Whether you work for a business or non-profit, chances are good that it has a logo – and that this visual representation of your brand goes hand-in-hand with almost everything your organization does. In fact, most of us wouldn’t dream of producing anything like business cards, ads, letterhead or corporate swag without one.
Which makes what I’m about to say sound counter intuitive.
Somewhere, somewhen, I heard someone refer to the work that happens in disaster response as requiring people to put logos and egos aside in order to work together for the common good.
Those words popped back into my head as I was preparing to welcome our non-profit partners for ALAN’s latest monthly coordination call.
We’ve only been hosting these calls for about six months, so new faces and organizations are joining all the time. As a result, we’re still at the phase where we occasionally see at least a few participants lead off by speaking in terms of their individual logos, brands and achievements. But thankfully this “humble bragging” only lasts for a short while, and by each call’s end, everyone has usually happily leaned in on the group problem-solving mindset.
It’s fun to see that type of community building taking place. It’s equally fun to be part of such a selfless community already thanks to the bi-weekly calls that we’ve been hosting with our various partner associations over the past couple of years – and to our many financial and in-kind contributors.
Yes, we all represent different organizations that have their own branding and agendas. And yes, we all have services or causes we want supply chain professionals to invest in. Nevertheless, we always seem to find ways to collaborate, to cheer one another on, and to work together for the betterment of our profession. Just as important, I know that when the next disaster hits, every member of this community will be willing to put “logos and egos” aside in order to help ALAN help those in need, no questions asked.
So even though it is often the ALAN logo that people associate with disaster relief, please know this: Our brand of compassion – using a little bit of logistics to deliver a lot of love – wouldn’t be possible without amazing partners like you.
Kathy Fulton
Executive Director
American Logistics Aid Network
