Lead With We

In this episode, I have a great conversation with Frank Cooper, Senior Managing Director, Global Chief Marketing Officer of BlackRock, the world’s largest hedge fund. Frank gets candid about the challenge climate change poses to business, what needs to change about capitalism, and how sustainability and purpose have become driving forces behind innovation. Frank also tells me why we should be optimistic about what we can achieve together through business. 

Frank Cooper

Frank Cooper III, Senior Managing Director, is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of BlackRock. He is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Global Operating Committee. Frank has built his career on a unique capability: to unite business, human and cultural perspectives to make brands supremely relevant. As such, he has built a reputation as an agent of change, able to lead transformation for companies at an inflection point across multiple industries, from entertainment and consumer goods to technology and Finance. In his current role as Senior Managing Director and Global Chief Marketing Officer of global financial powerhouse BlackRock, Frank leads the company’s marketing across every region of the world combining the science of data-driven/technology-centered approaches with the art of creativity, culture and purpose.

Frank has been lauded by Fast Company Magazine as one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business”; was a four-time recipient of Billboard Magazine’s “Power 100”; and recipient of AdColor’s coveted Legend award.

Simon Mainwaring

Simon Mainwaring is a brand futurist, global keynote speaker, and bestselling author. He is best known as the author of We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World and the Founder and CEO of We First, a strategic consultancy that works with brands to define their business strategy, company culture, and brand communications.

This episode of LEAD WITH WE was produced and edited by Goal17Media.com and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

Resources

BlackRock Website

Frank Cooper’s, LinkedIn

We First Website

This week it was a pleasure to welcome Blair Kellison to the podcast, the President of herbal medicine company Traditional Medicinals. Blair offers insights on how his company has thrived since 1974 through long term decision-making, a holistic understanding of sustainability, and a carefully crafted company culture. He also shares his belief that the highest purpose of business is to address climate change and income inequality.

Blair Kellison

Blair Kellison is the CEO of Traditional Medicinals (TM), a mission driven, organic and fair trade wellness tea company based in Sonoma County, CA. Blair is a former CPA with Ernst & Young, a brand manager with Nestle, and he received his MBA from Booth at The University of Chicago. In 1995, Blair made the best decision of his career by taking a 70% pay cut and trading in his brand manager position at Nestle for one at a mission-driven, vegetarian food company. Over the past 25 years Blair has been the first non-founder CEO of four organizations, each time taking over from the founder and building an executive team to manage the company. His passion is leadership which he believes requires four P’s – Persistence, Patience, Passion and Purpose. He teaches leaders to patiently persist with purpose and passion as the driving force for their success.

This episode of LEAD WITH WE was produced and edited by Goal17Media.com and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

Resources

Traditional Medicinals Website

Blair Kellison’s LinkedIn

We First Website

Thrilled to have Joey Bergstein, CEO of Seventh Generation join me on the podcast this week. We talk about the Iroquois philosophy which inspired the formation of this eco-friendly home products company over 30 years ago, and how it has grown into one of the most profitable and purpose-driven pieces of Unilever’s portfolio. Joey shares information that any brand can learn from around building a virtuous cycle between creating products with integrity, advocacy and the bottom line.

Joey Bergstein

Joey Bergstein joined Seventh Generation in 2011 and, together with the Seventh Generation team, has been transforming its business, more than doubling revenue during this time, while pursuing the company’s quest to transform the world into a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable place for all. Joey stepped into the CEO role in 2017 following the sale to Unilever. The company is seeing growth accelerate further in North America and is now expanding across 5 continents to truly impact millions of people around the world. 

A graduate of University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business, Bergstein began his career at Procter & Gamble where he held marketing leadership roles over the course of ten years across North America and in Europe. Since then, his career turned to beverages where Joey served as VP Global Business Development and then VP Marketing at Molson and finally at Diageo where as Senior Vice President of Global Rum, Joey led a global team that doubled the rum business to over $1 billion, transforming Captain Morgan into the fastest growing premium spirit brand in the world.

Joey, his wife Andrea, founder of Scribblitt.com, and their two super-daughters Tori and Rachel live in Charlotte, VT. 

This episode of LEAD WITH WE was produced and edited by goal17media.com and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

 Seventh Generation Website

Joey Bergstein’s LinkedIn

We First Website

In this episode, I have a great conversation with Steve Rendle, the Chairman, President, and CEO of VF Corporation, who shares how a global enterprise pivots to purpose with a portfolio of twelve leading activity-based brands. Steve discusses how he mobilized that portfolio and its employees around issues like COVID-19 and what the future of leadership looks like to the benefit of all stakeholders in our future. 

Steve Rendle

Steve Rendle is the Chairman, President & CEO of VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies with a family of iconic outdoor, active and workwear brands including Vans®, The North Face®, Timberland® and Dickies®. VF's purpose is to power movements of sustainable and active lifestyles for the betterment of people and our planet. They connect this purpose with a relentless drive to succeed to create value for all stakeholders and use their company as a force for good.

Steve started his career in the specialty outdoor and action sports industry more than 30 years ago, with over 20 years spent in a series of leadership roles at VF, including serving as the President of The North Face brand. Prior to his current position, Steve was VF’s President & Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all of VF's business coalitions worldwide, as well as VF's global Supply Chain and Direct-to-Consumer platforms.

This episode of LEAD WITH WE was produced and edited by Goal17Media.com and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

VF Corporation Website

Steve Rendle’s, LinkedIn

We First Website

In this episode, I have a great conversation with Maggie Hureau, Head of Social Impact at Harry’s. She talks about how Harry’s aims to get more men access to mental health care through its philanthropic efforts and partnerships with nonprofits. Its partners offer mental health resources to men across a number of demographics, including those who identify as LGBTQ, veterans, those facing homelessness and more.

This week I welcomed Jeni Britton, founder of Jeni’s Ice Cream to the podcast. If you don’t know Jeni’s – you should. We had a great discussion about their ingrained sense of community with a team of 800+ employees, her journey to becoming a true impact leader, and how critical it is to have business show up in social discussions. Jeni’s Ice Cream is a purpose-driven leader, a trailblazer in the industry and a company business can learn from. Enjoy!

Michael Jones talks about how THRIVE Farmers has designed a revolutionary new business model that for the first time in history decouples coffee from the toxic connection to volatile commodities markets, thereby aligning the interests of farmers with those who are buying and consuming their coffee. Thrive's revenue sharing model creates stable and predictable long-term pricing for farmers, providing true economic sustainability, and transforming families and communities that produce coffee.

This is a fascinating episode with Melkon Khosrovian, the Co-Founder and Spiritsmaker at Greenbar Distillery. Melkon reveals the obstacles he had to overcome to be a truly impact-focused business, how they partnered with growers to launch some of the most carbon negative products and how they adapted to the COVID-19 crisis. Greenbar Distillery is a shining example of how business can be a force for good and drive growth by solving the pressing problems of today.

A conversation with Jeremy Lott, Owner and President of Seattle based SanMar, on aligning economic strategies with a purpose-driven company.

In this episode, Bob Lord, Senior Vice-President of Cognitive Applications and Developer Ecosystems at IBM, inspires us with breakthrough innovations created by IBM, developers worldwide and its partners. He shares the strategies and tactics of true entrepreneurship that not only solve for today's greatest challenges like the climate crisis and COVID-19, but also unlocks new and expansive opportunities for business. This is the power of technology, collaboration and impact at its best!