Focusing on the Talents of People is Just Good Business

Moving sustainability forward in our business involves nurturing the talent that we have in our people.  It is through people that innovation is propelled forward. Engagement, strength, and collaboration are key elements to driving innovation and three areas that are built into our culture. With high engagement levels of our people we know there is an emotional connection to the company. As a result of measuring engagement levels and having a forum for our associates to talk about results we have had a concentrated focus over the past 6 years. This process allows each associate to have a voice.

We use the common language of strengths to focus on what people do very well and not focus on weaknesses. People just feel better when they can use their strengths every day and that is good for a company.  Through our measuring process we know that strengths conversations drive engagement levels.

Utilizing the unique talents and brilliance of each associate at Bentley Prince Street we come together for collective success; all having our eye on the end result of meeting our sustainability mission.  It is not only what is good for our company but what is good for the planet and generations to come.

Collaboration is strengths-based at Bentley Prince Street. Understanding that each person has a unique lens to see the world can be beneficial to a team. This concept can help any team navigate frustrations and spend more time ideating.

Our strengths-based philosophy affects our company for sure, but it is a gift to our associates and something they are passing on to their families and the next generations.

Can you imagine a world where we focused on what was right with people rather than what is wrong?

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So Vintage Wins 2011 Ultron Doc Product Award

SoVintage was one of three products featured in our Silver Screen(tm) Collection, which won the Best of NeoCon Gold Award at NeoCon this past June. We were very excited to learn that this award-winning product picked up another award, a 2011 Ultron Doc Product Award!

The Ultron Doc Award is important to our company because it comes directly from our end users. So Vintage's bright colorway and vintage-inspired product design couldn't help but be noticed - and we're thrilled our end users voted for us to win! This award is a reflection of our design team's commitment to listening to our customers and working hard to exceed their expectations with products that deliver on aesthetics, quality and sustainability.

Our VP or Product Design, Valerie Ottaviano, is very enthusiastic about this product and is thrilled that our end-users are too. " So Vintage is inspired by the fashions and fabrics of past eras and exudes vintage Hollywood charm because when we were working on its design we immersed ourselves in vintage magazines, old patterns and even current rockabilly sites to get into that retro mood," said Valerie. "Plus, our close proximity to Hollywood infuses our work with the city's history. All of the colors are named after original Hollywood studios!"

The Ulton Doc Award recognizes new carpet products, like So Vintage, that are noteworthy in terms of their originality, color and texture combination, as well as usability. Thank you to all of you who voted and congratulations to our team!

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St. Jude's 50th Anniversary Gala

Bentley Prince Street is a supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded in 1962 by the late entertainer, Danny Thomas, to help save the lives of children fighting cancer and other deadly diseases.

Recently, I attended St. Jude's 50th Anniversary Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel along with my colleagues, Anthony Minite, Tom Mee and Jack Mishkin. Many celebrity supporters were also in attendance at the event, which featured performances by Tony Bennett and Ray Romano. I could feel the commitment, responsibility and love pouring out of the room during the event; especially when the guest speaker told his story about his daughter's cancer and how the staff at St. Jude was an unwavering part of her will to overcome the disease. There wasn't a dry eye in the audience. It was the most moving event I've ever been to and now, I'm a supporter for life.

All of us from Bentley Prince Street who had the pleasure of being there had the same reaction, including Anthony Minite, our president. He said, "It was truly an amazing evening where the entire room was touched by the magnitude of what St. Jude's does for sick children everyday and I couldn't be more proud to be involved with this great organization."

Research at St. Jude has changed how the world treats leukemia, brain tumors, and sickle cell, pushing survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20% in 1962 to almost 80% today. Plus, sick children are never turned away because of their family's inability to pay for treatment.

For more info. on the gala and ways you can help, click here.

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Coach Cathy Discusses Replicating your Success

Coach Cathy Frial is back to help you discover and maximize your talents and strengths.  In this new installment, Coach Cathy explains how to Replicate Success.



If you have questions for Coach Cathy, post them here in the comments or Email Coach Cathy.

