Kathrin Belliveau:
Thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here with you today.

Simon Mainwaring:
It’s so great to spend some time together, Kathrin, and I want to ask you, you’ve been at Hasbro now almost 25 years. What brought you to Hasbro in the first place?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Such a great question. Well, I am an attorney by training and I got a call one day from a head hunter who actually excited me when he said to me, there was an opportunity potentially at Hasbro, and having grown up in Rhode Island and New England and knowing the brand so well, and knowing what a great corporate citizen Hasbro was, how good it was to its community. And when I learned about the opportunity to have a hand in writing our business ethics principles for our supply chain around the world, including Asia, I was absolutely intrigued. And from there it’s been nothing but an incredible journey.

Simon Mainwaring:
And tell me, some of us who are in the business world still might not be familiar with what are the legal challenges that are associated with a toy and media brand like Hasbro, what comes up on a daily basis?

Kathrin Belliveau:
There’s so many challenges as a global IP company, we have regulatory challenges. One of the things that many people don’t recognize as a company that produces toys and games, that we’re one of the most highly regulated consumer products business in the world. And that’s because we serve children. And so with that privilege comes this huge obligation to ensure that our products, toys, and games are of the highest quality and safety. So, that’s one of the many challenges that we face. Intellectual property is another one. Of course, our IP is our treasure. And so we are like many brands very vigilant about protecting our intellectual property as well.

Simon Mainwaring:
And in early 2021, right at the beginning of the year, you became the first chief purpose officer for Hasbro. And I was so excited to chat with you today because, first sleeve, what on earth does that mean? It’s a new title in the C-suite, you see a few of them emerging today, but give us a sense of what that role entails.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah. Well, thank you so much. It is indeed a fairly new role and I’m honored to be the first chief purpose officer, as you said, at the company. What purpose really means at Hasbro is it’s a commitment, it’s a symbolic and an actually very real commitment of bringing together strategic functions across the company to really harness the full power of those function. And so when I talk about strategic functions, they’re really the functions around ethics, sustainability, governance, human rights. And what I like to say in our organization is that we’re both the conscience and the voice of Hasbro worldwide. So we’re responsible for ensuring that every day we operate with integrity, we operate responsibly, we operate sustainably, and that we communicate our principles, our core values and our strategy to our stakeholders in a consistent way. So very busy, it’s very exciting and we’re continuing to integrate our organization and really ensure that we use our company as a force for good in the world. It’s something that’s very deep and into our company.

Simon Mainwaring:
Yeah. And I want to dig into some of the specifics of that in a minute, but there’s a question I have. We First has been around 11 years and we’ve seen this evolution over time as to the role that business is playing, but to somebody listening, you might think, well, wait a second, we had CSR, corporate social responsibility back in the day, then there was the green movement. Then there was sustainability. Now you hear a lot about purpose. How would you characterize this evolution? And why is there a need to create a purpose officer at the top now? How does it all ladder up to that?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Such a great question. And you’re absolutely right. It’s been a growing evolution. And I would say during COVID, it almost became a revolution because I think that consumers and humanity, quite frankly, around the world and society recognize that in global crises, whether it’s a health crisis, a pandemic or otherwise, supply chain, that industry has an important role to play, number one, in solving some of society’s biggest problems. And number two, I think employees and just human beings around the world all block down at some way, shape or form from the pandemic, ultimately said to themselves, I, as a human being want more out of my life. And so I think what we see is the convergence of two trends or two themes.

Kathrin Belliveau:
One being that employees particularly, I would say in the West, for sure, wanting to work for purpose-led companies, or companies that are doing good, and companies where employees and individuals can feel good about what they do. One really interesting statistic that I read recently, and I believe it was McKinsey statistics stated that 99% of individuals and employees feel that if they don’t live their purpose at work in their job, they don’t have a purposeful life. And so I think when we think about from a macro standpoint, why the revolution and why the necessity to have purpose at the top, it’s because we realize it’s a strategic and business imperative. It’s no longer a nice to have. It’s a need to have.

