Last night I had the privilege of dining with Keith Reinhard at Messiah College and then listening to his presentation on global citizenship. Mr. Reinhard is chair emeritus of DDB Worldwide, one of the world’s largest advertising networks. He is best known for his work with McDonald’s including the creation of the ad campaign, “You deserve a break today,” which in 1999 was voted number one jingle of all time in Advertising Age’s “The Century of Advertising.”
In 2002, Mr. Reinhard founded Business for Diplomatic Action, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to enlist the business community in actions to restore America’s declining standing in the world.
He spoke of the importance of America being admired as a global leader. But why does this matter? Why should we care what other countries think of us? Do we even need them? According to Mr. Reinhard, absolutely. We first need them for national security. Without intelligence from other countries, we would not be able to protect ourselves. Also, our economy is very reliant on other countries (exporting and importing goods).
Mr. Reinhard then presented a strategy for pursuing the goal of global citizenship. This five-pronged strategy to build bridges of trust and understanding between America and the world is called STARS. It focuses on:
1. Sensitizing Americans to the importance of global citizenship and the need for personal engagement.
2. Transforming American attitudes and behaviors to promote cross-cultural understanding and respect.
3. Accentuating those positive qualities about America that the world admires.
4. Reaching out to build bridges of mutual respect with key foreign groups.
5. Serving as a connection between the private sector and the US government.
I thought Mr. Reinhard’s comments were excellent and with the G20 economic summit beginning this week in Europe, very timely as well.
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