20. Kicks' CEO Freddy Sobin on diversity & inclusion and the importance of having a committed board

We are excited to share with you, this week's podcast guest, Freddy Sobin, CEO for Kicks and member of our ongoing CEO programme "CEOs for D&I". He will also be part of our upcoming symposium "An inclusive labour market 2023" – a symposium that highlights the most important measures and solutions to create an inclusive workplace and labour market. You can read about it and sign up here: https://mittliv.com/en/webinars-events-courses/an-inclusive-labour-market-2023/

In this episode, hosted by Sofia Appelgren, Freddy shares his and Kicks' journey, working with D&I, and also the importance of being open-minded and having board members and owners that are fully committed to D&I.

Some of the topics that are shared in this episode are:

- He shares his milestones that lead him to becoming CEO for Kicks

- He shares the importance of self-insight when it comes to leadership and continuously developing one's skills

- Freddy shares his own childhood, being different from others, with black hair and people asking where he was from, although him and his parents were born in Sweden. So he learned how that feels, to feel outside.

- He also shares that when he joined the Axel Johnson, and taking part of the foundational values when it comes to creating something good in society, that also resonated with him.

- Freddy shares Kicks measuring of diversity and see that the stores that perform the best are the stores with most diversity. He has seen a strong connection between diversity and profitability.

- Social responsibility and sustainability really invoke positive responses and engagements in a company, and it strengthens the employers according to Freddy. - Freddy also shares the purpose that Kicks has set: Set Beauty Free – beauty comes from within, and it is individual.

- Setting KPIs, tracking and measurement really helps diversity work, and working with it with all staff.

“It is so much easier to work as a CEO in a company when the owners and the board are fully committed to both sustainability, form and environmental and climate perspective, but also social responsibility. And these two are two sides of the same coin.” - Freddy Sobin

He also highlights the importance of businesses taking leadership in these matters to see faster results on the labour market, and not just relying on politicians' actions and decisions. Finally, Freddy shares that he has seen a strong correlation between diversity and profitability.

You can watch the video on our YouTube channel as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5N3clwX16g

Read more about Mitt Liv: https://www.mittliv.com/

Sign up for our upcoming symposium "An Inclusive Labour Market 2023": https://mittliv.com/en/webinars-events-courses/an-inclusive-labour-market-2023/

Read about our "CEOs for D&I" program: https://mittliv.com/en/impact-advocacy/ceos-for-d-i/