Becky Whelan’s first role within the industry was as Environmental Manager at The Body Shop.
Becky Whelan is CEO and CEO of purpose consultancy Given, with nearly 15 years’ experience helping companies define and activate their purpose, including Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L), John Lewis Partnership and IKEA. Co-founder.
I’ve always wanted to do something that had a positive impact on the world, and I thought that would be working in international development.
However, I realized that that world was not the real me. I’m interested in getting things done quickly and ideas are part of something that feels more entrepreneurial and this big bureaucracy that isn’t really set up to create positive impact. It wasn’t part of the system.
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In the mid-2000s, few companies were taking similar issues of inequality, human rights, and climate change seriously.
The Body Shop was one of them. I graduated from university and landed my dream job there, working on everything from climate change strategy, store suitability, and more sustainable methods.
My first boss was Jenny Whitebourn. She was Brand and Values โโDirector for Europe, Middle East and Africa at the time and is still with The Body Shop, while my role was Environmental Manager.
Inside The Body Shop retail store. Photo: PA (ICP-DE, in-camera stock)
What Jenny really encouraged me to do was to understand that if you’re going to change things within your organization, what you really need to do is involve people. You can’t make the best plans, but you have to think about what’s important. And Jenny taught me how to get people to do things differently.
Understanding human behavior, what makes people tick, and bringing great ideas to change people’s understanding, desire, and motivation to do different things was a big lesson for me. It really shaped the rest of my career.
But we won’t actually accomplish what we need to unless we get leaders and companies to make different decisions. Jenny encouraged me to think about how to make storytelling and creativity a key part of that strategy. And she asked me to present it in front of an audience of 400 people at a regional sales conference at Disneyland in Paris.
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Seeing people’s potential and giving them the support, confidence, space, and time to achieve things they probably didn’t think they could achieve at that point in their career meant a lot to me.
She was driving a little red open-top sports car, which I thought was great. I liked the powers she bought, but she didn’t have that alpha quality.
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It was as if she was walking a mile in your shoes every day. This suggests that she has absorbed everything that you are probably not aware of. That’s another great quality in a leader, someone who can pick up the phone and say, “What can I help you with today?”
I enjoyed The Body Shop, but it was also ambitious. Even if you think you understand the power of ideas and creativity, no one will buy into it if you present these issues as risk or compliance issues, especially in organizations driven by brand and marketing.
Becky Willan founded Given to be the go-to consultant for some of the largest global companies.
That’s exactly where the idea of โโfounding Given came from. If we want to help companies properly address some of these really important issues, we need to ensure that companies are seen as creating, but also helping people understand the possibilities. You also need to.
More and more companies are understanding that they need to respond strategically to these big issues, but they also understand that they need to bring people along.
I describe purpose as a management approach to making a profit and solving problems for people around the planet. This is important because many people think about purpose and think of it as a wishful corporate trap or just marketing.
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On the other hand, for me, this is a management approach, and what we really need to do here is not just make profits for our shareholders, but solve these real problems and make profits. It’s a business philosophy that shows that it’s not about making money. This is to avoid causing more problems for people.
Jenny saw something in me and she continues to give me opportunities to do things that push me outside of my comfort zone and support to feel that I can do it well. He gave it to me.
I think she thought I was likely to do something a little pioneering later in my career.