Alexandre Parlange, an entrepreneur with a decade-long experience in finance, is spreading his newfound passion in educating the world about climate change.
The former Asia Pacific and Middle East chief financial officer (CFO), at Sportfive (formerly known as Lagardère Sports) a global sports marketing agency, was on his way to a well-deserved sabbatical when he discovered that fighting the climate crisis was his new calling in life.
He attended a workshop conducted by the Climate Fresk association, which aims to educate people about the climate crisis in a three-hour session. By explaining the climate crisis in layman’s terms, the workshop triggers people to take action.
Inspired by how informative the workshop was, Alexandre enthusiastically began his journey to learn how to facilitate it in order to actively participate in spreading climate change education and raise awareness.
“Despite the buzz of the subject-matter in the media, due to our lack of basic knowledge, we are unable to realise how urgent the situation is,” he says.
Embarking on this new journey which have seen him take up the role few months later as the local coordinator in Singapore for the workshop leading a community of close to 50 facilitators to date. Since then thanks to very committed and energised team, the workshop reached a wider audience through public events as well as schools or companies workshop.
By educating people about the climate crisis in an easy to understand way, he hopes to inspire people to be more mindful about their actions on the environment — as Gandhi once famously said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
What Great Leadership Means
Alexandre was still the CFO of Sportfive when the pandemic hit. Sports events ground to a halt due to social distancing measures. Furthermore, the company was undergoing a change in ownership, as well as sudden change in routine from in-office to work-from-home.
“The pressure was quite high as this change of control was happening in a period where all our key events had been wiped out of the calendar,” says Alexandre.
“At that time, what rose above the crisis was humility. We were facing an unseen event on which we had no control, so we decided to focus purely on what we can still do or influence,” he adds.
He also launched a team bonding project, which he had been putting off for a long time. The project involved volunteering at beach clean-ups and soup kitchens at Willing Hearts, a charity that gives out free meals to low-income households.
Alexandre thoroughly enjoyed these team-bonding sessions, as they allowed his team to rally around the goal of giving back to society.
To him, that’s what being a great leader is about – uniting his team around a meaningful purpose, and empowering them to deliver on the purpose through their work.
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