Enormous pressure faces the executive determined to succeed in today’s results-driven economy. Sacrifices are demanded, implied expectations are limitless, and priorities are rearranged in the drive to the top. Focused self-management is critical, bringing an inherent risk of becoming self-absorbed, too busy to notice or care about the world outside.
Yet, increasingly, corporations are becoming attuned to the value of executives, who embody the organization for which they work, within their communities, and add to the goodwill of the corporate identity by being responsible citizens who create community well-being. The community can be defined on several different levels: family, work colleagues, local community, city or province, country, global. Add to that the community of professionals within the same métier; the one can become an influence of service and benefit to many.
Although the corporate mentality of giving back to the community has long been a recognized expectation, the costs of corporate sponsorship of community-focused or national events has skyrocketed, leading to some innovative ways of creating corporate awareness without spending the vast amounts needed for large scale sponsorships. One of the ways to do this is to encourage key members of the corporate community to find ways to influence their individual communities. In my view, this releases an exponentially beneficial cycle.
For one, the corporation enjoys the positive prestige of being perceived as a good corporate citizen. Far above and beyond that, the executive experiences the incredible rewards of being a giver and building their influence for good in the community. There is nothing more grounding than immersing yourself in helping or aiding others less privileged or advantaged than you. This is the experience of the individual giving selflessly to their community.
A responsible citizen who creates community well-being generates a degree of influence that can only be accessed through involvement at the grass-roots level. The old adage “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is supremely applicable in this situation. Reliable, committed contributors to the community sense of purpose and progress create a vortex of influence that not only gets things done, but draws others into the community spirit.
Another approach gaining widening acceptance is the concept of building social businesses; businesses that strengthen the community while simultaneously addressing a social need, reaping profits in single-digit percentages, but generating huge returns for all involved. Once again, exponential benefits are realized. The corporation engages in the community while doing what it does best; turning a profit and using its expertise to create sustainable impact, while simultaneously allowing its members to experience the irrefutable gratification of giving back. The community profits from the resources of the corporation and the connection to an entity that now has adopted a human face.
A great example is Solar Ear, which works to alter the global perception of people with disabilities by helping them become first class leaders in their professional fields through the activities of a sustainable social business. Solar Ear manufactures top quality hearing aids, developed and produced by people who communicate through sign language because of their own inability to hear. These “impaired” citizens are providing a product for children in developing countries who have experienced a hearing loss. They have won numerous global awards for their innovative approach and the sustainable business they have built, producing sales in 39 countries and continuing the search for innovative ways of providing hearing aids to the 181 million children worldwide with hearing loss (http://www.solarear.com.br/solar)
As a psychologist and student of human behavior, I have examined the motivation of giving and found that the power in the act is released when the impetus is intrinsic, rather than extrinsic. Generosity and influence flow from the core of the person; the deep inner values and spiritual awareness of the individual. Although it may be initiated externally (through a suggestion by someone else or through an appeal to give to a certain cause), without the intrinsic connection, the person who gives will not necessarily become a “giver”. And it is the “giver” who wields the influence of positive impact. Responsible citizens who create community well-being are influencers reaching far beyond themselves to pay it forward.
Ron Thiessen is a psychologist, corporate consultant, speaker and professor who has more than 20 years’ experience in personal growth coaching and group facilitation.
