Why you should not 'worry too much about what others think' | Boaroom Uncovered

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several different countries in in Europe do you have a particular one that was your favorite to be based in I have to
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say I really enjoy I've only been nine months now here in the UK I really like it uh the brsh culture I love it to say
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I love the weather I mean uh you might you might think what is he saying now you like love the weather um I've been
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living with my family in gual lumu for the last three years so you actually start of why did you move yeah well I I
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mean I actually enjoy now being outside have a little bit of rain and we can do uh biking outside and walking outside so
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actually I I appreciate uh the seasons a bit more uh now uh versus the Heat and
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looking back over your career as well not every career has has um all ups and
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downs all the time don't doesn't it and what looking back do you have particular moments that you think well that's a bit
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of a failure but I learned from it
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um I think the failures in my career is actually where I
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felt a certain level of responsibility or guilt to people and I think the thing
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that I would find most I think people is is a big responsibility in terms of care that
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comes with it I think um I think I had one or two examples in the past if you
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approach someone to come and work for you and someone sits in a great job it's
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completely happy and you approach someone to come and work you and it doesn't work it doesn't work out in the
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way as you want to after a year or a year and a half and then people try to refind the path back into their career I
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think those would be the moments where I feel like that's a feel you yeah so it's a responsibility to to people and of
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course your current job got to say is your dream job of course if you weren't in this job yes what is your dream job
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if you could beat ches matter thing at all ah good question um
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something entrepreneurial whether there is room to to have impact in great something
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okay you which which I I I think I I find in irand this is why I'm I'm there
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so so long as well which is part of the culture but I would always be looking for that yeah and then something I think
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food is fascinating because it's part of our everyday lives M we eat like four to
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seven times a day so I think food is just brings a lot of Joy brings a lot of
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emotion pleasure moments to be together there something in full an entrepreneur I'm actually pretty close on on on what
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I really enjoy to yeah it's not too far I come to the realization that's pretty good yeah
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[Music]
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nice hello and welcome to the latest episode of boardroom uncovered powered by city am my name is John Robinson City
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am's UK editor and my guest for this Edition is the MD of ARA Foods UK baz
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padberg ARA whose Brands include lpac cravendale and anchor butter is a Dairy
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Cooperative owned by around 8,500 Farmers across Europe with 2,000 in the
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UK so how did the UK boss go from starting his career at British American Tobacco to running the UK's largest
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cheese maker without any further delay let's dive in baz thank you very much for for coming on boarding on cover
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today thank you I'd imagine that somebody in your position never runs out of milk and cheese the fridge is always
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stacked to the top with lpac and cravendale is that correct that is fully the correct assumption John absolutely
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yes yes perhaps even more than I can consume favorite um favorite products
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lak butter M definitely I actually started eating more bread since I just got lak butter oh that's dangerous it's
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a great uh taste carrier I think think L butter as such um I think our Graven
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Dale milk is um is the best actually to have in the morning nice cold glass of
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Graven deal milk actually the truth is I actually zip it from the pack so uh yeah yeah I uh controversal that's that's the
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best way of of consuming it I think um so probably that's a favorite and uh and
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I think also a recently new product uh anla protein perhaps you've seen it uh
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where we actually serve 20 grams of protein in uh in one serving is uh is something I I think is is probably one
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of the better tasting products that we have never tempted of course to go for the maybe the imitations that are sold
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at some of the budget supermarkets in the UK well you need to know your competition right so so tasting them is
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is definitely part of it so so it's good Keeps Us sharp yeah absolutely and you've been in the role since the start
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of 2024 what's the biggest thing that surprised you since you moved to the UK and taking up the the job yeah I mean I
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mean in terms of um of the organization I've I've been working with f Foods now for for 10 years so I was exposed to uh
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to a ug organization let's say in in the past uh but the thing that I've been most let's say impressed with is when I
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arrived in January is is it's basically the journey that they've been on uh
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they've been growing uh in into a real it's it's a big company now and we've got 2,000 farmers in the UK so imagine
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that 2,000 Farmers uh close to 4,000 employees that uh you know that work for
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us uh every day uh bringing great tasty healthy products to uh to the market and
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I think just the size of that and thinking about what is it that we're going to do with this in the future is
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uh is probably the most exciting yeah feeling to have and question to sit with yeah it's rarer these days for somebody
