Prevention Cure is better than Riadh Zine-El-Abidine, CEO of Akumin JULY 2021 5Biggest Companies with LGBTQ+ CEOs
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5 EDITOR’S NOTE STAY CONNECTED! Follow us on: EDITOR’S NOTE www.ceotodaymagazine.com Katina Hristova Editor All of this and so much more - I hope you enjoy the content in CEO Today’s July 2021 issue! Make sure you check out the full list of features and exclusive interviews over the next pages. If you want to stay connected with us until our next edition, visit our website for more, join the conversation on our Twitter (@CEOTodayMag) and follow our LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages. Best wishes, KATINA HRISTOVA Editor CEO TODAY Copyright 2021 Circulation details can be found at www.ceotodaymagazine.com The views expressed in the articles within CEO Today are the contributors own, nothing within the announcements or articles should be construed as a profit forecast. All rights reserved. Material contained within this publication is not to be reproduced in whole or part without the prior permission of CEO Today. Disclaimer: Images used in this edition have been done so under the creative commons licenses. For details, see links below. creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/3.0/legalcode creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/2.0/legalcode creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0/legalcode Hello and welcome to the July 2021 issue of CEO Today! With the official beginning of summer, here at CEO Today, we are excited to present you our July dose of inspiration from some of the world’s leading CEOs and entrepreneurs, as well as our monthly travel & lifestyle section, which will take you to The Maldives and the truly amazing Huvafen Fushi! Here are some of our favourite stories from CEO Today’s July 2021 edition: The 5 Biggest Companies with LGBTQ+ CEOs Benedetto Vigna and Ferrari The Beginning of a Success Story or a Catastrophe in the Making? Super Musk Risk, Reward and the Celebrity CEO 32 28 38 46 Why Successful Entrepreneurs are Often Such Difficult People
8 CONTENTS www.ceotodaymagazine.com Prevention is Better Than Cure Riadh Zine President & CEO of Akumin Inc. 26 THE DISRUPTORS 28. Super Musk Risk, Reward and the Celebrity CEO 32. The 5 Biggest Companies with LGBTQ+ CEOs 36. Why Successful Entrepreneurs are Often Such Difficult People 42. “Why I’m a Sucker for a Champion!” 12 THE CEO INTERVIEW 14. Prevention is Better Than Cure Riadh Zine President & CEO of Akumin Inc. 18. Mark Cuddigan CEO of Ella’s Kitchen 22. Steve Sidd CEO and Founder of Catering HQ CONTENTS The Hospitality CEO 22 Monthly-Round-Up 14
9 46. Benedetto Vigna and Ferrari The Beginning of a Success Story or a Catastrophe in the Making? 46 Benedetto Vigna and Ferrari The Beginning of a Success Story or a Catastrophe in the Making? 50 61 VISION & STRATEGY THE CEO TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE GUIDE 52. How Do the Rich Rest: Are Their Sleep Cycles the Secret to Success? 56. Is a 4-Day Working Week the Answer to Improving Mental Health? 62. Huvafen Fushi The Maldives 68. VAHA Your Interactive Home Gym 52 How Do the Rich Rest: Are Their Sleep Cycles the Secret to Success? www.ceotodaymagazine.com Is a 4-DayWorking Week the Answer to Improving Mental Health? 56 Huvafen Fushi
www.ceotodaymagazine.com 10 MONTHLY ROUND-UP N EWS The Stories Everyone’s been Talking about Marco Gobbetti to Step Down as Burberry CEO after 5 Years in the Role Audi CEO Reveals Plans to Become an EV Brand Only Burberry Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti has announced he will be stepping down from his role to take up another opportunity that will allow him to be closer to his family in Italy. After almost five years with the British luxury brand, Gobbetti will step down at the end of 2021. He has led the company since 2017, transforming Burberry’s brand and business throughout his time. By late 2017, German automobile giant Audi has announced it will end the development of new internal combustion engine models by 2026 and will instead focus on fullelectric drivetrains. Audi’s CEO, Markus Gobbetti had already laid out plans to make the company more upmarket. He brought in creative chief Riccardo Tisci, and a vast range of new collections were introduced. Gobbetti has also been applauded for his move to limit costs to invest in expanding the brand in Asia, particularly China, which has seen strong growth, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Luxury Italian good firm Salvatore Duesmann, made the announcement at a management meeting at the company’s Ingolstadt headquarters. The transition will be gradual, with new Ferragamo Group has said an agreement has been reached with Gobbetti to join Salvatore Ferragamo as a general manager and chief executive. The firm is based in Florence, Italy, allowing Gobbetti to be closer to his family. It is anticipated that Gobbetti will remain with Burberry until the end of the calendar year, working with chairman Gerry Murphy to support an orderly transition. diesel, gasoline, and hybrid models predating 2026 still being built and sold until the early 2030s. After this point, Audi will abandon internal combustion engine models altogether, becoming a purely electric car manufacturer. According to Automobilwoche, Audi’s A3 and A4 models will be replaced by the battery-powered A3 e-tron and A4 e-tron, instead of having combustion-engine successors. The electric transformation of its A5 and A6 models is set to follow a similar plan. Audi’s Q8 model is set to launch in 2026 and will be the final international combustion engine model built by the brand. By 2025, Audi hopes to expand its full-electric lineup to 20 models.
