Meet The Leader – Details, episodes & analysis

In her role as President, Arts, Culture & Heritage at CHANEL, Yana Peel thinks deeply about the value of the arts across society and what's needed to amplify a range of voices. She talks to Gayle Markovitz, the Head of Written and Audio Content at the World Economic Forum, about how technological shifts could boost the value of human creativity and why collaboration with artists has never been more essential to a host of sectors. She also takes us through her unconventional background, one that includes study at the London School of Economics and a turn on the Goldman Sachs trading floor before co-founding the Outset Contemporary Art Fund or serving as CEO for London's Serpentine Galleries. In this special conversation, she shares what she has learned from both artists and business leaders about the critical role arts and culture play in attracting capital, driving social change and fueling innovation.

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland. Yana Peel was invited as as a Cultural Leader as part of the arts & culture programme. 

About this episode:
Chanel Culture Fund: https://www.chanel.com/us/chanel-culture-fund/

Chanel Connects
https://www.chanel.com/us/chanel-connects/season-5/

Episode transcript: https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/yana-peel-chanel-art-ai-future/

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Read here:  https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/misty-copeland-ballet-leadership-skills/
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'I'll show you a real leader' - Platon, the photographer of power, on finding humanity in all of us
Read here: https://tinyurl.com/2s4372wc
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Space has become a junkyard, a mess of millions of pieces of debris that pose big risks to spacecrafts, complicating astronaut safety, research and even our own connectivity back home. Daniel Faber is the CEO of Orbit Fab, a company whose technology will allow for satellites to refuel once in orbit. He'll explain why this solution can be critical to tackling space debris while also helping to save lives, boost research and even supercharge the space economy.

About this episode: 
Orbit Fab: https://www.orbitfab.com/

Transcript:
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/daniel-faber-orbit-fab-space-economy

Related report:
Report: Space: The $1.8 Trillion Opportunity for Global Economic Growth: https://www.weforum.org/publications/space-the-1-8-trillion-opportunity-for-global-economic-growth/

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Forecasts say we'll need to double food production by 2050 - a tall order given 40% of the earth's land has been degraded over decades by mining, unsustainable farming and climate change. The head of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Ibrahim Thiaw takes us through this complex issue that impacts economies, human well-being and global security. He breaks down what's needed to restore 1.5 billion hectares of land and the policies and technologies that can make a difference. He also shares how drought devastated his family and community when just a child and how the destruction and despair he witnessed inspired him to dedicate his life to environmental issues. As he closes out his role as executive secretary this summer, he shares how leaders can sharpen their focus on the issues that matter most.

About this episode: 

https://www.unccd.int/

Transcript:
https://www.weforum.org/podcasts/meet-the-leader/episodes/ibrahim-thiaw-unccd-land-restoration-climate

Related report:
Business on the Edge: Building Industry Resilience to Climate Hazards

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With a career that spans nearly 5 decades in science and technology -- one that includes time at AstraZeneca during its history-making effort to deliver billions of vaccines to countries around the world -- Leif Johansson shares his unique lessons learned. Before he stepped down from his role as non-executive chairman 27 April, he shared with Meet The Leader how his interest in physics has made him a better leader, the key moments that shaped him and even changed his mind, and the advice he's been most grateful for.

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A blood cancer diagnosis turned this Meta exec's day-to-day upside down in 2016. But it also reinforced a key personal philosophy: control what you can control. It's an approach that she stresses to her teams at Meta, reminding her staff to stop worrying about what they can't change and to focus instead on areas where they can make the biggest, most unique impact. And it's an approach that has empowered her to make big change happen for others, inspiring her to build a special charity to seek a cure: the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation.

In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Davos, Mendelsohn shares what she's learned about focus and resilience and how she's put those qualities to work to drive a host of innovative solutions, from leveraging virtual reality for remote meetings during COVID to building resources to support a new generation of women entrepreneurs.

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Augmented reality (AR) is transforming retail, surgery and even how we read a book. Peggy Johnson, CEO of Magic Leap -- a company pioneering in this technology -- shares how AR might evolve – and what could hold that progress back. She also shares key milestones from her decades in tech -- including the surprising lesson mobile ringtones taught her about making way for big breakthroughs and how as an introvert early in her career she found ways to get her ideas heard.

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What is your purpose? What societal impact are you driving? Patrick Decker, CEO of Xylem, shares how this water technology company is helping to tackle these questions while tackling big issues impacting society and the planet (such as water scarcity, water infrastructure and emissions), leveraging everything from technology (AI and digital twins) to innovative demand deposit accounts.

On this episode, released ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference, Decker shares the virtuous circle purpose creates - how it draws motivated people to join teams, attracts partners and commercial teams, drives fresh thinking and keeps a cross-section of groups aligned on big goals. Decker shared the practical ways leaders can keep teams in touch with a shared purpose -- from aligned communication (that sidesteps confusion) to a simple question asked at the top of meetings to keep conversations focused.

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Too many groups, including women and gender diverse people, do not see themselves as policymakers or politicians. Raise Our Voice Australia works to change that by providing special training on how the political system works, as well as tactical skills in areas like community building and having conversations with people you disagree with. Founder Ashleigh Streeter-Jones shares the important role a mentor played in crafting a step-by-step process to launch the social enterprise, one that helped break the massive project into 'bite-sized' pieces, a process that can be instrumental for founders of any startup or initiative. In fact, Streeter-Jones has a circle of mentors she turns to for advice and commiseration, and she shares the key role that mentoring plays in sharing knowledge and building anything big. 

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The second woman in history to run the New York Stock Exchange shares her 'non-linear' path to the role of President and the integral role her background in programming, technology and statistics plays in running a modern stock exchange. In a conversation recorded at the 2023 Annual Meeting in Davos, she talks about her first year on the job, the simple habit that helped her navigate 2022's rollercoaster year for stocks, the books inspiring her now, and what's needed to get more women into finance and tech.

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COVID-19 set women at work back 'a generation.' Learn why — and what can be done to bridge gender gaps, burnout and tackle labor scarcity from ManpowerGroup's Becky Frankiewicz.

In this episode, recorded at the Annual Meeting in Davos, Frankiewicz delves into the value of thinking 'skills-first,' how leaders can ensure flexible work works for everyone, what it means to be 'visible' in the workplace and the soft skill some tech fields need most. 

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