Verizon introduced a new series to amplify the voices of the future
In early June, a visibly impassioned Hans Vestberg made a commitment of $10 million to organizations which work for equality and social justice in response to the protests against police brutality that swept across the nation.
“It’s a sad situation we see in the nation right now,” the Verizon CEO said. “I have been talking to my leadership team all this weekend, and I understand the situation. … I rarely have a hard time with words, but I am today.”
RCR Wireless News caught up with Verizon’s Director of Corporate Communications Marie McGehee to dive a bit deeper into some of the things the company is doing to create true change, specifically focusing on its #Next20 project. With an emphasis on social issues like racial and criminal justice, economic empowerment and voting engagement, the online series invites young visionaries and groundbreakers to explore the inspiration behind their ideas, activism and how they hope to build a better future
“Social responsibility has always been one of our corporate values,” she began the conversation, “and when you think about everything that’s happened this year, in particular, I think we would all agree that it’s been a highly unusual year and an unprecedented year.”
Further, this unprecedented year that has delivered a pandemic, followed by an economic downturn and then world-wide racial injustice protests and discussions, happened to be Verizon’s 20th year in business, which inspired the company to take a serious look at what it envisions for the future, both within its own company and for society as a whole.
“We don’t have all the answers,” McGehee admitted, “so we really wanted to make a series as an opportunity for us to listen and learn from people who are much closer to these issues than we are as a company.”
When asked why Verizon chose the format of an ongoing series, rather than a single large event, for instance, she explained that the company felt it was important to create “a holistic framework” around the conversation because doing so “shows that this isn’t just a moment in time, but an opportunity to drive systematic change into the future.”
“This isn’t a one-and-done,” she added.
Verizon, of course, is not alone in the statements it made against racial injustice; however, it’s important that the companies who publicly decry racial inequality are also going beyond words of support to implement real change within their companies to ensure that they are an active part of creating the better future they claim to be in favor of.
“I think we’ve seen that corporate America is setting a new tone [and changing] its perspective on putting shareholders first, and to instead focus on being more societal. There are number of examples out there that show that the tide has turned,” McGehee offered. “And I think that as far as the approach, no company has all of the answers on all of these issues, so it’s important to really interact and engage with organizations and individuals who are closely tied to these issues.”
