Walking the talk: Area 51 proves the power of purpose-driven innovation

It is one thing to say, and another to do. At 84.51°, we don’t just say “we make peoples’ lives easier,” we actually do.

At this year’s Area 51, the company’s annual offsite event, we showed just what it means to live our purpose. Following an inspirational spoken word poem by artist Siri Imani, and a welcome keynote from our president Milen Mahadevan, all associates embarked on a mission to embrace our “Limitless Minds” value.

More than 1,200 associates were broken into groups to support six different charitable partners: American Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity, La Soupe, Off the List, Save the Animals Foundation and Zero Hunger | Zero Waste. Their mission: to offer a solution to one of three unique challenges presented by each charity using their individual skills.

The challenges embodied a breadth of outcomes ranging from creating marketing initiatives, generating customer loyalty, building new processes, optimizing and automating workflow, data collection and more. After nearly four hours of brainstorming and idea generation, the teams presented their pitch in front of charity partners and 84.51° business leaders. Certain ideas rose to the top – and one team from each group was deemed the winner.

But it doesn’t stop there. The formation of the project teams is now underway – well beyond the conclusion of Area 51 – as the winning ideas will be carried forward via side-of-desk work to improve the lives of its charitable partner.

Alas, what began as an exercise in “Limitless Minds” has now shifted to 84.51° remaining values: “Fearless Hearts” and “Relentless Delivery”.