Mahatma Gandhi once eloquently said ‘in a gentle way, you can shake the world’. For Nicole Santinon she lives by this quote, to ensure love is always at the heart of shaping how we do business in South Australia.
Nicole is the Chief Impact Officer & General Counsel at Credit Union SA, and she joined the ThirtyNiners podcast to discuss her philosophy on the power of choosing love in your personal and professional career, to redefine what it means to be successful.
“I say this to my children all the time and I hope it sinks in. Choose love. So across business I think it harks back to empowering people as a leader to do more than what they think they can.
“Then from a sustainability piece looking at your impact in the community, then in a personal sense a love for yourself, your family and for building connections.
“One of my favourite sayings I love is a Gandhi quote, ‘in a gentle way you can shake the world’. I think, choosing love and spreading that to whoever you meet and going into every interaction with that mindset can shake the world”.
This fundamental belief that choosing love will have the biggest impact on shaking the way business is done, is the foundation of Nicole’s success, but it’s no surprise that Nicole is not measuring ‘success’ in traditional business terms, for her, it’s about the journey not the destination.
“I think you never get to success; I think it’s a continuous journey. Ultimately success for me is making a positive impact. Whether that be walking out of a room and people saying good things about you just because you’ve smiled at them or you’ve paid them a compliment – ultimately you’ve just made their day better.
“Or you’ve delivered on some huge initiative or project, you know really achieved something positive for your organisation or business. For me that’s success, that positive impact on everybody and I think any interaction that you have with people is an opportunity to be kind, and to leave a lasting positive impression”.
This clear desire to make the world and business community a more positive place is what drew Nicole to becoming one of the founding members of the ThirtyNiners Group.
“It’s been an incredible journey so far with the ThirtyNiners. I am honoured to be a part of the group and we’ve had so many opportunities here from amazing people.
“The ThirtyNiners are such a diverse group with such generosity with their experience and information that they’re willing to share, and I always say, if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re not in the right room”.
To hear the full conversation with Nicole Santinon, search for the ThirtyNiners Podcast by the South Australian Business Chamber wherever you hear your podcasts.
