Bernie Borges [00:00:00]:
Is DEI really dead or has it quietly evolved into something far more powerful? A competitive edge that’s rooted in purpose, culture, and fulfillment? Yes, I said fulfillment. Well, today we are pulling back the curtain on how the most progressive companies are embedding fulfillment into the DNA of their organizations and why it’s becoming the secret sauce behind performance, engagement and growth. Today my guest is Miriam Videlon, Senior Vice President of Culture and Workforce Transformation and Chief Diversity Officer at Nielsen iq and also a fellow speaker at the HR Wellness and Executive Summit. Miriam, welcome to the Life Fulfilled podcast.
Myriam Vidalon [00:00:49]:
Thank you so much for having me. Brand new.
Bernie Borges [00:00:52]:
Well, thank you for joining me, Miriam. Let’s get right to it. Dei, is it dead or is it a myth?
Myriam Vidalon [00:00:59]:
That’s a great question. Truly believe it is not dead, but performative DEI might be dead. I think we just evolved into how well do you embed this concept of having diversity of thought, of having a diverse workforce into your organization? And how well do you really have embedded inclusive principles that people can feel themselves? They can bring up their own thoughts and opinions. They have a way to speak up. They feel that they are treated with respect. They have empathy in the workplace to be able to adjust and be able to drive teams that motivate them and energize them. So I think that’s the real question. How will the company do that?
Bernie Borges [00:01:39]:
Okay, now you said at the beginning, you said performative DEI might be dead. Can you unpack that a little bit for anybody who may not really understand what you mean by that?
Myriam Vidalon [00:01:49]:
Yeah, that’s a great question. I mean, in my mind, performing BI were those efforts where you basically try to force a numeric value or representation into your workplace without having a proper strategy as to why? What is the business case? Right. How do you make sure that you have a good slate? How do you make sure that you’re going and sourcing in the right places? And how do you make sure your culture is truly inclusive, you have good profitability, and that you are allowing the best of the talent to come through through these processes. So, to me, performative was more about talking and not really doing what you are preaching. To an extent, that’s what I call performative dei.
Bernie Borges [00:02:31]:
Well, thank you for that explanation and the clarification, Miriam. In preparation for this podcast recording, I had the privilege of getting to know you and a little bit about the amazing achievements of that you have to your credit@Nielsen IQ. And I was thrilled to learn that fulfillment is a part of your strategy, even though maybe the word isn’t necessarily part of your vernacular, but I think we’ve got that in common. And I’d like to dive into that a little bit, because, as you know, this is the Life Fulfilled podcast. And so I’m all about driving fulfillment. And, of course, I like to make a distinction between happiness and fulfillment. And you may remember that the research that I did and published in 2024, one of the many, many takeaways, was that 79% of the people chose fulfillment over happiness if they could only choose one. So let’s dive into it.
Bernie Borges [00:03:24]:
What is the role of fulfillment in the workplace at Nielsen iq?
Myriam Vidalon [00:03:29]:
Yeah, that’s a great question. It’s fundamental. When I looked at performance and what drives performance in the company, it really comes down to a few things, right? One of them being engagement. Are people engaged? Are people feeling that they want to show up every day and do their best? And part of. If you start unpacking what engagement means, what does it truly mean? One of the key levers of engagement is, do I feel that the job that I’m doing is connected and drives the mission of the company? Which in turn means what I’m doing, does it bring value? Do I feel that I have a purpose? And when you feel, and the answer is, yes, I have a purpose. I have a why to fulfill, all of a sudden, you see that performance, you go above and beyond. I look at my own experience, and I’m sure, Bernie, you can relate to that, too. How many times are you really exhausted or you’re tired or the work ahead seems overwhelming, and you put a pause on things and you look back and you think, why am I doing this in the first place? And when your why is really strong and you truly believe that what you’re doing as a purpose, beginning yourself, all of a sudden you see that your engagement starts to drive more discretionary effort.
Myriam Vidalon [00:04:44]:
Ultimately, your performance and your work results is so much better than if you just, you know, follow and do a task.
Bernie Borges [00:04:51]:
Exactly. So, again, we are singing from the same sheet of music on that. In fact, one of the things that I really appreciated when I learned about this is what you’ve done@Nielsen IQ, and that is you actually have a workshop. I believe it’s called Leading with Purpose. Why don’t you tell us about that?
