANDY PHAROAH BALAJI GANAPATHY 31 ALEX THOMPSON 49 Vice President Corporate Affairs and 41 Chief Social Responsibility Officer Sustainability Former Vice President of Brand Stewardship Tata Consultancy Services Mars Inc. and Impact REI
BOB LANGERT ATLANTA MCILWRAITH 33 HENK CAMPHER 51 Former Vice President of Corporate Social 43 Senior Manager Community Impact Former Vice President of Brand and Responsibility and Sustainability Timberland Communications McDonald’s Salesforce.org 53 KATHLEEN DUNLOP 35 HEATHER NESLE 45 JIM KING Global Brand Vice President Vice President, Corporate Responsibility Executive Vice President & Chief Unilever President, New York Life Foundation Communications Officer, President of Vaseline Brand New York Life Insurance Company Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation Scotts Miracle-Gro WILLIAM BROWNING JESSE LAFLAMME 55 37 Senior Vice President and Chief CEO Transformation Officer Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs United Way Worldwide PURPOSE 360 AB INBEV
BREWING A BETTER WORLD
Formed through the union of Anheuser-Busch and InBev in 2008, beer giant AB InBev represents more than 500 brands sold across 100 countries, including Budweiser, Corona and Modelo. With revenues in excess of $54 billion, the company employs more than 175,000 people around the world.
PURPOSE
"Bring people together for a better world.”
AB InBev’s purpose journey began with a simple yet powerful question. In 2008, during a Q&A at a university to identify candidates for the company’s Global MBA program, a student asked CEO Carlos Brito: “What would the world miss if your company did not exist?”
“This resulted in really thoughtful discussions and soul-searching,” Jimenez says. “We came to the conclusion that what is really authentic to beer is to bring people together.” From this realization came the company’s purpose and a set of 10 value Pablo Jimenez-Zorrilla principles that inspire AB InBev’s culture. Ownership is a key component of these 10 principles. As Jimenez explains, “owners take results personally,” and this element of personal connection drives the company’s approach to everything from environmental sustainability to community engagement. Former Global Vice President Case in point: When Budweiser set out to brew with 100 percent renewable energy Reputation & Communications by 2025, it didn’t keep it to itself or share with a select few outlets focused on
AB INBEV sustainability. It turned the mission into a way to get millions of customers talking about climate action.
5 PURPOSE 360 AB INBEV The brand is more than halfway toward its goal, and each bottle and can of Budweiser includes a renewable energy symbol to share the mission with beer-lovers the world over. “We sell about 41 million Budweisers around the world every day,” Jimenez says. “This means we can prompt up to 41 million organic conversations and inspire our consumers to drive the right conversations to CATEGORIES make change.”
In another example, since 1988, Anheuser-Busch brands have converted their canning lines Culture, Behavior & Values from beer to water in response to natural disasters. “It is something that is very authentic to who we are,” Jimenez says. “We’re in a good position to help our communities, and this makes Brand & Marketing us very proud.” But AB InBev’s focus on ownership doesn’t mean the company is content to go
it alone. Just take the 100+ Accelerator, launched last year to support AB InBev’s ambitious set Sustainability of 2025 sustainability goals with a focus on partnership and lifting up bright ideas from outside the company. The company also works with the World Health Organization on its Global Smart Drinking Goals to promote positive behavior and better alcohol literacy. “No one can do it alone,” Jimenez says, “and partnerships are absolutely essential for driving real change at scale.”
Insights
YOUR PURPOSE MUST BE TRUE TO YOU COME TOGETHER THROUGH CULTURE INSPIRE OTHERS
”When we decided to bring our purpose into “Culture has to be a unifying element,” Jimenez “Look for areas where you can move your life, we identified that we have to be true to advises. “For you to be successful in that effort, employees and create the rallying cry,” Jimenez ourselves,” Jimenez remembers. ”The only way for you have to communicate it very clearly. You suggests. “You also have the capacity to inspire you to adopt a purpose that stands and that sticks have to show, through behavior, what you really your consumers and connect your purpose to your over the years is to do something that is authentic mean by your culture. And it has to be based on brands. This is really the next frontier.” to your brand and to your company, matters to simplicity and common sense, because that’s the your consumers and inspires your employees, only way you can actually make this culture stick, and, of course, is aligned to your business.” irrespective of geography or the moment in time.”
6 PURPOSE 360 AFLAC
EVOLVING A LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
Founded in 1955, Aflac insures more than 50 million people in the U.S. and Japan, with a market capitalization of $36 billion. The company was founded by three brothers who watched their father pass away from cancer and the financial, as well as emotional, toll it took on their mother. Dan Amos, son of co-founder Paul Amos, has served as CEO of Aflac since 1990 and upholds the company’s commitment to help families cope with cancer and fight to find a cure.
In 1995, Ansley Riedel was battling cancer, and her parents were told they had to travel from Atlanta to Seattle, Washington, to receive life-saving treatment for their daughter. In response, Ansley’s mother took it upon herself to start fundraising for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), the hospital where Ansley was receiving her treatments locally. She approached Aflac CEO Dan Amos, told him her daughter’s story and asked for a $25,000 donation to help CHOA update the floor where children were being treated for cancer.
Shocked that parents like the Riedels were forced to travel across the country to obtain Catherine Hernandez-Blades the treatment their children need, Amos offered a $3 million donation on the spot, beginning Aflac’s more than 23-year commitment to pediatric cancer, through which it has since donated over $130 million. Now, more than 20 years later, Ansley works as a nurse at the since-renamed Aflac Cancer Center in Atlanta—one of countless young
Former Senior Vice President, people who have reclaimed their lives thanks to the critical treatments it provides. “I Chief ESG and Communications Officer have chills every time I tell the story,” says Catherine Hernandez-Blades.
My Special Aflac Duck, a social robot and comforting companion for children with AFLAC cancer, builds on the company’s already inspiring commitment. This iteration of Aflac’s famous mascot, developed in partnership with purpose pioneer Carol Cone, is now in
7 PURPOSE 360 AFLAC
the arms of more than 8,000 children in the U.S. and is set to debut in Japan in 2020.
Developed over 18 months by the R&D workshop Sproutel, My Special Aflac Duck includes CATEGORIES features specially designed for children with cancer, including an emoji function to help
kids let healthcare staff know how they’re feeling each day and virtual reality apps that Signature Programs provide a needed escape.
Aflac has already invested millions in the project and is now partnering with organizations Products with Purpose like the Children’s Oncology Group and Children’s Miracle Network to get the duck into more hospitals. “There is a protocol that comes with him and hospitals have to sign up, Community Engagement because this is not a toy,” Hernandez-Blades says. “We don’t want this to be something children play with for a month and then put on a shelf. This is to take them through their entire cancer journey.”
Insights
“DOING GOOD” IS NOT ENOUGH—YOU MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE FORM RELATIONSHIPS WITH THOSE HAVE TO COMMUNICATE DOING IT RIGHT Hernandez-Blades describes herself as a “data “It used to be that you did the right thing because junkie”—and for good reason. “It’s so easy to As you move through your purpose journey, take it was the right thing to do, but the world has make tweaks along the way if you are paying every opportunity to learn from those you admire, changed,” Hernandez-Blades says. “What the attention and you’re not being tone deaf, and Hernandez-Blades advises. Of course, we’re all data tells us is that it’s not enough to just ‘do measurement helps that,” she says. “I truly busy, but she’s found that politely asking for a few good’ anymore. You have to talk about the good believe that what gets measured gets done.” minutes of time is often reciprocated, opening you’re doing if you want to recruit and retain the huge opportunities for learning. “The ability to best talent.” ask questions from those who’ve been there and done that is invaluable,” she says. “In my mind, relationships are the best way to go.”
8 PURPOSE 360 ALASKA AIRLINES
SUSTAINABILITY TAKES FLIGHT
Founded in 1932, Alaska Airlines now employs 22,000 people and flies to more than 115 destinations around the world. The company acquired Virgin America in 2016 to form Alaska Air Group, which encompasses Alaska, Virgin America and Horizon Air brands. Collectively, they transported around 44 million passengers in 2018.
After acquiring Virgin America in 2016, Alaska Air Group became the fifth largest airline in the U.S.—and it remained a favorite among customers even after the acquisition, earning the top spot on J.D. Power’s 2019 North America Airline Satisfaction Study for the 12th year in a row.
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company isn’t shy about its commitment to purpose, with a vision to “make flying matter.” Ambitious, considering how turbulent the airline industry is. Yet, Alaska has been consistent in conducting business through a lens of purpose and sustainability.
Case in point: Alaska employees grow alongside the company by way of a profit-sharing plan that disbursed $136 million in bonuses in 2018, with an average payout of $5,500 Kirk Myers per person. “Alaska is an amazingly well-run business,” Myers said. “To be able to return those profits back to our employees is something we are very proud of and have a large commitment to.”
But employees aren’t the only ones sharing in Alaska’s success. The company Director of Sustainability contributed $7 billion to Washington State’s economy in 2017, according to a 2019
ALASKA AIRLINES impact report. And it has invested $45 million in cash or in-kind donations over the past five years, with a focus onproviding health and human services relief to rural communities in Alaska.
9 PURPOSE 360 ALASKA AIRLINES
“We focus on our people,” Myers said, “which is both our employees and our
communities.” CATEGORIES
On the environmental front, Alaska is the most efficient airline in North America, thanks
in part to split scimitar winglets that improve the fuel efficiency of its 737s by up to 4 Employees
percent. Culture, Behavior & Values The company is also revving up its purchase of alternative jet fuels—most recently inking a deal with Finnish renewable diesel provider Neste to push broader adoption Sustainability of sustainable fuels across the aviation industry.
Insights
LOOK FOR YOUR LEVERS ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS AROUND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF THE ‘WHY’ Archimedes once said, “Give me a place to ”In sustainability, we have jobs where many of us stand and a lever long enough, and I can move “There is a reason why we all do what we do, and always go home a little bit disappointed, because the earth.” Myers said this favorite quote drives resonating with that makes a huge difference,” we think of the opportunity [to do more],” Myers how he conducts himself in business. “Always ask, Myers said. To connect with colleagues and observed. But running yourself ragged in pursuit look and think about what your biggest levers partners, take the time to learn what draws them of your goals will only leave you feeling burned are,” he advised. “And they may not always relate to your shared mission. “Just ask, ‘What does out and, ultimately, less productive. “Make sure to a materiality assessment or a carbon footprint. sustainability mean to you?’ And listen,” Myers you focus on your own personal development and They may be ways to connect to the heart.” suggested as an example. “That is an amazingly centeredness—and take the time to recharge,” powerful way of understanding where someone’s he suggested. coming from.”
