Real-Leaders.com MEMBERS MAGAZINE DISPLAY UNTIL APRIL 4 HOW TO TRANS FORM THE WOR L D AND GROW YOUR CAR E E R TOP IMPACT COMPANIES TO INSPIRE YOUR SUCCESS IN 2022 WARNING Page 44 may result in a serious dose of inspiration. LEADERSHIP TRENDS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD SPECIAL AWARDS ISSUE
PAST SPEAKERS “I was personally and professionally moved by the content and the messages that were presented. I walked away ever more motivated and charged up, and with a sense of validation.“ — Attendee of the Lord Michael Hastings event “Break-out groups were great. Straight to the point and Informative. Plenty of actionable business solutions.“ — Attendee of the Rob Chesnut event LORD MICHAEL HASTINGS Chancellor, Regent’s University London REBECCA MINKOFF Fashion designer and cofounder, the Female Founder Collective BERTRAND PICCARD Founder, Solar Impulse Foundation DR. NANCY O’REILLY Founder, Women Connect4Good
28 JUL. PAST EVENT MEET THE 2022 Your Opportunity to Collaborate For Impact With Fellow Purpose-Driven CEOs Connect with like-minded CEOs at our Free monthly networking events called Meet The Real Leaders. The events give impact leaders an opportunity to meet, collaborate, and learn from each other for greater success. DR. JANE GOODALL Environmentalist JACK SIM Founder, UN World Toilet Day, social entrepreneur RAJA RAJAMANNAR Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard SUZY AMIS CAMERON Founder, One Meal a Day ATTEND FOR FREE Real-Leaders.com/Meet
CONTENTS CEO SUCCESS 64 / The MultiMillion Dollar Child Development Company Shaping the Minds of the Next Generation This CEO explains how your “anti-lightbulb” moment can deliver huge value too. BUSINESS & INNOVATION 62 / Play with Your Food! Three Ways Reimagined Food Waste Can Help Heal Our Planet Looking for some serious innovation? Here’s what’s possible when you play with your food. MONEY 76 / Digital IDs Are the Catalyst for Our Financial Future You’re focused on earning the money, but are you ignoring the efficiencies of sending and receiving it? 4 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 34 / Personal Impact: How to be a Genius at Self-Marketing These four geniuses of selfmarketing knew how to turn themselves into a distinct brand — and you can too. SPECIAL FEATURE 44 / The Real Leaders Impact Awards 2022 A ranking of 200 top impact companies recognized for their purpose-driven businesses and a commitment to a healthier, more sustainableworld.
8 / Ever Wonder Why? Do you ever wonder why some people can turn a bad situation into good? 22 / Heads Up: 3 Leadership Trends for 2022 What do these once-in-ageneration changes mean for you? 24 / 4 Ways to Re-Engage Employees As the “Great Resignation” begins, how will you retain your talent? INSPIRE THE FUTURE DEPARTMENTS COLUMNS 67 / Storytelling How ordinary people can become extraordinary speakers. 36 / Meet the Real Leaders Three impact leaders explain where the new opportunities lie. 10 / REPORT BACK 12 / ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT 16 / CHANGEMAKERS 14 / VOICES Page 70: The artists redefining African culture and identity On the Cover On page 44, review Real Leaders’ fourth annual ranking of companies from around the world that are thriving while helping to build a better world. 79 / Investing An action plan for solving our climate crisis now. Are you ready? 77 / Climate Action Landowners get paid to store CO2 in their soil. 74 / Innovation & Technology Why a consumers’ right-torepair revolution is on the rise. 78 / Social Impact This app has planted a million trees and pays those who do it. 29 / READING LIST 30 / IMPACT COLLABORATIVE 82 / MENTAL HEALTH 90 / IMAGINE 84 / DESTINATIONS 88 / COMMON GROUND 86 / GIFTS FOR GOOD 70 / BIG PICTURE 68 / PODCAST PEOPLE 26 / ETHICAL FASHION THE AFRICAN ART SERI ES / ASIKO
Founder Mark Van Ness Founding Editor Grant Schreiber CEO Julie Van Ness General Manager Heather Mann VP of Growth Kevin Edwards Copy Editor Carla Kalogeridis Director of Community Engagement Noah Willerford Director of Strategic Alliances Leah MacKenzie Video Producer Tucker Hamilton Special Projects Manager Madelyn Dwyer Head Office St. Thomas, U.S.V.I Contact us Advertise@real-leaders.com Editorial@real-leaders.com www.real-leaders.com Real Leaders is the registered trademark of Real Leaders Inc., a registered B Corporation. © Real Leaders® All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed in Real Leaders are not necessarily those of the publisher. The individuals, companies, products and services featured in this publication are in no way endorsed by Real Leaders. ISSN 2222-3479 SPRING 2022 JOIN THE CHALLENGE READY TO MAKE A REAL IMPACT? While some leaders talk about sustainability, you can actually get trees in the ground. Join the Million Tree Challenge to support reforestation in our iconic National Forests. ONETREEPLANTED.ORG/MILLION 800-408-7850 JOIN THE MILLION TREE CHALLENGE WE SUPPORT
