Lead With We

Sometimes the best way to stay true to your brand values is, counter-intuitively, to make some changes. That’s why one company is forging ahead on a mission to keep the planet cool– while keeping the people on it warm. Gavin Thompson is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at Canada Goose, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of extreme weather outerwear dedicated to purpose-driven innovation and values-driven, sustainable growth. In this episode, he shares how to level up your sustainability credentials in ways that build brand reputation, trust, and sales, and how to engage suppliers, employees, and consumers to inspire your whole industry to raise its game.   Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Gavin Thompson: Gavin Thompson is a passionate corporate and public affairs leader with over 20 years of experience in regulated industries and high-profile matters of public interest. As Vice President of Corporate Citizenship at Canada Goose, Gavin is committed to bettering the world, leading the brand’s environmental, social and corporate governance work. He oversees the execution of its Sustainable Impact Strategy and all corporate social responsibility initiatives. Gavin is known for making a significant impact on the success of an organization with integrity and guiding teams that earn the respect and trust of communities, customers, businesses and industry partners. Prior to joining Canada Goose in 2018, he served as Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Molson Coors and previously held director positions in Community Affairs and Corporate Citizenship at TD Bank and Microsoft. Gavin received a Bachelor of Arts at University of Victoria in Political Science and History.   Resources: Learn more about Canada Goose at: https://www.canadagoose.com Connect with Gavin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geetee/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you put a price tag on a blue whale? According to Ralph Chami, Assistant Director for the International Monetary Fund, it’s worth around $2 million, if not more. But how does that translate to real-world economics, with wide-reaching implications for business success? In this episode, he explains how an unusual encounter motivated him to explore the nexus of sustainability and profit in the hopes of creating a “nature-based” economy. He tells us how businesses can spearhead the creation of markets that serve nature and its restoration in ways that solve for the climate crisis. And what the future of business can look like so humanity and nature work together to reward investors and stewards of the planet alike. Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Ralph Chami: Ralph Chami is an Assistant Director at the IMF. He is currently on sabbatical from the IMF working on tackling the two risks to humanity–climate change and biodiversity loss. He has developed a model for valuing natural capital, including blue and green nature as well as flora and fauna, and a framework for developing the natural capital markets for ecosystem services. He has co-founded two entities working on bringing this new paradigm to life–Rebalance Earth and Blue Green Future that are engaged in realizing the value of the natural world to our well-being and integrating it into our economic system. He has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed publications that value the carbon sequestration service of keystone species such as the Great Whales and Elephants. His work on valuing natural capital has been featured at TED 2022, TEDEx2022 Fiesole, UN, and in National Geographic, Financial Times, Washington Post, WEF, among others. During his 24-year career at the IMF, he has been known as an expert on fragile states and low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). He oversaw surveillance for 32 countries in MENA and Central Asia, and program work in Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen, and was Mission Chief for Libya and Somalia. Prior to joining the IMF, he was on the faculty of finance at the Mendoza School of Business, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA. Ralph has PhD in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University, MBA from University of Kansas, and BS from the American University of Beirut.   Resources: Learn more about International Monetary Fund at: https://www.imf.org/en/Home Connect with Ralph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-chami-63785313/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Best Of episode, we look back at Tracey Franklin of Moderna, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company playing a critical role in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic. As the Chief Human Resources Officer, Tracey helps the company to deliver on the promise of mRNA science to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients while facing extraordinary pressures, expectations, and conditions. In this episode Tracey and I talked about how Moderna works to solve this global health crisis in real-time, how they manage through hypergrowth, and what steps they took to nurture a culture that brought out the best in their people so they could protect and save countless lives. Tracey Franklin: Tracey is part of the leadership team that brought the Moderna’s first product to market–a lifesaving vaccine to assist in a global pandemic. Ms. Franklin joined Moderna in October 2019 and is responsible for leading the accelerated build of the company from ~700 employees to over 3,000 in under 2 years. Originally a Massachusetts-based clinical-stage biotech, Moderna now operates commercially in 12 countries around the world, while keeping talent and culture as a critical focus area. Previously, she spent 15 years at Merck & Co., Inc. where she led Merck’s global talent strategy as Vice President, HR Chief Talent, and Strategy Officer and served on Merck’s HR Leadership Team. In this role, Ms. Franklin was responsible for leading the vision, development, and execution of the company’s Talent and Workforce Strategy with a focus on evolving the organizational culture and talent for the future. Ms. Franklin holds a bachelor’s in communication arts and sciences from Pennsylvania State University and a Master's in industrial and organizational psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. This episode of Lead With We was produced and edited by Goal 17 Media and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. Resources: Learn more about Moderna at https://www.modernatx.com/ Connect with Tracey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracey-franklin-8b731b1/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.   