10 PURPOSE 360 AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
GOING RED FOR WOMEN
Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association is the United States’ oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. It has invested more than $4.1 billion in research, more than any other U.S. nonprofit, and employs more than 3,400 people while mobilizing over 33 million volunteers.
PURPOSE "To be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives."
When you think about women’s heart health, chances are that the Go Red for Women campaign and its signature red dress are among the first things that come to mind It all started 15 years ago, when Kathy Rogers was tasked with developing a bold, memorable public campaign that would change the way Americans think about heart health. Her collaboration with cause marketing pioneer Carol Cone proved to be a pivot point for the American Heart Association. “At that time, we were very deep in science and research, but we needed to connect better with the consumer and with patients,” Rogers recalls. Kathy Rogers Go Red for Women shaped a brand new narrative, giving women’s heart health a firm foothold in popular culture and mainstream public discourse. Wear Red Day, held annually in collaboration with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and Executive Vice President, other organizations, galvanizes millions each year. Along with countless red frocks, city Western States Region landmarks across the country—from the Empire State Building to Niagara Falls— light up with red to mark the occasion. AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION And speaking of red dresses, Go Red For Women’s Red Dress Collection walks the runway at New York Fashion Week every year and streams live online, featuring dozens
11 PURPOSE 360 AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION
of diverse musicians, actors and pop culture icons who help shine the light on women’s heart health. “Empowering women to have a stronger voice in their health means we have CATEGORIES to reach all women everywhere,” Rogers says.
And Go Red for Women certainly has. Since its launch, it has helped more than 2 million Signature Programs women of all backgrounds learn about their personal risk of developing heart disease by taking the Go Red Heart CheckUp. The campaign is credited with saving more than Brand & Marketing 627,000 lives, while generating over 5 billion media impressions and raising nearly $660 million for AHA with the help of corporate partners like Macy’s and CVS Health. “Go Red For Social Issues Women has evolved into exactly what we need at this time when women are really stepping up and looking at how they can take better care of themselves,” Rogers says. “Women often feel they need to take care of everybody, but they have to include themselves.”
Insights
BE YOU, BUT PUSH YOURSELF SHARED GOALS BUILD STRONG WHEN IT COMES TO IMPACT, NO ONE IS PARTNERSHIPS “THE COMPETITION” “Be authentic to your brand, but don’t be afraid to step outside the norm,” Rogers advises. “One Partnerships between for-profit companies The NHLBI was actually the first to designate the of the reasons Go Red is so successful today is and NGOs create a host of benefits for both red dress as a symbol for women’s heart disease. that it is authentic to us. We stepped outside of parties. But again, finding the right fit is all Rather than try to compete with the campaign, our boundaries just a little bit, but at the core, it about authenticity, Rogers says. “Look at AHA and NHLBI joined forces in order to push the is who we are.” the shared goals that you might have,” she movement forward. “We know we can never do suggests. “There are always problems that you anything alone,” Rogers says. “It takes everyone can solve together, but it’s important to be clear working together to make the big impact that we about what you’re trying to solve and find an want to make.” authentic way to connect.”
12 PURPOSE 360 CVS HEALTH
TRANSFORMING WITH PURPOSE
Since its founding in 1963, CVS has evolved from a neighborhood pharmacy and convenience store to a healthcare company with almost 300,000 employees and revenues exceeding $180 billion in 2017. The company now operates nearly 10,000 retail locations across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Brazil.
PURPOSE
"Helping people on their path to better health."
Long before it was commonplace for companies to take stands on social issues, CVS made a bold decision to stop selling tobacco products at all of its stores back in 2014, forgoing $2 billion in annual sales.
The courageous decision to act on values, despite short-term profit loss, continues to differentiate the company to this day, said Eileen Howard Boone, a 15-year veteran of CVS who played an integral role in the decision. "Still now, in 2019, there’s not a meeting I go to with any stakeholder group that doesn’t talk about the tobacco Eileen Howard Boone decision as a meaningful commitment on health," she told us.
Even more importantly, the idea worked—it drove down cigarette sales and even nudged CVS customers to stop smoking. People who purchased cigarettes primarily Senior Vice President of Corporate Social at CVS stores were 38 percent more likely to quit smoking after the company halted Responsibility and Philanthropy & President tobacco sales, according to research commissioned by CVS. In the months following CVS Health Foundation the tobacco exit, overall cigarette sales dropped by 1 percent in states where CVS has a significant market presence.
CVS HEALTH
13 PURPOSE 360 CVS HEALTH
That number may sound small, but it adds up to 95 million fewer cigarette packs sold during that eight-month period. CATEGORIES
Those results alone are impressive, but this was no one-off decision for CVS. To demonstrate its comprehensive commitment, the company followed up with a Culture, Behavior & Values five-year investment in smoking cessation and prevention, with the goal to inspire today’s young people as the first smoke-free generation." Most recently, CVS made a Change Management five-year, $100 million commitment to building community health programs, further
solidifying its position as a visionary that’s out to reinvent the future of healthcare. Social Issues
Insights
MAKE IT MATERIAL LEAD WITH THE BUSINESS CASE EMBRACE SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Purpose-driven leadership "has to be authentic," "When you’re trying to get leaders to adopt a To maintain a purpose-driven initiative, you have Boone told us. "It has to be relevant to the strategy that you believe is right for the company, to prove it’s working—and that means tracking business. It has to be material, and it has to be you have to lead with the business case," Boone progress, being transparent about both success stakeholder-based." To ensure the way you act on said. Ask yourself: Why is this effort important and failure, and remaining open to change. "You purpose stimulates organizational growth, keep for company leadership? How can they be a part have to put your money where your mouth your day-to-day operations, your core mission of it, and how can I get them engaged? Establish is," Boone said. "You’ve got to be able to share and your most valued stakeholders at the center a solid foundation and be prepared to back it up that with people, so they understand what you of every decision you make. over time. committed them to and how that turned out in the end."
14 PURPOSE 360 DROPPS
FINDING PURPOSE IN PODS
Dropps is a detergent company with purpose at its center. Since inventing the first laundry pod back in 2005, the Philadelphia-based company has sold more than 50 million pods—which stand out from their doppelgängers thanks to clean, plant-based ingredients and 100 percent recyclable and compostable packaging. The company now serves more than 50,000 customers through its direct-to-consumer delivery subscription model.
Most CEOs wouldn’t dream of stripping down naked and climbing into a bathtub to promote their products. But Jonathan Propper, founder and CEO of the Dropps detergent company, was more than happy to take the plunge.
After inventing the pre-measured laundry pod in 2005, Dropps had the market cornered. Consumers responded to the product—which traded bulky plastic jugs filled mostly with water for concentrated detergent made from six plant-based ingredients. That is, until big brands like Tide came along with their own versions, which edged Dropps out on store shelves.
Rather than throw in the proverbial towel in the face of larger competitors, Propper Jonathan Propper made the bold move to pull Dropps out of retail stores altogether. The company was reborn as an online-only, direct-to-consumer brand—offering free deliveries and making a splash with Propper’s in-the-buff viral video, “The Naked Truth.”
Founder and CEO Competition wasn’t the only issue. Shortly after mainstream brands brought their pods to market, reports began to surface of young children mistaking the brightly- DROPPS colored parcels for candy and ingesting them. “As the innovator in the category, we immediately had to take action,” Propper told us.
15 PURPOSE 360 DROPPS
Dropps stripped all color from its formula and introduced a bitter coating to the exterior, so if children did try to eat the pods, they’d immediately spit them out. The CATEGORIES company also changed its packaging, opting for a window-free box with a child safety lock approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Technology & Innovation With its existing clean formula and child-safe upgrades, Dropps won the U.S. EPA’s Safer Choice Partner of the Year award in 2017—and sales are growing exponentially, Products with Purpose with the first quarter of 2019 outpacing the entire previous year. “We feel the consumer can have it all,” Propper said. “You can have convenience, you can have sustainability, Brand & Marketing you can have a good price, and safe and responsible products. There’s no reason to compromise.”
Insights
LEAN ON YOUR LEGACY, BUT LOOK TO ALWAYS IMPROVE IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL YOU QUIT THE FUTURE Evolution and innovation are baked into Dropps’ Rather than vie for shelf space alongside larger Dropps isn’t Propper’s first foray into the detergent DNA—and that’s no coincidence: A drive toward competitors, Dropps pivoted and sold directly to world. His mother, Lenore Propper Schwartz, started continual improvement is the backbone of how consumers online. “It’s totally changed the business,” the Conshohocken Cotton Company in the 1980s and Propper does business. “Think about making it better Propper said. This type of tenacity and out-of-the- made apparel using a patented cotton yarn. When each time, whether it’s a packaging change or an box thinking offers insight for any entrepreneur. “It’s people didn’t know how to care for the fibers, Schwartz ingredient change or whatever it might be,” he said. never as good or as bad as it appears in the moment,” invented Cot’n Wash—and Consumer Reports soon “There’s no point in going backward.” Propper continued. “And it’s not over unless you named it No. 1 among hand-laundry detergents. quit, right? We said, ‘We’re just going to take it to the Propper upholds this commitment to fabric care, albeit consumer, because we have a story that’s different rebranded for the next generation. “The products than those products,’” Propper said. we’ve developed keep clothes looking newer longer, because that’s also part of sustainability.”
16 PURPOSE 360 ELLA’S KITCHEN
THINKING LIKE A TODDLER
Ella’s Kitchen is the best-selling baby food brand in the U.K. and retails in major markets around the world. It was one of the U.K.’s first certified B Corporations and continues to leverage its influence to drive social change aligned with its mission, including campaigns that tackle childhood hunger and improve early-childhood nutrition. The brand became a part of Hain Celestial in 2013.
PURPOSE "Develop healthy eating habits that last a lifetime."
Paul Lindley’s business philosophy is to “think like a toddler”—and it has taken him far.
Back in 2006, as a new dad with two young kids, Lindley grew frustrated by the lack of healthy, convenient food choices available at major retailers in the U.K., and he worried about the rising childhood obesity epidemic in the country.