Musk Says StarlinkWill Go Public When Cash Flow Stabilises Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that Starlink’s broadband satellite venture will apply for an initial public offering (IPO) once the company’s cash flow is more predictable. Musk said that it would be difficult to go public before the company’s cash flow has stabilised. However, in a tweet, he said that he would do his best to “give long-term Tesla shareholders preference.” The billionaire’s tweet came in response to a Twitter user asking whether Musk had any thoughts on a Starlink IPO and whether Tesla retailer investors would have “first dibs”. Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, has previously said that Starlink could be spun off from SpaceX for an IPO. Musk intends for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite fleet to provide broadband connectivity from space in the coming months. The company’s goal is to provide the globe with faster internet speeds, starting by increasing internet access to poorer and more rural communities that are currently without connection. Starlink will do this by launching thousands of small telecom satellites into low-Earth orbit. These satellites are able to beam high-speed, lowlatency internet to the Earth. The company is already operating trial services across 11 different countries, including New Zealand, the US, and the UK. 11 www.ceotodaymagazine.com MONTHLY ROUND-UP Warren Buffett Donates $4.1 Billion to Charity Billionaire Warren Buffett, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has donated a further $4.1 billion (£2.9 billion) worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity. In a statement released on 23 June, the 90-year old billionaire said: “Society has a use for my money; I don’t.” Within the statement, he also announced he would be stepping down as a trustee of the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation. This latest $4.1 billion donation takes Mr Buffett half of the way to meeting a pledge made back in 2006 to pass all of his Berkshire Hathaway shares on to five organisations, with one of these organisations being the Gates Foundation. Despite the donation, Mr Buffett still has over 238,624 shares. Back in March, Mr Buffett joined an exclusive club, whose members include Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk, after BerkshireHathaway’s shares rocketed to record levels. In 2010,Mr Buffett co-founded the Giving Pledge alongside Bill and Melinda Gates. The campaign encourages billionaire philanthropy, with those who sign the pledge publicly promising to donate at least half of their wealth during their lifetimes, or in their wills. Billionaire novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott also signed up to the pledge. Recently, she announced she had donated a further $2.7 billion to awide number of charitable organisations. Photo: USA International Trade Administration
THE CEO INTERVIEW Prevention is Better Than Cure Riadh Zine President & CEO of Akumin Inc. Mark Cuddigan CEO of Ella’s Kitchen Steve Sidd CEO and Founder of Catering HQ 14 18 22
THE CEO INTERVIEW 15 Riadh Zine President & CEO Akumin Inc. Prevention is Better Than Cure Akumin – The Fastest Growing Provider of Outpatient Diagnostic Imaging Services in the US
16 In under seven years, Mr Zine took Akumin from a turnaround story of a debt-burden small player of 13 outpatient diagnostic imaging centres in the state of Florida with $25 million in revenues to Akumin becoming a public company and the industry’s third-largest US player with 137 centres in seven states generating more than $300 million in revenues. When asked about why he thinks Akumin is the fastest-growing company in the US outpatient imaging industry, Mr Zine says that he believes it Is because of a clear vision that attracted a talented management team and a supportive investor base, and inspired many small owner-operators to join the Akumin platform (in fact, many operators sold their business to Akumin and took back Akumin shares as part of the consideration given their belief in the potential longterm shareholder value creation). The second thing he believes is key to Akumin’s success is a disciplined strategy focused on building density in its key markets and driving organic growth, as well as a “deep” operational integration leading to a common efficient operation with one information technology infrastructure, one service delivery platform, one set of operating procedures, one marketing approach, and ultimately one culture. Akumin has already integrated all the acquisitions made to date into one revenue cycle system, an integral part of its service delivery platform. Mr Zine notes that, from his experience, most companies that grow through a series of acquisitions are often unsuccessful because of a failure in operational integration. Akumin’s vision is to be the leading industry consolidator that drives a patient-centred approach, service THE CEO INTERVIEW Mr Riadh Zine-El-Abidine (Riadh Zine) is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Akumin Inc. (NASDAQ: AKU, TSX: AKU), a leading provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging services in the United States with a network of owned and/or operated imaging centres located in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas and Georgia. Akumin provides a broad range of radiology imaging procedures including MRI, CT, positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound, diagnostic radiology (X-ray), mammography, and other interventional procedures. Mr Zine earned an M.Sc. in financial engineering from the University of Montreal, Ecole des Hautes Études Commerciales, in 1996, after he was awarded a scholarship in 1994 from the Canadian Government to continue his graduate studies. He began his career at the Royal Bank of Canada where he worked on several strategic projects, including the proposed merger between Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal. In late 1999, he joined RBC Capital Markets where he became a Managing Director in Global Investment Banking, responsible for providing strategic and financial advice and executing public or private equity and debt financings, as well as merger and acquisition transactions for a wide range of companies in multiple industries. After 13 years of investment banking experience, in early 2013, Mr Zine started his entrepreneurial journey when he co-founded a technology venture capital firm dedicated to investing in “deep tech” companies with disruptive technologies. Today, the firmmanages a portfolio of companies with more than $150 million in assets under management. In late 2013, Mr Zine also founded Akumin to invest in the US outpatient diagnostic imaging industry. The industry had already experienced the types of challenges he had seen in multiple other industries which ultimately resulted in the consolidation of undercapitalised and inefficient small operators within such industries. Those challenges typically include significant pricing cuts, increasing regulatory burden, and considerable overcapacity. In late 2014, Akumin consummated an acquisition of 13 debt-burden centres in the state of Florida and Mr Zine became its President & Chief Executive Officer. We learn more about Akumin’s journey below.
