Leaders. What keeps you up at night? Welcome to the C-Suite Spot, the podcast series that expands the traditional term of what a ‘boss’ is to tackle some of the most important issues in business from start-up, through step-up, succession planning and scaling a corporate or global business. Leadership can be lonely. In this series we talk with and learn from inspiring leaders from all walks of life, touching on important topics about how to really live, successful business strategies, overcoming challenges, managing an issue or crisis, getting your company structure right and implementing well, making the tough calls, balancing life and work and getting our priorities right. From business as usual and growing your market to everyday leadership issues or handling 100-year events and everything in between – we aim to provide ongoing inspiration and education and a meeting place for CEOs, founders, management, shareholders and leadership. If you want to say hello or for guest enquiries, please contact emily@thecontentplace.co.nz
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
#15 – Crisis management, Governance and the role of a Director in 2021 and beyond. Laura Air and Emily Svadlenak talk with Kirsten Patterson, Chief Executive of the Institute of Directors and get her take on some of the biggest trends in Governance and how Directors can be prepared for anything.
Please remember to like, subscribe and share this episode if you liked it!
About our guest: Kirsten Patterson (KP), Chief Executive of the Institute of Directors
KP is a qualified lawyer and a Distinguished Fellow of the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, Co-deputy Chair of the Global Network of Directors Institutes (GNDI), Chair of the Brian Picot Ethical Leadership advisory board and was previously Chair of the Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust. With extensive governance and leadership experience, she is actively involved in community initiatives.
A strong advocate of diversity, KP was also a founding member of Global Women’s ‘Champions for Change’, a group of senior executives and directors who commit to diversity in the workplace, and a founding member of WiSPA, an organisation promoting women in sport, and mentors a number of business leaders. She is also on the board for Voices for Hope, an organisation aimed at breaking the stigma around mental illness.
To follow the journey:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattersonkirsten/
Website: https://www.iod.org.nz/#
Alexander PR Instagram: @alexanderpr_
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
#14 – What does ‘Economic Darwinism’ have to do with change management? In this episode Emily Svadlenak speaks to Chris Buckell, a Business Improvement and Change Management Professional, about just that. Chris explains how organisations should go about change if they want to succeed. Please remember to like, subscribe and share this episode if you liked it!
About our guest: Chris Buckell
Chris is a Continuous Improvement professional from the UK with a broad range of experience in public sector, service and engineering organisations; including roles at the Ministry of Justice in the UK, Maritime New Zealand and Waikato District Health Board, and is currently as a Business Improvement Facilitator in the defence sector.
Chris' research draws on organisational learning theory in attaining sustained change outcomes through the evaluation of paradigms and behaviours. As a recognised thought leader in Continuous Improvement, Chris regularly speaks at professional conferences and lectures at University of Warwick in his spare time.
To follow the journey:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-buckell-411533142/
Email Chris to talk about his research or your questions at cwrbuckell@gmail.com
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
Wednesday Apr 07, 2021
#13 – In this episode Tristram Clayton talks with Marty Verry, CEO of Red Stag Timber in Rotorua, New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere’s largest sawmill.
Marty describes how he turned a struggling publicly owned mill into a thriving export business that produces over 600-thousand cubic metres of timber annually and supplies 25 percent of the NZ framing market.
He also discusses the government’s One Billion Tree programme, how a ‘wood first’ policy could help the economy and our climate change obligations as well as the impact of prefabrication and cross-laminated timber on New Zealand’s housing shortage.
About our guest:
Marty Verry is the chief executive of the Red Stag group which invests in forestry, wood processing, pre-fabrication, Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and property development.
The company supplies 25% of the structural timber market in New Zealand, has revenues in excess of $250m, 400+ staff and exports around 40% of its produce to Australia, Asia, Middle East, South Africa and the Pacific Islands.
Marty is one of the country’s leading proponents of a ‘Wood First’ policy as a way of helping New Zealand’s economy, climate change objectives and housing shortage. He appears regularly in print and broadcast media and assisting and advising government, building officials, developers and construction firms.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/marty-verry-772a08/?originalSubdomain=nz
Website: https://www.redstagtimber.co.nz
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RedStagTimber
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
#12 – Is plant-based nutrition a threat or opportunity for the dairy industry? How do you measure the success of global marketing efforts? And how can a dairy giant Fonterra stay relevant across the globe? Find out in today’s episode as Emily Svadlenak speaks to Rob Lilly, Fonterra’s Head of Global Marketing & Communications for the Sports & Active Lifestyle business.
