The skills you need to be a sustainable leader

A future leader sitting on a bench outside holding his phone with his briefcase on the side.

What traits do you need to be a ‘sustainable leader’? Alison Watson, Head of the School of Leadership and Management at Arden University, looks at qualities to embrace and develop, and outlines why businesses will need them

Our next generation of leaders are going to be under intense pressure to incorporate sustainable practices into everything they do. They will need to ensure that businesses around the globe are contributing to the social, environmental and economic issues impacting our planet. This article considers the skills that business graduates will need to develop to ensure they can become the sustainable leaders of the future.

Changing consumer demands require adaptation

Brands across a wide variety of sectors and fields are placing a huge focus on sustainability right now – and with good reason. With the effects of climate change becoming ever more prominent and a rising public awareness around the pitfalls of some of the elements of western life we take for granted, such as fast fashion and unnecessary food waste, many consumers are looking to buy goods and services from businesses that operate in ethical and sustainable ways.

In 2021, sustainability has become an issue that is impossible to ignore and businesses, in turn, have become compelled to act. The leaders of today must adapt quickly to meet this consumer demand – their businesses risk being left behind if they are unable to do so. 

Meanwhile, the development of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals has driven many businesses to think about how they can incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) goals within their organisations to become cleaner, greener and more ethically minded.

But what about the leaders of tomorrow? How will these changes impact them?

Leadership the world needs

The leaders of tomorrow will be expected to be holistic in their approach and make decisions based on sound moral and ethical principles. They’ll need to empower their teams and be visionaries about the ways in which we can revolutionise business to maximise sustainable and ethical practices. 

Put simply, they must become people who will drive change and help create a better world by addressing the core social, environmental and economic issues affecting our planet.

But what core traits will business graduates of today, and therefore the leaders of tomorrow, need to develop to be successful sustainable leaders?

Long-term-thinking visionaries

In business, it’s all too easy to get caught up in the now – and that’s understandable when you consider the multiple pressures our business leaders are under as part of their everyday roles. CEOs are typically working in fast-paced environments and often don’t have the short-term stability to make sound, long-term decisions on projects which won’t bring about an assured uplift in profits.

The sustainable leaders of tomorrow, however, will need to be able to align those short-term business objectives with longer-term, strategic plans that consider objectives related to economic health, the environment, people and society. 

At their core, sustainable leaders should have a comprehensive worldview which contemplates and understands humanity’s place as part of a global ecosystem. They will need to consider how we can minimise our impact on the world around us and ensure we are responsible stewards of the planet we call home.

Once they’ve identified their longer-term objectives, these individuals will need to be able to lead and influence others. Leaders will need to take others along on their journey in generating a commitment necessary to ensure everyone works towards a common set of objectives and goals.

As individuals with a strong moral compass, sustainable leaders must also focus on making decisions that are rooted in moral and ethical principles. They should also be able to back these decisions to the hilt – being responsible and accountable for the decisions they make and the outcomes that follow them.

Seekers of collaboration

The best sustainable leaders are expert collaborators who seek involvement in networks that can broaden their understanding of the business landscape and the way it impacts our world.

By engaging with other leaders from a range of specialisms and sectors, leaders can broaden their horizons and continually inform their developing worldview. It can help to adjust their perspectives and enable them to build strong, long-lasting relationships with key stakeholders. These networks will also reinforce an understanding of people across various cultures and backgrounds, allowing leaders to become keen advocates of diversity.

At the heart of this, sustainable leaders must have a deep understanding of people. They need to know how to empower and get the best from their teams while having a deep emotional and social intelligence which enables them to gauge the impact of their decisions on the people around them.

Effective educators

By its very nature, being a sustainable leader means embarking on a period of change within an organisation. The best leaders take others along on this journey with them, not only by influencing and inspiring, but also by educating their teams so that they understand the reasons behind the decisions being made.

When it comes to managing their people, sustainable leaders must focus on coaching and mentoring, rather than dishing out commands and giving direct instruction. They should empower their teams to learn for themselves and hone their abilities so that they are able to address core challenges themselves – exploring, learning, and devising actions which can help them to address the common challenges they face.

All of this will help ensure that they develop their business’ culture in line with the objectives they have set out, embedding sustainability within the corporate culture and giving their organisation the best possible chance of supporting the world’s sustainability agenda.

Alison Watson is Head of School of Leadership and Management at Arden University. Alison has a wealth of experience in business and management having worked for a number of large retailers as an operations and project manager. Her recent research interests focus on inclusion and encouraging wider access to higher education.

The dark side of confidence

A line of eggs, and one egg is daydreaming to be king. This is symbolic to dreaming big, overconfidence and arrogance.

Reining in pride is a crucial part of business education, says Rita Trehan, co-author of Too Proud to Lead

Business Schools are magnets for talented, ambitious people who are used to achieving what they set out to do. Usually, these driven students go on to become emerging leaders in organisations and their hard work is rewarded with success. 

But too much success also presents possible pitfalls. After a string of accomplishments, young leaders may conclude that their successes prove that their decisions are always correct, and that their ideas are always the best. That attitude risks leading them to dismiss the ideas and perspectives of colleagues. The word for this is ‘hubris’, and it is equally dangerous for the person displaying the hubris as it is for those working with them.

The importance of well-functioning teams whose leaders prioritise co-operation, humility and open-mindedness are clearly demonstrated in my work as the head of a consultancy that helps CEOs and their organisations examine their culture. So, too, are the dangers of what happens when overconfidence is left to grow unchecked. Leaders’ overestimation of themselves and underestimation of others result in poorer outcomes and missed opportunities for both the business and the person who succumbed to hubris.

How hubris works and how to fight it

Too often in both corporate leadership and business education, we equate the drive to succeed with the pressure to succeed at all costs. The pressure on executives and students to achieve results can lead them to abandon any attempts to consult and co-operate. The pressure to meet and outperform, be it for a class or an earnings report, leads to short-termism and a relentless pursuit of success at the expense of broader considerations. 

This results in leaders being wrongly admired for their overconfidence, drive and single-mindedness. It rewards autocratic decision-making by CEOs and boards, and the forgoing of consultation and collaboration. In the short term, the results from this approach might look good and indicate that things are working. In the longer term, it is bound to lead to problems. Poor collaboration leads to siloing throughout the organisation, which can lead to the creation of fiefdoms in which data is not shared but wielded for power against ‘competitors’ within the company. It is not a recipe for long-term thriving.

Companies concerned with legacy, long-term survival and staying relevant are broadening their purpose. Profit and shareholder value are no longer sufficiently broad aims — businesses need to develop a purpose- and values-driven vision for the future. 

By doing so, they are democratising their purpose and creating ownership of it throughout the organisation. By adopting a shared vision, instead of a CEO-driven vision, companies will diffuse most of the risks of a skewed, hubristic approach taking root. 

The trend towards ‘purpose’ as the key driver of a business’s vision for the future is a healthy one and involves all relevant stakeholders naturally – the board, employees and suppliers, as well as the customers and communities. 

This broadening of responsibility creates a need for greater transparency and a wider set of obligations, which forces CEOs to adopt a more inclusive approach. In this way, ethical, equitable, environmental and societal values become a part of their decision-making.