17 delivery standardisation, and exceptional healthcare value. The successful execution of this vision would position Akumin as the new leader in a changing healthcare ecosystem that continues to shift towards outpatient, price-transparency, and valuebased care. Over the years, Mr Zine has created a culture of innovation and disruption at Akumin. By way of example and in line with its goal of creating a patientcentric platform, in early 2021, Akumin completed an equity investment in an artificial intelligence (AI) technology company. In collaboration with Akumin, the technology company has been developing AI-based software for the patient journey which is expected to be an integral part of Akumin’ service delivery cloud-based platform. In addition, in its efforts to standardise the clinical service delivery, Akumin and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology entered into a strategic collaboration to deploy Philips’ new Radiology Operations Command Center across Akumin’s outpatient imaging centres and co-create clinical standards. Akumin is Philips’ first large-scale commercial Radiology Operations Command Center customer in North America. This collaboration is expected to standardise clinical protocols, optimise image quality, ensure business continuity, and address radiology pain points such as operator variability and training. Additionally, Akumin is introducing a new service offering with certain centres focused on men’s health. Akumin’s goal is to redefine prostate care through diagnostic imaging, minimally invasive MRI-guided treatment, and posttreatment monitoring. Akumin partnered with Profound Medical Corp. (NASDAQ: PROF; TSX: PRN), the developer of TULSA-PRO®, a customisable and incision-free prostate disease treatment system that minimises the impact on men’s functional abilities and provides the highest quality of life after treatment. Under Mr Zine’s leadership, Akumin has successfully accessed the capital markets through a direct listing in November 2017 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. During 2020 and notwithstanding the operating challenges faced by the pandemic, not only did Akumin demonstrate its resilience by continuing to operate throughout the pandemic while maintaining strong operating margins, but it also continued its planned US capital markets strategy. Akumin obtained a listing on the Nasdaq in September 2020 and successfully completed a $400 million inaugural bond offering in the US debt capital markets. The bond offering refinanced all of Akumin’s then-existing debt and provided access to growth capital to fund its future acquisitions as Akumin continues to execute on its consolidation strategy. To conclude our conversation, Mr Zine notes: “I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees, radiologists, equity and debt holders, customers and all our other stakeholders and partners for their efforts in supporting Akumin since its inception”. “I greatly value the professional and business relationships that I have formed over the years, and I am looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead,” he says. Akumin is certainly looking forward to a bright future and we can’t wait to see what the coming years hold for the company and Mr Zine! THE CEO INTERVIEW Mr Zine notes that, from his experience, most companies that grow through a series of acquisitions are often unsuccessful because of a failure in operational integration. “ “
THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 19 Unexpected things will happen, and there will always be times of economic adversity which you cannot always prepare a business for. The last year has been one of the slowest in terms of growth for Ella’s Kitchen, but the company’s CEO, Mark Cuddigan, says that he is so proud of everything they have achieved, believing that 2020 was, in fact, one of the most successful years for the company to date! We hear more about it below. Mark Cuddigan CEO of Ella’s Kitchen 2020 Was Ella’s Kitchen’s Slowest Year in a Decade but its CEO Couldn’t Be Prouder
THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 20 2020 was a year of global tragedy. How did the pandemic affect Ella’s Kitchen? Indeed, 2020was adifficult year andat Ella’s Kitchen, we all suffered a great personal loss, tragically losing our Managing Director just as the pandemic began to take hold. It was so unprecedented and I knew I had to prioritise my employees’ wellbeing and their families above everything else. It is no longer acceptable for the success of a business to be measured purely by economic gain. We have seen a modest increase in sales this year, but this has been a challenging year for the whole category with the value of baby food brands down by over £10m. Parents are now spending more time at home and so they have time to cook, which inevitably led to a drop in sales for companies like us that provide convenient, nutritious baby food. When COVID-19 began to take hold, and before furlough was even a word that many of us had heard of, I told all of our staff that they would continue to be paid in full regardless of whether they could work or not. If one of my employees could not work, then we would find a way to pick up on their work or we would simply not do that job role for the time being. Everyone had to put their families’ and their own wellbeing first - to me that was nonnegotiable. Today, we are slowly coming to terms with this virus, yet it only feels like yesterday when there was widespread fear over it. It’s not something that any of us should take lightly, and if there was anything, we could do to support our employees, we would do it. As we’re slowly getting back to normality, how are you and the company adapting to the present? We are over a year on from when the pandemic first hit our shores, and now that the initial shock of COVID-19 is over, we need to turn our thoughts and strategies to the future and look at how we can actually build back better - and this shouldn’t be in the form of sales, sales and more sales. If there is a silver lining to a dark story, it is the satellite images of lowered air pollution around the globe during the various lockdowns we have endured. I could see the stars which were usually obscured by smog and the air felt cleaner to breathe. The issue with this, however, is that it hid a more sinister problem. Countries around the world in fiscal turmoil started to request extensions on meeting climate commitment deadlines. I was adamant that at Ella’s we wouldn’t abandon our own commitments to the next generation. We’re the