Alex Somos, Co-Founder of Juice Inc.

bh in Brief

Alex Somos is co-founder of Juice Inc., a corporate training company providing skills and tools in Conversation, Employee Engagement and  Innovation Training. Juice believes energized and engaged employees fuel great customer experiences and better business results. Refreshing Ideas. Real Results.

Doing good is a core business value at Juice and a personal value for Alex. Every year, he co-leads groups of individuals to Mexico, to build schools and homes for people in need. His involvement has positively impacted more than 120 families across two different communities.

www.juiceinc.com

“I believe in doing good in the world.”  

Alex Somos

To make the world a better place for people in need, we must reach out both internationally and locally. “Doing good” for others is energizing – for the people in need and the ones providing the assistance. Why? Because it gives every single one of us meaning, purpose and, for many, hope for a better future. 

Volunteer mission to Mexico

For several years, I have personally travelled to Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, to help build schools and homes for the poor. There, I’ve learned that life in poverty is solely about survival. Many locals don’t have the luxury of time to act, let alone think, beyond the day-to-day. Many feel hopeless because they cannot see a different future for themselves and their families.

But the very existence of a new school has given them something to aspire to. They see all the potential outcomes: education, jobs, and being able to afford better shelter and food. With a vision of what the future could be, they are beginning to look beyond basic survival. I have personally seen the community begin to transform itself because the school gives the people a sense of meaning.

One of my fondest memories was on day two of a school build. Many of the mothers came to the site, putting in plants to mark the dimensions of the school border. I realized in that moment that they had found true significance in the new school – they were making the school theirs, adding their personal touches to it. 

Those plants spoke loudly of the mothers’ hope for their community. They were energized by the possibility of the school. In turn, such reactions energize me to continue my annual volunteer work in Mexico. 

Giving back, through the workplace 

Back home in Guelph, Ontario, I am co-founder of Juice Inc., a corporate training company. We help businesses harness their employees’ energy to create higher-performing workplaces. One way to energize employees is to give them a sense that they are making a difference.

But we don’t just talk the talk, we walk it too. In fact, giving back to the local and international community has been part of Juice’s cultural makeup since day one. We make annual donations to the Vicente Guerrero mission trips, buy turkeys during the holiday season for those who cannot afford them, and regularly encourage others through our blog to “do good” through donations of money or time to people in need. Such activities energize us, giving us hope for a better future, and – like the mothers in Vicente Guerrero – motivating us to keep “planting” locally and internationally.

Want to energize others? Give them meaning

Let’s tie all of this to leadership in the corporate world. 

When people feel they have meaning in what they are doing, they are emotionally invested. Without a sense of purpose, they have no reason to be emotionally invested. That’s bad for business because without an understanding of where they fit in, people are only there in body, not in mind or spirit. They are not energized to do more than the day-to-day minutiae. 

When leaders are able to create meaning for their employees, they can reap all sorts of rewards including:

• an increase in organizational energy


• improved employee engagement, morale and motivation


• a surge in collaboration and cohesion.

As a leader, you can help your employees establish a deeper sense of connection within your organization by frequently communicating a compelling picture of what the future could be, and ensuring they understand their role in it. Armed with a stronger sense of purpose, they will become a much higher-performing workforce. Consider your message a micro-version of “doing good in the world” by energizing employees through hope. bh