A Contract With Humanity

As 2013 winds down, I’ve spent some time reflecting back on my 79 live events this year. I’ve seen a lot and racked up a few frequent flyer miles in the process. I’ve also spent hundreds of hours engaged in the study of growth-oriented business practices. I’ve come to realize that the best organizations and most influential leaders have incredible clarity around their contract with humanity. They succeed in capturing commitment around that contract, which also so happens to be incredibly good for business.

Last week, I delivered the final presentations of my 2013 event schedule.

On Wednesday I was in Montreal with Novartis delivering my third keynote in a series supporting their Latin America & Canada Medical business. I was fortunate to work with them in both São Paulo and Mexico City in the previous weeks leading up to our day together in Canada.

During my time with Novartis, I’d come to learn a little bit more about the core values they share: a passion for life, a dedication to science and a commitment to find new treatments that will bring greater health and longer life to more people around the world.

The company celebrates and fights to protect normal life. This is their contract with humanity. The accompanying short video captures a sense of what motivates Novartis employees and what they hope to achieve. The video is titled “Long Live Life,” and for Novartis associates around the world, these three words are a call to action.

The very next day I was in Orlando delivering a keynote for the Mass Mutual Retirement Services National Sales & Client Management Conference. This was also my third event in recent months with Mass Mutual, and the first time in front of their national sales organization.

Prior to taking the stage I had the good fortune of sitting in on presentations from CEO Roger Crandall and Executive Vice President Elaine Sarsynksi.

MassMutual is a company owned by policyowners. Their philosophy is built to serve their policyowners — not stockholders or Wall Street. They have a 160-year legacy of delivering on that promise. That commitment was passionately reinforced in both executive presentations. Mass Mutual’s contract with humanity is helping people secure their future and protect the ones they love.

“Who matters most to you says the most about you.” For Mass Mutual, it’s policyowners like this:

As you audit 2013 and prepare for next year, considering your own contract with humanity might be work worth doing. I know we are going to spend a good bit of time working through that in our own business this week.

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2014!

Ryan Estis & Associates is a training and development organization helping companies, leaders, sales people and individual contributors embrace change and achieve breakthrough performance in the new economy. We offer keynotes, live classroom training and online learning that blends interaction, energy and actionable content designed to elevate performance. Contact us for programming inquiries and assistance determining the curriculum that could best support your learning and development objectives.