Francisco de la Cerda, Siemens Country HR Head for Argentina, Chile & Uruguay, encouraged the delegation to take a moment to think about what drives their motivation to work, and more importantly, how they can harness it to make an impact.
"We all want to be engaged and fulfilled by what we do - so how do we get there?," he asked.
He revealed 87% of employees worldwide are not engaged at work. Francisco passionately believes that people working in organisations need a strong sense of purpose.
With a sense of purpose, he stated that 82% of people are more confident that their organisation will grow, more optimistic about future prospects, and their long term ability to outperform competition.
“It is our responsibility to find purpose in what we do, and to ignite that fire in others,” he said.
The key is the sense of having a definitive aim and being determined to achieve it.
Annet Eijkelkamp, Director of Johnson & Johnson Global Community Impact in EMEA, and Amy Richmond, Director of Save the Children campaign to recover the self esteem of refugee children through the HEART program, shed light on the physical and psychological scars of many Syrian refugee children as a result of the ongoing war.
Johnson & Johnson partner with Save the Children to deliver educational and psychosocial support services to their families and children to help rebuild their future through resilience programs.
Amy said, "Through our HEART program, children feel less isolated and have more self-esteem."
Amy revealed that 65 million are facing displacement today. She urged the delegation to come together to build resilience and “secure young people’s rights to a brighter future.”
She called on the delegation to support these children and the generation that will follow.
Roberto Funari, Executive Vice President, Category Development Organisation at Reckitt believes it’s not the things we say, it’s what we do about creating solutions. Roberto shared that purpose-led product innovation works to improve lives worldwide. May that be through fighting diseases, improving education on sexual health, or gender diversity in the workplace.
He said, "There are things we should be embarrassed by as a society, as leaders, and brand innovation can help." He presented how the challenges to build a better tomorrow through innovative solutions can be achieved.
Roberto touched upon three key lessons. Firstly, think about the problem you are trying to solve. Secondly, listening is the key to exercising these choices. And lastly, trust is fundamental in today’s world, in order to create a sense of purpose. He said, "Always behave and act coherently.” He added, “Brands need to do what is right even if it hurts business at times."
Ellyn Shook, Chief Leadership & Human Resources Officer at Accenture, closed the session and shared the company’s journey to ignite a movement beyond the 411,000 people of Accenture. She launched #InclusionstartswithI, a movement focused on helping people to feel they belong and inspire others to join the conversation.
"Every single person has the power to change the world," she expressed. She pleaded that we all share the need to be understood, valued and to feel a sense of belonging.
The auditorium fell silent as Ellyn asked the delegation, “Today I want to ask each and every one of you, what will you do to make sure people feel they belong?"
"Diversity is about those things that make us unique, our seen and unseen attributes." She asked the delegation what they will do to commit to making sure they belong.
This article was written by Elinor Jane Stephens. She is a Magazine Journalist, trained at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies (JOMEC).
