10 years ago, in our London office, a group of employees had an idea to see if we could condense a month’s worth of project work into one day and create meaningful impact for five local charities. Based on the success of this event, Prophet Impact Day was born. Over time it was scaled globally and expanded to include community service and consulting opportunities.   

Over the past 10 years, we have… 

• Supported 270 organizations 
• Donated over 25,000 hours 
• Engaged over 4,000 employees 

Last month we hosted our 10th annual Prophet Impact Day – closing our offices across the globe to work together and give back to our local communities. We supported a wide range of local community organizations like Save the Children, Clean Up Munich and Caritas of Austin. Our teams were supported things like: 

• Packing, sorting and distributing food and meals 
• Cleaning up parks, gardens and other facilities
• Doing consulting work like developing value propositions and marketing strategies  

Year-after-year Propheteers proclaim that Prophet Impact day is their favorite day of the year.  This initiative puts all four of our values on display: create with courage, give and grow, share joy and open minds.  

“So much fun! I enjoy Impact Day and giving back to the community!”

Leslie Statemen, Office Manager & Executive Assistant

“I enjoy doing pro-bono consulting work on Impact Day because it feels like we’re adding unique value, but it’s also so satisfying to do something physical with your colleagues, and team up with folks you don’t often work with, and see the physical impact of your had work.”

Darcy Muñoz, Partner, Verbal Branding

“Truly enjoyed working with me fellow ATOers and also having my son join us in giving back.”

Ashely Burgess, Executive Assistant

“With this day, you do not only give back to community, you can also enjoy a day with your team. Isn’t that great?”

Loes van der Westerlaken, Marketing and Office Manager

“Fantastic experience! Great to connect with other Propheteers and spend some time doing good on behalf of the organization.”

Avery Gross, Group Creative Director

“The day was great and so much fun, with high levels of participation. It was great to have one location where we could do lots of activities. One of the best Impact days I’ve attended.”

Hailey Armstrong, Engagement Manager

“A very valuable and positive experience as it is a day we can actually leave the office and interact with the community.  Overall, I saw solid teamwork and love from the team in this event, and it was a truly satisfying experience.”

Frank Chan, Strategy Associate

On Friday, July 15, over 435 Prophet employees around the globe gave back to their local communities as part of Prophet Impact Day—an annual event where our entire firm pauses and focuses on elevating the work of organizations that are making a positive impact in our societies. 

The last few years have presented significant societal, economic and environmental challenges and, of course, a global pandemic. While we have reinvented what Prophet Impact Day (previously known as P4NP) means for us as individuals and as a firm, we remain committed to taking on these challenges head-on and doing our part to amplify the work of nonprofit organizations where we live and work. In broadening the scope of this volunteer day, we have a renewed focus on addressing the causes that our employees are most passionate about: sustainability, equality and social mobility. 

This year, on our 8^th annual Prophet Impact Day, we partnered with over 25 organizations and dedicated over 1400 hours to create an impact in our communities.  

Propheteers engaged in a wide array of activities this year supporting a diverse range of causes: 

• Sorting donations and preparing meals to help underserved communities in Atlanta, Richmond, New York, Chicago and Hong Kong  
• Remodeling temporary shelters for Ukrainian refugees arriving in Berlin
• Getting our hands dirty in efforts to help community farms and keep parks and beaches clean in London, Singapore, Zurich and San Francisco 
• Empowering the next generation of young leaders in Austin and Shanghai  
• Using our business expertise to consult local nonprofits–including Florham Park Educational Fund, Charlotte Rescue Mission, Alaina’s Voice and Austin Pets Alive– to help them grow and achieve their missions.  

Whether our employees were in-person, virtual, working in groups or independently, Propheteers across the firm had flexible opportunities to support the causes they’re passionate about. Prophet Impact Day also provided a chance for our teams to connect with colleagues outside of the regular day-to-day, building new relationships and nurturing old ones.  

“It was so energizing to see the photos and hear a bit about the experiences that were shared around the globe. It’s this type of leadership, sense of understanding, empathy and excellence in our work that makes me extremely proud of our firm and what we can accomplish together.”

Michael Dunn

Embarking on Prophet’s Sustainability Journey

In 2020, Prophet embarked on a sustainability journey to assess our climate choices and identify steps we can take towards a greener future. We partnered with South Pole to understand our current environmental impacts, see how we stack up against peers and identify potential areas for improvement. Over the last year, we have gone through piles of data and reports from our enterprise-wide audit across global offices to understand Prophet’s carbon emissions and climate change risks.