Simon Mainwaring:
Yeah. I think we can’t avoid the fact that everyone every day opens their phones or their computer and sees their headlines, which is just more cause for alarm. And if you don’t see the need for change, you’re just not paying attention. What would you say you’ve experienced? Is it companies need to preemptively have a role like this in the first place to respond to these emerging trends or expectation, or do you find companies are actually reacting to what consumers want, what investors want, what employees want, what would you advise?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah. So look, I think most importantly, first and foremost, it’s critical for organizations to identify their North Star and ensure that they’ve got core values, they understand the mission of their organization, the products and services they produce, but also what is their ultimate purpose in society? And then once that is clearly articulated, it’s then critical, I think, to operationalize that approach and really embed it in your business strategy. But I would say that many organizations are reactively taking an approach to say we are embracing ESG. And I think sometimes stakeholders will see through that. I think the best approach really is for it to be an organic and a authentic approach within an organization, because otherwise it’s just window dressing. And again, I think stakeholders, whether it’s consumers or employees will see right through that.

Simon Mainwaring:
One of the things I hear Katherine, which keeps me up at night, is that you see a lot of commitments by big brands around net zero or carbon neutral and so on. And many of them are 2040, 2050, even later. And when you think about the timelines we’re working against with these issues, whether it’s the climate emergency or more, these timelines are contracting towards us, they’re not static. So, how quickly does a company need to move today? And how do you set realistic expectations? Because it’s not easy to maneuver supply chains and tiers of suppliers and all the different moving parts that make, especially a large enterprise like Hasbro or many others possible. So how do you know what new role you should play and what timeline you should work against?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah, well, I think the timeline, the time is now. So I think this is something that every organization around the world, particularly companies that have complex global supply chains need to absolutely consider if they haven’t already. As you say, the clock is ticking and these issues are very complex. It is very difficult as we’ve seen through the pandemic, as we’ve seen with global supply chains, we have built as a global economy, as a global society, we’ve built very efficient supply chains, but not necessarily resilient supply chains. So I think that organizations and governments are looking as we speak at how do we address immediately the needs that are upon us.

Simon Mainwaring:
And where do you begin in that process? Because whether you’re a small startup anywhere in the world or a global enterprise, it’s still complicated and Hasbro has this incredible portfolio of brands. So firstly give us some of the top two or three brands that everyone knows, just so they know what those Hasbro brands are.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Wonderful. Well, I’d love to. So we are the proud brand owner of Monopoly, and I hope that, that’s a very familiar and beloved board game. And in many different ways, Monopoly comes to life for consumers and across families and fans around the world. Plato is another wonderful compound that’s iconic as well. Magic: The Gathering, is one of our wonderful trading card games, but also is enjoyed by consumers online and fans around the world. Transformers, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop and many more. So we’re very, very blessed. We have thousands of brands actually, but these are some of our bigger brands.

Simon Mainwaring:
And so with thousands of brands, where do you start? Because in my experience, different brands are at different points in their journey. They have different challenges, peculiar to how they’re made, how they’re distributed. So, you’ve got this chief purpose officer role, you’ve got thousands of brands, you’ve got global supply chains. You have these iconic brands and you’ve got this new role. Where do you begin? That seems pretty daunting to me.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Well, it’s interesting. It sounds daunting, but in many ways, I think if you put a framework in place that you, which we did, we put a purpose framework in place that very much leveraged a lot of the policies and procedures and rigor that we had as an organization to ensure that no matter where a brand or a product is produced around the world, it’s the same quality, same safety, and it’s the same level of experience for our consumers worldwide.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So, that’s something that’s really critical. And I know I talked about that earlier in the podcast in terms of being a very heavily regulated industry, particularly for toys and games. But I think at the end of the day, we’re also guided by a principle around ensuring that we’re producing appropriate high quality content for the intended audience, because we also produce content for audiences that are not children. And that’s really important to us as well, that we meet the expectations of consumers and create delightful experiences for them and lifelong memories. And one of the things that we believe at Hasbro is that play is not for children only, play is for everyone. And I think by creating products that transcend generations and connect generations, we’re doing a wonderful thing.

Simon Mainwaring:
No, I think the ability to play without necessarily just staring down the lens of a screen and so on is a lost art that we’ve got to recover in so many ways. So when you set a strategic framework, does that mean strategic in the sense of, okay, here are business goals, or is it impact pillars, or is it an organizing principle for the brands? Help us understand what a framework might look like so you can operationalize it?

