Reinventing Business for the New Millennium

    WAKE FOREST, N.C., Feb. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Anita Roddick, outspoken
 Founder of The Body Shop(R), returns to the Bay Area to deliver her
 impassioned vision of business for the new millennium.  She will present her
 speech "Reinventing Business" at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, February 16, 1998 at the
 University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland.
     Roddick's appearance coincides with the launch of her company's newest ad
 campaign linking The Body Shop's ongoing struggle against animal testing in
 the cosmetics industry with the denunciation of political "despots" around the
 world.  If that seems an unlikely pairing, Roddick will firmly disagree.
     "For too long, business has been teaching that politics and commerce are
 two different arenas.  They are not.  Political awareness and activism must be
 incorporated into global management," Roddick says.
     The new ad, which appears on the back cover of the March/April issue of
 Mother Jones Magazine, depicts four international political figures -- Gen.
 Sani Abacha of Nigeria, Col. Muammar Al-Qaddafi of Libya, Saddam Hussein of
 Iraq and Radovan Karadzic of the Bosnian Serb Republic -- with makeup
 superimposed over their faces.  The copy reads: "We're against testing
 cosmetics on animals.  (Using despots, however, is another story.)"
     "Business is now entering center stage," Roddick says.  "It is faster, it
 is more creative, it is wealthier than governments.  If it comes with no moral
 sympathy, or honorable code of behavior, God help us all."
     "Business must not only avoid hideous evil -- it must actively do good,"
 Roddick continues.  "If all we can do in the next decade is shift seamlessly
 from business being seen as a vehicle for private greed to a vehicle for
 public good, then there will be genuine cause for celebration."
     The Body Shop is an international manufacturer and retailer of innovative,
 high quality skin, hair care and color cosmetic products, operating more than
 1,500 stores in 47 countries, including nearly 300 in the USA.
 
 Anita Roddick, "Reinventing Business"
 February 16, 1998, 7 pm
 University of Creation Spirituality
 2141 Broadway, Oakland, CA
 510-835-4827, ext. 10
 $12 advance / $15 at door
 
 For more information or interview opportunities,
 contact:  Randy Williamson of The Body Shop at:
 (919) 554-8377
 For copies of the ad or information about Mother Jones,
 contact:  Richard Reynolds of Mother Jones at:
 (415) 665-6637
 
 Anita Roddick, Founder of The Body Shop International
 Excerpts from her speech, "Reinventing Business"
 
     "If I had to name a single all-purpose instrument of leadership, it would
 be communication.  Leaders must communicate in ways which move people into
 action."
     "How do you educate people away from a values system of endless increasing
 affluence to one in which core values are community, caring for the
 environment, creating or growing things and personal development?  You empower
 them."
     "There are not many motivating forces more potent than giving your staff
 and customers an opportunity to exercise and express their idealism to
 influence change:  locally, nationally, and globally."
     "The workplace for me now is a community.  It is about a place where
 people work for a common good.  The workplace therefore has to inspire
 creativity and above all, be fun."
     "Celebrate the global woman -- it is always women that keep the community
 together.  They are paid less but they work more.  They are less educated but
 bear greater responsibility for the children.  It is women far more than the
 men, that create a rag tag front line in the worldwide struggle to end poverty
 and environmental destruction."
     "Business needs to respect and support communities and families, and to
 safeguard the environment.  We need business that encourages countries to
 educate their children, heal their sick, value the work of women and respect
 human rights.  In short, to reclaim what was once an essential part of being
 human."
     Anita Roddick is well known as the founder of The Body Shop and for her
 efforts to bring values of ecology, animal rights, and human rights alive in
 business.  She will deliver her speech "Reinventing Business" at 7:00 pm on
 Monday, February 16, 1998 at the University of Creation Spirituality, 2141
 Broadway, Oakland, CA.
 
 

SOURCE  The Body Shop