This year's Day Edition Russell Bedford held on Friday 4 December 2020, and its culmination was a global virtual party.
This important moment in Russell Bedford's calendar has become an opportunity to reflect, summarize the past year and celebrate the success of the network. It is also time to reflect on the objectives Russell Bedford and values that are an integral part of the group's existence, namely responsibility, integrity, professionalism, excellence, shaping positive impact and global cooperation.
This year, members around the world have become involved to come up with creative ways to celebrate that day, despite the challenges they faced in terms of Covid.
Russell Bedford Colombia took an ecological stance, involving the entire team in the production of Ecobricks, used to build furniture, walls, and even buildings, from plastic waste.
Kenyan company Russell Bedford Alexandra & Associates dressed in Kitenges, a kind of African outfit, for an office party with traditional African music and dance.
Russell Bedford's Australian companies joined forces in a "virtual" walk around their country, raising funds for charity; and a company from Lebanon, Bureau Saghir & Associates, planted a cedar tree, the emblem of Lebanon, which is on the national flag, naming it Russell Bedford.
All members of the network co-created a map of Russell Bedford's world, sharing interesting facts about themselves, their hobbies and countries, and also enrolled in the network's "fast dates" initiative, which gives an opportunity to meet their counterparts around the world.
Stephen Hamlet, referring to why the network celebrates Taking You Further Day, he replied: “This is much more than just a marketing opportunity. Taking You Further Day was born of the desire to celebrate our developing network and people who work so hard to preserve and maintain our common values.
“Going further” is the slogan of Russell Bedford, but it is more than just a slogan – it is the personification of the belief system and the value of our network. Our members regularly refer to this slogan when they talk about the vision and goals of their own company - they believe it. Their enthusiasm all year round was astonishing.
I have no illusion that the teams in our member companies have not been under much pressure this year. They spent additional hours to meet their customers' expectations while performing a number of other life-related duties, often under one roof with a whole family, with a little break from this cycle.
However, they continued to focus, investing in online membership and nurturing important relationships that they had made through Russell Bedford. They know the value of strong and trustworthy connections. People with good results in our world rarely achieve success on their own. They get there, learning from the people around them.
They ask for the assistance or knowledge of persons with expertise and experience. During this process of reaching them, they build a solid network of trusted connections around them, which can be used if necessary. Sometimes mentor, sometimes counselor, sometimes friend. This is the point of Russell Bedford. And it is worth celebrating!”