Mission Forward with Carrie Fox

A few weeks back, we reached out to a group of CEOs and business leaders with a very big request: join Carrie and Alex Orfinger, publisher of the Washington Business Journal, for an honest, on-the-record, uncomfortable conversation about the anti-racist commitments and statements we have made over the last twelve months, and assess our progress against those commitments.

The conversation comes at an interesting moment. Just days after the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic, and as hate crimes against the Asian American and pacific islander community and, in particular, hate crimes against Asian American seniors have been on the rise. What’s more, the conversation was recorded just hours before a gunman killed eight people, including six Asian American women in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Our framework: We have each carried a unique responsibility during this time; to care for the health of our employees, while managing and protecting the health of our businesses. The intertwined nature of events from this past year have meant that we must consider the culture of business differently. We must think about the weight of the world’s events on our teams in ways we likely haven’t considered them before.

This was an actionable conversation and not a comfortable one. It is not comfortable to be called to grow. It is not comfortable to stretch beyond the habits and tendencies with which we have become complacent. It is not comfortable to go beyond ourselves. Each guest this week came into this space with a spirit of self-examination, accountability, and a willingness to examine how businesses like ours can contribute to more inclusive, and equitable workplaces for all people. 

Participants: 

• David Simnick
  CEO & Co-Founder at Soapbox + Managing Partner at Impact Driven Brands
• Lidia Soto-Harmon
  CEO, Girl Scout Nation's Capital
• Karen Wawrzaszek
  Principal, Financial Planning Strategist and Lead Impact & ESG Investment Specialist at SBSB, LLC - 
• Raj Agrawal
  President, Provoc
• Tim Wang
  Founder and Principal, TDW+Co
• Elizabeth Yan
   Head of Business Development, 1623 Capital
• Michael Akin
  President, LINK Strategic Partners
• Frederique Irwin
  Founder & CEO of Her Corner
• Alex Orfinger
  Market President and Publisher at Washington Business Journal
• Carrie Fox
  Founder and CEO, Mission Partners

Here we are, to think about where we are, where our sectors are, and where we must go to ensure that the racial reckoning so many business leaders are engaging isn’t a fleeting moment, but a movement for justice. With that, you’ve made it to the final episode of our second season. We hope this conversation, like others this season, gets you thinking, acting, and pressing forward.

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

Amira El-Gawly believes love is making a comeback at work.

That's a pretty heady statement, and one you might be tempted to dismiss. What's love got to do with work? you might say. We're about engagement and KPIs and customer data you might say. Here's the thing: Amira El-Gawly co-founded her first company at 27 and across the arc of her myriad careers — journalist, marketer, designer, speechwriter, operations executive — she has focused a keen eye on her people, their relationships, and what leads to better results.

As it turns out, work has changed. Our people have different expectations of one another and their leaders today than they did five years ago, and the last twelve months has only accelerated the trend. Her firm, Manifesta, specializes in helping organizations unleash potential through the relationships and experiences of their people. Collaboration across the workforce thus becomes an exercise in "alignment, joy, and humanity." Today, as Amira says, "investing in people is investing in performance."

This week on the show, we're talking about the nature of work, how work has changed in the last twelve months, and how those expectations of stronger, richer relationships can bring more love back to the workplace. People who love their work, and love the people they work with, love succeeding together.

Thanks to Amira El-Gawly for her participation on the show this week. She's an aspirational figure and a dear friend of Mission Forward.

Links & Notes

• Learn more about Manifesta

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

C.Marie Taylor is a role model and a mentor. We have to get that out of the way right up front because this is one of those conversations that makes us proud; proud of our place in history that allows us to watch people such as her evolve as thought leaders and mentors far beyond us, our community, but to business and leaders around the country.

Her new company is Equity Through Action and through that organization, C.Marie leads leaders through active coaching, equity training, leadership development and recruitment focused on building equity into the very fabric of those with whom she works. 

Talking with her this week, Equity Through Action seems to have been an inevitability. At the same time, it is an artifact of our pandemic; a vessel through which she was able to accelerate her work as an advocate and leader at a time so many businesses have been forced to look inward and see themselves and their organizations in truth for the very first time. 

We're honored to have C.Marie Taylor with us on the show today to help us understand what an equity engagement looks like, and how others can raise the bar in their own efforts for change. 

