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Eastman Kodak Company of Rochester, New York won the
Stevie Award for Best Blog in The 2008 American
Business Awards.
 First published in September,
2006, Kodak launched their blog A Thousand
Words to connect and interact directly with consumers
by sharing stories written by employees worldwide. The
following is an extract from the blog for January 20th, 2009,
featuring an essay by Essie L. Calhoun, Chief Diversity
Officer, Director of Community Affairs, and Vice President at
the Eastman Kodak Company.
The Inauguration of Barack Obama
The
inauguration of President Barack Obama resonates differently
across our national and global culture. That's as it should
be—because our differences, when shared, often help unlock our
creativity and innovation.
We at Kodak learned this important lesson from a leader in
the incoming Obama administration. Eric H. Holder, Jr., the
U.S. Attorney General-designee, served as chairman of an
external diversity advisory panel that consulted with Kodak on
ways to strengthen its focus on diversity and inclusion. He
and his colleagues from academia, business, and law met with
dozens of Kodak employees from 2001 to 2003, and then crafted
recommendations to help the company refine its efforts to
build an inclusive environment.
Essie L. Calhoun, Kodak's Chief Diversity and Community
Affairs Officer, captured that sense of connectivity in an
essay appearing on the website of WHAM-TV, Channel 13, in Rochester, NY. Here
are her comments:
A Place at the Table of Ideas
When
President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph
Biden take their Oaths of Office today, it will begin a new
era—not only for our nation, but for our belief in the
promise of diversity and inclusion—and the dawning of its
coming-of-age in our national psyche.
President Obama’s election reflects a milestone in our
progress towards understanding that everyone counts, and every
individual’s unique perspectives and experience can contribute
to the enrichment of our communities and our environment. As a
nation, we all expect a place at the table of ideas. As
Americans, we have a long heritage of reaching beyond our
initial unfamiliarity, and collaborating to innovate and
strengthen the fabric of our society.
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What New Year’s resolution have
you made for 2009?
It is the biography of the “fifth” member of
the band. As their manager Peter Grant changed the way people
manage rock bands in the 70s. He put the musicians first and
made sure their music and their art was the number one
priority. It is quite inspiring to me as the CEO of a boutique
agency; while imagistic is not a rock band, it is
critical that I do all I can for my employees and make sure
they get what they want and need. To keep them happy is one of
my main jobs.
