Ep32- Authentic Leadership Podcast Mark Nielsen

Mark Nielsen is the Global CEO of Talent International and is Gabrielle's latest guest on the Authentic Leadership Podcast series. Mark’s aptitude was recognised in 2018 when the CEO Magazine awarded him both CEO of the Year and Professional Services Executive of the Year. Over the course of his career, Mark has held C-level roles across start-ups, turnarounds and multinational corporations. This experience spans organisations in Australia, South Africa, China, the United Kingdom, and the USA, and across the recruitment, technology, resources, retail and medical device sectors. Throughout his career he has held executive and non-executive director positions on listed and unlisted company boards. Mark is a big believer in people being their most authentic selves in the workplace and is a huge equality champion. He knows that people should be the number one focus of every great business and that they should be allowed to be their most authentic and vulnerable selves. He grew up in South Africa which, at the time, was a very conservative country and he really struggled to express his identity as a gay man which he openly speaks about. Still to this day, there are a lot of people who struggle with this and don’t have the courage to be themselves. Mark wants to change that. During the conversation, Mark speaks candidly about the challenges he has faced being an openly gay man in the corporate world. He also has one of the best articulated company polices Gabrielle has heard. This episode will be well worth a listen.