Career Success Podcast

In a world where technology and globalization are bringing us closer together, the unknown is becoming something rare. Central Asia is one exception. A vast territory formed by former Soviet Republics which is developing and opening up but is still a mystery to many. To shed some light and learn more about this region, we invited Vugar Manafli, the General Manager Central Asia for Colgate Palmolive, who’s lived and worked in the region since he moved to Uzbekistan in 2010. He’s currently based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Making a career change is never easy, especially after many years in the same company, field or area of expertise. At a more advanced stage in one’s career, transitioning can seem scary, impossible or intimidating, but it´s something that most of us will need to confront either out of choice or necessity.  To learn more about this topic, we have invited James Nagle to this edition of the “Career Success Podcast”. James has had a very successful 20-year career at P&G and RB, living in exotic locations such as Brazil and Russia, but also working across Europe in Belgium, Ireland, the UK and Poland. We have invited him here to understand why he left this successful career in his 40’s to become an executive coach. Topics covered in this podcast: Why did he make the decision to leave? How was the transition and what were the main learnings? Which steps should be taken when making a change? Why do many global executives make big changes later in their careers? Why did he choose Executive Coaching? Challenges and t

Many organizations have ramped up their efforts to improve the working situation for women, minorities and all employees. Especially in the past years with the rise of women’s movements against discrimination, in and outside the work sphere, the interest in gender issues has become a focal topic for all business. This is the reason why we have invited Putri Realita to this edition of the “Career Success Podcast” so she can shine some light on what today’s diversity and inclusion efforts look like and how it can help any organization Putri Realita is leading the Diversity & Inclusion program globally at Danone. She started this role at the Danone HQ in Paris in May 2016 and has initiated D&I at global level and deployed it into 30 clusters in 5 different regions. Before joining the global team in Paris, Putri worked at Danone Nutricia business in Indonesia as Head of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, and before that she held various roles in Corporate Affairs, CSR & Communications at British American Tobacco i

The what, why and when in a career can sometimes be as important as the who. Stepping out of the known and taking risk is part of what will make our careers accelerate or stall. We have a very special guest in this edition of the Podcast, Carmela Cugini. After a successful 18 year tenure at Pepsico, she decided to join Jet.com, a start up at that stage, where she’s grown to currently be the head of merchandising for private brands. We invited her to better understand how some key decisions can drive success or failure in a career. Topics Discussed: • 3 key actions that shaped Ms. Cugini's career • How to grow quicker and faster than your peers • Why change companies when happy with current employer • Advice for people that are in their "Comfort zone"

Latin America is known to be one of the most culturally diverse and wealthy areas -especially when it comes to natural resources- in the world. As of 2016, its population was estimated to be more than 639 million people with an overall GDP of 5,573,397 million US dollars, which makes the region a desirable place to do business. Paradoxically, Latin America is characterized by a historical politically complex context, highly volatile economy and unpredictable future. This is the reason why we have invited Bobby Mendez to this edition of the “Career Success Podcast”, so he can shine some light on what today’s Latin American consumers are looking for, as well as the future of business in the region. Bobby is the current President LATAM at Duracell, and in the past, he was the Finance Director at Procter & Gamble. Overall, he has worked in Latin America for the past decade which makes him the perfect guest to tell us about how to overcome Latin America’s toughest challenges and reach the company’s full business p

The Beverage industry is not alien to changes in consumer trends and disruption. Sodastream is one of the players that’s transforming this industry, not only through their products but also through an innovative culture and strong Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. To understand the current dynamics in the industry and learn more about Sodastream, we’ve invited Ferdinand Barckhahn, current General Manager for DACH (Germany, Austria & Switzerland). Topics covered in the podcast: • State of current beverage industry • How this plays off in the German market • The reasons for Sodastream’s success • Sodastream’s corporate culture • The Business’ growth objectives for the coming years in DACH

