Latest / The Action Catalyst / REMASTERED: Doing Good Is Good Business, with Shari Arison (Values, Leadership, Culture, Author)

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REMASTERED: Doing Good Is Good Business, with Shari Arison (Values, Leadership, Culture, Author) · The Action Catalyst

• 0:20
  Host: Shari Arison is absolutely amazing. Shari is an American
• 0:25
  born Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist. She's the owner
• 0:29
  of Arison investments, which is made up of several different
• 0:32
  companies and also philanthropic organizations. And her
• 0:36
  philosophy, I think you're gonna find fresh and radical and very
• 0:41
  unique. And so she is also an author, Activate Your Goodness
• 0:44
  and The Doing Good Model. And so she is here to talk to us about
• 0:49
  what that means, doing good. So, Shari, welcome to the show.
• 0:52
  Shari Arison: Thank you very much. I'm happy to be here.
• 0:54
  Host: So you have this philosophy, Shari, doing good is
• 0:58
  good business. So can you just tell us, like, what does that
• 1:01
  mean, and how did you kind of come up with that?
• 1:04
  Shari Arison: Well, after working many, many years in
• 1:07
  different fields, in business, I'm in finance, real estate,
• 1:12
  infrastructure, water, renewable energy and salt. And alongside
• 1:16
  that, I also have several philanthropic organizations,
• 1:20
  Family Foundation, a volunteer organization and a spiritual
• 1:23
  organization. What I realized is that do good for people and for
• 1:28
  the planet, and you can still profit in everything that you
• 1:32
  do. So the vision became doing good, and all the values that we
• 1:36
  implement became the doing good model. The doing good model has
• 1:39
  13 values, some of the values that are implemented are, for
• 1:44
  instance, financial freedom, because we're in finance and we
• 1:48
  have a bank through the doing good model, we realize that
• 1:51
  being in finance, we can really educate people and give them the
• 1:55
  tools to make the right choices so that they can prosper and
• 1:59
  grow. So that's an example. Another example is in
• 2:02
  sustainability. Our real estate and infrastructure company
• 2:06
  builds 100% sustainable so since we have this sustainable
• 2:09
  information, why not implement sustainability throughout all of
• 2:13
  our companies and all of our organizations? So that's how we
• 2:16
  take value by value and create practical tools for
• 2:20
  implementation across the board. You know, it's funny for years,
• 2:24
  I'm talking years back when I talked about sustainability,
• 2:27
  when it wasn't even a word that anybody understood. The main
• 2:31
  issue was, how can you build sustainable and make profit? And
• 2:35
  we've proven that it can be done. We've made more money over
• 2:39
  the years building sustainable, and we've shown a profit, a
• 2:42
  growing profit, over the years in all of our businesses. And I
• 2:45
  truly believe that when you are value based and you truly care,
• 2:50
  but I mean authentically care about people, about your
• 2:52
  employees, about your customers, about, you know, people, and the
• 2:55
  future of our planet, you also profit.
• 2:58
  Host: Sp let's talk about the planet for just a second,
• 3:00
  because that's a part of this that you also feel like any
• 3:03
  investment that you have made to protect the environment is
• 3:06
  something that has just come back directly in a bottom line
• 3:10
  profit.
• 3:10
  Shari Arison: Yes, definitely. And I think everything's
• 3:13
  integrated. I mean, you know, the caring cannot stop at a
• 3:16
  certain level. It's caring about the individual and doing good
• 3:20
  individually for oneself and one's one surrounding. And that
• 3:24
  includes interpersonal relationships. That includes,
• 3:26
  you know, all the ever widening circles. And that includes our
• 3:29
  environment. You know, we have one planet that we live on, and
• 3:33
  we need to care for our planet as well. And like I said, it has
• 3:37
  not reduced our profits. It is an increased our process by
• 3:41
  thinking this way and implementing our businesses in
• 3:44
  this way.
• 3:45
  Host: So what about creating that culture beyond you? How do
• 3:49
  you communicate as a leader through all these different
• 3:52
  organizations and all these different industries that you
• 3:54
  go, look people, this isn't just a nice thing. This isn't just us
• 3:58
  sitting around the campfire talking about doing good. This
• 4:02
  is actually the culture.
