Читать книгу The Doing Good Model - Shari Arison - Страница 8
ОглавлениеFrom Caterpillar to Butterfly
Transformation is a subject I have breathed and lived for most of my life. Some people might say I had it easy—I inherited a fortune. But it’s like they always say: it’s not what you have that matters, but what you do with it. This book is about what I did with it.
I always wanted to make a difference in the world, and I’m on a constant path of personal growth and transformation. Having spent thirty years leading in philanthropy and overlapping the last fifteen years running a global business, I learned that together, these two worlds form a huge platform for positive change. Because my company operates in more than forty countries on five continents with thousands of people in our global workforce, we have an incredible impact.
In order to create long-term sustainable change, I knew I had to engage the right people who formed the right teams to create strategy and implementation. My goal was to introduce a values-based perspective in order to transform all of my business entities, because I knew in my heart even then that all of my holdings would have to be congruent with my own moral compass. I knew this change would be possible with vision, never giving up, and by being a personal example to others.
Anyone who knows me knows that when I have a vision, followed by a deep calling in my gut, nothing will stop my persistence in making it happen. It has taken time, but together we’ve been able to create a model that has turned into our organizational compass.
Now we have a practical, and yet elated, guide to follow. It’s a business model that has grown from within and matured over time, a model that guides us at the Arison Group in our daily work, making decisions and acting upon them. Because we feel that everything we do focuses on doing good, it was easy to come up with a name: The Doing Good Model.
The Transformative Power of Doing Good
Doing good gradually became my go-to mantra, and I have found very creative ways to use my platforms to advance this concept of doing good. I even initiated an annual event to encourage people to do good, which has grown by leaps and bounds. Last year in 2013, hundreds of thousands of people in more than fifty countries went out to do a good deed for the benefit of others on International Good Deeds Day.
But this book is not about Good Deeds Day. It is about a business model that is values-based and works! I was told very bluntly, years ago, that no large company of mine could be sustainable and profitable at the same time. I was told that I could not develop a culture of corporate giving in a country where no such thing even existed in people’s minds.
I was even told, more than once, that I did not belong in business. People suggested to me that maybe I would be better off just running the family’s foundation. But you know what? Almost thirty years later, I am even more convinced of my own original vision. I have a lot to offer to the world, and I have had the privilege of leading the most amazing team of forward-thinking executives and employees within my companies and organizations. As a collective, we have taken these companies to new levels of success and prosperity that none of us could have foreseen when we started out.
I don’t say this to be boastful—I say it because I want to share how we did it, and how you too can use this same set of values to transform yourself and your own company or organization.
I am passionate about this values-driven business model because I believe that it works well in companies of any size, in any country, and in for-profit or non-profit entities. I firmly believe that anybody and everybody can benefit from adopting a values-based approach to their daily life and work life, whether they are a company owner, a board member, or a worker in any job or field. And I trust that you will believe this too, once you learn more about the Doing Good Model.
Creating a Culture of Giving
Over the years as a young adult, I worked in every single department of the company that my father established: Carnival Cruise Lines. Later, I served on its board of directors. This laid the foundation for my business experience. At my father’s request, I started and ran the family foundation in Miami, so it was only natural that when I moved to Israel, I continued my philanthropic work by establishing an office there.
From the beginning, I knew I needed to do things differently than in the United States. I set up the Arison Foundation, which was later called The Ted Arison Family Foundation. I introduced professional business practices into our philanthropic organization, something that was not mainstream at the time. We focused on donations that would make a major impact on society. These donations, which we now call social investments, were substantial commitments in the fields of health, education, research, and more.
I was able to be totally involved in every detail from the ground up in these large philanthropic projects. Some of the flagship projects included building a brain research center, the primary medical care facility in Tel Aviv, an arts school for grades one through nine, the Arison Business School, an historical museum, and many more.
Even though I was growing personally and professionally, I still wondered what my true calling was. I have always felt a creative force within me and have always cared deeply about the future of humanity. While still searching for my true purpose, I was able to express my creativity and caring in all the projects that I worked on. The spaces were created to be a family-like environment that is respectful, beautiful, and state of the art.
I also spearheaded a movement toward corporate giving in Israel because I firmly believe that the business world has a responsibility to give back to the communities in which they operate. This is a value that I was raised with. I was inspired by a model of giving that I had seen in the United States, so I brought these concepts and practices to Israel, and I created an organization called Matan (the Israeli United Way). Today, virtually all businesses in Israel participate in corporate giving, which proves that with vision and perseverance, you can create a new culture—in this instance, a culture of giving.
Personal and Business Transformation
As a parallel to the philanthropy I was doing, I launched and ran my own business. Then in 1999, after inheriting a huge empire, I was thrown into the next stage of my journey. I found myself with a diverse group of companies that I had to somehow lead and manage, along with my own business, which involved restaurants. Arison Investments at that time owned a newspaper, an electronics and communications company, and a satellite TV provider, along with more than 50 high-tech and bio-tech companies. After a process of learning about the companies and understanding that they were not aligned with my vision and I could not add to their value, I eventually sold all of them. I also sold my own restaurant business in order to concentrate on leading the enterprises where I felt I could truly add value.
The two companies that I kept an interest in and continued to invest in were Bank Hapoalim and an infrastructure and real estate company called Shikun & Binui. Each of these companies had cumbersome internal business structures that were archaic and did not make much sense in the fast-moving business environment that I could foresee.
It was clearly time for transformation, but changing such deeply held structures and corporate cultures was not going to be easy. There seemed to be no vision at all within these companies, short-term or long-term, and I made it my mission to introduce vision and purpose. Little did I know how long and challenging the process of transformation would be—but what incredible successes we are seeing in those businesses now!
Arison Investments continued to expand, buying out Salt Industries, which we later renamed Salt of the Earth. I also founded Miya, based on my vision of abundance, knowing that one of the most important challenges of our future is ensuring clean drinking water for all.
As you will see in the coming chapters, our group of companies and organizations has expanded and transformed itself in a remarkable way. And out of this process has emerged a unique and comprehensive values-based business model that is applicable and practical for any businessperson who wants to contribute to the growth of themselves, their organization, and the world.