first generation of leaders who will not be able to look back on the climate emergency and say that we didn’t know what was happening. We all know this is happening. So, putting profits aside, we focussed on what we could do to actually build back better and I am proud that we have not only stuck to our word but that we have accelerated our commitments to the planet this year. We have assessed our entire footprint and are continuing our work with the World Land Trust to promote the conservation of natural ecosystems in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. Through our partnership with Trees for Life, we have also planted over 4,000 trees to offset the impact from our offices. Ella’s very foundation is built on the belief that every child deserves nutritious and delicious food from weaning. We have continued to campaign for government action on childhood obesity and early childhood nutrition. We backed Marcus Rashford’s call to the government to provide free school meal vouchers for children from underprivileged backgrounds. Despite the uncertainty, we have remained a strong and active voice in pushing for a greater national focus on childhood nutrition. ‘Impact-led businesses’ have become something of a buzzword. As a certified B Corp, we go through a stringent certification process that truly verifies if we are maintaining the highest standards of environmental and social purpose. The certification process gets harder every couple of years, and B Corp is brilliant at challenging you to do better. In 2020 we also teamed up with hundreds of other businesses to form the Better Business Act. This is calling for a straightforward legislative solution to put purpose first in business. We are campaigning to amend section 172 of The Companies Act to ensure that company directors are responsible for advancing the interests of shareholders alongside those of wider society and the environment. This a unique opportunity to demonstrate UK leadership on the global stage – creating a competitive advantage, driving innovation, accelerating progress to net zero, and aligning with the government’s ambition to build back better. As a society, we will move backwards if we don’t innovate in the ways that we do business. We need to have the bravery to alter the status quo and be the change. Ella’s Kitchen was grounded on a purpose, and it is my job every day to ensure we uphold this. This has been the first year in a decade where we have not seen double-digit growth, but profit is not the most important thing. Success is determined by how you measure it, and I will continue to measure success in our business through how deeply rooted in purpose we are. This has been the first year in a decade where we have not seen double-digit growth, but profit is not the most important thing. “ “
THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 23 We caught up with Steve Sidd, CEO and Founder of Catering HQ – an Australian company providing a range of commercial consulting, hospitality, catering and function catering services to the tourism, leisure, hospitality and food services sectors. We learn all about it over the next few pages. Steve Sidd CEO and Founder Catering HQ The Hospitality Entrepreneur
THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 24 The history of Catering HQ Food appreciation is a Sidd family tradition and value! Steve tells us that his father was in the catering business and all he ever wanted to do was to follow in his footsteps. During school, he helped out at his dad’s restaurants and instantly fell in love with the buzz and the passion that went on behind the scenes. Steve lives and breathes ‘food’. His parents were always cooking and entertaining family and friends, so when Steve started his first catering company in 1996, it felt natural and wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Steve is a highly experienced retail and food services specialist with decades of experience in hospitality management, project management and consulting experience. He has been very involved in workforce reform in the hospitality industry and has in-depth knowledge and expertise in business and workforce planning and management. Over the years Steve has owned and operated cafés, restaurants, bars and catering venues. Today, under the umbrella of Catering HQ, Steve heads up the highly successful boutique catering business specialising in three main areas: venue catering (clubs, pubs and hotel groups); external catering (for large and high-end events); and hospitality consultancy (for the club, pub, hotel and franchise group sectors). Employing 300+ people and on a strong path of growth, Steve prides himself on delivering quality food and service, always looking at trends and, importantly, setting trends themselves. Steve is an innovator, a pioneer of the industry and a true hospitality entrepreneur. He has perfected his systems, logistics, the ability to operate and manage excellence across multiple sites and duplicate his award-winning services in each of his venues through these systems and management teams. He understands that a restaurant or dining experience requires outstanding leadership, and he invests heavily in training and leading his team to ensure the service is exceptional across all venues. This is his point of difference in a growing industry and he is pioneering how to do it! Steve’s experience includes significant operational and management experience having owned his own catering business for more than 25 years. He has been recognised through industry bodies both state and nationally for being amongst the best in the hospitality, club, restaurant and catering awards. The breadth and depth of Steve’s skills and experience base is unparalleled: project management, human resource management, industrial relations, staff training, budget establishment, concept development, performance measurement, quality control and new product launches. “Helping your business manage the risks you face today, to maximise profitability and to limit your exposure tomorrow” is his motto and he has devoted his career to do exactly that for his clients. With over 300 employees, 22+ dining concepts and 28+ event/function spaces at Castle Hill RSL, and the beautiful Indulge Brasserie and alfresco area at Moorebank Sports Club, they have also recently moved into Lynwood Country Club, the beautiful The Garden restaurant in Wests Ashfield Club and the popular MaZi restaurant at Lantern Club in Roselands. Branching out of Sydney metro, the most recent acquisitions also include the very popular