Leading From Purpose Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Harry Brouwer is the former CEO of Unilever Food Solutions, where he led a global team through transformative moments, including the turbulence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Harry reflects on his journey of bringing purpose to leadership, both inside and outside the corporate world. He shares his transition from managing corporate "kingdoms" to embracing personal freedom in his next chapter, exploring impactful projects like investing in social initiatives and creating a lasting family legacy.

In this episode, we discuss:

●       Defining personal purpose and its evolution over time

●       The transition from corporate leadership to a purpose-driven “freedom” chapter

●       Leading Unilever Food Solutions through COVID-19

●       Investing in social ventures, including a restaurant for young people with different abilities

●       A legacy project for seven generations and embracing long-term impact

●       The differences in purpose between multinationals and family-owned businesses. 

Anthoula Kostantinidi is Head of Commercial Productivity at dormakaba, a global leader in security technology. Tune in as Anthoula unpacks her journey toward discovering her personal purpose and how it empowers her to lead boldly in a male-dominated industry. Anthoula recounts the transformative experience of developing her purpose statement, “to make the boys wonder what just happened”, and how it connects to her childhood experiences and unique strengths. This conversation explores the impact of authenticity, informal power, and owning your individual energy as keys to successful leadership and transformation.

In this episode, we discuss:

●       Embracing your authentic self, especially as a minority

●       How childhood shapes leadership

●       Using informal power in global teams

●       Clarity of purpose in tough moments

●       Be bold, be memorable, stay you

Today we are joined by two extraordinary purpose-driven leaders, Sibon Schouten and Xander Meijer. Based in Amsterdam, Sibon is the founder of Markd Global, a company dedicated to helping global leaders and their businesses grow and scale to make a societal impact. Xander, a former corporate executive found his true calling by reconnecting people to nature through good food. This led him to co-found The Farm Kitchen and work intimately with local regenerative farmers to create enriching soil-to-plate food experiences. Both of our guests share their unique journeys and profound wisdom on the interconnectedness of purpose, nature, and business. 

In this episode, we discuss:

●       What it means to be a "global village human”

●       Embracing the South African concept of Ubuntu

●       Team building through cooking workshops and eating together

●       How time in nature can influence your sense of purpose

●       Personal energy and food connection

In this episode we are joined by Claire Thwaites and Ed Lewin from the LEGO Group. We explore how their Government & Public Affairs team navigated the challenges of maintaining purpose and identity within a global team, culminating in the creation of the groundbreaking International Day of Play. Join us as we unravel the inspiring story of collaboration, resilience, and the power of purpose in achieving remarkable outcomes.

In this episode, we discuss:

●       The concept of an International Day of Play within the LEGO Group framework

●       The collaboration of various organizations, including commercial entities, NGOs, and governments

●       The impact of play under stress during the pandemic

●       Overcoming the challenge of maintaining a global team's identity in various local environments

●       The success of achieving a UN International Day of Play

Carlos Rey is an expert who has spent 15 years pioneering the integration of purpose into the corporate world. Carlos introduces us to his acclaimed three-question approach, providing insights into how organizations can align their culture and values with their employee's sense of purpose. Refining the art of measuring purpose, Carlos and his team have identified the need for a multifaceted approach.  Carlos has also authored multiple published articles for HDBR (Harvard Deusto Business Review).  

 In this episode, we discuss:

●     The three key questions on purpose

●     The multi-faceted approach to effectively measure purpose

●     The goal of measurement for improvement – not merely for display

●     Continuous improvement in purpose initiatives

 Links mentioned:

www.measuretoimprove.org

Nick Craig sits down with Paul Cobban, who served as the Chief Transformation Officer at DBS Bank in Singapore for over a decade. Paul shares a vivid account of his first day at DBS and the challenges they faced, such as long wait times, low customer satisfaction scores, and underperforming financial metrics. They discuss the evolution of a purpose-driven approach that propelled DBS to become the best digital bank and earned it prestigious accolades. 

In this episode, we discuss:

●       Purpose-driven transformation vs. traditional transformations

●       Enhancing the internal employee experiences

●       The implementation of the rituals "meeting mojo" and “racoon”

●       How to change culture through design

●       What are the characteristics of purpose-driven transformation?

