PepsiCo’s Jeremy Cage attends the New York Stock Exchange Closing Bell Ceremony with members of the EBV. Source: NYSE Euronext / Alyssa Ringler

On Monday, on behalf of the PepsiCo Dream Machine recycling initiative, I had the opportunity to join members from the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) for the New York Stock Exchange closing bell ceremony. At 4 p.m. sharp, EBV graduate Elizabeth Perez-Halperin, president and founder of GC Green, a post-9/11 service-disabled veteran-owned green build general contracting and consulting firm, rang The Closing Bell^SM and banged the gavel to officially close trading for the day.

The EBV provides free education and entrepreneurship training to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. Since 2010 (the launch year for the Dream Machine program), the EBV has increased its capacity by 50 percent and added three new universities to its consortium. Currently, there are nearly 4,000 Dream Machine kiosks and bins in 37 states across the U.S., and the more plastic bottles and aluminum cans that people recycle in Dream Machines, the more PepsiCo will be able to contribute to the EBV.

As we begin 2012, we have some very exciting opportunities ahead for the Dream Machine program, and we are proud to continue to support such an important cause through this initiative.

To view the NYSE closing bell ceremony, click here: https://exchanges.nyx.com/en/new-york-stock-exchange/entrepreneurship-bootcamp-veterans-disabilities

In a brief interview post-conference I talked with Edelman’s Keith Hodges about the intersection of employee recruitment and purpose – the idea that many job seekers are drawn to mission-driven organizations where through their work they can also make a difference. Expectations of employers are now much higher when it comes to values and citizenship, so a CSR program or strategy needs to be firmly embedded into how a company is run.

At PepsiCo, Performance with Purpose is not just a motto but provides the foundation for business decisions and has become wholly part of the culture; as proof, globally 94% of our associates are aware of Performance with Purpose, and 91% agree that PWP is the right direction for PepsiCo.

Whether on the job, volunteering, or active in our employee resource groups, associates have endless Possibilities to cultivate their passions and live Performance with Purpose. Take, someone like Meagan Smith, who through working on our employee Green team transitioned from marketing to leading PepsiCo’s Dream Machine recycling initiative.

Or PepsiCorps, in which employees from around the globe use their diverse skills and expertise to take on a critical societal challenge; hear from the volunteers who recently returned from their one-month trip to Ghana leading clean water and eco-tourism projects – a unique market immersion experience providing mutual benefit to PepsiCo, our talent and the communities served –a PWP assignment at the core.

Or our Food for Good teams in Dallas and Chicago – made up of over 700 employee volunteers – who this summer delivered over 525,000 meals to underserved kids in community locations, and have found a way to break even. Food for Good was started in 2009 when employees in the Frito-Lay division, inspired by Performance with Purpose, wanted to create a sustainable business model that increased access to nutritious food and would make a meaningful impact in urban communities. Watch a video about Food for Good below.

As a company we firmly believe that what is good for society is good for business. Now consider the experiences, competencies and perspectives our people gain while pursuing a Purpose agenda that may help them to develop and advance. Surely, it’s good for careers too.

In recognition of PEP’s commitment to respect the human right to water and our recent report on the Positive Water Impact initiative, the Swedish Water House invited me to speak on the complementary roles of governments and companies with respect to water.  The setting was the Kulturhuset in Stockholm, an open setting where coffee shops, libraries, displays and seating areas flow together.  The seminar was part of a two-day series of discussions, films and presentations on the broader topic of human rights.  Daniel Yeo of WaterAid and I had a 30-minute discussion of what PepsiCo has achieved, what challenges we’ve faced, and what lies ahead.  I was happy to share news about PepsiCo Foundation’s recent commitment to Water.org ($8 million dollars to help provide access to safe water for 800,000 people through WaterCredit).  Ensuring access to clean water is critical to the success and sustainability of our business, and to the communities in which PepsiCo operates.  Working with partners like Water.org, Safe Water Network and Columbia University’s Earth Institute is instrumental in our commitment to global water stewardship.

Daniel Yeo, senior policy analyst at WaterAid UK and Liese Dallbauman, Director for Water Stewardship at PepsiCo. Photo credit: Swedish Water House

While in Stockholm, I also met with staff members of Amnesty International, WaterAid, and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) for discussions of PepsiCo’s continuing efforts to integrate Human Right to Water into our operations and businesses.  In addition to organizing the Stockholm World Water Week conference every summer, SIWI works on human right to water issues with the United Nations Development Program and the Water Integrity Network, whose focus is reducing corruption in the water sector.

