Just One More Question
It started out like any normal morning in an office that offers up free coffee, bagels, and donuts throughout the day. Little did I know that just "one question" would change the direction of my career and my life forever.
We were preparing for a media tour to celebrate a new discovery: our head coffee buyer had a mouth full of exceptional taste buds. Ok. So maybe it was slow in the news generation department, but just like wine experts, MT's tongue and his ability to point out quality differentials was key to our value proposition. We thought the media would love it. Our PR firm, Cone Communications, called in the media training big guns, because rightfully so they didn't want the Director of Marketing (me) to go off script. Mike Lawrence was our coach, and coach us he did. A former reporter, Mike had the ability to throw us off track, teach us how to come back, and then slide another tough question back into the mix. It was with cameras rolling that Mike looked at me and said just one more question:
"What is Dunkin' Donuts position on child labor in Guatemala?"
Well, of course my response was "Ummm. Well. Ahhh. Jeez. I don't know. I'm pretty sure we don't have a position on child labor in Guatemala- or any social issue for that matter. (We didn't) Why do you ask? Aren't we talking about MT's tongue?" Mike: "Because its a hot topic right now and you better have an answer." Starbucks, which at that point had just 1100 stores, was under attack by Global Exchange and it was rumored that we were next. That was 1998. Long before "CSR" was "CSR" or shared value, or corporate citizenship.
Little did I know that this question was a gift, and would lead me to ask another: What is the private sector's role in addressing social issues? My brilliant partner in crime, Katie Dadagian, suggested we explore all of the issues that effect coffee growers - not just child labor. And explore we did. I'll save the details for another blog on the what, how, why, and outcome of our efforts to alter a multinational's supply chain from the inside, but suffice it to say, that after my first trip to Central America I was hooked. I fell in love with the coffee farmers and their families who work tirelessly (with their children by their side - BTW) so we can mindlessly roll out of bed each morning and savor a cup of coffee.
I was definitely standing at a fork in the road. A single mom at the time, I had every right to stay put and play it safe - so of course I threw in the towel, dove head over heals into graduate school debt, and changed the direction of my career and my life forever. And I never looked back. Well, maybe a few times.
Since then, my career has taken me around the globe from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and back again. I've served on the Leadership Teams of top global health organizations, advised Ministers on leadership communications, led brand transformations and strategic planning for international NGOs, and have circled back to building powerful private public partnerships to achieve the greatest social impact. Hands down, the most inspirational people I've met live and work on the front lines of poverty, war, and disease - and yet they still fully believe that everyone deserves to live a happy, healthy, and productive life. As the Board Chair of The Coffee Trust, I've seen first hand the power of farmers helping farmers and women helping women - crop by crop, family by family, micro-business by micro-business.
And finally - there is icing on the proverbial cake. I am fortunate to teach at Yale each fall - leading optimistic global affairs majors through their capstone research project. At some point early in the semester - I encourage them not to stress about their careers and landing that perfect first job because someone, like Mike, will probably come along and ask them a question that just might change their life.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience. What was your question?