SBT’s. GHG. CO2te. Net-Zero. Scopes 1-3. What does this all mean? How does a circular design affect the way we look at our economy? How do we interpret the results of our GHG emission report to guide climate actions? How do we inspire our people to act and have a tangible impact on our clients and in our communities? These are just some of the questions we’ve been asking since we began our sustainability journey and Earth Month presented an opportunity to pose these questions to our larger community at Prophet. We knew it was critical to engage Propheteers to share Prophet’s progress in our sustainability journey and be a part of the conversation.

Earth Month Recap

One day is simply not enough to immerse in conservation and celebrate this beautiful planet we call home. So, with Earth Day on April 22nd, the Prophet Impact Sustainability Team took Propheteers on a month-long sustainability journey. This April, we spotlighted Mother Earth through a variety of programming to spark learning, conversation and action around sustainability across the firm.

Our first event was an inspiring start to Earth Month and exposed Propheteers to the different actors that are working together to slow down the negative impacts of climate change. Special guest panelists, Marc O’Brien, Co-founder of Climate Designers, Rosalia Lugo, Environmental Health Activist, Austin Whitman, Founder and CEO of Climate Neutral, and our very own Tosson El Noshokaty, Founding Partner and Advisor for Good Carbon and Oceans2050, shared their perspectives on the climate crisis and how they are leading a more sustainable future across sectors.

Our second educational event was all about circular design. Propheteers learned about shifting to a circular economy and key design principles to create more sustainable products, services and solutions. Propheteers had a chance to break out into small groups and ideate around a real-life design challenge to apply these circular design principles and learn how these concepts might play into our lives and work at Prophet. We also shared some of the client stories that put sustainability at the center: from working with a nonprofit to protect biodiversity in Vietnam, to partnering with a high growth organization focused on building a sustainable and productive food system, to envisioning a fast-food brand’s future kitchen where material and energy waste is designed out.

Our final event looked internally and provided Propheteers with an overview of our sustainability journey from the South Pole team. Propheteers gained insight into key climate terms like Scope 1-2-3 emissions, carbon credits, and net-zero. In addition to sharing Prophet’s GHG footprint from 2019 and 2020, we also began to explore what actions we might take to start reducing our carbon footprint such as setting a science-based target, leveraging renewable energy, and investing in climate credits.

“We know that our own sustainability journey can always be enhanced and Prophet and our clients can continue to do better for our planet.”

Alongside these educational events, we held an Earth Day Every Day photo challenge, where Propheteers were invited to submit photos in three categories: #Act Now, #Natural Beauty and #Nature Selfie. From photos of a glacier park in Iceland to the mighty Iguazu Falls, Propheteers captured the scenic wonders of our Planet. There were also photos of trash piling up in Hawai’i and an overflowing makeshift trash can that highlighted the urgent need to take action now to build a greener future together. Propheteers across the firm also gathered with their local office teammates in person and virtually to celebrate Earth Day. There was fun to be had- from panting succulents to enjoying a plant-based meal together, to participating in a sustainability-themed trivia.

Prophet’s Next Steps

So where are going from here?

At the individual level, we hope that Earth Month inspired Propheteers around what it means to live more sustainably. Many have committed to making more sustainable choices daily and volunteering their time to participate in sustainability-focused activities during our upcoming Prophet Impact Day.

At the firm level, Prophet will be continuing to partner with South Pole to declare a greenhouse gas reduction goal (e.g., Net Zero), and subsequently develop sustainability strategies and a roadmap to reduce our carbon footprint. On the client-side, Prophet has dedicated resources to building a suite of ESG offers to help business leaders apply a systems thinking mindset that involves the planet and elevates sustainability in their organizations. ESG efforts will be critical to making sustainability more “real” across the business world.

Finally, at the global level, we will continue to spotlight and drive action for more sustainable practices, both within our firm, to our clients and to our networks. We know that our own sustainability journey can always be enhanced and Prophet and our clients can continue to do better for our planet.

Working in a hybrid environment for the past two years has shifted our approach to how we build and sustain our culture at Prophet. With 14 global offices and 600+ Propheteers, finding opportunities to connect and create a stronger community is important to the health and vitality of our firm. Our culture has always been a distinct reason people join and stay at Prophet and after two-plus years of being virtual, we knew we needed to reinvigorate how we connect and build relationships with each other.

