For Love & Money

Earlier this year I was part of a panel at Mumbrella CommsCon 2023 to discuss "how to profit with purpose". I joined three leaders in Australia’s communications industry – all women, movers and shakers; founders and leaders of their respective Communications Agencies. The discussion we had was a good one, but barely had time to scratch the surface of such an important topic within an industry that has such influence and leverage. 

So I invited them to join me on the podcast to take a deeper dive into the topic. I managed to get two of them into the interview. The third, Simone Gupta, who is co-founder of a new independent creative agency, Supermassive, helped us shape the subject but unfortunately couldn’t make the actual interview on the day.

My two guests in this interview are 

Joanne Painter - Co-founder & Group Managing Director of Icon Agency

Dena Vassallo - CEO and Founder of SOCIETY

Joanne Painter

Formerly a senior journalist with The Age, Joanne now consults to Icon’s government and corporate clients in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific, including Salesforce, Schneider Electric, ADP, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Defence, AUSTRAC, the Department of Education and the National Library of Australia. 

Dena Vassallo

SOCIETY is an independent, female-led creative agency with a fresh and brave approach to marketing communications. SOCIETY puts people at the heart of everything they do, and works to support brands and organisations that are positively shaping the societies in which we live, work, and play. 

Dena lives her values of environmentalism and female representation and empowerment through her work on the board of Green Adelaide and as the Chair of She Creates.

In this interview, the rabbit hole we go down is, I believe, a really important one...the power of brands to lead positive change within business. But it’s actually more than that – this interview is about brands leading societal progress. Our conversation expands to leadership, the risk of inaction, the need for bravery and how brands and leaders can move forward with their purpose agenda.

It's a rich conversation with two brilliant women who are driving change through their industry. I hope you enjoy it.

Highlights of this interview:

• Brands – the benefits of emotional characteristics over functional in building brand saliency and resilience; and the impact of a brand on building connection and belonging 

Connect with Dena

Linkedin

Email

Society website

Connect with Joanne

Email

Linkedin

Icon Agency website

Danielle Chiel is founder and CEO of KOCO, a knitwear company specialising in commercial hand knitting. KOCO (Knit One, Change One) engages women in rural villages in the south of Tamil Nadu, India, to produce artisan knitwear for global fashion brands.

Combined, her lifelong passions for innovation, education, and giving women a voice, have enabled her to make significant social contributions in both Australia and India.

She’s a published author, her book KOCO – How Handknitting is Changing Lives and the Fashion Industry describes the story of KOCO’s sisterhood, has touched the hearts of brands and consumers around the world.

• How knitting became a passion for her from a young age, but because of family expectations, she initially took an academic path before finding her way back to fashion.

I hope you enjoy this episode and the fascinating stories and insights that Danielle shares.

Connect with Danielle:

KOCO website

Danielle's Linkedin Profile

“Imagine waking up to a world without nature. Blue skies replaced by grey, grass by dirt, oceans turned to dust and mud.  This isn’t some far-fetched Science Fiction movie, it is the reality we are facing now. We are staring down the gun at the end of the world as we know it and business leaders need to unite to implement new ways of thinking and doing before it’s too late.”

Introducing Paula Kensington, award-winning CFO, business leader and director of consulting group, PK Advisory; and founder/CEO of CFO Conversations.

In her recently published green paper, Paula draws on global research, highlights the pitfalls of the past and offers hope for the future by outlining a strategic road-map out of outmoded, profit-focussed business practices to a new ‘planet-centric’ approach, with CFOs and CEOs leading the way.

“More than just a numbers person, CFOs are ‘key stewards’ that can drive change from within to align business outcomes with earth outcomes to go beyond carbon credits to turn profit into purpose,” she says.

Our conversation on this podcast centres on three key themes:

1. Why should CFO’s lead the purpose agenda

If you are a CFO, this episode is especially for you. 

If you’re not a CFO, the value this interview offers is understanding that Purpose and Sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’. The ‘compliance’ stakes are gearing up and soon. Paula shares her thoughts, insights and paths to navigating from ‘business-as-usual’ to a new world of business. Great insights and I hope you might consider sharing with a CFO you know; perhaps in your own business.

Some of the highlights of this interview:

• Why CFO’s should lead the purpose agenda

• What might be holding CFOs back from leading the purpose and sustainability agenda

• How do we value nature while its living? 

• Do we need new language, models, ledgers?

Links promised in the interview:

Episode 43 features Nikki Beaumont…Founder and CEO of Beaumont People, a leading recruitment business who are all about placing people first – whether its their own people, their clients or the candidates they place.

This ‘people first’ philosophy and purpose-driven vision to connect people with organisations that empower them to do meaningful work and to create more opportunities for meaningful work in Australia, has seen Nikki's team provide much more than standard recruitment services to her customers.

