Rebecca Robins recognized in 50 Leading Lights Kindness and Leadership awards

Interbrand’s Global Chief Learning and Culture Officer Rebecca Robins was honored in ‘50 Leading Lights’ list, announced by the Women of the Future Programme, in association with Lloyds Banking Group and supported by the Financial Times and Oxford Saïd Business School. The awards recognize the contribution of kind leaders to business, the economy, and society.

As Global Chief Learning and Culture Officer for Interbrand, Robins is based in London and works with Interbrand’s global network of offices to nurture and develop world class talent, while heading up the global luxury practice.

‘50 Leading Lights’ showcases 50 leaders building a new status quo and impacting others through kindness. Its aim is to help tell their stories in order to inspire others and recast perceptions of ‘strong’ leadership. Robins is a remarkable example of someone who exemplifies kindness in her leadership, as a quality and a currency that empowers change.

Rebecca Robins, Global Chief Learning and Culture Officer for Interbrand commented, “We need to shift from kindness as an ‘abstract’ to what it means to act with kindness. The phenomenal Ursula Le Guin sums it up powerfully: “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”

The Women of the Future Programme launched the awards to celebrate kindness and challenge how business celebrates success: “2018 is the year we change the conversation around kindness in leadership. Kindness makes business sense; it impacts outcomes, whether it be productivity, engagement or customer service. People do not forget acts of kindness,” said Robins.

According to the Women of the Future Programme, kind leaders change lives, transform organizations and foster true collaboration.

“Kind leaders inspire creativity and productivity, share meaningful connections, and give their time so that others can give their best. By empowering others to succeed, kind leaders create an environment for the organization as a whole to succeed. We need to recognize the contribution of these leaders to business, the economy and society,” concluded Robins.

THE 50 LEADING LIGHTS:

Melissa Allen, Partner, Financial Services, KPMG
Stephen Boyes, Managing Director, EMEA Market Development, Refinitiv
Patricia Brolly, Head of Products, Central Europe, Visa
Aimie Chapple, Non-Executive Director, Consultant and Board Advisor
Gillian Charlesworth, Director of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, RICS
Kate Cheetham, Group General Counsel, Lloyds Banking Group
Sally Clark, Chief Internal Auditor, Barclays
Matt Cooper, Co-founder, Tandem Bank
Janet Coyle, Director Trade and Growth, London & Partners
Sarah Deaves, UK Wealth Director, Lloyds Banking Group
Guillermo Donadini, Chief Investment Officer for APAC, EMEA & LATAM, AIG
Anastasia Ellis, Head of EMEA Television, Bloomberg
Liv Garfield, CEO, Severn Trent
Anya Hindmarch CBE, Founder and Creative Director, Anya Hindmarch London
Charlotte Hogg, CEO, Visa Europe
Bronagh Kennedy, Group Company Secretary and Chief Counsel, Severn Trent
Louise Kingham OBE, CEO, The Energy Institute
Valeria Locatelli, Audit Director, M&G Investments
Bill Marley, CEO, The Employability Trust
Andy Marsh, Chief Constable, Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Sam McAlister, Interviews Editor, BBC
Joanna McGrath, Managing Director, The Creative School
Professor Heather McGregor CBE, Executive Dean, Edinburgh Business School
Saker Nusseibeh, CEO, Hermes Investment Management
Patrick Olson, Deputy CEOO, BlackRock
Dame Sue Owen, Permanent Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
Nigel Prideaux, Group Communications Director, Aviva
Anne Richards, CEO, Fidelity International
Rebecca Robins, Chief Learning and Culture Officer, Interbrand
Suzie de Rohan Willner, CEO, TOAST
Jacqueline de Rojas CBE, President, techUK
Sacha Romanovitch, CEO, Grant Thornton
Jackie Scully, Deputy Managing Director, Think Publishing
Emma Sergeant, Europe President, DAS Group of Companies, Omnicom Ruth Shaw, General Manager, The Premier League Charitable Fund
Mina Shiraishi, Partner, KPMG
Katie Simpson Lloyd, Development Director, News and Current Affairs, BBC Bill Skelly, Chief Constable, Lincolnshire Police
Phil Smith, Former Chief Executive and Current Advisor, Cisco UK & Ireland Chris Southam, Consultant, MROI
Gareth Southgate, Manager, England National Football Team
Robin Stevens, Head of Digital & Marketing Services, Aviva Investors
Dame Joan Stringer CBE, Non-Executive Director and Chair
Dereka Symes, Finance Director, Ground Control
Professor Mike Thomas, Vice Chancellor, University of Central Lancashire Darren Tierney, Director of Strategy, Department for International Trade Sean Tompkins, CEO, RICS
Sally Waterston, Founder, Waterstons
Doug Wills, Managing Editor, The Evening Standard and The Independent

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NOTES

1. Nominations for “Kindness & Leadership, 50 leading Lights” were received from June to August 2018 from a broad range of companies and organizations, responding to an open call for applications.
2. No self-nominations were allowed; nominations were supported with at least two supporting testimonials with strong examples of kindness put into practice.
3. To select the final 50, a panel made up of representatives from different industry sectors reviewed the entries and agreed the list of 50 leaders.
4. “Kindness & Leadership, 50 leading Lights” forms part of the Week of Women organized by the Women of the Future Programme, working alongside the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the GREAT Britain Campaign to support a number of initiatives from 12–15 November 2018. A series of events will be hosted, that bring together future women leaders, from across the world.

ABOUT REBECCA ROBINS:

Rebecca Robins is Global Chief Learning and Culture Officer for Interbrand. She is based in London and works with Interbrand’s global network of offices to nurture and develop world class talent, while heading up the global luxury practice and business intelligence.

A prolific writer, Rebecca has authored a wealth of publications championing the role and value of branding. She has written for Harper’s Bazaar and The Guardian and her writing and commentary has been featured in publications such as Bloomberg, Business of Fashion, The Economist, Forbes, FT, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Tribune, Luxury Society, Monocle, NY Times, Wall St Journal. Rebecca is a regular conference speaker, lecturer at a number of universities, and member of awards juries. She was also named in the global list of Luxury Women to Watch. She is deeply committed to the value of learning and is on the board of a foundation supporting social mobility and access to education.

She is co-author of the FT-acclaimed book Meta-luxury: Brands and the Culture of Excellence, (Palgrave Macmillan). Rebecca believes passionately that brands are related to culture and that brands that create value across generations become a vital part of our culture.

Rebecca graduated from Cambridge University with a First Class degree in French and German and an M Phil in European Literature.

ABOUT WOMEN OF THE FUTURE:

The Women of the Future (“WOF”) programme is a portfolio of events and projects that support and celebrate the successes of young women with the aim of strengthening the pipeline of female talent. The WOF programme was founded, in 2006 by Pinky Lilani CBE DL. HRH The Countess of Wessex is our Global Ambassador, Cherie Blair CBE is patron of the WOF Awards and Sir John Peace, Chairman of Midlands Engine, is Chairman of our Awards judging panel, Group Director of Responsible Business & Inclusion.

About Interbrand

At Interbrand, we believe that growth is achieved when an organization has a clear strategy and delivers exceptional customer experiences. We do both, through a combination of strategy, creativity, and technology that helps drive growth for our clients’ brands and businesses. With a network of 18 offices in 14 countries, Interbrand is a global brand consultancy, and publisher of the highly influential annual Best Global Brands and Breakthrough Brands reports, and Webby Award-winning brandchannel. Interbrand is part of The Brand Consulting Group of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC).