CEO Today - January 2022

January 2022

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C EO T O D A Y www.ceotodaymagazine.com For more information, contact Jacob Mallinder Jacob.Mallinder@universalmedia365.com 0044 (0) 1543 255 537 CEO Today Magazine is a premium aspirational lifestyle and business magazine. We seek to inspire, motivate and inform the world’s most successful business leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs through our content. Our magazine provides news, interviews and features about the most inuential leaders in the business world and beyond, focusing on topical stories, exclusive content and indepth articles that motivate our readers. Subscribe to receive a monthly hard copy. Price on application for subcriptions outside of the UK £395 *+ VAT if applicable *includes postage & packaging

5 EDITOR’S NOTE STAY CONNECTED! Follow us on: EDITOR’S NOTE www.ceotodaymagazine.com Katin Hristo Editor All of this and so much more - I hope you enjoy the content in CEO Today’s first issue for 2022! 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 2022 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 CEO Today Magazine’s first edition for 2022! As we’re all excitingly stepping into the new year, I’m thrilled to present CEO Today’s January collection of inspiration from some of the world’s leading CEOs and entrepreneurs, as well as our monthly dose of travel and lifestyle content! Here are some of our favourite stories from CEO Today’s January 2022 edition: An Interview with The North Face The Future of Wine in 2022 28 36 60 22 What Do Einstein, Madonna and KimKardashian All Have in Common? COP26: A Call to Arms for Business Leaders

6 CONTENTS www.ceotodaymagazine.com Horst Gusterhuber CEO of Roxa Technologies 10 THE CEO INTERVIEW 12. Horst Gusterhuber CEO of Roxa Technologies 16. Scott Perry CEO of AmeriLife 20 THE DISRUPTORS 22. What Do Einstein, Madonna and Kim Kardashian All Have in Common? CONTENTS 8 28 Monthly-Round-Up 12 26 PRO PLANET 28. The Push Towards Greater Sustainability An Interview with The North Face 32. The Future of Sustainability Within Luxury Fashion 36. COP26 A Call to Arms for Business Leaders An Interview with The North Face

7 42 What are the New Yearʼs Resolutions the Chairman of the Board Should be Making for 2022? 46 40 58 EXECUTIVE COACHING VISION & STRATEGY TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE 48. Co-Founder Conflict: Productive or Destructive? 52. How to Turn Transition into an Opportunity 54. Bringing Coaching, Neuroscience & Emotional Intelligence Together 42. What are the New Year’s Resolutions the Chairman of the Board Should be Making for 2022? 60. The Future of Fine Wine in 2022 64. The Future of Luxury Key Trends Shaping the Industry 68. Take a Look Inside British Virgin Islands’ Freshly Reopened Bitter End Resort 48 Co-Founder Con ict: Productive or Destructive? www.ceotodaymagazine.com 64The Future of Luxury Key Trends Shaping the Industry Bringing Coaching, Neuroscience & Emotional Intelligence Together 54

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 8 MONTHLY ROUND - UP N EWS The Stories Everyoneʼs been Talking about Tesla Signs Graphite Supply Deal with Syrah Resources Australian Syrah Resources Ltd will supply Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company with graphite anode material over an initial four-year period, with an option to buy additional volumes subject to further expansion of Syrah’s plant in Vidalia, Louisiana. The Vidalia facility is planned to process graphite fromMozambique to become the first source of graphite anodes in the US amid the fast-growing global demand for electric vehicles. According to BloombergNEF, demand for graphite anode material is set to increase fivefold by the end of the decade. Currently, China produces almost all of the graphite used in producing materials for anodes. Earlier in the month, Tesla asked the US Government to abandon tariffs on graphite from China, arguing that the company was unable to access enough material from elsewhere. According to industry estimates cited by Syrah, the Vidalia plant’s initial 10,000 tonne-a-year production rate would be enough to supply approximately 3% of USbased battery demand by 2025.

Apple Delays Return to Office Indefinitely Following a surge of COVID-19 cases in the US and Canada, Apple has decided to delay calling its employees back to the office to a date “yet to be determined.” According to several media reports, Apple employees were informed of the decision via a memo sent by the company’s chief executive Tim Cook on Wednesday. The memo also noted that each employee, including retail workers, would receive $1,000 to spend on home office equipment, according to NBC News. The memo also encouraged employees to get vaccinated and have their booster shot, with COVID-19 cases soaring 9 www.ceotodaymagazine.com MONTHLY ROUND - UP Chanel Appoints Unilever Executive Leena Nair as CEO French luxury fashion house Chanel has named Unilever executive Leena Nair as its newGlobal Chief Executive. In a statement, Chanel said that French billionaire Alain Wertheimer, who owns Chanel with his brother GerardWertheimer, would take on the role of global executive chairman. Nair, 52, has 30 years of experience at Unilever. She has served as the global consumer goods company’s first female, first Asian, and youngest ever Chief Human Resources Officer. Nair also served as a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive, which is responsible for delivering the company’s business and financial performance. Chanel said Nair would join the group in January, adding that the new appointment would ensure the brand’s “long-term success as a private company.” as the new omicron variant of the virus spreads across many parts of the globe. It was said that Apple employees will be given at least four weeks’ notice before a new return-to-office deadline takes effect. Under the company’s new hybrid work policy, most employees would be expected to attend the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays andwould be allowed towork from home on Wednesdays and Fridays. Prior to the current surge in COVID-19 cases, the tech giant had been expecting its employees to return on 1 February for the beginning of its hybrid work pilot.

