P&G

Work has been exhausting lately. After a while, a never ending to-do list just gets plain ol' tiring! Plus I've been spending a bunch of time lately on fundraising. One thing I've learned - fundraising is SO not for me! It's awesome when you get some money for your organization but inevitably it also includes rejection after rejection - how do you not take it personally?

But fortunately, there are also some really cool parts to my job. Today's highlight? I got to chat with the CEO of Procter & Gamble, Robert McDonald. Just me, my boss and one of my colleagues sitting in a conference room with him chatting for about a half-hour.

That man runs a $79 BILLION dollar in sales a year company and is boss to ~135 THOUSAND staff members around the world. He made $2.125 MILLION DOLLARS last year (and we're just talking P&G annual salary/bonus here, not even thinking about stock options or any other income which I bet at least double that figure).

And there we were talking to him about the importance of corporate leadership in social impact. Not that we had to tell him anything ... P&G actually does pretty well on their own. They have all sorts of innovative programs that have 2 goals in mind - (1) sell more product!, and (2) improve people's lives and have a positive impact with those products.

I love that Bob (yup, I'm on a first name basis now :) really gets the dynamic of doing good by doing well. Earn more money and sell more products all day long, but if you can find opportunities where, by doing good, you can also sell more product and earn more money - rock on!

Don't get me wrong, I know that companies try to make money and make as much of it as possible. That is the incentive structure that they are working under - I paid a whole lot of money to learn all about that in b-school. :)

But I also believe that there are times when companies can pursue socially impactful projects that still help their bottomline. There are a plethora of examples of companies doing good things and those good things lead to opportunities to grow their markets, increase awareness about their brand, increase loyalty and retention rates from their employees (one of the bigger issues keeping execs up at night), attract the creme de la creme of recruits because you are a company that they can believe in, and avoid that unwanted negative attention from the NGO and advocacy world (which can be quite expensive dealing with!).

P&G is really putting that in to action. I met with their Tide marketing team a few months back to talk about one of their programs called "Loads of Hope". You've probably seen their commercials - when a major disaster strikes in the US (e.g., Hurricane Katrina), Tide sends out a huge truck full of washers and dryers (and lots of Tide product!) and helps families wash their clothes and sheets, etc. Certainly, they are not solving all the issues of that community but they are helping the families start to get a sense of normalcy back in to their lives. In return, the Tide brand gets a ton of free advertising and wins over new customers to their product line. And if you buy a bottle of yellow-cap Tide in the supermarket, a % of the proceeds go to help families affected by disasters.

P&G is working to run similar programs with other product lines ... the Pampers brand partners with UNICEF and for every pack of Pampers purchased in the US, P&G donated 1 tetanus vaccine for newborns around the world. During the 2009 campaign, 45 million vaccines were provided by P&G and, in return they got a ton of great press (including Salma Hayek hocking Pampers and breastfeeding some random child in Africa on one of the trips to raise awareness about the vaccines - now that story got some press!).

Anyway, you get the point. These win-win situations don't always exist but it certainly is inspiring to get to talk to leaders who believe in the power of doing good and are making their companies find those opportunities wherever they exist!

New Year's Resolutions

I think I'm just giving up on New Year's resolutions - seriously, does anyone actually succeed at those?

I was just reading an article that said about 100 million Americans make resolutions each year. How many of those actually stick to those resolutions? Apparently 35% have broken their resolutions by the end of January, and by year's end more than 75% break them. Well, at least I'm in good company, I suppose.

Anywho, here's what I said last year and my thoughts on how successful I was at 'em...

1) Get Healthy (get back in shape despite my job that takes up way too much of my time and eat healthier including more organics and local food)
--> Well, at least I got rid of the old consulting job so I would say score one for the huge mental health upgrade! :) And we have been eating a lot more local foods and organics from our local farmer's markets.

But the getting in shape part? Umm, not so much! I actually worked out the other day but by the end of the night I was laid out on the couch, watching tv and eating ice cream while icing my knee with a bag of frozen okra. Ha, take that New Year's Resolution!