I also attended the launch of the Carbon Disclosure Project’s 2011 Water Report in London.  PepsiCo was recently named to the 2011 CDP’s Global 500 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index for our carbon reporting, and we have participated in CDP’s water survey since its inception in 2010.  During the launch, PepsiCo’s Boxford plant was recognized for its water leadership by the keynote speaker, Peter Unwin, the executive director of Environment and Rural for the UK’s DEFRA.  In response to a question about managing risk by working locally and cooperating with the community, he talked about Boxford’s 30% reduction in water use.  Congratulations to the Boxford team for their achievement and their communication of results!

I am really proud to be part of an effort that’s making progress in something as universally important as water – from plant efficiency to watershed protection to community access, PepsiCo is recognized as a leader in water saving and sharing!

Caption: Jeremy Cage(center) presents check to EBV Foundation Founder and President, Ted Lachowicz (left), and EBV Founder, Mike Haynie (right)

On Friday, November 11^th, I had the honor of representing PepsiCo and the Dream Machine Recycling Initiative at Syracuse University during its Veterans Day football game.  This marked my second visit to SU and PepsiCo’s second half million dollar donation to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) through the Dream Machine recycling program. The EBV provides free education and entrepreneurship training to post-9/11 U.S. veterans with disabilities. The program was founded by Mike Haynie at SU’s Whitman School of Management and is now operated by the new Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), which formally opened last week.

This year, it was impressive to see how the EBV program has grown–joining PepsiCo in corporate support of the EBV and IVM were representatives from Walmart, Humana and JPMorgan Chase. More than 2.5 million Americans have served our country in uniform since 2001. To spend an evening with graduates of the EBV program and hear about the challenges they have overcome and the successes they are achieving is humbling and inspiring.

I enjoyed spending time with veteran and EBV graduate, Captain Shannon Meehan who was accompanied by his wife and two young children—the youngest just eight weeks old. Shannon was a leader of a tank platoon for the 1st Cavalry Division of the U.S. Army and is now an accomplished author. His book “Beyond Duty,” chronicles his experiences in Iraq.

I often talk about PepsiCo’s commitment to Performance with Purpose and how the Dream Machine program is supporting our goal of increasing the U.S. beverage container recycle rate. When we launched the program in 2010, we knew we needed to reinvigorate people’s commitment to recycle by making it more convenient and rewarding. With more than 4,000 Dream Machines deployed in 37 states, we are making real progress toward our goal. This Veterans Day, I was reminded of the tangible reward PepsiCo is supporting for all the bottles and cans recycled in a Dream Machine. It is the emotional reward we receive by doing something that gives back our nation’s heroes who are readjusting to civilian life; and through the EBV program, working diligently to achieve their small business dreams –the most American Dream of all.

Honor a veteran every day, recycle in a Dream Machine.

Why the 7 week mark was an issue, I’m unsure.  Perhaps it’s because mentally I knew that week 7 was the last week and as a result it just seemed tougher to make sure I was meeting all of my commitments.  Maybe it was just fatigue setting in.  Heck, it might even be that there was so much to take away from the conferences/events (nearly a dozen – more than I’ve ever seen in recruiting in one season!) that I subconsciously knew that I needed to hit pause and create a “download” for my team so that we could review everything observed and learned before trying to take anything else in! My guess is that it’s a little of each of the above.

So as I begin to digest all of the events and meetings and conferences, I’m reminded of a topic of conversation that I’ve had several times over the last two months that results from the following question from attendees, speakers and leaders alike:

“What did you learn from the session?”

My honest answer is that I did in fact learn something from every single session I attended.  But in being transparent, I have to share that my takeaway wasn’t always delivered by the speakers or the hosts.  In fact, more often than not I was learning more from the audience and attendees than I was the presenters.  That’s right – learning more from my mic-less peers sitting to my left and right.

For years I’ve said that the best ideas and breakthroughs at recruiting industry events tend to happen after the sessions are over and when essentially everyone gets a microphone with whomever they’d like to connect.  The social events or dinners that happen after the podiums are abandoned are where attendees open up and where speakers can go deep on topics they may have been forced to gloss over in just 45 minutes on stage.  So for me, events have always been about the conversation more than the sessions.  However, in the last 2 years I’ve really learned that there is more to pull from the sessions than I previously realized – even (or especially) the sessions that go poorly.

