Ep 237: Yves Briantais of Colgate-Palmolive - "The 'Here For You' Leader"

How do your people know you’re here for them?

Yves Briantais is the VP of Marketing Asia-Pacific for Colgate-Palmolive.

We recorded this interview at the end of a long week at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

There are a number of areas that I could have focused on for this introduction.

But the one I want to highlight is an issue that I hear about from so many leaders today.

Where they lead from.

For businesses that depend on unlocking creativity and innovation, the era of top down leadership is ending. And faster than many companies - most companies - realize.

Servant leadership is the popular replacement. Popular in that many people talk about it, very few have fully understood it, and almost no one actually practices it. Quarterly financial targets have a habit of getting in the way of good intentions.

Leading from behind is a thoughtful and honorable desire to get away from command and control leadership, and instead create a different kind of relationship with your team. One in which they know you’re there for them, while giving them room to grow.

But it doesn’t quite go far enough - in my opinion.

The challenge for leaders is that today, leadership requires so many different styles of relationship with your teams, depending on the situation. Collaboration. Subordination. Integration. Provocation. Expectation. And, when the heat is on, Protection.

A friend and I are working on a new leadership paradigm, one designed from vast experience both inside and outside complex, highly creative and innovative businesses. One built for the reality of the world and society in which we live and for the people that we want to be.

We’ll have much more on this over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, this conversation is invaluable for Yves’ insights on empathy, intention, and co-creation.