In response, he founded the organic baby food company Ella’s Kitchen, named for his daughter Ella, now 19. The company grew around a founding mission to improve children’s lives by developing healthy relationships with food. It partnered with research Paul Lindley institutions like the University of Reading in southern England to uncover what shapes kids’ food choices, what motivates them to try new things and how to influence good eating habits that last a lifetime.
Founder and Former Chairman In many ways, Lindley’s story is not unlike the countless other tales of weary moms and dads who founded kid-centric companies with a mission to make parenting easier, ELLA’S KITCHEN healthier and more fun. But his focus on seeing things through a child’s eyes, inspired by Ken Robinson and his TED Talk, “Do Schools Kill Creativity?,” distinguishes his approach to business.
17 PURPOSE 360 ELLA’S KITCHEN
Between ages 3 and 5, 98 percent of children think divergently, concentrating on one thing at a time in a non-linear pattern. “It’s a measure of creativity,” Lindley says of divergent CATEGORIES thinking, summarizing research from Robinson and others. Yet by age 25, only 2 percent of us think divergently. “Kids and toddlers have this view of life that is full of imagination, Culture, Behavior & Values full of self-confidence, full of free thinking, honesty, ambition and determination,” Lindley says. “I argue that we should grow down more to think like that again.” Social Issues Lindley sums up his perspective in his 2017 book, “Little Wins: The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler.” Though he has since sold Ella’s Kitchen, his work in social Products with Purpose impact continues. He serves as chair of the newly established London Child Obesity Taskforce; sits on the board of Toast Ale, which makes beer out of bread that would be wasted; and is a trustee of Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street.
Insights
PUT PEOPLE AT THE CENTER STAY AGILE LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES
“The heart of business is people. It’s not money,” “Ninety-something percent of Ella’s Kitchen’s “As an entrepreneur, if you never make a mistake, Lindley says. “Understanding what motivates consumers make their own food sometimes,” you never really learn anything. If you’re always people to invest in you, work for you or buy from Lindley said. “It further enhances the quality of talking and never listening, you’ll just hear what you is the trick to a successful business. And the our brand that it is comparable to homemade you already know,” Lindley explains. “We need to fundamental thing that links all of that is trust: food, but there’s a revenue stream there as well.” jump on opportunities to take evaluated risks, to Harnessing trust is how successful brands live.” Ella’s Kitchen has published three cookbooks make mistakes and learn quickly from them, as to further meet customer needs, selling well over toddlers do all the time.” 100,000 copies. “It helps sustain our business and it helps advocate for better health for children,” Lindley said.
18 PURPOSE 360 GENERAL MOTORS
REINVENTING AN INDUSTRY
Founded in 1908, General Motors is the largest U.S. automaker, with 170,000+ employees and production of 8 million vehicles in 2018, under brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.
PURPOSE "Move humanity forward."
When Mary Barra became CEO of General Motors in 2014, the company was mired in controversy and facing a failing auto industry. Following reports of faulty ignition switches in several models, which caused engines to stall and prevented airbags from deploying, the company recalled more than 2.5 million vehicles over two months. GM had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy five years earlier, as the Great Recession sent auto sales plummeting.
Most of the affected vehicles came off the assembly lines at least a decade before Barra was appointed CEO, so GM conducted an independent investigation to find out what went wrong. “The reason it happened was just too little accountability through the company,” Cervone said. “Fundamentally, it’s not acceptable to have a culture that Tony Cervone doesn’t accept accountability for every person.”
This reckoning meant that Barra and her team not only had to make things right with vehicle owners and strengthen GM’s balance sheet, but rebuild the company’s culture Former Senior Vice President of from the inside out. Global Communications From these conversations came a renewed purpose—move humanity forward—and
GENERAL MOTORS a roadmap for transformation under the moniker GM 2020. The plan sent executives through yearlong “Transformational Leaders” programs and set seven model
19 PURPOSE 360 GENERAL MOTORS
behaviors for employees, ranging from a focus on customers to a drive for continual innovation. CATEGORIES These shifts culminated in an overarching vision for GM, “Zero, Zero, Zero”—zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion. And the company is already hard at Culture, Behavior & Values work, rolling out new electric vehicles, developing autonomous vehicles and leading in development of self-driving cars. While such a dramatic change won’t Change Management happen overnight, the push toward Zero, Zero, Zero is “something we can authentically influence on a go-forward basis,” Cervone said. Brand & Marketing
Insights
KEEP IT REAL WHO OWNS PURPOSE IN AN EMBRACE THE JOURNEY ORGANIZATION? Most purpose statements are bold, and they Embracing purpose isn’t about flipping a switch. often speak to lofty visions that no single Purpose is not the sole responsibility of the “It’s a journey,” Cervone said. “And as I’ve been company can realize alone. Make sure your sustainability or communications teams—it pretty vocal about, our vision is not one that will Ground purpose in reality and ensure your requires consistent input from stakeholders be realized in two to five years. This is something company has the potential to make a measurable across the business, including C-suite that the C-suite will own for decades. But that impact, Cervone advised. “The authenticity of sponsorship. Build a cross-functional team, and doesn’t make it any less valuable today.” what your company can influence is critical to look for partners and champions in unlikely it being a believable vision that people can rally places, Cervone said. behind and aspire to,” he told us. “It needs to be something that you can own.”
20 PURPOSE 360 JOHNSON & JOHNSON
CHANGING HUMANITY’S TRAJECTORY Founded in 1886, Johnson & Johnson is now the world’s largest broadly-based healthcare company. It comprises 260 operating companies in 60 countries, employs more than 134,000 people, and is valued at over $80 billion. On the public markets, it is a dividend aristocrat, having increased shareholder dividends for 56 consecutive years. J&J has also ranked on Fortune’s Change the World list for three years running, backed by a Credo in place since 1943.
PURPOSE
"We blend heart, science and ingenuity to profoundly change the trajectory of health for humanity."
Featured in many a college textbook, Johnson & Johnson’s Credo is one of the longest- running corporate commitments to a purpose beyond profit.
After operating as a private, family-run company for more than 45 years, Johnson & Johnson was preparing to go public in 1943—and its first CEO, General Robert Wood Johnson, who ran the company along with his brothers, was apprehensive. As the son and nephew of the company’s co-founders—three brothers who, among other things, Michael Sneed invented the concept of the first-aid kit in the late 19th century—he was concerned that Johnson & Johnson’s founding purpose would be watered down by the demands of Wall Street.
In response, Johnson penned the Credo, a 350-word mission statement outlining the Executive Vice President of Global Corporate company’s commitment to customers, employees, communities and shareholders—in Affairs and Chief Communications Officer that order. “He set out to explain the responsibilities that he believed Johnson & Johnson
JOHNSON & JOHNSON should have as a publicly-traded corporation—and these were quite controversial for their time,” says Sneed, who has worked at Johnson & Johnson since 1983.
21 PURPOSE 360 JOHNSON & JOHNSON
In the decades since, the Credo has driven a culture of innovation at the company, underpinned by its commitment to public health. Johnson & Johnson nurses established CATEGORIES the first AIDS ward in the U.S., as profiled in the 2018 documentary “5B.” The company is still a leader in the fight toeradicate the disease, as well as others once considered Culture, Behavior & Values incurable, with recent solutions including a treatment for multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis and a cure for Hepatitis C. Employees “These are just some examples where we feel we’ve got the wind in our sails to go after things that have been intractable with regard to the human condition for decades and Community Engagement even centuries,” Sneed says. “What our Credo does, inside Johnson & Johnson, is give our teams the permission to persevere, even in the face of setbacks, until we get to those breakthroughs.”
Insights
STAY AUTHENTIC BE BOLD LISTEN TO EMPLOYEES
“Whenever you start on a purpose journey, Johnson & Johnson recently condensed its In 2018, to mark the 75th anniversary of its first and foremost, it has to be authentic to Credo into a one-line purpose statement that is Credo, Johnson & Johnson asked more than your organization,” Sneed says. The Credo isn’t intentionally audacious. “We wanted something 2,000 employees how they would revise it for the something Johnson & Johnson dusts off when it’s that we knew would be hard to live up to,” Sneed modern day. The survey “resulted in some very expedient—it’s a north star for how the company says. “To profoundly change the trajectory of important changes,” Sneed says, including explicit does business. “I don’t think organizations make health for humanity is a very, very tall order, language around diversity and inclusion. But it up purposes. They reveal their purpose. And it’s but we believe Johnson & Johnson has the wasn’t a one-time thing: More than 95 percent of up to the people in the organization to reveal that ability to do it. We want people to set a high J&J employees complete surveys every two years purpose and bring it into a set of words.” bar and strive for the biggest impact they can to grade how management lives up to the Credo. possibly make.”
22 PURPOSE 360 KOHLER CO.
INNOVATING FOR GOOD
Kohler is one of the largest private companies in the U.S., with 2018 revenues nearing $7 billion. Beyond its well-known kitchen and bath fixture business, Kohler owns restaurants, golf courses and resorts, makes products for energy generation, and sells decorative items under iconic labels including Ann Sacks and Kallista. The company employs 38,000 people and operates 50 plants around the world.
John Michael Kohler founded the Kohler Company in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1873. Nearly 150 years later, his great-grandchildren—including Human Resources and Social Impact lead Laura Kohler—are still running the company as a private enterprise.
“I’m a steward at the end of the day, going back to the hard work my great-grandfather did in starting the company,” said Kohler, who recently celebrated 25 years at the family business. “I believe I’m here to take it to the next level, and I want to be part of that journey and take care of the past.”
With a resolve to honor her family’s legacy while charting the next chapter, the fourth- generation Kohler executive returned to the company’s founding purpose, “Believing Laura Kohler in better.” In 2011, she and her colleagues translated this powerful call-to-action into a bold idea: bring teams from across the company together with a shared mission to tackle global challenges through product design.
Senior Vice President of Human Resources, “This was unheard of at the time, and we all thought we were going to get fired,” Kohler Stewardship and Sustainability recalled. But what began as an idea-sharing retreat has since grown into a full-fledged business unit, Innovation for Good (IfG). Open to all employees, this internal think KOHLER CO. tank drives Kohler’s support for the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by nurturing projects that make a scalable impact around the world.
23 PURPOSE 360 KOHLER CO.
Innovations include a closed-loop flush toilet system for developing nations, backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a lightweight filter that can provide 40 CATEGORIES liters of safe water each day. The company has since deployed its Kohler Clarity filters following disasters like Hurricane Maria and distributed them to small communities Sustainability in Haiti, Honduras and Peru in partnership with the nonprofitWater Mission. Most recently, Innovation for Good established WasteLAB, which converts waste from Kohler’s industrial plants into desirable new products, the first being theCrackle Culture, Behavior, & Values Collection from luxury label Ann Sacks. Employees “Our work in stewardship and sustainability is about HOW? we can make the world a better place,” Kohler concluded. “It’s about having a vision of what might be.”
