Iconic Former Ceos Advise Today's C-Suite

INSIGHT CEO MASTER CLASS

ICONIC FORMER CEOs ADVISE TODAY’S C-SUITE

We spoke with Ajay Banga, Maggie Wilderotter and John Sculley to find out what today’s top leaders and next-gen CEOs should—and should not—consider as they look at the opportunities and promise ahead. Their answers may surprise you. By Colleen Marble

f you have been anywhere near the C-suite over the past decade, you know how rapidly leadership roles are changing. What used to be a clear command-and-control hierarchy has evolved into something much more collaborative—with greater transparency, agility and accountability demanded of all stakeholders. That would be tough enough, but that is not all that has changed. Today’s CEOs Ihave either just navigated the toughest year of their careers or they have inherited a business that has been battered by a global pandemic. Inc.’s Q4 2020 CEO confidence survey found that the most COURTESY: AJAY BANGA; MAGGIE WILDEROTTER; JOHN SCULLEY JOHN WILDEROTTER; MAGGIE BANGA; AJAY COURTESY: significant post-pandemic leadership concern is not boosting revenues or regaining market share, although both are critical issues. Instead, CEOs “Bring your DQ—or decency quotient—to work, are worried about low morale and fatigue, both and people will follow you because of how you of which can hamper recovery in the days ahead. speak and how much you care, and how your hand A new era is emerging that will require a is always on their back and not in their face.” different kind of leader—one who is rooted in —Ajay Banga, former CEO, Mastercard the time-tested lessons of the past yet willing to take risks to create a bold future for their >>>

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INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY COPYRIGHT © INSIGNIAM HOLDING LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL SUMMER 2021 AND PROPRIETARY. MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY ELECTRONIC OR PRINT OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INSIGNIAM. VISIT WWW.INSIGNIAM.COM FOR CONTACTS. “Being a CEO is mental; it’s emotional; it’s “We can’t know what tomorrow will bring. spiritual; and it’s purpose driven. If you don’t Adaptive innovators are less likely to be caught slow down, you’re not doing yourself, your off guard because they are always working companies or your constituents any favors.” on the very edge of what’s possible.” —Maggie Wilderotter, former CEO, Frontier Communications —John Sculley, former CEO, Apple, PepsiCo

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“We all make companies, all while addressing corporate possible, who can recruit great talent and mistakes; culture, employee satisfaction, stakeholder who can build a team that can actually get demands and societal pressures. you from here to there. the key to To help modern chief executives reflect It takes a different type of leader at each doing things on their path forward and the possibilities stage, so the leader who starts the business differently ahead, this CEO Master Class series shares may not be the leader who can scale it to be lessons learned and frank advice from some a successful operation. And that person may next time is of the world’s most accomplished leaders. not be the leader who can manage it when it to forgive To kick things off, we sat down with is of such a size and complexity that most of and forget. Ajay Banga, John Sculley and Maggie Wilderotter, the work is being done by other people and who all have spent decades leading some you’re really orchestrating it as opposed to People will of America’s top brands. Together, they actually doing the work. only come shared hard-earned wisdom and powerful Ms. Wilderotter: I think that amazing CEOs to you to insights that can guide you as you tackle are servant leaders. I look at leadership as with optimism what may be the greatest standing on the shoulders of the people own up to opportunities of your career. who work for you because they bring your [it] if you’re company alive every day. I ran a Fortune 500 capable of Insigniam Quarterly: What qualities do company for 12 years, and I was considered you see in today’s top leaders, and how do the CEO of the people. I was there to get the forgiving and they translate into success? obstacles out of the way, to clarify, to course- forgetting, Mr. Banga: Strong leaders have three very correct and to make sure I had a conduit to learning clear attributes. The first is a very deep our thousands of employees who had to get sense of humility, which allows you to have the work done every single day. from it and a perspective that says there’s something to Great CEOs simplify and clarify. They moving on.” learn from everybody. Therefore, you have take complex issues and make them easy —Ajay Banga the willingness to listen, to engage and to be for people to understand. They’re also questioned, all of which are part of being a strategic. They’re thinking three and five good leader. Along with humility comes a years out, not just about what happens in the sense of humor, which allows you to laugh at next 12 months. That’s not to say we don’t yourself, as well as deliver difficult messages. hit challenges like pandemics, where the Humility and humor together give you a future is very unclear, but you should have wonderful perspective. contingency plans for what you can do, The second is the ability to listen. I use even in times of uncertainty. the saying, ‘God gave you two ears, two eyes Last but not least, I think all CEOs have and one mouth for a reason.’ It’s a nice ratio. to not take themselves so seriously all the Listen and watch more than you speak. time. We’re not perfect. Being able to self- The third is decency. Bring your DQ—or assess and learn from what we do, but also decency quotient—to work, and people will humanize ourselves and tell stories with our follow you because of how you speak and employees, is really important. how much you care, and how your hand is always on their back and not in their face. IQ: To whom should C-suite executives, espe- Mr. Sculley: I look for leaders who are able cially CEOs, look to for inspiration? to explain what they’re trying to do, who are Mr. Banga: These days, they should be able to communicate their ideas to the looking to everyone around them: the driver people who are going to help make that who delivered things to your house, the

