Transformer CEOs

This week, I'm excited to introduce you to MC Gasco Busson, CEO of Unilever Prestige. Things that really stood out to me are her incredible engineering mindset and systemic thinking that she brings to everything that she does. She describes the set of paradoxes that all transformer CEOs face, and she confirms that for any transformation to be successful, the people and organisation in your company needs to be 100% match fit.

In addition to transformer CEOs, I run my own successful advisory and consulting company, working with CEOs, Chairman and investors to deliver successful business transformations. I hope you enjoy what you're going to see and hear from MC. I certainly find her energy inspiring.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Transformational CEOs don’t run steady state; they actively seek inflection points - turnarounds, accelerations, and realignments.

Leaders who start with brutal diagnosis and re‑anchoring avoid wasting years on expedient fixes that don’t move market share.

When teams share a meaningful “why” for the change e.g. getting a beloved brand’s “mojo” back - they endure pain, setbacks, and ambiguity in ways that pure incentives never unlock.

BEST MOMENTS

“There is a difference between modulating your style and changing who you are.”

"Every transformation is more about people than about anything else."

"I think transformational CEOs have to be masters of paradox."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Mary Carmen (MC) Gasco-Buisson is a global transformational leader with over 25 years of experience building iconic consumer brands across six countries. As CEO of Unilever Prestige, she steers a €1.6bn portfolio of high-growth beauty brands, including skincare, haircare, and cosmetics.

Prior to Unilever, MC was CMO and EVP at Pandora, where she orchestrated the brand’s evolution into a culturally resonant jewellery house, driving double-digit growth and record share price performance. With a 20-year foundation at P&G across ventures and innovation, MC is a specialist in blending engineering discipline with creative "magic" to scale global businesses.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you. At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition, or lose their top talent – or all three. The financial fallout can be severe.

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan. It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges, and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings. It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader". After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC, and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win. This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

This week I am joined by Chris de Bruin, CEO at Acenda, the large Australian life business. Chris is a serial CEO, having transformed a number of businesses. He's very much a strategic thinker and problem solver.

Among his key messages is the fact that deep thoughtfulness is required by all CEOs to judge timing, what to change, what not to change, how to develop as a master of influence and successfully manage multiple stakeholders. 

If you think it's about control, forget it. Get the right talent on the bus and the wrong people off the bus. Decide quickly, don't wait. Then implement your plan fully and do so always with dignity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


The CEO is a "final assembler" of vision, not the holder of hierarchical power. Treating the role as a craft of influence rather than a title of control enables the CEO to take successfully take everyone on a shared journey of transformation.


CEOs must establish a brutal honesty about the numbers, or they will map a journey from a starting point that doesn't exist.


Acting quickly on weak leadership or toxic personalities provides the economic resources needed for 'empathetic exits,' ensuring that those who leave are treated with the care they deserve while the remaining team focuses on the road ahead"

BEST MOMENTS

"If you think it's about control, forget it."

"Decide quickly, don't wait. Then implement planfully and always with dignity."

"Using digital as a disruption vector is not a strategy, it's just one part."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chris J de Bruin is a global transformational leader with over 25 years of experience at the intersection of financial services and technology. As Group CEO of Acenda, he leads a premier life insurance and retirement platform uniting the heritage of MLC Life Insurance and Resolution Life Australasia.

Prior to this, Chris was Chief Executive of Consumer & Business Banking at Westpac, where he spearheaded the group’s multi-billion-dollar digital transformation. His career spans leadership roles at Standard Chartered, where he co-founded Africa’s first digital bank. He guided development of industry leading solutions at Zafin and Deem Finance and a former McKinsey Associate Principal.

He is a specialist in driving "step-change" economics through radical digitization and customer-centric innovation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjdebruin

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you.   At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition, or lose their top talent –  or all three.   The financial fallout can be severe.   

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan.  It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges, and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings.   It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader".  After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC, and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win.   This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

DESCRIPTION

This week, it is great to be joined by Dominic Kovacs, CEO of Colossyan. He stands out as the youngest CEO on my podcast, and yet, in a few short years, he has transformed himself, his business and the learning sector using tech and AI. 

Dominik is humble about his learning. Yet he has achieved much his transformation maxes on internal locus of control, using culture to drive sustainable growth and a mathematical approach to problem solving. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Technical founders who take the CEO role out of responsibility, not ego, can become exceptional leaders when they treat CEO as a craft to be learned, not a title to be worn.  


Deep-tech companies must flip the script from “build first, validate later” to continuous customer validation, or they will ship beautiful products that nobody truly needs.  


Continuing to develop a product  that the market and regulators aren’t ready for is folly. 