Key to Nikki's and Beaumont People's success has been the unfaltering investment she makes in her people. She has crafted a work environment that is conducive to success - where her people are nurtured and motivated to achieve their personal best not only for the business, but as importantly, for themselves.

In this episode we talk a little bit about Beaumont People’s approach and some of the initiatives it has driven, but we zero in on one key initiative that they implemented 3 years ago – the 4-day work week.

As one of the first Australian businesses to do this, Nikki has some valuable insights to share.

I hope our listeners can take these insights and use them to think – not just about the 4 day work week – but also to question some of the other rules of business that we rarely examine. How can we do things better? What can we change?

I hope you enjoy the gems that Nikki shares in our chat.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Nikki shares Beaumont People’s origin story, including how the GFC was the stimulus that led to Beaumont’s strength in serving the charity sector

Connect with Nikki

Nikki's Linkedin Profile

Beaumont People on Linkedin

Beaumont People website

Our guest on this episode of the FOR LOVE & MONEY Podcast is Kelly Beater. Kelly is Head of felix mobile, a brand that describes themselves as “passionate about enabling a seamless telco experience for our customers, while driving a positive impact for our planet through our partners like One Tree Planted.”

felix’s mission is to inspire a better mobile industry; one that’s great for people and cares for our planet.

felix mobile is part of TPG Telecom, one of Australia’s biggest telecommunication companies. One of the interesting things about this brand is that they exist as a siloed business unit within the larger TPG Telecom organisations. This represents a really interesting model on how large organisations might start navigating their way to balancing profit with purpose – by starting with a small business unit, to build confidence in a profit through purpose model.

In this episode, Kelly shares the journey so far with felix, highlighting the power of a BHAG – a big hairy audacious goal – which for them was to plant one million trees. A goal they have just achieved!

So much gold in this episode. Here are some of the highlights, but make sure you listen all the way to where Kelly talks about her love of what she does and her pride in what she and the felix team are doing (around the 41 minute mark).

• Kelly shares how the brief to create a “digital-only” brand led to the development and launch of a purpose-led digital-only brand and business unit within TPG Telecom

Connect with felix mobile and Kelly

felix mobile website 

Kelly’s Linkedin 

Today's guest on the FLAM podcast is Graeme Cowan, whose dedication and commitment to creating mentally healthy workplaces has seen him named one of LinkedIn’s top voices for 2022 in the Mental Health & Resilience space.

Graeme helps leaders and teams to be more caring and resilient - and enjoy growing together. 

He was founding Board Director of R U OK? and is the author of four books, including the internationally acclaimed BACK FROM THE BRINK, which has a testimonial from the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and which has become a best seller in China. 

He is the Co-Founder of WeCARE365, which creates simple scalable eLearning to prevent mental health issues. 

Graeme is also host of The Caring CEO podcast, where he interviews CEO’s who champion a culture of care AND high performance.

In his earlier career he worked in senior leadership positions with Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and the management consulting company, Kearney. 

In 2000 he went through a 5 year episode of depression that his psychiatrist described as the worst he had ever treated. He emerged from this crisis with a different view about how we can increase our resilience, mood, and performance. 

Today, his purpose – helping leaders and teams to be more caring and resilient and enjoy growing together – is the guiding force that drives everything Graeme does in this space.

Key highlights of this interview:

• Graeme’s personal journey that led him to have such clarity of purpose. His own painful experience with serious depression, but also the pivotal experience of work he did many years ago as a consultant with Ramsey Healthcare, in shaping his view on the value of “people caring for people”.

For anyone who believes that people are an organisation’s greatest asset, this interview will get you thinking about how you can create organisational and team environments where people feel safe and are able to bring their best to their work. 

Connect with Graeme

Linkedin 

Email

Websites:

http://www.graemecowan.com.au/ (Personal)

https://wecare365.com.au (WeCARE365)

Ravi Prasad is a former ad man turned social entrepreneur.

A strategist, who in a career spanning over 20 years, worked for agencies including, EURO RSCG, Leo Burnett, John Singleton Advertising, Ogilvy & Mather, Sapient Nitro and Clemenger BBDO.

Over the years his work has won, or been a finalist, in awards, from W3 in New York to the IIB Awards in London, and from ADMA to AIMIA in Australia. 

In 2013 Ravi shifted the focus of his life and work to pursue his interest in social justice and civil society, and founded Parliament on King.

Parliament on King addresses the barriers to social, cultural and economic participation faced by asylum seekers and refugees. 

It’s also a social enterprise catering business, that offers training, work experience and paid employment to asylum seekers and refugees – all funded by the proceeds of its commercial catering operations.

The project has been recognized with awards including a Refuge Council Humanitarian Award and the Good Food Guides ‘Food for Good Award’. Ravi is also the recipient of a UTS Human Rights Awards and the 2022 NSW Human Rights Medal.