• 4:04
  Shari Arison: Well, I can give you one major example of what
• 4:07
  we've done in order to make this work. Number one, when you when
• 4:11
  you talk about values, it's not something that you can tell
• 4:14
  people to be value based. You have to educate. You have to
• 4:17
  engage people, you have to enroll them. And that takes
• 4:20
  time. Is a process, but what we've done is we've created
• 4:24
  cross cultural forums. We call them forums, and what we have is
• 4:29
  representatives, and it's normally middle management. It's
• 4:32
  not CEOs and chairmans, it's more of the employee level of
• 4:36
  representatives from each one of the businesses and organizations
• 4:42
  sitting around the table. So we have representatives from the
• 4:45
  bank, representatives from the infrastructure company, the
• 4:48
  water company, the spiritual company, philanthropic
• 4:50
  organizations. So we have all these different people sitting
• 4:54
  around the table with backing of their chairmans and their CEOs
• 4:58
  in order to be creative. And think how we can implement these
• 5:01
  values. Now, what's happened is it's created discussion. It's
• 5:05
  created creativity. It's created practical tools for
• 5:09
  implementation. And people are engaged and excited, and they
• 5:13
  feel like they're part of something bigger. They get
• 5:15
  together every month. You know, we have it in the middle of the
• 5:18
  year, and at the end of the year, we have a conference of
• 5:21
  all of the companies coming together, showing what's
• 5:23
  actually been implemented. So, you know, it's not just
• 5:27
  something written, it's not something on the wall, it's you
• 5:29
  can actually see what's been done. So for instance, I mean,
• 5:33
  just, I'll take one of the values of volunteering, for
• 5:35
  instance. So we created good deeds day, and we had 61
• 5:39
  countries already that joined in for good deeds day. We had 3
• 5:43
  million hours of volunteering on that day. We have all of our
• 5:47
  companies involved in good deeds day. It's crossed all cultures,
• 5:51
  all boundaries, all ages. And people come together and do a
• 5:55
  good good deed for the benefit of others, each one in their own
• 5:58
  way. So that's something concrete, something that can be
• 6:01
  measured, and we do this with all of our values. It's caught
• 6:04
  on. It's grown every single year. It's grown, you know, by
• 6:08
  the amount of people, the amount of volunteer time it's it's
• 6:10
  grown by the different countries that are involved. And it's
• 6:13
  amazing, because what we found is, because it's simple, and
• 6:16
  because everyone can do a good deed according to their hearts
• 6:19
  desire. You know, whether it's with children or the elderly or
• 6:23
  the homeless, or, you know, beautifying your neighborhood.
• 6:26
  It could be whatever it is that you want to do, and that's
• 6:29
  bringing people, uniting people together around the common goal
• 6:33
  of doing good.
• 6:34
  Host: I mean, this is this a big deal. I I saw some pictures
• 6:37
  where you got to meet the Pope, and I saw pictures of Times
• 6:40
  Square. You know, that's a really big deal. I also just
• 6:43
  wanted to highlight something that you said. You said, you
• 6:46
  can't tell people to be value based. It's like, you have to
• 6:50
  show them.
• 6:51
  Shari Arison: Exactly, you know, like, for instance, vitality is
• 6:54
  one of the values. And some of my employees came to me and
• 6:57
  said, Okay, how should we implement vitality? And I said,
• 7:00
  I don't know, you know, why don't you just ask the employees
• 7:03
  what vitality is to them? And it was amazing to see the feedback
• 7:08
  to some people's nutrition and to other people, it's sport, and
• 7:11
  to other people, it's spending time with the family and going
• 7:15
  on family trips and and it was just amazing and and the
• 7:19
  creativity that was created, and the engagement, and it was just
• 7:23
  quite amazing. And that's what's happening around all the values.
• 7:27
  Host: Were you always like this? Did you grow up with this
• 7:30
  natural insight to go you know what doing good? I can see the
• 7:34
  connection to how it leads to profitability, and it's also
• 7:37
  doing good in the world. Or was there a point in your life,
• 7:40
  where the light bulb came on for you, and if so, how did that
• 7:44
  happen? I'm just kind of curious. Where did this come
• 7:47
  from?
