Business 4 good

Grow grit, like a Champion:

Insights from a Tennis Pro Turned Coach

In the competitive world of tennis, success hinges not only on physical prowess but also on mental resilience. Alex Ward, a former professional tennis player turned coach, shares valuable insights on cultivating a champion mindset that transcends the boundaries of the court. With a career that saw him compete at Wimbledon and coach top British players, Ward's journey offers profound lessons applicable beyond the realm of sports.

Ward emphasizes the importance of grit in overcoming challenges and setbacks. Drawing parallels between the demanding nature of tennis tournaments and the obstacles faced in business and transformation, he highlights the necessity of building resilience to navigate through adversities. Through years of competing and coaching, Ward underscores the value of being process-driven and adaptable in developing the grit required for sustained success.

One key aspect Ward discusses is the role of adaptability in fostering longevity, citing tennis legend Novak Djokovic's perspective on the matter. By being able to adjust and respond effectively to changing circumstances, individuals can enhance their performance and resilience. Ward's advice on managing emotions and problem-solving resonates not only on the court but also in the boardroom, where the ability to adapt and stay present is crucial for making sound decisions under pressure.

Reflecting on his coaching experience, Ward sheds light on the differences in coaching male and female players. While male players thrive on competitiveness and group dynamics, female players often seek deeper connections and a sense of understanding from their coach. Ward's emphasis on building trust and rapport with players underscores the significance of interpersonal relationships in driving performance and growth, both in sports and corporate settings.

Ward's insights extend to the realm of personal development and leadership. By sharing his recommended readings, such as Mark Manson's "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" and Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," he underscores the importance of mindset and attitude in facing challenges. These profound works offer valuable lessons on resilience, self-awareness, and the power of choice in shaping one's response to adversity.

As Ward envisions himself as the CEO of a company like Apple, his champion mindset brings forth a blend of peak performance expectations and people-centered leadership. By instilling a culture of accountability, focus, and vulnerability, he aims to foster a work environment where employees can thrive and contribute their best. Ward's approach underscores the interconnectedness of individual success and team dynamics in achieving collective goals and driving organizational growth.

In conclusion, Alex Ward's journey from tennis player to coach unveils a treasure trove of insights on developing a champion mindset. His experiences on and off the court offer invaluable lessons on resilience, adaptability, and the power of human connections. Whether navigating the challenges of a tennis match or the complexities of business transformation, Ward's wisdom serves as a guiding light for individuals seeking to excel in their endeavors with a champion's mindset

✨ Adaptability is Longevity! ✨

Speaking with Edouard Roger-Vasselin about his great 20th year on the tour (see results below ⬇️) we talked about adaptability as the key to lasting performance. True in tennis,True at work.

A few key insights to enable adaptability

💡 Surround yourself with a stable, reliable, trustworthy team. They are the most important. Trust them ... and work everyday to win their trust. Create moments off/on court/job to get to know each other really well.

💡Set new big ambitious objectives when things change, and make sure your short term ones build the long term performance.

💡 Cultivate a positive attitude for yourself and for your team, especially when things go wrong. Empathy is key there.

💡 Cherish the "recovery" time. Resist the crunch of hyper-doing.

3 key takeways from my discussion with Charlie Vickery, Managing director of Haeckels, on radical innovation and making beauty really positive.

1️⃣ Work with nature: 🌍🌿

There is incredible potential in embracing the power of nature. By harnessing its gifts for their intended purposes, we can foster a more holistic and respectful approach to creativity. By aligning our production chains with local ecosystems, we not only create a unique product story, but we also combat the harmful standardization of beauty products. Let's unlock the beauty secrets nature holds and nurture a more sustainable path forward.

2️⃣ Learn from failure: 💪🏆

Actually if you don't fail, you don't push the boundaries enough. Successful disruptors are those who embrace failure as an opportunity for growth. By learning from our mistakes, we gain invaluable insights and appreciation for the highs and lows of our journey. Let's embrace change, reinvent ourselves, and forge a sustainable beauty landscape built on resilience and innovation.

3️⃣ Turn anger into passion: ❤️‍🔥

As leaders in the beauty industry, we are not immune to frustrations and concerns about the world around us. By channeling our anger and dissatisfaction, we can unearth our true purpose on this earth. Ask yourself: What infuriates me? What do I find absurd in our world today? By transforming this frustration into fuel, we can invest ourselves in causes and initiatives that align with our values. Let's be passionate advocates for positive change, driving transformation within our industry and beyond.

