Essenta Insights – Détails, épisodes et analyse

During mental health awareness week, I had the great pleasure to sit down with Adam Carey, the Founder of CorPerformance and Chief Health Officer of Ineos, to discuss the importance of well-being, my own journey with mental health, and how we at Essenta are helping both ourselves and our clients to better understand the impact of leading with compassion and the importance of treating people with respect. In the discussion we cover a wide range of preventative and responsive approaches to ensure good mental health which recognises the role of body-up alongside more traditional 'mind-down' approaches

I am particularly proud of what we have created at Essenta and success for us is approaching everything we do with dedication, focus, accountability, humility, and joy – constantly striving to go the extra mile to enhance people’s lives. 

In an industry that can suffer from its people being commoditised within cultures governed by fear, I was determined to lead a business that affords psychological safety to all its people and that actively encourages and supports balance. 

Every day I feel lucky to be part of Essenta and every day I am grateful that together we have created an environment of authenticity and empathy in which we can share vulnerability.

Essenta is the most diverse business I have worked in, and it is my priority as a leader to ensure that we provide an environment that promotes inclusivity and enables all to find purpose and meaning in their work.

Join us today by listening to our latest podcast led by Chika Okeke, our Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

In this episode, Chika speaks with Aston Martin’s DE&I lead Laura Ayoade about the interconnectedness of DE&I and mental well-being; a topic that’s often overlooked within the broader DE&I conversation. Chika and Laura discuss trauma within the DE&I subject matter, emotional tax, and how to support employees in an authentic way whilst engaging in storytelling activities which are so common within DE&I. The episode is rounded up by Laura sharing some top tips on how organisations can support well-being through DE&I. 

About Laura

In 2021, Laura joined the well-known luxury British automotive brand Aston Martin as their first equity, diversity, and inclusion lead.  With International experience and a global lens, Laura has worked in the Diversity and Inclusion arena for the past three years professionally, with a decade-long academic background in racial justice-related topics. She has consulted some of the UK’s largest organisations, helping them to embed best practices and thought leadership in diversity and inclusion. 

Enjoy the episode!

About our Essenta BOLD Podcast.

BOLD stands for the ‘Brilliance of Leading with Difference”. Through this podcast, we explore the most pressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) opportunities, and take a fresh look at how to maximize DE&I with a more progressive approach. 

Through sharing lived experiences, delving into research and best practice, and revealing practical tips, our guests will inspire you to unlock the power of diverse teams.

We believe everyone has a role to play in an organisation’s DE&I narrative. Our BOLD podcast is for executives who understand the importance of culture, fostering inclusion, and creating belonging at work.

If you are inspired by anything you hear, please contact our Head of DE&I for further information. 

Join us today to listen to Alessandro Vergano, Founder and CEO of Kampos, a highly innovative and incredibly inspiring sustainable business with a strong purpose. After a corporate career, Alessandro decided to launch his visionary business with the purpose to reduce plastic and fishnet waste in the ocean. 

We will hear his views on Luxury Fashion and sustainability specifically. Can this industry be truly sustainable? 

His episode touches on the importance of purpose, people, cognitive diversity, technology, agility and listening to consumer feedback and insights. As he rightly states – companies need to really take the sustainability revolution seriously and they have to shift mindsets in order to become the best company for  the world. 

Tune in and enjoy!

Leading Innovation with Jeroen van Weesep, VP Innovation Operations at LEGO.

One of the most impacted disciplines over the past 12 months has been the supply chain function where the need for innovation is more prominent than ever - from sustainability transformation to eCommerce last mile challenges, forecasting inconsistencies and supply chain disruptions;  it has perhaps never been more important to embrace an agile and fail fast culture.

 But how does a large organisation go about transformation and leading innovation?

 Join us today to listen to Jeroen van Weesep, VP Innovation in Operations at LEGO where he has successfully led multiple innovation projects. He has over 20 years of experience at both manufacturing and more commercial supply chain positions at Unilever, Philips and LEGO.

He will share his thoughts on leading innovation, the challenges and the role of purpose.

The role of clear direction and purpose, creating a learning culture and managing expectations will all be discussed in this reflective and insightful session.

Tune in and enjoy!

Few companies have succeeded in transforming their business model to a highly sustainable one, where caring for people and planet are at the core of the company’s’ purpose. Sustainability is a complex and ever-changing topic, hence companies need to constantly evolve and lift the bar.

The pandemic has accelerated the sustainability trend and companies ought to truly embrace their responsibility to save the planet. This affects a business 360 and while no transformation is easy, it is the right thing to do to ensure future business revenues, innovation and winning the war on talent.

In this episode, Pia Heidenmark Cook will share her reflections and key learnings regarding sustainability transformations based on her 20+ year career. She is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Ingka, the largest IKEA retail franchise with operations in 30 countries and a €40bn  turnover.

Taking an outside-in approach to stay ahead of the changing customer, legislative and scientific demands as well as ensuring partnerships with competitors to come together to solve problems, are some of her key learnings. Sustainability is not a side activity and needs to be integrated into strategic documents, business planning and financial processes.

 Join us today and enjoy Pia’s reflections on the topic based on her impressive career.  

Welcome to our second series of Essenta Insights. This season will be focused on Purpose.

Purpose, a concept hard to ignore in 2021, both on a personal and corporate level. It touches many topics including Sustainability, D&I, Branding, Wellbeing and Mental Health strategies.

Series two will address business-critical issues, provide food for thought, offer new perspectives and share inspiring stories, all under the theme of Purpose. Tune in, enjoy and feel free to share your feedback with us. Essenta Insights is brought to you by Essenta Partners Executive Search.

Episode 1 – Wellbeing 2.0

Happier people are physically and mentally more resilient; leading to less sick leave, burn-outs and higher rates of staff retention. Companies are increasingly conscious of the fact that employee happiness is linked to motivation, creativity, innovation and overall productivity affecting the bottom line.  

In the current uncertain times it is helpful to re-frame the future as one full of possibility. The smartest companies will seize the chance to show prospective employees that they understand that their success depends on how effectively they can look after the happiness of their staff which in turn will enhance talent acquisition and retention rates.

In this episode, Polly Collingridge from Your Employee Wellbeing will share food for thought regarding the importance of wellbeing at work and the paradigm shift caused by the pandemic.

What were the kind of typical employee wellbeing offerings until now? How multi-faced is wellbeing and why do companies thrive when they design a comprehensive wellbeing strategy? What is the future of wellbeing and what does wellbeing 2.0 look like?

Join us today and enjoy this insightful and forward looking episode by Polly Collingridge!

As we are approaching the end of the year we have just released our final episode by Roger Philby from The Chemistry Group. If you haven’t listened to it yet, we highly encourage you to do so as it is an exceptional piece and true food for thought. 

And so, after 21 episodes we are wrapping up this first Essenta Insights series and to conclude Jo and Nanda are sharing their reflections in a short Q&A.

Thank you for joining us during these past months and we hope you have enjoyed the diverse topics covered by exceptional collaborators. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2021.

Talent has been a key theme throughout this pandemic as the uncertain world is reshaping talent requirements rapidly.  

As we have identified before, it is in an organisation’s interest to enhance cognitive diversity. This means we are after a different type of profile which leads to the natural question of how do we select and assess the right talent?

Join us today for an inspiring episode by one of our affiliate partners at Essenta – Roger Philby, CEO at The Chemistry Group.

Chemistry uses a combination of science, data and human insight to build a picture of the intrinsic traits or behaviours an organisation needs to drive high performing leadership within a company’s unique organisational context.

If education and experience are not the predictors for success, what predicts job performance? How can organisations achieve their commercial objectives by accessing external and internal talent that is currently invisible to them?

Chemistry’s progressive methodology will enhance companies to understand what great looks like for their organisation in order to identify positive cognitive diversity and to move from talent scarcity to talent abundance. 

Tune in and enjoy!

The fashion industry has been on the forefront of the impact of the pandemic and several of the trends we have spoken about during the past weeks, in particular sustainability.

Hence, this week we will deep dive into this specific industry and linking the previously discussed sustainability transformation to fashion.

Listen to Corinna Fischer, a senior executive within the product development and production space with over 20+ years of corporate experience at companies such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, LVMH and Prada.

She will share her thoughts and subject matter expertise on the transformation in fashion to become a more purposeful and sustainable industry. In particular she will share three tactical and practical steps for companies and consumers to navigate through together.

Tune in and enjoy!

As discussed last week, flex working is one of the accelerated trends due to the pandemic. How to prepare organisations for The Future of Work?

The real value of time, the importance of quality spaces, the existence of different careers, the changing needs of people and the cruciality of a results oriented culture are all aspects top talent are looking for.

 What does agile working really mean and how does it affect employees overall health? What if we think of careers in a circular way as opposed to linear way?

How can employers benefit from offering better time and space concepts to their employees and what can organisations do to embark on this flexible working journey?

Join us to listen to Chiara Bisconti, previous HR Executive at Nestle and Deputy City Council of Milan – she will share her progressive views in this episode as she will give her personal reflections regarding the flexible time & space movement which is one of the most discussed topics at the moment globally.

Tune in and enjoy!