Corporate Citizenship

Today, I’m thinking about corporate citizenship. Yesterday, Monday, was our annual Golf Classic. I watched our amazing Chamber team welcome you, serve you, shuttle you, truly care about your unique experience of welcome. And then I got to spend the day driving the course, talking to members, welcoming guests, and thanking our sponsors. I am endlessly amazed by the team I get to work with and the people and organizations we serve.

It’s an extraordinary concept, corporate citizenship. It’s how a company aligns its actions with its declared values. It’s about contributing to a greater good, beyond personal or individual company benefit. I see this walked out every day within our team, our membership, within the employer community across this region. And I feel so proud to be a servant in this effort.

Yesterday I spoke with individuals who represent organizations large and small, and they cover the gamut. From logistics companies to assisted living facilities, to parking operations, bankers, attorneys, accountants, utilities, manufacturers… I met some fun young interns, reconnected with a few grizzled chamber veterans… and in the eyes and words of each was a passionate commitment to one another and to community.

I hope you feel proud too. Because your organizations fuel us. You fund the arts, the unsheltered, youth programs, our advocacy efforts. You serve on school boards, are high school coaches, foster parents, mentors, volunteers… Your organizations give you the time and opportunity to do so, and then you serve even beyond that.

So I feel good today; impressed by you; hopeful when I’ve felt just a little heavyhearted since end of Session this year. Thank you for walking out corporate citizenship every day, in your unique way.

See you in the trenches,

B