Knafelc, 50, was referring to the global integrated fertiliser materials company's investment in a true talent development strategy.

"It's shocking to me thinking back five years how little we had in place - we had lots of good things happening but we didn't have a strategic plan that had elements of commonality across the organisation," he said.

Knafelc made the comments as part of a wide-ranging interview for the "Mining Journal Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation" which will be released next month.

Earlier this month, Nutrien said it expected strong second-quarter results after a late spring season in North America, and raised its first-half earnings guidance to $1.50-$1.65 per share.

This is based on an interview with Nutrien executive vice president and chief sustainability officer Lee Knafelc as part of the ‘Mining Journal Global Leadership Report: Preparing for transformation', which will be published in late June. The report features around 20 in-depth interviews with the industry's leading mining executives and the results of our industry-wide survey focused on transformational influences (technology, stakeholder engagement etc) and the readiness of mining leaders to meet these challenges.