On Purpose
3 weeks ago we sat down as a team to discuss our Why. Why do we do our work? Why does Bread SRSLY inspire us? What fuels us and motivates us?
The brainstorm session was beautiful and heartfelt. We did not know how uncanny our timing would be. With Black Lives Matter protesting, doing the work of anti-racism, and the grief that is touching each of us in different ways, we’d like to share with you the purpose statement we’ve crafted for our company. We passionately lead with our values, and we’re adding another dimension of purpose to guide our work.
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Our Purpose
We believe in people, so we’re building a world where people matter most.
We believe in compassion, so we put it into daily practice with our coworkers and our customers.
We believe in inclusion, so we examine our biases and make positive change.
We believe in courage, so we show up for hard conversations as listeners and learners.
We believe that a business rooted in humanity and empathy has great power, and great purpose. That is the business, and the world, that we are building.
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Now, I'd like to share with you an invitation.
Every day, our team's goal is that our work aligns with our company values to serve, nourish, and include, and starting today, that it aligns with our purpose as well. These values coalesce in how we treat people, from employees to strangers, from White people to Black people. The world of Bread SRSLY is one of kindness, empathy, generous listening, and psychological safety. Right now, it feels like a novelty to run a values-aligned business, and to live in a values-aligned world, but that doesn't have to be true.
This is an invitation to you to join us in the learning, talking and DOING we need to do in order to make treating each other with kindness the only way to do business. There are lots of barriers to entry. Here is the role I can play to help you start this journey:
-I can listen to you, and hold space for you
-I can share my fears, my feelings, and my thoughts so that you know you're not alone
-I can help define words like privilege, racism and oppression if those words stand in the way of starting this work
-I can support you through starting the painful path of self-awareness and self-examination
-I can share a business-owner's perspective that you can bring to your own workplace
-I can open up the resources we use and the resources we've made to create an empathetic and inclusive workplace
-I can remind you to keep learning, talking and doing
I will keep posting, updating and sharing as I learn and grow. I invite you in, to share, to listen, to learn, to be challenged, and to do the challenging. This is a place of inclusion and kindness. This is a place to have your mind changed. This is a place where we withhold judgment, avoid shaming behavior, and use appropriate language. This is a place for you, and for me, and for us to build a kind and fair world.
Yours in action,
Sadie Scheffer