South East Asia, and specially Indonesia, is a region for FMCG, and all business, to look out for. Indonesia is founded on a vibrant and flourishing economy that has surpassed the three trillion dollars in size, one of the biggest populations in the world, and not only that, but more than a hundred-thousand people every year are entering into the middle-class, which means their purchasing power is improving and growing at very fast rates. For all these reasons, understanding the South East Asian market and its complexities is essential for any growing company who is looking to expand their horizons. To shine some light on the matter, we have brought Christophe Beau to the Career Success Podcast. Christophe’s career at Diageo spans a period of over 15 years where he has held various executive roles in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa and now Asia. He has built his reputation transforming businesses in Emerging Markets. He is passionate about fast-moving and challenging economies which offer great opportu

With International Women’s day coming up, we wanted to do a special edition of the Podcast. The role of women in business a topic that is becoming more and more a top priority for companies, but also one where there’s still a major ongoing debate and not necessarily a consensus yet. To discuss this, we’ve invited Anne Engerant, currently SVP of RB Health in Latin America. Anne joined RB in France, her home country, in 1997, after five years spent at P&G and a two-year sabbatical between her first two maternities during which she went back to university to and worked with NGOs taking care of homeless people and Aids affected persons. After the birth of her third daughter, in 2000 and another sabbatical spent at writing a novel, she moved in 2001 to UK to lead the European business for AirWick. She was promoted as Regional Marketing Director for South Asia in 2003, based in New Delhi (India). Here she turned India into a growth machine and … conceived her fourth daughter. After a seven month long maternity bre

Navigating your way in a new business culture can be difficult, on this episode we speak with Carole Rissmann about her experiences working in the US and Europe. Carole has a 20 year success record at Beiersdorf, where she led strategically and operationally top-ranked and Iconic global skincare brands like NIVEA and Eucerin. Her last role was as VP marketing for Beiersdorf in the US. In this episode we discuss: Business culture and how this is defined The types of profiles which are hired in each region How living and working in diverse environment effects your problem solving skills, creativity and leadership style Carole’s 3 tips on being successful in any new business culture

n today’s fast- changing business landscape, the tendency for companies is to grow and expand rapidly, which most of the times means a great increase on the complexity and ramifications of the business. In this matrix of people and functions, one can get lost and start to disconnect from the companies’ core identity. Therefore, we brought Francis Debeuckalere to the “Career Success Podcast” to ask him about “founders’ mentality” or how to act and feel as if the company you work for is your own. Francis is the Regional President of Europe at Bacardi, a company he has been working at for over 20 years. With roots in Sales & Marketing, he has been a regional and international leader with renowned success in his field. Before starting his career in Bacardi he worked in other FMCG companies such as Nestle or Alken-Maes. With Francis, I’m going to try and figure out how one can stray away from complacency and adopt the “founder’s mentality”.

An MBA is extremely frequent in the Resumes of the top women and men we speak with. So, why do an MBA? Fabio Gabaldo, currently a Commercial Director at the Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza, has previously worked in companies like Walmart and FNAC, took a Global EMBA at IESE, one of the top ranked business schools, and we invited him to understand more about the true value of this program. On this Podcast, we cover: Why Fabio decided to take a Global MBA What he assessed before making his choice Positive aspects of doing an MBA Negative aspects of it How to balance an Executive MBA with a full-time job and family life Value it has added in hindsight

I’ve always admired people that are able to get the most out of teams, especially when these are formed by people of different backgrounds, ages, nationalities, or even goals in life. This curiosity to understand great leadership and management skills, brought me to invite Christie Wilmer as a guest on the Career Success Podcast. Christie is a commercial leader that’s worked for the likes of Philip Morris, Pepsico and Kelloggs, managing big teams and customers. She was also recognized as one of the Top women in Grocery by Top Grocer in 2016. Topics covered on this Podcast How to assess talent Keeping team’s motivation up Leading high performing groups Assessing the results of these actions

On this episode of the Career Success Podcast we have invited Remko Tetenburg to join us. He has 28 years’ experience within the FMCG industry where he developed a broad knowledge of Marketing & Sales. For the last 10 years he has been in General Management positions where he has been responsible for the full business, from sales through manufacturing operations. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Melitta Sales Europe where he is responsible for Sales over 0.5 billion Euros and is the leader of 450 employees. He has a vast international background as he has lived in 6 different countries and is fluent in five languages. On this episode we discuss: How different work and meeting cultures come into play How to involve and engage remote teams Why team values should be discussed and identified at the start Why it is important to look at the differences, but also the commonalities within teams The rewards and successes of managing diverse teams