Business Schools can take the lead

Hubris, like so many other issues, is easier to prevent than it is to reverse. That makes Business Schools the perfect place to curb overconfidence in the next generations of leaders. Fortunately for educators, teaching this is not an additional curricular goal to add to the heap — it can be integrated into the existing syllabus.

Not unlike other competencies in business education, teaching against hubris needs to include the development of critical-thinking skills and emphasise the values of collaboration, long-term thinking and the practice of welcoming alternative and opposing viewpoints. 

Stopping hubris requires: 

1. Being able to spot the warning signs — lack of collaboration, lack of humility and a lack of understanding (or willingness to understand) regarding the effects of their decisions.

2. Understanding why people fall victim to hubris, and which kinds of environments encourage it and how to avoid them.

3. Examining high-profile examples that illustrate the business consequences of hubris, both at the level of companies — such as WeWork, General Motors, Uber and Deutsche Bank — and at the individual level – among the executives whose overconfidence in their infallibility led to predictable failures that tarnish their otherwise brilliant careers. The lessons of history must be accompanied by education in anti-hubris values and skills to check overconfidence.

Cautionary tales

I doubt many readers would need more than a moment to think of several examples of hubris in business. There are cautionary tales among both individuals and entire companies: They’re blockbuster movies and 600-page biographies, or, in the case of Boeing, the subject of tragic TV news for weeks. 

Educators can use these examples as case studies. In the 2021 book, Too Proud To Lead, my co-authors and I look at four cautionary tales. The We Company, once again rebranded as WeWork, shows us, ironically, how its name was belied by a failure to embrace true openness and collaboration, while its investors’ unquestioning faith in Co-Founder, Adam Neumann, constitutes its own form of a complementary, enabling hubris.

While Neumann was overconfident in his own abilities, and instilled that in his acolytes and investors, the subject of our second case study, General Motors (GM), is overconfidence in the permanence of the status quo. GM’s failure to compete with Japanese automakers in the 1980s and 1990s cost it market share and reputation. After its recovery in the late 2000s, aided by the US taxpayer, GM seems once more to be underestimating a new wave of competition — this time from Tesla and the industry-wide move to electric vehicles.

Travis Kalanick’s Uber, meanwhile, shows how building an arrogant corporate culture infects and undermines the reputation and potential for long-term success of a business founded on a great idea. Kalanick, Uber’s Co-Founder and first CEO, oversaw incredible growth at Uber but there have been multiple accusations of sexual harassment and unethical competitive practices at Uber during his reign. An air of invincibility, from the top down, continues to haunt the company. 

These examples offer an indication of how some leaders – to their own detriment – close themselves off, assume the future will look the same as the present, and believe in their own invincibility. All these failures have their basis in some form of unchecked power, but none to the degree of our fourth case study, Deutsche Bank (Deutsche). 

Deutsche’s expansion in the 1990s led it to becoming the biggest bank in the world, with assets of more than $2 trillion USD. Instead of seeing themselves as stewards of capital, Deutsche’s leaders interpreted this growing pool of wealth as proof that they could launder money and manipulate markets. Its scandals have cost it revenue and reputation; it has since been eclipsed by other lenders in the EU, not to mention US and Chinese banks.

Focusing on a positive vision of leadership 

Hubris is not just a label for the defeated, to be appended to the loser as a badge of chastening. It is also important to discuss the hubris of iconic leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. What is there to be regretted in the careers of the most successfully acquisitive business figures of our time? Doesn’t their influence and wealth prove that their confidence was earned and that any arrogance, however unfortunate, didn’t get in the way of their success? Why shouldn’t students emulate their risk-taking and tenacity? 

In some cases, the backlash against their hubris is in progress: Domination at all costs appears to have put Facebook, Amazon and other tech masters, such as Google, en route to being broken up or otherwise subdued by governments around the world. In other cases, the damage is measured in what could have been: If Amazon was less focused on bending its commercial partners, employees and yes, even its customers to its will, who knows what else the business could achieve? Better pay for workers and better terms for suppliers would cost Amazon money, margin and profit to fix, but probably not enough to wound it or slow it down appreciably. It would also thin the ranks of Amazon boycotters and the desire of its critics to rein it in. 

Hubris, of course, thrives beyond the c-suites of the world’s largest corporations. Being ‘too proud to lead’ can cause the downfall of leaders in organisations of all sizes, as well as the downfall of lower-level managers and business students who have bought into their own early hype. Leaders of organisations you once worked for may come to mind. We do not need to dwell on these examples. Instead, we can focus on a positive vision of what kinds of leadership business education can hold up. Leaders who think through their purpose and align this to a wider purpose for their organisation are broadening their aims and aspirations to be more inclusive, more in touch with the wider world and more in tune with changing trends and sensibilities. These leaders regard this not as a demeaning activity, but an empowering one. With the emphasis on empathy, nurturing relationships, and collaboration, leaders are driven by group focus rather than self-focus, which leaves little opportunity for the self-centred nature of hubris to set in.

Holistically successful leaders do something that I call ‘walking the hubris tightrope’ – they attempt to balance ambition and drive with purpose and service. This art form is more of a process than a destination — avoiding hubris is not a box to be checked off but a value to be imparted. Whether educators choose to teach this will profoundly shape the next generation of business leaders.

Rita Trehan is a business transformation expert and the Founder of consultancy, Dare Worldwide. 
She is also the co-author of
Too Proud to Lead: How Hubris Can Destroy Effective Leadership and What to Do About It (Bloomsbury Business, 2021). 

This article is taken from Business Impact’s print magazine (edition: May-July 2021).

Why brands shouldn’t focus on meaning

Oat drink branding wars.

Why brands shouldn’t focus on meaning

Oat drink branding wars.
Oat drink branding wars.

Purpose-driven companies might be putting themselves at risk if they opt for meaning in their branding, says intellectual property expert and author of Brand Tuned, Shireen Smith

‘Distinctive branding lasts, differentiation does not,’ writes Byron Sharp, Professor of Marketing Science and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, in his 2015 book, How Brands Grow.

Sharp suggests that rather than striving for meaningful, perceived differentiation, marketers should seek meaningless distinctiveness. This has a significant impact on brand creation approaches.

Brand names

When it comes to choosing a brand name, opt for a name like ‘McDonald’s’ rather than ‘Burger King’. People are drawn to descriptive names that suggest the category and such names require a smaller marketing budget to promote. However, the recent decision in the case of Oatly vs. Glebe Farm Foods demonstrates the serious drawbacks of suggestive names.

The name ‘Oatly’ comes very close to being purely descriptive, which is why London’s High Court decided that the name of Glebe Farm Foods’ oat-based drink – ‘PureOaty’ – did not take advantage of Oatly’s reputation.  

To better understand the significance of this decision and the broad protection trademarks give, compare it to a fictitious hypothetical case of a competing mayonnaise product called ‘PureHellman’s’. Without doubt this would infringe on Hellmann’s trademark rights. Hellmann’s is more distinctive because it does not convey any meaning about mayonnaise. As a result, it enjoys broader protection than a name like Oatly which uses the generic term ‘oat’ in its name.

