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Building a Foundation for a Stronger Company: Hope, Unity and Purpose

Written by: Mark Coleman

Article Overview: Hope, Unity and Purpose. These are the foundational words that the future generations of corporate leaders are using to build better people, better products, better brands and better businesses in a changing world. Many companies like SHARP, GE, Whirlpool, OwensCorning and Shaw Industries are developing “eco and green” products that enable customers to achieve their goals toward sustainability and individual responsibility to reduce their footprint on the earth. These companies are the foundation by which a new economy is being formed, one that is more robust and transparent that its predecessor; and one that is responsive to the needs of a global society.

Building a Foundation for a Stronger Company: Hope, Unity and Purpose

Hope, Unity and Purpose. On January 20th 2009 Barack Obama was sworn into office as the 44th President of the United States speaking these articulate and carefully chosen words to millions of Americans as he defined this pivotal and transformational time in history. In listening to President Obama’s inaugural address and watching the reaction from those that were at the Inauguration, one could only feel a sense of hope, unity and purpose.

The feeling and positive force of change could be felt, like strong and warm spring breezes overshadowing a long winter and sprouting new life. In a speech that was as eloquent as something Lincoln might have delivered, President Obama stated, “On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”

President Obama went on to state, “For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do…Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”

The praise and hope President Obama delivered reminded me that we area as a nation and we as a global society are now choosing a new path of prosperity and purpose, one that is rooted in individual responsibility, strong values, and a new foundation for growth that is built upon fair play, tolerance and courage. This is truly an exciting and proud time to be an American, and a global citizen ready for the spring blossoms.

As Corporate Citizens this holds equally true as well. For example, on January 27th-29th 2009 the AHC Group will be hosting more than 60 corporate leaders in Phoenix, Arizona to communicate their sense of hope, unity and purpose in 2009 and beyond. The AHC Group’s January 28th and 29th Corporate Affiliate Workshop agenda features leaders including MASCO, Suncor Energy, DTE Energy, Sterling Planet, StrategGen, SHARP, International Paper, CH2M Hill, ARCADIS, Baxter, Shaw Industries, Agrium, Bayer, Nexen, Aerojet, ESS, Deloitte, OwensCorning and more than forty more corporate leaders that are assembling, amid this time of change and financial constraint, to continue down a path of corporate responsibility. Each of these participants have chosen hope over fear in this challenging financial time. And, each of these companies stand to gain new ground through new sustainable growth as they continue to dialog, benchmark and learn from other leaders through expertly facilitated workshops like those managed by the AHC Group.

One of the great benefits of the AHC Group leader-to-leader workshop format is the ability for participants to learn from those that have managed large businesses through all types of challenges. An example is Dwight Bedsole, an AHC Group Senior Associate and former Director of Corporate Remediation for DuPont whose career there spanned 39 years. Reflecting on his past experience and thinking about the potential of corporate sustainability efforts, Dwight Bedsole recently noted,

“Sustainability has been around for a number of years now and is about where environmental compliance was 5 - 10 years ago…Meaning that 5-10 years ago there were companies that were stuck at environmental compliance and didn't see the value in going beyond, while a large segment of the industry clearly saw the competitive advantage of going beyond compliance. Today, going beyond is required table stakes and companies that don't realize it will not survive. So in the world of Sustainability you have the same transition taking place…there are companies that have gone beyond understanding the terminology and are making things happen and deriving shareholder value from the effort. Then there are others that complain that they don't understand the definition, etc. and are clearly not there yet. Companies that are there [Sustainability Strategy in Place] want to know what their competition is doing. Meaning, they want to benchmark their program initiatives, organizational and business strategy, and performance with similar sized companies, in similar industries and with a similar customer base. They clearly see Sustainability as competitive advantage. For this group they have heard the many stories about energy reduction, recycle, etc. and do not need to be sold on the concept and told how to organize their business units or internal teams. Rather, they want to know what competition is doing...and how they can position and differentiate themselves from their competition to yield greater terrain, reputation, moral and product advantage”

Dwight Bedsole, Senior Associate, AHC Group, Inc.
former Director Corporate Remediation, DuPont

Dwight Bedsole summed up the competitive context and transition most companies have experienced in the past decade and more. From an AHC Group perspective we have seen market leaders evolve not just from superior products and services, but from understanding what their competition is doing, and how that fits into the context of their individual compliance and beyond compliance initiatives. Further, we have seen, for some of the most advanced companies, new growth emerge from what Dwight Bedsole calls “Sustainability as Competitive Advantage”.

Sustainability as competitive advantage is not new, as Dwight Bedsole noted. However, many corporations continue to falter in defining and communicating what sustainability means to their customers, operations, employees, products and shareholders. We are seeing, across numerous industries and corporate organization structures, a need to identify opportunities to save energy, deploy renewable energy, modernize facilities and upgrade infrastructure. We are, simultaneously identifying a need to create corporate sustainability strategy that can tie operational, governance and risk reduction strategies together to deliver performance toward the corporate bottom line while reducing the corporate footprint.

Many companies like SHARP, GE, Whirlpool, OwensCorning and Shaw Industries are developing “eco and green” products that enable customers to achieve their goals toward sustainability and individual responsibility to reduce their footprint on the earth. Due consideration and advances in corporate responsibility toward the supply chain are now being developed by some of the world’s largest firms. These forward thinking companies are acting upon their strong values to help reduce their customers’ footprint. The difficult tasks of purposeful growth, holding true to values and acting on individual responsibility are not just powerful themes spoken at inaugural addresses. They are the foundation by which a new economy is being formed, one that is more robust and transparent that its predecessor; and one that is responsive to the needs of a global society.

Hope, Unity and Purpose. These are the foundational words that the future generations of corporate leaders are using to build better people, better products, better brands and better businesses in a changing world. We commend those leaders that have acted on their personal and corporate responsibility and chose to participate in the AHC Group’s January 27th-29th “Achieving Results” workshops. These select leaders are continuing to strive toward excellence as they navigate an economy and government in transition. Yours in thanks and spirited enthusiasm for the future!

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Article Tags: 44th president, barack obama, colleges and universities, discord, electric grids, fair play, inaugural address, inauguration, january 20th, long winter, new era, new foundation, new jobs, patriotism, president of the united states, quiet force, roads and bridges, spring breezes, time in history, warm spring



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