2) Never Stop Learning (learn how to play the guitar; take a religions class (or at least read those books I bought years ago!); just read more in general)
--> A big negative on the guitar and religion classes but I have been reading a bit more so that's good.

3) Keep Giving (donate more of my time to charities and do some good; give more of my time to friends and family to make sure they know how much I love and appreciate them!)
--> Yup, total failure on this one! And to all of my friends and family still waiting for me to call or email - just know that I love and appreciate you and maybe I'll turn over a new leaf in 2010 ;)

So, bottomline? If I came up with another set of resolutions for 2010, they would be eerily familiar. So, I'm just going to consider 2010 as "take 2"!

An Asheville New Year's

After the JR's kerfuffle, we went on our merry way to Asheville. We've been to Asheville a few times before but always for really quick weekend trips. This time, we wanted to stay for a few days, explore a bit more and get a chance to see the Biltmore Estate.

Most people that have heard of Asheville know of it because of the Biltmore which is a huge tourist attraction (I think they said it attracts more than a million visitors each year). It is the largest privately-owned home in the US - built by the Vanderbilt family in 1889 (although construction wasn't completed until 1895). We decided that if we were really going to get the Biltmore experience, we should stay on the grounds one night so we stayed at the Inn at Biltmore which was amazing.


Staying at the Inn allowed us to walk to the Biltmore Winery where we took a tour and participated in a wine tasting. We had some delicious wine (and bought a case to take home with us!)


We also spent a lot of time touring the beautiful Biltmore grounds. When the Biltmore was originally built, the grounds included ~125,000 acres. The landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, creator of Central Park in NYC. Over time, the Vanderbilts ended up selling off much of the land so it "only" encompasses about 8,000 acres today. But it is still beautifully landscaped and the grounds are quite a sight to see.




We also had a chance to see the Biltmore at night - which was amazing (though cold!). We went on a "Candelight Christmas" evening tour, touring the house when it was all decked out for the holidays and had carolers performing inside. The house is amazing with 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone houses a swimming pool, gymnasium, bowling alley, servants' quarters, kitchens, and more. Totally amazing when you think about it being built in the 1800s!

It was a really neat experience to see it at night, all lit up for the holidays!


Besides touring the Biltmore, shopping, hanging out in downtown Asheville, and eating LOTS of food (Asheville is known as a "local food" haven, delicious food all over the place and lots of organic, locally sourced, vegetarian cuisine so, of course, I was happy!). We also went to the Grove Park Inn where an annual Gingerbread competition takes place (apparently very well known and even covered by the Food Network!)

Here are just a few of the Gingerbread houses that were on display. I have no idea how long it takes to make these things - way more than I have the patience for, I can promise you that!



And finally, we celebrated New Year's at the Orange Peel - a small venue in downtown Asheville that has been recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the top music venues in the US. We saw a great show - State Radio opened and Toubab Krewe was the main act - and welcomed 2010 with a fun night out!


Happy 2010 to all - wishing everyone the best in the year to come!

Traveling to Asheville

After Christmas at the Layburns ended, Brad and I decided to take a mini-vacation of our own. Flying off somewhere proved to be too expensive so we decided to head off to Asheville, NC which is only about a 3 hour drive up in to the mountains of NC.

Much like on our way to Charleston, SC, when we saw a million signs for "South of the Border" and just had to stop; on this trip, there were many, many signs for "JR's". Billboard after billboard promising amazing riches of cigars, jeans, socks, antique dolls, towels ... pretty much any random thing that you could imagine.

Of course, we couldn't resist :) So, off to JR's, we went. Here we are in the parking lot, marking our triumphant arrival at shopping mecca, or as the signs told us - "we were about the enter the ultimate shopping zone"!



Unfortunately, the ultimate shopping zone was a major disappointment :(

Unless you are looking for some camouflage, I think you can skip this stop. We bought a nail clipper, some candy for the roadtrip and a bunch of Christmas gift bags. Not quite the goldmine that we were hoping for but still an entertaining side-trip.