People Inspired By Purpose - Purposely Podcast

Simon Lucas joins Purposely to share his founder story launching executive search firm Society. We hear how Simon stumbled into a career in recruitment in the UK, eventually taking a leadership role in the industry. He innovated when he went out on his own with a distinctly responsible, ethical and sustainable approach to executive search. Founded by Simon in 2005 Society is a B Corp Certified executive search firm that has a dual focus of both purpose and profit. Now a global company It was set up to add value to society and make a positive difference to people’s lives. Simon explains his thinking and how the power of meeting people’s needs rather than just sales can lead to commercial success. We hear how his team thrived despite the challenges presented by the pandemic and the long lock down. Society’s headquarters are in London with offices in the United States and New Zealand. Each year they donate 10% of their profits to good causes through their own Foundation. The foundation is an independent charity dedicated to tackling issues of workforce inclusion. Simon grew up in South Wales, and read Philosophy and Politics at the University of Warwick. Along the way, he was Head Boy of Olchfa Comprehensive School in Swansea, and President of the Students’ Union at Warwick. Before setting up Society, Simon was an employee of executive search firm Perrett Laver for several years. He is now a founding Trustee of The Society Foundation and a Trustee of Hitchin Girls' School in Hertfordshire. Simon lives in North Hertfordshire with his wife and his two children.  His company website describes him as having, ‘a ridiculously large collection of DVDs and a bit of a history and politics buff, with a soft spot for what he calls 'classic' rock.

Qiulae Wong Joins Purposely to share her story. A passionate ‘business for good’ advocate Qiulae points to her upbringing, ‘My family really drummed into us the importance of the collective’. ‘It wasn’t about individual gain although that’s not to say they weren’t incredibly hard working and could see the importance of making money’. In many ways this combination of influences helped to get to where she is today. A belief that business success can be measured by profit as well as the positive social and environmental impact. We discuss Qiulae’s return home after a transformative decade in London where she crystallised her career aspirations and became a mum, ‘the UK was great but made less sense when we had our daughter and returning and re connecting with family became a priority’. Quilae is excited to be back home, landing dream job as Head of B Lab New Zealand. ‘I was so excited about the opportunity, I really wanted it and I did a lot of prep for the interviews, almost too much prep which left me a bit sleep deprived’. Qiulae is B Labs first full-time employee in Aotearoa and the decision to hire reflects the increased popularity of ‘business for good’ with more and more businesses choosing B Corp certification. B Lab is a nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. They certify companies — B Corps — who lead the way. They are aiming to build a movement to change our economic system. B Lab began in the United States in 2006, and the network has grown across the world ever since. Qiulae will be busy collaborating with businesses, government, and academic institutions to grow the movement.

Andrea Brewster joins Purposely Podcast to share her career journey including her passion for sustainable and responsible business. Head of Sustainability and Social Impact at payments software company Xplor, Andrea is a great example of someone who has aligned her professional and volunteer goals. Her mission is to create positive change in the world where she believes business can be a powerful force for good, describing herself as ‘a change maker’. Andrea has spent 10 years working with charities, NGOs, government departments, social enterprises and corporations. Roles have included strategy as well as doing… ‘getting her hands dirty’. She played a role in the rebuild of Christchurch following the devastating earth quake and has also helped start-up entrepreneurs to launch and scale their businesses. Andrea has travelled extensively, and been involved in international development which helped to shape her purpose as well as given her perspective on life. Andreas passion for making a difference started early in life, she has been recognised as an influential young leader in the New Zealand Women of Influence Awards, Women on Boards Awards Impact Awards and Champion Canterbury Business Awards. Andrea is also a Fellow of Leadership New Zealand, and a regular conference speaker and thought leader. You'll hear Andrea talk about things like millennials and the future of work, feminism, finding purpose, and diversity for the 21st century. Andrea is also on the Board the YWCA’s Young Women’s Fund.

Rui Peng joins Purposely to share his founder story with circular economy start- up Critical.  This New Zealand start up is focused on achieving environmental sustainability through waste reduction - repurposing plastic even if it has been contaminated. Rui shares his vision for the future of Critical and how he and his co-founder Adam Ransfield overcame some incredible challenges to stay the course. Incredibly they lost their brand new factory to a tornado in 2021. That followed a reshaping of their business model from pure social enterprise to a ‘for purpose’ business focused on sustainability.  We talk about Rui’s heritage, the son of Chinese immigrants - a first generation New Zealander. He talks about his parents in glowing terms describing them as hard working, determined people doing their best to make a new life for their family. Rui is passionate about his roots and mindful of his responsibility to protect Aotearoa's environment, reduce plastic waste, and help other nations around the world follow suit. Peng maintains ‘Our life's work is to care for the environment by developing technologies and circular solutions.’ Rui is a family man... 'Besides serving the 4 rangatira of our household including my wife and our three tamariki, I'm obsessed by the challenge to end plastic pollution - starting with the 252K tonnes NZ sends to landfill each year, and building pathways towards meaningful work for the 183K New Zealanders who are unemployed or underemployed.'