Jonathan Donner, the former Chief Learning Officer at Unilever, shares insights and experiences from his transformative work with Nick in instilling purpose and authenticity within the senior leadership at Unilever. Across his career, Jonathan has successfully led large global teams and has been cited as one of the top professionals in his field; recognized for innovations and accomplishments in leading publications around the world.

In this episode, we discuss:

●       What connected and purpose-driven talent management looks like

●       Designing a comprehensive talent development program

●       Authentic conversations and psychological safety in talent development

●       The future of work and the evolving nature of leadership

●       The balance between humanity and the rise of technology and AI

On this episode of Leading from Purpose Podcast, Nick is joined by best-selling author of Deep Purpose, Ranjay Gulati. A Harvard Business School professor whose pursuit was to strategize how to unlock growth for companies in good times and in bad until he discovered that the ultimate unlock of performance in a business on all dimensions is purpose. Ranjay has studied the likes of Facebook, Best Buy, Etsy, Buhler, The LEGO Group and more to understand the business value of having a purpose to create a moral community versus a purpose statement for profit.   

Listen in for how Ranjay defines purpose in a way that resonates with individuals and organizations and unveils the true challenge most people have with purpose – focusing on the self AND the consequences for the world. 

Leaders have choices to make every day  – how much do I give shareholders? How much do I give customers in terms of pricing? How much do I give employees? The community? The planet? It’s one thing to create value. It another thing to capture it and then have to decide how to divvy it up. Having a Deep Purpose, gives you a guiding light or framework in which you can think about the inevitable tradeoffs that will ultimately determine the trajectory of your organization.

Find out the 4 business benefits of purpose and how to make it count. 

<em>Snuggle in, turn up the volume and get ready for an energizing yet realistic view from the head of Talent and Development at one of the pioneers in the organizational purpose space – The LEGO Group.  On this episode, Zahed Kamathia, joins Nick to chat about individual purpose, a company purpose and how a business uses purpose as a lever to create a company culture employees feel connected to and energized by.  How do you attract the best talent and keep them?

Creating a company purpose isn’t the hard part, the challenge is in creating a connection between the company purpose and its employees – that is where effort and investment is required.

The LEGO Group offers a purpose course to every single employee across the world. The entire workforce has an opportunity to invest in themselves and put their own purpose into words. The experience is different for every single person, but the impact it has on the business is in the stories they share and the perspective they bring back to work. While each individual is unique, there is one common outcome – everyone discovers their purpose and it defines how they show up in the organization and connect to The LEGO Group's purpose “to inspire the builders of tomorrow.”

Purpose isn’t just a Talent and Development tool, it impacts business results. To quote Zahed, working for The LEGO Group isn’t quite like “walking into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory! It is a creative and fantastic place to work, but it's also a business that is driven by innovation, growth demands and high ambitions.” In 2021 alone, the company saw historic growth in both sales and profit - their net profit grew 140%.

For The LEGO Group, its purpose isn’t just a set of words, it has meaning and is integrated into every aspect of the business, but more importantly, it’s why the top talent wants to work there. Hear more from Zahed on his personal purpose statement and how he discovered the value of “Purpose” with a capital “P.” 

“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy.  It’s very simple” -Paul Coelho

 In 2021, the LEGO Group delivered record-breaking business results with revenue jumping +27% to 55.3 billion DKK and operating profit going up +32% to 17.0 billion DKK. Fueled by their mission to “Inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow” the LEGO Group has mastered taking the long view on getting every child in the world to experience LEGO play.  But how do LEGO leaders engage employees’ day to day with such a loft, long-term vision?

In this edition of the “Leading from Purpose” podcast, Nick Craig introduces listeners to Victor Saeijs, Regional President for Western Europe at the LEGO Group.  His purpose?  To “Be the Duracell Bunny that makes my team sell boats in the Sahara.”  In this lively repartee, Victor describes how he uses  challenging goals and new ways of working to make the impossible possible, challenging his team to reach new levels of performance while simultaneously pushing himself to new heights.  

Hear how Victor’s tapped into this approach to capitalize on opportunities throughout his career and gain an appreciation for the LEGO Group’s newest challenge—helping children learn 21st century skills by making a significant contribution to learning and education.