Title What We Heard The Opportunity Why August Collaboration Model The Roadmap Track Record Close
June 16, 2026
August + Sodexo
From mammoth to gazelle.
And making it stick.

Prepared for Leena Verma by Karina Mangu-Ward & Michael Burkin.

What We Heard
Where you
stand today.

From our conversations on May 20 and June 8.

1 Sodexo North America is navigating a lot at once: a new structure, new technology, an AI soft launch, and a dual mandate to get leaner and faster while enabling growth.
2 Leadership is where it starts: 15+ leadership changes since November, 11 from outside, and a leadership team still finding its common tone.
3 Trust is fragile. Leadership NPS has declined more than any other group's, and years of start-and-stop mandates have people watching to see whether this one sticks.
4 Six leadership behaviors are well defined globally. What's missing is what each one looks like in day-to-day execution in North America.
The Opportunity
Agility that enables growth.
Change that finally sticks.
Why August
10+ years making new
ways of working stick.

Our approach: embed with teams, coach in the flow of real work, build internal capability, hand off ownership. Validated in global, service-oriented workforces, and published in Harvard Business Review.

A selection of partners

PepsiCo
Chanel
Estee Lauder
Colgate-Palmolive
Bayer
Pernod Ricard
Genentech
McCain
Proposed Collaboration Model
What this could look like
at Sodexo.

A proven, repeatable model for mobilizing leaders and teams to bring new ways of working from theory to practice, and set the tone for the rest of the organization.

The Roadmap · What We Do, and What You Get
From six behaviors to everyday execution.

A potential arc, not a fixed proposal. We would scope the specifics together.

The six Sodexo leadership behaviors

Client focused
Make faster decisions
Energizing people
Building teams
Delivering what matters
Better ways of working
Phase 1 · Foundational · Leaders & Culture
Phase 2 · Accelerating Growth Priorities
01
Build the shared playbook

Translate the six behaviors into everyday practices with the NA leadership team: what each looks like in how you meet, decide, and learn.

02
Enroll and coach leaders

Coach and train leaders to apply the behaviors in their own meetings and decisions, modeling the change for the rest of the organization.

03
Activate the network

Certify internal champions, facilitators, and coaches who carry the practices into every segment, so capability compounds.

04
Accelerate growth priorities

As growth mandates sharpen by segment, charter cross-functional teams against them. Leaders set the conditions; coaches keep the pace.

05
Embed in systems

Wire the behaviors into performance, incentives, and leadership development, so the way of working holds through change.

What you get · Phase 1

Leaders set up to lead the change: one integrated leadership team and their n-1s, a custom playbook for the six behaviors, faster decisions, an internal network of champions and coaches, and a measured baseline.

What you get · Phase 2

A way of working that delivers growth priorities in weeks, efficiency that compounds across segments, and behaviors wired into performance and incentives so the change sticks.

Our Track Record
From four principles
to a movement.

The full story of how August turns leadership principles into everyday practice: the PepsiCo turnaround published by Harvard Business Review, a deep dive on how Colgate-Palmolive made F.E.E.D. the way 34,000 people work, and the McCain engagement now at 556+ practitioners.

New Ways of Working: An Impact Study
Next Steps
Looking forward
to building with you.

Next: a working session to shape Phase 1 around your priorities.