Insights
STEWARDSHIP DRIVES ENGAGEMENT CHANGE STARTS AT THE TOP GET OUT OF THE OFFICE
Today’s employees are looking for purpose, not Your big ideas mean little without buy-in from To understand the issues you’re working on, you just a paycheck—making stewardship essential senior leadership, Kohler said. WasteLAB, for need to see them firsthand. “Our CEO is really for storied companies like Kohler as they seek to example, was in limbo for two years before good at getting out of his office, walking through uphold their legacy for a new generation. “People gaining approval by management. “It took a few our manufacturing facilities and personally seeing come to Kohler to be part of the stewardship and of us to continue to pound on the CEO’s door,” issues,” Kohler said. “And lot of our people have sustainability journey,” Kohler said. “Stewardship Kohler recalled. “But once he approved it, I will tell gone on NGO trips—I personally traveled to Kenya and sustainability help drive engagement, and you that we have gotten more goodwill and more and South Africa with the Gates Foundation. You engagement drives productivity and retention. positive energy in the last year since getting the can speak more authentically about a situation if Associates who are highly engaged are associates WasteLAB up and running than probably anything you’ve experienced it.” who can drive change.” else we’ve done.”
24 PURPOSE 360 LG
GIVING PURPOSE TO AN ICONIC TAGLINE
Founded in Korea in 1953 as GoldStar, LG is now one of the world’s largest electronics and appliance companies, with 2018 revenues surpassing $54 billion. In 2005, the company established the “LG Way,” a “people-oriented” management philosophy that guides LG to this day.
PURPOSE
"Life’s good."
Life’s good. It’s a simple phrase. It also happens to be the tagline for multinational electronics company LG. Until recently, it hadn’t meant anything more than “life’s good,” and was used in the context of marketing and advertising.
“We had a unique opportunity to establish something brand new at LG which would help bring meaning and purpose to our brand,” Pepperman said. “We wanted to increase awareness that sustainable happiness is achievable. There’s over 70 years of research behind sustainable happiness and social and emotional wellbeing.”
It may sound odd for an electronics company to stand behind happiness and wellbeing, Mike Pepperman but in many ways, this is where corporate purpose is headed. During its initial research, the company learned that people who consider themselves happy tend to live longer and healthier lives. Conversely, they uncovered some disturbing trends: Half of U.S. teens are stressed, and suicide remains a leading cause of death among teenagers. Former Manager of Corporate Social Powered by research and strategic NGO partnerships, LG identified an opportunity to Responsibility and Community Relations make an impact on the happiness deficit—and to translate its feel-good tagline into measurable impact. LG
Yet, LG is no expert on happiness. For that reason, the company sought credible, like-
25 PURPOSE 360 LG
minded partners to support an evidence-based and comprehensive approach. The company worked with the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, CATEGORIES Berkeley, to translate this research into a set of actionable techniques, which LG fittingly dubbed “sustainable happiness skills.” From this effort, theLife’s Good—Experience Social Issues Happiness platform was born, with the goal to bring these skills to 5.5 million children over five years. Change Management The company reached 530,000 youth during the platform’s first year, in partnership with education resource provider Discovery Education and mindfulness organization Community Engagement Inner Explorer. Now, LG is working to bring its sustainable happiness skills to the company’s employees and customers. To learn more about the program, check out this video.
Insights
CONNECT AN AUTHENTIC MISSION TO CHOOSE PARTNERS WISELY WALK BEFORE YOU TALK YOUR BRAND For partnerships that last, it’s critical to be You started a new impact program? That’s great, A solid purpose statement can serve as a North strategic. “Take your time when you’re selecting but before you shout the news from the rooftops, Star for the work you do, but if it doesn’t relate partners,” Pepperman said—noting that LG make sure you’re actually driving impact in back to your brand, it may seem out of left field started with a list of 115 potential partners for an authentic way. “We’re really lucky that our for your teams and stakeholders—hampering Experience Happiness, which his team ultimately leadership had the patience and made sure engagement. “It was really important for us narrowed down to three. “They were the ones we were making an impact before we started to ensure that this was really authentic to our who had the right connection to our mission and talking about it,” Pepperman said of Experience brand,” Pepperman said. “A lack of connection our brand,” Pepperman said. “And they had the Happiness. “It was important for us to develop will bring up challenges.” desire and the right team members in place to that level of credibility and authenticity.” work with us.”
26 PURPOSE 360 LINEAGE LOGISTICS
FEEDING THE WORLD Lineage Logistics’ history dates back to the founding of New Orleans Cold Storage in 1886. Since then, it has grown through acquisition, welcoming some of the world’s largest cold storage and distribution companies into its portfolio. Headquartered in Novi, Michigan, the $2 billion company now employs more than 14,000 people, operates more than 300 facilities, and handles over 30 billion pounds of food annually, or around 8 percent of the U.S. food supply.
PURPOSE "We are transforming the food supply chain to eliminate waste and help feed the world.”
Often called the “quiet food giant,” Lineage Logistics specializes in storing and
transporting refrigerated food — and it takes its position as a linchpin in the farm-to-
table journey seriously.
When CEO Greg Lehmkuhl took the reins in 2015, the business-to-business (B2B) Sean Vanderelzen company began a series of listening sessions with employees — from the factory floor up to the corner office — to identify and articulate its reason for being. “We were
Megan Hendricksen always a company with a purpose,” Vanderelzen said. “The key for us was: How do we
articulate it in a way that is easy to understand, motivates our team, and helps people Chief Human Resources Officer outside of our team understand what we’re all about?” Lineage ultimately landed on Vice President, Marketing & Communication a purpose to “transform the food system” with an eye toward eliminating waste and
LINEAGE LOGISTICS getting food where it belongs: in the stomachs of hungry people.
27 PURPOSE 360 LINEAGE LOGISTICS Underpinning this purpose is a culture of “servant leadership,” which encourages employees and managers to help each other — and their communities — and make Lineage a welcoming and fulfilling place to work. That culture was put to the ultimate test amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Lineage acted quickly as a disrupted food supply left store CATEGORIES shelves empty from coast to coast, committing to look after employees, protect customers’ supply chains and address growing food hunger. In March, the company pledged to deliver Culture, Behavior & Values 100 million meals to those facing food insecurity. Executives gave up a portion of their compensation to fund a “living our purpose” bonus for frontline warehouse workers. And as Lineage looked to hire more employees amid demand surges, it connected with NBA All-Star Employees Steph Curry to recruit laid-off stadium workers who suddenly found themselves out of a job. Change Management “Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance and the criticality of what we do every single day has never been clearer,” Hendricksen said. “Because of our purpose statement, it was easy to communicate why it was so important for our team members to continue to come to work so that they could keep the food supply chain moving.”
Insights
STAY FLEXIBLE COMMUNICATE YOUR PURPOSE, BUT DON’T OVERTHINK YOUR PURPOSE DON’T BOAST “Don’t let your process become your purpose,” “It’s probably somewhere in your heart already,” Vanderelzen advised. “Remember what your “You have to find the right balance between being Vanderelzen said. “You just have to find it and actual purpose is and all the process that you put both aspirational and authentic to what you’re articulate it in a way that motivates the team to around it. Be willing to adapt and change, because actually capable of doing,” Hendricksen said. take action or to make decisions based on it. We living it is more important than some process- “If it is an authentic purpose statement to your spent a lot of time coming up with the words in our oriented approach.” company, it should be very, very easy to weave it purpose statement, but at the end of the day, we into just about any communication you put out settled on, ‘This just feels right.’ When it feels right, without being obnoxious.” you will know it.”
28 PURPOSE 360 LIXIL
SOCIAL INNOVATION AT WORK
LIXIL was created in 2011 through the merger of five Japanese building materials and housing companies, TOSTEM, INAX, Shin Nikkei, Sunwave and TOEX. The company is now worth $17 billion, having since added brands like American Standard and GROHE to its portfolio, and its products are used in nearly a billion households around the world.
Most of us find it a bit awkward to talk about toilets, but not Jin Montesano and her team at LIXIL. When the company formed from a merger of five distinct Japanese brands—and quickly started adding more to its portfolio—LIXIL’s team was in search of a purpose to bring everyone together. “We needed to unite our 70,000 employees under one roof and give them some true north direction,” says Montesano, who was tasked with identifying and championing a driving purpose at LIXIL.
It wasn’t long before she learned about a pair of engineers at LIXIL’s newly-acquired subsidiary, American Standard, who were tinkering with an off-grid toilet design during their spare time. They weren’t alone, she soon discovered: Dozens of engineers across the company were working on their own toilet designs for use in developing countries.
Jin Montesano Their driving force is the 2.3 billion people around the world who still lack access to basic sanitation, nearly 892 million of whom relieve themselves in outside spaces. “As one of the best companies making toilets in the world, we felt we should do something about that,” Montesano says. Chief Public Affairs and People Officer She brought the engineers and their varied plans together into a single business unit under
LIXIL the LIXIL umbrella—and out of it the SATO toilet series was born. The first SATO toilet, a blue plastic pan placed directly over a single pit, launched in Bangladesh in 2013 at a $2 starting price point, with the help of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
29 PURPOSE 360 LIXIL
Today, more than 1.8 million SATO toilets are in use in 26 countries around the world, including Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Uganda, effectively improving sanitation for over 9 million CATEGORIES people, according to LIXIL.
The SATO team now includes 40 full-time employees, who develop new iterations of the design Signature Programs specifically for local markets around the world. The team is on a mission to improve basic sanitation for 250 million people—and to break even financially as a social enterprise unit—by Products with Purpose 2021, with the help of the fittingly namedMake a Splash program in partnership with UNICEF.
As SATO reaches more communities—and improves more lives—being known for toilets is a Social Issues north star LIXIL’s team has gladly embraced. “We operate under three pillars: sustainability, strategy and sanitation,” Montesano says. “Hygiene is just one of them, but it so differentiates LIXIL that it’s become the thing that everybody likes to talk about.”
