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My guest on this podcast says that the best advice she has ever been given was “when you are dancing on thin ice, you may as well tap dance” and that’s how she lives her life.
Nicky Sparshott is the CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand and former Global CEO of luxury retailer, T2 Tea. She has over 25 years of experience in developing & building brands, growing businesses and transforming infrastructure and culture. She has worked across a broad range of organisations including Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G and George Patterson Y&R.
Recognised for her depth and breadth of expertise across FMCG, Retail, Luxury and Ecommerce, Nicky also brings broader based category experience spanning food, beverages, health care and personal care.
Nicky holds a Masters in International Business, which has been supported by significant global management experience across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, USA and the highly diverse markets of Asia. She recently completed an Executive MBA in Change, through INSEAD, graduating with Distinction and is also an HBDI certified practitioner.
Nicky is a Non-Executive Director on the boards of World Wildlife Fund Australia, Global Sisters and the Australian Food & Grocery Council and sits on the Australasian Advisory Board of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and UTS Vice Chancellors Industry Advisory Board. She is a National Member of the Champions of Change Coalition; a Founding Member of the B-Team Australasia and Climate Leaders Coalition and is a member of Chief Executive Women. She is a passionate advocate for businesses driving sustainable agendas that positively impact both people and the planet and in doing so be a true force for good.
Avid followers of purpose-led businesses will recognise Unilever as one of the global leaders of the corporate purpose movement, so much so that they’ve copped criticism from some investors for too much focus on “soft” issues like sustainability and social responsibility. So I was really excited to hear Nicky’s perspective on all things purpose and profit and what leadership looks like through the perspective of purpose in business. Nicky’s own leadership shines through powerfully in this interview. Not perhaps in the way you might expect of a traditional leader of a big corporation; rather a leader for our times. Australia, and indeed the world, would do well to have more leaders with Nicky’s outlook and beliefs.
If you are looking for inspiration on courageous, strong and vulnerable leadership, you need to tune into this episode.
Here are some of the highlights of our interview:
And we covered all of this (and more) in under 1 hour!
If you enjoy this episode, please rate it in your favourite podcast listening app.
James started The Good Beer Co – Australia’s first social enterprise of its kind – to brew beer for good causes and inspire change by demonstrating what purpose-led businesses can achieve. In his 20+ year career, he’s been a change-maker, pioneering corporate social responsibility at a major banking group, helping build partnerships to lift one million UK homes out of energy poverty, helping grow a social enterprise that floated on the London Stock Exchange, negotiating ground-breaking, multi-million dollar partnerships to cut carbon emissions, creating a national Healthy Air Campaign as the CEO of a national environmental charity, and forming an alliance between a new green energy company and leading environmental organisations to generate over $3 million in funding.
He’s also been named on Linkedin’s inaugural list of Top Green Voices in Australia and New Zealand, a curation of 15 must-follow thought leaders sharing their perspectives and passion for sustainability, climate change and protecting the environment.
In this episode, James shares his background leading to where his focus now lies, through the lens of partnerships.
I think you’ll get so much value from listening to how James approaches product development and campaigns. I truly believe that any organisation leading with a higher purpose is compelled to think innovatively and to seek out strategic partnerships. It’s consistent with the ambitious nature of purposeful organisations to find collaborators that help them to build awareness and scale their impact. This interview is a masterclass in purposeful partnerships.
Here are some of the highlights:
Connect with James
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgrugeon/
Twitter: JamesGrugeon
Website: https://www.thegoodbeerco.co.uk
We decided to do something a little different for this podcast episode. Instead of interviewing a guest, I read a chapter from my book FOR LOVE & MONEY. How to profit with purpose and grow a business with love.
The chapter I selected is: The Purpose of Business Part II
What is the purpose of business? Surely by now, we can get beyond the idea that the purpose of business is to make money. The evidence is clear that trickle-down economics has not delivered what it promised.
This chapter shares a picture of what business can be, when we unlock its full potential. When business serves a meaningful higher purpose, that is when it will capture the hearts and minds of people. That is when it will realise its true and full potential.
I share a story, a personal experience with a client, that demonstrates the potential that people can bring to a business when they’re emotionally invested in the outcomes that they’re trying to achieve.
The other themes highlighted in this short episode include:
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you do, you can get the book here.
For every book sold we protect one square metre of rainforest through our partnership with B1G1 Business for Good and our impact partner, Rainforest Rescue.
