Young Carson Kropfl recently spoke at my Chapman University journalism class. You may know Carson; when the San Clemente resident was 11, he created and later patented a nonfolding skateboard that fits into a school locker and snugly into a backpack—a good enough market and message that Richard Branson had to outbid Mark Cuban on “Shark Tank” to buy 20% of Carson’s company, Locker Board.
Though the young Locker Board isn’t on our second annual Civic 50 list of the most civic-minded companies in Orange County, it may very well be one day.
Carson’s a pretty good speaker and pitchman—he did the classic elevator pitch to a Shark producer at age 9 to get on the top-rated show and now does TED Talks and speaks on campuses about never giving up and following one’s dream.
My students sipped at his story of early and dogged entrepreneurship, but gulped away when he mentioned the time and energy he and Team Kropfl—mom, Carrie, the Chief Mom Officer, etc.—are expending on a community cause to ensure a safe mothballing of the San Onofre nuclear power plant in his city’s backyard.
Now Carson really had ‘em. And students today can sniff a poser quick—young Carson isn’t that. He’s the real deal—knows the complex issue and is determined to effect change, including a possible trip to Washington, D.C. and a visit with energy department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials.
If I needed a reminder of how much civic engagement resonates with the upcoming workforce, I got it that Monday night.
That brings us to this year’s second annual Orange County Civic 50.
As the Business Journal’s boss, Richard Reisman, noted in announcing the first Civic 50 at the Center Club in Costa Mesa last year, “doing well today, is doing good.”
Let the cynics counter, but the companies and their employees on this year’s second roll call of our most civically engaged businesses are deploying an awful lot of resources to doing good, no doubt at times to the detriment of the bottom line, and sometimes to the benefit—along with a boost to employee retention, recruitment and overall goodwill.
My first employer, Fortune 10 Company Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., and with a growing presence in Orange County, was early to that mindset:
• J&J’s timeless and influential credo reads in part, “We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. We must be good citizens—support good works and charities …”
• J&J, Pacific Life Insurance Co. and Edwards Lifesciences Corp. may have been in the vanguard, but we’re also blessed with many smaller and much younger companies that are heeding the clarion call.
My colleague Kim Haman profiles this year’s Civic 50 honorees on the following pages. And here are a few more companies and their programs highlighted, each illustrating a different way to operate impactful civic-engagement programs:
• Commitment from the top: R.D. Olson Construction President Bill Wilhelm, employees note, “quite a few initiatives throughout the year where he makes sure to participate. His hands-on approach of leading by example is a great way for getting participation … and people [here] respect him for that.”
• Size doesn’t matter: commercial-construction company Driver SPG “put $130,313 into the local community in 2017 and 1,163 volunteer hours … we are a company of just 40 people … 100% of those hours and dollars went to Orange County families and nonprofit organizations.” Note: The national Civic 50 average volunteer hours per employee is 5.3; Driver SPG says its people average 29.
• Good deeds get rewarded: At the Costa Mesa office of business-law firm Snell & Wilmer, “… time spent on pro bono work is credited toward performance goals … and considered for purposes of evaluation and compensation.”
Carson and Locker Board were also hunting for an intern that Monday night. My class isn’t large, but he had one before he left.
