It’s hard to believe that last week was our 14th BNP Paribas Social Enterprise Hackathon. Not our 3rd or 5th or even 10th — but 14th! Across these events, we have worked with more than 500 leadership talent from BNP Paribas and supported more than 70 inspiring social partners from non-profits and social enterprises, all doing work that is directly linked with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

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This year, for the fifth time, we are sponsoring the Stuff a Stocking project to help bring some holiday joy to children who are affected by poverty. This is particularly important as we head into 2023. With the cost of living crisis and rising energy prices, there are thousands of families who won’t be able to afford holiday gifts for their children. These families, who are struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills, need some extra support.

Our Stuff a Stocking project brings the magic of the holidays to children in crisis. This project provides stockings filled with books, toys, crafts, and hygiene products to children whose families are facing hardship.

This year, we are partnering once again with the Runnymede Foodbank, a foodbank that serves families local to our headquarters in Surrey, England. Each year, Runnymede Foodbank delivers Christmas Hampers to people in crisis across the Borough. In 2021, we were proud to provide stockings to more than 250 children whose families were receiving holiday food. This year we have made a commitment to once again deliver at least 250 stockings to support these children and ensure they each receive a stocking of their own.

If you are interested in supporting this project or learning more please get in touch today! If you would like to learn more about Runnymede Foodbank and their incredible work to eradicate food poverty please visit their website.

About the Beautiful World campaign

We are passionate about creating a better world through the development of social leaders. To support this, we have developed the Beautiful World Campaign, whose goal is to create connections between communities, organizations and individuals for greater impact.

The Beautiful World Campaign creates positive connections between communities, purpose-driven organizations and individuals. We work with selected people and organizations to establish meaningful connections, then support these relationships through clear contracting between the parties, through coaching, specialized training or consulting services from experienced members of the Be Leadership team, and through selected financial support. Our Stuff a Stocking project is just one of the projects we organize through this campaign.

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Our programs and experiences have a lasting impact on the leaders who take part in them. With some programs, like the BNP Paribas Social Enterprise Hackathon, we ask participants to create videos to summarize this impact. Here’s a great example from leader Sebastien Pujadas, who describes the value he got from attending the June 2021 virtual program.

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Through this journey, the participants discover new insights around their own leadership style and build their coaching skills, while also learning from each other and developing strategies around real and important business challenges.

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We are proud to partner with BNP Paribas as they develop their future leaders through innovative development workshops that take their leaders outside their comfort zone to work on challenges brought by social enterprises and non-profit partners. This month, we worked with 40 leaders and 6 partners in Mumbai. Next stop: Paris, France in November!

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Eighteen months ago I left Microsoft, where I had spent 17 years. It was a huge decision for me and one I struggled with. I was really scared of the change. But do you want to guess what I was most afraid of? It wasn’t loss of income, it wasn’t status, it wasn’t instability.

I was afraid I’d be unhappy.

Throughout my years at Microsoft, I felt a really close affiliation with the company. I was proud to work there and it was a significant part of my life. Life and work were very blurred at Microsoft – and I liked that! My workday bled into my evening and my personal life mixed with my work. I was close friends with my co-workers. I even met my husband there – and he still works there today. Microsoft was a large part of my identity and I was afraid that if I left, it would impact my relationships and overall happiness.

Fast forward a year and a half and I know now my fears were unfounded. I love my business, my clients, the diversity of my work. I’m excited about the company I am building. I still feel a strong affiliation with Microsoft and am proud of the successful years I spent there. And – perhaps most importantly for my personal happiness – I still have really strong relationships. My new business has been great for my life fulfillment: Not only do I stay in contact with dozens of past colleagues from Microsoft but I’m building relationships and creating new connections – in different sectors, industries and places.

Joy is Connection
Connection is essential to happiness. In fact, some researchers argue it’s the corner stone. In 2013, Harvard released the results of the Harvard Grant Study, a 75-year longitudinal study that explored the secrets of a happy and fulfilling life. The study, which was far reaching, had 5 key findings, 2 of which relate directly to relationships:

• First, it found that love is an essential foundation for a happy life. George Vaillant, the psychiatrist responsible for the Grant Study for 42 years, said the most important finding was that relationships are the only thing that really matter for a fulfilling life: “Happiness is only the cart; love is the horse.”
• Second, it found that the more areas in your life you can create connections, the better. Relationships, including those we have at work, are far and away the strongest predictor of life satisfaction.

Connection matters.
Connection definitely matters, and it’s no wonder I was scared of losing it. In addition to our happiness, it affects our broader business success. Gallup research has shown that close work friendships lead to higher employee satisfaction, with a claim that people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be motivated and productive. Other studies show that more work connections lead to better health and greater sense of fulfillment.

According to neuroscientist Matthew Lieberman, our need to connect with other people is more fundamental and basic than food and shelter. In his book Social: Why our Brains are Wired to Connect, Lieberman shares his finding that even connecting in the most basic ways makes you happier—especially when you know other people need your help. His research shows that having a friend that you see daily at work brings the equivalent happiness to $100,000 increase in salary.

Now that’s a lot of happiness.

Stay connected.

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