THE CEO INTERVIEW Horst Gusterhuber CEO of Roxa Technologies Lateral Thinking in Mechanical Engineering Scott Perry CEO of AmeriLife Peace of Mind in Times of Uncertainty 12 16

“In Our Case, the Focus is on ʻKnow-How’ – Solutions Like These Can’t be Found in a Catalogue.”

THE CEO INTERVIEW 13 in Thinking Lateral Mechanical Engineering Industry 4.0 and future forms of manufacturing are on everyone’s lips. High-tech is the name of the game. But that is only half the truth – mechanical engineering is confronted with several other challenges. Horst Gusterhuber, CEO of Roxa Technologies, talks about success, technology and the best of both worlds. Horst Gusterhuber CEO of Roxa Technologies

14 Digitalisation as far as the eye can reach. Everything has to be smart. This also applies to the industry sector. In addition to speed, flexibility is becoming more and more important. Increasingly intelligent components, seamless communication and networking are just a few of the requirements. “That alone won’t cut it,” says Horst Gusterhuber, CEO of the Austrian mechanical engineering company Roxa Technologies. We asked why this is the case and what else is required. Aircraft maintenance, the finishing of automotive parts, the draining of a storage unit for honey – these are just a few examples on offer. Roxa Technologies develops machines for a wide range of applications. Mr Gusterhuber, how does it all fit together? Taking a closer look, you will find that we are highly specialised. Our work always focuses on automated motion sequences, which cannot be optimally or sufficiently executed by means of conventional cranes or robotics. Take, for example, the handling of relatively lightweight components across major distances. This is where a specialpurpose solution quickly starts to shine. Does that mean that lightweight components cannot be moved with an “off the shelf” crane? Generally speaking, of course they can. But it frequently does not pay off to do so. Classic crane construction is about thinking in tonnes. This ignores the fact, however, that 80% of the loads that have to be manipulated in today’s industry weigh less than 500 kilograms. In other words, a crane weighing several tonnes is used to shift a few hundred kilograms – and that is just not economic. Added to this we have topics such as special load geometries, severely limited space – think of ceiling heights, galvanic separation, or special tools that must be positioned with extreme precision from second to second. In our case, the focus is on the “know-how” – you won’t find solutions like these in a catalogue. Know-how in terms of development and practical technology application are therefore at the core? Seen fromthe technological perspective, almost everything is already possible today. This also applies to industrial mechanical engineering. All the required technologies are in place – it’s only a matter of what you do with them. Just having a bunch of cool components at your disposal won’t lead to an amazing machine. The interplay is the decisive factor, as is what the customer really needs. This has to be thought out together. And in this case, less is frequently more. Does that mean that major achievements in mechanical engineering do not always have to be measured in superlatives? The big picture is what really counts – as opposed to a few features for that special “bling” experience. What’s the use of being the proud owner of a sports car, when you ultimately spend most of the time driving it on bad roads or country lanes? Industry 4.0 is a good example in this regard. There is a lot of talk about digitalisation, self-adapting production and lot size 1. While perfectly legitimate in some fields, the majority of the industry is nevertheless concerned with entirely different topics such as efficiency, reliability and features one really uses. Digitalisation can contribute – but it isn’t everything. Creativity and implementation ideas are often more important than bits and bytes. This is a view probably not shared by all engineers. Does mechanical engineering not require a certain degree of love for technology? I am not in love with technology, but with its precise application. This is the challenge we face today. “Reduced to the max” – that is where it really gets exciting! A lightweight load-bearing construction, a special wire rope, or an uncommon solution, transferred from an entirely different field into an industrial application. This is what beauty in mechanical engineering is about for me. Design plays a major role in this context but is always coupled with a perfect interplay of form and function. You mentioned creativity and ideas – does that not go without saying? Not necessarily. There is a lot of leeways. With regard to mechanical engineering, we work with the modular systems of various manufacturers. We use them to assemble our units – piece by piece, one component after the other, system by system. For most tasks, you have already come up with a solution – this is the individual experience that every design engineer brings to the table. This is important and we wouldn’t want to miss out on it. And now it really starts to get interesting. This is where passion begins – because not every solution is the best solution. You need courage to challenge yourself. This is the spark from which true innovation is born. “Nothing is set in stone” is, therefore, a good starting point for you? That’s the best start into a project. THE CEO INTERVIEW

