I recently received information from Betsy Storm, principal of Top Drawer Communications located in Chicago, Illinois about a new endeavor she started. The Mom Entrepreneur endorses Barack Obama so I was intrigued to learn what Betsy was doing to create awareness as well as increase her business. Here is her story…
“About eight months ago, I decided to boost my business while doing something good for the Obama Campaign at the same time. I used my knowledge of graphics, printing, marketing and PR in general to design and produce a limited-edition (500) high-quality long-sleeve T-shirt sporting the slogan “Mamas for Obama Know the Power of Voting.” The T-shirt, printed in front and back in color, has been a moneymaker for my business, a great way to raise awareness of my communications business and a fundraiser for the Obama Campaign. I will give $1,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the T-shirt to the Obama Campaign within a couple of weeks.”
Traci Bisson has been a mom since February 2000 and an entrepreneur since August 2000. Eight weeks after she returned from maternity leave, the company where she had been employed for five years went out of business. She decided to try doing her own thing and failed miserably. After another year of working for two different companies (the first laid off the department she worked in and the other was showing signs of going under), she decided to try entrepreneurship again. Raising her two children and growing her company, Bisson Barcelona, has been both challenging and rewarding. Her story has been told in dozens of publications, including the Associated Press, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB.com), Plan Ahead Get Ahead (cover story), Union Leader, The Portsmouth Herald, Our Times and Seacoast Ventures.
Preface: This isn’t a post about whether ExxonMobil is good or bad. It just triggered a thought in my head, so ExxonMobil is only a vehicle for an idea, not the subject matter itself. OK? But maybe the subject matter is corporate responsibility…but maybe it isn’t. I’m not sure yet.
As I walked past my colleague’s desk a moment ago I saw press release about management training for Indonesian women, sponsored by ExxonMobil. This reminded me of the link I posted a week ago about ExxonMobil being sued over human rights violations in Aceh.
So we’re thinking about a company accused to doing ‘bad’ things, who then does ‘good’ things in the communities where it works (forget about the merit or strength of the ‘good’ things vs the ‘bad’ things in the case of ExxonMobil. That’s not where my thoughts are going today).
While you could say that ExxonMobil sponsors projects (another example here) to improve their image (and you’d probably be right), there is probably someone working for ExxonMobil who adopts the philosophy that it’s better to ‘do good’ in the community, even if there are PR gains, than not to do anything at all, and maybe that’s right too. But it makes me wonder about ‘being good’ vs ‘doing good’ (although I’m already having doubts about my own distinctions here. We’ll see how far I can take them).
If we consider a person. A not very nice person (suspend judgment of ExxonMobil now, we’re moving on), called Stan. Stan is a grump, overly cynical and tells four-year-olds that Santa Clause isn’t real. Not a very nice guy right? But Stan knows he’s not a very nice guy, so to make up for it he gives money to children’s charities.
1. Does giving money to children’s charities make up for being a not very nice guy?
2. Should Stan forget about easing his conscience by giving money to charity and just start being a nice guy?
3.Assuming that Stan would like to be a better guy but doesn’t know how to be or doesn’t want to be (surely we all have things about ourselves that we would like to improve but haven’t), is it better to give the money to charity or, because it’s a token gesture, forget about it?
It seems like Stan is choosing to ‘do good’ occasionally rather than ‘be good’ as often as he can.
1. Assuming that most of us want to ‘be good’ but are probably lacking in some areas, should we continue to strive to ‘be good’ or should we accept that we have limitations and take a ‘do good’ approach?
2. Is there any difference between the two? Does ‘being good’ just mean that you ‘do good’ many times a day?
3. Is it just a scale of ‘doing good’ frequency that’s the issue? Stan is still a butt because he does a lot of bad and a little bit of good, but his friend Sally ‘is good’ because she commits herself daily to ‘doing good’ for others.
Epilogue: For the sake of expressing this thought I have ignored what I think is the key issues of ‘what is good/what is bad’, and ‘how do we measure the impact good/bad’. In fact, without exploring those ideas this post is just a silly ramble.
Also, the corporation as person? If you haven’t watched The Corporation yet watch it soon.
This post was submitted to BizzyWomen by a great blog, Where is Sarah?, written by Sarah Fortuna, an Australian writing for her friends and family while she is living abroad. This blog was begun while Sarah was living in Banda Aceh, Indonesia as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development.
Much of the focus at BizzyWomen.com is on work/life issues. How to balance career and family. Prioritizing what’s important in life, and gaining both professional and familial fullfilment. If you are looking to put things in perspective, check out this video on the story of John Challis.
John’s motto of courage+believe=life, and the way that he lived his motto is inspirational. Not even cancer could prevent him from living his life to the fullest, and accomplishing his goals. His message of living your life for today and maximizing your activities is a lesson for us all to internalize. This teenager was truly special. He started a foundation, The Courage For Life Foundation, to ” To provide Life Encouraging Sporting Experiences and Community Support for High School Athletes with Life Threatening Illnesses.”
Unfortunately, John passed away yesterday at the age of 18. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, and his inspiration will live on with us forever.
Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.
From a distance I hear ‘can you spare a dime?’
Can change hold off a life of crime?
Are my thoughts silly or sublime?
He nears, will I get off in time?
He’s probably just down on his luck,
What’s wrong if I give him a buck?
I’d help out a friend who is stuck,
Perhaps he won’t see me when I duck.
“Help out your fellow man,” we’re told
But people’s faces are stone cold–
“He’ll learn his lesson–all withhold!”
Am I to judge? Is that too bold?
Closer and closer ’spare a dime?’
Will my change change his life, or mine?
Are my thoughts silly or sublime?
He nears, will I get off in time?
A special thanks to Abe who helped with the editing.
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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.
Bizzy Women aims to bring high quality information together in one place to empower busy professional women. Topics include investing, finance, work-life balance, parenting, and everything in between.
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bout a new endeavor she started. The Mom Entrepreneur endorses Barack Obama so I was intrigued to learn what Betsy was doing to create awareness as well as increase her business. Here is her story…
sporting the slogan “Mamas for Obama Know the Power of Voting.” The T-shirt, printed in front and back in color, has been a moneymaker for my business, a great way to raise awareness of my communications business and a fundraiser for the Obama Campaign. I will give $1,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the T-shirt to the Obama Campaign within a couple of weeks.”
sporting the slogan “Mamas for Obama Know the Power of Voting.” The T-shirt, printed in front and back in color, has been a moneymaker for my business, a great way to raise awareness of my communications business and a fundraiser for the Obama Campaign. I will give $1,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the T-shirt to the Obama Campaign within a couple of weeks.”
