Women’s Agenda is profiling leaders with impact across business, as part of a special feature in partnership with YPO to mark International Women’s Day 2023.
Here, Sandra Martinez, CEO of Nestlé Oceania, tells us more about her journey to the top, her experience being ‘the first woman’ and her advice for the next generation.
Martinez is also featured in our eMagazine with snapshots of 50 impressive leaders building a more inclusive, sustainable and equal world.
When Sandra Martinez started at Nestlé more than 30 years ago in her home country of Ecuador, she had her sights set on marketing and wasn’t really considering leadership roles.
“I think that our goals and ambitions change with time as we discover what we are good at, what makes us get out of bed, and what contribution we want to make,” says Martinez.
As she grew with Nestlé, Martinez’s ambitions evolved, and she began to realise her great potential for guiding positive change.
“I saw myself as someone that has the ability to influence others towards a common goal,” she says, adding that taking on challenges that seem impossible to achieve is something she enjoys.
These characteristics have lent themselves well to the high-level leadership position she holds today as the current CEO of Nestlé Oceania, whose markets include Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Her career journey with Nestlé has seen her moving to various international leadership roles, working in Latin America, North America, Europe and Oceania.
The one thing that’s made her “stay and thrive with Nestlé” has been its deep commitment to being a good company, she says, explaining that this means “good people, making good products to support our consumers in their quest for a good life, while ensuring we take care of our planet.”
Through her role as CEO, she’s made climate change a top priority, recognising that as the world’s biggest food and beverage company, Nestlé has a responsibility to lead by example.
“Climate change is possibly everyone’s greatest challenge and a significant risk to the viability of any business,” says Martinez. “But what drives me to make it a top priority is that climate change is also a threat to the future of our children and grandchildren.”
Because of this, she says Nestlé has set the target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
“Sometimes I hear about the high costs of tackling climate change, but the reality is that the cost of inaction is much higher,” says Martinez. “The viability of our planet is at stake.”
It’s this influential kind of leadership that has seen Martinez make significant positive impacts as well as pave the way for other women leaders.
Back when she was appointed CEO and President of Nestlé Venezuela, Martinez was the first woman in Nestlé to lead a Latin American country.
Based on her experience of being ‘the first woman’, Martinez says she wants to see gendered barriers removed for ambitious women in the future.
“There is no doubt that as female leaders we face much more scrutiny and less room for “faux-pas” or mistakes. An ambitious man who misses an audacious goal may have the chance to be seen as a visionary, but an ambitious woman who doesn’t deliver on hers is quickly labelled a failure” she says.
“We must eradicate this ‘bias’ if we want to see more strong and capable women express their ambitions without fear.”
Martinez believes making space for female leaders requires organisations to treat this goal as any other project and “cut through the noise of ‘gender balance’ activities, speeches and initiatives [to] truly get into action mode and measure progress”.
She adds that it’s also imperative for organisations to ask themselves if their environment is truly fostering diversity, inclusion and belonging. If not, Martinez tells them to “make the corresponding changes to ensure that when you invite a female leader to have a seat at the table, she feels that she belongs”.
Parental leave is a powerful policy to make this happen, she says, as well as the need to look into giving women already at the company more leadership roles.
And for the next generation of women ready to become leaders in their field, Martinez has some powerful advice that she would have given her younger self.
“Nobody can give or take away your power – that power is within you,” she says. “Being your authentic self is how you will succeed.”
“And the second thing is to stop worrying so much,” she adds. “Enjoy the good moments and learn from the not-so-good ones. Big things happen when you least expect them, if you feel confident about who you are and clear on what you want to achieve.”