True to the Corporate Communication & Public Affairs Director role she’s been in for the past two years, Conny is all about the people.
She says, “I love interacting with people and building genuine, long-term relationships. Many of the people I know now, I’ve known for 24 years, since I joined the company as a medical delegate in Kimberley reporting to the Bloemfontein office.
“I’m a peace lover and I am able to relate to people. I can easily read the room and that has helped me to advance in so many ways,” she says, adding with a wry smile, “I can tell when something is going south and I’m able to turn it around.”
When personal and company values align
Conny’s role is deeply linked to her values. She’s driven by her desire to have a positive impact with the relationships she’s building for the company, explaining, “As soon as I see that impact happening, it motivates me to do even more, especially the partnerships that benefit not only Nestlé, but our communities.”
For Conny, it’s about tangible impact. She wants to be remembered as someone who builds people up, professionally and personally.
She explains it like this: “I like to see, this is where we found them… And this is where we’re leaving them.” The importance of leaving a positive legacy is something she passes on when mentoring younger employees.
She reflects, “A friend of mine recently reminded me of a well-known saying, ‘You’re only as good as your last success.’ It’s why I tell my team, ‘We must keep going, keep persevering, push for continued excellence, and always make sure that you’re working on yourself in how you do things, what you do and why?’ Every day is a new opportunity.”
Focus now and in future
Conny spent the first year in her role keeping a low profile while she observed, understood what’s needed and built rapport as she established herself and her team. “This year”, she says, “is about being intentional about being more visible, being the company advocate and positioning myself and the leadership team.”
She’s laser-focused on making a meaningful contribution towards framing public policy around food systems and agriculture – a major role for Nestlé , as the world’s largest food company.
She explains, “Policy that negatively impacts the food industry, often results in pricing challenges and ultimately on consumers. Part of our work is earning our social license to trade – it’s why we produce and publicise documents like our most recent Creating Shared Value and Sustainability publication – to make the public and government stakeholders aware of the work we’re doing.”
Conny is also focused on supporting her Internal Communications team to play their part in successfully executing the East and Southern Africa region’s culture strategy.This is a crucial piece of work that will ensure that we are shaping a thriving and high performing.
Being resilient while building resilience
She’s the right person for the job, having been on her own journey, personally. Conny reflects, “I’m proud of how I’ve been able to forgive myself and be there for my kids. The new Conny who emerged 10 years ago is really on a roll. I’m proud that I didn’t stay in the dark forever. I came out and I see a bright future ahead for me and my family.”
“Professionally”, she says, “I’m really proud of the level of resilience I’ve built over the years and especially in this current role. It’s really not easy,” she says, with the honesty that makes her so relatable. “I started post-Covid so it was harder to understand the role and the challenges.”
She continues, “In a short space of time, I’ve been able to grow in the role. It’s largely driven by external factors that are out of my control which is why you need strong relationships and foresight to sense what’s coming in terms of geopolitics, industry trends and government decisions.
“At the same time, it’s about understanding how to drive the organisation and build resilience in my team. I have a very strong team and I was intentional about hiring a public policy specialist which also enables us to pivot when, inevitably, unplanned things happen.”
Conny’s inspiration
Ever practical, Conny’s recently been inspired by a book she received from one of my colleagues, called The Ministry of Common Sense by Martin Nordstrom which reminds her to ask: is this serving me or my people? Am I getting the impact I want or is what we’re doing counter-productive?
So how does Conny switch off, unwind and relax? She laughs, “I love cooking! I love entertaining people and having people over because I just want to cook. Everyone always says to me, ‘You cook all this food and you don’t even touch it!’ But that’s because I love serving people in every way!”