What Purpose Means to Ben & Jerry’s: An Essential Conversation
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A Memoir
Essential Conversations, August 24, 2020
Purposeful Leadership in Transformational Times
"What Purpose Means to Ben & Jerry’s"
Conversation Starter: Dave Rapaport, Global Social Mission Officer, Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc.
In the midst of a global Zoom outage, 55 of us gathered to hear from Dave Rapaport, long-time friend of CPL, who we met when he was Vice President of Earth and Community Care at Aveda Corporation.
Now at Ben & Jerry’s, Dave brought a powerful conversation of considering purpose at many levels: enterprise, team, individual, personal. Since their founding, Ben & Jerry’s as a company, now a global corporation, has a deep commitment to their social mission that is “baked” into everything they do.
Dave brought a long career of activism as a perfect fit with Ben & Jerry’s. But nothing worthwhile is without complexity and paradox. Many thanks to Dave for sparking some deep reflections and conversations. He spoke of purpose and purposelessness. What was key for us is the realization of why purpose is based in non-negotiable values. Expression of that purpose is a gift of authenticity and trust. A deep values conversations goes hand in hand with a purpose exploration.
This wordcloud reflects words posted in the chat -
More on the B&J recipe for staying true to their mission: How Ben & Jerry’s Perfected the Delicate Recipe for Corporate Activism https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-07-22/how-ben-jerry-s-applied-its-corporate-activism-recipe-to-blm
This is what we relearn and practice in the Art of Convening. If you recall, Chapter 1 focuses on Heart of the Matter, non-negotiable values and what do you stand for? It's powerful and profound. Simple and complex.
Join The Convening Institute* to to view the Zoom videos and notes.
We closed the session as we always do, after having followed the Art of Convening 9 Aspects Convening Wheel. Aspect 9 is Commitment to Action: What is your commitment to action? Something you are willing to act on in the next week.
Through these essential questions, and the conversations from them, we can be in a community of “hopeless” individuals willing to embrace our discomfort for the good of others, and take action for a positive future.
*Join The Convening Institute is a private community for AoC Grads & allies to advance convening & purpose leadership practices. Free.
Here are three practices to be present to what is needed around you:
1. Listening
FIRST. LISTEN. A natural respect for all voices emerges when we listen with respect for everyone’s voice without fixing, problem-solving or advice-giving.
The practice: next time you are with someone, listen as if your life depended upon it. Because their life might depend on it.
2. Speak from the Heart
Take a chance to speak about what has meaning and purpose for you. It will most likely be meaningful for the person you are with. Speaking honestly and simply from the heart is compelling and authentic.
The practice: Pause, take a deep breath, put your hand on your heart. Ask yourself, “what is at the heart of the matter, right now?”
3. Slow Down the Conversation
Being interested. Follow the other person’s lead. The tendency to have a quick response, or talk over someone with excitement, isn’t the same as deep listening.
The practice: Allow pauses between the speakers, for connection to occur and to allow something new to emerge.
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