Virgin Unite CEO Works With Partners Leading Global Initiatives Creating Solutions For Outdated Systems

The days of corporations solely focusing on revenue are long gone. Instead, consumers judge and buy into a brand’s vision based on multiple variables; however, one of the biggest key components people take note of is how influential corporations are making a positive impact in the world. Seventy-five percent of Americans say it is no longer acceptable for companies to just make a profit; they must also positively impact society. Fortune 500 companies are known for supporting charitable causes. NP Source reported that corporate giving in 2021 increased to $20.77 billion—an 8.0% increase from 2019. In addition, organizations like the Virgin Group have created an entire nonprofit for their philanthropic endeavors.

Jean Oelwang, CEO and president of Virgin Unite, has worked with organizational partners to lead the incubation and start-up of several global initiatives for the past 15 years. Through the nonprofit, she has helped corporations put the well-being of people and the planet at their core, including working with over 25 Virgin businesses across 15 industries to help embed purpose in all they do. Additionally, she recently launched her new book Partnering: Forge The Deep Connections That Make Great Things Happen.

Virgin Unite brings people and entrepreneurial ideas together to create opportunities for a better world. One of the impactful projects that the organization is working on is The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working together for peace and human rights. Nelson Mandela initiated the project by bringing together global leaders, including Mary Robinson, the first female President of Ireland, Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, and Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States.

“We started to realize the unbelievable opportunity that we had with the brands and with Richard [Branson] to convene people around what we call unacceptable issues and systems; to figure out how we turn upside down those unacceptable issues and systems and bring together these collectives of leaders that can help create a better approach and solve not just the symptoms, but the root cause of the issue,” Oelwang comments. “So that’s when we started to create things like The Elders. This was an idea that Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson had. They took it to [Nelson] Mandela and Graca [Machel], who then founded it. It’s a group of global leaders that are at a point in their career where they have no other agenda but that of the planet and humanity. There are 12 of them now that work behind the scenes of conflict resolution. They work on shining a spotlight on issues like child marriage.”

Oelwang began her career at a telecommunications company. For 18 years, she spent most of her time helping build mobile phone companies in emerging markets, which led her to seven different countries. Ultimately, she started her own company along with a partner. They would set up an office, get the line of communications up and running, set up a local team, and then start on the following location. During this time, she became a Vista volunteer working with homeless teenagers in Chicago. Here she experienced an awakening about how corrupt the country’s systems were at serving young people who needed the most assistance. She then pivoted to the Australian Wildlife Parks service serving under its foundation.

Oelwang then received a call from the Virgin Group asking to join their team and build a phone company in Australia. Then, in her fourth year, she heard Branson speak about his vision for developing a foundation. So she created a business plan 18 years ago and sent it to him. Shortly after, the two had a meeting that ended with Branson asking Oelwang to join him.

Her work at Virgin United sparked a quest to figure out how, as human beings, people build deep connections and then how do individuals take those deep connections to build more extensive collaborations. Oelwang spent the last 15 years interviewing 65 of the world’s greatest partnerships of the past century. She noticed extraordinary patterns started to emerge, which she calls the six degrees of connection: Enduring trust, mutual respect, united belief, shared humility, nurturing generosity and compassionate empathy.

“It’s completely changed me not just as a leader but as a human being,” Oelwang smiles. “When I was in corporate America, for all those years, I was very focused on end goals. I was very focused on how many glass ceilings I could break. I wasn’t pausing and spending the time investing in my relationships. This experience has made me realize that the most important measure of success is the depth of the relationships we build in our lives, not the breadth of relationships.”

As Oelwang evolves in her career, she focuses on the following essential steps:

• Let your vision guide you, not your fear. Be brave to take those courageous detours in your life regardless of what others say.
• Pay attention to the opportunities that are around you. Dive in not thinking that you have all the answers but rather listen, learn and seek out solutions from people who’ve done it before you.
• Don’t be frightened for the pivot to evolve again. Just because you change course doesn’t mean you have to stay there. Change as much as you have to in order to get to where you want to be.

“My whole career has been a big adventure,” Oelwang concludes. “Each place, whether it was my own company or helping start a company, I’ve always looked at it as something that I’m creating, something new with an incredible team of people, no matter what structure that sits within. We’ve done the same thing at Virgin Unite. We bring people together, create something and build it. So for me, it didn’t matter whether I owned my company or whether it was in a corporation. What mattered to me was the ability to have that entrepreneurial spirit and build and create something.”