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Visions of Social Change

‘Tis the season… to think about how to change the world. Approaching a new year, I donate stuff from my closets and drawers that I don’t need but hope someone else does, and think about what I could contribute to a bigger, global picture. For me, this starts with ‘in my wildest dreams, what would l like to happen?’ 

As I compiled my list, I noticed parallels to the missions and visions of some large corporations. Below are my dreams of what an idealized outcome might be in realizing these visions. Some might make us a better society, others may impact at a personal level. 

CompanyMission or Vision or GoalsIdealized Outcome
Facebookgive people the power to build community1community where everyone is welcome and accepted without envy, judgement or competitiveness, and treated fairly and with respect
Googleorganize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful2including information on how to gauge the quality of information so none of it is misinterpreted or can be misused
Amazonhelp consumers find, discover and buy anything3that they need
Applewhile it’s a little different now, at the time of founding it was to make tools that allowed advancement of humankind 4and pop-up ads are impossible
Pfizer(my paraphrasing) apply science to develop projects to improve healthcare for everyone5with global access to, and general understanding of, the scientific basis of new vaccines and medicines
Twitterto bring our company and community together as a force for good6with an appreciation of different perspectives
lululemonmy interpretation of the Manifesto is support for striving towards personal achievement7with knowledge that pursuing goals of self improvement are of primary importance and the clothes are nice but secondary
Nike(my paraphrasing) expand human potential by creating groundbreaking sport innovations8and understanding the absolute value in physical fitness

This is a powerful list. If we haven’t made it to the state I suggest in the idealized outcome box, the missions have not failed, there are ongoing. There are more challenges to be addressed.

This is what I think would be great contributions to society:

  • truly supportive social media
  • the power to utilize the massive amount of information we have available for social good
  • science-based medical care (and information)
  • universal access to medical care (and true information)
  • embracing diversity
  • less spam, everywhere, because at minimum its annoying and at worse it can be manipulative
  • anything that improves general physical fitness for anyone. I’m passionate about fitness and believe its benefits can extend to all parts of a person’s life and to the impact each individual can have. 

Corporate visions and missions are often scoffed at as mere marketing tools, but entrepreneurs start ventures with visions of making the world a better place, helping people, or addressing social issues. I admire founders for striving towards lofty goals. 

Let’s keep dreaming!

——

1 https://investor.fb.com/resources/default.aspx

2 https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/mission/

3 https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/uk-investment/our-mission

4 https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042315/what-apples-current-mission-statement-and-how-does-it-differ-steve-jobs-original-ideals.asp

5 https://investors.pfizer.com/why-invest-our-story/default.aspx

6 https://about.twitter.com/en_us/company/twitter-for-good.html

7 https://info.lululemon.com/about/our-story/manifesto

8 https://about.nike.com

originally posted on Decemeber 31, 2020

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