E e y n P l s a i Since the beginning, caring deeply for people has been at Torani’s core. As we’ve grown, this value has remained the same and the onset of the pandemic put it to the test. “We had to take a hard look at what would it take to hold on to all of our team members and make sure that they stayed safe,” says Melanie Dulbecco. Our leadership team prepared for the worst, coming up with contingency plans that would allow Torani to maintain all of our team members, even if it meant losing up to half our yearly sales. In April 2020, our family-owned company saw sales drop 20% versus prior year as the foodservice industry took a major hit. “And then business came back like crazy,” Melanie says, and it hasn’t stopped. As consumers started to create recreate their favorite drinks at home, Torani’s retail and online business soared and have continued to grow at a double-digit pace. But caring deeply for people didn’t stop with just our team - it also extended to our café family. We sought out ways to support our café and barista communities struggling through Covid. “We created the Torani Café Opportunity Fund to help cafés get back on their feet coming out of the pandemic and to help them grow into the future,” says Melanie. As Torani forges ahead, “we’re so proud of how far our foodservice industry has come and that we’re back on track with double digit growth, but we’re even more excited to create more opportunities for everyone that we touch.” (Clockwise from top) Top: Torani has always been at home behind the bar in cafes. Top Right: The Beanery Coffee House in Alameda, CA, is one of the recipients of Torani Cafe Opportunity Fund. Bottom Left: Delicious Torani flavored cold brew.. Middle Left: Torani CEO Melanie Dulbecco. 800.775.1925 • www.torani.com © Torani/2021 R. Torre & Company
8 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 Do you ever wonder why some people can turn a bad situation into good? When I ask business leaders around the world what the best thing about the pandemic has been, most of their answers have resoundingly been: “We like the decrease in business travel and more time with our families.” They also point out the convenience and value of easily connecting with other leaders across the globe via Zoom. Many have also experienced an awakening of some sorts, re-prioritizing their values and how they want their businesses to function going forward. The idea of either becoming an impact business or elevating their existing impact business for greater profit and exponential social purpose is high on their list. This “Great Reflection” period, as I call it — regarding people who deeply care about the health and survival of our world and want to use their business as a force for good — is both exciting and inspiring! These are the superheroes of today since impact businesses can have such a profound positive effect on our society and the next generation. I’d like to personally thank all of them because I know leading a triple bottom line organization can be a unique challenge that requires significant dedication. We all can show our gratitude, as well, by checking out the new “Real Leaders 200” ranking of Top Impact Companies around the world, featured in this special edition. The more we support these impact businesses through our purchases or investment power, the stronger we are collectively. Starting on page 44, you’ll see numerous examples of far-sighted leaders who are taking risks and making a difference, such as Arnerich Massena, which aligns investments with values, or King Arthur Baking Company, which inspires community connections through baking. Two other equally important priorities coming from this “Great Reflection” mindset have been a keen focus on mental health and the need for peer-to-peer collaboration. Re-evaluating the worklife-balance dynamics for each leader and their employees has been a daunting task for some, yet a EVER WONDER WHY? What Really Makes You Happy? “The greatest discovery of our generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. As you think, so shall you be.” —WilliamJames positive revelation for others. The remote work adjustment has streamlined many sustainable business practices and has allowed employees to spend more time connecting with family, friends, and communities. Many leaders have told me they’ve adopted new thinking and HR policies that offer more frequent, or permanent, home office and mental health opportunities. A happier, healthier work team is good for everyone. It can allowmore time for creative thinking, which can translate into more innovation and success. Collaborating with other purpose-driven leaders is also paying off. Many leaders are moving away from their silos and joining together with other values-aligned leaders in groups such as the Real Leaders Impact Collaborative, which provides a confidential environment to address their greatest challenges and opportunities. On a personal note around mental health, I find that I am looking more closely at the little things in life that bring me joy. Music is one of my passions that I’ve learned to appreciate more deeply because it can be soothing and emotionally transformative. Recently, I encouraged one of my own family members, Jillian Van Ness (who is the founder of Grow Resilient Families and a talented songwriter, composer, and singer, in addition to a fulltime mom taking care of two little ones during COVID-19) to share one of her soothing songs titled Resilience Reprise with our Real Leaders audience. It was written with raw honesty about the heaviness of the pandemic, yet with a positive intention to think differently anytime things feel too difficult. Every time I listen to this original song, it always warms my heart. I hope you enjoy this beautiful song, as well, and feel free to share it with anyone who may benefit from the music and the message. Julie VanNess, CEO Julie@Real-Leaders.com The Real Leaders Impact Collaborative Listen to “Resilience Reprise”
