4-Quarter Lives

Michael Fossat: After the Ladder: Schneider Electric Builds Career Architecture for the 21st Century

In this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, we republish Avivah Wittenberg-Cox’s conversation with Michael Fossat, head of Schneider Electric’s Future Ready program and Director of HR at Schneider Electric France. With a 180-year history, Schneider is now focused on assisting and driving the energy transition to an electric and digital future. Yet this 150,000 strong company discovered that employees over the age of 50 (what Avivah calls Q3) weren’t as motivated and engaged as the rest. Schneider determined to fix that, especially given the talent wars they feel pressing on their business needs every day. The Future Ready Program is their response. Michael Fossat has worked at Schneider for much of his professional career. Passionate about sustainable business and people’s central role in achieving it, he joined Schneider Electric in France as an HR apprentice in an industrial department, participated in the creation of HR shared services for the entire group and worked in the R&D division, before moving to Barcelona to create the HR Metrics function globally. Returning to Paris he was successively HR VP for one of the business units, HR head of Central and Eastern Europe and HR leader for European plants and distribution centres. He is currently Head of HR for Schneider Electric France. Since 2021 he has also headed up the Future Ready Program, bringing to the role a wide knowledge of what motivates people across the group. RELEVANT LINKS * Schneider Electric [https://www.se.com/ww/en/] website * Schneider Electric – Company Purpose [https://www.se.com/ww/en/about-us/company-purpose/] * Schneider Electric Senior Talent Program white paper [https://urlr.me/yThSL] * https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/pdfs/KF-Future-of-Work-Talent-Crunch-Report.pdf [https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/pdfs/KF-Future-of-Work-Talent-Crunch-Report.pdf] * https://www.aarpinternational.org/ [https://www.aarpinternational.org/] * Articles by Avivah on other Corporate Initiatives: Unilever [https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2021/05/23/flexibility-for-all--unilevers-vision-of-the-future-of-work/?sh=380a73ac75c6] and Aviva [https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/10/28/your-car-gets-an-annual-check-up-what-about-your-life/?sh=7cdd9fce813c] Get full access to 4-Quarter Lives | Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe [https://elderberries.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Michael Fossat: After the Ladder: Schneider Electric Builds Career Architecture for the 21st Century

In this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, we republish Avivah Wittenberg-Cox’s conversation with Michael Fossat, head of Schneider Electric’s Future Ready program and Director of HR at Schneider Electric France. With a 180-year history, Schneider is now focused on assisting and driving the energy transition to an electric and digital future. Yet this 150,000 strong company discovered that employees over the age of 50 (what Avivah calls Q3) weren’t as motivated and engaged as the rest. Schneider determined to fix that, especially given the talent wars they feel pressing on their business needs every day. The Future Ready Program is their response. Michael Fossat has worked at Schneider for much of his professional career. Passionate about sustainable business and people’s central role in achieving it, he joined Schneider Electric in France as an HR apprentice in an industrial department, participated in the creation of HR shared services for the entire group and worked in the R&D division, before moving to Barcelona to create the HR Metrics function globally. Returning to Paris he was successively HR VP for one of the business units, HR head of Central and Eastern Europe and HR leader for European plants and distribution centres. He is currently Head of HR for Schneider Electric France. Since 2021 he has also headed up the Future Ready Program, bringing to the role a wide knowledge of what motivates people across the group. RELEVANT LINKS * Schneider Electric [https://www.se.com/ww/en/] website * Schneider Electric – Company Purpose [https://www.se.com/ww/en/about-us/company-purpose/] * Schneider Electric Senior Talent Program white paper [https://urlr.me/yThSL] * https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/pdfs/KF-Future-of-Work-Talent-Crunch-Report.pdf [https://www.kornferry.com/content/dam/kornferry/docs/pdfs/KF-Future-of-Work-Talent-Crunch-Report.pdf] * https://www.aarpinternational.org/ [https://www.aarpinternational.org/] * Articles by Avivah on other Corporate Initiatives: Unilever [https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2021/05/23/flexibility-for-all--unilevers-vision-of-the-future-of-work/?sh=380a73ac75c6] and Aviv [https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/10/28/your-car-gets-an-annual-check-up-what-about-your-life/?sh=7cdd9fce813c] Get full access to 4-Quarter Lives | Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe [https://elderberries.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Helen Tupper: The Squiggly Career: Amazing If on Reinvention, Retention and the Leap

