Leadership Next

In its first year of life, Whole Foods Market had a “near-death” experience. Founder and long-time CEO John Mackey tells Leadership Next that a flood nearly destroyed the store – none of the damages were covered by insurance. But employees and customers banded together to clean things up, and a local banker personally guaranteed a loan to get Whole Foods back on its feet. This was Mackey’s first real understanding of how important all stakeholders are to a company. And from that day forward he’s become a proponent of what he calls “conscious capitalism.” He explains the details to Alan Murry and Ellen McGirt. How do these values mesh with Whole Foods’ owner, Amazon? Mackey describes the company pairing as a “marriage” where each partner changes and influences the other. Also in the episode: how Whole Foods has worked to protect employees from COVID-19, how the pandemic had impacted business, and why Mackey believes in pay caps and pay transparency.  

Ursula Burns is not afraid to speak her mind. And she has lots to say in this episode of Leadership Next. As the CEO of Xerox, Burns was the first and only Black woman to run a Fortune 500 company.  She stepped down from that position in 2016 and has refocused her energy on a new goal: diversifying corporate boards. She’s doing so through a new group, The Board Diversity Action Alliance.   But calling this “a make or break moment for companies,” Burns says the challenges facing business extend beyond racial justice.  She tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt "we're poisoning the world.” She mourns the treatment of essential workers during the pandemic – putting people in harm’s way yet paying them minimum wage. And she has a strong message for fellow CEOs who may choose to vote with an eye on their bottom lines, not their communities. “We have a responsibility to leave behind a world that's better than it is when we inhabited it,” Burns said. At the moment, she believes business is failing to live up to that responsibility. Also in this episode: Fortune's Kristen Bellstrom sheds some light on the dismal diversity numbers driving Burns' new project.

Ab InBev may be the world’s largest brewer, but in many ways it’s a local company. CEO Carlos Brito tells Leadership Next 95% of the company’s products are brewed locally from local ingredients, and then sold locally. That means the company’s policies have a direct impact on communities around the world. And it makes caring for those communities a clear business imperative.  Brito shares some specific ways AB InBev is helping farmers thrive, and how it’s offered support to retailers during the coronavirus pandemic.  These efforts have also landed the company on Fortune’s 2020 Change the World list. Fortune’s editor-in-chief, Clifton Leaf, joins Alan Murray to offer more details on how the list is put together, and why it’s important. 

Marvin Ellison is one of just four Black CEOs to lead a Fortune 500 company. And the company he runs - home retailer Lowe's - has been booming since the pandemic struck. Sales rose 35 percent in the most recent quarter, and online sales were up 135 percent. Leadership Next's Alan Murray asks if that demand will continue. The heart of the episode however comes when Ellison talks about his efforts to boost diversity at Lowe's - from the executive ranks, all the way through his newest initiative centered around diversifying suppliers. Also in the episode: Ellison's take on problems plaguing JCPenney - a company he ran before coming to Lowe's, Fortune's retail reporter Phil Wahba with some additional insight into Ellison's leadership style, and Ellen McGirt on ... wait for it ... potato cannons.

It’s no surprise that the coronavirus pandemic has pushed more people than ever before towards digital payments. What is surprising is just how dramatic that shift has been. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman lays out those details in this episode of Leadership Next. But what he truly wants to talk about is what this means for all of those who have been left behind by America’s economic system. He’s convinced “capitalism needs an updgrade,” and he’s doing what he can to make that happen. He tells Alan Murry and Ellen McGirt about his company’s decision to pay entry level employees more. He talks about a recent massive $530 million commitment to businesses and communities of color. And he answers the question that’s often asked on this podcast: why, as a corporate CEO, is it your job to care about this? Over the years Schulman has taken stands on a variety of controversial issues – from gun control to voting. He’s been practicing stakeholder capitalism since well before the term became popular.  

Chip Bergh doesn’t know what the future holds, but he's certain it includes people wearing jeans. The CEO of Levi Strauss & Co says even when much of the world was on lockdown in April, 50 percent of us were still wearing jeans. That’s not to say this has been an easy time for the company. It’s lost a lot of money, and been forced to lay off hundreds of employees. But online sales are growing fast and Bergh tells Leadership Next that by closely tracking what consumers want, Levi’s will emerge intact from the coronavirus pandemic.   For Bergh, responding to consumers means more than just selling them denim. It also means using Levi’s corporate muscle to support issues consumers - and employees - care about. Gun control is a key example.  He explains how the company entered the debate around guns, and why it has continued to push for more restrictions on who can own them. In this episode Bergh also tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt about the ‘Time to Vote’ initiative, urging companies to give employees paid time off to vote.  Additionally, the Levi Strauss Foundation is giving over a million dollars to organizations to promote get-out-the-vote efforts. Ellen catches up with the founder of one of these groups – Aimee Allison from She the People. 