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to stay with a company for a prolonged period of time you said that you've been with ala for a decade now what's made
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you stay it's the it's it's two things I think it's I would say
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it's it's the culture of the company but it's if you talk about culture then for me it's very much about the people in in
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the company um I think iri is a company that has trust at the probably one of
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the most important values as as a company um that works with me really
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well and I think with most of us it actually works really well to have to have trust trust gives space and uh and space creates an
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opportunity to make an impact so I feel a lot of freedom and at the same time responsibility within the company so
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very much the culture of the company uh but also what it is that we're doing I think it's a very honorable job to put
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food on the plates every day of millions of of people and do it together with our
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farmer owners I think uh there are not many businesses that do something better than that I think yeah so I'm really
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really excited and proud of that yeah of course you didn't start your career at ARA you start at very different IND very
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different very tell me about that Journey how do you go from working for a tobacco company yeah to selling cheese
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and milk to Dairy yeah it's it's a I mean you you grow into your career
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right I mean and I think the once you start working why do you start working for for a certain company things come in
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your path um and bet came on my path in
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93 and I have to say when I entered that building the first time I came there I
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just got connected to the culture of the company I thought it was really cool and those were different days as well right
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in in those days they had uh some exciting brands that I I kind of connected to uh was still a smoker those
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days myself as uh as well yeah um so I kind of grew up in that company uh with
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with u some great values that actually I think sit in the in that company but obviously after it was close to 15 years
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that I was there um so Society changes you also change yourself in terms of
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perspective of what it is that you're actually doing so when I was close to end of 30s I thought
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um time to do something else time to move on and did you quit smoking when you left the company I already quit
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smoking when when I was in the company there what made you qu children like I I
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think I think for many people that uh that have smoked in the past I think children is a is a is a trigger point to
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change lifesty um it's just to have a healthier life yourself uh but also start eating
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healthier um to be a bit more conscious than uh than uh yeah than you were before and looking back you started your
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career at British American Tobacco do you maybe regret that now how do you look back on that because obviously you
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said that Society has changed but at the time it was the right move for you maybe yeah I don't regret it uh honestly for
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me as an individual was a great learning school in terms of of of it's a very professional kind of company uh but as
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you say also different time time so it wasn't a big thing at that moment in
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time kind of smoking it was everywhere it was everywhere it was even you know
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now now I feel like getting old right I mean they were even smoking in planes and in buses it was kind of a a normal
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thing and that that obviously changed for for for very clear for the right reason and you changed with that so so I
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felt something coming when I was yeah after towards my end of 30s kind of like
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perhaps time to u to do something else yeah and here I am and he worked across Europe several different countries in in
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Europe do you have a particular one that was your favorite to be based in I have to say I really enjoy I've been only
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been nine months now here in the UK I really like it uh the richest culture I love it I have to say I love the weather
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I mean uh you might you might think what is he saying now you like love the weather um I've been living with my
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family in gualo for the last three years so you actually stand of why did you move then yeah well I mean I mean I
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actually enjoy now being outside I have a little bit of rain and we can do uh biking outside and walking outside so
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actually I I appreciate the seasons a bit more now versus the Heat um so I've
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I'm I really feel welcome in the in the UK um I've lived in Greece for for three years I think that was also u sounds
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like a a real hardship yeah yeah yeah yeah no it was a good place to be yeah I've been very lucky in that sense and
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of course you you H from the Netherlands you can't help but mess it with your your accent was it always the plan in
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your mind to leave it's um yeah I I think
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um my my family my parents they were independent and they also had a business
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let's say abroad and in Germany those days perhaps that was a little bit of of of root goals in that but um I think
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once I I started working and I I uh actually one of the first assignments I brought was actually to the UK um and I
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just loved the change of environment and the learning aspect and see meet different people just one you know it's
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very exciting to meet all of that so I really and I still I'm still enjoying it yeah um so it's uh it's very much about
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that it's just just um open up and get exposed to different parts of the world is is I think just very enriching yeah
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and now obviously all of UK heading that up headquartered in lead are you based in in Yorkshire yes yes yes I am uh U so
