It was just a month ago when Eric Herbelin was featured on ABC Money UK, sharing his strategies for guiding organizations through change. As an executive with over 30 years of executive experience, specializing in transformational leadership and guiding large organizations through significant periods of change, Herbelin tackled the idea of updating dated legacy systems. It was a feat which required precision and extensive planning.
During his role at QGel Biotech Limited, he participated as a business student and later progressed to an investor and board member. Herbelin enjoyed the role, because after all – he wasn’t sitting in a classroom, but making a difference. Not only was it a difference he could quantify for his own understanding, but he felt a sense of fulfillment that he was able to contribute to the organization’s journey to bring a revolutionary product to market. His approach, as he recalls it, was from the business perspective.
Eric Herbelin recently published his own official website where he talks about leadership and change, growth and innovation and data and analytics.
Herbelin says that he does his best to help organizations work through the obstacles they might encounter and through change itself. He does this by minimizing setbacks along the way and optimizing the strengths of his team, helping them work together in cohesion.
He’s not one to shy away from creating ambitious strategies either. This involves meticulous planning from the get-go as well as understanding people and teams. As an organizational leader, Eric Herbelin feels a personal responsibility and incentive to lead his team to success.
His roles in the past have required him to work under stringent timelines and deliver tangible results almost immediately. It’s a challenge he has consistently met head-on. “We did it,” is his succinct way of describing these achievements.
Although historically tasked with accomplishing the impossible, Herbelin prefers to remain as humble as possible and look at the numbers. For Herbelin, it’s about shared leadership and numbers, numbers, numbers.
Herbelin says that true leadership involves the capacity for both wins and losses. It’s resilience and forward leadership that drives growth. He goes on to say that what separates exceptional leaders from the rest is the ability to muster your own intrinsic motivation and to endow your team with the same sentiment. “I believe that we get better results that are more sustainable, and it certainly leads to better outcomes over time,” Herbelin notes.
For Herbelin, shared leadership is the foundation and the central principle. He says that everyone within any given organization contributes to its success. Part of ensuring that success is a unified vision. When you have a cohesive vision, you can add all the other necessary elements: social support, team cohesion and forward-thinking.
“It’s about a vision,” he says, “a vision where we all join in on a mission, and rather than seeing our job as a means to live, we have fun, we get inspired, and we lead.”
Balancing the demands of an executive role while fostering a culture of shared leadership can be challenging, but for Herbelin, pattern recognition gleaned from past experiences aids in successful implementation. “We are in charge of our small shop or small operation at the various different levels,” he explains, emphasizing the need for a culture where team members feel like owners, taking pride and responsibility for their specific roles.
Above all else, it’s important to ensure that your business is differentiated through its commitment to service. In addition to the importance of service, Herbelin says change is an opportunity to improve and add the various elements of service that underpin the sustainability of a business.
In Herbelin’s personal life, he’s also constantly seeking new opportunities and challenges, with the occasional time set aside to unwind and process both business and personal thoughts deeply. Sometimes speaking out loud helps Herbelin accomplish this, and writing down new ideas and concepts comes easily.
“In my role, the focus has always been about setting ambition and direction, and I take that responsibility seriously,” says Herbelin.
Building on that, Eric Herbelin emphasizes that ambitious goals need to be matched by equally ambitious actions and methodologies. He’s an avid adopter of advanced business models and tools that allow him to not just plan, but also to simulate various business scenarios. “In today’s volatile market, you can’t just set a course and forget it. You need to constantly recalibrate and adapt, using data-driven methods to make your decisions,” Herbelin says. This kind of proactive adaptability has made him a sought-after consultant for businesses struggling with transitional phases.
Crucial to his strategy is a focus on human capital. “The most essential asset in any organization is its people. Without an engaged, talented workforce, even the best plans will fall flat,” he says. Herbelin goes on to say that the right training is important. It’s about more than acquiring hard skills but also in problem-solving and decision-making, to ensure they’re equipped for the challenges they will face.
Herbelin regularly invests in employee wellness and engagement initiatives, aiming to build a corporate culture that not just retains talent, but also attracts it.
Moreover, Herbelin considers risk management as a critical part of his leadership toolbox. “You can’t avoid risk; you manage it,” he articulates. By employing sophisticated risk assessment tools and constantly updating his team’s crisis management protocols, he minimizes uncertainty. “In any large-scale transformation, some friction and hiccups are inevitable. What sets you apart is how you choose to manage the roadblocks along the way,” says Herbelin.
Herbelin’s roles have also involved connecting with stakeholders and finding common ground. By understanding the needs of everyone involved, it becomes much easier to organize the internal vision of the team and serve vendors, customers and investors.
Herbelin says the modern business ecosystem is all about making long-lasting relationships that are built on trust. It’s trust and service that make or break an enterprise.
Eric Herbelin brings a global perspective to his work, considering the interconnected nature of today’s markets. “Global doesn’t mean overseas. It means understanding that even local actions have a global impact,” Herbelin observes. With a career that has spanned multiple countries and market segments, he’s finely attuned to the nuances of different cultures and market conditions.
Herbelin’s leadership acumen is enriched by his continual pursuit of knowledge and adaptability, extending beyond professional realms into personal growth and development.
Eric Herbelin is a visionary leader rooted in practical realities. With a personality encapsulating grit and hard work, he’s someone who is as comfortable discussing the intricacies of data analytics as he is in motivating teams to accomplish the seemingly impossible.
Looking back on his career, Herbelin sees his work as a list of duties fulfilled and challenges overcome. Despite accomplishing remarkable feats in business and bringing revolutionary products to entirely new markets, he’s more concerned with maintaining and improving his navigational efficiency as a leader, constantly bettering himself.
“Leadership is about preparing your team for the journey ahead.”
To learn more about Eric Herbelin and his tips and tricks for leaders from all walks of life, you can visit his personal website.