Links & Notes

• Equity Through Action: Intentional Work. Long term solutions.
• Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

Marisa Forti is an ultra endurance athlete, entrepreneur, fitness and wellness coach, and certified FST trainer. She’s a two-time Ironman, along with having many marathons and long-distance bike rides in her rear view. She has traveled the country working with everyone from weekend warriors to professional athletes across the NFL, NBA, PGA, Olympic training program, right alongside musicians and television personalities. 

Her entire career is based on pressing through obstacles for herself, and with those she trains. She uses the science of movement and the human body to set audacious goals and help her clients crush them. While the work Marisa does is at the elite level, we hope you take away a few key lessons from this episode. 

First, the journey is everything. Facing down obstacles is principally an exercise in perseverance and patience. Just keep swimming, so to speak. 

Second, inspiration might be closer to you than you think. Case in point: Marisa Forti happens to be our own Carrie Fox’s sister. 

There is much we can learn from the mindset of athletes and their trainers that applies directly to our efforts to press forward our initiatives elsewhere. Our obstacles are obstacles up to the point that we overcome them, and no further. We hope you enjoy this conversation with our own powerful Marisa Forti.

Links & Notes

• Find Marisa at Fortified Performance
• Marisa’s new apparel line — Endurfins!
• Dream Big: A True Story of Courage and Determination by Dave McGillvray
• Sponsor: Adventures in Kindness, written by a kid and her mom, for kids and their families. Adventures in Kindness is filled with 52 fun, practical, and world-changing adventures. With big ideas, little ideas and everything-in-between ideas, this action/adventure book has a lot of ways to keep you kind and busy—and nearly all adventures can be completed even while our communities are social distancing. Learn more and order your copy today!

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

What’s the purpose of events?

It’s a big question, and heavy is the weight on those whose industry shifted overnight in the era of COVID. Opportunity might be too generous a word for the experience, and pivot too slight. What happened in our efforts to understand gatherings during the pandemic marked a transformation in how we as human organisms express our desires to connect with one another. We could have simply walked away when events were canceled. We could have gone into social hibernation.

But we didn’t. Because we need one another.

Our guest today is a testament to that. Corey Briscoe serves as managing partner and chief operating officer for ABCD and Company. Their work is rooted in bringing people together. They’re based in Rockville, MD, and, as it is written on their website, are a “national, award-winning, full-service marketing and events firm specializing in stakeholder engagement and multicultural communications.” That line might be true in practice but in spirit, it serves to minimize so much of the hard work of change Corey and his team experienced in the last year as their entire world shifted.

So, what is the purpose of events? When we gather, we express and engage in our own purpose. We elevate one another toward a higher good. We organize. We transform. We lift and inspire. As you will hear in this conversation, the practical aspects of managing an events business might have changed dramatically. But when we remember why events exist, we weather change, level up, and press forward.

Links & Notes

• ABCD & Company
• @ccbglobal on Twitter
• Connect with Corey on LinkedIn

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

Essential.

No, says Jackie DeCarlo, her people aren’t front line nurses and doctors, but they’re nothing if they are not essential.

DeCarlo serves as CEO of the Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, Maryland and 2020 was a year to test their vision like no other: Our community is a place where all people at all times have access to safe, sufficient, nutritious food in order to lead fulfilling lives and contribute to making Montgomery County, Maryland a place where all live in dignity.

The pandemic forced a renewed examination of that vision as issues of equity and justice in our national healthcare system put outsized pressure on food distribution. And yet, Manna was already positioned to fill gaps where others struggled.

Leveraging their network of government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, schools, medical professionals, employee assistance programs, and faith-based associations, Manna has cultivated a network capable of responding to the most vulnerable in the community, when they are in the greatest need.

DeCarlo’s leadership is a model of adaptability. The COVID-19 crisis called on skills beyond those of daily operations. This week on the show, she joins us from the Manna administrative offices in Silver Spring, Maryland, to share the leadership lessons that helped her guide the organization.

Hers is the story of family, generosity, and hospitality that is modeled with grace for thousands of families each month—tens of thousands of people in need many times over each year. Manna's actions are ripples felt far beyond their community.

Essential, indeed.

Links & Notes

• Manna Food Center
• Manna Mission, Vision, and History
• Guest Recommendation: Loretta Ross — Smith College
• Feminist Prof. Loretta J. Ross Is Done With Cancel Culture | Amanpour and Company
• PLU Wang Symposium 2020 Day 1: Keynote Loretta Ross; Calling in Not Calling Out

• (03:00) - Drive

Eric Meade is a futurist. That’s what he calls himself, at least. But when you get him talking about it, it becomes clear all too quickly that this work as a futurist is far more rooted in the past and present than the actual future. 

