Leena Nair, CEO of iconic French fashion house Chanel, advocated for compassionate leadership and said she believes in kindness and compassion. However, she added, that people do not care for empathetic leaders.
In an interview with Stanford Graduate School of Business’s “View From The Top,” Nair suggested that, doing things, even the tough ones, compassionately is very important to her.
“I truly believe in benevolence, kindness, compassion, and empathy. You have to do tough things in business, but doing them compassionately is very important to me,” she said.
“Doing it properly, doing it keeping the person in mind,” she added.
Sharing that she is very particular about listening to every voice in the room, she said listening to diverse perspectives matter to her.
“If I’m in a meeting, I want to listen to every voice because I truly believe in collective intelligence. I believe everyone’s voice matters, not just the ones who speak loudly. You’ve got to listen to every voice. Diverse perspectives matter to me. I will respect what you bring, your values, your beliefs. That’s very important for me,” Nair said.
The Chanel CEO also said, “We don’t hear this enough in business; people don’t care for compassionate and empathetic leaders. We don’t see enough role models like that.”
Nair said it really matters for her that she set a brand of leadership that’s about compassion.
“Do the tough things, do it decisively, but do it with compassion. Do it keeping the human being at the end of it, who’s impacted by your decisions, in mind,” she reiterated.
‘I really put human beings at the center of everything’
This is not the first time Leena Nair has advocated for compassionate leadership.
In an interview with TIME.com, Nair had shared that in her career spanning over 32 years — 30 years at Unilever and remaining at Chanel – “the one thing they will tell you about me is that I really put human beings at the center of everything I do. I really, really care about people. It’s not lip service for me”.
“Remember people, their names, their stories, the trivia, what’s going on with them. I do believe if you put people at the heart of the business, they will care about the business. You care about them, look after them, give them the space, give them the freedom, listen to their ideas, give them respect, care, and they will care about the business,” she had said.
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