It’s not easy to take an enterprise and reconfigure its mission and values. But doing so can open new opportunities at the nexus of purpose and profit. Nicole Sparshott is the CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand, one of the world’s leading suppliers of beauty, personal care, home care, and food and refreshment products, with the goal of making sustainable living commonplace and accessible for everyone. In this episode, she shares how a complex enterprise with a wide portfolio of brands creates balance to drive growth and impact, and how all stakeholders can collaborate to make a positive impact through what we buy and how we live to better our shared future.  Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Nicole Sparshott: Nicky is the CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand and former Global CEO of luxury retailer, T2 Tea. She has over 25 years of experience in developing and building brands, growing businesses, and transforming infrastructure and culture. She has worked across a broad range of organizations including Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, P&G and George Patterson Y&R. Recognized for her depth and breadth of expertise across FMCG, Retail, Luxury, and Ecommerce, Nicky also brings broader based category experience spanning food, beverages, health care and personal care. Nicky holds a master’s degree in international business, which has been supported by significant global management experience across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, USA and the highly diverse markets of Asia. She recently completed an Executive MBA in Change, through INSEAD, graduating with Distinction and is also an HBDI certified practitioner. Nicky is a Non-Executive Director on the boards of World Wildlife Fund Australia and The Australian Food & Grocery Council and is Chair of NFP, Global Sisters. She also sits on the Australasian Advisory Board of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and UTS Vice Chancellors Industry Advisory Board. She is a National Member of the Champions of Change Coalition; a Founding Member of the B-Team Australasia and Climate Leaders Coalition and is a member of Chief Executive Women. She is a passionate advocate that businesses today must drive regenerative agendas that positively impact people, planet and profit and in doing so be a true force for good. The best advice she has ever been given was "when you are dancing on thin ice you may as well tap dance" and that is how she lives her life with her husband Graeme and their two children, Keira & Lachlan. Resources: Learn more about Unilever ANZ at: https://www.unilever.com.au/ Connect with Nicole on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicky-sparshott-7997a54/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.   

We’re at the apex of a monumental shift not only in how successful businesses are run, but also where innovation and transformation are coming from. Right now, Latin America is the fastest-growing region for startups in the world. But that comes as no surprise to those who are already working in that region to foster the next generation of purpose-led leaders. Josué Delgado is the CEO for INCmty, a intercontinental technology, entrepreneurship, and business platform promoting international networking and partnerships, and providing inspiration and action for new businesses building value in Mexico and around the world. In this episode, he shares how to foster the critical entrepreneurship, innovation, and impact needed to solve today's pressing social and environmental challenges and how to leverage collaboration to drive extraordinary returns and much needed sustainable solutions. Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Josué Delgado: Josué is CEO & General Director of INCmty, an entrepreneurship initiative of Tecnologico de Monterrey with the greatest impact in Latin America, which convenes and brings together key players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem with the purpose of focusing 100% on entrepreneurs, to encourage them to take their ideas to the next level. He has given conferences on bridging entrepreneurship, strengthening entrepreneurship ecosystems, marketing, and customer relationship, among others. He has also been a professor at Tecnológico de Monterrey and EGADE Business School. He has been a CRM strategy consultant for several companies, including Honda Mexico, IMT and content creation for Teleperformance Global. At Tecnológico de Monterrey, he has served as Director of Marketing and Communications for the Monterrey Zone, as well as Director of Admissions and Student Attraction at Monterrey Campus. He also participated in the coordination of the World Business Forum, an event that he later led. He is an MBA graduate from EGADE Business School (2004), with emphasis in CRM, and a B.A. in Marketing from Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey Campus (2001). Resources: Learn more about INCmty at: https://www.incmty.com/ Connect with Josué on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josu%C3%A9-delgado-246275/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble. 