Myriam Vidalon [00:05:09]:
Yeah. So we piloted this workshop this year. We were looking at how do we continue to drive our culture of high performance. One of the things that we focused on is how can we drive more purpose? How can we really drive the connection of our staff and our people, our colleagues around the Globe to why they matter and how do they bring value to in the ecosystem of the company. And one thing that we put together was leading with purpose. And the focus of the workshop was really to start unpacking why what they do matters, how does they connect to the ecosystem. But most importantly, we were developing managers on how do they help their team members actually understand their why. The why for the team, the why for themselves.
Myriam Vidalon [00:05:54]:
Because what moves you might be a little bit different than what moves the team. So the idea and the whole point of the workshop was to unlock that. Actually, it’s the first of these type of workshops that we really drive. We had hundreds of managers go through it and it was one of the best rated, highest rated workshops that we did this year and really comes to show that people are craving. Managers are craving this topic and this concept because they know that in this age, the role, the manager is really a coach. And if you want to be a good coach, you need to ignite that purpose in your team.
Bernie Borges [00:06:30]:
Fundamental, fantastic. You know, we haven’t discussed yet, actually is just real briefly, Nielsen iq. A lot of people might be thinking, is that the same Nielsen as the TV ratings people? You want to unpack that a little bit?
Myriam Vidalon [00:06:44]:
Yeah. So it’s not Nielsen iq. We are the company that focuses on consumer intelligence. We are in more than, well, 19 countries around the globe. And we are not the same company now we used to be in the past, but a few years ago, we are independent companies.
Bernie Borges [00:07:02]:
Okay, terrific. So in the workshop, you talk about purpose, leading with purpose, and how people really have the opportunity to pause and reflect and really understand their why. And again, if I take that back to fulfillment, Miriam, I believe that fulfillment drives performance. And I believe also that fulfillment is the second most powerful emotion in our humanity, second only to love. And while we can’t really measure love, we don’t discuss love in a business context. It doesn’t show up on an income statement. Fulfillment, as you know, can drive performance. And that we can measure on an income statement, we can measure in business.
Bernie Borges [00:07:44]:
So what is the role of fulfillment? Fulfillment, even if you don’t use that word from a leadership standpoint at Nielsen iq.
Myriam Vidalon [00:07:52]:
Yeah, no, I think it’s fundamental. It’s really hard to drive big transformation and big changes and continue to really drive a business in the right mindset when you don’t have that purpose, that fulfillment in your team, it contributes to, well, being, ultimately contributes to engagement, ultimately contributes to performance. So one big focus that we’ve had this year, and we will continue to drive this focus in the years to come is how do we really help the team members or colleagues around the globe really feel fulfilled with the work they do, have a purpose and understand what purpose and how. Even our company, being a company that measures consumer intelligence and provides a full view to consumers around the globe, how do they fit into that purpose and that big organization that we have as a company? So it’s fundamental, for sure.
Bernie Borges [00:08:45]:
You said something I want to come back to because I don’t want it to be lost. I think it’s a really key point that you made, and that is that fulfillment contributes to well being. You specifically said well being. And sometimes I think that well being in the workplace is overlooked or maybe undervalued in terms of the impact that it has on the business. You want to comment on that?
Myriam Vidalon [00:09:12]:
Yeah, 100%. Well being is so closely related to engagement and performance. It’s part of the full circle. Think about it. When you have a bad day, stressful day, you’re going through a big health situation, you’re going through a difficult moment in your life, do you think you can perform at the same level the way you’re not? No. We’re human beings. You get distracted, you feel disengaged. You have one goal and one goal only, and that is to feel well emotionally or physically or socially.
Myriam Vidalon [00:09:46]:
So this concept of fulfillment and purpose is one key pillar, a component that drives well being. If you think about sometimes, you know, feeling detached or feeling that you are too tired to continue, and you start feeling tilting the scale too much on the I am tired. I cannot do this. I don’t find meaning what I’m doing is not allowing me to grow professionally, which professional growth is definitely one pillar of well being. You start tilting to one side, and as you start to really understand your purpose and you start to feel that what you do has a purpose and it might be helping someone else, it might be doing something bigger than yourself, it almost feels like the skill starts tilting on the other direction. Ultimately, the idea is, can you be balanced? So purpose definitely plays a big role in well being, for sure.
Bernie Borges [00:10:37]:
Yeah. And what you remind me of, Miriam, is really what I call my five pillar platform. And as you know, because we’ve discussed this, my five pillar platform is health, fitness, career, relationships, and legacy. I usually have to explain why I have fitness in there, because it’s really about being functional. But health is the first one. And health is about well being. Right. It’s both physical and mental and emotional.