On this episode of the career success podcast we will be joined by Blandine Jean-Paul to discuss what companies must do to stay competitive in the labor market. Blandine is a brand Strategist with a proven ability to drive volume & equity growth across portfolios. She has driven a double-digit sales Increases of 72% through extensive research & creative integrated marketing. On this episode we discuss: What companies MUST do to attract the best talent? The companies which are have an innovative strategy for attracting talent. How to differentiate consumer marketing from employer branding. Tips to achieve the best candidate experience.

On this episode of the career success podcast we are joined by Sharon Joseph. Sharon had an 18-year career in large multinationals such as PepsiCo, GSK and RB. She was rapidly promoted and considered a top talent within these organizations. She recently left this fast track career to make a complete shift to entrepreneurship in the Craft Beer Industry and founded BREWASIS®, a company that drives new revenue streams for craft breweries www.brewasis.com In this episode we will discuss: The drivers behind becoming an entrepreneur Why Craft Beer and why now? How Sharon defined her value proposition and competitive advantage The top lessons she would like to share with entrepreneurs globally

The sales and operations process is today, a fundamental tool to align priorities across functions within current multi-national organizations due to the complexity they have. It’s also key to understand how Operations has become central in today’s companies. In order to understand this process better and why it’s so important, but also how to build it, we have invited Francisco (Paco) Cadena. He is a Supply Chain leader with over 25 years’ experience in companies like Procter and Gamble, Novartis and Revlon and he’s known to be an S&OP expert. In this Podcast, we cover: What is a Sales and Operations Process How to build a great S&OP Process Why and how to engage your senior stakeholders The evolution of S&OP in the next years

On this episode of the career success podcast we are joined by Malte Dammann. Malte has 27 years’ experience within large blue-chip multinationals such as Imperial Tobacco, ABinBev and Mars. He is a truly international leader, bringing the best out of people regardless of the cultural and corporate context. He has a proven track record in steering organizational change to accelerate top and bottom-line growth and agility. For this reason, we have invited him here to discuss the importance of aligning employee engagement with business objectives. We will discuss: The fundamental driver for employee engagement How to keep millennials engaged at work Constant transformation and its effect on engagement

Alejandro, Alex Ouziel is an executive-committee level business leader that has worked in Marketing, Sales and General Management in FMCG across Europe, Russia, Middle East and Africa. Apart from his business career, Alex is also an avid runner. He’s completed marathons and the mountain race Tor des Geants twice. In a time where there’s a debate about work life balance or integration in the business world, I thought Alex would be the perfect guest as he’s been able to balance a great career with family and personal goals. In this Podcast we speak about: Why Alex picked running as a major activity in his life besides business How he has managed to integrate both, together with family life What impact has running had on his business life Alex’s point of view on how companies will adapt to Gen Y and Z’s demands

This week, on the Career Success Podcast, we have invited Tom Goodwin. Tom is a speaker and writer. He recently wrote a book titled Digital Darwinism which was published in April 2018. It offers a guide for business leaders on how to embrace the power of the new, to transform companies for the modern age. Education is lagging behind when we look at its adaptation to today’s digital age. We will be discussing an article which Tom wrote in the world economic forum titled Forget coding, we need to teach our kids how to dream which addresses some of these issues. We will discuss: The transformation of education over the past 200+ years. Skills education should be teaching. What will the role of Universities be in the future. How to qualify job candidates without the reference of education.

We hear about how supply chains are changing, transforming. But how does that actually happen and work? In order to discuss that, we’ve invited Mattia Aste, Global Manufacturing Excellence Lead at Monsanto, which is currently integrating with Bayer. He has a vast experience in Logistics, Planning, Manufacturing, Strategy in Europe, US and Global roles. Given his end to end perspective, we discuss with him how he sees supply chain transformation and what it takes, as a leader, to drive these changes. Main topics: What a Supply Chain Transformation means and encompasses Why do companies need to Transform their Supply Chain Which are the key elements in a modern Supply Chain How, as a leader, engage and motivate peers and team to lead change