David Helmer: Businesses, employees can work for greater purpose
As a business owner, I have never warmed to the phrase, "The business gave back to the community."
It presumes that something was initially given to the business that now requires it to return the favor. In the free marketplace, doesn't a willing
buyer exchange currency with a business to receive a good or service that the buyer
deems an equitable trade?
Having said that, I am reconsidering the broader vision of what my business is
about. Of course, there is the ongoing desire for delivering excellent product and
outstanding customer service, developing efficient operations and maximizing
shareholder value. Yet, there is another vision that has come into focus in recent
years, which has caused me to repurpose both my business and personal goals.
It has to do with leveraging company resources (capital, people, ideas,
relationships) toward the promotion of social justice in a world that desperately
needs all hands on deck.
An entrepreneurial business has a unique opportunity to be involved in
developing solutions that can address significant social problems. There is also
the opportunity to lead its people toward greater purpose. How many employees
dream of greater personal significance while they faithfully execute their
responsibilities? How many company owners dream of the same thing? I would
guess most.
At my company we are using available financial resources to leverage our people
to engage in developing and executing social solutions.
Our senior management team recently traveled together to Guatemala to
strategize with one of our international charitable partners about how our
company could offer its capability to help develop the local economy, lifting
additional families out of dire poverty. We also built a few small homes. Try
upgrading your family of eight into a 12-by-14-foot "tool shed." Another company team
will travel to Ukraine in July to help in an orphanage for mentally disabled
boys.
As a business, we also are providing personnel, ideas and capital for social,
health and economic projects in Hamilton County, South Africa and Russia. The
benefit to my company is an engaged staff that sees a greater purpose in their
daily work and gains a broader vision for what their lives can be about.
While I don't like the phrase "gave back," I am all about the term "strategic
charitable investment." It's good for the community, the world and my business.
If you are interested in learning with me about how companies can creatively
engage in solving local and global justice issues, I invite you to e-mail me at
dhelmer@helmerinc.com. Maybe it's time to expand the vision of what your
business or career can be about, too.
David Helmer is president and co-founder of Helmer Inc., a Noblesville-based
company that produces temperature-control devices for blood storage for
customers around the world.