It’s a crisis many of us never imagined could exist in our lifetimes: modern slavery. But the unconscionable issue of forced labor is something that everyone can help tackle head-on. Joanna Ewert-James is executive director and co-founder for Freedom United, the world's largest community dedicated to ending human trafficking and slavery. In this episode she shines a light on the unseen facets of modern slavery in business, what we can do to address it, and how together we can make progress to expose and end modern slavery through the company and industry-wide collaboration. Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Joanna Ewart-James: Joanna is co-founder and Executive Director of Freedom United, a global community against modern slavery powering action for change. Joanna is also a trustee at Labour Behind the Label Trust– campaigning for workers’ rights in the clothing industry. At the end of 2021 she completed her term as Chair of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative UK, during which she received an innovation award for the newly created Commonwealth 8.7 Network on modern slavery. Joanna was previously with Walk Free and Anti-Slavery International, where she developed and directed their work on business engagement, including coordinating the Cotton Campaign in Europe. Joanna is a contributing author to books including Vulnerability, exploitation and migrants: Insecure work in a globalized economy (Palgrave, 2015), and The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery (SAGE, 2018). Her international human rights experience spans the UK diplomatic service, academia, and philanthropy, managing multi-million dollar budgets. Joanna holds a graduate Masters degree in Human Rights from the University of London. Resources: Learn more about Freedom United at: https://www.freedomunited.org/ Connect with Joanna on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/joanna-ewart-james Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble. 

Turning the air we breathe– and the carbon dioxide we produce– into products that enhance our daily lives. It’s not only possible but happening right before our eyes. Gregory Constantine is co-founder and CEO of Air Company, a technology, engineering, and design company that has developed a new process to turn carbon dioxide into value-added products, with a goal of demonstrating to the world that there is limitless potential in technology, and that it should be accessible to all. In this episode, he shares how to launch and scale a truly disruptive and purposeful company with multiple product lines and how to leverage that purpose to win investors, employees, and customers, and a brighter future. Lead With We is produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Gregory Constantine Gregory Constantine is an Australian entrepreneur, businessman, and global thinker. As co-founder and CEO of AIR COMPANY, a New York-based technology, engineering, and design company, Constantine engages with the world to critically solve its most complex and pressing issues. Constantine’s spirit for innovation started prior to founding AIR COMPANY and he has always proven himself to be a risk-taker which was evident with his impromptu and unplanned move to New York in 2014. In NYC, Constantine was scouted for a role at Diageo, the world’s most prominent alcohol company. There he led Smirnoff’s cultural marketing, which aimed to integrate itself into music and popular culture while promoting diversity and inclusion as part of its brand efforts. On a Forbes 30 Under 30 trip overseas, Gregory met Dr. Stafford Sheehan, his future business partner and the complimentary mind responsible for the advent and subsequent birth of the concept for Air Company. Following suit with his knack for risk-taking, Gregory quit his job and pursued his ambition to create what is now the world’s first consumer products from carbon dioxide. Working closely with his dedicated team of Ph.D. chemists, AIR COMPANY has transformed from a concept into the world’s leading carbon technology company in just over three years, now operating three facilities across the United States and Canada.   Resources Learn more about Air Company at: https://www.aircompany.com/ Connect with Gregory Constantine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryconstantine/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble. 