As the words ‘oat’ and ‘oaty’ are both generic, it was purely the presence of the letter ‘L’ in the name that lifted Oatly from being purely generic, and incapable of being registered as a trademark, to being sufficiently distinctive to function as a trademark. But not all trademarks are equally worthwhile. The name itself determines the strength of the trademark rights a brand enjoys.

Brand protection

Names that suggest the category are weak for brand protection. The time to be aware of the drawbacks of such names is when you’re choosing a new name. This involves weighing up the advantage that descriptive and suggestive names have in helping form a mental association in customers’ minds with what the company sells against the significant drawbacks.

Effectively, opting for a meaningful name means that competitors are free to use the generic element of your name. You stand out less because it is a fundamental tenet of trademark law that nobody can get exclusive rights to use generic terms that others in the category legitimately need to use.

That’s why Oatly was unable to stop Glebe Farm calling its oat milk PureOaty even though Oatly is a famous mark and enjoys greater protection than lesser brands. Had it chosen a name like Hellmann’s then it would have been able to stop a competitor simply adding ‘Pure’ to a similar name. It would have got a strong trademark which is a ‘must have’ for a brand like Oatly that is purpose driven.

Purpose-driven brands

Oatly was somewhat apologetic when seeking to enforce its rights in its name during the Oatly vs. Glebe Farm dispute. Being called a bully did not sit well with a brand whose purpose is to promote health and environmental consciousness. Yet it is essential to enforce your trademark rights vigorously to protect your territory. For example, EasyJet comes down heavily on uses of the word ‘Easy

While Oatly followed legal advice and did take action, it found itself in a legal dispute with a competitor that has a similar ethos. The legal action alienated consumers who questioned what the similarity was between the two products. A petition called for Oatly to cease action against Glebe Farm, accusing it of ‘rather aggressively, and wholly unnecessarily’ targeting the UK farm. Perhaps that explains why Oatly decided not to appeal the High Court’s decision.

If Oatly had chosen a non-descriptive name, it is unlikely consumers would question why it was taking action to defend its turf. For a purpose-driven brand, choosing a highly distinctive name makes more sense because it reduces the risk that competitors would use similar branding that you would then need to dispute.

The Oatly example suggests that before finalising the choice of name it is worth considering some of the drawbacks of using a suggestive name.

Visual identity

A downside to searching for a meaningful basis around which to design a brand’s visual identity is that you miss an obvious opportunity to stand out distinctively, such as by using characters and other symbols.

I briefed my designer to incorporate a strong visual in the Azrights brand, but the final brand identity used no symbol because her approach was to focus on differentiation instead of distinctiveness. Having understood that we specialise in online business, she opted to replace our strapline, ‘Easy Legal Not Legalese’ with the strapline ‘Lawyers for the Digital World’ and produced a logo with stripes that were reminiscent of IBM’s logo. 

By using differentiation as the basis of the visual identity, the designer failed to use the opportunity to create a strong symbol to give us a distinctive look despite there being only one law firm (a much larger one) that was using a symbol in its branding. It used an orange tiger (now gone) and its brand stood out among all the other commercial law firms that were using plain logos.   

Your differentiation or positioning does not need to form the focus of your visual identity. For us, making the law easy to understand was, and is, core to the Azrights brand. So, the visual identity designs didn’t need to focus on our specialisation in digital matters.

The way to avoid sameness in branding is to stop choosing brand names and other identifiers based on their meaning, and instead focus on standing out distinctively by choosing names and identifiers that are legally distinctive. That is the way to create legally protectable distance between a brand and its competitors. As Byron Sharp puts it distinctiveness lasts; differentiation does not.

Shireen Smith is the Founder of Azrights, an intellectual property law firm and the author of Brand Tuned: The new rules of branding, strategy and intellectual property (Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2021). She has a master’s degree in intellectual property from the University of London.

BGA members can receive 20% off the price of a copy of Brand Tuned courtesy of the BGA Book Club. Click here for details.

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The hidden benefits of language learning

Seamless pattern of a group of hand drawn people holding "thank you" signs in different languages

The hidden benefits of language learning

Seamless pattern of a group of hand drawn people holding "thank you" signs in different languages
Seamless pattern of a group of hand drawn people holding "thank you" signs in different languages

The immediate benefit of learning a foreign language is obvious: you learn how to understand and to express yourself in a different language and you become able to talk to people who do not speak your native tongue. This might be a choice, for easier travelling for instance, or an obligation in school or for work.

But the advantages of language learning go far beyond simply communicating with others. Among them, you will find that you improve your overall performance in daily life and at work: decision-making, multitasking and creative, divergent thinking are but a few examples of the great asset that speaking two or more languages are for the cognitive process.

1. Decision-making

Research has shown that people working in a foreign language are better at decision-making. A group of psychologists at the University of Chicago wondered if people would make the same decision in a foreign language as they would in their native tongue. The intuitive answer would be ‘yes, of course’. You could even think that the difficulty of using a foreign language would make decisions less systemic. Yet, the opposite is true.

To demonstrate that using a foreign language reduces decision-making biases, the team of psychologists under the guidance of Boaz Keysar divided a group of native English-speakers who also spoke Japanese into two. Those who were tested in their foreign language (Japanese) made less risky, more balanced and rational choices than those tested in English.

These loss-aversion tests were based on the theory of psychologist and Nobel Prize Winner, Daniel Kahneman, whose 2011 book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, posits two general systems of thinking. ‘System 1’ is intuitive and quick, and used by the brain wherever possible in order to minimise effort. ‘System 2’ is deliberative and slow, and better suited for modern-life problems but demands more effort to activate and keep active.

Speaking a foreign language appears to activate System 2 in advance of tackling a tricky problem, heightening deliberation as demonstrated in the experiments. The researchers therefore believe that a second language provides useful cognitive distance from automatic processes and unthinking, emotional reactions (those activated in System 1) in order to promote a more analytical thought (System 2).

  • Foreign languages make you rich

Being able to express yourself in a foreign language will help you land a job and gives you an edge over monolingual candidates in job interviews. It offers more career growth, whether you choose to move abroad or explore international business opportunities. Candidates with foreign languages are offered higher salaries, and the accumulated benefit of the language bonus estimated to result in a very interesting extra sum by the time you retire. But that’s not all.

  • The prospect theory

The positive impact of foreign language skills on decision-making biases, as outlined above, is largely beneficial in relation to financial decisions. Keysar’s team used scenarios proposed by Kahneman – whose 2002 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded for his work on prospect theory – to develop several tests. For instance, Keysar’s team gathered a group of students from the University of Chicago and gave them each $15 USD in $1 bills. Each dollar could be kept or bet on a coin toss. If they lost a toss, they would lose the dollar, if they won, they received the dollar in return and another $1,50 USD. Almost half of the first group just kept the dollars.  