• 7:47
  Shari Arison: Well, I always cared about people, and I always
• 7:50
  cared about humanity and the planet. It's something that was
• 7:53
  bigger than myself and I and I always thought about ways that I
• 7:57
  can do my part. You know? I always felt that, you know, we
• 7:59
  all have the responsibility to make a difference. If we want to
• 8:03
  see a collective positive future in the world, we each need to do
• 8:06
  our part. And I've always tried to do my part. I think the light
• 8:10
  bulb that came off was the switch between doing it in a way
• 8:14
  that was hard and tiring. And, you know, I almost felt sick at
• 8:19
  one point. You know, I was going uphill all the time, and that's
• 8:23
  when I realized that I didn't need to go into the dark places
• 8:26
  and turn on the light. I could just grow the goodness and grow
• 8:30
  the light. And there's a lot of organizations out there that are
• 8:33
  doing really great things, people who really care, and I
• 8:36
  think that if we put all our forces together, we can grow
• 8:39
  that goodness. And that that's what the doing good model is all
• 8:42
  about, coming together, you know, all of us, and growing the
• 8:45
  good in the world.
• 8:46
  Host: And so you're saying that you don't necessarily have to go
• 8:49
  into the darkest parts of the world. It means you can also do
• 8:53
  good by taking the things that you're already involved in,
• 8:57
  reframing them in a way to also do good as a part of what you
• 9:00
  already love and enjoy doing.
• 9:02
  Shari Arison: Yes, and I think that, you know, there is so much
• 9:04
  good. I mean, we created a social network called good net,
• 9:08
  okay, good net.org, and within two years, 17 million people
• 9:12
  connected. And it's only around goodness, it's only around, you
• 9:16
  know, a conversation of doing good, and it's different people,
• 9:19
  individuals, organizations around the world that are doing
• 9:23
  good and I think that, you know, there is so much going on,
• 9:27
  whether it's in business or philanthropy or individuals you
• 9:30
  know that are doing good deeds every day. And if we join those
• 9:34
  people together, it can't be ignored anymore, because what
• 9:37
  you see out there is very different. And I think if we
• 9:40
  want to, you know, we want to see a good world, we want to see
• 9:42
  a positive world. We we all need to make that happen.
• 9:45
  Host: I love that. So you know, if you were addressing young
• 9:49
  leaders, what advice would you give to young leaders in this
• 9:52
  area of just doing good?
• 9:54
  Shari Arison: Well, I think, number one, I think it's
• 9:56
  important to know that you can do business and have a
• 9:58
  successful business. US and still be value based, I would
• 10:03
  suggest to connect to one's heart and see what you're
• 10:07
  passionate about. I think when people are passionate about what
• 10:10
  they do, they create, you know, amazing things. You can take
• 10:14
  really elated ideas, really related values, and bring them
• 10:19
  down to practical day to day tools and for implementation.
• 10:23
  And really, anyone in any field can do business and do good for
• 10:29
  themselves and for their community and their country.
• 10:33
  Host: I love it. So where's the best place that you want people
• 10:36
  to go, Shari, to get the book, stay connected with you?
• 10:39
  Shari Arison: Well, they can go, of course. They can go, of
• 10:41
  course, to Amazon or Barnes and Noble, but also they can go to
• 10:45
  thedoinggoodmodel.com, they could either purchase the book
• 10:48
  or get information there.
• 10:50
  Host: So my last question for you is, what is next for
• 10:54
  somebody like you? I mean, you're still involved in a lot
• 10:57
  of things. Why? What's driving you?
• 11:00
  Shari Arison: Well, it's interesting, because I've been
• 11:02
  having a lot of discussions about this with with my children
• 11:06
  and with my management teams. And I think my biggest issue is
• 11:10
  that everything that's been done be sustainable. Because, you
• 11:14
  know, the doing good model is bigger than me, and and doing
• 11:18
  and doing good and and good deeds day is way bigger than me.
• 11:22
  I mean, you know, it's already in 61 countries, and so my dream
• 11:26
  right now is to just make sure that all of this is sustainable
• 11:28
  and continues without me, because I'm not the issue. The
• 11:31
  issue is the future of all of us, our collective future, and
• 11:34
  that's what's important to me.
• 11:36
  Host: Thank you for what you do, Shari. We really appreciate you
• 11:39
  and wish you the best.
• 11:41
  Shari Arison: Thank you. Thank you so much.