An exceptionally driven individual and founder of Unstoppable You, Victoria Pelletier has overcome significant adversity, which has made her very resilient, focused, and goal oriented. She is extremely passionate and loyal to her family, friends, and the teams she is fortunate to support. Victoria often describes herself as a “multi-potentialite,” as she has so many different interests.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between CIO Affairs and Victoria Pelletier:
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
As someone who does not subscribe to the status quo, I am always ready for new challenges; I left a financial services career to become one of the youngest Chief Operating Officers at the age of 24, a president by 35, and a CEO by age 41. I’ve spent the last 20 years or so focusing on leading B2B professional services organizations.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
I have been a corporate executive for decades and have also built and bought businesses over the years. I started speaking 20+ years ago, primarily focused on industry or functional subject matter, and shifted to more personal and motivational topics. I co-authored a book called Unstoppable, which is my personal philosophy or life motto and the title of my signature keynote. As my professional speaking appearances grew more frequent with increasing demand, I created a company to encompass all aspects of this work, called Unstoppable You.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
I attribute my career success to my strong work ethic, focus on delivering exceptional performance, voracious learning, and continual challenge. I also attribute it to a maniacal focus on developing high-performing, diverse, and inclusive human-centered leadership teams and a highly engaged workforce. I would also say that my focus on building a strong personal brand and highly connected network and learning to create healthy boundaries in my life have allowed me to achieve many of my personal and professional goals. I value companies and leaders with a strong purpose and mission aligned to my personal values and a high degree of integrity and ethics.
Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
My company provides primarily public and media appearances; keynote speeches, conference emcees, panel moderators, podcasts, and media guest appearances. Other services include executive coaching, personal brand coaching.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
My experience and focus on company culture have been in my large-scale corporate roles, where I have been fortunate to lead very large teams. I believe that culture is the outcome of the organization’s and leadership’s purpose/mission, the policies and procedures, and the human-centered, authentic, and empathetic leadership that leads from the front.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
I have been focused on innovating in every company that I’ve worked for or led. It’s the cornerstone to long term business growth and prosperity. I ADORE upsetting the status quo and driving business and cultural change.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
I think that most companies have a mix of both, but the focus should be on team success and holistic organizational performance across a multi-faceted set of performance guidelines (financial, of course, but other metrics like customer and employee satisfaction, diversity and inclusion, and other ESG metrics, etc.).
What are your responsibilities at your company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
I have been a corporate executive for large global firms for my entire career, where I led large operations or divisions in a general management capacity. I have also built, bought, and/or invested in businesses and focused on the strategy and growth of startups or small businesses. At Unstoppable, I am focused on providing highly engaging keynote speeches to audiences around the world on a variety of topics, including resilience, diversity, equity, and inclusion, leadership, and culture, among others. I enjoy variety in my day; I am not a status quo individual and love facing new challenges every day!
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
There are many pieces of advice I would give to a new leader: learn from your team, trust and delegate, be clear with success outcomes and performance, be incredibly human and empathetic, and build trusted, authentic relationships, to name a few.