In this episode of Leadership Next, Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt have a wide-ranging conversation with the CEO of Land O’Lakes, Beth Ford. The farmer-owned cooperative has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic in some pretty unique ways. For instance, with nobody flying, airlines don’t need all of those mini tubs of Land O’Lakes butter. So what do you do with all of that butter?  Ford’s supply chain team has been hard at work on some creative solutions. The pandemic has also shone a spotlight on an issue that Ford has been focused on since she became CEO: improving rural America’s access to the internet.  Remote learning and telemedicine can’t happen without broadband. And, poor connectivity keeps farmers from utilizing the high-tech tools and big data applications that allow them to increase productivity and yield.  Ford wants everyone to realize this is not just a problem for rural America – if the communities keeping us fed are not strong, we all suffer. Other topics discussed include: why the Supreme Court’s decision to protect LBGTQ employees from discrimination was so important to Ford, how Land O’Lakes responded to the killing of George Floyd, and how working from home has changed Ford’s relationships at work. Also in the episode, Fortune’s Beth Kowitt puts Ford’s leadership in context – she goes about her work in a relatively low-key way, but the difference she’s making in rural communities is anything but understated. 

The coronavirus pandemic has touched every industry and every business. But the hospitality industry has been hit particularly hard. As Mark Hoplamazian, the CEO of Hyatt, shared with Leadership Next, hotel bookings were down 94 percent this spring. Demand basically went to zero overnight. So how do you continue to take care of your employees when the bottom falls out of your business? Mark’s answer: it’s painful. He details the steps Hyatt took to try and soften the blow of layoffs and furloughs on employees, and how employees responded.  Also discussed in the episode: how the killing of George Floyd impacted Mark personally, and how it is changing the way he runs Hyatt. Why he believes improved testing is key to recovery for the hotel business. How the pandemic will permanently change the hotel experience.  And, we get the nitty gritty on what’s happening with the business, which geographic areas are seeing a recovery, who is still traveling, and what Mark sees in the weeks and months ahead. 

Aneel Bhusri, the CEO of Workday, runs an employee-first company. He believes taking care of employees translates into better business results. And Workday - which supplies customers with HR and other business software – seems to bear this out. In 15 years it’s grown into a $40B+ business. And it tops Fortune’s “Future 50” list which identifies companies with the strongest long-term growth potential.In this episode of Leadership Next, Bhusri and Alan Murray talk about the challenges of building company culture while everyone is working from home. Despite the talk of remote work becoming mainstream, Bhusri believes it’s key to get people back into physical offices, at least part time.Ellen McGirt picks up this line of conversation with Fortune's Geoff Colvin who has dug into research showing that meeting face to face is key for building trust and enabling innovation.Also in the episode Bhusri talks honestly about company diversity. He admits Workday must do a better job expanding its hiring practices to bring more black employees into the company. And, he says, once they’re there, Workday must ensure black employees have equal opportunity to reach leadership positions.And of course, the conversation circles back to an important theme of Leadership Next: Bhusri's focus on caring for all stakeholders. As he simply says, "Companies need to have a soul."

At the heart of today’s Leadership Next episode is the question, “How do you measure stakeholder capitalism?” We’ve been measuring shareholder returns for years – think earnings reports and stock market moves. But how do you judge if a company is successfully caring for its employees, customers and society?  Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, is on a mission to figure that out.  After all, identifying the companies doing this well is just as important for big investors as it is for job seekers.  As chair of the International Business Council, Moynihan is working with the Big Four accounting firms to develop a set of metrics to measure stakeholder capitalism. The group is nearing consensus and, despite the coronavirus pandemic, Moynihan says companies are more committed to adopting these standards than ever before.  Moynihan himself has been leading his company through the lens of stakeholder capitalism for some time. He and Alan Murray dive into those specifics, including the company’s response to the killing of George Floyd, raising the company’s minimum wage to $20 an hour, its focus on the environment, and Moynihan’s stance on the controversial “bathroom bill” in North Carolina in 2016.