10 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 REPORT BACK FOR OUR FREE WEEKLY WoW! WORDS OF WISDOM EMAIL SIGN UP HERE: WWW.REAL-LEADERS.COM/SUBSCRIBE Real Leaders Magazine Takes Off Again — at an Airport Near You While the world waited anxiously for the skies to open again, and for air travel restrictions to lift from the pandemic, Real Leaders was watching newsstands at airports across the United States. Hudson retailers had become the favorite place for our readers to grab a copy of Real Leaders on the move, and to find inspiration at 30,000 feet. As international travel resumes and countries allow increasing numbers of visitors, we’ve seen the magazine take off again too. Find us in the business section, alongside other mainstream titles, and get your sustainable business fix as you soar to new destinations and opportunities. Did you know we’re on Apple Podcasts? Open the app and search for “Real Leaders Podcast” Are You Being Wowed Every Friday? If you haven’t already signed up to receive our FREE weekly WoW! Words of Wisdom email, you should. These Friday morning emails are the perfect way to inspire your weekend and plan your Monday victories! To receive your free, weekly dose of inspiration, sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe Regeneration is the New Watchword Sustainable Brands was back for its first in-person event in two years in San Diego last year. A key word we heard was “regenerative.” Many of our interviews centered around the sentiment of giving more than taking and a focus on diversity and inclusion practices. This invigorating event left us with a restored ambition to continue efforts to inspire our collective future. View the interviews from this conference on our YouTube channel @RealLeadersMagazine. Meet the Real Leaders Connects Values-Aligned Leaders Across the World Over the course of 2021, thousands of business leaders have signed up to join our free monthly networking event, Meet the Real Leaders, which hosted the likes of Dr. Jane Goodall, Suzy Amis Cameron, Lord Michael Hastings and Rebecca Minkoff. You’re invited to join the discussion, too — with a select group of impact CEOs looking to create positive impact through business. You’ll discover leadership strategies from notable leaders, who will suggest business solutions to pressing social problems and how entrepreneurs like yourself can turn them into business opportunities. If you’re ready to tackle the world and rebuild in 2022, be sure to sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Meet @RealLeadersMagazine @Real_Leaders @Real_Leaders @Real-Leaders @RealLeadersMagazine
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12 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 ADVISORY BOARD SPOTLIGHT Creativity has the power to move business. It’s the banner under which good design, storytelling, and compelling brand actions come to life. With the barrier to entry becoming easier in many sectors and so many products looking the same, creativity will decide who wins. Think about the rumors of Apple building a car; years ago, that idea would have seemed insane for a computer company. Yet, this type of creative thinking keeps a brand top of mind and valuable as an innovator. If you’re a smart CEO, creativity is something you should embrace massively, as it’s something you can apply to so many aspects of your company to unlock potential and new value. Start by creating a company culture where creativity can thrive. Creating a safe space where employees can be themselves is a good starting point but harder than you think. It takes an element of bravery to allow misfits and divergent voices in your company to be heard and a flexible corporate culture to accommodate them. Getting staff to let their guard down can be challenging — especially within a hierarchy — and a human approach is key to solving this problem. Create a process that allows for collaboration and creativity. Reimagine your metrics for success to include failure — there are lessons there too. Build resilience for when you hear “no” to an idea, with an ability to move on to more ideas without losing enthusiasm. Remember, nobody likes a genuinely creative idea at first because it’s too original, and there’s no framework for its success. CEOs need to keep an open mind and give space to things they may not understand yet fully. As a child, my family would move every four years around the world. I lived in Ghana, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and South Africa — each time needing to start from scratch and build a new life. It created a lot of curiosity in me and an appreciation of different people and cultures, and it’s something I’ve brought into my professional life. Advertising is so close to culture that seeking out diverse experiences can help your marketing strategy too. The Internet today allows access to so many diverse points of view that there’s no excuse anymore for not stimulating your brain with creative thinking, even if How CreativeThinking Helps You — and Your Business By Kwame Taylor-Hayford “IT TAKES AN ELEMENT OF BRAVERY TO ALLOW MISFITS AND DIVERGENT VOICES IN YOUR COMPANY TO BE HEARD AND A FLEXIBLE CORPORATE CULTURE TO ACCOMMODATE THEM.” — KWAME TAYLOR-HAYFORD you’ve never left your city or country before. You don’t need to hop on a plane anymore to find a meaningful experience or connection either. Curiosity is the key. The skill of a good designer is knowing what to highlight and what to ignore. A good storyteller does the same. Figuring out the core of your creative message is something you should spend time on. Some of the questions you should ask are: What is the purpose of my business beyond the product that I make? What value do I want to create in the world, and how can I move toward that value? Ideally, your product should be advancing you toward this value because it will strengthen your relationship with customers. At the same time, stay flexible because nobody knows when the next pandemic, economic crisis, or upheaval will happen again. By practicing creative thinking in your organization, you train yourself to roll with the punches and quickly come up with new solutions when the going gets tough. n WorkWithKin.com Kwame Taylor-Hayford is cofounder of Kin, a new breed of creative company that uses kinship to unleash business and culture as forces for good.