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like half an hour north of leit yeah uh that's where I'm based now you trying are you maybe um trying to
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become an honorary yorman maybe and going to buy a flat cap go walking on the or I'm very open to all coal
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experiences here so it would be wonderful if that would happen yeah what's your best who knows I might come back to the studio if that would happen
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yeah what's your best sort of British cultural experience that you've had so far fish and chips maybe on fish chips
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by the seaside definitely fish and chips uh I love that the P culture mhm uh I
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have to say one thing what I really enjoy Also in in the per series people actually talk with each other even if
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you're like call call myself a stranger for a moment right so uh no I really enjoyed it yeah yeah looking back over
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your career so far you about 30 years in in in business um is there anything that
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particularly surprises you about a move that you've made maybe it was not always the plan something you didn't
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expect um or has it all gone to plan and it's all been swimming it I I think the
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truth for me in terms of of of career I I didn't really had a career
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plan um I think you you first I I personally think
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you need to have a little bit of luck as well so things come on your path um you need to meet the right people uh and
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when the opportunity is there uh you need to um you you then need to grab it
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um I wasn't planning per se to go to Asia uh 10 years ago but it it felt as a
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as a as a family wish as well uh to go there so uh and we were yeah lucky enough to actually get the opportunity
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within AA there wasn't like a pre-planned uh like Asia now and then UK
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after that or or Greece but it was definitely a plan for us as a family is to to have a life abroad as well just to
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yeah to experience different aspects of the world is that sometimes difficult moving families yes country country yes it and
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every time when you move two things come together is the
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emotions of saying goodbye to the life that you've built somewhere and and at
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the same time you moving to a new country and you start building a new social life a new new
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relationships um so so it's uh but actually getting you know the experience
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of living in those different places is what we think as a family is is actually
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the bigger reward that comes out of it so of course especially also with younger children they don't want to leave school you know they have friends
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they don't want to do it so as a parent you think like rationally it's a good thing to do yeah we'll make them more
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resilient you know you you argue that with yourself but of course if you see them sad leaving schools then uh yeah
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that is um those are the difficult moments yeah and looking back over your career as well not every career has has
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um all ups and downs all the time doesn't it and what looking back do you
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have particular moments that you think well that's a bit of a failure but I learned from it
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um I think the failures in my career is actually where
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I felt a certain level of responsibility or guilt to people and I think the thing
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that I would find most I think people is is a big responsibility in terms of care that
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comes with it I think um I think I had one or two examples in the past if you
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approach someone to come and work for you m and someone sits in a great job
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it's completely happy and you approach someone to come and work for you and it doesn't work it doesn't work out in the
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way as you want to after a year or a year and a half and then people try to refind the path back into their career I
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think those would be the moments where I feel like that's a failure yeah so it's a responsibility to uh to people and on
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the flip side you must have had quite a few successes then as well over your career to get to the point where you are
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now is one that particularly stands out to you you're most proud of
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um yeah well first I'm very excited about um you know the plans for the UK of course but but I'm not credible to
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talk about that yet I'm I'm obiously very proud of the work that my colleagues have done but that I was not
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part of that as said uh probably when I joined allaha Foods in um a little bit
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more than 10 years ago I was responsible for the Dutch business which was kind of
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quite recently or just just a couple of years before that acquired by byala Foods H and I think it was fair to say
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that the business was struggling in terms of growth and profitability and a lot of challenges
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there um and I was responsible for the business for seven years and I think if if if I now go back and look at where
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the place is it's just a completely different company and I feel extremely proud of that yeah but especially with
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most of the people are also kind of still there is the energy that you feel in that place is um is pretty cool I
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would say yeah I'm quite proud of that yeah how would you describe your leadership style
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then you probably need to ask U more CEO would probably say you need to ask my people right uh so what I how I would
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like it to be um I would like to be approachable I think that's very important M um i' like to be seen or
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felt as supportive uh to my people and I would like I hope they feel that I
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trust them I think they do but but I think um giving them that feeling that
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that they are trusted in terms of what it is they do um so probably approachable