If you’re enjoying this podcast, please take a moment to rate it on your favourite listening app.
CORRECTION:
My guest on this episode is Carsten Primdal, a Sustainability, ESG and Modern Slavery Expert and co-founder of Scertify, an organisation merging tech and sustainability to drive impact, enabled by blockchain, AI and Machine Learning.
Carsten’s sustainability experience has been forged around the world, in Australia, Europe, China and Asia. He is the Author of two published books, “A Roadmap to Modern Slavery Compliance and a Sustainable Supply Chain” and “Red Flag – Your Guide to Risk Management when Buying in China”, in which he shares his experience in sustainability risk mitigation.
Our interview covers his career and what led him to co-founding Scertify with two US-based business partners and launching the Competent Boards ESG Training Program.
Through this interview some of the topics we discuss are:
I think this is such good timing for a discussion about the role of Boards in ESG and Purpose. From my observation, many Boards appear to be on the back foot when it comes to these subjects. The simple fact is, Boards should be driving the Purpose and ESG agenda, rather than pondering how much of a priority it is given in the business’ strategy.
The Competent Boards Program is such a valuable offering to business leaders today. Carsten has kindly offered a discount to listeners of this podcast. If you would like to take advantage of this discount, use the code FLAM when submitting your application online. You can learn more about the program here https://scertify.co/cbeducation/esg-designation-program/
CONNECT WITH CARSTEN
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/carsten-primdal/
Scertify website https://scertify.co
I’m delighted to welcome two guests for this episode of the For Love & Money Podcast: Jade Collins and Alanna Bastin-Byrne from Femeconomy.
Femeconomy educates consumers, budget owners and business owners on how purchasing decisions can create gender equality.
Femeconomy certified businesses have at least 30% of women on the Board of Directors
More on that in the episode. For now, let me introduce my guests:
Jade Collins has 20 years’ global experience in corporate executive Human Resources and management consulting roles in the Mining, Energy and Aerospace industries, leading large scale, complex multi-million-dollar change management programs. Jade finds the combination of her HR, Psychology and MBA qualifications and her leadership experience is invaluable for creating networks and engaging others to increase gender equality in leadership across industries. Jade was a member of the Queensland Government's Strategic Advisory Group for the Toward Gender Parity: Women on Boards Initiative and the 2019 CQU Alumni of the Year for Social Impact for her work with Femeconomy.
Alanna Bastin-Byrne has over 20 years’ experience in Marketing, Communications and Community Development leadership in the UK and Australia. The diversity of Alanna’s leadership experience has been instrumental in building Femeconomy’s engaged community to advance gender equality. In 2018 Alanna was announced as one of 80 Women2Watch in Business Disruption in US, Canada, Australia and Europe. In 2020 Alanna was a Telstra Business Woman of the Year finalist and Griffith University’s Entrepreneur in Residence.
We chat about the female economy. What it means for businesses and for society more widely. Despite the progress that we’ve made over the years, some of the stats that Jade and Alanna share are mind-blowing and really tell a very powerful story of unrealised opportunity.
Here are some of the areas of discussion we get into:
If your business is female-owned, led, has at least 30% of women on the Board of Directors
Equally, whether you’re male or female, if you want to support businesses that are Femeconomy accredited (as a customer or an employee), then head over to their website and find the businesses that are leading the way.
Connect with Femeconomy
Alanna Bastin-Byrne
Jade Collins
Femeconomy website https://femeconomy.com
Pamela Bishop is my guest on Episode 11. Pam is Chief Marketing Officer of Blooms The Chemist. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of working with Pamela and the exceptional team who engaged in our Path To Purpose Program to discover, define and embed meaningful purpose into Blooms The Chemist.
While Blooms The Chemist is in the early stages of their purpose journey, I wanted to invite Pamela on the show to share the experience they have had in navigating their path to purpose so far. How it started, some of the surprises it has created and how it has changed the way she and the wider Blooms team think of their role as a business.
There are so many reasons leaders give for putting off starting the process of discovery and purpose strategy. My sincere wish is that this episode gives you the motivation to get started, in whatever way best works for your organisation. To not delay one day longer.. If you’re a leader or influencer in a large or medium sized organisation trying to figure out how to get started and engage your wider team, his interview I believe is a masterclass in purpose leadership.
