We recently spoke with Mike Pepperman, corporate social responsibility and community relations manager at LG Electronics, about why he’s so inspired by LGE’s work supporting sustainable happiness for youth.
Keep reading to understand the impact of this work and how it also supports LGE’s business value. Does your work relate to the science of happiness? If so, get in touch with Mike to drive even greater impact.
SB: What project are you most excited about right now?
Mike: I’m most excited about The Life’s Good: Experience Happiness platform. It’s dedicated to increasing social emotional well-being for teens through Sustainable Happiness Skills with a goal of reaching 5.5 million kids over five years.
When we began designing the program two years ago, we worked closely with the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley to establish a solid foundation underpinned by the science and research of happiness. From there, we added a number of key non-profit and educational resource partners to help us reach over 530,000 kids across the United States in the first year alone!
I’m truly excited about some upcoming announcements tied to new and expanding partnerships and the reach this platform will have in its second year as we deliver happiness skills to youth across the United States.
SB: How is social or environmental innovation driving value for your business?
Mike: The work with kids and the goal of contributing to long-term societal benefits are the primary drivers in the context of doing well by doing good. The broader value that this program can bring to our business is found in things like employee engagement, partner collaboration and alignment with LG’s “Life’s Good” brand positioning.
SB: What inspires and drives you to work on sustainability?
Mike: Through LG’s Experience Happiness program, I’ve learned so much about the science and research behind social emotional well-being and how it can contribute to life-long, sustainable happiness.
I’ve also learned some pretty startling facts; like when school is in session, high school students are the most stressed group in the U.S. In addition, rising depression rates, suicide rates and the opioid epidemic are just a few of the symptoms we’re seeing as kids are struggling to cope.
Through LG’s program, I have also learned that there is hope, and more importantly, there is a critical opportunity to teach kids how to cope with stress and support life-long learning skills for sustainable happiness. By practicing the Six Sustainable Happiness Skills – Purpose, Mindfulness, Human Connection, Positive Outlook, Generosity, Gratitude and Mindfulness – youth can change how they handle stress and have a better chance at leading a social emotionally balanced life.
Knowing that the LG Experience Happiness platform is bringing skills to kids that can make this kind of impact is what drives Purpose in my work.
SB: Can you share something about yourself that would surprise us? Any hidden talents?
Mike: Over the course of this summer, I’ve developed a new skill specific to the art of getting poison ivy during each trip into my backyard. The skill I would most like to develop as a result is the ability to identify and properly avoid the dastardly weed, before I’ve waded in knee-deep.
SB: If you had unlimited time and resources, on what type of work would you want to collaborate with fellow SB Members?
Mike: There are a number of companies doing great work related to youth and the science of happiness – whether they realize it or not. Collaborating with a group of like-minded companies to amplify our efforts and achieve greater social impact around happiness would be a great initiative. Sharing best practices, non-profit information, insights and opportunities, could lead to greater impact and helping even more kids!
SB: Why is your participation in the SB Member Network important?
Mike: Participation in the network is vital to our continued learning across all aspects of our sustainability and social impact work. The ability to learn from each other’s best practices, successes and challenges helps us all grow and continue to push the envelope in all of our programs with the objective of making the world a better place to live.
SB: Anything else you'd like to share with fellow SB Members?
Mike: I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet and learn from each member during upcoming events.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Oct 24, 2018 1pm EDT / 10am PDT / 6pm BST / 7pm CEST