About Suzanne Mercier, CEO
Suzanne Mercier is a renowned Business Strategist, Consultant, Behaviour Change catalyst, Executive Coach, Speaker, and Trainer based in Australia. She is recognised for developing potential and enhancing performance within businesses and their talented workforces, particularly at senior levels.
Specialising in business and leadership development, Suzanne collaborates with senior Executives to identify and resolve performance issues, driving strategic growth and organisational excellence. Her strategic work is guided by the business or leadership Purpose, which sets the context for their Vision and Strategies. Suzanne’s approach reflects best practice, understanding that purpose is the key to effectively leveraging all business assets, particularly its people.
Her clients come from a broad range of industries including Science, Higher Education, Insurance, Manufacturing, Associations, Professional Services, Media, Construction, Shopping Centre Management and Retail, Health and Beauty.
The Purpose to Profit Story ...According to Suzanne
As an intensely curious child, “why” was one of my favourite questions. Gaps in understanding bothered me enormously and still do. This curiosity extended into my professional life, where I constantly sought to understand the deeper meaning and purpose behind business practices.
After a health scare many years ago, I began to explore the meaning of life and particularly of business, which consumes so much of our time.
I read Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning and was moved to learn that focusing on something positive was enough to provide a Purpose inspiring the will to live despite impossible circumstances.
Then, books reflecting Purpose in business came into my life. Browsing a Singapore airport bookstore, I found Built to Last (Porras and Collins) which captured the way Purpose inspires firms and delivers results beyond the normal. Then Firms of Endearment (Wolfe, Sisodia, and Sheth), and Meaning, Inc. (Baines) continued my business Purpose Journey.
These works prompted me to seriously consider the role of business in society.
Around the same time, I was exploring the power of Employee Engagement in terms of its impact on direct and indirect factors that influence the bottom line. Interestingly, Purpose has the highest impact on employee engagement by providing meaning and fulfilment from their work. Purpose is now accepted as the most important pathway to sustainable profit.
Purpose has become a cornerstone of my life and work, and I invite you to explore it for yourself if you haven’t already. It’s a powerful business tool, serving as the organising principle for everything. Check out my Purpose Manifesto.
Banksy says it beautifully. “Keep your Coins. I want change” I believe business has both a responsibility and opportunity to participate in creating that change.
