Purposeful People

Business Leaders Making A Difference

• Publisher: KMD Books
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780645135305
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Biographies
• Index: Business

With contributions from senior military, business and government leaders, to Entrepreneurs, international sports elite, and CEOs of multi-million dollar businesses, you'll discover a collection of heartfelt and engaging stories of self-reflection and inspiration.

In this book, you'll learn from first-hand experience on leadership and team organisation, but you'll also look deep within on how to; find your purpose, deal with imposter syndrome, be kind to yourself and create a safe space for courageous conversations. It's full of advice and tips on helping you to create your best life!

'Purposeful People' is ultimately about sharing; sharing knowledge that in some way may uplift and motivate its readers, and sharing proceeds of its sales with four important charities.This book was created to support charities that are closest to our hearts: Children's Cancer; Military Veterans & Families; Mental and Physical Health; and Homelessness.

I have had the privilege of collaborating with outstanding Chief Executives and C-Suite senior leaders, purposeful people in charge of complex global businesses; leaders with strong values and a desire to leave a legacy for outstanding business performance, within a context of being responsible and ethical.

Successful leaders know that having an authentic, compelling purpose creates a true north for their business direction. Colleagues that are bound together by values enable leaders to deliver on the economics of mutuality1, building reputational capital based on trust and credibility.

I doubt any CEO would intentionally set a goal of failing, deliberately choosing to ignore personal values, and create a strategy that embeds irresponsible business behaviour into the heart of their company’s mission.

When leaders give their teams a greater sense of purpose and a feeling of true inclusion, then employee engagement, loyalty, happiness, and better performance all naturally follow. The challenge for many leaders is that there is often a real gap between their values, a desired ambition, and the reality of present actions.

As a consultant acting as a strategic advisor to senior leaders, my role is to understand why the gap between a desired purpose and what is really happening exists, and then to present solutions to close the gap. I often find myself in the unenviable position of answering the difficult questions and presenting an uncomfortable truth. The answers to the difficult questions often challenge the leader’s personal values and undermine their desired purpose.

The awkward admission of low gender balance in senior teams is one of these uncomfortable topics, where even the most purposeful leader appears challenged by the accusation of slow progress.

When a leader asks the question if progress on gender balance can be accelerated, a tentative justification is often presented in ways that try to lay blame on decades of underserved girls not wanting to enter careers that society has conditioned as the domain of men. Plausible explanations can include lack of female desire, lack of skills and lack of applications from women.

A quick snapshot at global gender balance progress shows the gap between men and women, measured in terms of political influence, economic gain and health and education, has narrowed over the last year, but will take another century to disappear, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The WEF2 predicted it would take 99.5 years for women to be on an equal footing with men, despite women taking high-profile leadership roles at the European Central Bank, the World Bank, and at the head of several countries, including Finland, Germany and New Zealand.

The companies that I have worked with have made great progress in achieving gender balance in feeding the talent pipeline, from early years education to graduate intakes. Progress, however, is still painfully slow at the senior leader and C-Suite level.

In 2019, the proportion of women in senior management roles globally grew to twenty-nine percent. Although, eighty-seven percent of global mid-market companies have just one woman in a senior management role in 2020. Not a great claim to fame, and a lonely place for those successful few.

There has been a great deal of research on why this so called ‘gender glass ceiling’ exists; an unseen force that secretly prevents women from accelerating their careers to director level.

And yet, all the leaders I have worked with, argue with great passion that they want the best talent and difference of thought in their senior teams, making the connection between diversity of colleagues and customer centricity. Leaders I have spoken to, really understand the power of gender diversity, and many organisations have gender strategies, as well as a range of initiatives designed to nudge the gender percentage dial.

The power gender balance brings is well documented. Research by McKinsey3 found those organisations with diverse teams, on average, have 12 percent higher employee productivity; 19 percent higher retention; 57 percent higher team collaboration and 42 percent higher team commitment.

Faced with compelling evidence on the positive impact gender balance brings, and with a public commitment to equality, why does the gender gap persist in the senior echelons of leadership?

To find the true answer, I wanted to work with a leader who was determined to make change faster; a leader that understood real change comes from connecting values and purpose to the power of performance in their organisation.

Sandeep Dadlani agreed to be that leader. He joined Mars, Incorporated in September 2017 as Chief Digital Officer and in 2019 he was named CIO of the year. He understands the absolute necessity for Mars to get closer to consumers. More importantly, Mars wanted to be a digital-first company and having the best possible talent in his teams would be needed in order to accelerate the company’s digital transformation....