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INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY COURTESY AJAY BANGA demonstrated by Satyademonstrated Nadella atMicrosoft. involved abusiness. at the early stagesof role model for builders, thepeoplewho are many years That’s intothefuture. aterrific inmanymoment; he’s cases, managing, Heisn’t forat Amazon. the justmanaging example isJeff Agreat are Bezos successful. right—consistently. There’s areason they Mr. Sculley: that you’re there tobecounted on. your shouldertothewheel anddemonstrate at you. Don’t wait for someonetolead;put a fingeratsomeone,three pointback fingers there’s asimple saying thatwhen you point Hindi, difference. IntheIndianlanguageof Mandela, show canmakea thatoneperson there are somany rolemodels. when you were it… away running from nurse anddoctorwho toward ran trouble Another type of leadership is leadership Another typeof People who inspire me,likeGandhiand OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INSIGNIAM. VISIT WWW.INSIGNIAM.COM FOR CONTACTS. Ilookfor peoplewho doit

AND PROPRIETARY. MAY NOT BEREPRODUCED IN ANY FORM,BY ELECTRONICOR PRINT COPYRIGHT ©INSIGNIAMHOLDING LLC. ALL RIGHTSRESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL successfully asithasunderSatya.successfully andas changeasquickly big corporation completely changedthat.I’ve never seena aboutthree years, Satya In amatterof lockedintoaWindows framework. of it missedmobileanditwas kind internet, companies intheworld, but itmissedthe thegreatest Bill Gatesledandcreated oneof A meal offers equality.A mealoffers intrinsic power inthose environments. an adesk;there’s of sort across from like sittinginaconference roomorsitting sit down atameal,you’re equals. It’s not I atemealswithpeople,becausewhen you andmentors. many becamemyclosefriends things? AndIwould gettoknow them; work for? Whoare peoplewho doamazing Whoareleaders? peoplethatIwould goto industries Iworked in.Whoare thegreat in mycareer, Iwould lookoutinthe Ms. Wilderotter: WhenIwas growing >>> quarterly.insigniam.com

|IQINSIGNIAMQUARTERLY National Cybersecurity Commission onEnhancing Mr. Bangaserved onthe Obama administration, number. Duringthe out to doublethat economy, andithasset people to thedigital of connecting 500million Mastercard its met goal 2021. UnderMr. Banga, of theboard inJanuary becoming executive chair and CEO of Mastercard, 11 years aspresident Most recently, hespent positions, includingCEO. where heheldseveral Citigroup AsiaPacific, Inc. before joining Nestlé IndiaandPepsiCo Mr. Bangaworked at Ajay Banga Cornell Medicine. boards, includingWeill and amemberof several Chamber of Commerce of theInternational Policy andNegotiations. Committee for Trade and theAdvisory executive-bios/ .com/news/press/ https://www.mastercard Learn more: Today, heischairman SUMMER 2021

Maggie Wilderotter After high-profile roles at Microsoft, AT&T and startups including Wink Communications, Ms. Wilderotter became CEO of Frontier Commu- nications in 2004. Over the next 12 years, she transformed Frontier from a regional phone company into a national broadband, voice and video provider with annual revenues of more than $10 billion. During the Obama administration, she served on the National Security Telecommu- nications Advisory Committee and the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. Today, Ms. Wilderotter is CEO of Grand Reserve Inn and an active mem- ber of several boards, including Costco, Lyft and DreamWorks Animation.

