Purpose on Purpose

I have been working in global businesses for 25 years, having had the privilege to experience a diverse and international career - from P&L management to marketing leadership roles - across a range of industries and geographies.

This year, I was invited to give a few talks in Europe to share a little about the change I came to drive as CMO at Mondelez in the region, and what allured me in the first place to move from New York city to Zurich in Switzerland to take this role.

One of the insights that has become clearer to me is that the beliefs and convictions that I have been championing link back to my own journey.

My heritage is Japanese - my grandparents both sides emigrated early last century - and I was born and grew up in Brazil. Back then, very young in Sao Paulo, when I was thinking about what to pursue professionally, I was interested in business, brands and culture - and I eventually ended up in Marketing - but I also had this very distant dream at the time, that one day I would like to work at a place like the UN or an NGO to potentially have a broader impact in the world.

Fast forward to today, and the two journeys intertwine. Last year, just after my arrival at Mondelez, I had the opportunity to bring together the marketing community of +500 people in a roadshow across four hubs in Europe. The intent was to ignite the function and the teams; put consumers and brands back at the center of the organization, unlocking purpose in the digital age. Then earlier this year, I organized a summit convening the 250 commercial leaders in Europe when I shared some of the same key concepts.

Today, globally, people trust more businesses (56%) than governments (47%), and interestingly they trust businesses at similar levels that they do NGO’s (56%) based on the 2019 annual study “Trust Barometer” by Edelman. So increasingly, we in business - as leaders in big companies or sitting in any part of the industry's eco-system - have the opportunity and the responsibility to capitalize that power positively to address people and world’s real issues.

I have been a champion and believer of Purpose for some time now, and more specifically that Purpose drives business growth, as I have seen this throughout my career. We know that we, as humans, need purpose and meaning in our lives. One of the most moving books that I have ever read - “Man Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl - illustrates this in a very powerful way. And several studies show that employees will engage more; society expects it from us; and finally, that Purpose leads to stronger connection and ultimately brands and business growth.

I believe in two big, unprecedented opportunities ahead of us as marketers. First, the possibility to genuine and authentically unlock the purpose of brands in the digital age. We have never had more ways to connect and interact with people than today. Secondly, and equally powerful, unlock purposeful teams around consumer decision journeys integrating not only internal teams but also collaborating with external partners leading to a more relevant, personalized approach when connecting with people. The combination of these two unlocks will definitely lead to accelerated growth and higher ROI.

But to drive change and bring any vision or strategy to fruition, culture comes center: creating the environment to motivate and unleash talented teams at scale is critical. One framework that, together with my leadership team, has been helpful in embedding a “growth mindset” fostering higher experimentation is the “70-20-10” thinking. We talk about focusing 70% of resources, time and efforts on delivering the core of the business with excellence, 20% on innovation, and invest the remaining 10% on experimentation, test-and-learning, incubating ideas that can help to future proof the business and eventually leap us forward.

I have been sharing examples that bring these concepts to life. Two I would highlight: the pilot of Loop, a first-to-the-world circular economy initiative launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year with Milka, our leading snacking brand in Europe, that has committed to make the world a more "tender" place. An agile team in collaboration with internal and external agency partners brought to life in record time the Milka solution with durable, reusable containers to replace single-use packaging in the market test in Paris.

The other one is a digital accelerator pilot triggered by a mention I made onstage in one of the marketing summits. In no time, out of pure entrepreneurial spirit, fearless leaders in the UK marketing organization jumped on the idea, designed a program that mobilized employees to put forward and pitch innovation ideas. It culminated with the finalists pitching to the European Executive Leadership who awarded the top prize an official sponsorship.

Going back to my own journey... as I mentioned to the +500 marketers in the roadshow across Europe last year, if I can leave as my legacy at Mondelēz “the inspiration for marketers to do the best work they can possibly do to unleash Purposeful brands, and ultimately impact people and the world” - I will be living not only my professional but also my personal purpose.