“If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” – G.K. Chesterton

By Ashley Bean Thornton

In last week’s blog I introduced you to a fascinating company, Cascade Engineering in Grand Rapids, Michigan. According to a 2003 article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Cascade’s CEO, Fred Keller, “…doesn’t think that the role of business is to focus only on economic success, especially at society’s expense, and then just ‘give back’ charity to the community. He believes in ‘doing something good and then making it good business,’ looking for win-win outcomes for Cascade and society together.” One of Cascade’s most obvious ways of walking the talk regarding Keller’s philosophy is their highly successful “welfare-to-career” (W2C) program which boasted a 97% employee retention rate in 2012. High retention rates are good news for both the employees and the company, but the news wasn’t always so good at Cascade.

The company’s first foray into welfare-to-work back in 1991 was an abysmal failure. They recruited ten welfare recipients. Within two weeks all ten had quit or been fired. Even more embarrassing, they discovered the van they had provided to help these employees get to work was being used to make liquor runs! Cascade’s next effort in 1995 was no more promising. They worked out a program with Burger King where prospective employees could work at Burger King for six months to learn basic job skills before transferring to higher-paid work at Cascade. Not one single participant made it through the program.

That’s a frustrating start! How many of us would’ve given up? Instead, Cascade used these “stumbles” as learning opportunities. They kept trying and learning and improving until they developed the winning program they are using today. Along the way they gained insights that benefit not only their W2C employees, but all of their employees, and their company as a whole. (Read more about it in the article.)

We should study exemplary programs like the one at Cascade and learn all we can from them, but even if we copy these programs down to the last jot and tittle, chances are they won’t work for us on the first try. The most important lesson we can learn from Cascade is to keep trying, trying, trying until we figure out what DOES work. In our efforts to reduce poverty in Waco I imagine we will need to make space for some false starts and “do-overs,” but that is far better than never trying.  Anything worth doing is worth doing badly…at first.

By Ashley Bean Thornton

By the third day of Bridges out of Poverty training last week, my brain was pretty much full to capacity and overflowing, so I almost missed one of the best parts of the whole training: The story of Cascade Engineering.

Cascade Engineering , headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, specializes in large scale plastic injection molding which is used to create all kinds of things from car parts to trash cans to furniture. In fiscal year 2012 they did over $338 million in sales, up from around $285 million in 2011.

Why were we talking about plastics in our Bridges out of Poverty training? If you take a look at the Cascade “2012 Triple Bottom Line Report,” the connection becomes clear.  The report includes not just financials, but also metrics on their social and environmental accomplishments.  For example, on the last page of the report, in the same annual scorecard where they report their sales, they also report a metric called “Welfare to Career Retention Rate” – 97% for 2012, by the way. This metric is evidence that Cascade has developed a successful strategy for recruiting individuals from poverty and retaining them as valuable, productive employees.  In so doing, they have moved the concept of “social benefit” from the realm of charitable donations into the realm of business strategy.

Here’s a quote from the letter the CEO, Fred Keller, wrote to introduce the 2012 Triple Bottom Line Report. Read and be inspired! :

“Sometimes I am politely asked if our Triple Bottom Line focus on People and Planet takes away from Profits. With the release of this year’s Triple Bottom Line Report … we have a great opportunity to address the common misconception that these three priorities are necessarily at odds with each other. In truth, they can be. But if you do it right, the opposite is true. Commitment to People and Planet can accelerate Profits because teams committed to such worthy endeavors tend to work harder and with greater innovation than if they were merely going through the motions of the job. Also, commitment to People and Planet introduces business value that almost always results in greater long-term rewards.”

The story of Cascade engineering helps us to evolve the conversation about poverty into a conversation about potential – for the people involved and also for the businesses that employ them.  We can learn from that!

It wasn’t easy though…more on the journey in a blog to follow.

By Ashley Bean Thornton

I’m a sucker for a good parable. Here’s an oldie, but goodie — one that I have been thinking of this week while attending the Bridges out of Poverty training  as part of the Prosper Waco Initiative…

Once upon a time there was a tiny village where no one had ever seen an elephant. One day an elephant and his keeper wandered into the village. The keeper needed a little cash, so he hid the elephant in an enormous barn and held a contest. Villagers could pay $2 to come into the barn blindfolded and examine the elephant. Then, the contestant who could describe the elephant correctly would win half the money collected. Five folks decided to play. The first blindfolded man touched the elephant’s ear. “An elephant is a large fan like the kind you use in church when it’s hot,” he said. The second person wrapped his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. “An elephant is a pillar, like the ones on the courthouse,” he stated. The third player was holding the elephant’s tail. “An elephant is a type of rope,” he stated with great conviction. The fourth player leaned against the elephants’ side. “An elephant is clearly a big, flat wall,” he said. The fifth had the elephant’s trunk wrapped around his waist, “An elephant is a large python snake,” he insisted in a condescending tone. The five blind-folded contestants argued deep into the night. While they argued, the elephant keeper ran away with all of the money.

The parallels to the poverty “elephant” are obvious. What causes poverty? “Obviously it’s the destructive behaviors of the individuals in poverty,” says the first blind-folded man. “It’s definitely lack of education,” says the second. “No, it’s lack of jobs,” says the third. “Good grief!” says the fourth, “Can’t everyone see it’s exploitation!” “You’re all crazy! It’s the global political and economic system,” insists the fifth.

In the Bridges training this week 40 or so folks from health care, education, law enforcement, non-profit organizations, the city and a sprinkling of other occupations have been taking off blindfolds and looking at the whole elephant. It’s hard not to be hopeful about the possibilities.