14 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 VOICES HAVE AN OPINION YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE? EMAIL US AT INFO@REAL-LEADERS.COM I travel regularly and enjoy grabbing my copy of Real Leaders at Hudson as I dash for my flight. My only regret is when the flight is a short one and I run out of time to finish reading! Your mag is entertaining, while at the same time offering solid advice on how to introduce social impact into my business. I also enjoy reading about well-known leaders who offer inspirational advice — a refreshing change from what I see in the news each day!” GREG FOSTER Dallas, TX Bravo! The magazine caught my eye in a Delta SkyClub this morning so I grabbed it as I walked out. Just read your editorial. Wow. Love to see this type of commentary. Wonderful piece — short, to the point, and inspiring. I’m far from being a billionaire, but I’ll be calling my advisor to discuss ways my wife and I can be more mindful about how we invest our nest egg so we can hopefully make this world a little bit better, for everyone, even if in a very small way. Thank you.” PATRICK CROPPER Washington, D.C. Be the first to receive Real Leaders each quarter. Subscribe at: Real-Leaders.com/Subscribe JOIN THE REAL LEADERS IMPACT COLLABORATIVE Real-Leaders.com /Impact-Collaborative It’s invigorating to collaborate with stir-it-up thought leaders in the Real Leaders Impact Collaborative. This is definitely no business-as-usual peer group. As a company that cares deeply about how to create meaningful opportunities for people and communities, it’s fantastic to build relationships, perspectives, and ideas with this team. We push the boundaries on each other’s thinking, and it makes a stronger difference — together.” MELANIE DULBECCO San Francisco Whether you’re the CEO of a company of 500 employees or 5, the Real Leaders Impact Collaborative has been incredibly valuable in developing my executive leadership skills, expanding my thinking, and helping me problem-solve with leaders who’ve experienced similar challenges.” ELAINE RASMUSSEN Minneapolis My recollection of social impact back in the 1990s was philanthropy — an extension of charitable giving that was mostly faith-based or driven by corporations seeking tax breaks. How refreshing to see this generosity of the human spirit become a mainstream business strategy, so perfectly embodied by your magazine.” BARBARA SMITH New York It’s the banging of the drum, getting the word out, spreading the seeds and the message — that’s what I appreciate so deeply about Real Leaders. The work you do elevates the conversation around what we all need to hear and do right now. The examples of leadership that you highlight allow us to learn and give us icons to follow.” JAY WILKINSON Nebraska RYLEY EDWARDS WHICH LEADER ARE YOU?
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16 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS INSPIRING THE FUTURE AS A CHANGEMAKER? EMAIL US AT EDITORIAL@REAL-LEADERS.COM VIHAAN AND HIS LITTLE BROTHER NAV WERE SITTING in the back seat of a car, on their way to school. The traffic was dense, as usual, and the air outside was smoggy with exhaust fumes. The polluted air in Delhi had been a problem for Vihaan for a long time. Because he had asthma, he often wasn’t allowed to go outside and play with his friends. So that day, when he opened the newspaper, one article caught his eye. “I read an article about how India’s largest landfill, the Ghazipur landfill, had collapsed and caught fire,” he remembers. “It released hazardous fumes into the atmosphere, as you can imagine.” That day, for the first time, Vihaan connected two problems that had always bothered him: Delhi’s dismal air quality and the huge amounts of trash generated each day in the city. Delhi’s 19 million people produce around 9,000 tons of solid waste every day. Most of the trash ends up in landfills, where it is neither recycled nor disposed of correctly. But since many landfills are already overflowing, a lot of trash is burned in the street. These trash fires release toxic fumes into the air — as do the landfills, where the gigantic mountains of waste also contaminate the groundwater. Vihaan decided that, at the very least, he didn’t want his own waste to end up in the landfill and continue to feed the fires that ultimately were making it hard for him — and everyone else — to breathe. He started by segregating it into dry and wet waste, making it Family MembersThat TeamedUp to Solve a Social Crisis “SEEING THE CLIMATE IN THIS STATE, IT’S IMPORTANT TO FIX OUR MISTAKES.” — Vihaan Agarwal By Marianne Larned CHANGEMAKERS much easier to recycle later. But then, when the trash was picked up, Vihaan saw that the workers were simply mixing all the trash — so his separating work had been in vain. But he didn’t give up. Instead, he contacted a company that would pick up the segregated waste and make sure that it was recycled. However, he again discovered that the company he hired to do the recycling wasn’t doing it correctly. So he and his brother decided to start their own organization, One Step Greener. At first, he and his brother did the trash sorting and recycling for just their own home, but soon, 20 other households were doing it too. “From 20 households, it grew to a hundred` in a matter of just two months,” Vihaan says. “Initially, our goal was just to survive and to grow the project as much as possible,” Vihaan says. But today, One Step Greener serves more than 1,400 households in 14 different neighborhoods, as well as in a few schools and offices all over Delhi. Their model worked so well that soon their nonprofit organization was turning a profit. So Vihaan and Nav immediately invested the funds into a second project to help improve air quality in Delhi: planting trees. “I think it’s essential because we are going to grow up and live in this world,” says Nav. “Seeing the climate in this state, it’s important to fix our mistakes — and right now, waste in India is not taken seriously.” n Turning Trash into Trees Vihaan and Nav Agarwal / India
