Everyone should know about ikigai. It's a Japanese philosophy that suggests discovering one's reason for being through introspection and deep, sincere reflection on oneself and those around us. For me, what gives meaning to life is work and being a chanegmaker within my company. I've been working for the same company for twenty-four years, so work is an important anchor for me, just like the town where I live, a small seaside town in England. My family has been settled here for generations. My grandfather was a lighthouse keeper, and our family has always lived by the sea. 

A few years ago, through practicing ikigai, I realized that I had a passion for human relationships. Unlike in the early days of my career—times when I was a bit selfish—I developed genuine empathy for others and found pleasure in mentoring and supporting my colleagues. Naturally, I wanted to get involved in interpersonal relationships within my work. I enjoy guiding employees on their path to success and helping them achieve their goals. Therefore, I consider myself a mentor, not only for my colleagues but also in my personal life, among my friends. I'm someone people come to for advice or empathetic listening. 

One example is a young recruit whom I mentored. I offered her weekly meetings every Friday, where I listened to her ideas and concerns and addressed her issues. She gave me very positive feedback, saying she appreciated my listening ear, encouragement, and knowing I was there for her. It was like friendly mentoring. The bond we formed was as important for her as it was for me. It helped me develop my understanding of others and the ability to adapt to different needs. I also improved my listening skills, which wasn't easy for someone like me who talks a lot! 

Another success story is a colleague in sales whom I invited to get involved in a project called "Anaphylaxis Week." It's an initiative by the Anaphylaxis UK association to raise awareness about allergies in general, not just in the food industry. I suggested my colleague team up with me to develop an action plan for this project. It was a real success; many people got involved, shared information on social media, and participated in quizzes. It caught the attention of many. My colleague reported on our actions internally and received very positive feedback, especially from top management. He's was on cloud nine! I'm thrilled because I see the impact it had on his motivation. I know it will encourage him to get involved in other initiatives. Motivation sometimes hinges on these small things. 

I believe these mentoring experiences fall under what we call "new leadership," which is one of the four pillars of being a changemaker, along with empathy, collaboration, and taking initiative. I believe in setting realistic goals, starting small, and gradually working towards the main objective. For example, it's easier to convince the ten people in your department rather than immediately targeting all 300 people in the subsidiary. Things need to be broken down, built brick by brick, all while knowing what the final construction will look like. 

In 2019, I pursued an MBA, which truly marked a turning point in my career and my commitment to contributing to a better future. My MBA thesis focused on women and business, specifically on how to encourage women to join the food industry and progress within it, identifying the barriers in this sector and how to overcome them. The goal was to make these careers more appealing to women and reduce the gender disparities that persist in this industry. We made numerous recommendations. It's been a long journey that involved everyone internally, including shareholders, and externally, with associations.

In the same spirit, I spearheaded a project aimed at better communicating our professions to young people and making our sector more attractive. I'm passionate about my work and realizing that recruitment is a challenge for our company, while young people struggle to find decent employment, particularly caught my attention. On a larger scale, food hygiene is a crucial issue for the future of the planet and humanity. I wondered how, at my level, I could contribute to revitalizing the image of this sector so that young job seekers would consider applying to us or to the food industry.

Based on this triple observation (youth unemployment, attractiveness of the sector, and the importance of food safety), I reached out to associations such as MEAT Business Women and the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink, as well as universities, to target both young people and women. I was part of a pioneering group to develop a university curriculum to train for these professions through apprenticeships. However, few young people applied, so today, we are focusing our efforts on marketing and storytelling, through webinars and university conferences, emphasizing the societal and environmental usefulness of these professions. We are starting to see good results. We feel that we are contributing to society in various ways, by reducing unemployment and acting for food hygiene to limit health disasters. 

These actions were not part of my job description, but I felt free to implement them because there is an obvious connection to my core role, initially as a training manager and more recently as a marketing manager. When you are convinced that there is a real problem to address, a challenge to overcome, it becomes easier to take action and "drive" the project forward. I am rather independent, both in my professional life and in my personality. I made sure to involve key individuals and those who might have opposed the project at every stage. If you build the project from the outset, it helps justify its purpose and the action plan you have devised to make it a success. Including the right people from the start is, in my opinion, a key success factor. 

My journey as a changemaker has truly evolved over the years. The first time I heard the term "changemaker" was in 2019. I filled out the questionnaire proposed by Ashoka to see where I stood, and I thought to myself, "you know what, you might already be a little bit of a changemaker."

At that time, I was still very focused on myself, what I would gain from it, how it would impact my life, my work. Soon enough, I realized that it wasn't just about me, but mainly about others: seeing them grow, evolve, fulfill themselves. I think of a young colleague of mine, for example, who went from being a shy young man lacking confidence to someone capable of presenting the company in front of a whole assembly. It didn't come out of nowhere. Of course, he had it in him, but encouraging these qualities, helping him develop them, that really motivates me. These people don't necessarily do extraordinary things, but what they do makes them happy, and that's all that matters. For me, that's where I find my motivation, in the happiness of others. 

Time, the lack of time. That's the feedback most people give. Many are interested and would like to become changemakers but say they don't have the time. Ideally, we should stop seeing this role as an additional task. It should naturally integrate into our work, in the same way that the mindset of change is ingrained in us and vibrates through everything we do, everything we think, and the challenges we take on.

That's the biggest challenge, changing people's mindset. Some say, "what's the point of getting involved in this?" That can be very demotivating. And then, little by little, over the past three years, we have rallied many people to the cause. To motivate them, I break down the tasks they have accomplished and tell them, for each one, "you see, there, you acted for change, there too, and there as well." 

As it turns out, things can take time, but they eventually happen. You have to remain patient, look at everything that has been done, even the smallest things, every little step counts and makes sense. For example, my apprenticeship project: we don't have an apprentice yet, but we have already given three webinars, raised awareness among top management on the subject, and established partnerships with universities and associations. We can already make a list of these small wins. It's important to look at the journey as a whole and not just the final goal.