Kathrin Belliveau:
No, it’s a great question. So the way we look at it, at Hasbro, is we put in place a purpose framework. And before we did that, we actually put purpose at the center of our business strategy. So our business strategy is called the brand blueprint. Consumers are at the center of that strategy, but also at our core is our purpose. And our purpose is to make the world a better place by creating these lifelong memories and opportunities to connect generations of humanity through incredible experiences. When we put a framework in place, we talked about across the entire organization, everything from our products and looking at our portfolio products and making sure they align with our purpose, to our processes, to our policies, to even our positions and partnership, to making sure that, for example, the third parties with whom we do business with share our values, because we know in today’s world, quite frankly, when you do business with a third party, whatever their positions may be, if you’re not aware going into that relationships, they are assumed to be your positions as well.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So it’s something that we’ve taken very seriously. It is across the operation of the business as well as, so it’s across, but it’s also deep. And in many ways it’s formalizing what we already were doing, but it was also bringing everything together across every element of the business.

Simon Mainwaring:
Yeah. I think it’s a really important point. Sometimes people shy away from leaning into purpose because they think, oh, wow, it’s a total overhaul of their entire business. But if they have integrity in the first place, it’s really just a formalizing and organizing principle for what they’ve been doing already. And everything falls into place when they do that. One of the things I’m always intrigued by is, sometimes if the enterprise itself, or the corporate, the HQ tells brands what their purpose is, the experience of it can be prescriptive. Oh, you’re telling us what to care about as opposed to elevating or celebrating what the brands are doing, and they’re living their respective purposes in their own right. How do you do that? How do you make sure that the brands themselves, which have large businesses in their own right, work in hand-in-hand with the corporate office?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah. Well, it’s really interesting. We’re very lucky at Hasbro because purpose and doing business and bringing your brands to life in a responsible, an authentic and sustainable way is something that’s in the DNA of our company and we always say, it goes back to the founding family. We’re almost a hundred years old. We were founded by the Hassenfeld family, a family that gave us such a rich legacy and DNA around doing good for the community and being a great employer and bringing brands to life, to really improve the lives of children and consumers.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So it’s very much in the DNA, I would say, of all of our teammates and also within the brands. If we think about the brand essence of each and every brand, there’s always an element organically and authentically of purpose. So it’s just been a matter of somehow teasing it out authentically and rolling it up to the higher purpose of the organization, or in some cases, the brands are already there. So I’ve sat in a very privileged place as has our entire organization, where we have employees who have joined the company who are running brands and brand managers who actually authentically and deeply believe in purpose and the purpose that their brands deliver.

Simon Mainwaring:
One of the challenges that a leading brand like yours, Hasbro and all your portfolio brands, faces is that I think like many industries, the toy industry was associated, for example, with plastic for a long time. And every industry faces its own unique challenges, but what do you do to re-engineer and deliver on a new understanding of the innovations that are going on? How do you course correct that in the minds of consumers?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Such a great question, such an important question. Plastics is top of mind for us at Hasbro, and as you say, the toy industry has been for a very long time, an industry that has utilized plastics because they actually had back in the day, a lot of safety factors and they do continue to provide a lot of safety. So if you think about the products that we’re producing, particularly for young children, as we look at alternate materials, we need to make sure they provide the same level of safeness when used and, or as we say, abused by children in the ordinary course. So for example, we need to make sure if a toy is dropped, it doesn’t break into small parts. Those are hazardous and children can choke on those.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So we’re always mindful of balancing the need to protect our planet, but also protect people. I’m very proud though, that we made a decision four years ago to eliminate, and we announced this, to eliminate all plastic from our packaging by the end of 2022. So this was something that we felt was the art of the doable. It was a very bold move. We didn’t know how we were going to accomplish that goal, quite frankly, but our teams, we’ve got the best packaging engineers in the business, and they have found a way across many different SKUs as we call them, to redesign our packaging, eliminate plastic. And we are proud that we’re on track by the end of 22.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So by the end of this year, all new Hasbro products produced, their packaging will no longer contain plastic. There’s a few pesky items like tape where we can’t eliminate tape. We haven’t found a plastic free solution yet, paper tape doesn’t quite work as well. And I think in some cases, a little bit of glue may have plastic, but by and large, we’re thrilled because while our packaging was recyclable, what we found ultimately was in some cases it wasn’t being recycled. And so plastic was needlessly being placed into the waste stream. So that’s packaging and we’re also making strides and we’ve made some announcements on some core brands to be plastic free, as far as the product itself as well.