We are pleased if we can render our customers speechless. We want to think laterally, to be outside of the box, to surprise and astound – this is what we see as success and the part we enjoy most. It is why we outsourced the machine construction, even though we sell entire systems, and are therefore the manufacturer in the sense of the machinery directive for our customers. We have the overall responsibility. We nevertheless decided to concentrate on engineering and commissioning. The construction of the systems is handled by our partner Kostwein from Carinthia. They execute all our machines in cooperation with us. That’s unusual – why did you opt for this approach? The solutions we develop and sell are special-purpose machines from the field of “half-robotics”. They are manipulators – a term from the field of lifting appliances and crane technology. It focuses on ‘manipulation’, i.e. the movement of a wide range of loads. “Half-robotics”, the preliminary stage to the classic robot, has developed into an interesting niche of its own. This is our profession. It requires a lot of creative potential because it is continuously about individual tasks. This is what we want to focus on – this is what we make time for. The final machine assembly is in best hands at Kostwein – that’s their speciality. This teamwork has paid off for us on all sides. One topic is currently occupying the entire mechanical engineering segment – delivery shortfalls on the supplier side. Are you also affected? There are probably only a few mechanical engineering companies out there that are not affected. Especially electrical components are in some cases unobtainable. And to a certain extent, it cannot even be said when they will be made available again. This applies to major, renowned suppliers as well as to small ones. A wealth of ideas and creativity, however, can help you out even here. There are countless solutions for every technical task at hand, and a lot of them can be realised in a different fashion. We already take this into consideration during construction. First, we have a look at the components that are available and then we work with them. Does this mean that one has to reinvent “the wheel” every single time? Luckily, this is not the case. Electronic components are the ones primarily affected. You are, however, addressing an important issue: mechanics, the origin of mechanical engineering. Those wishing to ensure “movement” – manipulators is the catchword we are looking for here – must not lose track of this fact. Continuously more IT in machines frequently pushesmechanical know-how into the background. At first glance, this is understandable because software can be adapted via the click of a mouse. Furthermore, one receives a lot of data from every manufacturing section via direct access – a plus for the management. This is the benefit of digitalisation, which creates flexibility. But this is precisely what is turning mechanical engineers more and more into programmers. And it can have a detrimental effect on the core competency. Of course, we rely on digitalisation. That is a ‘must’ today. We know, however, what our core competency, our USP, and our secret to success is: creative engineering. The absolutely perfect solution is our declared goal – this is what drives us. And in this regard we have made the experience that the first idea is in most cases far from the best one – applying lateral thinking to mechanical engineering pays off every time! For more information, visit: www.roxa.at THE CEO INTERVIEW

THE CEO INTERVIEW 17 Scott Perry CEO of AmeriLife We speak with Scott Perry, the chief executive of AmeriLife – a US-based multi-channel distribution business with a network of over 300,000 insurance agents and financial advisers. As the CEO of AmeriLife, Scott is charged with leading the company’s growth as the US leader in marketing and distributing life and health insurance, annuities and retirement planning solutions. in of Peace of Mind Times Uncertainty

18 As the CEO of AmeriLife, you have taken the company on quite the acquisitive streak over the past year and a half despite the global pandemic. Can you tell us a little bit about it? We’ve been fortunate that our business, our people – and our industry at large – has been very resilient during the pandemic, and that’s been especially important to our ability to take care of the financial wellbeing of consumers who rely on us and our partners. The pandemic has really accelerated our acquisition activities – we’ve acquired over two dozen companies in the past 18 months and continue to grow. When you look across those acquisitions, you’ll see that these organisations not only fit our business structure from a product and solutions or strategy standpoint, but that their leaders also align with our values, which is incredibly important. For us, it’s about being aggressive and scaling quickly in a highly competitive market; in turn, we’re able to offer governance and operational value to our new and existing affiliates in the areas of accounting, marketing, cross-selling technology, compliance, and more (for example, we offer state-of-the-art cybersecurity monitoring capabilities that much smaller companies are often unable to procure and implement). That value has been incredibly attractive to our new partners, who are no longer keen to go it alone in a rapidly changing marketplace, but still want a sustainable path to continue growing their business. That’s presented an enormous opportunity for AmeriLife. How are you managing the company’s rapid growth? It starts with investing in our people. We’ve built out our human resources division, continue to aggressively recruit and hire, and have significantly invested in talent development programs. Since 2017, we’ve nearly doubled AmeriLife’s employee population and have modernised our workplace and its benefits to attract top industry talent. Second, we’ve built out our infrastructure, including growing our finance, integration, corporate development and marketing and technology resources to support our growing business. This has been critical to staying “ahead of the puck” to ensure we’re properly scaled with our shared services and can also address our enterprise and affiliate needs quickly and effectively. Third, we’ve deployed state-of-the-art technology abilities such as Salesforce and a proprietary enterprise data strategy for, among other things, improved reporting and customer insights. Lastly – and perhaps most crucial – we’re on a continued journey to ensuring that our core values of honesty, integrity, accountability, excellence and courage, continue to manifest themselves as part of our culture and our actions every single day. The rate at which you’ve scaled change management, business transformation and operational integration has been phenomenal! How did you manage to achieve this? A dedication to best-in-class change management and communication practices are absolutely critical when introducing so many new people, processes and tools to a rapidly growing company like ours. As part of this we’ve implemented the right balance of governance and structure to support this growth. But at the end of the day, we’ve still been able to stay true to our advantage of being an organisation with very little bureaucracy. This helps us remain nimble, encourage innovation from team members with great news ideas, and execute, iterate and show results quickly. What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned during this process? When it comes to attracting new partners or talent, it’s important to have a value proposition beyond THE CEO INTERVIEW