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supportive and that they feel trusted and is it difficult to always operate at that level though because we're all
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humans you have good days bad days I of course I mean how do you deal with the bad
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days I'm human right so I can also get obs or or angry uh on on certain things or
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emotional about it um I actually think it it's I think that's perfectly okay if
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that happens I think it's more important that you recover afterwards if you did something that you regret or if you
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think like shouldn't have done that it's about recovering with that with that
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individual I think that's more important and if you do that then you you kind of build that call it a bit more of an
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intimate relationship together okay yeah and outside of work after those bad days
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difficult days what do you do to unwind I um I eat um Dairy butter course all of
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that uh no no I I very much enjoy um uh running is probably the one that gets uh
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uh is is the has the most positive mental effect of me uh outside running
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and I just kind of get into a certain Zone and then uh sometimes I can solve problems sometimes I just you know have
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run uh like like a mile and cannot even remember where I was kind of that was
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that's just that works really good I like traveling this is also with his family but that's that's pretty but but
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I really do that and mostly to B uh yeah my family is very precious for me uh and
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and I like to spend time with them um and to be uh have quality time with them also try to be mentally present not only
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physically so uh yeah thank you to are sponsor Blackboard
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a global technology company powering social good across the world blackboard's corporate impact team
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empowers purpose-led organizations to drive change in their communities be you
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talked about not having a plan for your own career and I wonder to what extent do you think companies like yours should
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help young people to understand future career options and plan for those I
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think it's actually uh I think it's a it's a spot on question actually I think
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it's very important important to get at an early stage I I think I've been quite
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lucky with it but at an early stage to get a some someone that knows you pretty well kind of gues for you and can give
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you good advice and do you at an early stage of your career call it a mentorship or call it a I think that's
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very important and do you think schools should play a part in that definitely yeah but but I think um from my own uh
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experience I mean at at a relative young age my you're not ask perhaps you're not
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asking for my advice but my advice would be try to open as much doors as possible
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to actually form your own opinion what it is that you really enjoy and what you really like because you basically don't
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know when you start working right you have an impression but you don't really you know you might have a natural interest in a in a certain topic but go
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out and experience as much as possible uh at an early stage of your career and then you will form and grow into your
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opinion and of course your current job got to
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say is your dream job of course if you weren't in this job yes what is your dream job if you could choose man thing
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at all ah good question
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um something entrepreneurial whether there is room
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to to have impact and to create something okay yourself which which I I
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I think I I find in Ira this is why I'm I'm there so so long as well which is part of the go culture but I would
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always be looking for that yeah and then something I think food is fascinating
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because it's part of our everyday lives mhm and we eat like four to seven times
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a day so I think food is just uh it brings a lot of Joy it brings a lot of emotion pleasure moments to be together
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so something in foods and entrepreneurs I'm actually pretty close on on on what I really enjoy to yeah it's not too far
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I come to the realization that's pretty good yeah nice is there such a thing as
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a day in the life of of of your job is there a typical day or is
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it every day is a different um what's pretty constant is that
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most of my days is having conversations with people golden meetings golden oneto
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on with with people so probably I would say 80% of my day is filled with having
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conversations with people and different kinds of people from Farmers to employees customers or governments or
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you um so it's uh it's talking with people yeah and um you there's always a
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I always say that um um there's probably one day a week that you don't like and as long as you like the other four days
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in the week is pretty cool now you might want to know what's the day that I don't yeah yeah of course you do it's it's the
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days that is all related to administering bureaucracy of tasks
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that is there it's just part of a company it's also part of our company yeah it's just part of it but that doesn't give me the energy yeah I
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understand it it's needed but uh are you happiest when you're in the middle of a muddy field with you wellis on talking to a farmer about their crop absolutely
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no no no honestly uh that is good I'm actually happy with the um the the
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different state the different levels our company actually offers so starts with the farm uh and I visit them quite
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frequently indeed out there also with with cows and the farmers and work on their lands it's it's it's pretty cool
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to do that to see where our food actually come from um but also visiting our factories I love
