Community Service in Concert

When I found out Paul Berry was going to be the emcee tonight, it was your typical 'good news, bad news' situation. The good news is that Paul is someone I like and admire very much. He's someone I would want to share a special occasion like this with. And he's someone, as you may have gathered from his remarks about charity work, who has been an important partner and an inspirational force in our community service program at Booz Allen.

The bad news is that Paul is a news anchor and a superstar. He's in front of millions of people every night, and he's really good at it. But then that's his job. So, following Paul Berry at the podium is not my idea of a recipe for success.

Seriously, I am most grateful for the honor you've bestowed on me and Booz Allen tonight. And I'd like to share some thoughts with you about corporate community service, especially about the power and spirit generated when many people work in concert to serve their community.

Three weeks from now, thousands of men and women will run down Pennsylvania Avenue—right past this hotel—with jingle bells on their shoes to raise money and awareness for the Arthritis Foundation. The Jingle Bell Run doesn't usually make front-page news. But I believe it's part of an important story about philanthropy that goes largely un-reported—the story about the thousands of donors who join together and give their time and energy as well as their dollars to community service.

The rhythm of all those feet and jingling of all those bells in the Jingle Bell Run sets the theme for my remarks tonight: 'Community Service in Concert.'

So, what do I mean by community service in concert? And why do I think it's an ideal model for corporate citizenship?

To me, the ultimate performance is one in which colleagues work together, play together, learn together, and serve together. You may be wondering, How do companies orchestrate such a command performance? Well, fundamentally, we do it by attracting and keeping exceptional people. In today's competitive environment, that's not easy. But, it can be done. I believe the best people are looking to their companies today for four things:

1. WORK—challenging and rewarding.
2. PLAY—a social and physical outlet.
3. LEARNING—the opportunity for continual self-development.
4. SERVICE—a way to give back to the community.

This last element, SERVICE, raises career performance to a higher level—a level that represents a new 'people partnership' between companies and their employees, a level that transcends the job-at-hand and gives people and companies a spiritual lift and an impact beyond their office walls.

I believe companies have an important and catalytic role to play in making community service a key part of our value proposition. We can do this by taking on a role like the conductor of an orchestra. We 'the corporate conductors' don't actually make the music, but we wield the baton that inspires and unites the talents of our employees, so they can create beautiful music in our communities. This idea of mine—'community service in concert'—has evolved over time. When I took over leadership of Booz Allen about a decade ago, I was amazed at the number of requests for donations that came to the office every day, and I really had no idea how to sort it out. I'm sure many of you can relate to this situation—both at work and at home: the incredible amount of mail and messages asking for donations. By and large, these requests come from worthy causes. However, we can't say yes to all of them.

One thing I knew intuitively was that I did not want to create a Community Service function that was, in essence, an Accounts Payable department. There had to be a better way to serve the community than by mailing off 'dis-embodied checks.' The better way came to me through an insight I gained working with Paul Berry. And it led to a Community Service program at Booz Allen that I'm really proud of. The program—and the idea behind it—is that our firm supports charities that our employees are actively involved with. That is, we put Booz Allen's money and resources to work in concert with our employees' energy and talents.

Like many significant encounters, my introduction to Paul Berry was a chance one. I had been invited to play in a charity golf tournament in Baltimore to benefit the Ronald McDonald House, and by the 5th hole, we were caught in a downpour. While sitting out the rain delay, I talked to John Hafera, the pro from Lakewood Country Club. He asked what kinds of community service efforts Booz Allen got involved with, and said he was impressed with a charity golf tournament run by Paul Berry to support 'The Neediest Kids.' The Neediest Kids raises money to meet the basic food, clothing, and health care needs of school age children.

I was interested—and John arranged a meeting with Paul. The rest, as they say, 'is history.' For more than a decade, Booz Allen has been the primary underwriter of the Neediest Kids celebrity golf tournament. (And in all that time, even though the tournament has grown tremendously in stature and impact, Paul hasn't managed to lose a single stroke off his handicap!)But all kidding aside, it isn't the celebrities or the golf match that makes it special, it's the involvement of our employees—hundreds of them over the years—working behind the scenes on the tournament, running clinics for underprivileged kids, and serving as big brothers and sisters.

I didn't realize it at the outset, but it's clear now that our involvement with the Neediest Kids set the tone for Booz Allen's entire community service program because it combined active employee involvement with corporate monetary contribution.

The Jingle Bell Run is another good example of community service in concert. Last year, 340 Booz Allen employees ran in the Jingle Bell Run, the largest corporate chorus, so to speak. But many other area companies were actively involved as well such as Giant Food, Andersen Consulting, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and others—all running together in the streets of Washington to raise money for Arthritis research and education.

Orchestrating the efforts of many volunteers and donors isn't easy. But it's exceptionally rewarding both for the non-profit beneficiaries and the company benefactors. Seeing our people give thousands of dollars and so much pro-bono time to Children's Hospital, filling hundreds of grocery bags for the Community Food Bank, and tutoring kids through the George Mason 'Early Identification Program,' I often wonder: Who's getting the most out of this? Is it them or is it us?

And, that's what makes it so great.

My experience has been that community service has a resounding echo: the sponsoring companies reap as many benefits as the charities themselves. In fact, in last week's TIME magazine, there was an interesting article about a small company that explicitly promotes pro-bono assignments as an employee benefit. What an interesting twist—pro-bono work being offered to employees as an employee benefit.

When we WORK TOGETHER, PLAY TOGETHER, LEARN TOGETHER, and SERVE TOGETHER, it really is a virtuous circle, a splendid concert.

It's not a unique idea. Other companies, such as Marriott, United, Mobil, and MCI, to name a few, put tremendous energy and expenditures behind corporate community service.

And it's not a new idea. Over a century ago, Henry David Thoreau said, 'If you give money, spend yourself with it.' Isn't that a great thought? Spend yourself with it. Booker T. Washington put it this way, 'If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.'

I've found that the benefits of community service multiply dramatically with the number of people involved. It's an incredible thing to see. At Booz Allen, in 1992, we had about 300 people involved in corporate community service programs. Today, we have more than 3,000 people active in the community—that's 1 in 3 Booz Allen employees around the world involved in community service activities that our firm supports!

Even beyond the 'big-picture' benefits, I find that opportunities for playing and serving together provide a positive outlet for the competitive energy of all the 'Type A' personalities that work for a firm like ours. Whether competing in the bike race for the American Lung Association, or having the most athletes in the Make-A-Wish triathlon, or fixing up more houses for 'Christmas in April,' this kind of fierce, but friendly, competition is a true win-win. The contributions and the benefits play out one person, one helping-hand at a time.

So, I'd like to close with an e-mail that illustrates the core values I've been speaking about for an individual, as well as a company: This e-mail was sent by a Booz Allen employee to our director of Community Relations, Kevin Casey:

'Kevin, I want to thank you for your advice and kind words regarding my career path at Booz Allen. A month ago, I was offered a promotion and a raise at another company. Though I had reservations, I was leaning toward leaving. After competing in the Corporate Sports Battle and running in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life this weekend, I realized that I could not leave the firm. The gains with another company don't match the benefits from Booz Allen's people and community service. Have a great week. I know I will, because I am staying!'

So, once again the benefactors become the beneficiaries. It really is a magnificent concert when we work together, play together, learn together, and serve together.

I appreciate your giving me and our firm this wonderful tribute. We will take it as a challenge—a challenge to raise our performance of community service to an even higher pitch.