Tim Jones joins Purposely Podcast. Episode 2 of 2 with Tim Jones, founder of The Grow Good Guy.  In this episode we talk purpose and identity. Tim is full of energy and is a great communicator as you will hear. As well as guiding clients to gain their B Corp certification, he delivers consults trains and coaches individuals and organisations. His aim is to help them achieve meaningful goals in life and work, by tapping into the potential of their purpose fuelled performance. We haven't met in person but have read a description of you that caught my attention, it said that you have the thinking ability of Russell Brand, the energy of Tony Robbins and the humour of Greg Davies - who is the real Tim Jones? ‘That's a great question. I think the version of me now is not who I've always been. I went to a strict private school in England where there wasn't really much realm for artistic creation. It went along the lines of yes sir, no sir. You were basically told what to do. I spent 10 years in a sales role and time in the British Army. I'm not a complete introvert and I would probably an ambivert, which is when you're comfortable with silence and your own energy, but equally, you don't mind being in an extravert position where you might have to talk or you might be surrounded by people.’ I would like to talk about purpose and identity, this is something you have really focused on? ‘I think it's massive and think this is one of the big contributors to the general modern mental health malaise, I think, it is at the core of it. Purpose is something that is not mentioned, when we talk about mental health crisis. This lack of meaning that a lot of us get through the work that we do. However, a big part of that purpose journey is identity, who are you? And there's a couple of good expressions on that one. This is a bit of a tongue twister and I can't remember who coined it but it's basically, ‘I am not who I think I am. I am not who I think you think I am. I am what you think, I think I am’. ‘You need to know who you are today and why you’re that person. To do that you need to go back and work out what has led you to be who you are today. Self-exploration is the journey that we all need to go on find our purpose. Who am I? Why am I who I am, and what has led me to be who I am today. Working out who you are and what has constructed you is massive. Most people don't want to do that because it's hard and you must go and fight some demons and you must go and challenge everything that you hold to be true, you need to go and challenge and not many people want to do that.’ So, there's, I think that's a big part of it, the other part of it of identity. So again, in front of me here, I have a big Welsh dragon flag, because, you know, I'm a Jones, let's face it, and, you know, as far as Welsh is you can get.’

Tim Jones joins Purposely Podcast. Episode 1 of 2 with Tim Jones, founder of The Grow Good Guy. In this episode we explore ‘business for good’ and the exciting and growing B Corp Movement. We also explore Tim’s career and his dissatisfaction with profit only or at all costs paradigms. Tim was New Zealand’s first qualified B Corp consultant and he has helped more than 50 companies from around the world successfully navigate the B Corp Impact Assessment, and is working with new businesses every month to take them through the process. So what is a B Corp? Put simply it is a company that prioritises purpose, positive social and environmental impact along with making a profit. Companies gain certification B Corp (short for Certified B Corporation) is the term used for any for-profit entity that is certified by the nonprofit B Lab as voluntarily meeting higher standards of transparency, accountability, and performance. Tim is full of energy and is a great communicator as you will hear. As well as guiding clients to gain their B Corp certification, he delivers inspirational, motivational, memorable and impactful consulting, training and coaching to individuals and organisations. He helps them achieve meaningful goals in life and work, by tapping into the potential of their purpose fuelled performance. Beware… the episode ends on an unanswered question and you will need to listen to episode 2/2 out on the 4 May 2022.

Ajaz.org CEO Nicola Brentnall joins Purposely Podcast to share her story and the joy she gets from philanthropy and advising charities inspired and run by the British Royal Family. She talks about the recent loss of her dear husband Tom from cancer and dealing with the daily challenge of grief, ‘it can hit you out of nowhere’. Tom had a passion for Nicola’s work, and he would often travel with her (at his own expense) to see the charitable projects in person. Nicola discusses the affinity she felt with marginalised young people and how this inspired her 14-year career with the Prince’s Trust. Using her skills to help the team inspire young people to be the best they could be and achieve their full potential. Nicola worked as a strategy and governance consultant to The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and for The Prince’s Trust, as Company Secretary. Leaving the Prince’s Trust Nicola received ‘a phone call out of nowhere’ outlining an opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to advise and direct the Royal Family on a ‘spend down programme’ donating £35 million to good causes over a 4-year period through The Queen’s Trust. These funds had been raised in a single year in the 1970’s and a decision was made to run a giving programme to help young people in need. Major recipients of the funds include the charity ‘Onside’ supporting the building of youth centres providing an inclusive space for young people in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the UK. Nicola also led the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust for five years and dramatically furthered its reach and relevance to the communities it served across the world. A qualified Chartered Secretary, she has an MSc in Corporate Governance and Ethics, and a degree in The History of Art. Nicola was awarded an MVO. Nicola is also a Trustee of BEAT (a nationwide charity supporting people affected by eating disorders) and Opera North.

