The Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Podcast

Ludovic Gaudé, CEO of Qinshift and Avenga, discusses the challenges and opportunities of leading tech companies under private equity ownership compared to other ownership structures, including private ownership or a publicly traded company, as well as balancing value creation with fostering innovation. Having led through mergers, he also shares how he adapts his leadership approach in a merger scenario and what qualities or strategies are most critical for success, as well as how he thinks about culture shaping, fostering trust and alignment, and minimizing attrition. Finally, he discusses the key trends he sees shaping the IT services market in the Central and Eastern Europe region and globally, and how those trends will impact leadership.

For this interview, Heidrick & Struggles’ Sherree Kendall sat down with Emma Delaney, executive vice president at BP, to discuss balancing growth and sustainability. Delaney, who has exposure and experience in both the upstream and the downstream verticals, shares how that has influenced her approach to leadership, emphasizing the importance of the strength and power of the team. She also talks about balancing being impactful as well as approachable and shares what skills and capabilities she believes business leaders will need to deploy in order to successfully lead an organization in the future.

In this next episode of the Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Podcast, Heidrick & Struggles’ Sean McLean speaks to Theresa Roessel, the CFO of Canada Diagnostic Centres, about her 30-year career journey in finance. Theresa has led large global teams through strategic, collaborative leadership and proactive approaches to complex business issues. She has worked as CFO at the Calgary Zoo, as well as with CNOOC International. She also has served on the board of the Canadian Red Cross, among many others.In this conversation, Theresa shares her journey and discusses the leadership capabilities that have helped her succeed and navigate change, as well as how the finance function is adapting to evolving AI tools and capabilities, how her board experience has impacted how she approaches her executive mandates, and what organizations can do to build a more gender-diverse finance function.

In this next episode of The Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Podcast, Heidrick & Struggles’ Jarrad Roeder and Jennifer Streitwieser speak to Clint Grimes, the chief procurement officer at Capital One. Grimes shares his perspective on how the role of procurement is evolving and the implications that evolution has for the skills and capabilities needed by procurement leaders and professionals. He also shares his insights on the role of culture in broader strategic shifts and how leaders can build and maintain a healthy, high-performance organizational culture. 

Samuel Skott is the former CEO at HiQ, a tech consulting firm. Having been a leader at publicly traded, privately held, and private equity–backed companies, he shares some of the unique challenges and opportunities he’s encountered while transitioning between these ownership models, as well as how he adapted his leadership approach between them. He also shares what it means to lead in an AI-enabled world, how AI has been shaping his leadership priorities, and what organizational changes will be needed to ensure continued efficiency as new technologies and tools are utilized.

In this interview, Anuradha Chugh discusses leading purpose-driven brands and balancing profit, people, and planet. She also explores how businesses can create cultures of empowerment, foster continuous learning, and align governance with societal impact, offering practical tips to help organizations’ leaders be a force for good and to have a positive societal impact. As the former global marketing director of ice cream at Unilever; managing director Europe at Ben & Jerry’s; and CEO of Pukka Herbs, Chugh also talks about making the transition from a C-suite executive to a full-time board member, building a portfolio of board roles in businesses with different governance models. She is now a board member of Toms Group A/S, F&C Investment Trust, Routes Collective, and B Lab UK.

In this episode of The Heidrick & Struggles Leadership Podcast, Heidrick & Struggles’ Adam Howe sits down with Shawn Bushouse. Throughout his career, Shawn has spent time on multiples sides of large and small businesses, from start-ups shipping their first order to global enterprises with market value nearing $300 billion. He has led teams of varying sizes, both scaled and sold companies as well as purchased businesses, and led venture capital and private equity–backed businesses. In this interview, Shawn shares his biggest lessons on being an effective executive in both start-up environments and inside a corporate, what the biggest differences and similarities in these environments are, and how he’s adapted his own personal leadership style as he transitions between the two different types of organizations. He also discusses some of the culture trends he’s seen in start-ups transitioning into larger, more established organizations.

In this interview, former CEO Caroline Farberger shares how her mindsets and behaviors changed as a leader after she transitioned and how she realized that her previous way of leading was not inclusive—and what had to change for it to become truly inclusive. She also argues that leaders make better business decisions if they can master the skills of harvesting the unique perspectives and contributions of the people around them, discusses how organizations can gauge whether or not they are inclusive, and shares three things for leaders to consider as they assess their own behaviors to adopt a more inclusive way of leading.

Matt Carter, CEO of Intrado, the Stonepeak-backed provider of 9-1-1 critical infrastructure and technology solutions, and a board member at both JLL and NRG Energy, sits down with Heidrick & Struggles’ Jessica Gentile and Francesca “Chessy” Michel, to discuss his approach to building high-performance teams, the particular leadership skills or capabilities that are most important, and creating strong organizational cultures and driving followership. He also shares how his experience as CEO of both public- and private equity–backed companies as well as a board member shapes his thinking, and discusses the trends he foresees in the digital infrastructure sector and how he thinks teams should prepare to stay ahead of challenges.