Together, as leaders in the beauty industry, we have the power to make a meaningful difference. By embracing these three keys to sustainable success, we can shape a future where beauty and sustainability walk hand in hand.

Let's be catalysts for change and create a legacy that transcends beauty trends—one that leaves a lasting positive impact on our planet and society. Let's go? 💪🔥

In this episode, we reflect on the past 6 years and how more people are more serious about deeper change led by scientific evidence and creative bold innocations.

Is your vision compelling enough to drive action?

Interesting to listen to Santiago how how he started this huge movement, now regrouping some of the best 400 thought leaders, 1000 innovators and 30 000+ business people engaged in making the world a better place. It all started with a personal enconter and a compelling vision.

A strong vision drives real Change! 🌟

🚀 Don't miss out on this enlightening conversation! and Go, follow Change Now!

#CountdownToChange #JoinTheConversation #ChangenowWorld #ParisEvent #InspiringConversations #SustainabilityMatters #IdeasForABetterWorld #LinkInBio #RealChange #PeopleAndPlanet

Can AI make us more empathetic?  

If you are one of the 80% of leaders who think that empathy makes you weak and that you don't have time, think again. Empathy might be the most crucial skill in today's business world to drive engagement (among employees and consumers), foster innovation, and enable true diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Not only does empathy make us better humans, but it also makes us better leaders.

 During a recent discussion with @MinterDial about his great book #heartificialempathy, I realised that AI could help us become more human and empathetic.

• AI can help us augment our cognitive empathy by accelerating our knowledge about people's culture and context.

• The process of encoding AI with empathy grows us as humans because we need to decode and deepen the science of empathy.

• The rise of machines invites us to grow our humanity as a superior skill.

Here are a few notes from the conversation

1. Don't confuse empathy with kindness and compassion. Empathy is about understanding the people around us and our impact on them.

2. Make human impact part of your strategy. It must be real and genuinely aligned with values and business intention.

3. Empathy requires curiosity and being present and freeing ourselves from our own biases.

4. Empathy starts with self-empathy: being real, allowing emotions and imperfections.

#empathy  #people #csr #ceo #heartificial  #empathetic #leadership #coding #winningbetter #AI #artificialintelligence

#BeautyIndustry #FashionIndustry #CSR #CorporateSocialResponsibility #Sustainability #Innovation #DiversityandInclusion #EmployeeEngagement #ConsumerEngagement

Have you ever though about calling Academics to hep you through your complicated sustainability decision process?
In this episode Kamran Razmdoost, Dean of ESCP London Business School, helps us access powerful impact research to improve  leaders' decision making.

it is about :
-getting help from professors to strategically frame the challenge

- selecting a list of reliable and accessible impact research publications

-exploring the depth and width of the impact wanted

-designing  a measuring process and eco-system in and outside the company

If you need more relevance from Academic work, feed Kamran with your needs :
what are the barriers to interact with academic research?
what are the need that academic can help more?
what is the perceived value of research in your company?

YES! IMPACT NATIVE ARE SHAKING BIG LEADERS to accelerate their re-invention.   And it is not only about product and services. It is also about the business model and the experience they offer to their full eco-system : consumers , employees, suppliers and bsuiness partners. Nicolas Freudiger inspires us with the first ever luxury watch made with circular economy and a totally new way to do business. It is about

✅ radical transparency

✅ open source

✅  flat organisation

Yes! Luxury brands can be "inductors" of a new economic model. A model creating high-value, low-negative impact and supporting artisans and producers progress.

the proof is in the example. Thank you Cecile LOCHARD for sharing with us your great work @Guerlain and insipring many leaders on the way to reinvent luxury.

Yes! Luxury can and must set the example of a new economic model where high value is created , better distributed and with a genuine respect for planet and people. Beyond the conviction, Camille Vever shows how she awakened the prestigious jewellery family brand Vever with a vision to create jewels that make people dream whilst respecting people and planet. We talk about:

"TO BE REGENERATIVE IS TO BE POSITIVE, IN 4D!"

Such an inspiring vision from Marcelo Behar, Vice President of Sustainability at Natura &Co.

Leaders need to design their strategy and monitor business value creation on the triple bottom line: planet, people and profit, as One metric, in order to survive the next 50 years. The new generation will increasingly become employee, citizens, consumers, and investors  of sustainable businesses.

Embracing circularity and regeneration is paramount. And to be regenerative you must be positive on 4 dimensions simultaneously: nature, carbon, social and financial. For example, Natura has created a technique with Agro forestry to turn palm oil into a regenerative practice benefiting all.

