How Cross-Sector Leadership Is Redefining the Future of Business

By Anna Malmhake, CEO of Oriflame

When I stepped into the role of CEO at Oriflame, I embraced the opportunity to lead with a perspective from outside the beauty industry.

My career hadn’t been shaped inside the industry. Instead, it had taken me across premium spirits and global gaming, leading organisations like The Absolut Company, Irish Distillers and working within Activision Blizzard. These worlds may seem far removed from beauty, but they have everything to do with how I think about its future.

One belief that has been reinforced throughout my career journey is that innovation rarely comes from staying inside the boundaries of your own industry.

Beauty is a remarkable industry. It’s rich in creativity, science and heritage. But like many established sectors, it can sometimes become inward-looking. There can be a tendency to prioritise deep category expertise over fresh thinking.

Coming from outside the industry has allowed me to ask more fundamental questions. Why do we engage with consumers in the ways that we do? What defines loyalty today? How do we remain relevant in a world where expectations are constantly changing?

These are not “beauty questions”, they are business questions. The answers often lie beyond the traditional playbook of the industry itself.

My time in gaming fundamentally reshaped how I think about consumers.

In the gaming industry, success is not measured purely by transactions. It is measured by engagement, by participation and by the strength of the communities you build. Players do not just buy a product; they enter an ecosystem. They connect, compete, collaborate and return again and again. That mindset is incredibly powerful for beauty.

Historically, beauty has been driven by product launches and campaigns. But today’s consumers expect far more. They want to feel a part of something. They want interaction, dialogue and a true sense of belonging.

For me, the opportunity lies in reimagining beauty as a community-driven experience. Digital platforms are not just channels for communication. They are spaces where relationships are formed. When brands succeed in creating those spaces, they move beyond selling products and begin building lasting connections.

If gaming shaped my view of engagement, my years in premium spirits helped to shape my understanding of storytelling.

Working with brands like The Absolut Company and Irish Distillers taught me that the most successful brands are those that stand for something beyond just what they sell. They tap into culture. They become part of people’s everyday lives and identities.

Beauty operates on similar emotional terrain. It is deeply personal, often tied to confidence, self-expression and aspiration. Yet in a crowded marketplace, it is easy for brands to focus too heavily on product features and forget the bigger narrative.

What I have learned is that storytelling is not an added layer, it is the foundation. It is how brands differentiate and how they resonate.

In the future, the beauty brands that succeed will be those that combine product excellence with a clear, compelling point of view. Brands that understand not just what they offer, but why they matter.

Across both gaming and spirits, there is another lesson that has stayed with me: the importance of agility.

These industries operate in environments where change is constant. Consumer preferences shift quickly. Trends emerge and disappear at speed. So, the ability to respond is critical.

Beauty is now experiencing that same pace of change, driven largely by digital transformation and global connectivity. New brands can emerge overnight. Consumer expectations are shaped in real time. The traditional cycles of innovation are being compressed. In this context, agility is a necessity.

For me, this means building organisations that are comfortable with experimentation. It means empowering your teams to test, learn and adapt quickly. It also means recognising that transformation is not a one-off initiative but an ongoing capability that must be embedded into the culture of the business.

When I reflect on my career, I don’t see three separate chapters in spirits, gaming, and beauty. I see a continuous thread that is now shaping how I approach the future of the beauty industry.

From gaming, I bring a deep appreciation for community and digital engagement. From spirits, I bring a belief in the power of storytelling and brand building. Across both, I bring a mindset rooted in agility, innovation and global scale.

These are not traditionally “beauty” capabilities, yet they are increasingly essential to its evolution.

At Oriflame, this perspective is helping us rethink how we connect with consumers, how we position our brand and how we grow in a rapidly changing world. It is about broadening the definition of what a beauty company can be and what it can deliver.

There is a broader lesson here, not just for beauty, but for any industry navigating transformation. It is natural to look inward for expertise. Industry knowledge is deeply valuable, and it always will be. But when organisations rely solely on internal perspectives, they risk limiting their ability to innovate.

Some of the most powerful ideas come from applying lessons learned elsewhere. Taking concepts that have been proven in one context and adapting them to another. This kind of cross-pollination is where true breakthroughs occur.