“In college I studied history, so I think I probably just have an inherently long-term perspective looking both ways,” he says. “That has advantages and disadvantages. One is, I quickly adapt to changes in situations that I can point to precedents for.”

If there was ever a time to thoroughly examine precedent, it is right now.

Today’s show is all about grounding our reality here and now in the footprints of our mothers and fathers, and those of their mothers and fathers before them. Politics, public discourse, and the pandemic? They each have roots in modern history of our planet and that history provides a frame through which we are able to press forward. 

Today, that frame is caked with misinformation, mistrust, and misunderstanding. But we have missions to serve and causes to advance. The more quickly we can cleanse ourselves of recent history and rebuild trust and understanding, the more quickly we can get back to doing the work our constituencies count on us to deliver. 

That’s why Eric Meade is with us today; his grounding as a historian and futurist, his award-winning authorship of two perspective-changing books, and his work as an organizational facilitator all help us to reframe current issues in a deep well of perspective. We’re thrilled to welcome Eric to the show and deeply grateful for contributions to this work. 

Links & Notes

• Visit EricMeade.com
• Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity's Greatest Challenge by
• Whole Mind Facilitation: How to Lead Workshops That Change People, Organizations, and the World by Eric Meade
• Learn about Eric’s Beyond Covid program for community rebuilding
• Subscribe to the Beyond Covid • Apple Podcasts

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

Dr. Robert Kelly serves as Vice President and Special Assistant to the President at Loyola University Maryland. As we catch up with Rob, he’s doing the deep work of reintroducing students to campus. He does so under the shadow of a pandemic, only just now meeting the tease of a vaccine and a general misimpression that all colleges and universities are potential super-spreading elements of national concern.

The field of higher education is already carrying unchecked baggage. Higher education is expensive. The burden of those costs on families is extraordinary for many, and questions about the use of funds dampens the delivery of services. The digital divide is not closing as quickly as it must, particularly if institutions are genuinely looking to face diversity and inclusion challenges — black and brown students and families are increasingly falling behind. And did we mention the “enrollment cliff” that was already on the horizon? All this was facing our higher ed institutions before the COVID contraction and is still there, brewing, growing.

That’s what makes higher education such an exceptional example of institutions pressing forward.

“Students have a hunger that we need to meet,” says Rob. “We have to hold on to that.”

We open our conversation with Rob with a question that comes to us courtesy of the Masai people who open conversations by asking, “how are the children?” They measure the health of their culture by the health of their children. For Rob, they’re not doing great right now. As you’ll hear from our conversation, this drives the charge for him, the faculty at the University, parents, and other engaged adults to create a culture celebrating reconciliation, curiosity, joy, and hope.

This is a conversation about responsibility; taking responsibility for crafting the future for those in our care. Rob shares how he is helping Loyola to build according to their mission: pressing forward on issues of culture, climate, race, and inclusion in the face of obstacles of our own creation.

Links & Notes

• Sponsor: Today’s podcast is brought to you by audible - get a FREE audiobook download and 30-day free trial at audibletrial.com/missionforward. Over 180,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player.

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward

Carol Cone is an incredibly generous person. To hear her talk about what she does from day to day, she says her super power is connecting people, but that minimizes her story by a country mile.

Her brand of generosity has brought to fruition iconic projects and teams to create products and campaigns that have — by all objective measures —changed the world since she started building brands in the 1980s. She was behind Rockport’s Walking Movement, positioning the company for growth and eventual acquisition by Reebok; she created and grew the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade to span 50 countries, raising $1 billion; and with My Special Aflac Duck, she brought a team together to create a social robot that comforts children fighting cancer through their average 1,000 days of chemotherapy. Her accomplishments over her legendary career have well-earned her the industry moniker: “Mother of Social Purpose.” 

Even after a career of accomplishment, she’s far from finished. Now at the head of Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, she continues to push the field forward. Her work has built global movements, garnered hundreds of awards, and raised billions of dollars for a variety of worthy causes. This week, we went back to where it all began for Carol, how her values have shaped her career path, and the opportunity she sees as we crest 2020 and move into whatever comes next. 

She stands atop a bold mission. We’re honored to have her join us for this first conversation of season two of the Mission Forward podcast. 

Links & Notes

• The Purpose 360 Podcast with Carol Cone
• Carol Cone ON PURPOSE

• (00:00) - Welcome to Mission Forward