Leadership, Brand Strategy & Transformation - Minter Dialogue

Minter Dialogue with Davide BollatiDavide Bollati is the owner and chairman, since 2006, of Davines Group and Comfort Zone. Davide has steered Davines Group, which was founded in 1983, to be a worldwide recognised professional brand providing high-end haircare solutions for hairdressing salons and skincare (with Comfort Zone) for spas, that is known for its commitment to ethical sourcing and sustainability. In 2016, Davines became a certified B Corp. Present in some 90 counties and with about 800 employees, Davines Group is a tremendous success story. In this conversation, we discuss Davide's career path, some of the critical choices he made, the route to and effects of becoming a B Corp, the use of La Carta Etica, the building of the Davines community, the use of a philosopher to help craft the direction of the brand, and much more. An enlightening story.  If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Michael TennantMichael Tennant is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of "The Power of Empathy, A Thirty-Day Path to Personal Growth and Social Change." In this conversation, we explore how to handle adversity, strain and addiction. We dive deep into the power of empathy and how important it is to work on yourself. We explore issues of mental health, finding your WHY and some of the key insights in his book. If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Dan EganDan Egan is the world-renowned skier and pioneer of extreme sports. He is known for skiing the most remote regions of the world, and has been named one of the most influential skiers of our time. He has been a central feature, along with his brother, in a number of amazing Warren Miller films, including "Born to Ski," "Vertical Reality," and "Future Retro." Dan's also the author of the book, "Thirty Years in a White Haze: Dan Egan's Story of Worldwide Adventure and the Evolution of Extreme Skiing." In this conversation, we discuss his upbringing, some of his feats and experiences, including how he spent 38 hours trapped 17,000ft high in Russia, how he balances adventure, risk and safety, the nature of flow, the battle of freestyle to gain legitimacy, and much more. If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Richard EarnestRichard Earnest is the founder of Earnest Enterprises and author of the book, "Leading with Ethics and Humanity -- Do you have the guts?" that came out in August 2022. Richard graduated by the US Naval Academy in 1964 to become an officer and highly decorated pilot during the Vietnam War. Then, having had over 30 years of experience as a top executive in high-tech industries, he's a mentor and coach of young entrepreneurs and leaders who face tough challenges and opportunities. In this conversation, we explore Richard's career, the impact of having been in war, serving as an officer. We examine the qualities of resilience and agility in leadership, the ways that leaders can bring ethics and humanity into their daily practice to build an effective culture and business. And we look at the difference of leadership in the military, politics and business.If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Daniel PriestleyDaniel Priestley, a repeat guest, is founder of Dent Global and ScoreApp. Daniel has been been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year, written half a dozen business books, founded multiple 7 and 8 figure ventures and is on a mission to help develop entrepreneurs who stand out, scale up and make a dent. In this conversation, we discuss his entrepreneurial roots, his journey from Australia to England, the state of entrepreneurs today, the role and importance of tech for any startups or business, the pendulum swings of purpose, politics and business transformation. We also unpack ScoreApp and how and why it can help your business. The future of X (Twitter) and look at mental health issues among entrepreneurs. If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Paul SkinnerPaul Skinner is an entrepreneur with a marketing flair. He's founder and Director at the Agency of the Future, he founded and runs MarketingKind and he has also written two books, "The Collaborative Advantage" and most recently, "The Purpose Upgrade, Change your Business to Save the World. Change the World to Save Your Business," published by Little, Brown Book Group. We dive into what purpose is and means. How to approach creating a purpose that drives greater value and growth, the purpose business case, what does it mean to upgrade your purpose, the notion of what constitutes "better" in making the world better. And more. If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Lena RantsevichLena Rantsevich is a rebel, treating life as an intellectual and emotional pursuit. Formerly head of Samsung Electronics in Belarus, Business Person of the Year, TEDx speaker and co-founder of businesses in decentralised justice, real estate and consultancy, Lena and her family left the Ukraine because of the war to set up in London. Her new venture, Reputy.io, is a "soul bound talent wallet" designed to help individuals find better jobs faster by matching and proving soft skills. We discuss her remarkable journey from Minsk to Kiev to London, the tremendous responsibilities Lena earned early, her life lessons and how she's faced and overcome the challenges of being uprooted by war. We discuss Reputy, the problems it solves and the intricacies of trying to map and communicate soft skills between recruit and employer.If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Ashley Dudarenok Ashley Dudarenok is a Chinese serial entrepreneur, award-winning digital marketing professional and author. Recognised as a “guru on digital marketing and fast-evolving trends in China’’ by Thinkers50, Ashley is the founder of China-focused digital marketing agency Alarice and China digital consultancy ChoZan. She's also author of 10 books about digital China, including her latest, "Innovation Factory: China's Digital Playbook for Global Brands," co-written with Ron Wardle. In this conversation, we discuss the Chinese digital landscape, what are some of the salient trends, what can Western brands learn from Chinese corporations, the place for 'purpose' in China, the sense of trust that Chinese citizens have with the Chinese companies, leadership challenges and management styles... and much more.  If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Sir William RussellSir William Russell was Lord Mayor of the City of London 2019-2021 and is currently Alderman of Bread Street Ward. He's also Board Member of CityUK, deputy chair of the Barbican Centre, and NED at Augmentum Fintech. Will was a classmate and housemate back from my time at Eton College where we shared many experiences on the sports field. In this conversation, we discuss his fascinating career, the influence of sports on his life, his appreciation of working for American companies, what makes an effective leader today, the important challenges for boards of governors, the impact of Brexit on Britain, as well as his experience in being knighted by the King.If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.

Minter Dialogue with Dennis SherwoodDennis Sherwood, PhD, with a long and illustrious career in consulting, is the owner of The Silver Bullet Machine Manufacturing Co., an intelligent innovation consultancy, specialised in helping its clients gain competitive advantage by building organisational capacity to innovate. He's also a speaker and author of 15 books, including two recently that we explore here. The first, "Creativity for Scientists and Engineers: A practical guide" (IOP ebooks), which won the Specialist Business Book Award of 2023, where we discuss some fundamental questions about creativity, the mindset that's needed for innovation, what makes a "good" idea, the threat of AI and the role of purpose in crafting innovation. We also discuss his book, "Missing the Mark: Why So Many School Exam Grades are Wrong – and How to Get Results We Can Trust," where we look at how grading is done in the UK and how 1.5 million of 6 million grades (or marks) given out annually are inaccurate.If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.