HSBC
KELLY FISHER – MY CAREER JOURNEY
DID YOU KNOW ...
“ When I started out , this was an almost non-existent career . There was no logical career path to becoming a sustainability expert or a CSR expert . I was a classical ballet dancer , my whole life . And that ' s what brought me from the Midwest to New York City .
Luckily I had a personal friend , who was a recruiter for Goldman Sachs . And luckily , because she knew me as a person instead as the professional on my resume , she twisted my arm and said ‘ there ' s this really interesting job . I know you ' ve been volunteering with nonprofits since you were a little kid , it ' s kind of doing that , but for this investment bank . Just go in and talk to them about it .’
And I never looked back . I loved it so much . I spent four years at Goldman helping to lead what I still think is one of the best of the industry volunteer programmes . I also helped do the entire internal global marketing campaign to promote that to employees .
From there , I went to Toyota , and had a very different experience . Volunteering on work time was not something that was really in the culture of a Japanese-led company , and so instead I oversaw massive philanthropic programs – Toyota ' s incredibly generous . In the US they have a hundred-million-dollar endowed foundation . In addition , we spent 30 , 40 , 50 million in corporate donations .
By the end , we were doing some incredibly innovative things , even around skill sharing , meaning taking the world famous Toyota production system and applying it for free to nonprofits . So the same system that made Toyota famous for building their cars effectively , efficiently without waste , very environmentally friendly , we would take and then teach to nonprofits for free .
Things like people standing in line in the freezing cold for a meal for 75 minutes – our engineers would go in for three days and that line would go down to 10 minutes because they were applying Just-In-Time and all these incredible production systems . Another example was an organisation in New Orleans started rebuilding people ' s homes that were destroyed after Hurricane Katrina 60 % faster because of spending time with Toyota engineers .
That was really a light bulb moment for me , which was that the same things that make a company successful can make the world a better place if they ' re applied in the right way .
I was hired by HSBC and this role has pulled on everything I ' ve ever done . It ' s really strategic , philanthropic giving that ' s tied to the business . I also oversee sustainable operations and sustainable finance , and I ' m helping make sure that the US achieves that net zero commitment .
I really love what I do . I don ' t wake up and have bluebirds braid my hair and live in a cartoon fantasy world . But I am so grateful that I have a job that even when I ' m doing the smallest thing , I feel like I ' m doing something that matters .”
50 July 2021