SPRING 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 17 “IF WE ONLY HAVE A FEW MONTHS LEFT, HOW CAN WE MAKE THE MOST OF THEM IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER, OUR KIDS, AND COMMUNITY?” — Claire Nuer CHANGEMAKERS Learning as Leadership: Humanizing Business Lara and Claire Nuer / San Francisco and Paris LARA NUER WAS AN ORDINARY TEENAGER living in Paris with her family. Behind the appearances, however, she was resentful. “I was in the throes of a teenage crisis. I was easily annoyed by anything my mother said and felt oppressed by her sense of responsibility and sacrifice. I was shy and introverted, so most of my rebellion was internal rather than voiced. She knew it, and it hurt her.” Then, one day, everything changed in an instant. Lara’s mother, Claire, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given three months to live. “When this happened, my teenage crisis vanished overnight,” Lara says. “I immediately became determined to help her conquer this cancer. It was a very pure, naive sense of hope and possibility. I was only 14, but I was on a mission to keep her alive. My father, Sam, and I became her co-pilots on her quest for healing.” Claire knew what it was like to lose a parent. When she was nine years old, her father had been deported to Auschwitz, never to return. When Claire was only seven, she had been sent into hiding, away from her parents. She had faced hunger, abuse, and disease during the dark years of the Holocaust. Now she ferociously wanted to see her children grow up — and to be there for them. Claire and Sam became obsessed with this thought: “If we only have a few months left, how can we make the most of them in our relationships with each other, our kids, and community?” While battling cancer, Claire’s life’s calling was born: to give people the tools to discover this kind of selfawareness and give it back to the world. So she started a series of seminars and speaking engagements, and Lara decided to join her. Soon, she was invited to speak at major conferences and offer her programs in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Because Lara was fluent in English, she became Claire’s translator, and she worked feverishly to translate her work and coach business leaders around the world. Leaders like Deepak Chopra, Willis Harmon, and George McCown wanted to meet her. They were all curious how this petite woman who spoke only French and barely had a sixthgrade education could have such a powerful impact on so many people. Claire lived for 17 more years after that auspicious day that changed her life when she was told she had only three months to live. She would come to call cancer her “dear friend” because of the changes it had brought about in her life and the lives of so many others. By the time Claire passed away, Lara was 31 years old. Her brother Noah, for years inspired by his parents’ journey, gave up his film career to devote himself full-time to continue their work. Since Claire’s passing, under Lara and Noah’s leadership, Learning As Leadership has become a leadership training program for Fortune 500 companies and has helped many organizations shape a more humane culture. n Marianne Larned is the founder of The Stone Soup Leadership Institute, a non-profit organization that invests and trains young people around the world to become leaders in their communities. These stories are from her latest book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: LifeChanging Stories of Young Heroes. StoneSoupLeadership.org Top: Lara Nuer with her mother, Claire. Above: Claire Nuer. LEARNING AS LEADERSHIP
18 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 CHANGEMAKERS AS ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL SERIAL ENTREPRENEURS, Jo Burston has witnessed firsthand the power of entrepreneurship in driving economic growth. However, the founder and CEO of Inspiring Rare Birds, founder and managing director of Job Capital, and cofounder of Startup Business, also recognized early in her career the missed opportunity and loss of not having more women participate in Australia’s male-dominated entrepreneurial culture. Since 2014, she has used Inspiring Rare Birds as a platform to challenge the view of what is possible for women and leading young girls and women executives into new terrain by changing the way they see themselves as entrepreneurs. During an acceptance speech for a business award in 2011, Burston recognized the need to increase women’s participation in entrepreneurship. “As I stood on stage at Parliament House in New South Wales, I looked at the sea of faces and realized that there were hardly any women in the room,” says Burston. “I got curious and took a film crew, with the permission of the Department of Education, back to my school in Southwest Sydney to interview 30 young women between the ages of eight and 17. I asked them who they wanted to become?” Her findings showed that most girls still did not know what they wanted to do after high school. When Burston asked what an entrepreneur was, the majority said it was a man in business or a man who has a company. She says, “I found that they had no idea — no concept at all — that entrepreneurship was open to them as a pathway to a successful and fulfilling life. I realized that girls cannot become what they cannot see. I thought, ‘Here is our social environment reflected in the thoughts of these young women.’ My mission there and then was to give every woman the opportunity to become an entrepreneur.” As she started building Inspiring Rare Birds, Burston gathered insights from leading entrepreneurs to publish her first book, Australia’s 50 Influential Women Entrepreneurs, a first-of-itskind in Australia, which generated the interest of academia, government, and industry leaders like EY. Based on the book’s success, Burston invested in what she believed to be an essential tool to help women launch their careers and grow their businesses: a world-class mentoring program. “From my personal journey, I recognized the importance of having a mentor,” she explains. “One of the reasons I was successful in my career was because I had a mentor of 16 years who was also a serial entrepreneur and who became my first investor.” Jo Burston: CoachingWomen Entrepreneurs to ChallengeWhat’s Possible By Rola Tassabehji Rola Tassabehji is a journalist and content marketing specialist with a background in global brand management experience at Unilever and higher education at INSEAD. YPO is a global leadership community of more than 30,000 chief executives in 142 countries driven by the belief that the world needs better leaders. Jo Burston has been a member since 2017.