Mingara Recreation Club up on the Central Coast and Springwood Sports Club in the Blue Mountains. Catering HQ have also expanded into Parramatta RSL and personally oversaw the redevelopment of the dining spaces launched late last year. Steve is passionate about everything that he does, and that includes his downtime and family time. When he’s not working, he ensures there is always time to fit in a daily gym training session to help clear his mind and soul and get him mentally ready for the day ahead. When he’s not working out though, he does enjoy lazing by a pool or enjoying a meal with his beautiful wife and two sons. Staying up to date with the latest trends in the hospitality industry Steve, his partner Albie and his team are always looking at new trends and pride themselves on their ability to be at the forefront of setting trends in the local industry. Although he gauges what the trends are in the US and the UK, it’s important to keep things relevant to Australian audiences, he tells me and things are certainly fast-paced especially now that the country seems to have entered the post-COVID phase that the rest of the globe is still longing for. Steve and his team are always researching and developing new products and are Great service, beautiful food, exciting menus, and customer loyalty programs are essential to building customer loyalty and creating a positive experience that will have customers talk about you, share you on social media channels, and keep returning. ” ”
THE CEO INTERVIEW www.ceotodaymagazine.com 25 frequently well ahead of the game. When plant-based food products first came in, for example, Catering HQ were one of the first in the industry to embrace the movement. This is now growing from strength to strength - so much now that they have even incorporated an area on their menus accommodating plant-based, vegan and gluten-free dietary requests. It is important to be ahead of the game, and the team regularly change their menus continuously and with the seasons. For Steve, it’s important that they are always the leading company in the industry which is portrayed in everything they do! Steve’s advice to his clients in the current environment “It really is all about meeting customer expectations and exceeding them,” Steve tells me. “Too many people in hospitality today have forgotten this important point. Great service, beautiful food, exciting menus, and customer loyalty programs are essential to building customer loyalty and creating a positive experience that will have customers talk about you, share you on social media channels, and keep returning.” “People want an ‘experience’ these days, they don’t accept a mediocre experience, and we need to respect that. It’s so easy for them to stay at home and cook something delicious, so we need to create an environment and an atmosphere that they can’t emulate at home. The quality of the food has to be really good because people know what they like. That’s what my business always comes down to – getting out good quality food. Nowadays, customers are watching TV shows about food, they’re engaged, they know about healthy eating and you have to cater for all of that,” he explains. Steve believes wholeheartedly that quality food has to be part of the package and is all about providing a high-standard product on the plate – every time. Everything is made from fresh high-quality products and sourced as locally as possible. It does require a lot of labour, but the results speak for themself. What excites Steve about his work “I love innovating in an industry that has largely underpromised and underdelivered! It’s a privilege and so exciting to work with some of the most innovative boards in Australia on delivering exceptional dining experiences to their members, and we take this responsibility and opportunity very seriously”, Steve tells me. “We like to think we are turning the family dining experience on its head!” Steve’s venue at Moorebank Sports Club achieved ‘Best Family Dining Restaurant’ in the Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence in both state and national awards, and this is where his passion and focus lies. In providing exceptional quality and service to the growing club’s industry, where in the past, the quality of the dining spaces was not taken as seriously. The club industry has really expanded in the past decade with innovative and forwardthinking boards and management, and Steve is passionate about this direction and specialises in this area of hospitality as it creates an excellent opportunity for growth and development. Steve’s passion and his mission is to improve and support the hospitality industry in Australia and to ensure that the industry is seen as a career of choice across the nation. On his favourite food Being of Greek-Egyptian background, slow-cooked meats, lamb and meze/ grazing foods have always been some of Steve’s favourite foods to enjoy. However, over 3 ½ years ago, he decided to go through a massive life transformation – he stopped eating all meat and carbohydrate products and switched to a clean pescatarian diet. His health is very important to him, and he is committed to only eating the very best, cleanest & freshest produce along with highintensive training six days a week. Steve tells me that he used to be a very large man but managed to lose 40 kilograms thanks to this change, feeling better than he has ever felt! He now happily (and proudly) shares this story and journey with his children, friends, family, work colleagues and business associates. Future goals Steve and his partner Albie Aldahawi ‘s dream for 2021 was to get to 10 venues and set up their own logistics & production kitchen. As of today, they are on their 9th venue which will open in August, with number 10 expected in October 2021. The logistics and production kitchen is currently under construction and is due to also open in August. Over the next 3 to 5 years, Steve and Albie would like to expand by an additional 2 or 3 venues every year, however, remaining a boutique company is very important to them. They don’t dream of becoming the biggest company in their sector, but they do aim to be the best at what they do! www.stevesidd.com www.cateringhq.com.au Instagram: @cateringhq Facebook: CateringHQ LinkedIn: SteveSidd
THE DISRUPTORS 28 32 38 42 48 Super Musk Risk, Reward and the Celebrity CEO The 5 Biggest Companies with LGBTQ+ CEOs Why Successful Entrepreneurs are Often Such Difficult People “Why I’m a Sucker for a Champion!” Benedetto Vigna and Ferrari The Beginning of a Success Story or a Catastrophe in the Making?