the financial value you can offer them. New partners and employees are attracted to strong cultures and relationships, and it’s something we’re diligent about cultivating. This includes getting regular feedback and input from our affiliates to share best practices across our organisation and maximising our collective knowledge. And while we’ve focused a lot on inorganic growth this past year and a half, we’ve also heavily invested in teams to focus solely on the organic growth of our existing and new affiliates. At the end of the day, we can’t ever forget – or get so big – that we forget that our mission is to serve our markets, our agents, and their customers. What is financial wellness and how can people achieve it? “Financial wellness” means different things to different people. For us, it means being able to advocate for and educate individuals where they are in their lives and act as a trusted adviser to recommend solutions best for their particular situation. It means taking the stress out of how they’ll pay for their healthcare and plan for retirement – two things that are critically intertwined but often considered separately. For example, this means, among other things, offering solutions like basic life insurance in addition to more complex forms of life insurance offerings to support wealth transfer. What does this mean to the modernday consumer? It means that AmeriLife is taking a customercentric approach to its business and we’re meeting our customers on their terms. That means, for example, as our customers become more tech-savvy, we in turn embrace more digital, direct-to-consumer touchpoints and solutions that they demand but do not lose sight of the importance of personal, face-toface interaction and education. In what ways has AmeriLife reshaped its approach and culture to respond to those consumer needs? AmeriLife has been in business for over 50 years, and during this time we’ve stayed true to our core values to meet the needs of the markets we serve. But we’ve also taken the opportunity to evolve to meet changing consumer needs. This includes, among other things: • Refreshing our brand for a more modern and accessible look and feel • Increasing the diversity of our distribution team to better understand and empathise with the needs of our changing consumer base • Acknowledging and addressing the fact that while the lines between work and retirement may be blurring, the fundamental needs remain the same. This means we need to get to our consumers sooner (i.e., younger); meet them where they want to be met by deploying the technology that supports their unique shopping and buying habits; and continue to emphasise building trust with them, which is critical to retirement planning. What’s on AmeriLife’s agenda for the coming months? We’re excited by our momentum coming out of a very successful Annual Enrollment Period, during which we were able to introduce our innovative solutions to even more Medicare-eligible Americans. In addition to continued acquisitions, scaling our direct-to-consumer business, and growing our carrier partnerships, we’re also in the midst of deploying state-of-the-art CRM capabilities and maximising the overall efficiency of our operations. and technology infrastructure. But perhaps most importantly, we’re focused on keeping our employees – our most important “resource” – healthy, safe and engaged in the success of our business. THE CEO INTERVIEW

THE DISRUPTORS 22 What Do Einstein, Madonna and Kim Kardashian All Have in Common? 21

Many people think fame is either a result of special achievements or happens by accident. However, there is far more to it than that, as confirmed by an analysis of how people as different as Albert Einstein, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Madonna and KimKardashian all became famous. Dr Rainer Zitelmann delves into this over the next few pages. Dr Rainer Zitelmann What Do Einstein, Madonna and Kim Kardashian All Have in Common?