A second group of students spoke Spanish as a second language – unlike the first group, almost three quarters of the students decided to take the bets. Keysar and his colleagues concluded that those who were taking the bets in a foreign language were less affected by the so-called ‘myopic risk aversion’ phenomenon that describes that, rooted in emotional reactions to the idea of loss, the possibility of small losses outweigh the promise of larger gains. By using a second language, the second group of students had more cognitive distance and were therefore able to perceive that the proposition made by Keysar and his team, over multiple bets, is likely to be profitable.

2. Multitasking and focusing

The so-called ‘executive functions’ – which we might think of as being like the ‘CEO of the brain’ – are a set of mental skills that help the brain organise and act on information. Multitasking is one of the things that the executive control system handles. In a study led by researchers at York University in Toronto, monolinguals and bilinguals were put in a driving simulator. Through headphones, they received extra tasks to do – everybody’s driving got worse, but those who spoke more than one language made fewer errors in their driving, as they were able to stay focused.

Multilingual people are constantly ‘juggling’ between two systems of speech, writing and structure, a kind of constant mental exercise. This ability to switch helps them to filter the most essential information at any given time.

For Daniel Goleman, author of 2013’s Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, ‘focus’ is the hidden driver of excellence and ‘attention in all its varieties’ is a mental asset that is critical not only for your career, but also for living a fulfilling live. As he describes, attention connects us with the world. A second (or third, fourth…) language expands the number of people you can talk to, the number of universes you can explore. As you switch from one language to the other, from one system to the other, you train your power to disengage your attention from one thing and move it to another. You become more aware of the world.

3. Creativity

Bilingual individuals have demonstrated great creative skills in different arts. When learning a second language you dig deep into the mechanics, patterns, structures and syntax of the second language and confront them with your own language, thus strengthening your ability for complex thinking and understanding of the relationships between things.

Language determines the way we look at reality, and you will realise that there are different ways to understand our world. Learning a second language helps you to develop new experiences, new thoughts, new visions and new solutions. This form of divergent thinking is assessed, for instance, in the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking which measure a participant’s creative ability. Bilingualism is a great way to experience diversity. And diversity fuels creativity.

Recent studies into the benefits of language learning are less explicit, now acknowledging that the varying ways people use their language have different effects, and taking into account other factors, like context, background, the languages in question, how many foreign languages, and so on. (You can find out more in this 2020 article in The Economist.)

Learning a second language is always beneficial and, with all the apps and the possibility to watch films in VO (version originale – i.e.., in their original language) it has never been easier. Maybe you have transitioned to working from home, as many of us have done. Why not use the time otherwise spent in commuting and meetings to learn a foreign language? You’ll find a way to use it to your advantage.

Antje Vogdt looks at the impact on decision-making, multitasking, creativity and divergent thinking.

Antje Vogdt is a publications and content manager with a passion for travelling and learning languages. She is currently exploring her love for design in all its varieties, and new and traditional ways of publishing, communicating and teaching – digital, on paper and in person.

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Networking in a virtual world

Lots of blocks with speech bubbles on top all connected with white lines. This is symbolic to networking in a virtual world.

Coca-Cola HBC’s Group Talent Director and CEMS board member, Audrey Clegg, reflects on networking lessons from the pandemic and explores how large corporates can hardwire networking opportunities in their digital structures

‘I was a headstrong child,’ says Coca-Cola HBC’s Group Talent Director, Audrey Clegg with a smile. ‘I got that from my father. But fortunately my mother was emotionally intelligent. She knew if I wanted to do something, I’d really go for it. And if I didn’t… we’d probably end up fighting.’

That simple lesson has been at the core of Audrey’s learning, development and networking philosophy ever since: let people drive their own careers, give them the opportunities and experiences they need to explore what they love to do and encourage them to talk about it.

Networking isn’t a race

‘Networking takes a lot of energy so you need some fuel,’ says Audrey, who is also a board member at CEMS (the Global Alliance in Management Education). ‘If you’re doing what you enjoy, then, you’re getting free refills.

‘You don’t set off on a long journey – possibly the longest journey of your life – without planning. It’s the same with growing a network. You plot where you want to go carefully, who you need help from to get you there and then check in regularly to make sure you’re on track.’

Planning and strategy is even more important in the virtual world, Audrey believes: ‘It’s unbelievably easy to get side-tracked when you’re online. Follow a signpost on a little detour and you could be gone for hours. So decide how long you want for a particular task – checking your LinkedIn feed, for example – and then set a timer on your phone.’

Hardwired networking and an internal growth engine

Some institutions leave networking to individuals but others seek to help their people do it more effectively. Last year, Audrey and the Coca-Cola HBC Talent Team launched what they call their ‘Opportunity Marketplace’. It connects business demands, big and small, with people who can meet them and gain skills and visibility at the same time.

Alongside international collaboration and maximising employee skillsets, a core component of the initiative is providing a digital platform for managers to post assignments. Employees complete a profile and are alerted when relevant opportunities arise.

So far, around 1,500 people have applied to more than 300 projects through the platform, of which 92% are already completed already  – with an estimated 15K person-hours saved.

‘As with all digital change, you need behaviour change,’ observes Audrey. ‘But we had a great team who got the tech right. The benefits were clear so people took to posting fast.’

Examples include: programmers wanted for an initiative that automatically tracks hardware assets across the group; bartenders with a talent for social media to boost Coca-Cola HBC’s new spirits categories; recycling experts to design a collection scheme for aluminium capsules used in Costa Coffee outlets; marketeers to keep up to date on promotion strategies; and learning specialists to share best practice leadership behaviours.

Among Coca-Cola HBC’s 35,000 people in 28 countries, the chance encounters that create new ideas or the foundations for future collaborations can be hard to come by, especially in recent times. But light-hearted postings help to form new relationships and opportunities. For example, Brand Ambassador, Motunrayo Abiona in Nigeria, posted for a DJ for a virtual party and found Talent Lead Peter Vaszondi in Hungary. ‘He rocked the house,’ says Audrey.

The network effect

As the Opportunity Marketplace is a genuine network, the opportunities flow both ways. A number of Coca-Cola HBC leaders are using it to crowdsource insights they need when they take on new roles.

Maria Anargyrou Nikolic, for example, moved back to her native Greece to become Country Manager after 10 years working in other markets for Coca-Cola HBC. Longing to know how culture and customers had changed in her absence, she posted for help and found mentors to brief and guide her.

‘We’re seeing many similar short-term opportunities posted for recent graduates on the platform,’ says Audrey. ‘So even if you don’t get on to one of our graduate programmes, there are lots of ways to vary your experience and build your network in an entry-level or early career job. And we have plenty of them – today, for example, there are around 150 such roles in our network.’

In conclusion, then, there are ways to max your network, even in a Covid-19 world. But as with beating the virus, the most successful solution is a combination of humanity and science, according to Audrey.  

‘Be warm, treat people as you’d like to be treated but stay focused and use the data. Plus, always ask prospective employers how they can help you build your network. Any organisation of reasonable size ought to have some good tools and platforms in place. If not, keep looking. It’s a key ingredient for a successful future.’

Audrey Clegg is Coca-Cola HBC’s Group Talent Director, where she leads its mission to get the right people, in the right roles, at the right time and grow the business. She is on the boards of CEMS (the Global Alliance in Management Education), Esade Business School and the Vedica Scholars Programme in India.