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daies lot of Steel this is where milk comes in and it leaves there's cheese that comes out of it it's just
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fascinating because that's the thing that we actually bring to the market right is is food yeah but also visiting
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customers uh because that's also where the future is and have discussions with customers about what's you know what's
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on their Horizon and what's coming up so um all of those aspects is um makes it a
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pretty exciting job you got 2,000 Farmers as part Cooperative in the UK
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met them all yet no no but they might have seen me all but I have not shaken
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hands with all of them um hoping to is that part yeah of course of course if I will succeed I'm not sure so so there's
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a difference between hope and and commitment right so I definitely hope to meet all of them we're actually going to
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have a big farmer show in uh in two weeks coming up uh where we actually invite most of our Farmers to to come so
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that would be definitely an opportunity for me to uh to meet uh uh probably all of them I won't be shaking all of their
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hands I would not have a hand left after that well maybe not but U but it's very rewarding to be very motivating to be
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with Farmers um I have to say yeah what are they talking to you about because it's it's always a challenging industry
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isn't it whatever you we in it seems pretty challeng first of yeah first of all farmers are very proud of what they
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do and very often uh it's a family business that has been there for many generations before so they're extremely
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proud um of what they do and rightly so and they they put food on on our plates
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and put it in a simple terms that that's what they do they I have a great respect for how they deal with nature nature can
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be pretty volatile I me especially the last couple of years um so they actually
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you know create and deliver a the purest form of a natural product there is that
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comes from nature working with the animals working with the land um so what they are concerned about
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what's on their mind is is is there is an increasing
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expectation from ourselves and from our Farmers but also from society on
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everything that's related to sustainability M uh making sure that we are reducing our carbon footprint uh
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obviously everything related to Animal Welfare that is there um I dare to say that we are a leading company on that uh
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on that front and um for are you doing enough though I mean
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when is enough is enough right uh i i i u i dare to say is that we are hitting
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the gas full down on everything that we do there mostly with our Farmers uh on
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that because that's where the biggest exposure uh sit so concerns for Farmers
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is farmers are willing to do a lot they've committed three months ago to invest 300
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million pounds in the UK it's Farmers money right it's not from any company or
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whatsoever Farmers money that's it there is to invest in a in in called food
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Security in the UK in a resilient food supply chain they invest in those in those Factor so they have a a
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fundamental belief in the future of foods and dairy here here in the UK what's really important for them is that
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on that Journey on on continuing to produce in a
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sustainable way is to get support on us you shouldn't and that's also my
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personal belief we should not punish fire Farmers for what they do we should incentivize and support our Farmers how
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do we do that to become um incentives reward them reward them um so everything
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everything a lot is possible with uh with Farmers so it's all about it's the carrot in the stick gives them a carrot
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instead of instead of a stick so so everything a lot is possible um things might lead to a higher cost price so
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cost of production on farm so if a farm gets a decent price for its milk a lot
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is um is possible so I think that that part so the financial part is very important for for our Farmers but also
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recognition for what it is that they do they're there seven days a week didn't they R values in the UK
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economy um I think sometimes Farmers might feel
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misunderstood and and I think in terms of um everything that they do and the care that they have for for for the
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nature and um and the farmers um I don't sense let's say in the bigger
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public domain that they are undervalued um I I I think which is also my job is
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is to voice more about what it is that they're doing on a day-to-day level and that's definitely on my agenda
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so like so many Industries they are battling a rising costs you know and um
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your company a few months ago talked about the the cost of milk going up yeah yeah what can you do to to sort of
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mitigate that obviously for the farmers as well but also for the consumers they're going to see the price of milk
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going up on the supermarket shelves yeah I think I think first of all milk is a
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the the value of milk is very volatile and uh it's very much driven by
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um by a couple of elements I try to summarize it let's say in three things so obviously the cost of production MH
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which is everything that happens on the farm and in the factories so we have salary increases there uh feet cost that
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might actually increase or fertilizers or all that kind so that that's a chunk of the cost of milk probably the biggest
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part that has an impact on the value of milk is uh is what we call supply and demand so Dairy is actually truly a