Simon Mainwaring:
Give us a peek into the boardroom, because doing that is not just an innovation opportunity, it’s an investment of capital and time that costs the company. And you’re sitting there going, especially during difficult times like COVID or otherwise, we’ve got to make money, we’ve got to keep everyone employed. And at the same time we’re being expected, or we would like to make those shifts. What is the cost benefit analysis discussion that goes on? And how do you ensure the purpose wins the day? Because there’s a lot of disincentives too often.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah. It’s such a great question. And I think one of the things that our board and our management team, and I think our employees worldwide are very aligned around is the long term strategy and the long term value creation that these initiatives represent. And so you’re absolutely right. Sometimes we make decisions that will actually have an impact in the short run, but we believe, and our board’s been incredibly supportive around investments for the long term. So we believe that in some cases, and not every case, every proposal goes forward. But I would say in the majority of cases where there is a significant value for the earth, for our consumers, for our organization, the decision is made to move forward. But it’s a great question. And I guess I would say back to your earlier question, this whole space, whether we call it corporate responsibility, or ESG, or purpose, at the end of the day, I think it’s become an imperative, it’s a need to have versus a nice to have. But again, it is, it’s a balance between a financial issue and a non-financial in many ways issue.

Simon Mainwaring:
Yeah. The point is well taken. ESG, environmental social governance concerns are, these sustainability initiatives by especially large publicly traded companies. And I think what people sometimes fail to recognize is that if they’re saving pennies by not changing something now, but it comes at the cost of their future, or their potential reputation, or their ability to attract employees, then it’s actually not a saving in the way that they think it is. And you’ve got to look at that bigger picture. I was also thinking about, chatting to you and I was thinking of the global supply chain issues that we’ve had over the last year or so. There’s a whole dialogue around globalization and so on, but do you think the impact and the insights from the impact of COVID and so on, is that going to force companies of all types to think differently about how they actually manufacture and distribute their products?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah, I think there’s no question about it. I think every company that has any kind of global supply chain is really thinking about how do I build the most resilient and durable supply chain. Efficiency’s really important, but if you are consolidated in one part of the world, as we see whether it’s tsunami or any severe weather, or a pandemic, or a political disruption, there will be impact. So I think it’s something that every organization is thinking through. And I think we talked about earlier, every government is thinking through. So I think, I guess the short answer is yes. I think it’s absolutely something that’s at top of mind for all organizations, all companies, small, medium, and large.

Simon Mainwaring:
And what do you do to change the whole industry? Because you can only do so much in your own if the other players aren’t involved too. We’ve heard folks like Alan Jope from Unilever, talk about how everyone’s got to ladder up their game in the CPG world. So are you playing any role in coalitions or collaboration with other partners to make sure that everyone is working towards a solution rather than undoing the good work of another?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah, it’s such a great question. And I’m really proud. I think, look at the end of the day, brands have a role, not only within society broadly, but within their industries to really, I completely support that. And we try to live that every day to lead the industry. And one of the things that we’ve been doing as a company, back to the plastics question, is in 2018, we piloted a program which is a US pilot program to recycle toys. And at the time, so toys in case you’re not aware, toys are not readily recyclable in normal municipal streams across the world. And so in partnership with a recycling company called TerraCycle, we piloted a program that’s turned out to be very, very successful. And we’re now rolled out in 12 countries around the world, but our vision is ultimately, and there have been other peer companies that have joined the initiative that this become an industry-wide program.

Kathrin Belliveau:
And so we’re working across countries like Australia and Europe and South America and North America to lead the industry to adopt a recycling program. What’s super about these programs is that the toys that are recycles, at least for Hasbro’s program, are going to the production of park benches and surfaces and basketball courts and play spaces. So this circular circularity, so to speak, has been really wonderful to see, but absolutely I think there is a role for every brand to play small, medium and large in terms of elevating its industry and forming coalitions to do that.

