I'd like to acknowledge the veterans who are here among us. As is the case with many in the Puget Sound community, I first came to the Northwest when I was serving in the Navy, and it's been my good fortune to have adopted this region as my home.
I'd like to express my own thanks to all our veterans, for the sacrifices you made in service to our country, and for all that you bring to our community. We are indebted to you in so many ways.
I'd also like to thank the ArtsFund for inviting me to speak here today, especially CEO Jim Tune. I had the opportunity to work with Jim when we were both members of the Board at the United Way of King County. Jim has always been a role model for community service, and Arts Fund is fortunate to have him leading this organization.
And - I'm also here today to support Board Member Kathy McAuley. Kathy is Weyerhaeuser's Vice President of Investor Relations, and it's important to me to support the organizations where our own employees see fit to volunteer their time in the community.
Since assuming the reins from Steve Rogel as Weyerhaeuser CEO earlier this year, most of my focus has been on the financial community - much of it on Wall Street. In my new role I haven't had the chance to give many external speeches in the local community, but this was an easy invitation to accept, from both a company and personal perspective - and, I might add, given recent financial conditions, a heck of a lot more enjoyable!
From a company standpoint, our involvement in Pierce County dates back to our founding in Tacoma, 108 years ago. Many of you in this room know this local history. Since our founding, we've been a community organizer, and a community builder - helping to make this a better place to both live and to work.
Earlier in my career with Weyerhaeuser's real estate subsidiaries, I had the opportunity personally to work with Cornerstone Development Company in the late 1980's. With the support of a couple of my predecessors, George Weyerhaeuser and Jack Creighton, Cornerstone redeveloped portions of downtown Tacoma, including this hotel, in a commitment to set the community on a new course.
More recently, Weyerhaeuser has been involved in efforts as diverse as helping bring the University of Washington campus to Tacoma, to projects where employees cleaned up the Clover Creek Reserve on Earth Day this year.
Over the past five years, the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation has donated more than $3 million in Pierce County, while our employees have personally contributed thousands of hours of their time for community work.
This includes some of our ArtsFund volunteers who are here with us today: Pamela Baade, Anne Leyva, Rick Little, Kathy McAuley, April Meier, Megan Moholt, Susan Pena, Diann Puls, Vee VanderSanden, Karen Veitenhans and Karen Vincent.
From my own perspective, I've always believed that individuals should play an active role in their communities. As President-elect Obama said in his historic election night speech, "...let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other."
Through these acts of involvement and caring, we connect to the larger community to change it, and, in the process, change ourselves.
So, when you invited me to speak here today, I thought it was fitting that my first public appearance in Pierce County as president and CEO of Weyerhaeuser should be at an event that celebrates community involvement.
In the past, you've heard other business and civic leaders discuss the importance of community involvement. They've made compelling cases for how community involvement energizes, enriches and engages employees and citizens. They've talked about how a robust arts community helps attract and retain qualified employees. And they've spoken of how business and communities requires the other for success.
I agree with those who have preceded me here. They have laid out a compelling case for supporting the arts, even (and perhaps, especially) in challenging times such as those we face today.
To this dialogue, I want to add a new thought.
At first, you may think that it is a bit selfish, but I hope that you recognize that it's an idea that celebrates the special relationship between business and the community. The thought is this:
By supporting the arts, business can help itself find solutions to the challenges it faces.
Let me explain.
As you've undoubtedly read, Weyerhaeuser has embarked on a journey to significantly reinvent itself. Current economic conditions drive some of this change, but most of it results from our determination to remain relevant to customers, shareholders, employees, communities and other stakeholders for our next 100 years.
Doing so requires us to anticipate, change and adapt. It means that while we pay respect to what has made us great, we do not cling to the past and imperil our future.
Since this is a gathering to celebrate support of the arts, let me discuss how the intersection of different disciplines resulted in one of the greatest revolutions in the world of art.
I doubt that when most of you look at Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper" you see the close association between probability theory, double entry bookkeeping and art - believe me, when it was first pointed out to me I didn't get it.