Bernie Borges [00:11:04]:
To your point, if you’re struggling with something that’s going to impact your performance. And leaders need to recognize that and then provide resources to lead through those times. So love that. I know you’ve got Nielsen IQ University. You haven’t told us about that yet, so let’s go there. I want to share that with the audience.
Myriam Vidalon [00:11:26]:
Yeah. So NIQ University is a program we started back in 2022 and the idea is how can we start attracting a diverse group of young level entry candidates to work at NIQ in this environment where they’re preparing themselves to really tackle the CPG industry, Advanced analytics, being on the edge of what is next. And in this same platform, we get to really tell stories, develop them, connect them to clients of the CPG industry and allow them to do some work on the market, on the products on our data, which is an amazing opportunity to grow their careers. So that’s what NIQ University is. It grew out of passion, out of fulfillment, out of really wanting to make sure that we see a CPG industry that is diverse, but also that we can prepare the next generation of leaders specifically for the US to really come and be prepared to tackle data analytics. That was our whole idea and concept.
Bernie Borges [00:12:29]:
Okay. I love it. Now I’m curious, is it professional growth or is it personal and professional growth focused?
Myriam Vidalon [00:12:37]:
So it’s focused on professional growth, but we do have some components of it that is going to really help the employee or the individual develop their personal aspect as well.
Bernie Borges [00:12:50]:
Okay. The reason I ask is because I do believe strongly that when employees feel like they have an opportunity to grow personally, holistically as a person, then they feel even more valued and more connected to that purpose. And I think it’s just part of that powerful, you know, fulfillment as a performance strategy mindset that I’m waving the flag out there, Miriam, on this whole conversation.
Myriam Vidalon [00:13:18]:
Yeah, I love the discussion and I completely agree with you. Even as new mentor other people in the organization. Right. You are in a professional setting. Many of the mentoring topics that come up are not professional. It impact their professional life, but they’re more personal. There might be around how do you manage workload, how do you manage stress, how do you manage a passion project? How do you manage things that you want to do and perhaps you’re not doing? So it does start to really impact or connect to your professional life. So I agree 100%.
Bernie Borges [00:13:49]:
Yeah. Great. Miriam, what are you comfortable or able to share in the way of metrics that you and your team are measuring as it relates to this entire conversation?
Myriam Vidalon [00:13:59]:
Yeah, it’s a great question. I’ll tell you that when I first took on a leading styling culture and engagement a few years back, the first question I had, I’m Mac name six Sigma black belt. So I’m very always focused on metrics. How do I measure what success looks like? Or how do I measure that? Something that I put in place works. And my first question is, wow, how do I manage or measure that what I’m doing on engagement and culture actually has any type of impact? That was my biggest question and it wasn’t as hard as I thought, to be honest. Partly because we use engagement as a huge metric for us. And the first thing we did with our engagement data, we looked at our performance data and we’ve been running this analysis for a few years now where we see is there any correlation between engagement and performance? Do we see that when teams are more engaged, do they perform better? And similarly, when we see that teams don’t perform well, do we see that engagement is another factor? And we actually found out that yes, the answer is yes. Engagement and performance are linked.
Myriam Vidalon [00:15:08]:
We’ve seen it year after year when teams are not engaged, their performance is not a fact. It’s something that we’ve been able to prove. But not only us, there’s other companies in the industry like Galo that have years of research that shows that companies that have high engagement have better profitability, they have better performance results. But sometimes we see these metrics and we get curious and we want to test it in our own backyard. And we’ve been able to do that appropriately. When you look at the pillars of what makes up that engagement score, the mean score of engagement, in our case, we use Gallup as an example. But one of the pillars is really around mission and purpose. So we’re able to quantify what is the impact of this mission alignment and that discussion around mission, how well is it aligned to actually the engagement score? And we’re able to in that manner confirm that indeed these things are not additional extra things.
Myriam Vidalon [00:16:03]:
They do play a role into the performance of individuals and teams. Similarly with well being, when you start feeling for what does well being really mean? If you launch a survey to your employees, asking them about the well being, does the company care about the well being? And they say yes or no, what are they talking about? Do they know? What are they referring to? In what cases do you support not their well being? When you start unpacking this and then you start to pull that, maybe wellbeing for them is around a situation they had and how good benefits they had or how well, were they supported by their managers or they think about it in terms of their career progression or being recognized for a job well done or being fulfilled in what they do and finding that they are growing and they’re learning and they’re leaving a legacy behind, you start to unpack that. Indeed. Yes, it does drive performance. So I think it’s fascinating, but that’s a bit of what we’ve been able to observe.