Changing times call for changing approaches at Business School

Person thinking about change and sustainability.

Nicolas Sauviat, winner of the BGA Future Leaders Case Competition 2020, calls on Business Schools to ensure cases reflect the changing world of business and help enable a generation of leaders that seek ‘meaning’ in their careers. Interview by Tim Banerjee Dhoul

Case studies are a great way to teach the practical application of business knowledge, but must be kept up to date with changing times and the world’s growing focus on sustainability, according to Nicolas Sauviat, winner of the BGA Future Leaders Case Competition 2020. 

The competition invited students and graduates from Business Schools in the BGA network – of which there are now 162 spread across 39 countries – to submit their report and recommendations on a sustainability conundrum facing Nespresso France.  

A master’s graduate of Aston Business School, Sauviat won with a hybrid proposal in support of both inhouse and public recycling initiatives that speaks to the importance he places in recognising the shifting dynamics of business, and of keeping an open mind. 

In this interview with Business Impact, he offers his thoughts on the value of the case study method and the importance of pursuing purpose in both a professional and personal capacity. 

He also outlines why the central selling point of a Business School programme, for him, is its ‘uniqueness’ and ‘how it brings something new and responds to a changing world effectively’.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your professional and personal background?

I come from a family of four children and grew up in Limoges, a medium-sized city in France known for its porcelain and cows. I studied corporate law at the University of Limoges before turning to international business thanks to a partnership with the University of Oklahoma. There, I discovered the thrill of being abroad and have been travelling ever since. 

I worked for businesses and NGOs in Spain, finished my studies in international business at Aston University and flew to Hong Kong to promote cross-sector collaborations and disrupting business models at Shared Value Project Hong Kong – a non-profit organisation striving to build uncommon partnerships for the UN SDGs. Most recently, I joined the World Benchmarking Alliance, an international organisation which develops transformative benchmarks that compare key companies’ performance on the SDGs.

The BGA Future Leaders Case Competition 2020 asked entrants to analyse four options available to the CEO of Nespresso France in relation to addressing the problem of single-serve aluminium capsules that are deemed wasteful and damaging to the environment. Which option would you have implemented, if you were the Nespresso France CEO, and why?

I would implement a hybrid solution between ‘setting up a proprietary recycling system’ and ‘sponsoring a complete overhaul of the country’s recycling system’, as I recommended in my entry. This is for two main reasons: impact maximisation and risk mitigation. 

While investing in the French recycling system is clearly superior in terms of both impact and ROI, Nespresso needs to complement the public system with its own private system until the former reaches sufficient capacity. 

The move would allow Nespresso France to adapt to the new business environment where interdependence, collaboration for innovation and proactiveness on purpose are increasingly crucial to success. I added to this combination my own (fifth) option for Nespresso to become a B Corp. The B Corp certification brings depth and transparency to this sustainability commitment. 

Nespresso’s innovative dual recycling model would be highlighted by a unique positioning based on transparency and collaboration. If applied, this plan would result in two thirds of the cups to be recycled by 2024 and 100% of the French population to have access to proper recycling options for the aluminium capsules. It would also provide an estimated 3% additional growth on the 2020-2023 period across Nespresso France’s operations. 

You are an international business MSc graduate of Aston Business School. Did your experience of this programme help in your approach to the BGA Future Leaders Case Competition?

My time at Aston was fundamental to my developing the skills needed in the BGA case competition. It honed my analytical reasoning and business strategy skills, which were both key to solving the case study. It also broadened my horizons, especially thanks to the palpable entrepreneurial atmosphere at the university. The many societies available, notably Enactus, were a fantastic way to get hands-on experience, for example. 

While at Aston, I learned the importance of having a well-thought strategy, and, more importantly, to act on it and not be afraid to adapt it according to ongoing circumstances – as reflected in my submission. The MSc in International Business was therefore a crucial step in my professional and personal development. I gained professional experience and made lifelong friends there. It is a time I will cherish for the rest of my time. 

Do you think the case study method is an effective way to learn about business and management?

I think it is extremely important to look at real-life examples to get a deeper understanding of business. To gain effective knowledge, you need both a healthy dose of theory and a matching dose of relevant analysis grounded in reality. The case study method is therefore a great way to implement the knowledge acquired in the classroom and to examine the world’s complexities. 

That being said, the way to succeed yesterday is not necessarily the same as would be needed today. Times constantly change – especially with sustainability issues which were systematically ignored before. ‘Business as usual’ cannot work anymore. These relatively new aspects to doing business offer great opportunities – such as sustainable businesses gaining an edge over their competitors – but do require creativity to solve. They reflect the new paradigms we live in, which the case study method needs to acknowledge.

If you were to return to Business School later in your career (e.g., to study an MBA or other executive-level programme), would use of the case study method be something you would look for in the Business School at which you would want to study?

I would definitely look for the practical applications of the knowledge taught. The use of the case study method would be one aspect of that and I would expect each ‘theory’ class to be matched with implementation studies. 

I would pay extra attention to how ‘recent’ case studies are used in the programme and how sustainability is included in every aspect of it. I would also look for how the case study is effectively used – is there an emphasis on one good solution or a debate on its complexities? 

The use of case studies needs to reflect the challenging problems of the world we live in and foster creativity on how to solve them.

What other factors might be important to you, if you were ever to return to Business School to study further?

If I ever were to return to Business School, I would look at its reputation and rankings but, more importantly, the uniqueness of the degree. It is crucial to see how it brings something new and responds to a changing world effectively. 

The ‘why’ needs to be at the centre and the programme must show its current relevance. You cannot study business the way it’s been done so far, focusing on only the old profit dimension of business. It is only one dimension among many others – for instance, people, planet and purpose.
As the ones enabling the next generation of business leaders, Business Schools have to show the way forward and be trailblazers in sustainability.

Can you tell me a little about a favourite course/module, assignment or professor, from your time at Business School?

I can talk a bit about my favourite professor: Kaz Kirollos. He was the head of both the entrepreneurship and the international business programmes and knew his way around in both [Kirollos is now at Warwick Business School]. 

Kirollos embodies the successful mixing of theory and practice. He would explain the theory and its limits before diving into case studies and debates in the classroom. He knew that there was no ‘right’ answer in business but that there are instead shifting dynamics which require an inquisitive and open mind. I guess his entrepreneurship experience was especially important in that aspect as he emphasised a trial-and-error approach to business – something that really resonated with me.  

Your past experience is full of activities relating to work with a social impact. Are ‘purpose’ and ‘impact’ things that you will continue to seek in your future career? If so, why?

‘Impact’ and ‘purpose’ are definitely things that I will continue to seek in my future career. I think I come from a generation looking for meaningful work – not just work as a means to survive. As a generation, we are also aware that we are the last ones who will be able to make a strong impact on many global issues, such as climate change. 

It is significant that we just entered the UN’s Decade of Action. In this way, while NGOs and non-profits certainly have a role to play, the private sector needs to step up in order to bring forth a sustainable future. This is not from a charity point of view. Aligning profit with purpose is beneficial to both society and businesses – creating both economic and societal value. Companies need to understand that, in the age of stakeholder capitalism, purpose is the new competitive advantage. 