SPRING 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 19 CHANGEMAKERS “FORTY PERCENT OF OUR MENTORS ARE MEN. THEY ENJOY BEING A PART OF IT BECAUSE THEY WANT A DIFFERENT PATHWAY FOR THEIR DAUGHTERS AND THEIR GRANDDAUGHTERS IN THE FUTURE.” — JO BURSTON Since then, the mentoring program has become a key pillar of Inspiring Rare Birds. The addition of a digital platform to the program enabled rapid scaling and broad access. By 2020, the organization had expanded across 17 locations and built a community of 60,000 members able to network on an online collaborative hub, with full access to an expert resource library. “This is an enormous country with a very dispersed organization. It was essential for us to reach everyone so that Rare Birds wasn’t isolated to big cities. We rolled out the business across regions in Australia and Papua New Guinea, engaging local Rare Birds Ambassadors who would then be the voice of our movement on the ground.” While citing the long flights as a personal challenge during these initial years, Burston adds, “People were ready for this. They wanted this message and were ready to embrace it. The timing was right.” The consistency of the messaging and the storytelling contributed to the successful expansion. In Burston’s second book, #IFSHECANICAN, she recounts 29 young Australian women entrepreneurs’ business journeys, looking at their stories from an academic perspective. “That not only helped spread the message but also changed my view of what entrepreneurs think and how they work,” Burston says. “And it’s not all luck and hard work. There’s a lot of thinking that goes on that could be mapped.” A third book, Brilliant Business Kids, followed, using a cartoon-style format to target a younger audience. “I wanted to demonstrate that young people have and can develop an entrepreneurial mindset.” In 2018, Australia’s Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Office for Women approached Burston to provide a mentoring program to 100 women entrepreneurs from marginalized communities, including indigenous, migrant, refugee, low socio-economic, and disabled groups. The aim of the 12-month program, spanning 95 different towns throughout metropolitan, regional, and remote Australia, was to grow the businesses and develop the entrepreneurial skills of the members. The program proved successful on various metrics. It boasts a 100% satisfaction rating; 81% of participants reported business growth; 98% felt more confident about business capability; and 96% said the program helped them and their business succeed. From the start, Burston structured the organization as a business capable of producing a return from a viable financial model without charging a membership fee. “I wanted it to be a legitimate business, a purpose-built organization that is profitable, even though all the money gets reinvested into the business,” she says. “I have always built scalable companies. I have the formula to do that, so I played to my strengths. Interestingly, organizations invest in us knowing that we are a for-profit company.” After two years, the organization has become self-sustaining, funded by government and corporations, with ambassadors volunteering their time. Burston adds, “People who are involved with Inspiring Rare Birds do it because they want to give back. Forty percent of our mentors are men. They enjoy being a part of it because they want a different pathway for their daughters and their granddaughters in the future. Rare Birds is not a women’s organization. It’s an organization to support women. And that support comes from all.” An essential part of leading a for-profit, forpurpose business is having a “smart heart,” says Burston. “Having an empathetic heart in this business is essential. We have to listen to people’s stories. We have to hear what they are saying; we have to walk in their shoes. Only then will we be able to provide the support system to help them thrive and flourish. I have become a far more empathetic leader in that process.” As she continues to innovate and expand Rare Birds in Australia and beyond, Burston still finds time for her other entrepreneurship ventures. “I remember hearing people say that ‘If you can’t distinguish the difference between work and fun, you probably are in the right place.’ That’s the place I’m at now.” n
20 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 MINDFULNESS WHAT EVERY TEAM WANTS TO HEAR FROM ITS LEADER By Joel Schwartzberg To give your appreciation rich meaning and value, it must answer the question, “Why is this person deserving of thanks?” Answering this question credits the achievement and the level of commitment, ingenuity, and hard work. Also, make sure your appreciation is specific, timely, and unique to the person you’re acknowledging. You’ll get extra appreciation points for including a true story or example that illustrates the effort’s value. The more details you provide, the more meaningful your appreciation will be. Here’s an example. Note the progression of impact as a leader recognizes “Sam” and includes more telling details: “My thanks to Sam, who delivered a presentation last week.” Translation: “I understand Sam completed a task.” “My thanks to Sam, who delivered a great presentation last week.” Translation: “I noticed Sam did a good job.” “My thanks to Sam, whose presentation on inventory innovations last week was powerful and had good ideas.” Translation: “I paid attention to Sam’s presentation. He did a good job, and his effort can have value for the team.” “My thanks to Sam, whose presentation on inventory innovations last IF THERE’S ONE THING EVERY TEAM wants to hear from a leader in every communication, it’s gratitude. In addition to boosting your team’s morale and motivation, public recognition reinforces that you’re paying attention to — and are in full support of — their endeavors. Even minor expressions of gratitude can have a meaningful impact. In an article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers Francesca Gino and Adam M. Grant revealed that simple expressions of gratitude “increase prosocial behavior by enabling individuals to feel socially valued.” Now, for those of you who don’t read the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology religiously as I do, prosocial behavior is behavior connected to positivity, helpfulness, and an intention to advance social acceptance and collegiality — the kind of behavior leaders want to foster. But while you have more than 170,000 English words to choose from to create a nifty complement, not all word combinations and phrases have the same impact. In fact, just the words “thank you” convey little meaningful impact. They register as polite but not substantially praising. Here’s what you should do instead. 1 SUPPLY THE “WHY” week demonstrated how much time and energy we can save if we think as creatively as he did.” Translation: “Sam got my attention with his presentation. He impressed me with his points about innovation, and I think we can all learn from them.” Another element that makes the last version especially compelling: the elimination of adjectives. When you banish adjectives, you force yourself to use more meaningful and specific words. Yes, giving meaningful, contextual thanks takes considerably more time and energy than simply saying or emailing the word “thanks,” but when you see it as a valuable opportunity to reward and inspire, the return on your investment is clear.