Insights
ARTICULATE ASSIMILATE ACTIVATE
“We built our social purpose using the three “Once you’ve articulated your purpose, the next “A powerful social purpose statement or narrative A’s: articulate, assimilate, activate,” Montesano step is assimilating it,” she continues. “That is just something on your website or your posters says. “The first part, articulate, is really about means: How do I embed it? How do I make sure unless you’ve got a really strong activation sharpening and identifying that purpose. You the corporation doesn’t treat this like some CSR or strategy,” Montesano says. “For us, the core engine cannot be successful if the social purpose that public relations exercise? That’s the last thing you of activating our social purpose is SATO, the social you identify is not truly integrated into your want, because purpose should be why you exist.” enterprise. The work it does and the goals it core business strategy. They need to match.” achieves are a core part of how we demonstrate our ability to activate our social purpose.”
30 PURPOSE 360 MARS INCORPORATED
CHANGING THE WORLD THROUGH BUSINESS
Founded in 1911, Mars, Inc. is a privately-held multinational consumer goods company. With products ranging from candy to pet food, Mars employs more than 125,000 people in 80 countries, with revenues of around $40 billion.
PURPOSE
"The world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today.”
There’s a good chance you touch, see or use a Mars product almost every day. Often called the “candy to cat food company,” Mars brands include beloved treats like M&Ms, Snickers and Skittles, trusted pet care brands like Pedigree and Whiskas, and wellness upstarts like CocoaVia and Foodspring.
The global consumer goods company has created products people love for over 100 years, but Mars has historically played things close to the vest — and most didn’t know much about the private, family-owned company. Andy Pharoah But as the world changed, and would-be customers — particularly young people — began to crave more information about the brands they buy, the Mars family thought it was high time their company changed, too. Along with a shift toward greater transparency and moves to shed its secretive history, Mars set out to discover and codify its reason for Vice President, Corporate Affairs & being beyond profit — and its purpose statement was officially unveiled in 2019.
Sustainability The move to intentionally communicate was a big shift for Mars, but the company is no stranger to purpose. It has operated under its Five Principles since 1980, and its top 300 MARS INCORPORATED leaders have their compensation directly tied to the stakeholder objectives outlined in the Mars Compass.
31 PURPOSE 360 MARS INCORPORATED
The company’s Sustainable in a Generation Plan, a wide-ranging trajectory to boost sustainable operations and better serve communities, hails back to 2008 and was updated in 2015 to increase ambition. CATEGORIES
This sleeping sustainability giant has been quietly making gains on its lofty goals. Over the last two years, it successfully decoupled business growth from increased carbon emissions Culture, Behavior & Values and is already over halfway toward its target to use 100 percent renewable energy. It’s also 20
percent through its goal to positively impact 1 million people across its supply chain. Signature Programs
“What we’re seeing with purpose increasingly is the recognition that companies are far more than just a vehicle for employing people and making money. They are actors in society, and Sustainability they can play both a positive and negative role. If you recognize that, then you really need to set a direction,” Pharoah says. “One of the big switches we made was the recognition that we needed to talk about it.”
Insights
PURPOSE IS NOT A CAUSE YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE DON’T TRY TO GO IT ALONE
Cause-related marketing can shift from one Whatever you do, you will meet critics and “You need to do these things in partnership,” quarter to the next. Purpose has to be built on detractors. So, you can’t make your decisions Pharoah says. “You cannot do them yourself, and fundamentals,” Pharoah says. “If brands are going based on what a particular opinion poll is saying no one has a monopoly on good ideas. It has to be to be active, it has to be built on really strong or what a particular consumer focus group about creating a greater good, not just trying to foundations, a long-term commitment and a says,” Pharoah advises. “You need to do what position yourself to gain competitive advantage.” willingness to stick the course, even when people you believe is the right thing for you and your disagree with you.” company. In every society, there are dissenting voices, so it really needs to come from the heart and who you are.”
32 PURPOSE 360 MCDONALD’S
LAUNCHING A SUSTAINABILITY JOURNEY
In 1954, young salesman Ray Kroc visited a California restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Kroc was amazed by the simplicity of the brothers’ operation—a limited menu, served quickly and with a smile. He later bought the rights to the McDonald’s name, and by 1958, McDonald’s had sold its 100 millionth hamburger. The franchise chain now sells 75 burgers every second in more than 100 countries worldwide.
Bob Langert retired from McDonald’s in 2015 after more than 25 years pioneering purpose at the company, but he’s still fighting the great fight. He’s now Editor at Large for GreenBiz Group and recently recounted his years at McDonald’s in his 2019 book, The Battle to Do Good: Inside McDonald’s Sustainability Journey. Through it all, a singular purpose—“stand tall for what you stand for”—served as Langert’s north star.
This drive to do good was born from unspeakable tragedy. Shortly after Langert joined McDonald’s in 1983, his brother and pregnant sister-in-law were killed. “This horrible thing shaped everything I did,” Langert said. “I thought: My life could end tomorrow. I’m going to do as much good as I can and do as much to combat evil as I can.”
Bob Langert At the time, McDonald’s was under fire for foam packaging that contained CFCs, chemical compounds linked to the hole in the ozone layer. “At this point, there were no jobs like this in McDonald’s, and somebody above me said, ‘Hey, Langert, you’re going to be the one to work on this environmental stuff,’” he said. Former Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability The response? Langert led a partnership with a former critic—the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund—and in 1990 McDonald’s replaced most of its foam MCDONALD’S packaging with paper. By 2000, the company had reduced 300 million pounds of waste at its restaurants. “We turned something fairly bad into something really good,” Langert recalled. “That’s how I cut my teeth. That’s how I began. That’s how McDonald’s began.” 33 PURPOSE 360 MCDONALD’S
In the decades that followed, McDonald’s saw no shortage of controversy—from concerns over animal welfare to criticism of its unhealthy image. “I always felt I worked with a good CATEGORIES company that wants to do the right thing, but it wasn’t proactive,” Langert said. “We let other people define our purpose and define who we are.” Change Management He continued to push for change—culminating in the release of McDonald’s Global Sustainability Framework in 2014, which established measurable social and Sustainability environmental goals for the first time in the company’s history. McDonald’s has since released a complementary plan to leverage its scale for good. “This journey we’re talking Culture, Behavior & Values about took a long time—25 years to go from being reactive to finally being strategic and getting it embedded,” Langert said. “And I’ve seen what McDonald’s has done since. I mean, it’s awesome.”
Insights
FIND YOUR FOCUS HUMANIZE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS BE BRAVE
“To-do lists, social media, all the emails—these “Companies in general are very poor in “Eventually, this is all about making transformative things are so destructive to leaders who want to understanding how to market and communicate change, and you’ve got to have the courage … be effective, because they clutter everything up,” on sustainability. They’re still mostly afraid of it,” to fight for what’s right,” Langert said. His book Langert said. “When I went into work, I usually Langert said. “CEOs make statements in corporate features interviews with McDonald’s executives thought of just one or two things. Sustainable speak, like they don’t come from human beings.” and NGO leaders who helped shape the company’s beef became a big focus, so each day I thought, While transparency and authenticity can be sustainability journey. “They were all very ‘I’m going to work on these 10 things that can challenging, it’s the only way to be taken seriously, courageous,” he said. “They went against the grain, move the needle on sustainable beef.’ We he said: “In order for people to believe you, you because they were creating something new.” have to be almost like single-minded, because have to be in a space of being open.” transformative change takes a lot of effort.”
34 PURPOSE 360 NEW YORK LIFE
EMBRACING AN AUTHENTIC SOCIAL ISSUE
Founded in 1845, New York Life provides life insurance, asset management and long-term care insurance for millions of families and businesses, who collectively own nearly $1 trillion in protection. The company employees over 10,000 employees and 12,000 agents, and its track record in charitable giving dates back to 1853. Founded in 1979, the New York Life Foundation has since provided over $275 million in charitable contributions.
One in 15 children will lose a parent or a sibling before the age of 16. It’s a tragic reality that none of us like to think about, but for life insurance companies like New York Life, it’s an unavoidable part of doing business.
Because the issue is so unpleasant, it’s woefully under-supported by those with the financial resources to raise awareness and make a positive impact on children who may lack adequate support systems to cope with their grief.
Since it’s so closely tied with its business, employees and customers, New York Life has embraced child bereavement whole-heartedly and made it central to its driving purpose as a company. “It’s such an authentic cause for a company like ours to undertake,” Nesle Heather Nesle says. “But, in some ways, it came to us. We made a small grant about 10 years ago and, right away, it resonated with the entire company.”
Over the past eight years, in partnership with the National Alliance for Grieving
Vice President, Corporate Responsibility & Children, New York Life has given more than $7 million in Grief Reach Grants to over 230 President, New York Life Foundation organizations, who build support systems for grieving children and drive awareness to help them realize they are not alone. NEW YORK LIFE One of New York Life’s largest grantees is the Center for School Crisis and Bereavement at the University of Southern California and its Coalition to Support Grieving Students,
35 PURPOSE 360 NEW YORK LIFE
which provides Web-based resources to help K through 12 schools become more “grief sensitive.” CATEGORIES The program has since reached dozens of schools and districts across the country, among them Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which Social Issues distributed New York Life’s grief-support resources on the first day children returned to school after the tragic mass shooting in 2018. Signature Programs
“Our goal is that every single school—public, private, K through 12, across the country— will start to embed this issue into how they prepare, not just for disaster situations but Change Management for everyday grief,” Nesle says.
Insights
UNDERSTAND YOUR ‘WHY’ MAKE IT MATTER TO YOUR TEAM HELP YOUR PARTNERS BUILD CAPACITY
New York Life doesn’t just push policies and “When companies take on purpose, it has to be “In a lot of local groups, the passion and the shuffle paperwork—it wraps its arms around authentic to their core products or services. And mission is there, but the capacity and acumen what motivates people to consider life insurance if it can’t be core to the product, it must at least needed to think long-term is lacking,” Nesle says. in the first place. “What we do is an actual be authentic to the people in the company,” Nesle “One of the biggest benefits we’ve been able to social purpose,” Nesle says. “Part of what a life says. “I don’t think you can achieve real buy-in provide to our bereavement partners is a series insurance company allows you to do is preserve and long-term support for something unless your of capacity-building and supportive measures to your financial legacy for others, but the reason people can relate to the cause.” help them think about how to sustain themselves why you do that is because you love people and long-term. Providing those foundational supports you care for them.” for your partners can be hugely helpful.”