While at Business School, you worked on an entrepreneurial project for a product that produces mosquito-repellent blankets in African countries, with the platform, Enactus. What did this experience teach you about the realities of business?  

Being a project leader at Enactus taught me much, especially about constantly failing! Making a project move forward is but a long succession of failures and delays. Once an obstacle is removed, another pops up. In this way, being part of this student-led organisation really developed my entrepreneurial skills, which are required for any business. It also showed me the difficulty of finding the right contacts and business partners, especially in an international setting. 

Furthermore, it showed me how hard it is to implement cross-sector collaboration. The companies we reached out to were really unsure about working with a team of students – which is understandable – and kept going back and forth even with the whole university backing us. There was also a lot of discussion around the project even though we were only mimicking an already tested and proven method. As a result, conducting proper business in Ghana took us much longer than we expected – a common result for most international projects.

Do you think socially oriented leaders can have a bigger impact at the helm of a small startup or within a large multinational organisation?

This is a very tough question, to which there is no definitive answer. Both are needed to drive impact. What is certain is that the private sector has a crucial role to play to bring forth a more sustainable future. Without the private sector, we won’t achieve the SDGs. The private sector needs to bring much-needed scalability to sustainability. Its capacity to solve problems profitably and at scale is indeed key (the earned profits being reinvested to generate more profit). 

On the one hand, multinationals can have a bigger impact given their sheer size, influence and resources. They are, however, much harder to move for socially oriented leaders. On the other hand, startups are much more nimble and can offer innovative scalable solutions. I personally really enjoyed my time in a startup as you really feel you are making a difference. Socially oriented leaders can have a strong impact in both. The true defining element is, in my opinion, cross-sector partnerships to involve all stakeholders in the process and to create maximum impact from every initiative.

Nicolas Sauviat is a sustainability professional with an academic background in both law and international business. He is passionate about cross-sector collaboration for the SDGs and advocates for aligning profit with purpose. His experience has spanned the US, Europe and Asia, working for organisations ranging from NGOs to businesses.

This article is taken from Business Impact’s print magazine (edition: May-July 2021).

Sustainable banking in Paraguay – find out more and enter the BGA Future Leaders Case Competition 2022 for a chance to win a $3,000 USD cash prize.

 

Leaders and entrepreneurs in focus: Anthony Chadwick, The Webinar Vet

A vet focusing on a tablet.

Leaders and entrepreneurs in focus: Anthony Chadwick, The Webinar Vet

A vet focusing on a tablet.
A vet focusing on a tablet.

Founder of The Webinar Vet, Anthony Chadwick, explains how a growing pet population during the pandemic represents both an opportunity and a challenge for a business focused on vets’ continuing education

‘Bringing webinars into the veterinary profession helped to make vets’ and nurses’ lives easier as well as protecting the planet by reducing travel miles,’ says Anthony Chadwick, Founder and Chief Veterinary Officer of The Webinar Vet, an early adopter of this mode of learning.

Part of Chadwick’s role, he says, is ‘to set the cultural tone’ for the businesses he leads. He believes that this is a way to avoid toxic environments creeping in by letting others affect the and helps ensure that those he employs ‘love what they do and have fun’.

In this interview, Chadwick talks about the importance of having a great attitude, why some vets are keen to develop business skills further into their careers, and why he thinks you should learn by working for others before setting up your own company.    

Can you tell us a little bit about your current role and what it involves?

I’m the founder of Alpha Vet International. We have four business units within the umbrella company: The Webinar Vet; Simply Vet; WikiVet; and Conference Virtually. I’m the Chief Veterinary Officer in these businesses. My role within the company is to magnify the brands through my writing and networking as well as the meetings I attend. We are a unique business within the veterinary profession because we take care of continuing education for vets and nurses, as well as recruitment.

Did your Business School/university experience help get your business off the ground? If so, how?

No, vets weren’t taught business skills at vet school. When I qualified, many vets learnt these skills as they became more senior in the practice and eventually became partners. Now, most practices are owned by corporate entities. This allows vets and nurses to concentrate on their clinical skills unless they want to get involved in business. Some vets and nurses will go on to do business qualifications like MBAs or more specific certificates in veterinary practice management.

What single piece of advice would you offer undergraduate and postgraduate students of business and management who plan to start their own companies after completing their studies?

Don’t! After qualifying from Business School, it is always good to go out and learn the practical skills of running a business by working for another company where you can gain invaluable practical experience and make your mistakes. I think this will help you be more prepared when setting up your own business and more likely to be successful.

Mentorship schemes in business are becoming increasingly popular. Who would have been your dream mentor when you were at the outset of your career and why?

The Chair of my board is a man called Rob Noble. He has been a great mentor to me in helping me to grow my business. The key, though, is to have a mentor because it will help your business to develop quicker if you are getting wise advice.

What are some of the challenges and opportunities you’re currently facing, both as a leader and as an organisation?

I stepped down as CEO of The Webinar Vet at the beginning of our financial year to help grow the Simply Vet brand. There is a shortage of vets in the UK as well as a growing pet population during the pandemic. As with everything, this is both an opportunity and a challenge. Vets and nurses are in danger of burning out. Simply Vet’s mission is to make use of the available resources more efficiently and, hence, prevent widespread burnout.

Do you feel that leading a company has enabled you to make a positive impact? If so, how?

I’ve been a vet for more than 30 years. When I set up The Webinar Vet in 2010, there was no online provision for vets and nurses to carry on their continuing education. We had to attend evening meetings or conferences in other cities or countries. This was expensive in time, money and resources and left many of us stressed and tired. Bringing webinars into the veterinary profession helped to make vets’ and nurses’ lives easier as well as protecting the planet by reducing travel miles. As a committed environmentalist, I’m glad that the company contributes to the solution rather than the problem of climate change.

Outline the importance of sustainability to your company’s strategy and why you feel it is important to business approaches as a whole today.

I think we need to be interested in more than just sustainability. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe. We do webinars on sustainability to encourage vets to be leaders in their communities. We are an Investor in the Environment Silver level business working towards Green. We assess our carbon footprint and try to mitigate it. We offset our own carbon emissions. We plant trees for every new member we acquire and have planted a wildflower meadow at work. These are just some of the things we have done in the business.

Which three words best describe your approach to leadership (or your management style) and why?

Encourager, servant, enthusiast.

My role in the business is to serve others and help them to develop personally and professionally while they are with us. I am also there to set the cultural tone. Some businesses can have toxic environments. This is when the leader of the business allows the lowest common denominator to set the culture and atmosphere. I want people to love what they do and have fun.

What tops your list when looking for new hires at manager level and above?

Great attitude. Being able to connect with their team. Problem solver rather than a problem finder, and being aligned to the vision and values of the company.

Anthony Chadwick is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and Chief Veterinary Officer of The Webinar Vet, a provider of online veterinary education. He is passionate about providing high quality education and services to veterinary professionals in an accessible and affordable manner which is also sustainable for the environment. The Webinar Vet training has reduced travel mileage by several million miles since starting in 2010 with concomitant carbon reduction.

