Today we announced our commitment to the Pledge 1% effort. I want to tell you why I
decided to do this.
Back in 2009, we were an early user of Salesforce.com. Mark Benioff, the founder and CEO of Salesforce, wrote a book about how he started and grew the company called "Behind the Cloud". I read the book soon after it came out and was most impressed by section 6: 'The Corporate Philanthropy Playbook - How to Make Your Company About More Than Just the Bottom Line'. At that time, I made a mental note that I would put this into effect if I ever had the chance.
Frankly, I forgot about the topic in the ensuing years. But, the COVID-19 situation cancelled some trips and delayed some sales cycles and I started to think about what to do with my time during the lockdown. I wondered if crowd-solving might be of benefit to organizations with big goals but limited resources. Market research quickly confirmed the demand and potential impact of the proven process on humanitarian work.
However, I didn't want to change the direction of the whole company. The Pledge 1% framework is perfect for this situation. It allows the company to continue to focus on offering crowd-sourced solutions to the seafreight community as its primary objective. But in parallel with these efforts, SeaFreight Labs can be about 'more than the bottom line' by offering crowd-solving services to global humanitarian organizations. Stay tuned for future news!
A SECOND REASON
There are over 11,000 companies that have publicly taken the 1% Pledge. I expected that a global industry like logistics or seafreight, with a continuing and public concern for its local communities of operation, would have many members already. So, I was shocked to find it difficult to locate more than a few like FlexPort, Intelligent Logistics and Shippo. Where were the other leading companies? Why aren't hundreds or thousands of seafreight-related companies members of the movement?
I hope that my effort to publicize the Pledge 1% organization can be educational for our industry. I hope to demonstrate that a serious commitment from even a small consultancy like SeaFreight Labs can make an outsize impact on my community and our world. And I hope that these efforts lead others to join the Pledge 1% movement in the near future.
I have found that the best outcomes happen when one sets a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). So, here is my BHAG: by 31 May 2021, we will see TEN additional companies in the seafreight/logistics/maritime industry publicly take the 1% Pledge. Please let me know if you hear of a company from our industry taking the Pledge. Join me by making a #SeaFreight1percentPledge!