Calling all freshmen who plan to declare a business major. Don’t miss the pre-business freshmen advising/registration meeting on Wednesday, March 15, at 2 p.m. in AD 258 and Monday, March 20, at 2 p.m. in AD 258. We will review:
As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to launch hearings, labor groups and their Democratic backers are vowing to strongly oppose Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, citing in part his record that they say shows he has backed employers over OSHA, though they face a high bar as the GOP controls the Senate. “Judge Kavanaugh’s record is not one of someone who will be balanced -- and who will listen to each case without bias, it...
For most of the modern era, corporate giving and individual passions have been mostly siloed, as employee programs focused more on encouraging people to give to charities chosen by the company. Now, companies are beginning to embrace “The Power of And,” which encompasses both vertical AND horizontal engagement. That’s the scenario where the vertical pillars or specific charities in a company’s social responsibility strategy are complemented by a more horizontal or grassroots focus powered by the passions and interests of its people. Once you combine the two, it’s easy to see the powerful potential to engage your people more broadly AND boost awareness of your company’s positive role in society.
It’s all in how the concept of collective impact is redefining conventional approaches to CSR and corporate Goodness. Instead of limiting thinking of impact to the dollars that can be raised for a specific cause or charity by funneling people into a limited selection of charities that often mean little or nothing to them, technology is helping both democratize giving and catalyze “the crowd” in ways that drive behavioral change and create sustainable engagement and impact. And the key to doing that is making way for personal “passion projects.”
“Supporting the causes your people are excited about sends a clear message that their interests matter.”
One of the interesting attributes of Millennials and Gen Z in the workforce is that they seek work/life integration – rather than work/life balance like their Boomer predecessors – which has implications for both tools and programs. This huge employee cohort is giving and volunteering widely as part of who they are, so you should create a context where they can do so as part of your programs and employer brand, and ensure the company is seen as actively supporting them.
Imagine if everyone in your company could choose any charity that interested them. That’s like saying to them “I value you so much as an individual, I want to make the workplace right for YOU.” The birdwatcher in accounting who wants to donate to a local owl protection foundation? Done. The soccer-loving sales rep who wants to give to a kids-in-sport charity? No problem. It’s all about forging a personal connection between the employee and the company. And when you offer an open giving program to your employees, they are 5 times more likely to participate!
The desire to give and pursue a higher sense of purpose is almost always driven by people’s passions, so encouraging your people to create and promote their own passion projects can be hugely impactful. Supporting the causes your people are excited about sends a clear message that their interests matter. There’s also the very practical element: if they know that they can’t give time, money or talent to their favorite charity through your program, they likely won’t access your giving solution, so you have zero chance of helping evolve their interests and involvement to things that might more directly align with your brand and CSR strategy. Open choice and broad matching programs are a proven way to elevate employee engagement, and very likely a key driver in the record $17.8 billion given by corporations to charities in 2014. And to be clear, this doesn’t mean you have to ignore the projects and causes your company considers strategic. Your passions will often overlap, and featuring company grants or offering matches for specific causes (perhaps at higher rates than you match non-strategic causes) can help promote your program and projects to people who are looking for a new cause to support. Just recognizing your people’s personal interests could be the key to hitting your impact goals and targets.
As mentioned above, Millennials are a purpose-driven generation who consider it their duty to make a positive difference in the world, and they want to both see the same from the companies they work for and do it while they’re working. A whopping 82% actively consider a company’s CSR program before deciding where to work (Cone) and, compared to Boomers, they are far more likely to align their careers with their social values (32% vs. 17%), according to UBS’ Doing Well at Doing Good. Their personal interests are as varied as they are, and an easy-to-use, always on open choice program is the most effective way to engage them in doing good through your workplace, rather than just on their own. It may also introduce an element of purpose and meaning to their work that keeps them with you (and has them referring their friends!).
Corporate Goodness programs have huge potential to engage a wide spectrum of your people. By encouraging and rewarding personal interests, you can move the needle on engagement in the workplace, which – great news! – is on the upward trend. As corporate programs become more sophisticated and tuned to individuals, the future is nothing but Good!
It’s said, where there are apples there can be grapes. Such is the case with Coffin Ridge Winery that is among the emerging new wineries located in Southern Ontario’s historic apple growing region of Thornbury and Bruce County.
Realizing the potential of the area’s incredible apple fruit, Coffin Ridge decided to foray into a canned cider to serve a broader market than the winery and cidery can feed by hand sell.
Insite was asked to create a can that would extend the Coffin Ridge brand story and identity palette while utilizing some existing visual equity from their wine labels, namely their iconic tree.
Our goal was to create a striking and memorable package that would look as standout on the LCBO shelves starting this spring as it will in your local pub.
I’ve been looking at those porcelain pots for a couple of days now. The best of them were priced and packed off to my show yesterday. During the process of sanding the traces of wadding from each foot, and checking for the “salt glitter” that sometimes pokes out of the glaze like a tiny nail, I had plenty of time to reflect on their qualities.
I like them a lot, the good ones. There are about six pots – two plates, two open bakers, and a couple of bowls, that are warped to a degree that is pretty crazy. They’re not just warped, the entire piece softened and slumped over the wads in a manner that I couldn’t have imagined. They are not from the hottest part of the kiln, which produced perfect porcelain cups with the cone pack recording a top temperature somewhat north of Cone 11.
I’ll be keeping this particular cup… it’s a form I like – unfussy – and I like the flicker of cobalt that fumed out of the top. There wasn’t as much cobalt fuming as I anticipated, but I can definitely see tiny dots of pink that I has gotta be copper that was circulating through the kiln on several of the pots. At worst, it looks like pink dirt because it wants to be orange peel as much as it wants to be copper, pretty interesting….
This little two-cup teapot show some of the copper contamination, but not enough to be icky. There are a few pieces where I simply missed a glaze dribble; not a good thing when the glaze is dark blue and the pots is naked white.
The hand built pots came through just fine. There was a little bit of that “squeezed” effect at the top that sometimes happens in high fire hand building, but not enough to make the pot a second. There were four big rectangular vases… all are nice.
This teapot was one of the nicest pots in the load. Somehow I feel like the white surface; the modest gloss; the dense, almost milk-glass like quality of the surface – there’s a property to the skin of this work I can’t quite describe – moves me closer to what whatever it is that I am really wanting to make. You know, closer to those pots you see when your eyes are closed.
But then there’s this…. wild warping. On the other side of this ceramic frisbee is some of the most beautiful carving I have ever done. BAH! I didn’t even mentioned that the casserole lids slumped over their wads, autodestructing and spoiling three otherwise perfect pieces….
Enough snivelling! There will probably be more white pots…. especially if those Exceptionally Special, Clever, Educated, and Generous people who buy my pottery want to pay money for it. I will trial other porcelains, no doubt, and maybe I’ll find a perfect porcelain for my salt kiln.
I’m biased, but can I recommend Porcelain for the People by Matt and Dave’s Clay, It is designed to perform in all those ways that it looks like your current body is coming up short.