Imagine If
Instead of blowing $50,000 on the staff Christmas party, companies offered employees the option of a smaller bash and donated the rest to a local charity.
Instead of sending employees on a team-building exercise to the woods, companies sent them on a team-building exercise to renovate a playground in a run-down area.
Instead of always using interns from the local college, companies mixed it up a little and gave a business education to kids from lower income schools.
Instead of the lavish client lunch expenses, companies offered smaller, intimate, catered meetings and bought food for a local food bank.
Instead of the expensed company cars, companies rewarded carpooling where possible and bought the local school new buses.
Imagine if.
31 Responses to “Imagine If”
Cheers, Nate.
Love the concept of Joni’s approach – maybe something to “borrow” at future client events.
Thank you, Danny, for your voice speaking to the huge needs that we are facing worldwide. Alone we cannot do much, but together, we can do a lot.
Julie Walraven | Resume Services recently posted…. What’s on my heart
Small acorns and great oaks, right Julie?
Thanks, Danny! It starts with dreams framed into action. Baby steps. Exploring and holding hands and sticking togther, as the young children model. You’ve set some sparks off that make so much sense!
Thanks, Barb – now if only more would think that way…
I have to admit that perhaps one of our biggest challenges in doing this is that we haven’t taken the time to ask better questions of ourselves & our teams.
Great food for thought!
Respectfully,
Paul Castain
Paul Castain recently posted…. Is That All You GotThat’s all it takes at times as well, Paul. Instead of thinking we know what our employees, partners, etc, want, how about we just ask?
Danny, You are rockin’ the short and sweet posts lately. This is a great post on corporate responsibility, to the community and the employees they serve. Imagine if companies gave a little of that power to the people (customers, employees), what they’d do with it. Nice thoughts.
Davina K. Brewer recently posted…. It’s not rocket surgery- it’s marketing SimpleThanks Davina, it’s nice to mix things up a bit now and again.
Completely agree – I’ve always been a fan of the “give a bit of power away to be really powerful” approach from businesses. Now we just need to see more step up to the plate…
Danny, this is brilliant!
I seem to be having a thing about corporate insanity at the moment and reading this was so refreshing.
Christine Livingston recently posted…. The Great Work Life Balance HoaxThanks Christine – insanity seems to be an apt word for many.
Thank you for this Danny – some times it just needs to be said.
Thanks, Robyn. Wish it didn’t, mind you…
Hi Danny,
My school’s motto was “concordia parvae res crescunt”. Small things grow great in harmony
(or something like that!)Well it was good to leave that institution with ideas more valuable than a few certificates for successfully repeating stuff – and I think your project is living proof of what can be achieved through such a concept.
Cheers
Will
Will recently posted…. Good Noaspa News – 25082010
I love the team-building exercise suggestion. I’ve been a part of plenty of off-site exercises (yes, in the woods), and they’ve been great, but I do believe you can accomplish the same thing by doing your offsite in a way that serves others as well. Joni Doolin of People Report is really good about doing this, for instance. Her conferences lead off with a 4-hour community service project that gets everyone on the same page and in the same spirit of collaboration and working together . . . to give.
If you can do it at a conference, how much easier would it be to do it in your business, at least once in a while. Shouldn’t be too hard.
Great idea, man.
Nate St. Pierre recently posted…. On Cool People