36 PURPOSE 360 PETE AND GERRY’S ORGANIC EGGS
PUTTING FARMERS AND FAMILIES FIRST
Pete and Gerry’s produces free-range, organic, Certified Humane eggs through a network of more than 40 family farms. Passed down through three generations, the company puts the health of its hens—and its customers—above all else.
Happy chickens are Pete and Gerry’s north star. You’ve likely seen the organic brand in your local supermarket. And if you haven’t tried the eggs, add them to your shopping list.
Today, Pete and Gerry’s is the United States’ largest producer of free-range, organic, Certified Humane eggs. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for this family-owned enterprise. When Jesse Laflamme returned to work on the farm in the early 1990s, the rise of big-box stores and factory farming threatened to put them out of business.
“We didn’t have the scale to supply large retailers with regular eggs, but we could supply them with a niche product,” Laflamme recalled. The New Hampshire egg farm became one of the first in the nation to transition to organic. Laflamme wrote personal messages to appear on Pete and Gerry’s packaging, which told stories of unruly hens or the new dog on the farm, highlighting the company’s family-run roots.
Jesse Laflamme Still, the pressure was on to increase production. “I knew from a previous experience that if you didn’t have scale, you would get crushed,” Laflamme said. “But growth was incongruent with the story we were telling and how we wanted to operate.”
CEO Rather than make the farm larger and sacrifice the welfare of their hens, Laflamme pivoted to a new model—calling on other family-run organic farms to sell their eggs PETE AND GERRY’S ORGANIC EGGS under the Pete and Gerry’s name. This network now includes 45 farms from New England to Wisconsin, and it continues to grow.
37 PURPOSE 360 PETE AND GERRY’S ORGANIC EGGS
While visiting one of Pete and Gerry’s early partners, a young couple proudly showed Laflamme around their farm. Their children were playing in the barn, and their hens CATEGORIES were free to roam outdoors. “I just remember thinking, ‘These are my parents. That’s me,’” he recalled. Culture, Behavior & Values “It dawned on me: This is real purpose. Our mission to be a
platform for family farms is what keeps me and my team doing Products with Purpose this every day and loving it.” Social Issue
Insights
START WITH PURPOSE, NOT PROFIT LEAN INTO FEAR ENGAGE YOUR TEAMS IN WHAT’S NEXT
“As an entrepreneur, you need to start with a “There was always a healthy amount of fear in the “We spend so much time at work. And millennials, purpose—not the idea of success and money,” business and the way that we were choosing to in particular, are striving for purpose in their jobs,” Laflamme said. A singular pursuit of profit is operate it, and I think any entrepreneur would tell Laflamme said. Continuous improvement shows unlikely to keep your teams going when times you the same thing,” Laflamme said. “Any number your team that you’re open to change—and to are tough, while a shared purpose offers a north of things can go so wrong, but having a purpose their feedback—and keeps momentum going star, he told us. “It will motivate your team when makes it so much easier—you just put your head behind your common goal. “When your business is things are difficult and give you something to down and keep going because you know, down stable enough, what else can you do?” Laflamme rally around. We were telling a story that was deep, you’re doing something right.” said. “How can you change your model or change authentic, and we had to keep it authentic.” what you might do with excess money? That will energize your workforce.”
38 PURPOSE 360 PROCTER & GAMBLE
CHANGING CULTURAL MINDSETS
Founded in 1837, Procter & Gamble is one of the world’s oldest and largest consumer goods companies. The Cincinnati-based company employs nearly 100,000 people around the world, with 2019 revenues nearing $68 billion.
With a broad portfolio of beloved brands, including Tide, Pampers, Dawn, Olay, Pantene and Crest, Procter & Gamble products can be found in virtually every household across more than 180 countries. The consumer goods giant is also on an incredible journey to put purpose at the center of the way it does business.
“Over the past three or four years, we’ve really found our stride and been able to articulate that doing the right thing is good for the bottom line,” Jones says.
Internally, purpose — or, as P&G calls it, citizenship — has grown into a “fundamental part of our employee value proposition,” Jones explains. But most of us know P&G’s purpose journey from a string of high-profile advertisements that go beyond marketing and strive to make an impact on culture.
From Gillette’s Super Bowl spot tackling toxic masculinity to Always’ long-running #LikeAGirl campaign, P&G’s adverts have increasingly challenged conventional Damon Jones notions around race, gender and societal norms.
Many consider P&G’s gripping short film, “The Talk,” as the culmination of this work. The film, which depicts Black parents talking to their children about racial bias and challenges
Chief Communications Officer everyone, of every background, to have those difficult conversations and work toward equality, came away with a Film Grand Prix honor at Cannes Lions in 2018. PROCTER & GAMBLE Beyond accolades, P&G is out to change hearts and minds. “We believe that, as one of the world’s largest advertisers, we are in a unique position to spark a conversation, but we want to do that in a constructive way that leads to dialogue,” Jones says.
39 PURPOSE 360 PROCTER & GAMBLE
Of course, the road wasn’t always easy. P&G faced boycotts following the release of the Gillette ad, as well as “The Talk.” CATEGORIES “Keeping everyone happy has never been the goal,” Jones says. “We want people to engage.
We want people to reflect. We want people to come away from our programs and our Brand & Marketing communication better — or at least more reflective — than they perhaps started.”
The company continues to walk the walk, with the most recent example being the Gillette Change Management TREO, the first razor designed for assisted shaving, and an accompanying ad spot that lifts up caregivers as the heroes they are. Social Issues
Insights
LIFT UP DIVERSE VOICES FIND PARTNERS EVEN IN POTENTIAL IT’S ABOUT PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION ADVERSARIES P&G made an intentional effort to hire more “There is no perfect company. There is no perfect “I’ve learned a lot from organizations that have women and people of color as directors for their individual. But don’t let that fear of shortcomings applied pressure to P&G, be it in the animal rights ad campaigns — and the spots they directed are stop you from getting in the game,” Jones advised. space, the environmental space or a number of among the best performing for the company. “Any “Be honest about where you are, and be honest others, because we find common ground and time you have a diverse set of people bringing lots about where you go. Set some goals, and don’t be we find a common purpose in that,” Jones says. of ideas to the table, you’re going to get a better afraid to learn along the way.” “Where we may differ is in the ‘how,’ but now that outcome,” Jones says. “Understand and pursue we know we’re on the same team, we’re going to your blind spots, because then you get to ask the get there a lot faster.” question: Who can help me address them?”
40 PURPOSE 360 REI
OPTING OUTSIDE, FOR GOOD
Founded in 1938 as Recreational Equipment, Inc., REI has grown into the United States’ largest consumer cooperative for outdoor gear. For a $20 lifetime membership, anyone can purchase an equal share of REI under the co-op model—and more than 17 million people have.
The company’s founding purpose is simple: “A life outdoors is a life well lived.” That purpose has led REI’s leadership to invest 70 percent of profits into the outdoor community.
In 2015, REI took brought its purpose to life through one of the most disruptive social purpose campaigns in history, #OptOutside. In an unprecedented move for a retailer, REI closed its stores, headquarters, and distribution centers on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
On those days, REI paid its 12,000 employees to do what they love most:
spend time outdoors. REI invited the nation to join its team members and
#OptOutside—and 1.5M of people did. Alex Thompson Since then, the movement has engaged more than 15M people and 700 organizations worldwide.
The runaway success of #OptOutside came as a surprise, even to REI. But for Alex Thompson and his team, the accolades are secondary to the expression of Former Vice President of REI’s purpose as an employee-driven company that’s all about the outdoors. Brand Stewardship and Impact
REI
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“The reason I’m most proud of #OptOutside is not for the communications and the brand the work,” Thompson said. “It’s seeing CATEGORIES the response from employees, many of whom had spent 20 years without a Black Friday off.” Culture, Behavior, & Values
Signature Program
Community Engagement
Insights
EMBRACE YOUR HERITAGE GET STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN BE OPEN TO FAILURE
“I don’t think it’s possible to invent a purpose,” “You have to act in the interest of the community Decisive action is a crucial ingredient to any Thompson said. “The purpose simply exists.” that’s closest,” Thompson said. “That will vary move you make around purpose. But don’t kid When looking to engage employees and from company to company.” Before going all-in yourself, Thompson said: Failure is a big part of customers around your purpose, it’s helpful on programming designed around purpose— it, too, so you might as well embrace it as part to go back to your roots—and that may mean whether public-facing or internal—ask yourself: of the process. “You will fail,” he told us. “We some tough internal conversations, Thompson Who are my most valued stakeholders? How can have failed on a number of different fronts, but said. “If people don’t know what the heritage of I engage them, and how can they help this failing can be perfectly fun, as long as there are your organization is, it probably means that you program succeed? people around you who are willing to give you haven’t explored it deeply enough or asked deep permission to do that.” enough questions.”
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USING TECHNOLOGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, empowers tens of thousands of nonprofits and educational institutions through technology, grants and volunteering. Founded in 2008, Salesforce. org develops iterations of Salesforce software specifically for nonprofits and educational institutions—sold at a reduced cost or donated for free.
When it comes to communicating purpose, it’s tough to do better than Henk Campher. His career in purpose-driven policymaking and communications spans decades—and, like he often says, he “doesn’t do boring.”
As a young man in post-apartheid South Africa, Campher worked briefly on a campaign for Nelson Mandela and was a part of rewriting legislation to dismantle segregationist policies. He later worked as a policy advisor with Oxfam in the U.K., before moving stateside and taking on executive roles in purpose-driven communications for firms including Edelman and Cone. Based in Seattle, Campher is tasked with developing Salesforce.org’s brand and communicating its mission to change the world through technology. After operating for more than a decade as an independent social enterprise, the .org offshootmerged with Salesforce in April 2019, creating a new Henk Campher vertical business unit for nonprofits and education within the company. “Typically, you say a business runs a certain way and a nonprofit runs a certain way, but our leadership at Salesforce.org doesn’t think like that,” Campher said. “They simply look at the most effective way for us to have impact.” The new purpose-driven business Former Vice President of Brand unit is the latest iteration of Salesforce’s trailblazing mentality and commitment to and Communications “Ohana”—the Hawaiian word for “family,” which the company uses to describe its
SALESFORCE.ORG employees, customers and other stakeholders.
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For Salesforce, the Ohana spirit means encouraging employees to get out into the community, and its volunteerism policy—56 hours of paid time for all 29,000 employees—set the gold CATEGORIES standard for corporate employee engagement. The SaaS company also collaborates with users through events including Dreamforce and the Power of Us Hub, an online community Culture, Behavior & Values where Salesforce.org’s 40,000 customers engage with each other and the company.