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Looking Back at 2011, and Forward to 2012

 2011 was another breakthrough year for Bentley Prince Street's progress in fulfilling our Mission Zero promise to eliminate any negative impact our company may have on the environment by the year 2020. I'd like to take this opportunity to recap some of the highlights and talk about where we are headed in 2012.

Genuine in our Sustainability Mission
We continued our commitment to credible, transparent environmental information by publishing Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) on 85% of our product line. An EPD is a standardized, 3rd party verified environmental label that provides information about a product's ingredients, material and energy use, and environmental impacts throughout the life of the product. I often use the analogy of a nutrition label, but instead of grams of fat or calories, an EPD displays the product's life cycle impact on global warming, smog, and acid rain among other impacts. Bentley Prince Street is committed to EPDs and will be publishing them for even more of our product line in 2012.

Associate Engagement
Bentley Prince Street has always believed that associate education and engagement is a key piece to reaching our 2020 goals. In 2011, we completed two projects that quantitatively and qualitatively measured the level of engagement our people have around sustainability.

To look at engagement quantitatively, we used the Sustainability Values Assessment (SVA) survey. The survey measured the values held by our associates, their take on our company values and which values they think are necessary to reach our 2020 goals. The results of this effort confirmed that sustainability is indeed ingrained within the culture - both environmental awareness and sustainability were identified in the top five values of the company. We also found a high degree of alignment between the values held currently by our company and the values our associates feel are necessary to reach our goals, as well as that associates are eager to take on more responsibility in the area of sustainability.

In addition to looking at associate engagement quantitatively, we undertook a project to shine a personal light on Mission Zero. The "I am Mission Zero" project qualitatively measured the level of engagement in our company by capturing our associate's personal accounts of Mission Zero. The "I am Mission Zero" project revealed that many of our associates have made changes to live more sustainably at home and gave us a road map that we can use to increase engagement in 2012.

Looking Forward
In 2012, we are looking forward to continuing our leadership within the industry in regards to transparency and environmental labels. We will also use the information we obtained through our associate engagement projects in 2011 to strengthen the already strong culture of sustainability amongst our associates. Finally, we are looking forward to being the first company in California to be certified to ISO 50001 Energy Management System. Stay tuned and Happy New Year!

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Bentley Prince Street Rolls Out the Carpet for Discovery Science Center’s Star Wars Exhibit

Now through April 15 there is an out-of-this-world Star Wars exhibit being hosted at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. 

The exhibit features popular props and costumes, futuristic technologies from the films that we all know and love, as well as research that may someday make these technologies possible in real-life. Also on display is 2,500 sq. feet of product from our Saturnia Collection. It was selected as the exhibit’s premier carpet and perfectly reflects the iconic Star Wars theme. 

As a proud supporter of the Discovery Science Center, we recently celebrated the grand opening of this exhibit at an exclusive, red carpet event. In addition to us, some of the other guests of honor included Chewbacca and Darth Vader! 

Science meets imagination everyday in our California carpet mill, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of an exhibit right in our own backyard where Hollywood, science and imagination collide! Be sure to check it out! 

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Proud to Support Habitat for Humanity and the Wonderful Families they Serve in our Community

Posted by Sean Higbee, Sustainability Coordinator:

Sean Higbee represents Bentley Prince Street at Mayor's Home Dedication

Last Friday, I was privileged to attend and represent Bentley Prince Street at the dedication of the Lopez Family Home built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles.   This was just one of four homes in the Long Beach neighborhood recently built or improved by Habitat for Humanity in partnership with the Long Beach Housing Development Company.  

The Lopez Family Home was sponsored by Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, a former carpet installer 30 years ago, who helped install the donated Bentley Prince Street carpet alongside our Vice President Tom Mee.    Bentley Prince Street has been donating carpet to Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Southern California for several years, including both carpet for the homes and product to be sold in local ReStores.  

Mayor Bob Foster & Tom Mee

As a life-long resident of Long Beach, and alumni of LB Poly High School just down the street from the Lopez Family Home, I was especially touched and honored to be a part of this event and witness first hand the positive change organizations like Habitat for Humanity are making within the communities in which we live.  

I can't imagine a more appropriate organization than Habitat for Humanity for Bentley Prince Street to partner with to help give a hand up to hardworking families and give back to the community.

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