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What a sixth century BCE philosopher can teach leaders about the fourth industrial revolution

A Chinese statue on top of a temple inspired building in Laozi, China symbolic philosophy of life and leadership

What a sixth century BCE philosopher can teach leaders about the fourth industrial revolution

A Chinese statue on top of a temple inspired building in Laozi, China symbolic philosophy of life and leadership
A Chinese statue on top of a temple inspired building in Laozi, China symbolic philosophy of life and leadership

Drawing on his experiences as a consultant during China’s period of explosive growth, the University of Bath School of Management’s Stephen Wyatt considers the capabilities required to thrive in the highly dynamic context of the fourth industrial and the value of a saying commonly attributed to Lao Tzu

I worked in China in its period of explosive growth, from the early 1990s to 2008, when the country went from bicycles, Mao-suits and new cities dusted with sand swept in from deserts, to being the biggest market globally for luxury goods, having the biggest television audience globally for an international polo match (the so-called ‘sport of kings’) and a place where 21 is the average age of a Maserati driver.

Growth of economies in China and Southeast Asia

As a strategy and business consultant, I sought to bridge the gaps between the expectations and operating practices of many major western corporations and also help navigate the opportunities, risks and dynamics of business in China. As China’s economy surged ahead, data was always lacking, there were continual shortages in skills and experience, and regulation lagged far behind, resulting in occasional episodic ‘course-corrections’ that incumbents usually lamented. In the excitement of this bubbling cauldron, huge fortunes were made by those with an impressive ability to make sense of the unfolding changes, who had the decisiveness needed to seize initiatives, and who were able to fluidly reconfigure operations and reposition offerings.

Capabilities were hard to replicate for many western corporations, whose decision makers were far from China and who first needed to first analyse reliable data before deciding. I had been schooled in western business practices so, to help me understand how Chinese business leaders might be thinking, a colleague introduced me to an extract of Chinese philosophy, reputedly from the sixth century BCE and attributed to Lao Tzu (although others have said it was from either Confucius or Xunzi): ‘Those who have knowledge don’t predict. Those who predict don’t have knowledge’. [Lao Tzu is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism.]

Executives in China and the ‘tiger’ economies of Southeast Asia were immersed in and focused on highly dynamic volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) contexts of business. They knew the weakness of forecasts (predictions). Yet many a corporate system, optimised for more stable market conditions elsewhere, depended on periodic formalised forecasting, budget allocation and decision-making processes. In my work with clients, I started to focus more and more on developing the management and leadership capabilities to thrive in highly dynamic marketspaces, rather than seeking only to resolve tensions and complications due to the different paradigms between headquarters and local operations or joint-venture partners. An executive at the agrichemicals company, Syngenta, once told me: ‘Here we are [in the tiger economies], but Harvard didn’t teach us how to ride tigers!’

The new context of business

Over the past 20 years, the fourth industrial revolution has gathered pace globally. The development and application of new technologies (for example, the Internet of Things, AI, robotics, biotech, nanotech, blockchain, and machine learning) is facilitating significant acceleration of business, making disruptions and highly dynamic VUCA contexts increasingly accepted as the norm. Leading firms are shaping the future as it unfolds, new business models are emerging, sector boundaries are being breached, incumbents are collapsing while unprofitable startups, known as ‘unicorns’, are being valued at more than $1 billion USD.

Strategic decisions have to be made relying on data of the past and present, even though it is recognised as decreasingly representative of the future. Regulators struggle to keep up with new norms of corporate behaviour, leading to inquests (for example, the repeated appearances of Facebook before US Senate Committees), remedial actions (for example, China’s 2021 ruling against ride-share company, DiDi Chuxing) and substantial fines (for example, EU fining Google $5 billion USD for abuse of power with its search engine). The dynamics (pace of evolution, disruption, rate of wealth creation and destruction, scarcity of data for strategic decision making, lagging regulation) that face business leaders in the fourth industrial revolution are reminiscent of the dynamics some faced when China and Southeast Asia were the booming frontiers. So what are the capabilities required to thrive in these contexts?   

Possibility not probability

The first and perhaps most important difference between traditional approaches to strategic decision making and those required in the accelerated VUCA context of the fourth industrial revolution is to embrace ‘possibility not probability’. We can’t gather and analyse data on the future. However, as Canadian scholar Henry Mintzberg pointed out, it is equally wrong to depend on the precision of a forecast for decision making as it is to not predict a possible future.

My research with executives at corporations that do thrive in the dynamic fourth industrial revolution shows the importance of adopting a compelling vision of the future; the possibility, to set often audacious growth objectives in the pursuit of a societal purpose. This forward-leaning strategic posture establishes the orientation to shape the future. It provides directional guidance for where the organisation is heading, course correcting as the future unfolds, encountering both the expected and unexpected challenges. ‘Possibility not probability’ requires executives to think more broadly than unifying on a singular view of the future – what could the opportunities and threats be? The next step is to then decide on which of these to act and on which to keep a watchful eye, ready to act if they actually manifest. A most useful strategic planning technique in these dynamic marketspaces is ‘scenario planning’, through which ideas for action are both identified and placed into one of four categories: ‘Do it’; ‘Be ready to fast-respond’ (if it unfolds); ‘Create an option’ (i.e. lay the foundations for an alternative initiative, but don’t commit just yet); ‘Have an alternative back-up plan’ (what would we do if our main beliefs about the future are proved wrong).

Adaptation

The second set of capabilities are those required for the corporation to adapt in a timely manner – the ‘what it does’ and ‘how it does it’. This requires: developing a heightened ability to sense the future, and make sense of it, as it unfolds; being attentive to weak (and stronger) signals and early indicators; and being able to determine the ‘so, what could this mean for us?’ In this sense, the ability to quickly formulate and implement new initiatives and responses to unfolding opportunities and threats, combined with the ability to replicate them and scale rapidly, is important.

The third complementary capability in this group is the ability to fluidly reconfigure the resources of the corporation to enhance flexibility and efficiency in support of the adjusting array of initiatives; for example, outsourcing or in-sourcing, changing organisation structure, adjusting or duplicating supply chains, and so on.

Winning the race for talent

The third set of capabilities addresses the constant shortage of skilled and experienced talent. In fast-evolving marketspaces, the talent and skills required for a corporation to thrive tomorrow are constantly evolving, i.e. the idea that ‘what got us here is insufficient to take us there’. Over the five years from 2020 to 2025, the World Economic Forum estimates that more than 97 million people will need to upskill or reskill due to the new technologies and working practices of the fourth industrial revolution.

‘Winning the race for talent’ is more important than ‘winning the war for talent’, as an external pool of talent with relevant skills and experiences simply does not exist. To win the race for talent requires constant investment in training and development, fluidly deploying and redeploying talent to the roles requiring those skills as the roles change, and retaining the wellbeing of that valuable talent within the corporation, through human-centred policies and practices. 

For some executives, the skills that are required to thrive in the highly dynamic context of the fourth industrial revolution may echo skills they first explored in the once-tiger economies of Asia. Others will need to free themselves from the false precision of forecasts, or the comforting – yet constraining – periodic strategic planning processes. They might also do well to reflect that: ‘Those who have knowledge don’t predict. Those who predict don’t have knowledge’ and to instead think about possibility not probability.

