From IBP to Integrated Life Planning

At an open-air patio of a Toronto, Ontario coffee shop, Andre Teixeira and his wife, Kristina Teixeira, sit down at a bistro table with their laptops and some notes. To anyone passing by, it might look like a typical business meeting, but this is a family meeting. Today, Andre and Kristina are working out their integrated life plans over coffee.

What’s an integrated life plan? For Andre and his wife, it’s a natural carry-over from his professional role as Vice President of Global Supply Chain at Jamieson Wellness, where he regularly plugs into the processes of integrated business planning. Integrated business planning (IBP) is a strategic approach that aligns all aspects of a business to achieve long-term goals. At Jamieson Wellness, Andre has implemented IBP to ensure that every department, from supply chain to marketing, is working in harmony.

Here at the coffee shop, Andre and Kristina take time to connect on some of the family’s long-term goals using some of the same techniques he uses in IBP. Doing this makes a lot of sense to the Teixeira family, because the challenges of orchestrating an efficient family-of-six supply chain has parallels in running a global supply chain.

If you think about it, supply chain orchestration is not that far removed from family life. After all, it takes no small amount of work to cultivate a healthy and joyful household. You’ve got to be great at communication, collaboration, and yes, finding ways to be efficient and save the planet (see: settling the age-old thermostat settings conundrum) in both supply chains and the family chain-of-command. The universal trick is applying strategy in a way that keeps everyone happy and moving forward… and that’s where the art of integrated planning comes in.

“IBP is the engine to get things done,” he says. “We say that we do so many cool things at business, so why not bring that into our personal lives? We do integrated business planning (at work), so we have our integrated life planning (at home).”

A life rooted in sustainable, integrated values

For Andre, he’s just as at home as a husband and father as he is as a leader at global vitamins, minerals and supplements company Jamieson Wellness because he sees the interconnectedness of work and life.

The principles that guide his professional life are deeply intertwined with the values that shape his family life in Toronto, reflecting a holistic view of what it means to be successful. Born in Curitiba, Brazil, a city known for its lush greenery including the famed Botanical Garden of Curitiba, Andre's upbringing was steeped in the values of sustainability and diversity. “I grew up in a city full of green,” he recalls, “and it shaped my passion for sustainability.”

His childhood memories include sorting recyclables into colored bags with his mother, a practice that not only instilled environmental consciousness but also a sense of responsibility towards the community. His father’s frequent travels, filled with stories of new cultures and experiences, ignited Andre's curiosity about the world and its people, further fueling his passion for learning from and working with people.

This early exposure to diverse perspectives and sustainable practices laid the foundation for Andre’s career in supply chain management. “I always wanted to know the world and understand more about people’s backgrounds because that was valuable to me,” he says. It’s no surprise then that he gravitated towards supply chain management, a field that thrives on collaboration, innovation, and a deep understanding of the global landscape.

At Jamieson Wellness, which has a presence in over 50 countries, Andre’s commitment to sustainability and diversity shines through. He sees these values not just as guiding principles for his work, but as the driving forces behind the success of the company. “We create new solutions, we innovate, and I believe that’s the main power of diversity in our company, in our country, in the world,” he explains. “It’s the engine that brought me to supply chain because supply chain is all about collaboration and connection.”

Integrated life planning: Bringing work home (in a good way)

For Andre, the collaborations and connections between work and home are fluid. His professional success is deeply intertwined with his personal life. “My family is a big part of who I am today, and I carry them everyday with me” Andre shares. His family’s diversity mirrors the multicultural environment at Jamieson Wellness. His wife is Russian, with two of their children in their blended marriage born and raised in Brazil and another two in Russia. Their household of six is a melting pot of cultures, languages, and perspectives, with conversations at the dinner table ranging from Russian art to Brazilian music and Canadian current events.

This blend of cultures and ideas at home isn’t just a reflection of their diverse backgrounds—it’s a carefully cultivated environment that Andre has shaped using the principles of integrated business planning.

And this is where the coffee shop meetings come in. Every year, Andre and his family gather to reflect on the past year’s achievements and challenges. They discuss their “big wins” and identify the “bugs” that need fixing.

This annual review isn’t just a casual conversation; it’s a strategic planning session where they set goals, assign responsibilities, and map out a plan for the year ahead. “Goals are dreams with deadlines,” Andre asserts. “When you want something to be real, it’s not about making a New Year’s resolution. It’s about putting it on the calendar and making it happen.”