Simon Mainwaring:
I love that the end of life is that they become a park bench in a playground or something like that. What about upstream? One of the challenges in the apparel industry, for example, is you’ve got tier two, tier three, tier four suppliers that most people don’t know exist in the supply chain of a company. And they may be doing practices that are out of site despite the best efforts of audits and fair trade and so on. How do you incentivize your deeper suppliers to make sure that they just don’t put cost savings or profits first?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah, such a great question. And it’s something that we’ve been working on for a long time. Of the couple of the strategies we’ve put in place, first and foremost, I think our approach as a company, this has been long before I was chief purpose officer, again, this goes back to the legacy of our founders on whose shoulders we stand. But our strategy was really around being stewards, stewards in the supply chain and really working collaboratively with our third party vendors. In fact, recent at our company right now we don’t own any manufacturing. So we are 100% third party. So what does that mean? That means that we have to build an incredible collaboration and partnership of trust and ensure that our expectations, our requirements around human rights and sustainability are not only understood by vendors because they’re going to be audited, but they’re actually embraced because they know it is absolutely the cost of doing business and a requirement of doing business with our company.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So we start obviously at the first level, which I know most brands do, but then we actually go deeper and we have actually created a system of incentivizing and increased business for those vendors who actually select subcontractors, who we also audit and who are compliant. So we know there’s much more work to go and to do, I should say, in this space, in some ways we’ve been able to go much deeper than just the second level and other areas we’ve stopped at the second level because it’s been practical, but it’s absolutely something that we need to work toward as an industry. I’m really proud of Hasbro because we are members of something called the Responsible Business Alliance, which is a human rights auditing organization that represents the electronics industry, retail. And we were one of the first, if not, I think the first toy company to join that initiative. And it’s really a best in class program.

Kathrin Belliveau:
So I think working together within our industry and very closely with our supply chain, as well as outside of our industry to learn best practices has been successful for us, but more to do, we’re certainly not anywhere near where we want to be.

Simon Mainwaring:
No, there’s no shortage of opportunity, shall we say, in the positive change space, I guess is the most positive way we can all look at the future right now. But if we spin from doing less bad to more good, there seems to be an inherent opportunity with young people, especially kids, to almost leverage the power of play and toys to educate them about these challenges and how they can shift their thinking and behavior and see themselves as stewards of our future. Is that something that you think about actively in the toy world? Because toys are timeless. They’ve been around and they’re peculiar to different life stages and so on, but the world around us has changed so much. So are the very nature of the toys you’re thinking about, is that changing.

Kathrin Belliveau:
It’s such a wonderful, wonderful point you make. So we view that each and every toy, every piece of content tells a story, whether intentionally or unintentionally. So we have been very, very purposeful around development of our brands and really looking closely at the messages that our brands send. And so it doesn’t have to be explicit, but we believe, for example, in sharing that we are committed to sustainability and recycling across all of our packaging and all of our products sends an express message, but if I look at, for example, the content of the Mr. Potato Head line, it used to be called the Mr. Potato Head line. We now call it Potato Head line. And why is that? It’s because actually the line is a line of potato families, and families today are all sorts of different families, mothers, fathers, children.

Kathrin Belliveau:
And so what we wanted to do was make sure, even in the branding of our products, that every child could see him or herself and his or her family in the toy. So that’s just one way that we’re looking at the stories that we tell and the stories that we really encourage our children and consumers to experience with our toys, and really proud of the Potato Head line for doing that.

Simon Mainwaring:
You put a big smile on my face, because I had not recalled this myself, but when I was really young in Australia growing up in Sydney, I was a huge Mr. Potato Head fan. And I didn’t really, really remember that until you just mentioned it then. And I was just like, had all these flashbacks of, yeah, back in the day, back in the day. And obviously all of these efforts that you’re doing allows you to get recognized on lists that are really meaningful out there today. I mentioned at the top of being one of the world’s most ethical companies for 10, 11 years in a row now, that may sound like great optics for a company, but it’s very substantive these days and it’s meaningful to the business. Can you explain what sort of rigor is brought to judging who gets on those lists and what is the reputational value to the business? Because I never want purpose to be understood as something that’s just great optics or good intentions. It’s always going to have business rigor to it as well.

