About one year ago I reflected on the first six months of work at Mindjet and I considered myself lucky. I had found an organization that was on the fast track of growth fueled by good people, and customers, that had a passion for mind-mapping software. Everything felt in step from the free lunches in the cafeteria to the birthday celebrations we enjoyed as a team. And, yet, something also seemed to be missing….at least for me.
At home, I was asking my children to live by the guidelines of “changing the world” but at work was I really doing the same? While our application influenced businesses, there had to be more. Mike Jetter, the founder of the company, had woven a personal mission affecting many, along with his wife Bettina, and had lived this charter. Endemic in the fabric of the company was a history of doing “good” for others as the company did well for themselves. Somehow, as we grew and became more successful, this got a bit lost along the way.
With that, having the executive support of our CEO Scott Raskin and partnering with our HR Director Yoona Wong, the rebirth of social consciousness re-emerged this quarter with the launch of Mindful™ — our corporate giving program. The charter for Mindful draws on the philosophy of other like minded companies in that it is our obligation to contribute more than just profits but it is also our responsibility to be shepherds of change. So it’s with that simple mission, that we have structured a plan to give our software, our time and our financial contributions with a purpose. The intent is to volunteer employee hours each quarter and to supply MindManager (our flag-ship application) to those organizations in need but unable to finance the purchase.
Already, in the first two months of launching, we’ve had team members participate in the Movember drive (http://us.movember.com/) raising over $1,300 in less than 30 days for men’s health and cancer research. That was immediately followed by over 50 toys contributed to the Family Giving Tree (http://www.familygivingtree.org/) by Mindjet employees this holiday season. This week, we plan on donating over five boxes of clothing to the non-profit known as One Warm Coat (http://www.onewarmcoat.org/). It’s also great to report, that we have identified seven organizations that will be the first recipients of our software enablement program. Shortly, they will have the product at no cost to help them learn, grow and share their message.
And so the journey begins. We fundamentally believe that the company can make a dramatic impact on others simply by being—in a word—Mindful.