The way we think about leadership is changing, both on a personal level and in the context of business growth and development. For a business to succeed, especially in the digital era, the conversations around what it means to lead must evolve with the changing societal landscapes. But when you are seeking reinvention, it’s easy to get stymied by the simple question: where do we start? Dr. Katia Sol is a lecturer at Stanford University as well as Assistant Director of the Stanford Flourishing Project, a weekly lecture series designed to enhance one’s own leadership toolkit and change-making capacity, as well as one’s ability to enhance collective prosperity and flourishing. In this episode, she shares how we can regenerate ourselves to show up most effectively for others and the planet, and how we foster a culture of purpose and service to navigate challenging times and course-correct our future. Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Dr. Katia Sol: Dr. Katia Sol innovates and illuminates at the nexus of individual leadership and flourishing, cultivating an intimate and regenerative relationship with the natural world, and the healing and transformation of our collective systems. She teaches Leadership and Wellness Education at Stanford University, with courses on topics such as contemplative ecological leadership, living on purpose, and integrating inner and outer engagement. She also serves as the Assistant Director for the Dalai Lama Fellows program, a global contemplative leadership and social innovation program that supports young entrepreneurs around the world. Beyond Stanford, Katia offers private coaching and consulting services, leadership training, and immersion retreats. Katia holds a BA in Latin American Studies and MA in Education (Stanford University), PhD in Leadership and the Dynamics of Global Change (University of Toronto), and a MS in Management (Stanford Graduate School of Business), and has led over 5000 hours of in-depth leadership development programs focused on cultivating wise action to meet today’s greatest global challenges. She lives in Richmond, CA with her husband and three boys (ages 4, 14, and 17). Resources: Learn more about Dr. Katia Sol at https://www.katiasol.com/ Connect with Dr. Katia Sol on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katia-sol-phd-8b22976/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble. 

Mental health and wellness has never been more top of mind. The global toll of the Covid-19 pandemic peeled back the layers on long-held stoicism, unearthing a growing crisis not only on a personal level, but one that permeates business and brands worldwide. Now, employers are asking themselves: What can we do to help? Taryn Bird is Senior Director of Social Impact at Kate Spade New York, a global fashion design company known for its colorful, playful designs and its commitment to creating high-quality products with personal style statements for each customer. In this episode, she shares how a company of any size can address a sensitive issue like mental health in ways that are deeply meaningful to employees and customers, while also delivering real value toa business at a time when it’s needed most. Lead With We is produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Taryn Bird Taryn Bird is a corporate intrapreneur and women’s empowerment, mental health, and wellness advocate. Taryn leads social impact for Kate Spade New York. In this role, she oversees the company’s women and girls’ mental health and empowerment programs inclusive of corporate and philanthropic strategic partnerships, the company’s social enterprise initiative on purpose, brand product donation, and employee engagement. She is also the co-lead for Mind Body Soul, the brand’s internal community engagement group focused on bringing mental health initiatives to life for corporate and field teams. Prior to joining Kate Spade and Company in 2013, Taryn built and led the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s women’s economic empowerment and global corporate citizenship programs. Taryn has her master’s in social enterprise from the School of International Serviceat The America University in Washington, DC and her Bachelor of Sciences in Economics and Spanish from The Pennsylvania State University. She is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Resources Learn more about Kate Spade New York at https://www.katespade.com/social-impact/our-mission Connect with Taryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taryn-bird-5374a59/ Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble. 

Alison Writenour is CEO of Seventh Generation, a homecare products company that became a household name selling eco-friendly cleaning, paper, and personal care items with a focus on sustainability and the conservation of natural resources in both product development and marketing practices. In this episode, she shares how an industry leader reimagines its role to unlock new innovations, products, and growth, and how a purpose-led company of any size can accelerate and scale impact in ways that inspire everyone to build its business. Lead With We is Produced by Goal 17 Media - https://goal17media.com Alison Whritenour Alison Whritenour has spent nearly a decade at Seventh Generation, contributing to transforming the world into a healthy, sustainable and equitable world for future generations. Using business as a force for good drives Alison in all she has done with Seventh Generation across various roles in everything from brand activation to product innovation. Most recently, Alison was the head of channel and customer development at Seventh Generation, where in 2020, she delivered more than 40% growth, while navigating COVID-19’s business and consumer impact. Prior to her work with Seventh Generation, Alison worked in brand management at Colgate-Palmolive. Alison holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Loyola University. She lives in Vermont with her husband and three children. Resources Learn more about Seventh Generation at https://www.seventhgeneration.com/ Connect with Alison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-whritenour-0803b424 Visit leadwithwe.com to learn more about Simon's new book or search for "Lead With We" on Amazon, Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.