Simon Mainwaring:
So, how do you get on a list like that? And what value does it bring to the business?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah, it’s a great question. So we’re very humbled and honored to have made Ethisphere’s world’s most ethical company list in 2022, like you said, it’s for the 11th consecutive year. And for those who aren’t aware, Ethisphere is a think tank based in New York. And they evaluate companies around their governance, ethics, compliance, sustainability, and generally ESG practices. And it’s really a very deep dive into an organization’s rigor, robustness and governance around these issues. And so I think what an easy way to explain these types of recognition is that they are actually external validations of the efforts that an organization has put to developing a culture and running a business responsibly and ethically. And it means a lot, I would say most importantly, it means a lot to our employees.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Our employees are very proud. And I think as we think about attracting post-COVID in this new world, what is the employee of the future looking for? Looking to join an organization that is well run, that is responsible, that is protecting the planet, but also has a very solid, moral and ethical core. And I think for us in being recognized with some of these really special and important rankings means the most for our employees. It, of course, means a lot to other stakeholders, but I think first and foremost, our employees, it’s a real pride point for our employees and it’s rallying cry I think, in terms of how we do business every day and thinking through that ethical and moral lens.

Simon Mainwaring:
Sometimes I think that the true value of a company is whether an employee can sit there and go, oh, I work here and their friends go cool or not. It literally comes down to that. And in light of the great resignation and hybrid work and the flexibility that so many employees seem to want these days for good reason. That’s become even more important in my experience talking to different companies, that unless you can really have, as you say, credibility and bragging rights and have that external validation about what you are doing, it’s a lot harder to attract the talent that you need. There’s another organization that I very much respect their research and their insights, which is the Just Companies Organization. And you’re on their list of most just companies in the US this year. What does it mean to be a just company? Because obviously ever since the Black Lives Matter movement and the primacy given to diversity and inclusion and equity and so on, this is more important than ever. So what does it mean to be a just organization? Kathrin Belliveau: It means a lot to be a just organization. It means that as an organization, you’re putting your employees and your community and humanity first. And I think one of the things coming out of COVID and actually during COVID that employees as human beings, as family members struggling with health issues or those of their family were looking for with support from their employer. And I think when just companies took a look at, or the Just Company Organization took a look at organizations that were supporting their employees and supporting their communities, whether they were working in manufacturing facilities, excuse me, like we were to convert our toy and game production to PPE production, or we were giving folks flexible work opportunities to take care of children or elder family members at home. I think at the end of the day, to us as a company, it means really operating through that humanity lens and operating first and foremost for each other as human beings.

Simon Mainwaring:
I often talk about how we’re not doing enough and the urgency and so on, but Hasbro is one of those companies that are the forefront of doing the right thing, but then there’s more competition at that end of the spectrum as well. More and more companies are becoming more purposeful, more and more are making ESG commitments. So it’s quite competitive at that end of the pool as well. So what do you do to ladder up your game? How do you go to the next level? How do you compete in this space?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Well, it’s interesting, it’s wonderful to see that the bar keeps getting raised and it’s wonderful to see organizations and industry embracing doing the right thing. I think for us, we’re always guided by our values and for us, the evolving landscape, whether it’s different parts of the world, we’re operating new expectations of consumers, continue to serve the bar for us. And so while, of course, we’re being judged within our industry, we’re being judged within a broader consumer products or entertainment industry, at the end of the day, I think staying true to our core values and staying true to our business, our employees, our consumers is really ultimately the bar that we set for ourselves. And so it happens quite organically. But, of course, we still want to be on those lists. There’s no doubt.