Stephen Wyatt is Professor of Strategy and Leadership at University of Bath School of Management, Industrial Associate at the University of Cambridge and author of Management & Leadership in the 4th Industrial Revolution (Kogan Page, 2020).

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Zambian farmers fighting climate change

Zambian farmers fighting climate change

Zambia flag map africa copy
Zambia flag map africa copy

To fight climate change, Zambian farmers will soon be growing a crop that most of the world has long demonised. The crop removes 66 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per annum. That’s far more than trees or any other crop. Only mango swamps absorb more, so it has huge potential for the environment. Yet to grow the crop, they have to get a license from the government due to a misunderstanding that almost everyone has. The crop is hemp, which is not the same as cannabis or marijuana. Scientifically they belong to the same family; the legal difference is that hemp contains just 0.03% or less of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). 

One of the many advantages of hemp is that it grows very quickly. It also has multiple uses, from clothing to food and fuel. It consequently gives Zambian famers a sustainable, profitable business. At eHempHouse, we’re helping these famers help themselves by offering them the SB™ system (a hemp-processing Smartbox) free so that they can successfully process organic hemp. The units are self-sustaining in off-grid communities as they use hemp oil for power. The power generated can then be used for other things to the benefit of the local community. 

An unusual business plan to help curb pollution levels

The business plan we’re using – which allows us to give the system away for free – is a slightly unusual one, but one that I hope will become increasingly common. In partnership with the farmers, we’re selling the carbon-offsetting that hemp provides, on the carbon markets. This off-setting allows polluting industries to mitigate some of that pollution. It means that next time you fly, you might be helping to finance the growing of hemp in Zambia.

There are voluntary carbon markets and some that deliver regulatory compliance. Most industries are now having to consider getting involved, whether or not they’re compelled to, as consumer pressure is increasing every year. It is, therefore, an important issue for all businesses to understand.

There is a danger that some polluting industries will believe that off-setting their emissions absolves them of all environmental responsibility. But of course, things are not that simple.  Pollution levels are currently nearly 420 parts CO2 per million in the atmosphere. Pre-industrialisation, it was 280 parts CO2 per million. And pollution levels will continue to rise for some time as emissions from countries, such as China, are still increasing.  

To fight the climate crisis, industries have to take a threefold approach:

  • Remove CO2 
  • Replace polluting products 
  • Develop mitigations for being able to live with the changed climate 

Our business model addresses all three action points: hemp removes carbon at higher levels than almost anything else, the products are far more environmentally friendly than the more commonly used competitor products and eHempHouse is making it possible for polluting industries to offset their emissions.

Promoting hemp’s potential and working to repair an undeserved reputation

The battle we have is to persuade the world of the huge potential of the crop. I’m very proud to say that we already have a lot of support from influential people, and we’ll be featured at COP26 (the UN climate change conference) at the end of October.

Why is it a battle? Why was such a fantastic crop demonised? The most obvious answer is because of its association with recreational drugs. However, you also have to look at who gains from that misunderstanding. We now know that the cotton industry is bad for the environment, yet how many hemp clothes do you have in your wardrobe compared to cotton ones? We know that much of the food industry is destroying the environment and that this is true even for vegan food products. Yet, how often have you eaten hemp products? Do you even know how you can eat hemp? 

There are numerous industries who gained from the destruction of the reputation of such a fast growing and cheap crop. And in business reputation is everything. Contrary to the popular rhyme, words can harm people, industries and even the planet. We’re working hard to put right that wrong.

Peter Miles is the CEO of eHempHouse.

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Creating a high-performing hybrid workplace: what should teams do?

Hult Ashridge’s Vlatka Ariaana Hlupic looks at how teams and individuals can adopt and foster the right mindset for success in hybrid work settings, in the second of two articles focused on the relationship between mindset and organisational culture

Survey after survey show that employees don’t want to go back to office full time after the Covid-19 pandemic, and many CEOs will have to backtrack on their desire to require everyone to be back to office full time, as was the norm before the pandemic.

In many recent surveys, over three quarters of all respondents prefer to work from home at least half of the time, and about half of respondents would quit their job if permanent options to work remotely at least half of the week are not available.

This means that hybrid workplaces are inevitable. The question now, therefore, is what behaviours leaders and their teams will need to display to create successful, high-performing hybrid workplaces where a significant proportion of time working is spent using technology to communicate and work.

Empowering teams and individuals

My previous article on Business Impact outlined key behaviours that leaders should enact to create high-performing hybrid workplaces. That article also explains The Management Shift framework and its five levels of individual mindset and corresponding organisational culture. It was emphasised how important it is that leaders lead with a level 4 (and occasionally level 5) mindset, in order to create a level 4/5 organisational culture that is suitable for hybrid workplaces.

The same applies to the teams. Teams (and individuals) also need to operate with a level 4/5 mindset (for which the dominant mindsets are ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘limitless’) that will ripple out to the rest of the team and organisation.

When individuals and teams operate from level 4/5, they become empowered. There is more flexibility with how, when and where work gets done, they take on more responsibilities but also become accountable for the results and deliverables. There is an inherent trust between leaders and employees and among team members themselves. There is transparency and a common sense of purpose, working for the greater good, working together as a team rather than individually. At this level, we see a marked increase in performance, innovation, engagement, and profit.

How the right mindset removes barriers and energises

Teams at level 4 will be motivated to give their best performance. They will feel purposeful, respect themselves and others, support their colleagues, be empathetic, and will enjoy helping others. They will feel happy about working at a particular company, they will be striving for high achievement, and they will socialise and connect with others, whether that’s virtually or face to face. They will feel energised when interacting with colleagues, and they will see work as fun. They will work on forming informal networks or communities focused on teamwork and collaboration.

Once they achieve this mindset, it does not matter whether they work from home or in the office, whether they are monitored by their boss or not. They will do their best, they will go an extra mile for a customer, and they will create these high-performing hybrid workplaces, which are now emerging in many organisations.

Attaining the right mindset

So, what practical actions can team members take to foster a level 4 mindset for themselves and their colleagues?

  • Get involved in mutual/reverse mentoring with a colleague of a different generation
  • Organise peer-coaching activities
  • Proactively create and distribute relevant knowledge and knowhow relevant for productivity
  • Organise and/or participate in social events to keep connections with colleagues
  • Give constructive feedback for improvements to your manager/leader(s) above you in organisational hierarchy
  • Engage proactively in learning and self-development. Share what is relevant with others
  • Work on anchoring your mindset at level 4, use language associated with the level 4 mindset (e.g. ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘team’) with others
  • Look for opportunities to collaborate with others and engage in projects that require teamwork

Finally, team members should also make an effort to see their colleagues and leaders face to face in addition to virtually because these personal interactions will always remain priceless and important for the creation of a high-performing culture.

Vlatka Ariaana Hlupic is Professor of Leadership and Management at Hult Ashridge Executive Education and Founder and CEO of Management Shift Solutions.

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