Many times there’s significant value in simply listening to the questions that are being asked by the audience – both in how they’re asked and how they’re answered.  It’s a nice gauge by which we can take measure in regards to where we are as an industry focused on talent that MUST move forward.  (Did you catch that?  TALENT ACQUISITION. MUST. MOVE. FORWARD.) For instance, listening to what companies are still scared of video interviewing because of “discrimination” or what sized organizations are still asking for help to get Facebook unlocked for recruiting, speaks volumes about the learning and adoption curve still to be addressed in 2012.  Hearing ‘cutting edge’ companies predict for 2020 tools that some organizations use as a recruiting staple today allows us to look around the room at the puzzled faces of our peers (or watch the outcry in the back channel conversations) and connect with them immediately after the speech.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be writing up summaries of some of the events I attended with my thoughts on ‘SoLoMo’, Candidate Experience Awards, LinkedIn announcements, “make interns your recruiters”, recruiting personalities of the year and other nuggets that are, in my humble but correct opinion, worth discussing.  Before crafting those summaries however, I wanted needed to hit pause after pouring through 7 weeks of notes to call out my largest collective observation of the season:

The major win from recruiting & talent events is still in the conversation, but I believe there may be even more significant measure to be found via observation.

The initiative, called Enterprise EthioPEA, is the latest investment in PepsiCo’s global strategy to make the company a leader in sustainable agriculture around the world and truly bring to life the idea that “doing good” is “good business” at PepsiCo.

But this is a truly exciting and unique initiative for so many reasons; not least because it was inspired by Ethiopia’s own leaders, notably Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.  In fact, Enterprise EthioPEA is now being rolled-out in close collaboration with the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture and local partners who really understand the real challenges and opportunities on the ground.

Through this initiative, PepsiCo and our partners aim to dramatically increase chickpea production to produce a nutrient-rich ready-to-use-supplementary food that addresses famine and malnourishment, enable economic development for farmers across Ethiopia by doubling the yield of their crops, and scale-up and strengthen the Ethiopian chickpea supply chain to harness the potential of a domestic and export market so that we can increase the availability of locally-produced nutritious products for consumers.

Chickpeas – in their most infamous form – are best known as a key ingredient of hummus and are a staple of meals in India, Middle East and Africa.  But what most people don’t know is that with an average of 22 percent protein and the ability to fix nitrogen, chickpeas are rich in nutrients and environmental benefits.  So, at a time where 13 million people are suffering from famine across the Horn of Africa, we are incredibly proud to be bringing this program to the region.

Over the course of the next couple of months, we will work together with farmers, consumers, communities and the Ethiopian people to plant the seeds of a healthier future, and support our business for both today and tomorrow.

As part of Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo is committed to incorporating environmental sustainability into all aspects of our global operations. In this interview – which is broken into four segments – I highlight some of our key environmental sustainability goals and details of our progress to date:

Segment 1

Performance with Purpose is a commitment and realization that our financial success (Performance) must go hand-in-hand with our social and environmental responsibilities (Purpose).  PepsiCo has launched a number of initiatives that demonstrate the ways in which we apply this promise around the world, including several programs underway to preserve and replenish water – a vital resource and a key component of our business operations.

Segment 2

PepsiCo’s investments in packaging technologies and recycling initiatives have helped to significantly reduce waste and minimize our overall environmental footprint.

Segment 3

By rolling out innovative programs and best practices throughout our manufacturing network, fuel-use intensity and electricity-use efficiency have improved significantly.  Frito-Lay will become the largest fleet of commercial all-electric trucks in North America with a total 176 by the end of 2011, estimated to emit 75% less greenhouse gas than conventional diesel trucks.

Efficiencies in agriculture are also critical to our business and in 2009, PepsiCo launched the Global Sustainable Agriculture Policy to encourage all employees, and our growers, to operate in a way that protects and nourishes land and communities. We also support our supply chain by providing funding, technical support and training to local farmers.

Segment 4

PepsiCo takes an integrated approach to sustainability throughout all areas of the business. PepsiCo Green is a great example of an internal grassroots effort to get our associates and partners thinking about how we can adapt environmental sustainability practices through education, raising awareness and inspiring eco-friendly practices both in the workplace and the home.

Integrating our policies and actions on human health, agriculture and environment to make sure that they support each other, is also a critical area for PepsiCo. Delivering sustainable growth and providing healthier food and beverage options for our consumers is an integral part of Performance with Purpose.

By recognizing that our financial success and our social and environmental responsibilities are inextricably linked– and by setting goals, tracking our progress and integrating the results into our operations – we become a stronger global business, now and into the future.

For me, the highlight of this year’s conference was the launch of our report on the Positive Water Impact pilot. PWI means providing more and/or better water to the environments and communities where we and our suppliers operate.  PepsiCo is working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to figure out how to do this in all the different settings where we do business.  While there are other initiatives working to protect and restore watersheds, we believe that our partnership is developing the first methodology for identifying options that make sense in the context of the local water supply, community, and economy.

