Leadership Next

While KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell have their roots in the U.S., the restaurants have a big fan base in China. Yum China, which spun off from Yum! Brands in 2016, runs 14,000 restaurants in over 1,900 cities and - under CEO Joey Wat - is growing fast. Wat told Leadership Next host Alan Murray the company is opening several new locations each day.Unlike their American counterparts, the majority of these restaurants are not owned by franchisees. But the differences don't stop there as Wat explains. (Durian pizza, anyone?) Also in this episode: Wat's journey to the C-suite, what she looks for when hiring, and how she thinks about building sustainability into the business.

Ancestry - the company best known today for analyzing user DNA to help build out family trees - actually started almost 40 years ago as a publishing entity focused on genealogy. CEO Deb Liu, who took the reins in 2021, is now charged with finding new ways to expand Ancestry's offerings. She's well-prepared for that task, Liu told hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram, after 11 years as an exec at Facebook."I think part of what makes Facebook really special is that it really believe(s) in actually building products and having product-lead growth," Liu said. "And I think that that's really important."In this episode of Leadership Next Liu shares what brought her to the CEO role at Ancestry, the challenges women leaders continue to face in the workplace, and how growing up in a small Southern town impacted her leadership style.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

It's become increasingly clear that lithium-ion batteries are key to a sustainable future. Is it too late for the U.S. to become a power player in this industry? That's the question Leadership Next host Alan Murray has for today's guest, a woman he calls "The Battery Queen" because she is one of the pre-eminent experts on batteries in the world. Currently founder and CEO of battery technology company Cadenza Innovation, Christina Lampe-Onnerud previously founded and led Boston-Power. That company was sold to Chinese investors in 2011. Now, Lampe-Onnerud is part of Li-Bridge, a public-private partnership working to create a robust manufacturing base and supply chain for lithium-ion batteries in the United States.Recorded in front of a live audience at Deloitte's Next Generation CEO event (Deloitte is also a sponsor of this podcast), Lampe-Onnerud details the rise of the global battery industry, explains why her first company wound up going to the Chinese, and lays out what needs to happen in order for the U.S. to compete in this space.She also talks about growing up in Sweden and how she became interested in a career that revolves around batteries.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

Ken Frazier is currently Chairman, Health Assurance Initiatives, at General Catalyst, which is just the most recent leadership position on an impressive resume. Frazier served as CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck for 10 years, stepping down in 2021. He is also co-founder and former CEO of the OneTen initiative - aimed at connecting underrepresented talent with corporate jobs - and, until last year, was the Lead Independent Director of the ExxonMobil Board of Directors.Frazier has also become known for standing by his principles. He first made a name for himself as a young lawyer in the early 1990s, when he represented a wrongfully-convicted death row inmate and worked to get his conviction overturned. In 2017, he resigned from former President Trump's Manufacturing Advisory Council after the president's ambivalent comments following the Charlottesville rally. The move prompted a number of CEOs to follow in his footsteps. And in 2021, spurred by a new law in Georgia, Frazier urged corporate America to vocally fight for voting rights for all Americans.In this episode of Leadership Next, recorded live in Washington D.C. at a Deloitte Next Generation CEO event, Frazier tells host Alan Murray why these decisions were a matter of principle not politics and why he thinks CEOs can and should stand for every American's right to vote regardless of their political views. He also discusses the challenges he faced in his first few years as CEO of Merck and the shareholders who trusted his vision enough to support him. Finally, Frazier talks about starting the OneTen coalition after the murder of George Floyd and the need to find a common language to talk about ESG and DEI.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

L'Oréal is a longstanding giant in the consumer beauty industry. And despite being 114 years-old, the company shows no signs of slowing down. The L'Oréal group has a portfolio of 37 international brands, more than 87,000 employees and 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world. In 2022, the L'Oréal group generated $42 billion in revenue, a 10% year-over-year increase. Nicolas Hieronimus, who first joined the company in 1987, took over as CEO of L'Oréal in 2021. He is only the sixth person in the company's history to hold the title, and he is keenly focused on keeping the century-old beauty company relevant in a rapidly changing world.In this episode of Leadership Next, Hieronimus sits down with host Michal Lev-Ram to talk about L'Oréal's evolution into a "beauty tech" company and how it uses tech both in its consumer-facing products and in its internal R & D operations. He also discusses the luxury brands responsible for L'Oréal's historic 2022 revenue growth and how L'Oreal goes about strategically acquiring brands. Additionally, Hieronimus shares more about L'Oréal's sustainability efforts, using TikTok to gather consumer feedback and track beauty trends, and how he works to keep L'Oréal's core culture in place despite having employees scattered all over the world.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

