A few years ago, I changed my business name from Sponsorship Strategies to Bartram Partnerships. I did this out of an innate belief that, while sponsorship in its truest form was still vital and appropriate for certain sectors such as sports, entertainment and the arts, partnership is what the world truly needs. I saw a greater need for true partnerships that would go further to address the needs of all, including imminent challenges from climate change, social inequality, and access to education and health care.
And here we are with the biggest challenge of our lives, calling for the greatest degree of collaboration, innovation and collective will ever generated. Recovery will come about as a result of creativity, commitment and collaboration—the primary attributes of effective partnership. We are all inter-dependent—large corporations, trade associations, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, education and cultural institutions and media outlets—all depend on the success of one another for society as a whole to thrive and evolve.
Where to Begin
How do we work towards recovery as we experience a collective struggle to adapt to our current new reality? It will serve us to draw upon our innate sense of compassion for one another while considering what we each can do to contribute to the eventual recovery needed. Business will come back, along with the education, arts, sports, and so many other sectors—but first we must all realign our values with our actions.
We will all need to work together, to bridge political and cultural divides and agree to row in the same direction across these turbulent waters. To survive and thrive, we will also need to rely on certain time-tested principles, the fundamentals of what our society is supposed to be built upon: a sense of fairness and equality for generating mutual benefit; flexibility and creativity in devising solutions to otherwise intractable problems; and a bottom line interest in doing what is right and best for the greater good. This is how we can come together to return to a world of opportunity, prosperity and happiness.
Steps Forward
This foundational philosophy can serve as a platform to build upon for our collective recovery. As I have attempted to do throughout my long career in this business, I will remain committed to applying these principles to my work going forward. I am available to help organizations consider how to recover and to get ready to accelerate their vital work once the shutdown has ended and we can all begin our efforts to reconnect and re-engage as a real human community.
We have been through a lot of ups and downs over the past 25 years and, while this pandemic presents perhaps the greatest challenge yet, we can rise above it and come back stronger than ever—as a community, as a society and as partners in our collective well-being.
I look forward to doing what I can to help with our comeback and know so many of you will be right there with me working to create a better world for coming generations.
