街头一夜：公司高管亲历流浪生活

    可口可乐公司（Coca-Cola）全球闪亮品牌中心（Global Sparkling Brand Center）高级副总裁温蒂•克拉克花了很长时间研究年轻人。这位冉冉升起的新锐高管成功的秘诀就是了解年轻人的生活现状和他们的期望。目前，克拉克负责可口可乐（Coke）、雪碧（Sprite）和芬达（Fanta）等品牌的品牌策略和整合营销传播，包括全球设计与数字及体验营销。上周，克拉克决定亲身体验年轻人生活中不为她所知的一面：无家可归的生活。

    本文由可口可乐公司全球闪亮品牌中心高级副总裁温蒂•克拉克发布。

    我的手生来冰凉。

    大家都知道这种人。我跟别人握手的时候，会先抱歉地说“手凉心热”这样的话，然后用双手握住对方温暖的手，还要尽可能多握一会儿，以吸取一些热量。

    我出生在（寒冷潮湿的）英格兰，但我的少女时代都在佛罗里达度过，后来也一直居住在美国南部。正如俗话所说，我的血液都变得稀薄了。

    所以，毫不夸张的说，周四晚上，我在外面的纸板箱里所度过的一夜绝对是一次非同寻常的体验。

    我的朋友也是可口可乐公司的同事本•道奇，是乔治亚州圣约家园（Covenant House of Georgia）理事会的成员，他邀请我参加他们一年一度的露宿募捐活动。去年，全美共有450名高管参加了这个活动，募集了超过300万美元。今年，本和我以及来自埃森哲（Accenture）、康卡斯特（Comcast）和考克斯报业（Cox Enterprises）等公司的45名高管从周四晚餐时间开始，到周五上午7点，一直在圣约家园的收容所内度过。虽然天空圆月高悬，但温度却降到了华氏35度（约为1.7°C），当晚我们都睡在睡袋里，下面铺着压平的纸板箱。

    我们只是这样过了一个晚上。而对于亚特兰大700多名年轻人而言，每天睡在大街上是他们生活的真实状态。

    这些年轻人各有各的故事，个中心酸令人唏嘘不已。据圣约家园统计，其中有四分之一是人口拐卖或性交易的受害者。许多人都因为受到过欺凌而一蹶不振，他们也渴望能让自己的生活走上正轨。我们遇到的一位圣约家园居民说：“我们只是努力想要做好的普通孩子。”

    与我们一样，他们也需要爱。他们需要一只主动伸出的手，需要有人相信虽然他们的手是冰凉的，但他们的心依然火热。“体制”和成年人一次次让这些无家可归的年轻人失望，他们对人的信任已经降到了令人难以置信的地步。

    As SVP of the Global Sparkling Brand Center at Coca-Cola (KO), Wendy Clark spends plenty of time studying young people. Understanding how young people live and what they aspire to is key to the success of this rising-star executive who oversees brand strategy and integrated marketing communications, including global design and digital and experiential marketing, for brands like Coke, Sprite and Fanta. Last week, Clark decided to learn about an aspect of youth that she never knew: how the homeless live.

    Guest Post by Wendy Clark, SVP of the Global Sparkling Brand Center, The Coca-Cola Company

    I'm one of those people with ice-cold hands.

    You know the type. When you shake my hand, I apologize and say something like "cold hands, warm heart" and then may add my second hand to your warm hand and hold the handshake for as long as possible to steal some of your warmth.

    While I was born and raised in England (cold and wet), I spent my teenage years in Florida and have lived in the southern U.S. since. Indeed, as the saying goes, my blood has thinned.

    So it was uncharacteristic, to say the least, that I slept outside on a cardboard box last Thursday night.

    My friend and colleague at The Coca-Cola Company, Ben Deutsch, is on the board of Covenant House of Georgia, and he asked me to join their annual Sleep-Out fundraiser. Last year, across the country, 450 executives slept outside and raised more than $3 million. This year, Ben and I and some 45 executives from companies including Accenture (ACN), Comcast (CMCSA) and Cox Enterprises spent from dinnertime Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday on the campus of the Covenant House shelter. Under a full moon, in temperatures dipping to 35 degrees, we slept in sleeping bags on flattened cardboard boxes.

    This was just one night for us. For more than 700 young Atlantans, sleeping on the streets is every night.

    These youth have varied stories, with common themes that are tough to hear. One in four, according to Covenant House, are victims of human trafficking or sex trade. Many more have been beaten down by bullying, and are desperate to get their lives on track. "We're just regular kids trying to do right," said one Covenant House resident we met.

    Like all of us, they need love. They need an outreached hand and somebody's faith that there's warmth in their hearts beyond their own cold hands. These homeless youth have been let down by "the system" and by adults so many times that their trust in anyone beyond themselves is incredibly low.