Rally the Cause

#1 Thing You Need to Learn from this Post:
The World Cup has spawned one of the funniest faux Twitter fundraising campaigns: Cala Boca Galvao.

A More Detailed Exploration:
To help save the endangered galvao bird of Brazil, just tweet “Cala Boca Galvao” and 10 cents will be donated to the cause. Or, not.

It was bound to happen. Our seemingly unending need to spread awareness of important social issues has led to a spontaneous prank by a loose network of Brazilians on unsuspecting Twitter do-gooders.  Watch for yourself:

In case you’re wondering, “Cala Boca Galvao” is roughly translated into “Shut up, Galvao.” Who is Galvao?
According to the New York Times, he is “Brazil’s leading sports announcer, Galvão Bueno, a man who, to the ears of some Brazilians, is a bombastic cliché machine.”  With the start of the World Cup, many Brazilians will be uttering these words many times over the coming weeks.

This faux-lanthropy campaign illustrates the power of networked people working in loose coordination with each other.  What started as a trending topic on Twitter led to a couple creatives to concept and produce the video (in 32 hours with no sleeping). Others have added their creative touches including a poster.  It’s snowballed into one of my favorite memes of the year.

One second to tweet. One second to save a life.

Genius. Pure, networked comedic genius.

If you want to join in on the fun, just tweet this out: 
Help #bra Save the Galvao Birds.  http://bit.ly/galvaocpn

#1 Thing You Need to Learn from this Post:
An awakening is happening within the corporate sector. More people are beginning to reassess the definition of success – personal, professionally, and as a corporation.  Ray Chambers can serve as a model for young entrepreneurs striving to make a difference in the world.

A More Detailed Exploration:

Ray Chambers views visualization of his presentation

At the end of February, I had the opportunity to meet Ray Chambers following his presentation at the Harvard Social Enterprise Conference.  Of the many highly successful people I’ve met thru my fundraising days, he was one of the most grounded and humble.

Today, the Harvard Business Review published a solid profile of Ray Chambers, lauding him as the model collaborative leader.  Go read it if you haven’t already.

Ray comes from a modest background and became wealthy pioneering the leveraged buyout industry on Wall Street.  Though wealthy and accomplished when he retired, he confided that he still felt a void in his life and sought the wisdom and advice of various people.  Through a series of events, Ray realized that he felt happy and satisfied when he was helping others.

The more he gave, the more he felt fulfilled.

When Matthew Bishop from The Economist suggested he share this new found awareness with his fellow Wall Street colleagues, Ray conceded that most of them were still under the belief that increasing their net worth from $2 billion to $5 billion was the path to happiness.  With the recent subprime crisis and other corporate tragedies, I could only wonder at what cost that net worth increase would create.

As I looked around the auditorium at the hundreds of MBA students listening, I hoped for their sake and our collective sake that Ray’s insights could serve as a model and inspiration.  Here’s a guy who has turned his energies on helping to solve some of the biggest problems of our day: mentoring disadvantaged youth and now eradicating malaria.

Of the many insights he shared during his presentation, I thought this was most enlightening on a personal level:

Five Not Readily Apparent Steps to Happiness

1. Stay in the moment.
2. Step back and become a spectator to your own thoughts.
3. It’s more important to be loving than to be right.
4. Go out of your way to serve others.
5. Each morning, write down what you are grateful for and read it throughout the day.

While I’m not one to believe any is perfect, I do believe certain people can offer you an example to follow.  Ray Chambers is one person I choose as a guide for my endeavors.

Speak your mind
Who are other people redefining corporate success?

#1 Thing You Need to Learn from this Post:
The networked marketplace demands that your actions do more than your words when it comes to social issues.

A More Detailed Exploration:
This past week, KFC was in the news for two very different reasons. The more prominent story was the nationwide rollout of the KFC Double Down – a sandwich of gluttonous proportions. Two chicken breasts serve as the “bread” and have slices of cheese, special sauce, and bacon strips as the “meat” of the sandwich. According to KFC’s nutritional statistics, the grilled version packs in 460 Calories, 23 grams of fat, and 1430 mg of sodium and the fried version weighs in with 540 calories, 32 grams of fat, and 1380 mg of sodium.

If you were watching broadcast TV this week, you would have noticed KFC’s other national rollout: Buckets for the Cure. This ambitious partnership with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure seeks to “make the largest single donation to end breast cancer forever” by donating $.50 for every pink bucket of chicken sold. While the website is impressive and puts the focus on the cause, it’s full of cause dissonance. That’s problematic as we become increasingly interconnected.

From the same web browser I viewed the campaign website, I did a few quick searches to learn more about the nutritional information of KFC buckets of chicken and the role of obesity in cancer.