Brian Richter of TNC and I provided a preview of the report during a panel on corporate water risk management.  The panel covered tools that apply on different scales and that answer different questions.  For example, the Aqueduct Alliance provided a description of their approach to measuring, mapping, and explaining water-related risks.  Ceres, a nonprofit organization working with investors and environmental organizations to address sustainability challenges, described a new corporate water management framework that will help investors assess the risk faced by their portfolio components.

The report was formally launched at a by-invitation luncheon on Wednesday.  Our moderator, Prof. Upmanu Lall of the Columbia University Water Center (a PepsiCo partner), led a dialogue on the background of PWI, the challenges we faced, and the lessons we learned.   Attendees representing water.org (another of our partners), the International Finance Corporation, USAID, and other groups spoke from different perspectives and posed challenging questions.  As a result, we will re-examine some issues as we move into the next stage of PWI.

Overall, the week provided a look at new methods and resources.  I’m especially looking forward to the formal introduction of a new set of water scarcity maps from the Water Footprint Network, which will help us develop a more sophisticated understanding of the challenges that we face in the many places where we operate.

PepsiCo has been honored five times in the last five years as a Worlds Most Ethical company, a tremendous achievement that shows our year over year commitment to leading and performing with purpose. The award is a direct result of the work of our family of 300,000 employees who live out our core values and hold themselves and PepsiCo to incredibly high standards. I couldn’t be more proud.

Today, the Ethisphere Institute visited PepsiCo’s headquarters to present us with the award. I sat down Ethisphere’s Stacey Symoun to talk about what being a responsible company means to PepsiCo, and how we continue to make progress against our sustainability goals and commitments. You can watch the short interview below.

You can also watch a video of PepsiCo’s Chief Compliance Officer, Steve Naughton, discussing why being a World’s Most Ethical Company is a significant recognition and a reflection of our own employees.

In Mexico, we just started a new school year. Millions of children will have new experiences, new challenges and above all, a fresh opportunity to share and build a healthier school environment. A significant part of this learning experience will take place during recess, the recreo – as we call it here in Mexico – and in PepsiCo, we are contributing to make this moment of the day as fun and enjoyable as it has always been.

At the same time, in PepsiCo we are aware of the great challenges that Mexico, among other countries, is facing in health issues, such as childhood obesity. Although it is a multifaceted problem, we are committed to play our part in the solution as our sustainability mission Performance with Purpose dictates, which means to deliver sustainable growth while investing in a healthier future for the people and our planet.

Focusing on what PepsiCo Mexico can bring to support healthier lifestyles, we aim to make a difference by expanding the range of food and beverage choices leveraged on our strengths and expertise in product formulation, nutrition and agriculture to produce enjoyable and wholesome products, by informing people on how to improve their diet’s and lifestyles, by enabling them to make informed choices through responsible advertising and clear communications.

Based on these beliefs, we have designed an extensive, enjoyable and healthier food and beverages portfolio for elementary and junior high schools in Mexico, which not only complies with the General guidelines to sell and distribute foods and beverages in schools issued by the Mexican authorities, but actually surpasses them in some cases.

This wholesome portfolio, specially designed for school lunch, offers different alternatives of foods with reduced amounts of fat, sugars, and sodium including baked snacks, cookies and bars made with whole grains, all in smaller packages; as well as sugar free confectionary. It also includes sodium free bottled water and caffeine free non caloric beverages.

In addition to these efforts we keep contributing with our industry to work towards better communication standards. As some of you may remember, we were one of the first companies in Mexico to sign the Self-Regulation Agreement for Advertising of Foods and Non-alcoholic Beverages directed to Children (PABI, as for its initials in Spanish) in 2008 – and now we are stepping into Front Labeling, based on the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) system, to provide our consumers with more visible and clear information.

At PepsiCo Mexico we know that in order to live our sustainability mission, we must seek to deliver sustainable growth by investing in a healthier future for the people and our planet. And this is what we are doing. I feel very proud for being able to share a proof of the great commitment of the team in Mexico, which has made the most out of the continued local investment from the fields to the schools, allowing us to continue innovating in all of our categories for the wellness of our Mexican childhood.

With this same spirit and aware of the fact that we touch millions of lives every single day, we will keep playing strengths to deliver greater value and to make a difference. We are fully committed to building a portfolio of both enjoyable and wholesome foods and beverages, while creating products designed for local tastes and needs, while partnering with local farmers, governments and community groups to help address global nutrition challenges.

Because a healthier future for all people and our planet means a more successful future for PepsiCo. This is also the promise of the 55,000 associates working at PepsiCo Mexico.