Narrowing in for a Broader Impact

Aligning with its business priorities over the next decade, Cox Enterprises recently launched a social impact goal aimed at removing obstacles and expanding access to programs to help 34 million people live more prosperous lives by 2034. The company plans to achieve its goals by narrowing in on six pathways to prosperity. Maury Wolfe, vice president of corporate responsibility and social impact, details how Cox defined this ambitious goal and why narrowing in is key to making a big impact.

Driven by its purpose to “Empower people today to build a better future for the next generation,” Cox Enterprises — and its operating divisions Cox Communications and Cox Automotive — has a 125-year legacy of commitment to its employees and the communities it serves. Connection and care for people are core to the company’s values, and social impact has become closely aligned with the company’s business objectives.

“We wanted to be thoughtful about how we set the bar for bringing our company’s purpose to life,” said Wolfe. “It is very intentional to align our impact goals with our 2034 business growth goals and objectives, so that as we grow our business in lockstep, we are keeping this purpose-based goal alive and top of mind.”

Defining 34 by 34

So how does Cox determine, define and measure the social goal to positively impact 34 million lives by 2034, referred to as “34 by 34”?

“First, we looked at the key drivers holding people back from prosperity — things like access to the internet, food insecurity, illiteracy, transportation and lack of healthcare. We worked with experts and we looked at what Cox is uniquely able to help solve and built from there,” said Wolfe.

“We started with the data, diving deep to understand where Cox has an impact and peeling back the layers to understand how many people we’re talking about — without overlapping — and how we can remove obstacles holding people back in those areas. This was a very fact-based approach in order to really understand how to determine an ambitious, yet achievable goal.”

With a focus on the communities where it does business — and with partnership of outside consultants — Cox identified that approximately 34 million people are held back from prosperity by obstacles that Cox can potentially remove. This discovery not only helped scope the size of the program, but also inspired the goal itself.

In addition to working with outside experts on the analytics, Wolfe and team looked to employees when setting the goal. They conducted workshops to hear what employees care about most when it comes to volunteerism and community engagement.

What they heard is that employees want to feel like their time matters, that they are moving the needle and are part of a solution.

“That really inspired us to think about removing obstacles so people can pursue prosperity. We’re not talking about just one definition of prosperity; it’s about taking the problems away so people can chart their own path to prosperity, which really aligns with Cox’s values of letting people bring their authentic selves to work,” Wolfe said.

Pathways to Prosperity

While Cox doesn’t have one definition of prosperity, it does identify six pathways to prosperity that were chosen by looking at the barriers that hold back a person’s opportunity in life and by assessing the strengths of Cox’s businesses, its historical involvement and the opportunities with its new business innovations and investments.

Narrowing in on these areas is essential to Cox’s broad goal of impacting 34 million lives by 2034: technology access, lifelong education, employment skills, social equity, environmental sustainability and health.

“If a company wants social impact to be part of the DNA of the business, it has to be connected with what the business does well,” said Wolfe.

“Having a strategy for social and environmental impact that aligns with your business allows you to have a much larger impact. It keeps the work ingrained and the business embedded in it. A defined and clear strategy allows employees and business leaders to think about how to innovate their day-to-day work and be a part of the change towards the environmental and social goals,” Wolfe said.

Cox is using several tools and mechanisms to make an impact and work toward its goal, starting first with its 50,000 employees, then business drivers, like its large supplier network. Cox works closely with suppliers to help them get certified as a diverse, veteran or women-owned. “It creates a ripple effect that benefits everyone from Cox to the supplier to its employees,” Wolfe said.

Of course, Cox also works closely with nonprofit organizations and has employed a consultancy program and data dashboard to help community partners measure their own impact, which allows both Cox and the partner to understand how their work drives change. “It’s been great for our partners,” said Wolfe. “We can track everything from donations, volunteerism, board member hours and in-kind donations to see how it adds up. Our nonprofit partners can really measure their own programs to see what’s working, seek new grants, course correct, come up with new programs — the sky is the limit.”

Future-Focused

While Cox is leveraging the best data it has to measure and share its impact against the 34 by 34 goal, in this new and evolving space, there’s still not a perfectly clear roadmap — and they’re leaving room for adjustments and flexibility.

“We don’t want the idea of perfecting this plan to get in the way of making really good progress in the right direction. This was a plan built on what we think the future of our business, our culture, our concern for these focus areas and our purpose are all aligned with — and we hope it inspires us to come up with new innovations, new ways of thinking, new conversations and new partners to bring to the table,” said Wolfe.

To learn more about Cox’s 34 by 34 goal, visit Cox34by34.com