Reflections from philips electronics,N.A.: Lessons from winning the WEC gold medal

Several years ago I went to a lecture in which documentary film maker Rick Burns described his new film on the history of New York City. He mentioned that his biggest challenge was to identify a theme—an element that was a common thread in the history of the city which he could use as the focus for the documentary. (He finally decided that the theme would be “money.”)To develop the theme for Philips Electronic's application for the World Environment Center's (WEC's) Gold Medal Award for Corporate Environmental Excellence, I encountered the same challenge as the film maker. What theme would I use for a company which is diverse, decentralized, and has a worldwide presence? While Philips was doing many worthwhile things and had significant accomplishments, how could I put that in a package which would be coherent, cohesive, and understandable to the independent judges from around the world?