16 Mar How Your Corporate Culture Can Make You Unstoppable
Have you ever noticed that sometimes you are just too close to an issue to see a solution?
This happens in all areas of our lives from relationships to parenting and business. That’s what is so great about having a colleague, coach, or consultant to give you new ideas and a different perspective. Now what if their suggestion was for you to give more to others in order to grow (in all manners of speaking)? If you are skeptical about this concept, just listen to this…
Peggie Pelosi, author of Corporate Karma, was hired as a VP of Sales at Usana (a manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements company) to re-energize the company’s sales force. Company sales were flat during the previous few years despite aggressive international expansion.
It was immediately obvious to her that there was something missing in the company’s culture. The people in the corporate office seemed more engaged in office politics than in embracing the company’s mission. Peggie wondered what would happen if every person who worked with USANA was completely re-energized by the founder’s ultimate dream of creating a world free from disease, pain and suffering. What if people woke up every day to help make that mission a reality?
She came up with an idea that helped change the way that distributors and employees felt about the company they worked for. She created a partnership with the Children’s Hunger Fund, which is an in-country non-profit organization, and together they devised a plan to distribute Usana’s supplements to children around the world who were sick from disease and hunger.
Usana reached out to all of its distributors, employees, customers, board members and shareholders about this campaign and together they donated the company’s nutritional supplements and resources to children in need through the Children’s Hunger Fund. As stories came in from the field on how these children’s lives were being transformed as a result of their efforts, that’s when the shift started happening.
Not only was the company energized about its mission, but in less than two years, USANA’s sales more than doubled, and its stock value rose over 3,000%. Nothing else had changed. The same people were in place, the same products were produced, and the same marketing efforts were made.
The only thing that changed was that the company had found its soul. Now people were coming to work with a higher purpose that connected them to the company’s values.
What began as a philanthropic program is now a way of life for Usana. It’s a win-win for everyone; the children receiving the nutritional supplements, the people working with Usana who have the life-changing experience of working with a company that touches their soul, and the shareholders who wanted to contribute to the growth of the company.
Are these results unrealistic? Not at all. Consider this:
- In a recent Cone survey, 86% of Americans said that when price and quality were equal, they would reward companies that support a cause. That’s a 30% increase over the previous decade.
- There were also two meta studies done over a 30 year year period that demonstrates conclusively that corporate social responsibility goes hand in hand with financial out-performance. Giving drives everything the company does.
The triple bottom line is a term used to capture the spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational success — “People, planet, profit.” What if every business measured their success based on a triple bottom line and not just on profits.
What if every single company, starting with you, used its resources, reach and human capital to heal this world? We would experience a world of love, of compassion and power that this planet has not yet seen.
So how do you do that? First, strategically identify a cause that is in alignment with your purpose? Ask yourself, what small steps could you begin to take today? Who could you reach out to and start putting things into motion? Don’t just assign this “task” to one person, one department or one committee. Get the entire organization to weigh in. With involvement comes empowerment. With empowerment comes ownership – which feeds responsibility and action.
I’d love to hear how giving and implementing a triple bottom line is impacting you and your business. Please share your story with me.
If you would like to learn about The Unstoppable Foundation’s specialized programs for giving around the globe, click here. https://unstoppablefoundation.org/projects.html
With love and appreciation,
Cynthia Kersey
Bestselling author, “Unstoppable”
www.unstoppable.net
Chief Humanitarian Officer
Unstoppable Foundation
www.UnstoppableFoundation.org