Throughout the year, Andre and Kristina meet separately to review progress toward big and small goals, in what they call “Family Sync”, like they’re doing at the coffee shop. This approach to family life echoes the rigorous, ongoing planning processes that Andre champions at Jamieson Wellness. It’s a testament to his belief in the power of planning, not just as a business tool, but as a way of life. “For me, it’s all merged,” he says. “It’s about work-life integration.”

Setting the pace with a strategic, living blueprint

Andre’s approach to family life is about more than just setting goals. It’s about creating a system that ensures everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives. Just as he encourages job rotation within his team to build understanding and collaboration, Andre fosters a similar environment at home. “I encourage my team to do job rotations—if you’re in planning, go to demand; if you’re in demand, go to logistics,” he says. “It’s amazing to see how the team grows and flourishes with all this knowledge.”

At home, this translates to each family member understanding and appreciating each other’s roles and responsibilities. By involving everyone in the planning process, Andre ensures that his family functions as a cohesive unit, much like a well-oiled machine. “It’s the same principle,” he says. “Everyone goes deep in their role, but they also understand the bigger picture.”

Aligning on supply chain and dinner plans

Whether he’s leading a global supply chain or guiding his family through the day-to-day routines, Andre’s approach is grounded in a deep understanding of strategic planning. (Watch more of his story in The Change Agent, episode one of our First Chair video series.)

However, while processes work best when they’re adhered to, nothing should ever be set in stone. In Andre’s perspective, there must be room for evolving-yet-collaborative alignment. Let’s face it: Both business and families can change directions, develop new priorities, run into unpredictable challenges, and unlock opportunities for something great. That means an integrated planning process should also be fluid while keeping everyone on the same page.

“Integrated business planning or S&OP has a stereotype that it’s a bunch of people in a room fighting to get to a number,” says Andre. “I see that this process is evolving (into) a more collaborative way of reaching alignment. That’s the key for this process. We don’t need to agree about everything, but in the end, when we leave the room, we’re all aligned on a single plan.”

For Andre, success isn’t just about achieving business goals—it’s about creating a life that’s rich, fulfilling, and well-planned.

As Andre and Kristina wrap up their integrated planning “date” at the coffee shop, they decide to enjoy the mild weather and take a walk to the nearby market to select ingredients for dinner. It’s a continuation of their collaborative spirit to work together on the next supply challenge: What’s for dinner?

Bringing IBP to life at home

In this Netsuite article, the author outlines six critical steps that make integrated business planning a success. Let’s look at examples of how business processes can be adapted to family life:

	At Work	At Home
1. Identify barriers	An overly-complex product portfolio or slow response to spike in demand. Your brand is not standing out in a crowded global market.	Life is chaotic. Too many activities to juggle, or no clear plan to save up for treats. There’s a need to help delegate responsibilities, or save up money to reach a goal, like a vacation or new pool.
2. Engage and educate	Leaders commit to goals and make formal employee engagement plans to spur enthusiasm. Involve, inform openly and share detailed plans for what success will look like.	Regular family meetings to talk over parents’ plans and why following a few specific steps to get there will move everyone closer to that dream Disney World vacation.
3. Set up a tiger team	Identify engaged employees and give them specific, actionable responsibilities. Create regular check-ins to track progress and report on any challenges, which the team can address collaboratively.	Assign responsibilities to each family member, keeping each task age and skill appropriate. Have fun with accountability markers like gold star charts, allowances, screen time rewards, etc.
4. Make a prioritization process	Sunset projects that aren’t aligned to strategic goals. Stick to a cost-benefit analysis template to figure out what’s most critical going forward.	Are the kids growing tired of karate lessons? Do you spend too much time on projects that could be done more efficiently by an expert (like a handyman)? Figure out where cuts can be made, and/or help brought in.
5. Expand finance’s influence	With finance’s expertise, collect and analyze financial data to report on what’s working and what’s not.	Budget your family bank account—and family time. Sit down and see where money and time are spent each month. Let everyone weigh in on where improvements can feasibly be made, even in small increments.
6. Use tech to get things done	Teams need transparent access to data and information, along with rolling forecasts and ways to measure what’s being managed. Use platforms like Maestro by Kinaxis to connect, inform and make aligned and fast decisions.	If you can’t manage dinner together every night, it’s okay. Use an app like Family Wall or Time Tree (see this list of apps for ideas), or even regular texts to check in, encourage and stay connected.