Massachusetts has made a name for itself as a breeding ground for innovation. For example, Cambridge has quickly become known as a vibrant biotech and research hub, home to the likes of Moderna, Biogen, The Broad Institute and dozens more. Not to mention Flagship Pioneering, where the ideas for many of these companies (e.g., Moderna) were first conceived and nurtured.
The contractions started shortly after midnight.
“Is this happening?”
This wasn’t the plan. Two weeks earlier, we had scheduled a C section to deliver our breech baby on Monday morning – still eight hours away. We drove to the hospital and found ourselves in a small room, my wife in bed with straps around her belly, nurses dutifully monitoring her health and the baby’s.
I joined Allison+Partners in February 2020. Having worked in agencies for my entire career, I knew early mornings, late nights and frequent travel were the price of admission. Before the pandemic, I had a regular routine down: Out of the house early before my daughter woke up, back home after she went to bed, and weekends as a sort of catch up before Monday came for us to do it all over again.
Whether a pint of beer, a tank of gas or a list of groceries, consumers are feeling what the drumbeat of news headlines is telling them: the cost of living is skyrocketing, and there seems to be no end in sight.
Juneteenth, or “Black Independence Day,” commemorates the freedom of enslaved Americans in the United States and is identified as the first Black American holiday. Short for “June Nineteenth,” the holiday marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 to inform enslaved people they were freed.
Fewer than four in 10 employees say their company’s purpose gives their work meaning, and more than one-third (35%) say a company’s positive impact is among the top two most important attributes when they consider staying in or leaving a job.
That’s according to a study by Allison+Partners, Carol Cone on Purpose and The Harris Poll that was published this week.
In early June 2015, I sat across from Tara Chiarell, now general manager of the Washington, D.C. office and executive director of client experience, to interview for an assistant account executive position at Allison+Partners. A picture book of her safari sabbatical sat on her desk as she told me about the month-long sabbatical perk that Allison+Partners employees qualify for after five years of employment.
“How cool… isn’t that just for professors?” I thought to myself. “Sounds like an adult study abroad.”
The tears welling up in my eyes multiple times during the day only modestly hint at what I’ve felt inside over the past two days. Yesterday, the tears appeared when I dropped my kids off at school in the morning, again with every news story about grieving Texas parents throughout the day, and – not for the last time – when I was lucky enough to be able to hug my kids again after school. As one of the leaders of Allison+Partners’ employee advocacy group Allison+Family, those tears are blurring my vision now as I’m typing and will probably punctuate my day between meetings and projects.
Articles and opinions delivered directly to your inbox.
