Learn With Leena

When Nina Mongomery was 25 the company she worked for shut down. She lost her job. Unemployed and studying for her PhD, Nina realised she had  an opportunity. She reached out to countless leaders via LinkedIn, and  many of them responded, which led to two books: Perspectives on Purpose  and Perspectives on Impact.  I was so lucky to have time with Nina via Skype.   

For subtitled version, head to Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNz3lOyZsL8

As part of my #YearofLearning challenge I met with Hattie and Edward who talked to me about micro-behaviours and the moments when we all have the opportunity to make an important decision

Unilever CHRO Leena Nair talks to the Employer Brand Team from Bangladesh who are using their Biz Maestros competition to build a  talent pipeline find Unilever's Future Leaders League competitors.  

Tasmia Nova (Unilever Brand Lead, Unilever Bangladesh) and Shahrin Ali  (Employer Brand Executive, Unilever Bangladesh) talked about Biz Maestros, a business competition that is helping Unilever build its Employer Brand and talent pipeline, whilst also benefiting young entrepreneurs and leaders.   

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In this week's Learn With Leena we're talking plastic. I sat down with Niall Dunne, Chief Executive Officer of Polymateria, who is developing a new standard in biodegradable and compostable plastics to help nature deal with plastic pollution. It wasn't all plastic polymers – Niall also had some brilliant business advice on how to build a truly purposeful organisation.

For more notes on our conversation: go here

Mentioned by Niall:

Lisa MacCallum is a former Nike vice president, co-author of Inspired INC. and Founder of Inspired Companies.

Jeremy Heimens and Henry Timms, authors of New Power. I spoke to Jeremy a while back

Geoff McDonald talks to Leena about how companies could and should be doing more to protect the mental wellbeing of their people.

Geoff McDonald was once Global VP of Human Resources with us here at Unilever. But after being diagnosed with anxiety-fuelled depression, he discovered a new purpose: ending the stigma of depression and anxiety in the workplace. He now works as a global advocate, campaigner and consultant.

Things have changed since Geoff was at Unilever. Every year we take more and more positive actions towards building a workplace that supports and nurtures mental health. I've talked before about the things we are doing at Unilever to put Mental Health at the forefront ("Why we take mental health seriously at Unilever"), including our Wellbeing app and the Unilever Employee Assistance programme which ensures all our employees are “1 Chat, 1 Call or 1 Click” from the support they need.

But there is always more to be done, which is why I was so thrilled to spend time with Geoff for a Learn With Leena session. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Learn to identify when you think you might be heading for anxiety or depression and start to manage it early. Build certain things into your day:

Recovery. Every two hours have a break between meetings to recover. Let yourself sit quietly and recouperate.

Connection. Learn to reconnect fully with people. Make time to reconnect with nature. Don’t let your phone manage you.

Mindfulness. Feel the soles of your feet on the floor. Feel the water in the shower. Take little moments and make them mindful.

Purpose. Find your purpose and follow it!

Geoff also follows a Can-do approach to mental health:

Connect. Take time for those you love.

Action. When you feel anxiety or depression creeping up, start doing the thing

Nice - just be nice to people!

Discover. Be curious

Observe Take time to simply observe.

Further reading:

I sat down with our Unilever UK and Ireland Employer Brand team to discuss their purpose, their experience of what young people are looking for in a career and how we can attract the next generation of talent to our business.

How do we build a truly human organisation? 

I sat down with Jason Stockwood, author of Reboot, whose book offers "a blueprint for happy, human business in the digital age" to talk about how we can seize this opportunity to build a better business and a better world – with a more human, people-led approach.