Ravi shares such valuable insights in this interview. There’s a theme that threads its way throughout our chat - the importance of belief, clarity of belief, self-belief and shared belief. This, combined with the other recurring themes of the power of ‘action’ to build belief; and the fallacy of limited resources, makes for an interview that I really hope will inspire people to act without any further delay.

Some of the highlights of our conversation

• A great philosophical discussion about the role of love in business

Connect with Ravi

Email:  [email protected]

Phone: +61 414 235 325

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raviprasad/

Carolyn Tate is a writer, educator and speaker and the author of six books including Brave Women Write and her best-selling book The Purpose Project. She is a pioneer of purpose in Australia and her book has inspired countless individuals to pursue their purpose and make an impact. Brave Women Write is her most recent book. It’s a powerful call-to-action for women to harness the power of their words, to get writing and create personal and planetary change. As a river swimmer with a deep connection to nature, Carolyn’s purpose is to write and share the stories that move us to remake the world.

Carolyn and I were speaking about this topic of women who were bravely showing up to share their ideas of how to make things better, through writing and publishing books. Our discussion sparked this idea of using the podcast to inspire more women to write.

There is no doubt we are experiencing a movement where many women are bravely showing up as protagonists of change in their industries. While this isn’t limited to women, my experience and that of most of my co-conspirators, is that more women are driving purpose-led change than men. Perhaps it comes from the need to rebalance growth and winning with nurturing and sharing. 

So today’s episode is dedicated to the many women who are showing up bravely, as well as those who want to do more to show up bravely. Brave Women Write is a celebration as well as an invitation. Hope you enjoy this episode. 

Some of the highlights

• Alice In Wonderland – an invitation to channel your inner “Alice” and go down that rabbit hole

Connect with Carolyn

Carolyn's website

Get the book BRAVE WOMEN WRITE 

Listeners of this podcast might be familiar with the term B Corp, but like many – perhaps don’t have a clear understanding of what B Corp stands for and what is involved in becoming a B Corp.

B Corps are businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency and as a result have received certification.

The B Corp certification is the most holistic and rigorous independent certification for businesses today. 

Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, envision a better economic system where businesses can benefit people, communities, and the planet. They choose long-term investments over quick wins, and measure their success based on the positive impact they create.

My business, The Cause Effect is proud to be a certified B Corp. We achieved certification in October 2021. You can see our B Corp profile here and read a short blog about it here.

On the For Love & Money podcast, our mission is to explore the intersection of love and money (or purpose and profit) in business, to inspire a movement for positive change – business as a force for good; brands driving profit through purpose. 

The B Corp community and movement aligns to this 100%. Their mission: Make Business a force for good. We won't stop until all business is a force for good.

So it is with great pleasure that I introduce today’s guest Mindy Leow.

Mindy is Director of Impact and Growth at B Lab Australia & NZ, the certification arm of B Corp. At the time of this interview she is also acting CEO.

Mindy is a champion of business as a force for good. Instrumental in building the B Corp movement in Australia and New Zealand, She has worked with more than 200 companies to achieve certification. She has also worked with hundreds of other businesses to measure and improve their social and environmental impact through the free online B Impact Assessment tool. 

In this episode, Mindy shares her journey to becoming a B Corp champion and gives us some great insights into what B Corp certification is all about, what value the process of becoming a B Corp offers to business leaders; and the strong benefits that being a B Corp delivers.

If you haven’t already - my hope is that this episode will motivate you to check out the B Corp Assessment and start doing the assessment, regardless of whether or not you are committed or you have commitment from within the business to undertake the B Corp certification process. Hands down you will learn so much from simply doing the assessment.

Some of the highlights of this interview:

• Mindy’s background and how she came to be part of the B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand team

Connect with Mindy and the B Lab community:

Mindy Low on Linkedin

B Corp Website

The B Impact Assessment

Imagine if impacting people's lives was deemed more valuable than money.

That's what my guest on this episode is working towards.

Kimberley Abbott, CEO and founder of Vested, a company with a mission to 'redefine millionaire to be a person who impacts millions of lives' through leveraging data-driven impact assessment to help people invest their money where it makes the best impact on society.

Vested helps people invest their money where it matters. To create impact where it is most needed.

Kim is an Aussie who has relocated to London. I first learned about her when I was listening to Mick Spiers Leadership Project Podcast and I was so inspired by her story and was determined to get her on this podcast to share some of that story.

Kim shares a bit of her journey from studying Engineering to starting a social enterprise in India to working for the UN, assessing and monitoring peacekeeping missions; to then starting the company.

We get into some of the ‘how’ Vested operates and how it differs from businesses reporting on company’s ESG (Environmental Social Governance) activity. But the key theme in this interview is the purpose behind the business and how that has driven her to think ambitiously and create something out of nothing.

I feel so inspired after our interview, I have no doubt it will inspire you and I hope, galvanise you to do something differently.

Some of the highlights:

• Kim’s journey from university to starting Vested and the influences that led her to where she is today

Connect with Kimberley

On Linkedin 

Vested Website