So far, Salesforce.org has donated a staggering $1 billion worth of products, including Technology & Innovation cloud-based platforms for nonprofits and universities, as well as the Philanthropy Cloud employee giving app, in partnership with United Way. Though most of its customers get a Products with Purpose steep discount, Salesforce.org has a staggering year-over-year growth rate of more than 30 percent, exceeding even Salesforce itself. And leadership feels the merger will give them an even greater opportunity to drive impact at scale. “People often ask, ‘What’s the secret sauce of Salesforce?’” Campher said. “It is the Ohana spirit stretched to the limit.”
Insights
INVITE EMPLOYEES INTO YOUR PURPOSE KEEP AN OPEN MIND HAVE FUN
“Your employees aren’t just employees—they are At a young age, Henk “viewed the world through “If you don’t have fun doing the kind of work your ambassadors in the community,” Campher the lens of, ‘Business is bad, and nonprofits are we do, you’re not paying attention,” Campher said. “If you don’t empower your ambassadors, good,’” Campher said. But being open to new said. “It’s a privilege and an honor to be part of then you will not have effective programs.” Invite experiences changed his perspective: “When I something that changes the world. We should your employees to be a part of how you act on worked with Starbucks for the first time, I realized acknowledge that privilege and have fun while purpose—and give them the space to make it that if everybody in the coffee industry operated doing it. This is serious work, but you can do it their own, he advised: “Not only is it good for the the way Starbucks did, we wouldn’t have a coffee by having fun.” employee-employer relationship, but you don’t crisis. That opened my eyes to the power and know what they might unearth.” potential of business. None of them are perfect, but they’re such a key part of changing the world.”
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GROWING A SUSTAINABLE PURPOSE
Headquartered in Marysville, Ohio, only five miles from where it was founded more than 150 years ago, Scotts Miracle-Gro is the world’s largest marketer of lawn and gardening consumable products, including fertilizers, plant foods and growing mediums.
PURPOSE “Helping people express themselves on their own piece of the Earth.”
“There’s nothing quite like working in the garden. Getting our hands dirty while nurturing the beauty of nature reminds us why we do the work we do in sustainability,” said Jim King. Scotts Miracle-Gro has helped customers enjoy these simple pleasures for more than 150 years, but the company’s story isn’t all roses. After drawing ire from grassroots environmental groups, who linked fertilizers to algal blooms caused by phosphorous runoff, Scotts Miracle-Gro leadership fought the urge to get defensive and instead found value in vulnerability.
In collaboration with groups that once criticized the company, Scotts Miracle-Gro Jim King removed phosphorus from its products altogether in 2011. “At that point, we could have walked away,” King said. “But in making the decision we did, we began to understand that this is a global environmental crisis, and we wanted to shine a light on it.”
The company now hosts the Water Positive National Partner Network, made up of 15 Executive Vice President & Chief NGOs working to protect water quality across the U.S. And it sponsors the George Barley Communications Officer, President of Scotts Water Prize, a $10 million global competition to solve the problem of phosphorus runoff Miracle-Gro Foundation and algal blooms. This type of vulnerability, even in the face of criticism, has come to define the way of doing business at Scotts Miracle-Gro. In 2015, when reports surfaced SCOTTS MIRACLE-GRO that one of its lawn fertilizers was killing indigenous grasses in the Southeast, the
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company didn’t just issue refunds. It paid to replace customers’ lawns, and team members— including CEO Jim Hagedorn—knocked on doors in affected areas to personally apologize. CATEGORIES “We took the point of view of, we’re doing this regardless of whether or not we trash our year,
because it’s the right thing to do,” King remembered. “And when we reintroduced the product Sustainability the following year in the markets that were most harshly hit, our sales went up double-digits.”
With a focus on building trust and engaging outdoor-lovers, Scotts Miracle-Gro is returning Community Engagement to its proverbial roots with a mission to connect 10 million kids to the garden over the next five years. “Ultimately, we’re thinking about how we’re positioning ourselves within the next Culture, Behavior & Values generation of gardeners,” King said, “so we’re focused on transparency and on the social contract we have with our consumers.”
Insights
CONSUMERS WILL KNOW IF YOU’RE KNOW WHY YOU’RE IN BUSINESS BE VULNERABLE AUTHENTIC—OR NOT To be authentic, you have to take an honest look What King describes as the corporate Golden “People know when you’re being true to yourself at your company and the value you bring. “Let’s Rule is simple: “Just be a good company,” and your values,” King said, so don’t expect to not kid ourselves that people buy pesticides and he said. “Be the kind of company you would tie a bow on bad business practices with a new fertilizers because they love pesticides and expect to do business with.” It’s not always slogan or a flashy ad campaign. “Respect the fertilizers,” King said. “They love growing easy, but it’s worth it. “Sometimes, that means consumer and appreciate their ability to give you tomatoes, tulips and roses, and having lawns being open and transparent in a way that credit when you take risk—even if you make a that their kids and dogs can play in. We have to makes you vulnerable,” King explained. “But mistake—and to point the finger at you if you’re remember why they’re engaged and remember being vulnerable also brings with it a level of being disingenuous.” what business we’re in.” authenticity that rings true.”
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STANDING UP TO THE BIG GUYS WITH PURPOSE
Founded on a small family farm in New Hampshire, Stonyfield Organic is now the world’s largest organic yogurt maker. It was acquired by multinational consumer goods company Danone in 2014 and sold to family-owned French dairy Lactalis three years later.
PURPOSE
“Healthy food. Healthy people. Healthy planet.”
Gary Hirshberg and Samuel Kaymen co-founded Stonyfield Organic in 1983 as a way to fund their small organic farming school in rural New Hampshire. With a mission to keep family farming alive, produce healthy food and protect the environment, Hirshberg and Kaymen were not only pioneers in building a social enterprise, but in catalyzing the organic agriculture movement.
“Nobody knew what we were talking about back in the early days,” Hirshberg said. “People were just mystified by us.” At the time, the fledgling enterprise was focused on consumer engagement—helping people to understand that organic agriculture was viable and that it made sense to support family farming. It was an uphill climb, and nine years Gary Hirshberg passed before the company turned a profit. Fast forward to three decades later, and Stonyfield is nowthe world’s largest organic yogurt maker, with revenues nearing $400 million in 2017. Its network spans 200,000 organic acres, spread across hundreds of family farms. Co-founder and Chairman Stonyfield’s growth is in part thanks to its purpose, which served as a north star during STONYFIELD ORGANIC economic downturns and the rise of factory farming. Today, the company is a certified B Corp. It led the charge for GMO labeling in the U.S. And its team continues to advocate on behalf of farming communities and tout organic agriculture’s potential to address
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issues like climate change.
Most recently, Stonyfield set out to extend its organic ethos toU.S. parks and playing fields, CATEGORIES more than 65 percent of which are treated with toxic herbicides. The company “adopted” 3
cities to begin transitioning their fields and brought onAdam Scott of the NBC hit “Parks Culture, Behavior & Values and Recreation” for a public awareness campaign. “In our case, the purpose of Stonyfield has really been my life purpose,” Hirshberg said. “This is a virtuous circle: Healthy food, healthy Signature Programs people, healthy planet.”
Sustainability
Insights
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF VALUES LEAD TO LOYALTY—AND KNOW IT’S ALL WORTH IT LOYALTY LEADS TO PROFIT Confidence is crucial if you hope to try something Leading with purpose isn’t easy. Every now and different. “When we started out, there was no Consumers are looking for brands with a then, you might wish you could just worry about supply and no demand,” Hirshberg said. “But purpose beyond profit—and if you deliver it, the bottom line and nothing else. But take heart my lesson in hindsight is that determination is they’ll take notice. “When you inculcate values in knowing that “this is all eminently worth doing,” probably the most undervalued and essential that are meaningful to your consumer into Hirshberg said. “We have a planet in peril. We are element for success—and that has to come from your business, you will get loyalty as a result,” making ourselves sicker. But business is the most inside. You’ve got to really believe in the values Hirshberg said. “Getting people to not even look powerful force on the planet. It has the greatest that you’re leading with.” at another yogurt but just to grab for yours, that power to concentrate resources to do good.” comes from not just talking but doing.”
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MAKING PURPOSE THE NEW TECHNOLOGY
Launched in 1968 as a division within the more than 150-year-old holding company Tata Sons, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a multinational IT services, consulting and business solutions organization headquartered in Mumbai, India. With over $22 billion in revenues, it employs almost 450,000 people, representing 146 nationalities, in over 50 countries around the world. It’s also one of the top two employers in the U.S., having created more than 20,000 jobs within the past five years.
Tata Consultancy Services is a massive and stunningly purpose-driven company, but
you may never have heard of them. The Mumbai-based multinational keeps the lights
on by providing technology consulting to businesses and governments. But at its core,
the company’s mission revolves around harnessing the power of purpose, people,
and technology to advance access, equity and inclusion around the world.
For TCS, this bold purpose translates into a mission of connecting people to
opportunities in the digital economy, by building equitable, inclusive pathways for
women, youth and marginalized people. To create large scale social impact, TCS adopts Balaji Ganapathy a broad portfolio of education, skilling, employment, entrepreneurship, healthcare and WASH programs, leveraging the 4Cs (Intellectual, Technology, Human & Financial
Capital).
“Human intelligence drives artificial intelligence, and that human intelligence is no Chief Social Responsibility Officer longer about 19th-century skills,” Ganapathy said. “We talk about 21st-century skills as TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES if they are already understood and adopted in all education [and employment] systems.
But they are not.”
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TCS’s Ignite My Future program, which helps integrate computational thinking in a transdisciplinary manner across core subjects has reached more than 11,500 educators and almost 700,000 students across the U.S. since 2017. The goIT Digital Innovation program,
which “helps to move young people from consumers to technology to creators of technology,” CATEGORIES runs in more than 110 cities across the U.S. and Canada. In its home country of India, TCS has empowered more than 1 million people to be literate, and its BridgeIT program nurtures Culture, Behavior & Values digital entrepreneurs in rural villages to leverage technology as a bridge to prosperity.
That’s all impressive enough on its own, but the way TCS makes purpose a part of every Employees employee’s day-to-day work makes it a model for any company looking to lead with purpose. TCS employees logged more than 600,000 volunteer hours in 2019. When a campus hire Technology & Innovation joins TCS in North America, they go through a three-month orientation centered on purpose, and their first client is a nonprofit working to better their community. This purpose-driven onboarding approach gives the company a retention rate of almost 90 percent - talk about a business case!
