Perfect Office Gifts
Employees at Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida are already thinking about President and CEO Mark Morris’ homemade pickles—an annual holiday gift. CPA firm Markham Norton Mosteller Wright doesn’t give holiday gifts. Instead, the firm has sent its clients chocolates for Valentine’s Day, an ice cream truck during the summer and leaf-shaped cookies in the fall.
Gift giving builds relationships and establishes goodwill, says Suzanne Willis, president of Willis Consulting & Communications. In the workplace, however, not just any gift will do. Find out how to buy appropriate—and appreciated—gifts for your coworkers this holiday season.
Humble Heroes
This story started with a quest for the stuff of movies: the power versions of Jimmy Stewart’s selfless character George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life and Olivia de Havilland’s kind-hearted Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind. We wanted to know, in this community where millions of dollars are raised for charity in a single day, if there are business leaders who actually perform random acts of kindness and then forget to stick around for the photo ops.
The difficulty, it turned out, wasn’t in finding "nice guys." The challenges were narrowing the choices, and then persuading them to let us share their stories. Our article showcases six inspiring men and women who prove that nice guys (and gals) do finish first.
Getting to Know Goodwill
Quoyastine "Q" Moore is bubbly and effusive, with an air of intelligent efficiency. It’s hard to imagine this bright, attractive young woman ever had trouble getting a job. But after serving time in prison on drug charges in 2000, she submitted 39 job applications and received no response. She then went to Goodwill, where she met with a job placement counselor and was hired that day.
Goodwill has expanded far beyond the familiar thrift stores. Today its programs include job training, charter schools for disabled youth, transportation and housing. Resales of your donated teddy bears, shoes and clothes, however, remain the backbone of the organization’s funding. Our writer spent time at the processing plant in North Fort Myers—and learned how your donated socks, bound for Malaysia, help fund Goodwill services.
For more Gulfshore Business news, visit www.gulfshorebusiness.com.
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