{"id":1505,"date":"2009-12-07T19:57:05","date_gmt":"2009-12-08T00:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2014-10-26T12:04:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-26T17:04:34","slug":"coca-cola-execs-run-marathon-for-pediatric-cancer-while-inspiring-others-to-live-positively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitzness.com\/blog\/coca-cola-execs-run-marathon-for-pediatric-cancer-while-inspiring-others-to-live-positively\/","title":{"rendered":"Coca-Cola Execs Run Marathon for Pediatric Cancer while Inspiring Others to Live Positively"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Coca-Cola<\/a>For years, the Coca Cola corporation has encouraged us all to share a Coke and a smile.\u00a0 With their leaders working as strong role models, the sweet corporate giant is now coaxing others to share a lot more.\u00a0 Leading the way in a greater campaign to Live Positively<\/em>,\u00a0<\/a>Senior Vice President, Bill\u00a0O’Brien,\u00a0and\u00a0President of the North American Business\u00a0Unit, Steve Cahillane, joined\u00a0a team\u00a0to run the ING New York Marathon this past November 1st\u00a0raising money ($2.5 million) for Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center, where more children are treated for cancer than anywhere else on the globe.<\/p>\n

In a new America where corporations are vilified on a regular basis,\u00a0Coca Cola is\u00a0spearheading the way towards\u00a0a time when tree huggers and health care officials alike\u00a0will be placing giants like these on pedestals as\u00a0symbols of righteousness. In a conversation with Bill O’Brien recently, he told me that his efforts on the roads were not only geared\u00a0towards the fundraising, but\u00a0were based on Coke’s bigger effort called “Live Positively” which encourages employees to bring their whole self to work. Bill says “it’s an effort to have\u00a0employees round out their lives and with permission, they can do things that help make them a\u00a0more complete person. It\u00a0might be giving back to the community, doing things to become more healthy or any number of other things. But what it isn’t about is making their entire life about work!”<\/p>\n

Even with a corporate push to Live Positively, 26.2 miles is no simple feat. With two previous marathons under his belt, Bill was easily inspired to take part as cancer has had a lasting effect on his family; his mother lost her battle with cancer,\u00a0 his brother fought cancer\u00a0of the\u00a0jaw and he even has a neice\u00a0who successfully battled the vicious disease at the young age of 11. With all details presented, the opportunity for Bill to do good was just too great\u00a0to pass up. Three weeks post-race he’s still sore, \u00a0but says it was all worth it.<\/p>\n

Great efforts like these are\u00a0strong predictors of spectacular things to come from\u00a0Coca-Cola. With the mass amount of people employed by this behemoth, and all of them given\u00a0both the bright green light and a kick in the pants to go do positive things\u00a0… it will be difficult to keep up with the\u00a0mass impact taking place. \u00a0Moreso, I see this program having even greater potential. A storied organization like Coke stands as a tremendous role model. It won’t be long before\u00a0endless amounts of large and small companies are following in it’s footsteps and giving their employees a big boost to live better and do better. When employees feel good, they’re happier to be<\/em> at work and do<\/em> great work; this in turn, becomes a win, win, win for everyone!<\/p>\n

For more info on the Coca-Cola Live Positively<\/em> program, click here.<\/a>
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