On November 4th, 2008, the world changed. Hope was restored not only for millions of Americans, but for billions of people around the world. Although it has been said that the word ‘change’ was overused by Obama’s campaign, on that day, the transformation was indisputably palpable.
As a Canadian who is unable to vote in the US election, it was an incredible gift for me to have been in New York City on that fateful day. When I landed in the city on Tuesday afternoon, the atmosphere was electric. The weather was unseasonably warm for November and people were giddy on the streets. While strolling down Fifth Avenue, I overheard a man on his cell phone telling a friend that he was so excited that he “couldn’t work and left the office early” just so he could go and watch the election coverage. There was truly something in the air that day.
Watching the World Change
The next day, as the 2008 Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Conference took off, all talk was about the consequences of Obama’s presidency for the future of the country and the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on a global scale. In a room full of the top leaders of the business community both in the US and internationally, I felt as though I was in the presence of visionaries who had hope for the future. It didn’t matter whether they were Democrats or Republicans; in that room at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, there was discussion about the next level of collaboration between corporations, NGOs, foundations and supranational organizations such as the United Nations to make the world a healthier place for all of us to live and work.
One of the most prominent messages that kept coming up again and again throughout the three days of the conference is that it is no longer a viable option to keep CSR on the periphery of business activities. It needs to be incorporated into the mainstream and daily plans of organizations to ensure continuity and sustainability in their activities, but most of all to create meaningful impact for society. Throwing a wad of cash towards an issue is the old system and an outdated way of thinking. The new dialogue is around intentional collaboration towards real change.
In Conversation with Peter Senge
To explain this idea further, Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact, emphasized that it is now “time to invest in what connects us.” In many ways, Kell is joining the voice of creative thinkers such as Peter Senge in providing momentum for the movement towards a shift of collective consciousness. Senge’s recent book, The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World, provides successful case studies of such collaborations in action. Although the word ‘revolution’ in a political sense has often been associated with a type of surrender and uprising against the existing structure, the revolution that Senge and his co-authors are encouraging is slightly different in that it “is not about giving up; it’s about rediscovering what we most value.”
In his panel at the BSR event, Senge asked us to break up into groups and think about a hypothetical situation where we lived on an island of only 1,200 inhabitants and were brought together to create the new governing principles to ensure that this island survives and grows with only the resources that are within its confines. Most of the ideas that came out of the discussion were generally centred on cultivating integrative communication practices to encourage transparency, balance and a sense of community. One of my favourite suggestions was to make all decisions on the island thinking about not only ourselves or our children, but with the next seven generations in mind.
Within that mindframe, what choices are you making that would need to change?
Meeting the Molson’s
(1st post from new ARC blogger in residence, Jamie Sigal)
Tuesday started out as hectic as any other day in this Big City life where most people truly seem to need twenty-eight hours in order to get everything that they need done, and this was even more so the case when it came to Billie who had only stepped off of a flight from California only about two short hours earlier. And when you factor in the time-change and jetlag he was dealing with, he was actually working on a twenty-one hour day, so he didn’t even have the luxury of those extra three hours we all take so much for granted.
Personally, I was probably just as lagged and exhausted as Billie was himself because I couldn’t sleep a wink the night before. I wanted to, I just couldn’t. I was nervous. Like the first day of school butterflies that used to haunt me as a child, I was anxious and wild with anticipation because this was the big day. This was the day where I felt like everything would either come together in some sort of serendipity like it was written in the stars by the Fates themselves, or it would all come crashing down around our feet like so much detritus and litter from an uncaring, unfeeling world. I may sound overly dramatic here, but you’ve got to understand: This was IT; “IT” being my first time to meet the really big players in the game of our film. This was the day of my first meeting with Molson.
Molson is more than just a beer company. Molson is more than just a brand or a logo. Molson is more than just good times with good friends. Molson, in name, in practice, and in product, quite literally is and are Canadian. Molson is a symbol of the best Canada has to offer, a tried, true, and trusted representative of all that we are and all that we stand for. Molson have made themselves into self-appointed ambassadors to the world by naming their pinnacle of Canada’s most famous product after all of us, and we’re loved the world around for it. I know this because I lived in America for eight years, and I was still always able to find a Molson Canadian in every grocery store (for which I paid a premium since my friendly neighbourhood beer was now affixed with the word ‘Import’ on its label), and I was always responded to with a smile and an enthusiastic “For sure!” when I’d offer one to a visiting friend or neighbour out by our Melrose Place apartment pool. Molson Canadian was the first beer I ever tried after begging my dad for a sip during Sunday barbeques when I was a kid, and Molson Canadian was the first beer I bought when I was finally legal and able to visit the Beer Store and actually make eye-contact with the clerks. I can name at least three people I know who have Molson Canadian cans or bottles tattooed somewhere on their bodies. Molson is far more than just a brand or a name to us Canucks; Molson is a way of life.
