Change the World 2023
John Hindman, a government contractor for a federal energy research laboratory in Pennsylvania, was working at home late one Saturday night in January 2017, when he had a thought. Over the next several weeks, the communications professional put that thought in an email, and sent it to the CEO of his employer with the subject line “A Father’s Request.”
Hindman works for Leidos, a Fortune 500 company with 46,000 employees. He didn’t personally know Roger Krone, the company’s then CEO, but the message—a call to action, really—felt too important to direct elsewhere. The previous September, Hindman’s 30-year-old son Sean had died of an opioid overdose, a tragic end to his yearslong battle with addiction—details the family had included in his obituary, and shared for a local newspaper series. In his grief, upon returning to work Hindman was stunned by the number of colleagues and complete strangers who shared with him closely held stories of loss and struggle—proof of a nationwide epidemic that at the time few people spoke about.
That’s what was on Hindman’s mind when he wrote to Krone, calling on Leidos—with all its resources and expertise in technology, science, and defense—to do something. And it has: In the years since, Leidos has implemented Mission for the Mind, a multiprong approach to addressing addiction and mental health issues that impact its workforce and the community. That has included starting new business lines—like providing counseling and mental health assessments to government entities. Leidos is also leading an effort to destigmatize addiction and mental health issues among the broader business community, an effort that 150 CEOs have signed on to so far. The company says these measures have helped reduce employee attrition, while also putting it at the forefront of one of society’s most pressing issues.
Hindman works for Leidos, a Fortune 500 company with 46,000 employees. He didn’t personally know Roger Krone, the company’s then CEO, but the message—a call to action, really—felt too important to direct elsewhere. The previous September, Hindman’s 30-year-old son Sean had died of an opioid overdose, a tragic end to his yearslong battle with addiction—details the family had included in his obituary, and shared for a local newspaper series. In his grief, upon returning to work Hindman was stunned by the number of colleagues and complete strangers who shared with him closely held stories of loss and struggle—proof of a nationwide epidemic that at the time few people spoke about.
That’s what was on Hindman’s mind when he wrote to Krone, calling on Leidos—with all its resources and expertise in technology, science, and defense—to do something. And it has: In the years since, Leidos has implemented Mission for the Mind, a multiprong approach to addressing addiction and mental health issues that impact its workforce and the community. That has included starting new business lines—like providing counseling and mental health assessments to government entities. Leidos is also leading an effort to destigmatize addiction and mental health issues among the broader business community, an effort that 150 CEOs have signed on to so far. The company says these measures have helped reduce employee attrition, while also putting it at the forefront of one of society’s most pressing issues.
Courtesy of Leidos