About our guest: Rob Lilly
Rob is a New Zealander and Otago University Alumni. He kickstarted his professional career in the tourism industry marketing Auckland as a destination, before moving on to marketing roles in a variety of industries based in Auckland.
Joining Fonterra 10 years ago, the majority of his time with New Zealand’s largest company and leading dairy nutrition business has been spent in its overseas markets where he has taken on various regional and global marketing roles in Amsterdam, Chicago and now Singapore where he currently lives.
In his current role as Head of Global Marketing & Communications for Fonterra’s Sports & Active Lifestyle (S&AL) business, Rob oversees the marketing ecosystem and strategy implementation for S&AL across Fonterra’s global business regions (AMENA, APAC & Greater China). His team’s focus is on marketing value-add, advanced nutrition solutions to B2B customers. These solutions address a range of current and emerging consumer health needs, including physical performance, mental wellbeing and immunity.
To follow the journey:
Instagram: @nzmp_sureprotein
YouTube: nzmp
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nzmp/
Website: https://www.nzmp.com/global/en.html
Fonterra: https://www.fonterra.com/nz/en.html
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
Wednesday Mar 24, 2021
In this episode:
#11 - How do you break down barriers and improve workplace culture to lift productivity? How can leaders build great teams? Renee Benrubi shares how and why she made a career out of helping executives and their teams perform better – and the learnings bosses can take from that journey.
If you enjoy this chat, please like, rate and subscribe to the C-Suite Spot to stay up-to-date with all our episodes.
About our guest: Renee Benrubi
Renee Benrubi, originally from New York and now based in Los Angeles, has spent the majority of her career working as an executive coach. Renee works with leaders, owners and individuals, helping them to create positive working environments and reach their potential both professionally and personally.
She believes that self-awareness and connectivity among family and staff is important in order to diffuse emotional and volatile situations, and bring teams together to produce outstanding results for the business and its customers. As an executive coach, Renee works with businesses across the globe to realise their potential.
To connect with Renee:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-benrubi/
Email: renee.benrubi@gmail.com
Wednesday Mar 17, 2021
Wednesday Mar 17, 2021
In this episode:
#10 – In today’s episode, Emily Svadlenak speaks to Brianne West, the founder and CEO of Ethique. From big picture conscious consumerism and sustainability, to how her role has changed as Ethique grows globally, listen in as Brianne shares her views on the journey so far and what the future holds.
About our guest: Brianne West
Brianne West is a New Zealand entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Ethique, the world’s most sustainable lifestyle and beauty brand. Ethique has, to date, prevented the manufacture and disposal of over 8 million plastic bottles worldwide.
Having previously founded and sold two other companies, Brianne’s passion for environmental conservation, background in cosmetic chemistry and desire to create a business that went beyond just profit led her to establish Ethique with the mission of ridding the world of plastic bottles. Instead, Ethique products a range of solid beauty bars (not soap), wrapped in compostable cardboard packaging. After just eight years of trading, Ethique is now distributed in over 16 countries around the globe and is valued in excess of $100 million.
Recognised as one of New Zealand’s most successful social enterprises, Ethique has scaled rapidly without compromising on her core mission of purpose over profit. Every bar is still made using only sustainable, certified vegan, cruelty-free and palm oil-free ingredients and wrapped in certified compostable packaging. Ethique is New Zealand’s highest ranking BCorp, living wage certified, carbon positive, plants one tree for every order and donates 20% of annual profits to charity. Ethique’s Super Soap Project has donated 30,000 bars of soap since 21st of April 2020 to vulnerable communities across New Zealand and the South Pacific in response to COVID-19.
Brianne’s success with Ethique has seen her awarded as the EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Stuff NZ Women of Influence (business enterprise) and be named as an Obama Foundation Leader.
Ecologi: https://ecologi.com/
To follow Ethique’s journey:
Instagram: @ethiqueworld
Website: https://ethiqueworld.com/
Brianne’s Instagram: @briannemwest
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
Wednesday Mar 10, 2021
#9 - In this episode of the podcast Tristram Clayton talks with Simon Coley, the creative brain behind some of New Zealand’s fastest growing companies including Powershop, All Good and Karma Drinks.
Simon describes how relevancy and purpose have been critical in seeing Karma Drinks grow from an Auckland workshop into a global brand.
He discusses why ‘giving back’ and staying ethical has helped, rather than hindered, this business success.
Simon also talks about the importance of design and story-telling and how to survive in a COVID world.
About our guest:
The creative brains behind the Karma Cola brand, Simon Coley cut his teeth working as a graphic designer and creative director for organisations ranging from Greenpeace to The Economist.