And now I was going to meet the people who make it. I’ve had my mind blown on many an occasion in my long strange life, and I’ve got to say, this moment was up there with the best of them. I was going to meet the people who make the beer! No, better than that, I was going to meet the bosses of the people who make the beer! I was going to meet the people in charge of one of our most famous and favourite national brands, the direction that it takes and everything it stands for, and to me that was truly amazing, but wait! It gets better still! I was going to meet the people who run one of my favourite national corporations, and even more exciting than that, I was going to be working with them.
We’ve all seen their offices when we drive by on the 401. Every time I leave the airport and head up to the city, that big Molson logo has always been my landmark, the sign that I am safe home again. That’s how much that building means to me, but I never in a million years ever thought I’d have occasion to actually go inside. I won’t equate it to a Muslim reaching Mecca during the Haj, but to me personally, it was close.
The offices themselves are pleasantly unassuming from the outside, like any one of a billion suburban office parking lots you’ve driven through in your life, but inside you could tell there was an air of magic and reverence for who they were and what they stood for, and they proudly put it on display for any and all visitors to adore and distract themselves with as they approach the reception desk. First thing when you walk in the door you are greeted by a really old Molson’s Beer Truck. I don’t know much about cars, but when I say this was old, I don’t mean it was a classic old pick-up or anything like that; I’m mean that is was Model-T Ford era old. For all I know it could actually have been a Model-T, but like I said, I don’t really know that much about cars. All I can say, again, is that it really gave you an idea of the respect and reverence that they know they represent for Canadians around the world. The rest of the lobby is filled with frames of classic Molson logos from throughout the ages, and it really gave me a sense of the history of their product and how much they venerate the traditions they are responsible for carrying on into the future.
Then we met Ferg. Well, I met Ferg. Billie already knew him Ferg is the Vice-President of Government and Public Affairs for Molson, and from all I heard about him, I was expecting him to be The Man. You all know The Man. The hippies and yippies have been warning us about him for years, and all I knew about Ferg before I met him was that he was The Man and that he knew how to get things done. “But, he’s cool,” Billie assured me, and being the cynic and realist that I am, I thought, “He’s The Man. How cool could he be?” And my pessimistic answer: Not very.
I like it when my negative impulses are wrong, and wrong they were indeed. Ferg is so The Man, but he’s not The Man because he’s hardcore and stern, but rather, he’s The Man because he’s cool. He smiles, makes jokes, and still gets things done in an instant. He’s always on and he acts immediately and with a sense of urgency; it was pretty amazing to see. We then met some of the rest of Ferg’s team who we will be working with, and they were also all very nice, funny, and friendly people. Were they as cool as Ferg? I don’t know because I haven’t spent that much time with them yet (that comes next week when we get to go to Molson again to film them), but they certainly were receptive and helpful in any way they could be. This was a positive environment and you could sense the deserved pride they all felt for their company and their places in it. After my last few corporate experiences, this was amazing to see.
All in all a good and exciting experience that was capped off by the few minutes Billie and I had to wait in the John Molson Café while Ferg took an important phone call. Let me tell you, if you think the cafeteria at your office is cool, you’re wrong. Just plain old wrong. Unless you work at Molson, that is. Theirs has a long wooden bar with every single Molson product on tap and apparently ready for the taking. Go grab your sandwich from the lunch-ladies and help yourself to a pint of Rickards while you play at their pool table or with one of their arcade games, or just zone out while you eat to Bar-TV which they have beaming on screen placed high around the room. You think your cafeteria is cool? Well, theirs is a bar. Literally. With bundles of hockey sticks placed strategically around the walls just to remind you of who you are and where you’re from.
And me? I am Canadian.
Jamie Sigal
ARC Blogger in residence