Kathy Varol

Drive Profit With Purpose. Become Remarkable. Accelerate Growth.

How do you stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace? How do you attract top talent? How do you increase profitability? 

You do something remarkable. Purpose makes brands remarkable. 

​As consumers, we're putting our dollars toward companies with aligned values. 85% of millennials in the United States would switch brands for a good cause, and 50% of growth in consumer goods went to sustainability marketed products between 2013 and 2018. 

As employees, we’re looking for meaning in our careers, and the best talent is choosing to work for organizations that feed their hearts as well as their bank accounts. 92% of millennials believe that working for an environmentally and socially responsible company is important. 

In the modern world, companies without a purpose beyond profit will be left behind. You can either be a pioneering force for good in your industry, or the disrupted.

Kathy built the global purpose strategy for adidas, a 22 billion dollar company, encompassing everything adidas does to positively impact people and planet. Through trial and error, Kathy has learned what works, and what doesn't. 

In the Drive Profit with Purpose keynote, Kathy will reveal her 4-step Brand Purpose Model to engage your organization, inspire innovation, and win the hearts of your consumers.

You Will Learn:

• 7 common mistakes in creating a purpose-led organization
• Why a corporate social responsibility department won't get you the impact – or the credit – you want
• How to get the best talent knocking on your door and have the most engaged employees
• Why doing good is the magic bullet to get the most powerful form of advertising (for free!)

This Keynote Is Perfect For Leaders And Companies:

• Competing in a crowded market
• Creating differentiation through marketing, ingredients, and/or process
• Struggling with a talent shortage, high turnover, and/or high employee disengagement
• Looking to accelerate growth and increase ROI (in a sustainable way)​
• Ready to unlock the innovative brain power of their employees

Creating an Effective ESG Strategy: from Zero to Execution

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) continues to grow in importance every year. A thoughtful ESG strategy can attract top talent, boost business performance, ensure regulatory compliance, and future-proof your company. 

As ESG becomes an expected way of operating—from customers, employees, financial institutions, and regulatory bodies— business leaders don’t want to get left behind. 

But most business leaders also don’t know where to start or lack a clear approach to help guide them. 

Kathy helps businesses create an effective ESG strategy that moves beyond a feel-good exercise and drives real change across the metrics that matter to their business. In this keynote, through captivating stories and real-world business examples, Kathy will reveal a step-by-step process that will help your company set the ESG gold standard for your industry. 

You Will learn: 

• Kathy’s 7-step process that will take your company from zero to ESG strategy, process, and reporting
• Why an effective ESG strategy can help your company become a trusted leader in your industry
• How to determine which ESG topics (and metrics) are the right ones for your business 
• How to establish a symbiotic relationship between your ESG strategy and a business-integrated purpose
• The secret to achieving seemingly impossible ESG moonshots

Unlock Exponential Results by Nurturing Purpose, People, and Culture

Data clearly shows that businesses that nurture their purpose, people, and culture unlock exponential results: engaged employees, loyal consumers, increased innovation, and accelerated growth.

In this keynote through captivating business stories, Kathy will share why shifting the focus from your output (revenue) to your inputs (purpose, people, and culture) will drive better results. Kathy will also share concrete strategies you use right away to nurture each of these business inputs.

In the keynote you will learn:

• The toxic beliefs that have infected workplace cultures (and how to shift them)
• An important lesson businesses can learn from the best-performing athletes
• How the world’s most loved companies use purpose to cultivate enviable consumer loyalty (and how you can too)
• Unconventional ways to innovate your talent pipeline and increase diversity

This Keynote Is Perfect For Leaders And Companies:

• That have been focused on the outputs—hitting those quarterly numbers—but are struggling to get there consistently
• That keep doing the same thing, but the playbook is no longer working
• Competing in an increasingly crowded market and struggling to stand out
• Experiencing high turnover, and/or high employee disengagement
• Struggling to foster collaboration across company silos and departments
• Running into groupthink and “yes men” cultural conformity