Cultivating Empathy and Corporate Responsibility Through Volunteering with Sarah Middleton

**SPEAKER_2** (0:06)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Zgash** (0:19)
So I'm driving in my neighborhood this one day, and I see this badass running in my neighborhood. We've got all these hills, I'm all, who is this? Running, and they're running hard. And I pull up, and I look over, and it's Mike right now.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:32)
Hey, what are you up to?

**Stephen Zgash** (0:33)
He's, oh, I'm doing the hardest 5K in Orange County right now. So I know you guys got that history of running together. But hello, everyone. Welcome back to the show. We are exploring how companies and nonprofits can work together to drive lasting social change. I'm Stephen Zgash here again with Mike Lusky and our special guest. We are live, so if you have questions or comments, send them along, and we'll try to get them in the mix during our conversation. Mike, introduce our guest today.

**Mike Lusky** (1:05)
Absolutely, Stephen. Be my pleasure and thank you for the running props. I appreciate that. So today's guest, we're super excited to hear from her about really how she's helping organizations foster connection and drive change in communities in this world, which we know this podcast is very much about. So our guest, Sarah Middleton, she's the president and CEO of Mission Up, a social change consulting firm. And through Mission Up, Sarah focuses on building meaningful connections that drive that change, helping our organizations develop impactful corporate social responsibility initiatives and nonprofits to activate partnerships that facilitate resource flow. Before founding Mission Up in 2018, Sarah held significant leadership roles, including being the senior vice president at PIMCO, where she managed the global corporate citizenship, and served as the executive director of the PIMCO Foundation. She's also played a key role in national and regional efforts, like Points of Light and Impact 2030, and has really a long history of nonprofit leadership. So Sarah's impact really extends beyond the business world. She's written for Huffington Post, served on several boards, and was named one of Orange County's most influential people in 2015 So with that, Sarah, welcome to our show. We are so pleased to have you with us today.

**Sarah Middleton** (2:39)
Thank you so much. I'm really excited about our conversation today.

**Stephen Zgash** (2:45)
So I like that word Mike mentioned meaningful in his intro there. I think it's easy for companies to say they care about social causes, but how can they move beyond just sort of tick in the boxes and really make an impact? How does like the purpose and empathy come to play with that?

**Sarah Middleton** (3:05)
So I think in particular, today's workforce and especially younger generations, they crave purpose in the workplace. It used to be, oh, it's nice to have purpose, it's nice to have employee volunteer efforts. But that's no longer the case. I think it's really a need to have at this point. And I've witnessed stories where the younger generations are asking for this and they're clamoring for it. So I think for companies today, it's happening from their employees and also ideally, it's happening at the leadership level too, where leadership of a company sees the value in this employee benefit, because it truly is an employee benefit. And so they're encouraging and supporting at the same time that their workforce is driving it.

**Stephen Zgash** (4:04)
Yeah, we talk about that a lot, of really like, so the younger generations, because kind of society's gravities kind of, you know, evolved and progressed, that they're coming online to this stage of seeking meaning in their lives and purpose a lot sooner than previous generations.
So, they're coming into the workforce with that, and they're looking for that. And I know that's just kind of a recurring theme for us, like, hey, this is kind of the future of where we're going with everything. From your experience, what does it take for companies to create kind of a authentic corporate social responsibility, CSR initiatives that truly resonate with those employees and the community?

**Sarah Middleton** (4:50)
So, I think authentic is key, because if it's simply transactional, people are going to see right through that. Your employees are going to see right through that, and the community is going to see right through that. So, I really do believe it starts with executive buy-in. The folks who are leading the company, they need to believe in that. They need to want to do it for the right purposes, and they need to support and encourage it. It just can't be a one-off. I think if you are seeking to create change or to offer that kind of mechanism to reach purpose for your employees, you have to make a long-term commitment.