Bernie Borges [00:17:03]:
I think my biggest takeaway from your explanation there, Miriam, which was terrific. Thank you. Is that when performance is down, that it can be correlated back to engagement is not optimized. And I think that is just proof positive. The point that I’m bringing to the world around fulfillment as a performance strategy is that when you’re driving fulfillment in the workplace, you create a more engaged workplace. And again, engagement drives performance. So it all ties together. That’s fantastic.
Bernie Borges [00:17:33]:
Thank you. All right, last question, second to last question. Because on my last question, how can people connect with you? Palazzo Crystal Ball. Miriam, what do you see on this whole conversation? What do you see in the way of trends? Where do you see us headed over the next. Whatever time horizon you want to speak to?
Myriam Vidalon [00:17:53]:
Yeah, that’s a great question. I would say the first thing I think, and maybe everybody thinks the same thing, and it’s on every professional’s mind is Genai, we’re being disrupted by the great length we’ve been disrupted by Gen AI. And that means that many people may be a little worried, right? Thinking, does it replace workers? Does it replace empathy in the workplace? Do we start automating all the tasks and all of a sudden there is nothing left to do? And I think a lot of the recent research and discussion is around the fact that Genai is going to augment the work you do, and it’s going to augment the productivity, the creativity and innovation, if you know how to use it right. So on my mind is what do future managers need to be really good at to be able to use or to be able to lead in the age of digital disruption that we’re dealing today? So if you think about it, today, managers in many companies, they are responsible for training their people on how to do things, how to do tasks, how did the presentation look, or did they code correctly or did they have the process right or is there too many quality issues in the process? But how does their role evolve once these basic steps are no longer required because they can be automated and their job of the manager is no longer to teach them how to do some of these things? What does the role the manager evolve to now? I think it really does evolve into being the chief fulfillment architect of their own teams. It really evolves into really helping them shape and be in tune and be energized about doing the work and showing up every day and thinking not only about how to do this process, but how do I improve? What do I do next? What do I do with the outcome of this process? How do I make bigger decisions? How do I serve customers better? Right. That the evolution on the worker has a big impact on the manager and the role they play and for them to be real coaches. If you think of a basketball coach, they’re not coaching or training people how to dribble the ball. What they do is they understand the strength, they motivate them, they tell them, yes, you can do it.
Myriam Vidalon [00:20:09]:
They help them find purpose in the game. I think the role the manager is going to evolve in a very similar way. So this skill of being able to be chief fulfillment architects is going to be crucial. That’s what they’re going to have to do in the workplace. That’s just a thought.
Bernie Borges [00:20:25]:
Okay. I love your concept about the basketball coach not teaching someone how to dribble the ball, win a championship. Right. It’s not about dribbling the ball. I love that analogy. It is so much about leadership and thinking about how to motivate the workforce. Because while AI is certainly game changing technology, it’s still the evolution of technology. And we can give a history lesson on how many different innovations over the decades and even centuries impacted the way commerce is done.
Bernie Borges [00:20:58]:
And all we’ve done is evolve. Right. Just looking at the way we use tools like Excel and PowerPoint and other Office productivity tools, they make us more productive. So I love all the points you made about that. So thank you. Let’s now get to my closing question. Marinade is of course, anyone listening here that would like to connect with you. Just learn more about everything that you’re doing in Nielsen IQ.
Bernie Borges [00:21:23]:
Where would you like to send them?
Miriam Vidalon [00:21:25]:
LinkedIn for sure.
Bernie Borges [00:21:26]:
Okay. Well, my listener knows, miriam, that your LinkedIn profile, the URL will be in the show notes for this episode. You can just scroll down or scroll over depending on what you’re listening on or watching on. And Miriam, I just want to thank you. I love the work you’re doing at Nielsen iq. We’re so aligned. Everything you’re doing at Nielsen IQ is really just proof positive that a fulfilled, engaged workforce performs well. Wellness is very important and you are a living, breathing leader.
Bernie Borges [00:21:56]:
Example of that. And I can’t wait to meet you in person at the Laker Wellness and Executive Summit in October in Atlanta.
Myriam Vidalon [00:22:02]:
Live well, we’re going to have so much to talk about.
Bernie Borges [00:22:05]:
We will. Thank you, Miriam.
