211: Angela Cretu is the former Global CEO of Avon. She is now an active Board Member, Beauty Industry Advisor, and Angel Investor. Angela took over as CEO just before the pandemic but had worked for Avon for 25 years starting her career in Romania. Growing up in a communist country meant that life was quite predictable, equality was standardised and the right to self expression was non existent. This set of experiences helped shape the leader that Angela was to become. Avon as a company was founded in 1886 and the business model from the very beginning was for women to share the products within their own micro communities (direct selling) which in turn would share wealth creation amongst many. The products and the model for selling were both breakthrough at the time and all focused on empowering women. It grew it's relevance over the years especially with it's in-house R&D capabilities however in the 2000's it started to lag behind its competitors by not keeping the pace with the market to follow and understand the behaviours and purchasing insights of women around the world. Avon's strong legacy was actually a burden, hampering its ability to be agile in a fast changing world. At one point Avon had approximately 6.5 million representatives with over 20,000 employees and revenues in the multiple billions. It was the ultimate social selling machine. This all changed during the pandemic and cost cutting was at the heart of the race to survive. Avon changed three CEO's over 12 years as the strategic dilemma was to decide if Avon was a brand or a channel and a number of mistakes were made as different executives tried to find the answer. Angela was always of the view that their millions of women sellers were brand equity creators and they needed to be empowered and leveraged across the world. When Angela took over, Avon was tipping on the edge of its own demise, until Natura decided to acquire Avon. Angela did not even apply for the role of CEO in 2019 and she was surprised to be summoned to Sao Paulo, the HQ of Natura and invited to apply, to which she initially said no. Natura knew that they needed someone with significant insight and experience of the business to drive the transformation that was necessary in order to survive and thrive. Once Angela knew she would have a real mandate for change from the board, she agreed to take the role. What was required was an end to end change, modernisation and overhaul of Avon. The essence of Avon was still the high touch and personal service that came from the millions of Avon sellers across the world and the strong purpose and movement that had been built since 1886. Aspirational beauty at irresistible value was the answer. During Angela's tenure as CEO, one of the main focus areas was her ability to change the history of Avon by tackling the biggest taboo, which was the direct selling methodology. She changed the question from what are we to why are we? She truly believed the world is a better place with Avon in it. As the debate raged as to whether Avon was a brand or a channel she decided that Avon was both, especially in the age of an omnichannel world. Avon today is located in 2,000 stores and has leveraged a number of strategic partnerships and digital nomad sellers utilising the power of social media. Angela stripped out the complexity of the business and dismantled the hard wiring beliefs before she instilled new values. Looking back Angela is able to reflect on the hard work that was necessary to transform Avon but during the events themselves she agrees that crisis was her daily dish on the leadership menu. Angela has 5 key reflections as a CEO: 1. A new type of leadership is required in todays world to become a force for good. 2. Moving from peer to leader - managing the weight of expectation 3. Being a multiplier not a pleaser - creating connections to allow others to act with purpose and autonomy. She also talks about the importance of being able to tell others who she is as a leader. 4. Unity amongst division - the devil of choosing a direction and managing the paradox without ignoring the nuances of both sides. 5. Redefining imposter syndrome - Angela feels the word imposter is a negative word and this more about leveraging your self doubt to learn. www.linkedin.com/in/angela-cretu/

Bob Skinstad represented South Africa Rugby at all levels. Having captained the under 21 Springbok side in 1996 and 1997, he ascended to the adult team as a replacement on 29 November 1997 against England. He would go on to play 42 tests for the Springboks, scoring 11 tries – and captained the national side to its second Rugby Union World Cup in 2007, before retiring. Bob is now a Partner at the challenger consultancy firm Elixirr.

Very recently Bob and Andrew Mehrtens (former All Black) completed the takeover of French second division club Beziers, heading up a consortium which also features ex-Formula 1 boss Eddie Jordan.

Bob and I have a very candid chat about what is was like growing up in Zimbabwe as a white privileged child in an affluent family. During his teenage years Bob started to become fully aware of the challenges within South Africa during Apartheid. In fact Bob went on to meet Nelson Mandela in his role as national captain of The Sprinboks. Bob shares some great memories of chatting to Nelson Mandela and his incredible leadership and approach to inclusivity even after decades of incarceration.

Bob reflects on his early life in South Africa and even with his obvious sporting talent he accepts that he took things for granted and didn't have a mentality for all out winning.

Today, as a leader in business, Bob describes himself and learner as opposed to leader. The older he gets the more he realises what he doesn't know.

When Bob started to play rugby it wasn't a profession for a full time role, it was all amateur. That changed for South Africa during the 1995 World Cup as Rugby started to mean more to the nation. Bob lived the transformational change within South Africa and became the first professionally contracted rugby player in the country. He made his men's debut in 1997 against England.

Bob recalls having two district careers in rugby, one was the young devil may care maverick player that catapulted him into the national team and one was the captain and leader of a nation where he had to learn the history and scarred memories of many of his players who did not have the upbringing that he experienced.

Belonging is a principle need for humanity and Bob explains how this is a powerful contributor to a high performing team, especially within a sporting context. Leading and managing chaos is inevitable on the international rugby field and Bob explains the importance of strategy, planning, speed of decision making and practice to help mitigate the chaos.

One of Bob's standout lessons is that there are different types of people 'givers need to learn when to stop because takers never do' and so Bob realised how important it was to find his tribe with belonging purpose and passion.

www.elixirr.com/en-gb/person/bobskinstad

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