At first glance, it seems absurd tomention genius scientists like Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking in the same breath as Madonna or Kim Kardashian because their personalities could not be more different. What could possibly connect a giant of the intellectual stage such as the physicist Steven Hawking with the boxing legend Muhammad Ali, whose IQ tests were always far below-average, or Princess Diana, whose only notable awards at school were a “Most Popular Girl” trophy and a prize for the best-kept guinea pig? As different as they are, they are all among the small handful of people on this planet to become absolute masters of the art of self-marketing. One might argue that they became so famous simply because they were the best in their respective fields or, like Diana, particularly likeable. But if you take a closer look, you will see that the scale of their fame often far exceeded their achievements. Take Stephen Hawking, probably the most famous scientist of his time. He was well aware that: “To my colleagues, I’m just another physicist, but to the wider public I became possibly the best-known scientist in the world.” An ingenious selfmarketer, Hawking enjoyed a far higher profile than many Nobel Prize winners, although he never won the Nobel Prize and, to his peers, he was by no means the exceptional scientist the public perceived him to be. Madonna is a magnificent and extraordinarily successful performing artist. According to Billboard’s Hot 100 Artists ranking, Madonna is the most successful female solo artist of all time and achieves second place in the overall ranking, just behind The Beatles. Time included her in its 25 Most Powerful Women of the 20th Century list. And yet experts all agree that Madonna’s extraordinary success has little to do with outstanding vocal abilities. Camille Barbone, Madonna’s mentor and early manager, once observed: “Gifted? No. She was a meat-and-potatoes musician. She had just enough skill to write a song or play guitar.” In 1995, Madonna was chosen to play the lead in the film version of the musical Evita. Madonna – worldfamous and at the height of her career – enlisted an esteemed voice coach to help improve her distinctly average vocal technique. The same cannot be said for Muhammad Ali. Not only was he the most famous athlete of the twentieth century, but he was also the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world three times. His achievements in boxing were truly exceptional. But theywere not the decisive factor behind his incredible popularity. Muhammad Ali – born Cassius Clay Jr. – was a major celebrity even before his first successful title fight against the reigning heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston, in 1964. A year before his victory, Time devoted a full front page to Clay. Having analysed all of Ali’s fights, his biographer, Jonathan Eig, provides an honest assessment: “By all these statistical measures, the man who called himself ‘The Greatest’ was below average for much of his career.” Arnold Schwarzenegger, the most famous bodybuilder of all time, was without doubt outstandingly talented. He won the ultimate accolade in bodybuilding, the Mr Olympia title, on an astonishing seven occasions. But other bodybuilders at the time – including Frank Zane – had more harmonious physiques. Experts agree that Schwarzenegger owed his seventh Mr Olympia title solely to his celebrity status, not his muscle development. And after Schwarzenegger retired his posing briefs, there were bodybuilders with significantly more muscle mass, such as Ronnie Coleman, who becameMr Olympia eight times. But unless you happen to be a bodybuilding expert, you have probably never even heard of Coleman, whereas pretty much everyone on the planet has heard of Schwarzenegger. He was tremendously successful in a variety of domains but, above all, he was a brilliant salesman. In his autobiography, he writes: “No matter what you do in life, selling is part of it … But you can do the finest work and if people don’t know, you have nothing! In politics it’s the same: no matter whether you’re working on environmental policy or education or economic growth, the most important thing is to make people aware.” One of the most famous social media celebrities is Kim Kardashian. The wellknown American TV presenter Barbara Walters didn’t mince her words when she accused Kim of never having done anything particularly special: “You don’t really act; you don’t sing; you don’t dance … You don’t have any – forgive me – any talent!” Undeniably, Kim had failed as an actress, singer and dancer. But like few others before or after her, she has, undoubtedly, mastered the art of selfmarketing. THE DISRUPTORS “Charlie Chaplin, who often appeared together with Einstein, offered the following explanation: “They cheer me because they all understand me, and they cheer you because no one understands you.””

Another genius of self-marketing was Albert Einstein, the father of the theory of relativity. Can Einstein’s scientific achievements explain his fame? Of course not. Even though he fascinated the general public, newspapers devoted extensive front-page coverage to his every move and everyone knew his name, hardly anyone understood his theory. Charlie Chaplin, who often appeared together with Einstein, offered the following explanation: “They cheer me because they all understand me, and they cheer you because no one understands you.” In an interview with a journalist, Einstein once observed: “You ask whether it makes a ludicrous impression on me to observe the excitement of the crowd for my teaching and my theory, of which it, after all, understands nothing? I find it funny and at the same time interesting to observe this game.” What many people don’t realise is that Einstein spent a great deal of time and considerable effort marketing himself. His fame did not arrive out of the blue and was certainly no coincidence. And it definitely defies explanation in terms of his scientific achievements as a physicist alone, which, after all, no layman can judge. Although it may seem so to the outside world, famous people do not become famous by accident. Nor do they become famous as a result of their achievements alone. The most important thing is the WILL to become famous and the – conscious or intuitive – mastery of the strategies of self-marketing. Only those who know how to make a brand out of themselves – just like a product – become famous. Photo: Wikicommons - TechCrunch About the author: Dr. Rainer Zitelmann is a historian and sociologist. He is a world-renowned author who has written 25 books and is also a successful businessman and a real estate investor. His latest book: How People Become Famous: Geniuses of Self-Marketing fromAlbert Einstein to KimKardashian (https://how-people-become-famous.com) was published in November 2021. Image: Flickr - Love Lira Fashion

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PRO PLANET The Push Towards Greater Sustainability An Interview with The North Face The Future of Sustainability Within Luxury Fashion COP26 A Call to Arms for Business Leaders 28 32 36

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CEO Today speaks to Carol Shu, Senior Global Sustainability Manager at The North Face, about how the company is building sustainability into its brand. Carol Shu Senior Global Sustainability Manager The North Face The Push Towards Greater Sustainability An Interview with The North Face

