Fully Remote Culture with a Social Mission with Brian Roland of Abenity

We can all agree that running a remote business has become very challenging from both a cultural and productivity perspective. If anything the past year and a half has taught us, it is that paying attention to the needs of our people is really hard. Especially when they are remote. 

So how do we progress through this challenge and continue to grow?....Take on a social mission. 

We have all heard the term “givers gain”. When your culture merges with cause, it propagates purpose. And, a shared purpose attracts value-aligned people and elevates company performance.  

Our guest today: Brian Roland, Founder & Chairman of Abenity

Brian is a social entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands like U.S. Bank and Mastercard.

Abenity recently exceeded $1 million dollars of total giving!

Brian lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his family and enjoys roasting coffee, flying drones, and helping impact-driven entrepreneurs establish a social mission of their own. He has built a fully remote, purpose driven organization that absolutely crushes it!

Today we discuss:

Why cause brings purpose to your company

How to build a social mission

Why don't we build cause into our companies from the beginning?

Launched into remote work with a false positive

Shared purpose needs to be outside your brand

Fighting for is more powerful than fighting against

People become lost on an island without purpose

People need something bigger than their day to day routine to stay healthy

Hybrid is dangerous… either all remote or onsite….

Can create a resentment culture

Why is this important to the company?

Process of navigating back from fully remote work

Still very uncertainty

Doing what is best for your work routine will breed resentment with my employees

What mix is correct? 

Potential pitfalls in onsite, remote, hybrid

Culture is what needs to be fought for above everything else

Rick’s Nuggets

The more structure you have in your company early on, the easier it is to attract the Strongest/value-aligned people to the company. 

High performers are attracted to excellence, not ego. 

Excellence is structure

How do we solve the problem? 

Impact plan

Define your giving model

Put profits towards a cause

Give from savings - what you save in rent

Flat fee, percentage, 1 for 1 

Create a social mission statement

Use this template to build a Social Mission Statement:

Here's a template that you may find useful for your social mission statement: [your belief statement here], 

and that's why we [summary of your impact plan here]. 

With this commitment, we're communicating a powerful message, [your purpose statement here, why you care about your cause].

Here's our Social Mission statement at Abenity:

Perks are about people and that's why we sponsor children living in extreme poverty with the programs we deliver. 

With this commitment, we're communicating a powerful message,

that whether you're an employee at a Fortune 500 Company, or an orphan in the developing world, you are valuable, what you do matters, and you can make a difference.

Share your impact story

Publish an impact report (https://prks.co/Impact) 

Market the social mission

Brand differentiation

Everywhere you are comfortable

Setting up accountability

Who are you inviting in?

Invite the team to hold everyone (including you) accountable 

Board, investors, cpa, and/or staff 

Identify blockers

Anything that is holding back

Debt

Growth commitments

Must overcome before you can embark on the mission 

“Once we achieve this as a team, then we start our mission of giving” 

Do what you said you would do!

Rick’s Nuggets

Define the values that align with your cause

Understand that 

Key Takeaways -Value:

Just show up

Download the Impact Report to start your Social Mission

Guest Links:

To download the 5-Step Impact Plan, text “Impact” to (615) 802-6853For more on creating a 5-Step Impact Plan, read “5 Steps to Maximize Your Business Impact” htt