When I started my blog three years ago, you probably didn’t know what my inspiration was and thought I just wanted to jump on the social media/blogger bandwagon.
What inspired me was John Mackey, co-CEO of Whole Foods. He was in the news quite a bit at that time and his personal blog was causing a bit of a stir in the Wall Street community. But it made me think…
The CEO of a company should have their own voice, separate from the corporation. So, I went to my marketing team (who now edits, publishes and does the creative work for my blog) and they helped me launch this blog three years ago.
So, when my husband handed me The Orange County Register newspaper yesterday, he had highlighted an article on John Mackey’s new book, “Conscious Capitalism,” which I had seen in my local Whole Foods. What I found most interesting was this quote in the article: “We have to find our purpose again. Business needs to rediscover its purpose, or evolve to discover it.”
“Purpose” has been a big discussion at Frieda’s for several years. Instead of just having a mission statement like other companies, my sister Jackie and I decided we have a larger purpose. We call it our crusade.
Our company purpose (and tagline) is To Change the Way America Eats Fruits and Vegetables. We strive to create a healthy, joyful and sustainable world. We know that the food we eat is our fundamental source of health and joy, and that a key contributor to America’s declining health is poor food choices. America’s food choices greatly influence and impact others around the world, and if we want to create a healthy, joyful and sustainable world, we must first Change the Way America Eats Fruits and Vegetables!
Finding a larger purpose in your business makes you think a lot harder. It changes the way you recruit people and your approach when working with suppliers and customers. But it sure makes your work more satisfying when you live up to it.
My company’s larger purpose may explain the varied topics I discuss in this blog. Some might expect I would only write about Frieda’s produce. But there is so much more to a crusade that intends To Change the Way America Eats Fruits and Vegetables!
Karen
