from Fast Company
The Fast Company Impact Council, an invitation-only group of corporate leaders, entrepreneurial founders, and other leaders from across industries, gathered on June 30 to share their insights. Members split into small groups, moderated by Fast Companyeditors, and shared their perspectives on how they are managing and innovating amid a trio of crises: the global pandemic, the economic slowdown, and calls for social justice in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.
In this roundtable discussion, led by editor-in-chief Stephanie Mehta, top executives discussed the New New Rules of Leadership. Participants in this session, in alphabetical order, were Cristiano Amon, president, Qualcomm; Jeff Huber, CEO, Home Instead; Barbara Humpton, CEO, Siemens USA; Brad Keywell, founder and CEO, Uptake Technologies; Stephanie Linnartz, group president, consumer operations, technology, and emerging business, Marriott International; Marc Metrick, president and CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue; Dana Settle, partner and cofounder, Greycroft; Alicia Tillman, global CMO, SAP; Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO, Genpact; and Frank Young, president, vertical market software solutions, Global Payments. Excerpts of the roundtable have been edited for length and clarity.
More here.
Blog comments for 11/13/20
The time that this article was written it was a very fragile time in America, we were facing a global pandemic, the economy was slowed down, and there was a call for major social justice reform in the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. I think that is very important that this company had this sit-down with all these leaders to discuss how they should move forward and how to manage and innovate. From the lots of people that were there, it seems like they mostly have CEOs and other positions of that nature and I feel like that is important because they are the main decision-makers of a company. I am sure every company was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, this article talks about the types of qualities that need to be possessed in this new normal of a world to adjust. One of the first skills discussed is speed, I think that we have been taught to speed it up during this pandemic and how fast your business or you can adjust and adapt. Also, you could see that the owner of Marriot acknowledges the struggles within the industry, but also provide a solution on how they can accommodate their customers. I think that is very important to gain repeat customers. One of the most important ones so far came from Barbara Humpton, empathy is something that all people should possess, but especially during this time. You never know what people are going through and how what they are going through might affect them. Having empathy is also related to understanding people which is very important in this society. Also, my one is to accept people no matter how they look, identify, and believe in; America is too divided and needs a change. Personal values should be important in the workplace, but not to the extent that they affect the relationships at work. The biggest thing that I think this pandemic has brought us is an expedited dive into incorporating technology into almost everything that we do. When the pandemic had started, I remember saying to myself how I felt bad for the companies that were just beginning or on the brink because this pandemic caused scenarios for companies that they had never tried before. And businesses need to buy more products (hand sanitizer, masks, sometimes plexiglass structures. On the flip side of that, this pandemic has done things for some companies that they never even thought would happen like Zoom or Microsoft Teams; Of course, they expected to have users but that number has increased majorly. Ultimately, the most important things in a leader to me is empathy/understanding/acceptance, the ability to adapt, and lastly someone who will work hard.
The article talks about how a company blog conducts a conference where they split CEOs up into small groups to discuss their perspectives and management during important issues such as COVID, social justice, and things that affect the economy. It includes the ten members from Fast Company which will explain the leaders would need to embrace new ways of the businesses. As the discussions went on the article gives us insight on shareholders which will be changed to stakeholders. I was happy when the CEO of Genpact (Tiger Tyagarjan) stated that “the next three to four years would be changing to a stakeholder model because Covid-19 has collapsed the old system”. For reasons being it might change how the businesses are beginning to run because of the pandemic the money wasn’t able to flow as it was before which can affect the economy in a way that there will be no room for businesses to come back. However, the article shows that they are improving to make the workplace effective and efficient. Also, the stakeholder is needed to make a model that will be efficient to the community in which businesses can benefit in the future. I love that one of the CEOs stated that the global pandemic was different for businesses in different countries. Especially, with how some businesses structure work it makes their business be able to withstand different crises. For example, Marriott International started using mobile guest services because the global pandemic showed that our lives are going to change and we should change with it. Furthermore, the pandemic had good and bad effects but it showed businesses what the workplace should look like in this day of age. Another common thinking from the small groups was that the leaders were thinking of what future business would look like and how they can manage during these new adjustments. With these new adjustments, they were able to change the old ways to make it easier for the next generation to succeed. I love that Barbara Humpton said with the changes they have made it should be that they are in deep need of having empathy in the businesses. It showed them it was more IQ than EQ which to be great as a CEO you would need EQ more. They also decide to try DQ which is a “disruption quotient”, which can change how individuals are affected. To succeed, the old ways have to go.