“Make humanity a multiplanet species!” - Elon Musk, Twitter “Do you want Tesla to accept Doge?” - Elon Musk, Twitter (4 million responses) “If there’s ever a scandal about me, please call it elongate.” - Elon Musk, Twitter Photo: Wikicommons - Daniel Oberhaus
We need heroes - especially in American culture - and tech billionaires fit the bill perfectly right now. Leaders of major companies inevitably become famous, becoming aspirational figures beyond their domain. But that’s not the same as celebrity in the sense of public prominence way beyond what follows from doing their job: rockstar antics, glorying in attention, playful exhibitionism in social media, a sense of glamour as much as achievement. So we have Elon Musk. Looking back, we had figures like Branson and Rockefeller. I’m sure even in Roman times someone fit the bill. Super Musk Risk, Reward and the Celebrity CEO Tim Johnson SVP Product Management digital product agency Somo
Characterising charisma Of course, it’s a spectrum, with Musk at one end and figures such as Steve Jobs and Jack Dorsey somewhere back along the line. What characterises the celebrity end of the spectrum? - A CEO who directly addresses the public as an individual - Unmediated personal communication displaying personality, emotion and vision - Delight in ignoring the conventions of business decorum - Communications combining personal and business interests - Their personal life becomes a topic of general fascination - Fleeting thoughts and feelings widely discussed The consequence is an identification of the business with the personality of the CEO and a powerful anchoring of business success to that individual personality. Is this helpful, or troubling? Is the best CEO actually the boring one who focuses 100%on the job and keeps out of the news? Risk and reward Charismatic leadership is fantastic for getting attention. There’s typically a perception of authenticity, a sense of the hero, the visionary. This most obviously affects the general public - powerfully driving brand visibility at no cost - but also impacts investors, building market excitement. There’s also the internal perspective. Inspiration for the team, feeling part of something special (very powerful in the early Virgin years) creates a unified vision that aligns and cuts through the strategic muddle. The celebrity CEO amplifies marketing efforts, drives intense brand loyalty in customers and staff, and potentially boosts market valuation. And all news is good news, right? Well, no... Heroes can dramatically fall from grace. Mockery, moral outrage, sudden shifts of perception in response to fleeting comments. What happens when the drama swings the wrong way? Negatives are anchored to your business just as much as positives, amplifying the business effects of misjudgements, foolish comments, and even personal life drama. When the PR is bad you have reputational damage, a growing army of social media haters, and risk sudden downswings in valuation. From an internal perspective, employee motivation and retention can dramatically swing in response to misjudged comments on hot political topics, and at senior level, there has to be a risk of groupthink around one all-powerful personality. The combination of personal interests, personal life and business interests can be toxic for the latter. Should boards care? Celebrity leadership ramps up the risk and reward profile - everything can be amplified and can crumble to dust. You get amazing engagement for zero marketing budget, but a couple of wrong tweets and your business reputation is dented along with the CEO’s ego. Just as there are highrisk sectors and markets, there is high-risk leadership. Thinking about this requires two kinds of nuance. First, context. As a business, what is your risk profile? Does it make sense, given your value proposition, to trade some predictability for amplification of attention? Does it make sense, given your customer, investor and wider stakeholder profile - and perhaps national culture - for a heroic figure to define your public identity? Second, moderation. I love visionary personalities, and I love people who blast through the formality and fakeness of so much in business. Advising a CEO - just as when mentoring my newest recruit - I’d want to hold onto that. Not diminishing their energy and colour but bringing awareness of its impact. We can all agree certain things need avoiding - extreme political views, racism, some basic risk areas around markets and trading. Does the CEO have trusted people who can perform this role? Moderating extremes without losing the personality? This is partly a legal duty but needs to go beyond that and build meaningful personal awareness. The changing world Let’s consider how the world is changing. The pandemic shock gives rise to a few current considerations that affect leadership: - It’s a time of intense innovation. Accelerated trends such as abandonment of cash and the transformation of physical to digital. - Radically changing working practices. How we motivate and empower employees has never been less clear. - Sustainability demands returning to (and beyond) the prominence they held in 2019. - A bored and worn-down public yearning for optimism and fun. While it’s hard to directly connect these to CEO style it nudges the scales in favour of visionary charismatic leadership. To promote innovation, to inspire teams, to connect with people in new ways that resonate with now. While being mindful of the risks, colourful communicators are perhaps just what some businesses need in the 2020s. THE DISRUPTORS