Insights
NEVER STOP RE-THINKING HOW TO EMPOWER YOUR WORKFORCE LEVERAGE TECH TO DO GOOD EMBED PURPOSE “As an employer, you need to enable your “It’s no longer nice to say, ‘I have a payment “Strategy is always fluid,” Ganapathy said. workforce to fulfill their broader purpose,” gateway. I have an online system. I have social “Re-look at what the need is, especially in he advised. “It does not stop with providing media and all of that,’ as a company or as a light of COVID-19 and what it has created for volunteering opportunities. It is about driving nonprofit serving society,” Ganapathy said. “You us as new challenges and new opportunities. a culture. If you’re doing the first step right, have to look at using and harnessing the tools that And, intentionally, look at stress-testing your which is embedding purpose, you will have more we have, the technologies that we have, to solve company’s business model for purpose.” meaningful opportunities to share, you can those tougher problems and move the needle in a connect that to what people are doing on a daily bigger way.” basis in their jobs, and they can extend that to the work they do to support their community.”
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LACING UP TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT Timberland grew out of the Abington Shoe Co., which founder Nathan Swartz acquired in the 1950s. The company was relatively unknown until it relaunched as Timberland in the ‘70s with its flagship product, a yellow outdoor boot. The brand was acquired by the multinational apparel company VF Corp. in 2011.
PURPOSE
“Step outside. Work together. Make it better.”
Haiti hasn’t produced cotton in decades, although it was once one of the country’s top agricultural exports. Timberland hopes to change all that with a five-year mission to bring cotton farming back to Haiti, drive income growth for smallholder farmers, and help lift their communities out of poverty.
In 2018, Timberland and the Smallholder Farmers Alliance—a nonprofit social enterprise looking to reforest Haiti while scaling its agricultural sector—helped farmers in the coastal community of Gonaïves harvest the country’s first cotton in 30 years. If all goes as planned, the c ountry will produce more than 7,500 metric tons of organic cotton annually within five years. Timberland committed to purchase a third of it, and other apparel Atlanta McIlwraith brands are already showing interest. The Alliance will use blockchain technology—the digital ledger system that supports cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin—to track the cotton from field, to factory, to distribution and ensure equity along the way. This use of cutting-edge tech not only boosts transparency but lowers the cost of authenticating organic and fair Senior Manager Community Impact trade products like cotton, supply chain experts told Fast Company in 2018. Tracing cotton back to the farm also helps brands communicate with customers: Timberland aims to put TIMBERLAND QR codes on product hangtags, which customers can scan to view a short video about the farmers that helped create each item.
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“By doing that, we hope [customers] will have a richer emotional connection with the people at the beginning of the supply chain, who are growing the cotton in the field, and the CATEGORIES difference their purchase can make for that person’s life,” McIlwraith said.
This effort builds on Timberland’s prior work with the Alliance (the two groups planted 5 Community Engagement million trees across Haiti between 2010 and 2015), as well as its ongoing investments in communities around the world and its Global Stewards employee engagement program that Products with Purpose helps spread its purpose worldwide.
Technology and Innovation
Insights
LET PEOPLE MAKE IT THEIR OWN DON’T PLAY IT SAFE PUT WORDS INTO ACTION
Your stakeholders come from different Alignment with purpose is a constant learning Purpose is more than mission statements and communities and different walks of life. They experience. Be prepared to stumble, reassess marketing materials. “It has to be fed and fueled have their own needs and priorities, and they may and grow along the way. “You may not get it right with actions that people can see, notice and interpret your organization’s purpose differently. immediately,” McIlwraith said. “Be well-researched engage in,” McIlwraith said. “How are you going Give them the space to make it their own. and humble about the mistakes you may make. to put actions behind your words, so people have “When you’re creating a purpose and purpose But don’t be afraid to take risks, because if we visual and physical evidence of your purpose activations, give your different stakeholders stay safe all the time, no one’s really ever going to coming to life, both within the walls of your some leeway and freedom to activate it,” move the needle.” company and out in the community? Otherwise, McIlwraith said. “You’ll get the most support and purpose just becomes words on a page.” engagement that way.”
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FINDING A BRAND’S SUPERPOWER Unilever is one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, with more than 400 brands sold in 190 countries. An estimated 2.5 billion people use its products every day. Championed by former CEO Paul Polman, Unilever’s 360-degree Sustainable Living Plan mandates that all brands within the company embrace a social mission.
PURPOSE “Make sustainable living commonplace.”
Unilever is no stranger to purpose campaigning. From the Lifebuoy hand-washing campaign, to Dove’s Real Beauty, to mission-led brands like Ben & Jerry’s and their unwavering support for social impact, the list goes on and on. And with a CEO-driven mandate to embrace social purpose, Unilever and its brands continue to evolve their approach to business and social impact.
Take Vaseline. We all have a tub in our bathrooms, but we never really think about it. How could a medicine cabinet staple adopt an authentic social purpose? Answering that question required soul-searching and research. “The Vaseline team set out to figure out what we could do that’s authentic to what the brand stands for, that’s related to what Kathleen Dunlop the product actually does, and that will help us to make the world a better place,” says Dunlop, who has been with Unilever for over 20 years.
After speaking with groups including the U.N. Refugee Agency, Doctors Without Borders, Global Brand Vice President and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the team learned that skin issues are one of the top 10 medical concerns seen in refugee camps—and that doctors UNILEVER often carry Vaseline in their first-aid kits as a remedy. VASELINE BRAND
In camps and temporary shelters, “people are living in very crowded conditions, often without access to clean water,” Dunlop says. “It’s very easy for disease to pass from one
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person to another, and skin quickly becomes one of the things that needs medical attention.” Out of this realization, the Vaseline Healing Project was born. In partnership with the CATEGORIES international medical aid organization Direct Relief, the project is now active in 52 countries, serving people who are displaced by natural disasters, conflict and extreme poverty. Products with Purpose Along with product donations, the company deploys teams of volunteer dermatologists who have since served over 11,000 patients in countries like Jordan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Signature Programs project has served more than 4.3 million people since launch—and Vaseline says it’s just getting started. “We can’t solve the refugee crisis,” Dunlop says. “We aren’t peacemakers. Brand & Marketing We can’t solve civil wars. But we can do this one small thing that is making an enormous difference in people’s lives.”
Insights
FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS PUT PURPOSE AND PRODUCT DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAKE A STAND SIDE-BY-SIDE Prioritizing investments is never easy, but ”It’s very tempting to say, as a brand owner, ‘I’m maintaining a tight focus makes it more Most companies don’t have a CEO like Paul not going to do anything risky because it could manageable, Dunlop advises. “With Vaseline and Polman, meaning purpose campaigns can be a backfire.’ But if you don’t take a stand, people are the Healing Project, we started with what our tougher sell. If you know this challenge all too just ambivalent about you,” Dunlop says. “That’s product does and what we stand for as a brand, well, “Go do some consumer work to understand worse even than provoking a response because and we defined our parameters very tightly how motivating this is to your customers,” Dunlop you can so easily be ignored. The ultimate risk is around that,” she says. “That makes it easier to advises. “Don’t be afraid to put the purpose-led not doing anything.” commit brand investment: It’s not an extra thing initiatives head-to-head with your product-led on top, it’s fundamental to our product.” communications and see what’s more effective.”
54 PURPOSE 360 UNITED WAY WORLDWIDE
CHANGING THE WAY PEOPLE GIVE BACK Supported by 2.9 million volunteers, 8.3 million donors and $4.6 billion raised annually, United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit organization. It improves lives by mobilizing the carrying power of communities around the world to advance the common good, with a focus on education, income and health.
PURPOSE
“Live United.”
Founded 130 years ago, United Way has been around the block a few times—and then some. It was the first nonprofit to introduce payroll giving, allowing employees to donate to causes they care about through deductions from their paychecks. At the time, the model was revolutionary, but 50 years later, United Way has found it creates something of a disconnect between donors and the causes they support.
As the landscape of philanthropy changes, groups like United Way are under pressure to become more transparent about their local impact and go beyond fundraising to authentically engage people in improving their communities. William Browning Brought on board in 2018, Browning is tasked with transforming United Way for the modern age. He’s leading the nonprofit’s next chapter with a dual focus: Collaborate with corporate partners to better meet their needs around philanthropy, and engage employees and other supporters in the on-the-ground impact of their donations.
Senior Vice President and Chief Launched in 2018, the Philanthropy Cloud platform is a one-stop-shop for both of Transformation Officer those things and more. Built by Salesforce.org, the philanthropic arm of Salesforce, Philanthropy Cloud connects employers and employees to causes they care about in UNITED WAY WORLDWIDE real time.
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Employees sign into their own personal portal, where they can track the impact of their giving and volunteering, learn about needs in their communities and how they can help, and CATEGORIES respond to humanitarian issues at home and around the world as they happen. Companies can create custom campaigns to further engage employees in causes that align with their Technology & Innovation values and feature the impact of the entire organization in one place.
The model also decouples employee giving from their employers: Each person’s Philanthropy Employees Cloud profile follows them no matter where they work, giving them personal ownership over how they give. “The No. 1 thing we should be working on, especially in America, is how to get Change Management people to believe they can champion and advocate for the issues in their communities and do so in a way that really makes a difference for others,” Browning said. “And that’s what Philanthropy Cloud is all about.”
Insights
OPPOSITES ATTRACT EMBRACE EVOLVING CORPORATE BE PATIENT PARTNERSHIPS United Way’s collaboration with Salesforce.org “I tend to be really impatient and pretty hard on is a shining example of an unlikely marriage United Way partners with 60,000 companies myself as far as how we’re driving this, but these that works. “The two cultures of United Way worldwide on workplace giving, employee kind of transformations take time,” Browning says. and Salesforce are, as you would guess, vastly volunteerism and other social purpose activations. “You’re not going to see results immediately—it different,” Browning says. “We have this inertia of And as the organization has evolved, so have takes multiple iterations and persistence. People our old business model that has slowly atrophied. its partnerships. Its work with Lyft to give free out there that are doing digital transformations, Salesforce Philanthropy Cloud is great because it rides to people with non-emergency healthcare, know that it’s okay to take the time you need.” forces us to modernize every single aspect of our employment and veterans’ needs through the business and everything we do.” 2-1-1 hotline is just one example, having provided over 10,000 free rides since its launch.
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