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global market you can buy milk powder everywhere you can buy butter uh
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everywhere you can buy mozzarella cheese everywhere this is why we are also investing in mozzarella here in the in
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the UK so if there is a a change in demand so for example China has been
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struggling as an economy for the last couple of years so if they lower that demand we feel that and then there is a
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higher you know Supply versus the demand so that would put pressure on the price
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and that puts pressure on the price in terms of price going down right um the
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other element is climate uh climate has become more volatile uh so we also this
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year here in the UK normally we have a uh around let's say April March April what we call a flush this is where
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Farmers produce most of the milk it was probably the wetest season that we've had for many many years therefore the
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cows cannot go outside and they produce less milk and if there's less milk then there is less volume that a farmer
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produces right so the milk price can then be a little bit higher if they have less milk volume to sell then it's still
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volume times price still needs to be attractive enough right in that so I think um even if cost of production go
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up or down there's still many other elements that actually determine the value of um of the milk price so it's
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not that uh that it's only cost of production yeah that is there and I I think towards the future the more thing
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that is actually changing is that also in ALA Foods is that actually the supply
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is actually decreasing slightly globally also ala food so year to date now versus
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the same period last year we are producing 1% less milk that's quite a
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lot that's quite a lot that's quite a lot and that's is very much driven by mostly by weather but also in some
30:34
countries uh uh and some of our competitors are more exposed to that also by environmental measures by uh by
30:41
government for example so uh so one% down is quite a lot I suppose the long and the short of it is that the consumer
30:47
going into the supermarket is going to see the price of their butter and their milk going up that's definitely possible
30:54
um as I just said right I mean it's it's a volatile uh uh Market um um so it's
31:03
it's um it's difficult to predict the future in terms of prices right and I probably should also not do that yeah uh
31:09
in that sense but if uh if Supply is under pressure which it is and there's still a global growing demand for dairy
31:17
and then it um yeah if you bring those two together then that would be a logical reasoning how much control do
31:24
you have over setting the price on the supermarket shells uh uh nothing uh
31:30
first of all retailers decides on the price uh what's what's on the Shelf uh what we decide is the price the value of
31:36
the product that we sell to the retail uh that's very much driven uh by the cost of production and and the value of
31:43
milk as such in in the market but um we don't have any influence on on the retailer selling price no and it should
31:49
not be like that no and you're sort of course in the middle really between the farmers part of the Cooperative is such
31:54
an important part of your business and the consumers do you some times feel that you're being pulled in two different directions in terms of price I
32:01
think um well we are as we are a farmer-owned company
32:07
right so so I'm I'm not in the middle let's say of it I'm I'm with the farmers let's say in in that sense right that I
32:14
I I'm their Ambassador right I mean they are to put it simply they are paying me to do a job for them right that's what
32:19
they do so I represent the farmers uh and and everything else that they uh that they bring um I think it's very
32:26
natural to have first of I think in the UK it's my experience that we have I'm
32:33
actually quite proud of it strategic partnership with our retailers all of the bigger retailers we have a strategic
32:39
partnership for the longer term I also think that's how it should be especially in products like da where there's
32:44
Farmers involved and where is healthy and affordable products involved and but of course like in any relationship of
32:50
course there are moments of tension you know retailers can be under pressure or we are under pressure and there are discussions on price I think that's a
32:56
perfectly normal thing uh on it and it will always be um be part of it but as
33:02
long as you have a shared agenda on what it is that you want to achieve it's we should hold hands and and and keep that
33:08
in front of us but of course yeah there are there can be discussions yeah yeah and of course the ownership model as you said is a Cooperative you're owned by
33:15
the farmers yeah what what must be good points about that and also slightly less
33:21
good points maybe about that ini structure I think I think it's it's it just gives it I would say a different
33:26
Dynamic than perhaps other companies if it's about good or bad points it's just a different Dynamic what I really like
33:32
about it is that uh they own the company and I work for them I always say we are
33:38
a very real company every Monday morning I meet our farmer W 7:30 every Monday
33:44
morning I'm in contact with our Farmers about what's happening and what's going on so trying as an attempt to be very
33:51
close to to what it is that uh that they are doing um no one else in our of foods
33:59
owns a share in the company than our Farmers there's not a single soul that owns a share in the company except our
34:05
Farmers I think that's pretty cool to uh to say that so I don't no one no one else uh has that um and that also makes
34:14
that all of the revenue and you know and and the profit that the company makes
34:20
stays with Farmers you say you you're obviously close with the farmers you're calling them every Monday morning not
34:26
tempted to go down to the Farm 6:00 in the morning and start with the milking of the cows maybe well once in a while
34:32
perhaps but um um I I think they would like me to do something else yes slightly different job right yeah fair
34:38
enough fair enough um pop you back in a time machine go back to when you were 20
34:44
21 22 just starting out yes if you give one piece of advice to your younger self
34:51
what would it be yeah don't worry so much about what
34:56
others think why is that yeah yeah good question I
35:01
think it's um speaking for myself uh
35:07
getting at least when I was younger getting confirmation that you were doing the right thing was kind of important to
35:14
build my kind of self-confidence in that sense right um
35:19
but um don't don't worry too much about what others think stay close to yourself
35:25
um listen to your own values I think if you would listen to your own values always it's easy relatively it's easier
35:33
to deal with change if you stay close to your values then you will know it's a good Compass to use when things come in
35:39
front of you like what's my view what's my opinion of it am I going to be part of this or not is uh stay close to your
35:46
values and things will work out brilliant it's a great place to end thank you very much for coming on board you covers thank you very much for
35:52
inviting me thank you yeah [Music]
36:03
[Music]

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