GIVING IS A TEAM SPORT
A few years ago, Bill Gates said this:
People all over the world want to work for a company they feel good about. Show them a company that helps the poorest and they'll repay that commitment with their own dedication.
In B1G1 we see that happening every day in the businesses of our Members and Partners around the globe. And recently, a team member for one of our newer partners, LaserZone on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast wrote this to his boss:
Hi Annette:
After reading the press release, I just wanted to let you know how proud I am to work at Laserzone. I think you guys are passionate, driven and I really like the direction you're taking things. It is business owners like you who have the power to change the world a little bit at a time and you really seem to be embracing the fact. I also wanted to let you know that whatever you need for this business and for this initiative to be successful I'm willing to commit. Please don't hesitate to ask if any of my skills can be used for anything.
That’s the perfect expression of Bill Gates’ view. And so is this:
In early 2011, Queensland was ravaged by truly serious flooding. And as the flooding subsided, the Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, appealed for 6,000 people to clean up the damage the floods had caused. She didn’t get 6,000. By all accounts, 80,000 people turned out.
The message is pretty clear isn’t it?
When the sense of purpose is big enough, people will do amazing things. And if you express that in a business sense, it’s almost the same: when your sense of purpose is big enough, your business transforms (because people like that team member from LaserZone really ‘get’ that higher sense of purpose that springs from giving). And that happens when giving becomes a team sport.