Cultures that worship speed and ignore quality eventually pay in lost customers and credibility.  


Transformer CEOs, treat customers as long‑term partners. They protect their experience over short‑term speed or vanity releases – is what turns painful product mistakes into deeper trust, better design, and stronger, more sustainable growth.  


When you reward teams for quality, provide ownership and develop a “don’t hurt the customer” culture you turn values from posters on the wall into products and experiences clients truly trust.  


A strong team and culture will move mountains through setbacks and hypergrowth.  


The next generation of CEOs will win by embedding AI into workflows, not as shiny tools but as invisible “cog wheels” that keep knowledge fresh and training effortless at scale.

BEST MOMENTS

“You've founded and been the CEO for two companies, and yet you haven't hit your 30th birthday yet.”

‘I took on the role for basically doing everything I can to create like a stronger position for all of us who are already part of the business.’

“Transformation is never linear. There's always hiccups, potholes or cliff edges."

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikkovacs

https://www.colossyan.com

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you.   At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition, or lose their top talent –  or all three.   The financial fallout can be severe.   

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan.  It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges, and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings.   It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader".  After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC, and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win.   This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Welcome to another episode of transformer CEOs. Matt Stephens has led two of his own companies in consulting and employee insight Quest Agency and Inpulse. He's worked with hundreds of CEOs globally, some of them transformers. So brings both perspectives through his own work. Matt has transformed how CEOs value employee insight data and use it to drive performance. He also brings a distinct societal generation, political and even spiritual angle to leadership by transformer CEOs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Annual engagement surveys alone are not effective. Short, frequent “how do you feel and why?” pulses expose what’s really driving performance and risk.  


Emotion is hard data. When CEOs track feelings and the reasons behind them team-by-team, they can link them directly to engagement, attrition, sickness, and output.  


Most issues are relational. Better conversations between managers and teams fix more than new programmes and expensive initiatives do.


True transformation demands CEOs go beyond “did we make more revenue?” to a richer definition of winning that includes engagement, growth of people, client impact, retention, and the health of the culture. 


Transformer CEOs start with self‑awareness. If you can’t read and regulate your own emotions, you can’t authentically lead anyone else.  

BEST MOMENTS

“To be a transformer, you've got to know how to sell…You have to know how to influence people.”

“We can't walk on eggshells, because eggs are going to get cracked here, because we're talking about issues that are challenging, difficult, personal, real.”

“You can think you're a leader, until you realise no one's following you.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-stephens-a210051

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you.   At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition, or lose their top talent –  or all three.   The financial fallout can be severe.   

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan.  It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges, and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings.   It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader".  After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC, and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win.   This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Patrick Svensk is CEO of PodX and chairs three other companies. He's a straight-talking senior media executive who's transformed multiple companies as well as the industry. I loved his ability and willingness to flip between CEO and chair roles depending on need, his take on what it makes for a great transformer CEO in media and his total disregard for career planning and politics, but deep passion for great ideas wherever they come from, and entrepreneurship.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Instead of waiting for head-hunters create your own roles - pitch bold ideas directly to owners.


Your growth as a leader is accelerated by finding a true mentor and an industry with high levels of growth and change.


Ensure consistency in communication across all levels so the core strategic message remains focused and is understood by everyone.


Become agile, lower fixed costs, don´t be afraid of outsourcing and focus on high-margin products.


Build sustainable businesses by identifying future leaders early and providing equity-based incentives that mirror the success of founders.

BEST MOMENTS

“Two CEOs at 27 - One is impressive. Two is something special.”

‘We transformed into a company that generated new ideas and formats and sold those into production.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Patrick Svensk is a Swedish media and entertainment leader with 35+ years’ experience as CEO, President, CoB, managing director and NED of several international entertainment, media, online gaming, SaaS and B2C and B2B digital businesses. Including Kinnevik (TV3), Hallstedt & Hvid, Kanal 5, Zodiak Media Group, MTG and Bright Group, several of which are Nasdaq listed. He founded SkyVentures  and is the co-founder and CEO of PodX Group, backed by Qarlbo.

He has held non-executive positions for Betsson, Squid, Readly Group and several others. Today, he serves as non-exec chairman of Thunderful, Scrive Group and Hacksaw.

Patrick has led a major shift in European TV production – selling off in-house studios and technology, cutting fixed production headcount and building an IP-first model that relied on format development and flexible, freelance production teams. Today, he is transforming the world of podcasting.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricksvensk

https://podx.com

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you.   At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition or lose their top talent –  or all three.   The financial fallout can be severe.   

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan.  It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings.   It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader".  After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win.   This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/