In this episode of 4-Quarter Lives, we re-visit a conversation between Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Helen Tupper, Chief Executive of Amazing If, a company redefining careers for individuals and companies. Together they explore the intricacies of career transitions during midlife and how organizations can support these changes. The conversation also delves into personal experience, highlighting the essential balance between work and life. Helen Tupper is co-founder and CEO of Amazing If, a company with an ambition to make careers better for everyone. Together with her business partner Sarah Ellis, she is the author of three books: The Squiggly Career, You Coach You and, most recently, Learn Like a Lobster: Confidence boosting tools to help you get unstuck at work and reignite your career. Sarah and Helen are also hosts of the podcast Squiggly Careers which has had 4m downloads and their TED talk, The best career isn’t always a straight line [https://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_ellis_and_helen_tupper_the_best_career_path_isn_t_always_a_straight_line], has been watched by almost 2m people. In 2023 Helen was awarded a place on EYs International Winning Women programme. Prior to founding Amazing If, Helen held leadership roles for Microsoft, Virgin and BP and was awarded the FT & 30% Club’s Women in Leadership MBA Scholarship. Some Useful Links: * Amazing If website [http://www.amazingif.com]. * Book: The Squiggly Career [https://www.amazingif.com/books/], by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis * Book: Learn Like a Lobster [https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Helen+tupper&crid=129DZNEGM61Y5&sprefix=helen+tupper,aps,147&ref=nb_sb_noss_1], by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis * The Squiggly Careers podcast [https://www.amazingif.com/listen/]. * Helen Tupper’s LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/helentupper/] Get full access to 4-Quarter Lives | Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe [https://elderberries.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Alistair McQueen: The Midlife MOT: How Aviva Made Purpose a Business Lever

This week we revisit a conversation between Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings and Retirement at Aviva, the UK’s largest general insurance company and a major life and pensions provider. Aviva also has a significant presence in Canada and Ireland. Alistair leads Aviva’s pensions business, helping six million people save for and live in retirement, as well as representing Aviva in the media and with government. He is also a member of the Association of British Insurers’ retirement working group; the Money and Pensions Service long-term savings challenge group; the Department for Work & Pensions Mid-life-MOT board; the Business in the Community Age Leadership Team; and sits on the advisory board of Bravestarts – a social enterprise with the goal of supporting a fuller working life. Some Useful Links: * Aviva – How Long will Retirement Be? [https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/retirement-planning/how-long-will-retirement-be/] * Aviva Mid-Life MOT app. [https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/tools/mid-life-mot-app/] * UK Government Mid-Life MOT [https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/] * Brave Starts – new opportunities [https://www.bravestarts.com] for over 45s. Get full access to 4-Quarter Lives | Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe [https://elderberries.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Chip Conley: The Modern Elder: The Wisdom of Not Knowing Yet

This week, we republish a conversation between Avivah Wittenberg-Cox and Chip Conley, the Founder and CEO of the Modern Elder Academy. Chip Conley is on a midlife mission. After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the U.S., and then as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Conley co-founded MEA (Modern Elder Academy) in January 2018 in Baja California, Mexico. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘modern elder’ at Airbnb, where his guidance was instrumental to the company’s extraordinary transformation from fast-growing start-up to the world’s most valuable hospitality brand, MEA is the world’s first ‘midlife wisdom school’. Dedicated to reframing the concept of ageing, MEA supports students to navigate midlife with a renewed sense of purpose and possibility. A New York Times bestselling author, Conley’s 7th book “Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age” is about rebranding midlife to help people understand the upside of this often-misunderstood life stage. In 2023 he gave a TED talk on the “midlife chrysalis.” Some Useful Links: * Website: Chip Conley [https://chipconley.com] * Book: Learning to Love Midlife [https://mea-online.mykajabi.com/offers/oiYzaZsi/checkout?submissionGuid=f76b2c8b-2711-4d63-9032-42bb8ea80f05] – or at Amazon [https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=chip+conley+learning+to+love+midlife&crid=2WE7IIC53UUML&sprefix=Chip+conley%2Caps%2C79&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_11] * Website: Modern Elder Academy [https://www.meawisdom.com] * Chip Copley’s Daily Blog: Wisdom Well [https://www.meawisdom.com/wisdom-well] * Blue Zones Retreat [https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/optimizing-your-longevity-with-blue-zones-retreat-at-mea-302028852.html] at MEA Get full access to 4-Quarter Lives | Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe [https://elderberries.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]