Here is some of what we get into in this interview where Pam generously lifts the lid on the process and Blooms The Chemist purpose-driven plans:
My guest on this episode of the FOR LOVE AND MONEY PODCAST is JAMES BARTLE, the founding CEO of Outland Denim, a fashion company on the vanguard of the socially conscious manufacturing movement. James is passionate about denim and the craft of jean manufacturing, but also the unique ability of the garment industry to drive change.
This interview is packed with insights and inspiration. But honestly, the central theme to this interview is the power of love to create change. I dare you to listen to it and not be inspired to act.
I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Here are just some of the topics we covered.
Contact James
https://www.instagram.com/bartle.james/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-bartle-17b6b6103/
https://www.outlanddenim.com.au
Our guest for Episode 9 is Carolyn Tate, a Purpose and Storytelling Expert. She’s author of multiple books, an inspirational speaker and a highly respected leader of the purpose movement in Australia.
In 2010, Carolyn came to the crashing realisation that her career was at a dead-end. After 20 years in banking and 10 years in her own marketing consultancy, her work was no longer meaningful. So, she closed the business and took a writing sabbatical in Aix-en-Provence, France with her son Billy.
I really enjoyed exploring “the practice of purpose” in this interview. We didn’t even have time to get into the topic of women in leadership, so we will be doing a second interview on that topic down the track. In the meantime, here are some of the themes we did explore:
Find out more about Carolyn Tate at carolyntate.co and sign up to her weekly Purpose in Action stories. You can also find her books here https://carolyntate.co/books/
My guest on this episode of FOR LOVE & MONEY is a man who describes himself as ”a four-time loser before I realised I was in the wrong game”.
He is Dave Dahl. Creator of Dave’s Killer Bread, the USA’s number 1 organic bread. If you haven’t heard of Dave’s Killer Bread, I can’t wait to share the story behind it. If you have, then you know you’ll want to listen to this episode.
Dave’s story IS the story of Dave’s Killer Bread. It is a story of a family bakery that became the business behind the USA’s number 1 organic bread. It is a story of transformation and inspiration. Dave’s Killer Bread has a purpose behind every loaf; a purpose about second chances. It may not be as well-known a brand in Australia as other purpose-led brands like Patagonia or Zambrero. Yet every time I share a bit of this story, people connect with it and want to learn more. Its power I believe is that it is a very HUMAN story. Quite the antithesis of what we have come to expect of business.
Our interview covers Dave’s backstory and how it connects with the business that was sold in 2015 to Flower Foods for US$@275 million. Here are some of the things that Dave shares in this interview:
You can learn more about Dave Dahl here at his official website https://davedahl360.com
If you would like to learn more about or donate to Constructing Hope, you can do so here https://www.constructinghope.org
Like many people who value purposeful organisations, I love Patagonia. They are an unconventional business that is difficult to categorise in traditional business terms. Their purpose is a hugely ambitious one - they’re in business to save our home planet.
In this episode I speak to Dane O’Shanassy, Country Director for Patagonia.
Dane shares stories about this extraordinary company from its origins to where it is today. Along the way he shares the philosophies that has guided the business over the last few decades. What I loved about our chat was Dane’s view that Patagonia’s approach isn’t complex. It’s really simple. In fact it boils down to doing the right thing.
As Dane says in the interview, he is fortunate to work for people who simply want the people who work for Patagonia to figure out how they can use business as a tool for environmental protection.
I hope you enjoy this episode and the insights that come from it. There are some great learnings here. We did have some connection issues during this recording, which we’ve done our best to edit out. I hope it doesn’t affect your listening experience too much.
Here are some of the stories and themes we cover in our interview:
About Dane O’Shanassy
Since August 2013, Dane has been leading Patagonia in Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia, supporting growth in sales and brand awareness, alongside steering our regional environmental impact. He finds joy and satisfaction through building strong teams and creating business strategy that can be disruptive and transformational. A Master’s in Business Administration at Melbourne’s Deakin University underscores more than 20 years working with some iconic Australian brands including Rip Curl, Bellroy and Colorado.
Now in his role at Patagonia, Dane has the opportunity to demonstrate that business success and positive environmental impact don’t have to be at odds, in fact, they can be harmonious and profitable. Dane finds his passion in the surf, the mountains, and through spending time with his family at home on Victoria’s Surf Coast.
About Patagonia
We’re in business to save our home planet.
Founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company based in Ventura, California. A certified B Corporation, the company is recognised internationally for its commitment to product quality and environmental activism – and its contributions of more than US$145 million in grants and in-kind donations to date.
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