To celebrate Pride Month this year, we take a look at the five companies across the globe that share two similarities – big revenues and an LGBTQ+ CEO at the helm. Over the past few years, many companies have made public gestures of support during Pride Month, with hundreds of major consumer brands becoming regular sponsors of annual Pride events. In addition to this, an increasing number of companies are making business-critical decisions about recruitment practices, employee-resource groups and marketing that embrace the rights of their LGBTQ+ teammembers. But in a world where corporate boardrooms are largely straight and cis-gendered, being an openly LGBTQ+ leader while pushing for equality and inclusion is certainly challenging the status quo and creating an even more welcoming environment for the LGBTQ+ community in their company. We take a look at the LGBTQ+ CEOs of five of the biggest companies in the world who are working hard to inspire this change and encourage more employees to feel represented in the workplace. The 5 Biggest Companies with LGBTQ+ CEOs by Katina Hristova Photo: Flickr: Austin Community College
Alan Joyce Qantas Airways Anne Richards Fidelity International THE DISRUPTORS Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australian airline Qantas, is certainly one of the most influential LGBTQ+ CEOs in the world, who isn’t afraid to stand up for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, including campaigning in favour of same-sex marriage in Australia back in 2017. Mr Joyce is vocal about driving changes both at Qantas and his country, fully embracing the power he has as a high-profile business leader and putting it to good use. After legislation to allow samesex marriage passed the Australian Parliament on 7th December 2017, Mr Joyce married his long-term partner Shane Lloyd on the rooftop of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Circular Quay on 2nd November 2019. In addition to his efforts connected to LGBTQ+ rights, Mr Joyce is devoted to supporting gender equality and indigenous rights too. “We want a fair go for the female community, we want a fair go for the indigenous community, we want a fair go across the board, and that’s why we feel passionate about getting this right,” Mr Joyce told 130 female pilots from 30 airlines back in 2019. The current CEOof Fidelity International Anne Richards, who has recently been honoured with a damehood for services to the financial services industry, women, education and science in the Queen’s birthday honours, is another CEO leading by example by focussing on building an inclusive and diverse company. Having been an outsider herself in the past, she strives to build an environment where people feel welcome and have the right to be there without apologising about who they are. In 2019, less than a year since Richards was named CEO of the company, Fidelity International became one of the five founding members of LGBT Great’s Corporate Membership, committing to improving LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion for all employees, clients and investors. LGBT Great is a global membership organisation specialist in developing LGBT+ diversity and inclusion within the investment and savings industry. Anne is also a big supporter of women in finance, believing that a lot of progress has been made over the past decade thanks to a very ‘concentrated push on gender’ in the industry.
Jeffrey Gennette Macy’s Inc Jim Fitterling Dow THE DISRUPTORS As one of the very few openly gay CEOs at the heights of corporate America, Jeffrey Gennette has worked hard to ensure that diversity and inclusion are business imperatives at Macy’s. “Our mission is to embedD&I into howwe think, act, and operate by fostering an inclusive culture and an environment that inspires, reflects, and embraces everyone,” he says. In addition to the company culture Gennette has instilled, for this year’s Pride Month, Macy’s annual Pride + Joy campaign included a customercentric give-back program to raise funds and awareness for The Trevor Project – the world’s largest suicide “No one should be afraid to bring their whole self to work,” says Jim Fitterling, the CEO of Dow. And as someone who has spent the majority of his career hiding his sexuality, Jim is on a mission to make a difference and help ensure that everyone who works for Dow can be their whole selves. Jim himself came out to his colleagues before he was appointed CEO. It happened during an internal meeting in 2014 and the announcement was met prevention and crisis intervention organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people. For more than a decade, Macy’s has supported the charity through a variety of initiatives and over the last two years alone, the company has helped to raise over $1.6 million to support The Trevor Project’s mission. The company has also launched a celebratory assortment of Prideinspired exclusive merchandise, has supported more than 18 celebrations across the US and has hosted numerous events, including this year’s virtual Macy’s Pride March. with an ‘overwhelmingly positive support’. Soon after becoming the company’s new chief executive, Fitterling appointed Dow’s first Chief Inclusion Officer, who reports directly to him. Their focus is on expanding inclusion, as Jim believes that if a company doesn’t have the type of culture that supports women, POC and LGBTQ+ people, then you might have diversity for a while but it will not sustain itself in the long run.
Flickr: Austin Community College
TimCook Apple “I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me,” Tim Cook said in his editorial for Bloomberg Business back in 2014 when he came out publicly to officially become the first openly gay chief executive in the Fortune 500. Among the numerous initiatives and campaigns Apple and Cook work on, including the long-running financial support for many LGBTQ+ advocacy organisations, to celebrate theLGBTQ+ movement this year, the company debuted a new Apple Watch Pride Edition band and dynamic watch face, both of which incorporate a broader set of colours inspired by multiple Pride flags that have represented the LGBTQ+ community throughout the years. “On many fronts, Apple supports the ongoing and unfinished work of equality for diverse and intersectional communities, and we want to provide every opportunity to celebrate and honour this history during Pride season,” commented Cook.