Yet, I assure you that all are dependent on the concept of proportionality - a revolutionary mathematical breakthrough in the 15th century.
Da Vinci studied with the bookkeeper Luca Pacioli, who first applied the mathematics of proportion to counting inventory. Before Pacioli, merchandizing was unchanged for thousands of years. Items coming in and going out were counted and recorded separately.
Pacioli saw the opportunity to enrich employers by counting in context - one bale in for one ducat out. Under this process, the pile of inventory should be proportional to the original pile of ducats.
This is the basis for the system of double entry bookkeeping that we use today. Pacioli tutored Da Vinci in the emerging mathematical solutions to proportionality, which Da Vinci, in turn, used to gain his mastery of perspective.
His famous "Last Supper" painting illustrates this superbly, and I encourage you to take a close look at a copy of the painting tonight when you get home. Notice how you're able to see the feet under the table and the meal upon the table. No one had ever offered such a view, but Da Vinci, a classically-trained artist, brought us something new because he wasn't bound by tradition.
Such art also proves that rationality need not be tedious and that creativity allows even the most logical minds to soar. It also proves that sometimes the breakthrough answers exist where we least expect them.
In other words, to create a revolutionary idea in art, Da Vinci had to look outside his own discipline. If he had stayed inside the confines of art, he never would have given the world this masterpiece.
The same is true of business. If we lock our minds into what we know and accept, we’ll never come across the idea that saves a company, or transforms an industry.
I'm reminded of the story Steve Jobs told in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford. Jobs recounted as a young man, he was drawn to the beautiful calligraphy on the posters at Portland's Reed College.
Because he had dropped out and didn't have formal classes to attend, Jobs decided to take a calligraphy class. He immersed himself in learning about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the space between different letter combinations, and what makes typography great.
For many years, Jobs' interest in calligraphy had no practical application in the business world. Then came the first Macintosh. As he was working with others on its design, these lessons came back to Jobs, and the Mac was the first computer with beautiful typography.
By relying on art, Jobs changed computers and launched online design. He created opportunities and saved a company. Yes, he had good business skills, but he opened his mind to other opportunities and exposed himself to new and different things.
That's what art does. In the words of Apple's famous advertising slogan, it challenges us to think differently.
Whether it's a painting, music, play, carving or sculpture, or architecture - art engages the human mind in a way that logic cannot. It forces us to view things from a new standpoint. It teaches us that things aren't black and white, and that what we think is true could be false.
Today, businesses face many challenges. But there are solutions. And those solutions lie in the minds of our employees. We could create an environment where all that our employees hear are business terms and business problems. But that's not the environment I want for our employees.
Yes, they must understand our businesses, our competitors, and the basics of sound business practices, and we're infusing this education into our daily lives at Weyerhaeuser.
But, I also want employees whose minds are open to new ideas, minds that challenge the status quo, and minds that will lead us to our next solutions. I want employees whose minds are enriched by the exposure to different disciplines.
Art alone won't solve our problems, but without art, we won't succeed.
With so many challenges facing us today, many businesses question why they should support the arts.
True, it may be hard to pencil it out and come up with a bottom-line answer. Unfortunately, that approach misses the longer term and more important answer, which very well may be the survival of your business.
Just think, where would Apple be today if Steve Jobs hadn't wandered into the calligraphy class?
At Weyerhaeuser, we choose to support many different programs that represent investments in the communities where we operate. We believe that by investing in our communities, we are investing in a sustainable future.
Groups such as the ArtsFund play an important role in both areas of investment. As we make this investment, we also remember that Da Vinci and Jobs each found an answer to existing problems by looking away from the obvious. They opened their minds to influences outside their disciplines.
I'm proud of our involvement with the ArtsFund. Not only does it help create an environment that helps us attract and retain the qualified employees we need, it opens their minds to the many possibilities for solving the problems we face.
I thank you for creating that environment and I thank you for inviting me here today. The ArtsFund plays a huge role in making Puget Sound a truly wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.
Equally important, tomorrow's business solutions will emerge from the diverse environment created by the robust arts community we enjoy due to your outstanding work.
Congratulations to all of you - you make this a better place.
