Timberland Employees Discuss ‘Delivering Purpose’ at Ethical Corporation’s 5th Responsible Business Summit in New York
Last week, global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland shared insights, best practices, and lessons learned at Ethical Corporation’s 5th Responsible Business Summit in New York. The annual industry-leading summit brings together over 400 senior business leaders to discuss how brands are ‘Delivering Purpose’ for people, the environment and commercial success.
Margaret Morey-Reuner, Timberland’s director of strategic partnerships and business development, joined Ian Rosenberger, founder and CEO of Thread International, for the “Partnership X Factor: Partnerships that Accelerate Change” session. The session highlighted the characteristics of winning partnerships and their role in driving business and creating social impact through sustainable innovations. Morey-Reuner and Rosenberger spoke about the recently launched Timberland X Thread collection made from Thread’s Ground to GoodTM fabric transformed from plastic bottles littering the streets and landfills of Haiti. Going beyond recycling and sustainability, the collection creates social value and impact in the form of cleaner neighborhoods and dignified new job opportunities.
At the end of the session the audience voted on whether or not the Timberland X Thread partnership had the “X-factor,” the stand-out potential to accelerate business growth and create positive change, and a clear majority of the audience agreed that it did. “We’re happy to see that the Timberland X Thread partnership resonated with the Ethical Corporation audience,” said Morey-Reuner. “The partnership has allowed Timberland to build off our longstanding commitment to create responsible products, protect the outdoors and serve the communities where we live and work. As we make more products with Thread’s Ground to GoodTM fabric, we’re excited to see the social impact we can create through our continued collaboration.”
Atlanta McIlwraith, senior manager of employee engagement, joined representatives from Google, HSBC, Zendesk, and Hyatt Hotels on a panel titled “Engage Employees with the Right Sell and Measure the Impact of Change.” Panelists represented diverse industries and their companies ranged in age from 152 years to less than 10. Each panelist presented their respective employee engagement programs and discussed ways to make innovation a priority in engagement strategies.
“Service is a way of life at Timberland, but through our many years of employee volunteerism, we’ve learned the importance of innovation and infusing new ideas to keep employees motivated to serve,” said McIlwraith. “Joining the Ethical Corporation panel not only allowed me to share our employee engagement successes, like our Path of ServiceTM employee volunteer program celebrating its 25th anniversary later this year, but also provided the opportunity to learn new strategies and tactics from other companies who are at different points on their journey.”
To learn more about how Timberland is making a different in terms of its products, the outdoors and the communities it serves, visit: https://www.timberland.com/responsibility.html.