Pro PLanet www.ceotodaymagazine.com 30 individually analysed and repaired making each piece unique, one-ofa-kind and backed by a one-year Renewed warranty. Since the initial launch of our Renewed programme in August 2018, we’ve continued to learn, evolve, and push the boundaries of circularity within The North Face. In April 2021 we announced our latest environmental commitment to make 100% of our top apparel materials recycled, regenerative or renewable by 2025. We’re proud of the progress the brand has been making for decades toward becoming the best stewards of the planet we all love to explore that we can be. What has recently been one of your most popular sustainable products? In Fall 2019, The North Face launched the Eco Heritage collection – three ‘90s classic icons, now made with 100% recycled materials: the Eco Nuptse Vest, Eco Nuptse Jacket and Eco Mountain Jacket. As some of our most iconic and well-loved pieces, the transition has been meaningful for the brand and our consumers. How are you engaging your employees in your push toward greater sustainability? On a strategy implementation level, our sustainability strategy is being brought to life by all teams across the brand. On an educational level, because circularity is an important focus area for us, we trained our North America and EU design teams on Circular Design through our ongoing Design Residency programme. We also bring in guest On The North Face website, you share the statistic that, every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned. This means 87% of the material used to make clothing ends up as waste. You’re taking the first step to address this issue by using more sustainable materials in your products, with the ultimate goal being to develop circular systems to recycle previously owned gear and reuse the raw materials. Could you please tell us a little more about this important first step and The North Face’s future goals for using sustainable materials? Sustainability and a deep love of the outdoors have been part of The North Face DNA since the company’s founding. In fact, in 1968 our original founders were concerned about the need to keep products out of the landfill, which is why we became one of the first apparel companies to introduce a lifetime warranty. Three years later we launched our Warranty Repairs team to actually repair products. In 2018 we launched our Renewed platform. The following year we launched our Design Residency— a bi-annual, rotational residency programme in partnership with the Renewal Workshop to provide our designers with the opportunity to learn the principles of circular design and implement them into future brand collections. Utilising learnings from the Design Residency, The North Face launched Renewed Remade in 2020, which includes garments that are creatively repaired based on circular standards created by The North Face Design Team. Each Remade garment is speakers to share knowledge and inspiration, for example, this year we had the Biomimicry Institute give a workshop on biomimicry for our product teams. The North Face is committed to working with suppliers to help reduce their environmental footprint too, which is really fantastic. How do you engage your supply chain in your sustainability efforts? One example is our recent partnership with Indigo Ag, Inc. The Indigo and The North Face partnership is designed to help reward and drive the transition to farming practices that draw down carbon from the atmosphere and restore soil health. By rewarding growers implementing regenerative practices – through a premiumon the sale of cotton and 3rd party verified agricultural carbon credits generated from additional practices adopted – the partnership helps establish an incentive-based financing mechanism to spur the adoption of beneficial cultivation strategies. The launch of regenerative products moves us beyond “doing less harm” to replenishing or having a positive impact on nature and resources. This “nature positive” model is the way of the future along with true circularity, and this partnership will specifically benefit farmers in the US. This partnership with Indigo Ag allows The North Face to support American farmers in their efforts to implement beneficial farming practices, as well as send a demand signal to other growers that regenerative land management is critical to restoring the health of our soils.

image: Wikicommons- Raysonho @Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine

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A few short years ago, recycled materials, plant-based “leathers” and B Corporations were fringe concepts. Today, however, they are beginning to enter not only mainstream fashion but also the hallowed halls of luxury fashion. Study after study shows that younger generations of consumers are more environmentally and socially conscious than their elders. More importantly for brands perhaps, is that their disquiet with the current state of the world colours their shopping habits. Fashion brands around the globe are beginning to realise that they must adjust their offering (and more significantly, their business models) if they wish to court Millennials, Gen Z and beyond and secure their business’ survival long-term. Jessica Kruger Founder of LUXTRA The Future of Sustainability Within Luxury Fashion