Dave Rouse joins Purposely Podcast to share his journey including his successes and failures. A former medical student ‘I wasn’t mature enough to deal with death and illness at that point of my life’ and commercial pilot. Dave is now a successful entrepreneur and early stage investor. He also has a day job as CEO of a successful green tech company CarbonClick. CarbonClick was created after two of Dave’s colleagues, founders Jan Czaplicki and Paul Brady were working on an offsetting programme for a major international airline. The third founder is aviation expert Michelle Noordermeer. They saw how hard it was for businesses to create their own programme, access or perform proper due diligence on offset projects, and then trace and reconcile those credits to prove customer payments had been accounted for. CarbonClick was born to make climate action simple and transparent for businesses. The founders approached Dave to be their CEO after he had invested in the company early, at the ‘family, friends and fools round’. He believed in the founders and the concept.

Rachel Brown, ONZM – Founder & CEO, Sustainable Business Network Rachel Brown is the founder & CEO of the Sustainable Business Network (SBN) and was one of the early champions of the ‘business for good movement’ in New Zealand. Rachel launched her organisation 20 years ago at a time when people doubted the science emerging around human environmental damage. Back then sustainability was associated with ‘greenies’ or ‘tree huggers.’ Rachel, however, did believe the science and was determined to do something proactive to turn the tide on environmental damage in an effort to protect the planet. So why business and sustainability? In part because of her childhood, she describes a wonderful upbringing where her parents, especially her mother, introduced her to the science of sustainability at an early age. At the same time, she was intrigued by the growth and buzz of capitalism. Rachel quickly realised that business could play a productive and leading role in sustainability and could be a force for good rather than bad. In the podcast Rachel discusses those times and how ‘well meaning’ business leaders refused to connect business practices to the environment. Often, they could not see a purpose beyond making a profit for shareholders - ‘nice people who would push me towards their charitable giving activity’. They hadn’t made the connection that care for the environment was going to be crucial to the long-term success of their business or that a different approach could give them a competitive advantage. The SBN network she created now includes 600 organisations from a range of sizes and sectors. Rachel has overseen the creation of systemic collaboration projects focusing on climate action, designing out waste, and regenerating nature. SBN runs the Sustainable Business Awards, New Zealand’s largest sustainability award programme as well as a series of successful training programmes. In 2009 Rachel was personally selected by Al Gore to present The Inconvenient Truth (part of the global climate change education programme). In 2012 she was invited by Al Gore to join an elite group of international presenters to be part of the Climate Reality Project broadcast. The broadcast reached over 3 million people across the globe. As a regular presenter, collaborator, investor and driver of action within NZ communities, Rachel is committed to the role business plays in supercharging and transforming NZ’s economy into one that is smarter and more sustainable. Rachel regularly sits on government panels to inform on policy. Currently she is on the Advisory Panel of ‘Jobs for Nature’, a Board member of the Milford Foundation, and on the business advisory panel for All of Government Procurement. She is a member of the advisory panel for the National Waste Strategy and the Million Metres Streams Advisory Board. Rachel also provides advice and support to a number of new and emerging businesses, individuals and social enterprises. In 2018 she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for years of service to sustainable business.

Should companies be run to earn a profit, or to serve a purpose? Alex Edmans joins Purposely Podcast to talk about his ground-breaking book, The Pie-Growing Mentality A new approach to business (and indeed capitalism) that works for both investors and society. The book lays down the argument that “Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit” and that it is not an either or choice. Drawing from his research evidence and real-life examples spanning industries and countries, Edmans demonstrates that businesses driven by purpose are consistently more successful in the long term. He describes how a purposeful company must navigate difficult trade-offs and take tough decisions. Edmans' provides an actionable roadmap for company leaders to put purpose into practice, and overcome the hurdles that hold many back. He explains how investors can discern which companies are truly purposeful rather than green washing and engage with them to unleash value for both shareholders and society. And he highlights the crucial role that citizens can play as employees, customers and investors, in reshaping business to improve our world. What is the pie and what is pieconomics'? ‘The pie is the total amount of social value. It's not just financial value, but it's the amount of total happiness or welfare that a company creates. You can think about that pie as being divided between profits to investors and value to society. So often when people think about businesses becoming more responsible, they think about well, should we split the pie differently? So should we reduce profits in order to pay higher wages? or should we reduce profits in order to charge fair prices to customers? Similarly, if you're a CEO, many CEOs think about how to split the pie in their favour. So they might think the way to maximise profits is to charge as much as I can get away with or to pay my workers as little as possible. So what is pieconomics argues is that the relationship between business and society is not a zero sum game and the pie is not fixed. When a company chooses to invest in its workers or to become better stewards of the environment or to treat customers better. They're not just sacrificing profits, instead they're growing the pie, ultimately enhancing profits. For example, if you treat your workers better they'll be more motivated and productive and more likely to stay similarly with the environment and customers. So while there might be trade-offs in the short term but in the long term, a responsible company is not just being more ethical it is being more commercially savvy and boosting its long term returns.’ Alex Edmans' is Professor of Finance at London Business School.  Alex graduated from Oxford University and then worked for Morgan Stanley in investment banking (London) and fixed income sales and trading (New York).  After a PhD in Finance from MIT Sloan as a Fulbright Scholar, he joined Wharton in 2007 and was tenured in 2013 shortly before moving to LBS.