Photo: Flickr - Joi Ito
Books on leadership often paint an unrealistic picture of the successful manager or entrepreneur: He or she is always slow to criticise and generous with praise, never raises his or her voice, never dresses an employee down in the presence of others, etc. These ideal entrepreneurs and executives are certainly out there —but just as certainly, they are outnumbered by the vast majority who are quite different from the prototype depicted in the large number of books and seminars on leadership. Successful entrepreneurs are frequently nonconformists. They swim against the current and are often perceived as difficult by others. Even as young people, many of them had problems bowing and scraping to authority figures. Entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were able to captivate, motivate and inspire their employees. In this respect, they fit the profile of outstanding leaders. But they also had a different side and were extremely difficult bosses. Why Successful Entrepreneurs are Often Such Difficult People Dr Rainer Zitelmann
Flame Mails fromBill Gates In some respects, Bill Gates is the exact opposite of the executive championed in books on leadership. JamesWallace and Jim Erickson wrote a biography of Bill Gates and described him as a difficult person. Gateswas notorious for sending e-mails to his employees in the middle of the night (often, they would still be at work). A typical missive would start: “This is the stupidest piece of code ever written.” His employees referred to them as “flame mail” because they were “blunt and often sarcastic.” In discussions, his biographers report, he wielded his formidable intellect like a blunt instrument. He could be rude and sarcastic, even insulting when he wanted to make a point. “Once the flaw was pinpointed, he would rip the person to shreds.” Gates would often rock back and forth in his chair, staring into space as if his thoughts were elsewhere. “Then suddenly, when he heard something he didn’t like or didn’t agree with, he would stop rocking, sit up straight, and become visibly angry, sometimes throwing his pencil. He often yelled or pounded his fist on the table to make a point.” The Rebel Steve Jobs Apple founder Steve Jobs is another prime example. Working for him, his biographers Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon write, was like being on a seesaw between finding Steve annoying, frustrating, intolerable, and yet answering his clarion call, marching to the beat of his drum, willingly, even gladly. Jobs carried an aura of fear with him like a dark cloud. “You didn’t want to be called in front of him to do a product presentation because he might decide to lop off the product, and you with it. You didn’t want to encounter him in a hallway because he might not like an answer you gave and would say something so demeaning that it could undermine your confidence for weeks. And you sure as hell didn’t want to be trapped on an elevator with him because by the time the doors opened, you might not have a job.” Steve Jobs was a rebel in his youth, someone who kept picking fights with his parents and teachers. Because of his bad behaviour and unruliness, he was repeatedly suspended from school. He refused to do his homework, which he considered a waste of time and, as Steve Jobs himself confesses: “I was pretty bored in school, and I turned into a little terror.” He was the leader of a gang that planted bombs and put snakes into classrooms. “You should have seen us in third grade,” he recalls. “We basically destroyed the teacher.” Larry Ellison andWarren Buffett’s Difficult Youth Like Jobs, Larry Ellison, who founded Oracle and today stands at No. 7 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest individuals, was a very difficult child and teenager. He and his father argued incessantly. The only thing Ellison and his father ever did was disagree, his biographer Mike Wilson says. The arguments continued at school, where Ellison would stand up to his teachers. He was not willing to learn anything he could not see the point of and would sabotage whatever he did not want to put up with. After he had finished school, his attitude kept getting him into trouble at the companies he worked for. He eventually realised that his only option was to form his own company where he would be in control of how things were done. Warren Buffett also had a lot of fights with his parents and his teachers — he even got into trouble with the police. Looking back on his youth, he readily admits he was “antisocial.” His biographer, Alice Schroeder, quotes him as saying: “I fell in with bad people and did things I shouldn’t have. I was just rebelling. I was unhappy.” Warren’s parents were appalled by his behaviour. By late 1944, Schroeder says, he had become the school delinquent. He kept getting bad grades, and he was so difficult to get along with that his teachers ended up putting him in a room by himself, shoving his “lessons under the door like Hannibal Lecter. ... I was really rebelling. ... I set the record for checks on deficiencies in deportment and all that,” Buffett remembers. On graduation day, Buffett refused to wear the obligatory suit and tie. “They wouldn’t let me graduate with the class ... because I was so disruptive and I wouldn’t wear clothes that were appropriate.” Schumpeter: Entrepreneurs Need to be Nonconformists Non-conformity, a willingness to face conflicts head-on, rebelling against authorities—all this corresponds to the picture painted by the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter 100 years ago in his work The Theory of Economic Development. Of central importance is the insight that entrepreneurs do not let social norms govern their actions to the same extent as others. The type of entrepreneur described by Schumpeter swims “against the stream.” “The fact that something has not yet been done is irrelevant to him as a counterargument. He does not feel the inhibitions which otherwise constrain the behaviour of economic agents.” This type “draws other conclusions from the data of the world around him than those drawn by the mass of static economic agents.” This entrepreneurial type is “quite indifferent … to what his peers and superiors would have to say about his business.” THE DISRUPTORS
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