The top 3 challenges to embark on this virtuous model are:

1. Complexity. Sustainability should not be another layer of complexity or acronyms but a simple strategy across the business. A conscious awareness of what we take away from nature when manufacturing, retailing, or using something, and a personal will to make smarter choices.

2. Building trust. Staying away from greenwashing by choosing common metrics and getting 3rd party verification like B.Corp.

3. Enabling dialogue between public and private sectors. Connecting where you want to be and who you want to be with in the scientific, Business, NGos, communities to build regenerative and circular solutions together.

🎧 listen to the full episode

🔎 https://tnfd.global/ , https://www.cbd.int/conferences/geneva-2022, https://www.businessfornature.org/

🎬https://join.waterbear.com/

"YOU NEED TO BE SUSTAINABLE TO BE PROFITABLE!" I had the great pleasure to meet with Mathieu Chabran, co-founder of Tikehau Capital in the days running up to #cop26  with "getting finance to flowing climate actions" on top of the agenda.Listening to Mathieu and reading EY report reporting that 82% of CEO consider ESG has a growth driver, I have never felt more confident that companies, leaders and each employee have on boarded the journey to take action and make BUSINESS a REAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

In this podcast Minter, an international speaker, elevator and multi-award author, and I exchange on the new type of leadership that is needed today. One driven by authenticity and purpose. One of courage to stand for what they believe in, and of courage to show vulnerability. One with specific skills around :federating and story telling.

Le business est et doit etre une force de progrès pour tous. J'invite des penseurs, leaders , champions et aventuriers a échanger sur ce theme en partageant examples concrets et best practice. Dans cet episode Romain Pilliard de Use it Again, Aline Foulet de Akane et Mathieu Abiteboul de Reborn échangent sur le recyclage et surtout le sur-cyclage : comment aller plus vite et plus loin.

Liz Earle - serial entrepreneur, acclaimed author and key founder of the Wellbeing movement takes 10 minutes to talk to us about Covid (we recorded this podcast in March 2020), Teamwork and Dad’s working from home!

Stephan Caron is two times Olympic medalist in swimming, Worldwide Vice Champion and European champion of 100m freestyle and now heads the private debt activity at Black Rock.  He shares with us the 2 fundamentals that every performer (in sport or in business) should embrace are : self awareness and responsibility. He is also talking about his 2-steps winning strategy : 1. Setting goals and building a path to success 2.Creating a framework to overcome set backs that will inevitably happen.

« we believed we could change a 19th century industry into a leading tech company because we believed in the people”, Raouti Chehih, CEO of EuraTechnologies, one of the first and largest start-up incubator in Europe at EuraTechnologies 10th anniversary party.

Laurent, VP @ L'Oreal USA shares with us from his NY office concrete best practice on how to place human at the heart of business performance. click here to listen to the podcast Leaders, with their vision and capacity to drive execution have the ability to reshape the world

Trust is a binary choice, you either chose to trust or not. This is that simple. After 17years at IBM, Jude, Founder of Leaders by Nature and author of Leading through Uncertainty, started a new career and discovered the power of horses to help leader and executive team find alignement and build trust to move forward. Listen to Jude’s podcast to discover how you build trust and set a new dynamic in your team in just…. 5 minutes.

Will Vanderhart talks about why senior leaders are looking to create their own legacy while still at work. From HSBC to Timpson's, Will has helped senior leaders create a sustainable culture that looks beyond revenue to delivering things people really care about at work. Will Vanderhart is an author, public speaker, advisor to global corporates, and a vicar in the Church of England. His most recent book is called "The Power of Belonging: Discovering the confidence to lead with vulnerability"

Business can and should positively impact people's live. Matthew Crummack shares with us how GoCompare has been a disruptive force for good in the insurance industry – helping the poorest and least able to switch to find deals which improve their family budgets

"Business, a force for good" welcomes David Robert, CEO of Singa France. David shares with us his experience in scale, agility and Migration Led Innovation. 

PODCAST in French. ENGLISH transcript on www.vidal-verity.com

Sophie shares with us her experience of leadership within L'Oréal. Discover how she embarked her team in transforming a Spa, growing turnover as well as consumer and employee satisfaction, all at once. "when employees feel they own the business, the business wins". 

Rob Malcolm has worked as CMO at Diageo, Professor of Marketing and is currently on the Board of Hershey's.   Rob talks to Edward Verity about how business can be a force for good.