Pro PLanet www.ceotodaymagazine.com 34 about. But times are changing. Consumers and influential business associations alike are calling for companies to take responsibility for their impact on more stakeholders than just their shareholders. There are signs that the luxury fashion houses of the world are at work, quietly behind the scenes, to develop their responses to the new world that demands sustainability. In a surprise announcement in October 2021 for example, luxury French womenswear brand, Chloé, revealed it had been certified as a B Corporation (or B Corp for short). B Corps are becoming increasingly prominent amongst consumer-facing brands as a tangible expression of their ethical and green commitments. B Corps are widely recognised as companies that uphold the highest social and environmental standards. Owned by Richemont, one of the world’s heavyweight luxury groups, Chloé’s B Corp certification pipped rival conglomerate Kering (owner of Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Venetta & more) to the post. Kering is often seen as the most sustainably conscious of the three luxury groups (the third in the troika being LVMH). It is highly likely that other brands will follow in the steps of Chloé in the not-too-distant future. The concept of the triple bottom line does not, of course, only relate to corporate governance. More typically it’s about the human cost of production and consumption habits: working conditions, wage disparity, discrimination, etc. With more highly skilled workforce of artisans, and fatter margins with which to potentially reward its workers, luxury fashion’s track Nicole Rawling, CEO of Materials Innovation Initiative – an organisation that works to accelerate the development of next-gen materials – suggests that the fashion industry trails 5 years behind that of the food and drink industry. Indeed plant-based vegan burgers are now mainstream, so we can expect to see plant-based vegan leathers entering the market en masse in the near future. Stock market listings back up this hypothesis: vegan burger brand Beyond Meat (ticker: BYND) IPOed in May 2019 at a valuation of $1.5B, whilst “sustainable” footwear brand Allbirds (ticker: BIRD) went public in November 2021 with a valuation of £1.7B. Fashion, a $2.5 trillion industry, is no meagre player. It is supported by a complex supply chain that crisscrosses the globe. The industry is well-known for provoking a whole host of negative externalities, including mammoth water use, major carbon emissions and high volumes of toxic waste. Fast fashion may be the wellspring for the vast majority of these issues, but its luxury cousin does not go untainted. The concept of the triple bottom line – people, planet, profit – provides a helpful triptych upon which to examine luxury fashion’s future in terms of sustainability. PEOPLE: Governance & Working Conditions A company’s leadership (executives and owners alike) is one of the most crucial aspects of a company’s transition towards a greener business model. Up until recently, shareholder primacy was the only metric a company need care record vis-à-vis people puts it less in the spotlight when it comes to conversations about ethics and sustainability. This is unlikely to change in the future. PLANET: Raw Materials One of the most tangible signs of a company’s adoption of more sustainable practices is its choice of raw materials. The luxury industry has been slow to adopt pioneering, eco-friendly materials. In large part this is due to a lack of high-quality eco-free equivalents - or so says Patrick Thomas, the former CEO of Hermès. In March 2021 however, the brand – that pinnacle of luxury – revealed its first piece of luggage made… from mushrooms. It was a project 3 years in the making, again suggesting that luxury fashion brands are covertly working behind the scenes, taking the time it takes to create products that live up to their promise of uberquality. Other high-end fashion brands have begun to experiment with bio-based or bio-engineered materials. Stella McCartney has always been leatherfree; Prada has pledged that it is now only using recycled nylon in its cult nylon-based bags and accessories and Marni has incorporated grape “leather” into some of its footwear. At the time of writing, there are over 70 companies around the world developing “green” alternatives to leather. Many of them are based on plants (AppleSkin™ from apples; Pinatex® from pineapples; Vegea from grapes; Desserto from cactus), others use bio-engineering (MycoWorks & MYLO) and others still are growing real leather in the lab (VitroLabs Inc.).

Pro PLanet www.ceotodaymagazine.com 35 Profits Perhaps one of the reasons companies are so reluctant to embrace sustainability is uncertainty. Sustainability connotes that other big, scary word: change. There are some camps in the business world who believe that adopting more sustainable processes will increase efficiency and reduce cost (in the long term at the very least!). There are other camps, however, that remain stoutly sceptical. The luxury fashion industry is no different, and there is no doubt that unpicking and restitching a business model – to incorporate sustainable practices – is quite an undertaking. The tone of empirical studies and other literature coming out from the business world is becoming increasingly urgent with its message: transition to a green business model or become a dinosaur. Conclusion If the first two decades of the twenty-first century have borne witness to the golden age of tech, the coming ones seem likely to herald the era of sustainability. COP26 showed that governments and big businesses are incapable of acting decisively to tackle critical climate issues, so the baton falls to brave, innovative businesses to lead the way in sustainable luxury fashion. For decades, luxury fashion has cultivated and thrived on its image of detachment and nonchalance. To remain relevant, the industry must change with the times. Failing to do so would be so terribly… unchic. Many of these innovative material companies hint in their communications that they are working with leading fashion brands. Heavily NDA-d however, they shy away from revealing further details. It is therefore very likely that we will see more ecofriendly materials incorporated into luxury fashion collections in the near future. On the flip side, more controversial materials are increasingly falling out of favour. Influential vegan singer Billie Eilish dangled a carrot in front of couture maison Oscar de la Renta. In 2021, she agreed to wear their gown to the party of the year - the Met Gala - on the condition that the brand drop fur… forever. In a tumble thereafter, brands including Versace, Gucci and Michael Kors pledged to abandon fur, joining Tommy Hilfiger, Stella McCartney and Giorgio Armani and retailer Nieman Marcus – all of whom shun the controversial pelts. Some heritage houses, who have built their reputations on furs and exotic skins (Fendi and Hermes respectively, for example) will find it harder to untangle themselves from these increasingly divisive materials. November 2021, for example, saw renewed social media activism against Hermès to #dropthecroc, and abandon its bestselling “I’ve made it” status symbol: crocodile handbags. It seems unlikely however that some of these brands will drop their iconic products anytime in the near future, but the pressure will no doubt continue to mount. About Jessica Kruger Founder of LUXTRA Jessica Kruger’s barefooted outdoor upbringing in Sydney, Australia fostered her love and respect for nature. Moving to Europe in 2009 she completed her MBA in Paris and lived between Geneva and Berlin before settling in London where she created the award-winning vegetarian restaurant Ethos. Prior to COVID, it was one of London’s most popular vegetarian restaurants, was awarded 5* by Time Out magazine, turned over £1.5 million/year and employed 25 staff with Jessica named in the “35 under 35” top UK businesswomen by Management Today. Jessica sold Ethos and has now launched LUXTRA - a sustainable fashion brand that uses plant-based vegan leathers to make timeless accessories. LUXTRA’s range of handbags and accessories are crafted from vegan-friendly materials including pineapple leaf, apple skin, cactus leaf, corn and mango leathers. The range includes belt bags, totes, crossbody and clutch styles for both men and women. Hand-finished in Italy, each bag can also be hand customised and painted with intricate patterns for a truly bespoke offering.