In addition, we also wanted to recognize our talent and show them our appreciation for all the ways they contribute to Prophet’s success. How do we achieve this? Our answer – Prophet Connects. Focusing on our three key pillars of what makes a strong culture–connection, inspiration and appreciation–our Culture & Engagement Team created curated moments throughout the month of March to bring our employees together and create more personal and meaningful connections with Propheteers globally.

Inspired by the amazing talent within Prophet, we aimed to create a space that allowed us to learn more about each other and understand the different journeys and experiences of our teammates, to bring in outside inspiration and external speakers to share their stories, and to show our appreciation for our teams, leaders, and out people.

Week One: Connection

To respect the diverse time zones of our global team, we used a regional approach for week one. With 30 minutes on the calendars, Propheteers in each region were invited to join a call with very limited information about the event. Would these calls be exciting? Nerve-racking? Thrilling? The answer was yes to all of the above!

Small groups of Propheteers were placed in breakout rooms and tasked with two items. The first task was to answer the question: “What’s your connection?” Each group had several minutes to figure out what they had in common. Many found they all love camping, others discovered that everyone in their group enjoys the beach and some had travel dreams of visiting Paris. Once groups found their connection, they were then asked to create or find a meme and/or GIF that captured the spirit of their commonality. And boy did they deliver!

Propheteers who participated in this first event had two opportunities to walk away winners. However, just by showing up to the activity, they had the opportunity to win a truly special prize–connecting with their peers. This first event proved to be a great success. Not only did we make personal connections within the breakout teams, but we also provided an escape from the reality of everyday work, a moment to laugh together and simply an opportunity to have fun with one another while connecting with our people.

Week Two: Inspiration

Building culture and connections in a hybrid/remote world is hard. We miss the days of being in the office, sharing lunch or a cup of coffee together and catching up on each other’s lives. Our people wanted the opportunity to have smaller, more intimate connections on topics outside of current projects and work-related tasks. Inspired by TED talks, Prophet Talks emerged. Prophet Talks was all about inspiring our teammates. Over the course of three days, we had a line-up of 21 speakers on diverse topics. Space was limited in each talk as we wanted to keep the groups small for a more personal experience.

“Not only did we make personal connections within the breakout teams, but we also provided an escape from the reality of everyday work.”

Day one focused on finding purpose. We had regional, external speakers, like Culture and Innovative Curator Andy Stefanovich, share stories of how they found a sense of purpose in their work and personal lives. Prophet alums, Blums Pineda, MD and global head of internet and tech investment at banking for Standard Chartered Bank, and Wisdom Mak, a strategist for Chanel’s regional fashion team, shared their experiences of being leaders in a virtual environment, what it takes to keep your team engaged in a hybrid environment, and how you can be a strong thought leader in your career.

“Don’t stop me now” was the theme for day two of Prophet Talks. We highlighted Propheteers from all types of roles and areas of expertise and had them share their stories of success. Chiaki Nishino shared her journey from engagement manager to senior partner and president of North America. While another Prophet leader, Jeff Abbott, shared his process of writing over 20 novels in the last 20 years.

Day three’s theme was “all about the why”. Why is creativity at Prophet so awesome? Why is Dave Aaker so important? Why do we offer design services at Prophet? Digital? Healthcare? Social impact? Those were just some of the topics that were covered by our own Prophet experts. For example, London office Creative Director and Partner Gregg Finlay shared and inspired us with his passion for design and creativity. Also, from our Berlin office, Partner Layla Keramat explored the world of X&I and motivated us to think from different perspectives.

Week Three: Appreciation

Our people are what matter and what makes Prophet such a great organization to be a part of. We took this opportunity to recognize our people for the amazing work they do every day. From a slow reveal poem highlighting each class-to-class playlist to internal kudos and shout-outs, our team introduced something new each day to our fellow Propheteers. The finale of our three-week event was a class assignment where we asked each Prophet class what makes them the best. Teams were tasked to create 60-second videos answering the question, putting their creative minds and humor to the test. The activity wrapped up with a viewing of all the videos and participants voting on a favorite.

We won’t tell you the winner, but they have bragging rights and some pretty cool swage headed their way.