Episode 88: ‘Sustainable leadership is a mindset and leaders can be found all across the organisation’ with Karen Hamilton, Former Global VP Sustainability, Unilever

Can Marketing Save the Planet?

It’s another mini-series and this one is all about leadership, something which is incredibly important as we come together and take on the biggest challenge humanity has ever faced (and nope, we’re not being overly dramatic).

Sustainable leadership is about making a positive impact, contributing to society and the environment and, driving long-term performance for business. Sustainable leadership is a big role and a role which is open to everyone, something you’ll discover as we go through this 4-part series.

To kick things off, we’re joined by Karen Hamilton, former Global VP for Sustainability at Unilever. Karen spent over 30 years at Unilever and worked alongside Paul Polman who believed, “sustainability can be part of the way that we fix the business”. Karen played a key part in driving the organisation to ‘make sustainable living commonplace’, deliver the the Unilever “Sustainable Living Plan” – a 10 year plan with 50 time-bound targets. Karen shares how this was the start of the journey to change the organisation.

Throughout this episode, Karen generously shares her wealth of knowledge and experience, talks about the different approaches she took, how sustainability was cascaded through such an enormous network of people and gives some great practical examples.

Join us on this episode as we talk to Karen about:

• Karen’s role and journey at Unilever

• How to mobilise and engage a global network of employees and suppliers

• Why transparency is so important when it comes to communicating your sustainability agenda

• The role of ambition when it comes to sustainability

• Why we all need a leadership mindset

• The role of marketing in driving sustainability

For more, follow and connect with Karen on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-hamilton-a1393a27/

A great first episode in our Sustainable Leadership mini-series. More to come. Stay tuned. And if you love the podcast, do share with colleagues, peers and friends.

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Join the Marketers and organisations who have signed our manifesto, engage with our newsletter and training and, work with us to communicate sustainability more effectively. Sign our Sustainable Marketer Manifesto, work with us, and join us on our mission. Get in touch to chat.

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Our podcasts are recorded purely via online conferencing platforms, we apologise for any minor sound quality issues.