Leadership coach Darcy Eikenberg, whose clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, and Deloitte, discourages leaders from saving their appreciation until a project’s completion, and I agree. Appreciation is valuable at any stage and can inspire further commitment. “Sometimes, we struggle to acknowledge and appreciate others on our team because the goal isn’t complete or isn’t yet successful,” Darcy told me. “But it’s the right effort that gets the right results. Recognizing the steps your team takes toward those results can be very powerful and affirming — even if they haven’t met their ultimate goal yet.” The best evidence of the value of meaningful thanks happens at weddings, not workplaces. Visualize two wedding toasts — one merely saying, “Phil and Alice make a great couple,” and the other telling a story about Phil and Alice’s courtship that reveals their quirky personalities and illustrates their compatibility. Which toast will be remembered and admired? The one that used details to convey a specific point of appreciation. Your “toast” should resonate with your team the same way. Joel Schwartzberg is an award-winning leadership communications coach and author of Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter. If you’re conveying general appreciation to many people at once — during a holiday event or organizational milestone, for example — don’t call out specific teams or people at the risk of neglecting others. The sting of being left out can cause more damage than what the glow of recognition can deliver. At the same time, avoid very long, all-inclusive lists of appreciated people and departments that will cause many in your audience to tune out. If you can’t call out specific people or teams without omitting others equally deserving of recognition, speak of the qualities and values they share. For example: “Though many people and teams around the company contributed significantly to our success — too many to mention here — what unites all of you is a love for what we do and a relentless commitment to our goals. I appreciate and thank you all.” n 2 DON’T SITON YOUR SUPPORT 3 TRY “THE WEDDING TEST” 4 THANK EVERYONE WITHOUT EXCLUDING OTHERS
22 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 LEADERSHIP D enial, anger, bargaining, and depression have all been in the mix of emotions experienced in the last two years. Still, after each of these, it has inevitably come to the final stage of acceptance for many. For Google, that moment seemingly came in May 2021 when, after its latest plan to open offices was disrupted yet again by spiraling COVID-19 cases, it threw its proverbial hands in the air and accepted that there was no way of knowing if or when normal business would resume. The remote and hybrid work genie is officially out of the bottle and settling in for the long stay. It will inevitably impact how leaders view the years to come and what attitudes, skills, and adaptations to their practices will be needed to best navigate and excel in the new world of work. The second major reckoning coming to leaders is the need to filter major and minor decisions through the lens of their resulting social and environmental impact. With a recent PWC report finding that 83% of consumers think companies should be actively shaping ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) best practices rather than reacting and adjusting, not only is there an urgent moral argument for leaders to get their houses in order quickly, but a compelling business case. So how will these dynamic forces that are instigating once-in-ageneration change impact leaders in 2022? MUCH LIKE THE FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF, THE DRAMATIC LOSS OF TRADITIONAL WORKPLACES AS THE FOUNDATIONS OF THEIR BUSINESSES HAS TAKEN LEADERS ON A HEADY EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER. HERE’S HOW THINGS MAY RESOLVE IN THE YEAR AHEAD. By Jessica Nordlander HEADS UP: 3 LEADERSHIP TRENDS FOR 2022 GETTY IMAGES / KLAUS VEDFELT
SPRING 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 23 LEADERSHIP “VIRTUAL WORKPLACES WILL GET SMARTER …WAY SMARTER.” Many leaders think that they’ve recreated their physical workplace into a virtual one with a corporate Zoom package and a Slack subscription. The reality is, it isn’t that easy. Leaders will need to be smart as they set about building a digital equivalence to something physical that took decades to refine. They’ll also need help. Most leaders wouldn’t contemplate asking Bill in HR or Jenny in IT to come up with designing a new office, but for many, that’s exactly who is being tasked with curating their virtual workplace. I expect to see an entirely new category of specialists emerge, people who create advanced digital workplaces. These next-generation, virtual work environments won’t necessarily be curated with all new technologies (let’s be honest, there’s a lot of those already) but could skilfully combine existing platforms with evolved processes and leadership practices. The goal? To build trusting, collaborative teams that can drive together productivity and innovation — from bedrooms to boardrooms. “IMPACT LEADERS WILL BE CHALLENGED TO HAVE IMPACT.” Speaking in May 2021 at a New York conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured above) aired his view on why JP employees should all return to the workplace. In his view, by the following September or October, “It will look just like it did before, and everyone’s going to be happy with it.” The inescapable truth is that, while a return to the office for Dimon and other JPMorgan employees would be a welcome resumption, for others, it would undoubtedly represent a significant step backward. Corporate leaders tend to come from privileged groups, making it harder to appreciate the realities of in-person work environments for those who experience many physical or social impediments. For many, a virtual environment levels the playing field. Working in a non-physical workplace allows people not to be judged physically. Recognizing that a one-size workplace doesn’t fit all is step one. Decisively acting on it to create new and dynamic structures that work for diverse teams is step two and what impactful leaders will be increasingly challenged to do. “MORE CORPORATIONS WILL GET IN THE RING.” In September 2021, Salesforce, a company with a global workforce of more than 56,000 people, led by CEO Marc Benioff (pictured above), offered to relocate Texas-based employees and their families after a Texas abortion law went into effect. While not directly commenting on the law itself, Salesforce took a vocal, public stand by recognizing and respecting deeply held and different world views. “If you have concerns about access to reproductive healthcare in your state, Salesforce will help relocate you and members of your immediate family,” they told employees. Throwing substantial corporate weight into the ring to back consequential causes or counter perceived injustices will, in my opinion, continue to be a growing trend with the lead taken by brands such as Salesforce but also brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, Lyft, Levis, and others. They will set a standard for others to follow. n Jessica Nordlander is COO at community intelligence software company Thoughtexchange. She is an ex-Googler, former chief digital officer for global travel group STS Education, and former managing director for SaaS growth wonder Meltwater. CHIP SOMODEV I LLA / GETTY IMAGES SALESFORCE