Fortune's 2023 Most Powerful Women Summit took place on October 10th-12th in Laguna Niguel, CA. Over the three days, women across a wide variety of industries (healthcare, politics, entertainment, retail, and tech - just to name a few!) took the stage to share their perspectives on the state of their respective businesses, what it means to be a woman in leadership and how to address global tumult while also running a business. In today's episode of Leadership Next, you will hear excerpts from conversations with three women who especially embody many of the MPW values like leadership, tenacity, vision and creativity. Leadership Next Hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram share their perspectives on the Summit throughout the episode.Up first, we hear from Senator Laphonza Butler who joined Fortune's Emma Hinchliffe onstage just one week after she was sworn in as a California senator, filling the seat vacated by Dianne Feinstein who passed away in September. Senator Butler discusses being an example of economic empowerment for women and girls and the power of coalition building across parties and the business sector to affect real change.In the second conversation of the episode, Lev-Ram sits down with #35 on the 2023 MPW list, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Starbucks and Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson. Hobson shares how she initially became interested in strategic decision making and how to keep DEI a priority in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action. Hobson also dives deeper into the origin of the idea for Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to complete a six-month barista immersion.Finally, we hear excerpts from Lev-Ram's conversation with #53 on the 2023 MPW List, Netflix Chief Content Office Bela Bajaria. Bajaria discusses how the company chooses which content to produce and acquire, plus the importance of balancing the use of algorithms versus trusting her gut in that process.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

The Fortune CEO Initiative was formed in 2016 as a membership organization bringing together CEOs of purpose driven companies that are committed to addressing business excellence, diversity, and major societal issues as a core part of their business strategies. Each year since then, members have gathered for a one of two day conference to exchange ideas and discuss best practices. The 2023 conference took place last week in Washington D.C., with sessions that focused on topics like: staying committed to social impact programs in a tough economic environment, generative A.I. and sustainable business practices.In this week's episode of Leadership Next, you will hear two conversations from CEOi. First up, Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sits down with Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato. The two discuss why Duato thinks J&J is in its "golden era", as well as the potential of J &J's consumer brands to compete with companies like L'Oreal. Duato talks about J&J's ongoing R&D in the areas of robotics and A.I. Duato also shares his thoughts on how he approaches leading through the tumult of crises like the baby powder lawsuit and the pulling of J&J's COVID-19 vaccine from American markets.In the second half of the episode, Fortune CEO Alan Murray talks to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen about the current state of the economy. They discuss the narrow avoidance of a full government shutdown, U.S. and global investment in industrial development of things like semi-conductors, and generative A.I. and how it may affect productivity. Yellen also shares her predictions for interest rates, job creation and the economy as a whole.Leadership Next if powered by Deloitte.

Laxman Narasimhan is six months into being CEO of the world’s most ubiquitous coffee shop. Narasimhan took over Starbucks from Howard Schultz in March of 2023. Before stepping into the CEO's office, he completed a six month immersion in Starbucks cafes around the country, where he learned the ins and outs of making each customer’s favorite drinks while also constructing a vision for the future of the company. In April of this year, Narasimhan sent out a letter with a revised company mission statement highlighting the need to nurture human connection while also promising big returns for shareholders. Those big returns may come in part from the company's plans to open 10,000 more stores across the globe by 2025.In this episode of Leadership Next, Narasimhan joins hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram to talk about how his six month immersion is informing his leadership of Starbucks. He also shares more details about Starbucks' plans for growth and why this is the right time to open thousands of new stores around the world. Additionally, Narasimhan gives his take on the state of Chinese and Western relations, and how that affects Starbucks' business. Woven throughout the conversation is how his personal story of growing up in India impacts his approach to leadership.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

Julia Hartz started the event management and ticketing platform Eventbrite in 2006 alongside her then fiancée. The goal: bring the world together through live events. Hartz took over as CEO in 2016 and led Eventbrite through its $230 million IPO in 2018. The years following this promising IPO were rocky for Eventbrite. When the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the live events industry, Eventbrite lost 90% of its revenue and laid off 45% of its workforce. Yet as the world reopened and the live events industry bounced back, so did Eventbrite. In 2022, it pulled in $3.3 billion in gross ticket sales and made $261 million in revenue, an almost 40% year-over-year increase - all while maintaining an average ticket price of $40.In this episode of Leadership Next, Hartz joins hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram to discuss how the company navigated the challenging early days of the pandemic and how it bounced back alongside the return of live events. Hartz also talks about why Eventbrite is different than other ticketing platforms and how Eventbrite is democratizing live events for both organizers and attendees. Additionally, Hartz shares her perspective on the the post-pandemic state of live events, including why events are currently so expensive (even if you're not going to see Taylor Swift of Beyoncé). Finally, Hartz talks about the challenges and advantages of starting a company with her now husband, the reality of being one of the few women who have taken a tech company public and why women are uniquely suited to lead a company through a crisis.Leadership Next is Powered by Deloitte.

Paula Kerger has been the CEO of PBS for 18 years, making her the longest-serving CEO in the broadcaster's history. Kerger oversees 330 member stations across the country and led the transformation of PBS from a broadcaster to a multiplatform digital media organization that boasts a slate of podcasts, a YouTube channel, and programming on streaming services like Amazon Prime and Hulu. According to the company, PBS reaches 42 million adults through linear television each month and another 15 million through streaming platforms, with another 56 million people viewing PBS content on social media.In this episode of Leadership Next, hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram sit down with Kerger to talk about why public access media is still relevant in an increasingly digital, and increasingly divided, world. Kerger shares more specific details about the opportunities and challenges of PBS' digital transformation and what leadership lessons she learned in the process. Kerger also discusses PBS' commitment to climate and civic programming, the enduring power of PBS Kids, how PBS is affected by the ongoing SAG and WGA strikes and the politics of PBS' funding.Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.