During my first week at work, Bill Pearce, Del Monte’s CMO, called the marketing department in for a meeting on our long-range plans.  At the end of the meeting, we were surprised when he asked us if anyone in the room had seen a movie called “Balto.”

Balto is based on a true story of an Alaskan malamute who saved an Alaskan city from an outbreak of a disease called diphtheria in 1925.  The anti-toxin serum that could stop the outbreak was located in Anchorage, which was 1000 miles away.  Anchorage sent 20 dogsled teams to Anchorage…soon after, all of them had turned away except for one lead by Balto, the black and white malamute, who reached the city of Nome in 5 days and 7 hours.

To Bill, the story Balto represents courage, determination and perserverance. As a kid in New York, his parents would also take him to Central Park, where kids loved to pet a statue of Balto.  He then revealed that he had a replica of the Central Park status made, and that little Balto trophies would be awarded to people in the company who display those same qualities.

He gave one out to the manager of the Starkist team, for his hard work in getting the company ready for sale.  He gave out another one yesterday to a manager on the Pet Snacks team for leading his team even while moving his family from Pittsburgh to San Francisco.

One of my goals for the next 3 years is to win a Balto!