24 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 LEADERSHIP Meet the Real Leaders. Connect with like-minded CEOs at our FREE monthly networking events. Sign up here: Real-Leaders.com/Meet T he past year has seen assaults on democracy, COVID-19 variants, Juneteenth celebrations, Squid Games, congressional deadlock, and the beginnings of the Great Resignation. It was a year in which we debated coups and conspiracies, vaccine safety and efficacy, critical race theory, the causes of burnout, and why so many people want to leave their jobs en masse for the first time in living memory. Unfortunately, four leadership proficiencies are missing from the discussion right now that must be prioritized for 2022 (and beyond), which will allow us to turn the page on the past two tumultuous years. One of the most asked questions today is: What can leaders do about disengaged employees leaving companies for greener (or different) pastures? The numbers are discouraging, with 95% of employees thinking of leaving their current employer according to a recent Monster.com survey. And according to The 2021 People Management Report by The Predictive Index, “63% of those with a lousy manager are thinking of leaving within the next 12 months.” On top of these record numbers, inflation is rising, gas prices are out of control, and relief packages from the pandemic are expiring. At the same time, COVID-19 variants continue to mutate and increase across the globe. In these challenging moments, CEOs, founders, and managers need to turn to positive psychology and strengths-based leadership — concepts that have a record of creating conditions for success. It’s time to tune in, listen, and validate the messages that these new trends are delivering. Employees in this buyer’s market prioritize purpose over paychecks, development over ego, coaching By Omar L. Harris 4 WAYS TO RE-ENGAGE EMPLOYEES over bossing, ongoing conversations over annual reviews, growing their strengths instead of obsessing over weaknesses, and a work-life integration over workaholism. Here are the four key leadership attributes that can transform your workplace and re-engage employees. GETTY IMAGES / LUCY LAMBRI EX
SPRING 2022 / REAL-LEADERS.COM 25 LEADERSHIP Omar L. Harris is a former general manager of GSK and Allergan, an executive coach and speaker, and a Gallup-certified strengths coach. He is the author of Leader Board: The DNA of High-Performance Teams. Trust According to Gallup, “Employees who trust their leadership are twice as likely to say they will be with their company one year from now.” Trust is all about authenticity, reliability, credibility, and interest in another person’s success and development while minimizing one’s own self-orientation. Leaders can gain, repair, and increase trust among employees by being transparent about difficulties and not cutting corners or taking shortcuts. Above all, seek to help your people thrive despite a negative environment. Compassion Compassion revolves around positivity – meaning that a leader will help uplift everyone in their care. Compassionate leaders augment their positive impact by being exceptionally calm and courteous, making others feel good, and communicating regularly that they care. They acknowledge good performance early and often and listen to others describe their goals and ambitions. A Gallup survey found that “51% of employees would change jobs for one that offered them flextime and 37% would do the same for a job that offered them the ability to work from anywhere (at least part of the time). The future of work will most likely be more employees working remotely.” Leaders with a strong ability to adapt to this new reality and show compassion will improve employees’ performance and increase their value in the workplace. Stability Stability means a leader’s ability to create a culture of security, strength, support, and peace. People need to know their jobs are safe — if indeed they are — but they also crave knowledge about an organization’s future. Research shows that only 22% of employees strongly agree that their leaders have a clear direction for the organization – and that was before the pandemic. There can be no stability without radical candor, which includes confronting the brutal facts of a given situation and then providing the steps to recovery with clear expectations for everyone involved. It’s always good practice to keep employees in the loop on their performance, good or bad, because people need and deserve to know what they’re up against. Besides, challenging times bring people together, and that’s what influential leaders have used over centuries to uplift, innovate, and inspire. Stability Hope is a leader’s ability to give others a sense of direction, faith, and guidance, making them enthusiastic about the achievable future. According to Gallup, “Hope is significant because employees who strongly agree that their leader makes them feel enthusiastic about the future are 69 times more likely to be engaged in their work compared with employees who disagree with that statement.” Enthusiasm is contagious, and leaders who know how to wield this force are tremendously influential, well-liked, and successful. Upping your enthusiasm as a leader requires you to believe in what you are saying to others. If you don’t buy it yourself, it will be impossible to sell it to others. It requires you to do the hard work of aligning your team on critical success factors, milestones, contingencies, and impact measures that will be tracked along your journey to success. There is no business without people, and in today’s uncertain climate, there will be no people to lead without these four vital capabilities. Now is the time to invest in them or risk the continued fallout of employee disengagement in a buyer’s market. n “CHALLENGING TIMES BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER, AND THAT’S WHAT INFLUENTIAL LEADERS HAVE USED OVER CENTURIES TO UPLIFT, INNOVATE, AND INSPIRE.” — OMAR L. HARRIS GETTY IMAGES / KLAUS VEDFELT
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