Here’s what I learned from KFC.com (which currently features the Double Down wrapped in pink):

[Editor's Notes: Upon the request of KFC, I have calculated and included the nutritional facts for grilled chicken. According to KFC, the grilled version represents 25-30% of bone-in chicken sold in their stores.  That means 70-75% of all pink buckets will likely be fried chicken. Since grilled represents a material percentage of the total sales, I agreed to add this information.]

• KFC lists its nutrition facts based on individual pieces of chicken, not the bucket.
• Buckets come in 8, 12, and 15 pieces. You can choose between original recipe, extra crispy, spicy, or grilled. And you can get wings, thighs, drumsticks, and breasts.
• Assuming you like original recipe and buy a standard 8 piece bucket for your pink bucket, you’ll bring home 1,600 calories and 90 grams of fat. If extra crispy is more your style, say hello to 2,380 calories and 160 grams of fat.  Grilled will get you 980 calories and 46 grams of fat.
• If four people split the bucket, you’ll average 245 calories and 11.5 grams of fat (grilled), 400 calories and 22.5 grams of fat (original recipe), or 595 calories and 40 grams of fat (extra crispy).
• Calories from fat in the pink bucket is 41% (grilled), 49% (original recipe), and 60% (extra crispy).

Then I searched for daily nutrition guides and found this from the American Heart Association:

• Without any sides or beverages, two pieces of chicken total 14% (grilled) 22% (original) and 33% (extra crispy) of the recommended caloric intake for women age 31-50.
• For optimal health, total calories from fat should be 25-30% of your diet. Now compare that to the 41% (grilled), 49% (original recipe) and 60% that your pink bucket gives you.

According to Cancer.gov:

• “Nearly one-third of all adults are now classified as obese.”
• “The chief causes of obesity are a sedentary lifestyle and overconsumption of high-calorie food.”
• “20 percent of cancer deaths in women were due to overweight and obesity.”
• “Obese women are also at increased risk of dying from breast cancer after menopause compared with lean women.”
• “Weight gain during adulthood has been found to be the most consistent and strongest predictor of breast cancer risk in studies in which it has been examined.”

Then, I visited the Komen website and learned this:

• “Although being overweight seems protective in premenopausal women, weight gain should be avoided. Most breast cancers occur in postmenopausal women, and any weight you put on before menopause you will likely carry into your postmenopausal years. In two large studies, women were at increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer if they had gained 20 or more pounds after age 18.”

You Can Do Better than This
While many in the cause sector might focus their outrage or contempt on KFC for this, the same scrutiny needs to be put on Susan G. Komen for the Cure. How much is that $8.5 million worth to the cause, knowing the health damage these pink buckets will cause?

The same day I came across the Buckets for the Cure, I came across boxes of cookies at the grocery store that would trigger a $.25 contribution to the local Komen affiliate. My first thought: I’m sure they’d taste great with my pink bucket.

This post was originally posted on the University of Maryland’s Center for Social Value Creation Blog:

Let me get this out in the open. I think it’s ridiculous that we even need to have a term like “corporate social responsibility” or “CSR.” What’s more meaningless than talking in jargon and acronyms?

You can’t compartmentalize doing good anymore. It’s not a department. It’s not a job title. It’s who you are and what you do, not just what you say you are.

Somewhere along the way, we collectively forgot this fact.

In the broadcast era, those running companies were detached from those who bought their products and services. Brands were created to personify the company. By their very nature, brands are artificial constructs. This disconnectedness created a numbing effect on ethics and decision-making – much like a man shaving with a face full of Novocain.

Historically, companies have used cause marketing, corporate philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility efforts to offset any negative behaviors. Interestingly, many have housed these in different silos of operations. But with the world increasingly becoming interconnected, consumers want to see brands and companies realign their cause efforts into an integrated strategy.

For this reason, companies need to be rooted in authentic commitments to doing good. They need to be alive and dynamic, constantly manifesting themselves in the individual and collective actions of company staff and like-minded partners. Their initiatives should be aligned with company culture and principles, not out there as standalone projects.

Everything about our society is changing – rapidly and constantly.
 How we communicate, get and share information, and engage each other — online and offline – is different than it was just a few short years ago.

Information moves faster, people are more closely connected, and the level of interest and commitment that people have when it comes to social issues and causes has never been greater. Our society has shifted and how companies support causes, respond to disasters, and mobilize the public needs to shift as well.

The time has come for companies to move past the gimmicks and devote more earnest efforts at addressing the root problems of our day. It’s time companies ask more of their charity partners and actually solve the causes, not just serve them.

It’s time we get real about our role in bettering the world. Are you with me?