Simon Mainwaring:
And there’s a funny resonance that I think play has today in moving forward that maybe didn’t exist in the last several decades. I say this as a parent of two daughters, when I grew up the world seemed to be a planet of infinite resources and business could grow exponentially and the future look bright, in contrast to today where there’s so much to be concerned about as we all know, and that we’ve touched on in different ways today, which then throws a new responsibility on play and toys and how you nurture childhood that probably didn’t exist before. So, how do you see the street changing in the next 10 years given how the context of life has changed?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Look, I think the industry will continue to have to put the wellbeing, health safety, and that includes emotional health and mental health and safety at the forefront of everything that we do, I think we are very, very aware as an industry, that every message we send, every story we tell through our products, through our content online has a consequence. And I think I’m very, very encouraged to see the toy play and entertainment companies of today really focused on the impact and intended consequences as well as potentially unintended consequences. So I think that the role of the industry will become even more critical. And I think expectations of consumers for industry to step up will also increase. And I think I’m very encouraged, I think the industry is poised to really do the right thing.

Simon Mainwaring:
So what keeps you up at night, Kathrin? What’s that thing that makes you toss and turn?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Look, I think like all organizations, we worry first and foremost about health and safety of humanity, of our employees, of our workforce, whether it’s through pandemics, whether it’s through political strife, like right now that’s going on in the Ukraine and Russia where many businesses have been operating. I think the health and wellbeing of our planet is first and foremost. And we’re doing a lot at Hasbro, but we know we’re scratching the surface and there’s more to do. So I think there’s a lot that was forefront and keeps us up at night. But on the other hand, I think that we are still very, very encouraged by the hope, resilience and the playfulness of humanity and everything that we try to do. And ultimately is our purpose in this world and why we try to make the world a better place for kids and fans and families through our brands. So we’re hopeful, but also laser focused on the challenges ahead, which are really people and planet at the end of the day.

Simon Mainwaring:
Yeah. It’s those basics for sure. And in this new role as chief purpose officer, is there any guidance you can give us? Whether it’s a decision you made, which you’d wish you’d done differently, anything you look at in hindsight and say, oh, well, I’ve learned from that, and you’d love to share that with us, because it is a new and emerging and increasingly popular role, anything you’d share?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Yeah. I think one thing that is a bit of a challenge, and I’ve talked about this internally with my colleagues across the company, is sometimes the word purpose. And we talked about this at the beginning of the podcast, is a very amorphous word. What does that actually mean? And I think one of the things that’s really important and I suspect I could have done better in the beginning, was really clarifying what does purpose mean? And it’s not just your company’s purpose, but it’s really developing an organization where you help each and every employee in the organization uncover his or her individual purpose, connect it with the company purpose. And then ultimately find fulfillment at work. And I think that will be the secret sauce. And that will be something that we are looking at Hasbro to accelerate and as part of a longer term strategic plan and the purpose organization, really bringing purpose from the individual perspective to the company purpose, and then beyond.

Simon Mainwaring:
I have to ask you, as someone who lives in the Hasbro world day in and day out, and you have for 25 years, what’s the coolest toy or the coolest artifact that you have in the office? What’s your favorite?

Kathrin Belliveau:
Well, I have to say my favorite is the original Potato Head. And why? Because the original Potato Head was a real potato. And if I’m sitting here in 2022, do you think we could ever bring a product to market, first of all, with sharp points and edges, which the eyes and ears and pieces were, and maybe that was the potato head you played with, but second of all, bringing a real vegetable, which would create issues of food waste. So we have both a safety issue and a food waste issue. So, but I think it’s a wonderful example of how we have evolved as an industry. And it was the first toy advertised ever on television. So I have to say that the artifact of our original Mr. Potato Head has to be my favorite artifact.

Simon Mainwaring:
That was the one I played with. And that’s why I put a smile on my face back in the day, because it was a real potato. Kathrin, thank you so much for the insights and congratulations on this new role and for all the leadership at Hasbro. And we look forward to seeing the whole industry evolve and better serve people and planet moving forward. So thanks.

Kathrin Belliveau:
Thank you so much.

Simon Mainwaring:
Thanks for joining us for another episode of Lead with We. You can find out more information about today’s guest, Kathrin, in the description below. And if you enjoyed the show, make sure you click the like button and subscribe to the channel. Lead with We is produced by Goal 17 Media, and you can listen to all the episodes on Apple, Google, or Spotify. And if you’d like to go deeper into the world of purposeful business, check out my new book, Lead with We, that’s now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Google Books. See you on the next episode. And until then, let’s all lead with we.