He was responsible for successfully bringing the first Fairtrade bananas to New Zealand under the All Good brand, which was twice named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies and in 2014 won the title World's Fairest Trader.
Before co-founding All Good and Karma Cola with brothers Chris and Matt Morrison, Simon worked at NZ Trade & Enterprise helping Kiwi companies gain a competitive design edge for marketing off-shore, was the Marketing Director for 42 Below Vodka and co-founded online power company Powershop.
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
Tuesday Mar 02, 2021
When Bauer announced that it was bringing its operations to an end, Sido was faced with a choice. She chose action after a brief moment of inertia. We can all learn from Sido as we face personal and career challenges.
From being the editorial director of New Zealand’s legendary women magazines to launching four brand new titles, Woman, Thrive, Haven and Scout. She is someone who has demonstrated personal leadership at a time when the media industry is at risk.
Listen as she explains key personal defining moments that changed the trajectory for the New Zealand magazine industry. Plus, she recounts significant moments that required oodles of strength and courage and the surprising phone call from Sinead Boucher – the new owner of Stuff.co.nz.
We also cover in this episode :
- Her School Road Publishing deal and the four new magazine titles.
- The moments leading up to and after Woman magazine was published, her journey into journalism, and how technology has impacted the stories they report on.
- How she handled the stress involved in moving on from a high profile role at a major media outlet
- How her new venture has been supported by the whole New Zealand media industry
You can follow Sido on https://www.instagram.com/sidokitchin/?hl=en
Tuesday Jan 05, 2021
Tuesday Jan 05, 2021
Dr Chris Galloway: Practical frameworks and ideas on how to plan for, execute and respond during a company crisis
In this episode we chat with Dr Chris Galloway to offer useful tips on some of the most-asked questions we receive when it comes to company issues, crises and risk.
Chris is an internationally recognised scholar and commentator on issue management and risk and crisis communication. His interests include reputation management and reputation risk, topics on which he runs workshops for the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand. Chris is an occasional media analyst in both print and broadcast media, and a contributor to www.companycrisis.co.nz.
We often have founders, c-suite, board members and chairpersons request help for company issues and crises. To help answer some of the most common questions, Chris and Dwayne Alexander, Global Practice Leader at Alexander PR, sat down for a chat.
Topics we cover in this episode include:
- The “golden hour” has shrunk to minutes – implications for leaders;
- What is a risk matrix for boards?
- What CEOs have learned through Covid-19 and can apply for 2021;
- EQ, intuition, confirmation bias and board behaviour;
- The importance of monitoring systems and having environmental scanning in place;
- A framework of five different response strategies leaders and organisations tend to choose;
- The concept and implementation of a “ready response team”;
- Planning for and communicating during and after a crisis;
- What to do immediately after stepping into the “hot chair”.
If you enjoyed this chat, please make sure to like, rate and subscribe to the c-Suite Spot to stay up-to-date with all our episodes.
You can also follow us on
Instagram: @alexanderpr_
Facebook: @teamalexanderpr
LinkedIn: https://tinyurl.com/y5rzndht
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
What does youth-led philanthropy look like in New Zealand? How do you become more than the labels others put on you? Is it possible to look after our mental wellbeing while also being a high-performing go-getter? In our last episode for 2020, Emily Svadlenak speaks with Gemma Major to explore some of the big questions of work, life and balance.
If you enjoy this chat, please make sure to like, rate and subscribe to the c-Suite Spot to stay up-to-date with all our episodes.
Our podcast will be back in early 2021. If you have any See you then!
About our guest: Gemma Major
Gemma is passionate about enhancing youth wellbeing through youth-led change. Her current mission is to enable holistic, integrative, and long-term regenerative change with young people that is inevitably impacts wider communities. Seed Waikato is her current vehicle for this, an organisation she co-founded in 2017. They create community-based experiential education opportunities, facilitate community connection, and support greater youth contribution.
She is also passionate about re-defining philanthropy in Aotearoa to foster greater inclusion, innovation, and disruption from young people, and is a Board member of Philanthropy New Zealand.
Gemma was part of the founding team at Momentum Waikato, the region’s community foundation. In the four years she worked for the foundation, she developed a heart for strategic philanthropy, developing services for donors, strategies to grow the fund, and launched Waikato Vital Signs.
To follow Gemma’s journey:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mywellbeingproject
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemma-major-0681184a/
To connect with Seed Waikato:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeedWaikato/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seedwaikato/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seed-waikato/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivWOKQPqFqEKqcOI-xs7mQ?view_as=subscriber