How do you take such elated values and turn them into a model that’s hands-on, understandable, and practical? How do you take these values and turn them into a model that will be beneficial for individuals and a collective, whether that collective is a small or large business, a philanthropic organization, or even a country?
Transformation Through Collaboration
When I took over Arison Investments, I tried to bring out the best in these companies while respecting and working with what was already in place. But after seven years, I realized that if I wanted to be aligned with my own moral compass, I would need to make some hard and bold changes. This would involve bringing in new people, expanding the stake of my holdings, letting go of the past, and proceeding in a way that would ensure that I could instill the visions and values while maintaining stability and continued growth and profitability.
This might sound easy, but it was far from that. In order to inspire the transformation of these old-style companies, it took a long process of getting everyone on board. After years of individual vision processes for each of our companies and organizations, it was time to bring everyone together. I asked for a meeting with all of the chairmen and CEOs to discuss bringing all the visions and values together in order to create one model for the entire group.
You must understand that bringing everyone together meant a gathering of representatives from the bank, the real estate and infrastructure company, the salt company, the water company, the family foundation, the volunteer foundation, and the spiritual foundation. Wow, what a group.
Now we had a group of people with such diverse career paths and different goals sitting together, with extremely different points of view, and me wanting them to agree on the meaning of these values, right down to the very last word. The first meeting was a disaster. Everyone was screaming and yelling at one another, no one agreed, there was no understanding—what was the point?
I even got two phone calls after that first meeting telling me that this was not going to work. Maybe I should create this model on my own, just as I did all the visions in the past. I heard this from both the chairman of Arison Investments, Efrat Peled, and the chairman of all of our philanthropic organizations, who happens to be my son, Jason Arison. I explained to both of them that this was a new world of collaboration, and I strongly believed that no matter how long it takes, we would all come to a place that everyone was at peace with our collective vision.
But my son said, “Mom, if you continue with this, you’re going to have to give in on your true voice, or the others will have to give in.” But I stood fast in my belief that if we put our minds to it, everyone would come out with their own true voice, and together we would find a way to create something that we all agreed on.
Finding the Way
This process took a whole year. During that year, we had many challenges—just scheduling a series of meetings with all of the CEOs and chairmen proved to be quite difficult. We also had changes in leadership, as some people left their positions and new ones came in. We had various facilitators at different times during this process. Some participants got the message and others completely didn’t. And yet, at the end of the year, we were all aligned with thirteen written values that we defined together down to the last word. I knew we could reach a win-win, and we did.
I realize today that the values in the model are a kick start for values-based conversation and implementation. Although I am introducing these thirteen values, every value that causes someone to grow and do good is, in my eyes, blessed.
After the year-long process, we understood that it was important for each entity to take responsibility for implementation. It’s one thing to define values, but it’s quite another to implement values in a practical way that reaches every employee worldwide. We set out for another series of meetings.
Meeting after meeting, we tried to determine practical ways for implementation but the frustration just grew higher, and we hit a dead end. At that point, Efrat came to me and said, “Let me and Jason find the way.” The solutions they found were quite amazing, both in-house, across the group, and within the academic arena. That’s what we’ll tackle in the next chapter: the challenge of implementation and how we overcame it.
Finding a Starting Point
I can tell you that it was quite incredible to finally have a definition for each of the thirteen values, words that we all agreed on. It had taken a full year to get to that point, and now it was time to start the process of taking those values and getting each of the companies and organizations to commit to implementation.
Our top corporate leaders tried to work it out, but it was not long before we realized that we were at a dead end. We seemed to be having meeting after meeting, and things were not moving forward at all. It was pretty clear that these meetings were a waste of everyone’s valuable time, because the chairmen and CEOs just could not seem to find a way to turn the definitions of these values into a practical implementation plan.
That’s when Efrat and Jason came up with a brilliant solution, one we still use today, which is a series of forums that each focus on certain values in order to move them forward. They decided to start with the four values that everyone could most easily agree with and understand: Giving, Volunteering, Sustainability, and Financial Freedom. These were the four values that were already becoming entrenched within Arison Group businesses and organizations.
For example, some of our companies were already strong corporate supporters of the communities we operated in. Many employees were already volunteering. Sustainability was a value that was already living and breathing within Shikun & Binui, our infrastructure and real estate company, which takes on large-scale building projects around the world. Financial Freedom had become the vision at Bank Hapoalim.
As the chairman of our philanthropic organizations, it felt like a natural fit for Jason to lead the forum that focused on Giving and Volunteering. Likewise, since Efrat was chairman and CEO of Arison Investments, she was the perfect person to lead the forum that dealt with Financial Freedom and Sustainability.
Employees for Change
The forums were announced and employees from within each entity were asked to step forward if they felt they wanted to be involved. Because this concept of the forums was brand new, no one really knew what would happen, but a few passionate employees stepped forward and took on the challenge.
The two initial forums started with about seven employees each. There was one representative from each of the main businesses and organizations within the Arison Group. This was the first time that all the businesses and philanthropic organizations came together. In each of the two forums, the small groups sat together, and many people got to know one another for the first time. They talked about what the values meant to them and how they thought they could implement the values in practical terms across the board within the Arison Group.
I did not take part in the forums; however, I was and continue to be updated regularly. I was very adamant that although I agreed on starting with four of the values, it was important to me that the entire model of thirteen values be implemented and that we must find the way. It was understood that it was imperative to make each value practical, understandable, simple, and tangible.
From my past experience, I knew very well that “theory” doesn’t transform anything. You have to translate vision and values into practical terms. The only way to create real change is to engage people and get them moving so that they can truly integrate new ideas.
Because the representatives in the forums already had