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It’s all too easy to launch criticism at events like COP26. They are stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place – absolutely necessary to galvanise action but inevitably charged with watering down outcomes or not going far enough. Nick Haywood, COOAmericas, Somo COP26 A Call to Arms for Business Leaders

Pro PLanet www.ceotodaymagazine.com 38 investment in its future. Digital is a powerful tool to drive sustainability into the heart of business. On the consumer-facing front, there is a growing wealth of evidence that consumers want to make sustainable decisions and that they will, given half a chance and even at a price premium. However, like many of us in the business world, how to make those choices is still incredibly difficult. Consumers are crying out for us to make sustainability simple and those companies that are forging ahead are already seeing the benefit. Farfetch, a high-end fashion company, is well-known for its sustainability efforts. It collates ranges based on their sustainability credentials in its ‘Conscious Edit’. Plum in the middle of a pandemic, when we’re all supposed to be resorting to cheap leisurewear, Farfetch posted Q2 2021 profits of more than $70 million, up 44%, year-onyear. It should be noted that, while to describe it as a fashion retailer would be correct, Farfetch describes itself as a technology company. That is how vital digital and its associated technologies are to the company’s ability to grow and adapt. Digital is also driving new customer behaviours. Following a successful pilot in the Carrefour supermarkets in France, Loop, Terracycle’s reusable packaging initiative, recently signed up Tesco, ASDA and other retailers to take part in its scheme. Powered by digital, consumers scan QR codes to pay a deposit for their bespoke packs which can be returned either via delivery drivers or in-store, in exchange for fresh product. This is a prime example of the ‘inconvenience’ naysayers would have said would torpedo sustainable initiatives, but that through the power And so, naturally, newspaper coverage tends to focus on headline-grabbing stories – Insulate Rebellion’s latest superglue stunt, Greta Thunberg’s football chant or the hypocrisy of private jet-hopping premiers. But the untold story is not the stunts during the 14-day fandango, but how we take the serious work that went on behind the scenes and turn those proposals and hopes into a reality. When the event closes is where the hard yards begin. There was definitive movement at COP26, with leaders signing pledges to move to low-carbon transportation, the phasing out (or down) of coal energy production and commitments to divert funding away from fossil fuel-dependent industries and into alternative energies. But, as the old adage goes, we mustn’t mistake movement for progress. It is now up to us to turn the intention into action. To make real progress on sustainability, we have to link sustainability closely to our core business objectives. Alongside revenue growth and profit, sustainability needs to become a key factor in what sets the value of a business. We are seeing a growth in ESG (Environmental, Social, Corporate Governance) reporting but there is still a lack of standardisation and it needs to move out of the corporate social responsibility ghetto and into the mainstream. Because, quite simply, embedding sustainability makes good business sense. Once organisations can identify and clearly articulate how meeting sustainability goals makes them a more successful company, the bottom line gets involved. From better quality staff hires and higher retention rates, to reduced wastage and higher customer consideration, sustainability has made the leap from business cost to of digital has been a roaring success. Internally, too, we need to be considering the power of digital to reframe our businesses. We need to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to refine our supply chains – more important than ever in today’s climate – delivering efficiency as well as sustainability by cutting wasteful packaging, unnecessary transit and even reducing returns. The latter is responsible for a huge amount of both carbon footprint and profit erosion in retail. To be able to ‘right size, every time’ from fashion to washing machines, and ‘deliver on time, every time’ for perishable goods with in-transit, real-time monitoring via internet of things (IoT) sensors has the potential to dramatically cut carbon – and cost. As we look forward, digital can be a powerful tool to help both business and consumers make the right choices towards a more sustainable future. As businesses, when we’re designing digital products, we need to update our thinking to focus not only on users’ surface needs such as simplicity and convenience, but also those underlying needs around wanting to make sustainable choices. This is not one and done. Sustainability is a moving feast and we will never have done enough. We have to continually review what’s working and what new opportunities exist to do better. The investment and innovation in sustainable solutions right now is unprecedented and we’re all learning as we go. The right choices today may not be the right ones tomorrow. Understand where you want to get to, but don’t be afraid to change your approach on how you get there.

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