Legendary Blog

On January 8, 2012, Novartis kicked off the new year with more than just good intentions.  Donating $9,500 and 120 One World Futbols to Indian Summer Camp, a place for children who are going through or recovering from cancer, this company took intentional actions to make a difference in the lives of others.

Taking team building to a new level, these 850 participants were challenged with some unique tasks.  Split into 60 teams these individuals were challenged to take something of little or no value to us and turn it into something remarkable.

Each team was given a bag of trash and two goals.  Create a product that will change the world and build a soccer ball that kids will enjoy.  Items that you or I might see as worthless were the pinnacle building blocks to these creations.

Clothe and water bottles manifested into an H20 filtration systems and rubber tubing and plastic bags morphed into durable soccer balls.  It is truly amazing what is possible when you shift your perspective.

Last week on a rainy Tuesday morning, 35 Novo Nordisk employees were gathering for a 2-hour team building event.  Ah, team building.  It can be like nails on a chalkboard.  Some people look at it as a break from their daily routine, while others look at it as a complete waste of time.  Together you get a group of people showing up with a filter of predispositions and a word that has ignited them all!

Little did they know, what they were actually going to be doing that day was much more experiential. From the very beginning of this 2 hour escapade there was an immediate nose dive from the expected as participants were challenged to become aware of the small opportunities that surround them on a daily basis.

This limbo had only started as they played a little game we like to call "Who are you?" Participants were challenged to communicate in terms that bypass surface levels of communication and unveil the very core beliefs of who we are.  Not only was this a great discovery of the people that surround them on a day to day basis, but this was also a rediscovery of one's self.

Nick Cannon knows what it is like to not know where your next meal is coming from.   He knows this because he grew up in poverty.  Pouring sugar packets in between two slices of bread was one of the ways he got from meal to meal.

"I remember being so excited when the holidays came around, and we'd get to go to the local food bank to get our holiday turkey," says Cannon.

Now in a position to give back, Cannon is grateful.  Teaming up with Feeding America, the National Association of Letter Carriers, and Campbell Soup Company, he encourages everyone to donate non-perishable foods.

With action spreading and impact becoming contagious Campbell Soup has pledged to donate one pound of food (up to one million pounds) for every person who joins the Stamp Out Hunger Cause on Facebook.

Everyone knows the importance of feeding the hungry, but you never really are grateful for being full until you've gone a couple days being hungry.  This is what makes Cannon's beliefs so powerful.  He has been exposed to multiple realities.

It has been nearly a year since the chaos and catastrophe of the BP oil spill.  Still remnants of oil are surfacing on shorelines and an entire eco system faces sizable risk.

Besides Kevin Costner's reoccurring roles in ecologically minded movies, he has taken a more direct step in safeguarding the environment from catastrophe.

Partnering with Ocean Therapy Solutions, Costner has developed giant drum-shaped machines that act as giant vacuum cleaners, separating the water from the oil.

Costner wants to ensure that a crisis like this does not come up again.  Even after the spotlight of the media has shifted off BP, Costner keeps the pressure on these corporate giants and their accountability.

These giant vacuums can suck 200,000 gallons of oil and water a day.  A significant difference compared to the workers that used hand held suction devices collecting oil one, tiny patch at a time a year ago. It's like trying to bail out water from an ocean liner with a thimble.  Costner's apparatus is designed to separate oil from huge volumes of water, creating a sizable difference, and saving an ecosystem that is already at risk.

Although the war in Eastern Congo ended in 2003, conditions remain far from adequate.  During terrible times, efforts are focused to giving aid and relief.  But perhaps one of the most dangerous times is when the focus dissipates and the needs remain dire.

Without the Congo's status being labeled with the looming proposition of war, awareness has shifted, while its inhabitants remain subjected to terrible brutalization.

In an effort to bring aid to a country who currently in not receiving any, Ben Affleck testified on behalf of Eastern Congo before the House of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee.

Affleck pleaded, "Woman and girls particularly have been so terribly brutalized there.  They're vulnerable and they don't have a government or stable military to protect them. "

Affleck will not sit back and let a country's citizens be torn apart.  After all, what chance do we have in a world where good people do nothing.

Japan, no doubt, has been shaken.  Earthquakes turn to tsunamis, tsunamis cause nuclear horror. The Japanese people are in a living turmoil not knowing what is going to happen or who is going to help.

Lady Gaga sends a message of hope.  Recording a video, her message of love means more than one can imagine to a person who has lost everything.

Gaga has also been selling a newly created bracelet that says "Pray for Japan" in both English and Japanese characters.  The proceeds, which currently exceed $1.5 million, are going directly to Japan relief efforts.

What these people are enduring is horrific and terrible.  But the actions of camaraderie, compassion, and kindness have powers that can trump the visceral, awesomeness of mother nature.  It is this love for others that can produce the most extraordinary outcomes.  With fiscal, emotional, and physical support all spawning from a belief of helping our fellow inhabitants of this world, we are showing what we truly are capable of and that is far from famous - it is legendary.

I always find "do you know" statistics to be so alarming.  Nestled in the top right hand corner of New Jersey, surrounded by cities, stores, homes, and other luxuries, I really don't have a sense for what occurs outside this bubble.  But alarming and shocking statistics can snap us from this waking splendor of life and open our awareness to other worlds.

900 million people do not have access to clean water, nearly half being children.

To think something so common, is so precious.  There must be something we can do.  Well, in 2007 the Unicef Tap Project was created based off the initial premise that participating restaurants would ask patrons to pay $1 for tap water that they normally get for free.

That $1 would provide a person clean drinking water for 40 days.

This idea is amazing yet simple and easily practiced.  The cause has grown and to help promote and provide incentives, celebrities have jumped on board.

Profits, gross income, benefits, minimal cost - all typical terms for a successful business.  The goal of the game, maximize the above.  The problem is when crisis hits, which it always does, business as usual is no longer the ideal.

Something new must breakthrough, and breakthrough it has.  For years the word philanthropic had no place in corporate business plans, but now we begin to see a change, a shift in stride, and a restoration of success.  Philanthropic business is good business.

One of the biggest examples is TOMS shoes.  Founded not more then five years ago, this extraordinary company is a giant.  But how?

They must have had some elaborative advertising campaign, putting themselves at the forefront of their industry. But, a further investigation would reveal no such efforts.  Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes discovered that if you do something good you don’t need to advertise or market.

This past Thursday we brought our legendary intent to 900 very extraordinary SFL employees in Quebec City with the launching of our Sole Purpose event.  Partnering with Soles4Souls, we are taking a joint effort to get shoes to the 300 million inhabitants of developing countries who have no such luxury.  But instead of just shipping out a bunch of shoes, our goal was to empower people to make a difference.  To be the change creating a lasting impact.