IBM: Legacy Values Working for Good

IBM: Legacy Values Working for Good

Technology giant IBM was also spotlighted on Fortune’s list for its stellar efforts to close the STEM skills gap in public schools, addressing the shortage of highly skilled employees in America. Recently, I had a fascinating interview with Jon Iwata, IBM senior vice president and chief brand officer, who currently chairs the company’s newly created Values and Policy Advisory Board, which recommends policies and principles for IBM.

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Iwata frames our conversation on IBM’s societal purpose by going back to the very early days of the company, demonstrating its deep roots of following a strong value system:
The company was founded on fundamental beliefs, which can be traced back to Thomas Watson, Sr., who became IBM’s first CEO in 1914. Like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Phil Knight of today, Watson had deep beliefs about IBM’s purpose and what it should stand for. He institutionalized those as the company’s Basic Beliefs. Although that phrase has since passed out of our vocabulary for various reasons, the idea remains that our company is set apart by what it believes and stands for.

For example, IBM’s longstanding commitment to what most recognize as “diversity and inclusion” today goes back to the company’s belief in “respect for the individual.” That has always meant that we see an individual not as a man or woman. We don’t see an individual based on race, ethnicity, or disability. And, therefore, we demonstrate respect for each individual and work to help each person fulfill his/her potential in society and in IBM. We’re proud that IBM was the first major company to hire a disabled employee and the first to promote a woman to vice president.

 

Patagonia: Pioneering Sustainability

The term sustainability is almost synonymous with Patagonia, a true pioneer with a fierce dedication for the past 40 years to lead the clothing industry in the adoption of sustainable processes. On the company’s website, you’ll see its moral

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purpose embedded throughout every aspect of its business and articulated loud and clear in its mission: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis. Its latest initiative, Patagonia Action Works, is an environmental activist effort to get supporters more involved in politics. As an outdoor gear retailer, Patagonia is an obvious fit for doing good for the world, but any brand in any industry can and should find its moral purpose.

Smaller companies are popping up all over that are launched with a moral mission. For example, on a recent trip to London, I walked into a store called Gandys. As soon as I entered, the sales person told me the story of the brand—a business created by two siblings who, while traveling the world with their parents, sadly lost them during the tsunami in Sri Lanka. These orphan siblings later formed Gandys in honor of their parents and to support their “Orphans for Orphans” foundation, which helps underprivileged children affected by the tsunami. The salesperson told this moving story before she mentioned the current sale or anything about the merchandise because it was—first and foremost—what the brand was all about. Guess how we reacted? We all wanted to buy a t-shirt, backpack, or sweater to support its mission.