Learn more: https://www.linkedin IQ: If you could have done one thing made the same mistake when he started .com/in/maggie- wilderotter-a37aa81a7/ differently as an executive, what would it be? his next computer [company], but when he Mr. Banga: Just one thing? We all make came back to Apple, one of the first things mistakes; the key to doing things differently he did was to switch to the Intel processor. next time is to forgive and forget. People will Ms. Wilderotter: We tend to make mistakes only come to you to own up to [it] if you’re when we find ourselves in situations that we capable of forgiving and forgetting, learning didn’t anticipate. Some of it is that we just from it and moving on. We all say it, but I don’t know what we don’t know; other times don’t think any of us do it adequately. As it’s because of who we are or what we do. CEO your voice is like a megaphone, so the When you’re chief operating officer at time you don’t do it is the one that people AT&T, people answer the phone. [At] a will remember. startup, no one answers the phone, even if Mr. Sculley: A big mistake at Apple was you’re CEO. So one of the big things I had not looking far enough into the future of to learn was, wow, this is a whole different computer hardware. We used a proprietary perch. I had to reach deep inside and get processor based on the safest, best technical very creative about getting in to see potential choice, but it wasn’t the best strategic choice customers and working the supply chain. when you [consider] what the PC industry We go through trial and error as CEOs, but would look like [in] five, 10, 15 years. it’s what we do about it that matters. I think If we had had a better perspective on we learn from mistakes more than we learn that, we would’ve gone with Intel. Steve Jobs from our successes.

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IQ: How optimistic are you about the Ms. Wilderotter: I look at how businesses “Great post-pandemic business climate, especially have pivoted over the last almost year and a CEOs simplify with renewed imperatives for transparency half. Some have had great tailwinds because and environmental, social and corporate of the pandemic, and others have had great and clarify. governance? headwinds. And the ones that have had They take Mr. Banga: I feel good about where the headwinds? Well, they’ve learned about complex economy is going, but I’m nervous about resilience; they’ve learned about tenacity the hot spots that remain because the virus and grit. I feel good about that. issues and has proven tougher than people think. I also think there’s a lot of noise in the make them We shouldn’t declare victory yet. system right now. Even if you set aside the easy for I’m also worried about the deep fear and anxiety, there are a lot more voices underlying issues in society that COVID that we have to hear as leaders; we have to people to has exposed as fault lines: the exclusion/ synthesize those voices to decide if they add understand.” inclusion and racial issues, the digital divide value to our businesses and our employees. —Maggie Wilderotter and the K-shaped recovery. These are all You have to make tough decisions, but different words for growing up on the wrong they need to be authentic to your culture, side of the tracks, or not having access, or your values and your company’s mission. not having had the privilege of going to the As a CEO, I would get input from my board, right school or being lucky enough to have my employee base, my senior leaders, my the right kind of job. Those issues were top customers and my suppliers because always there, but the pandemic exacerbated we live in a community, not in isolation. them. We need to make sure we’re paying By going through that process, you can make the right attention to them. better, more informed decisions, and you Mr. Sculley: We’ve learned a lot about can communicate why. leadership during the COVID-19 era. Leaders have had to think more responsibly. IQ: Looking at 2021 and beyond, how do you They’ve had to think about not just their think the role of CEO is changing? shareholders, but also their employees Mr. Banga: There used to be the imperial CEO and how they can adapt to the pandemic model of command and control, but now you conditions. In many cases, they had to make need to be an accessible CEO. This generation’s radical changes in their businesses. approach toward doing good and doing well Adaptive innovation is every bit as at the same time, not just one or the other, important as outright innovation. I wrote is quite enlightening, and it’s challenging in my book Moonshot! that with the right for everyone to keep pace with it. mindset and a passionate commitment to It’s not a coincidence that people are excel, you can be an adaptive innovator who talking about environmental, social and can share in today’s transformative moment. corporate governance in more passionate This is true whether or not we experience terms today than they did some years a crisis. We’re always working with ago. I’m convinced it’s partly because our incomplete information because we can’t employees are also demanding that from us, know what tomorrow will bring. Adaptive so the environment around the CEO is quite innovators are less likely to be caught off different from what it used to be. And there’s guard because they are always working on nothing wrong with that.

COURTESY MAGGIE WILDEROTTER MAGGIE COURTESY the very edge of what’s possible. Mr. Sculley: The challenge is that as CEO, >>>

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“As CEO … you have everything coming at you all the pandemic, but what we’ve really done is just you have to time. You have to ask, how do I make the moved our offices into our homes. So we trade-offs between the things that I have to don’t really have those natural separations ask, how do do to deliver results now, versus things that in that we used to have. I make the the years ahead would be a better decision? We have to rethink how work gets trade-offs What’s really interesting about the 2020s done, which includes putting time into is that we are all living in exponential time, our schedules to refresh, to rejuvenate, between the which became apparent to us during the to sleep, to get exercise. Being a CEO is things that pandemic. Exponential time is different from mental; it’s emotional; it’s spiritual and I have to do linear time. We’re seeing the things that used it’s purpose driven. I think leaders need to to take 10 years now being done in three or remember that if you don’t slow down, to deliver four years; things that used to take three or you’re not doing yourself, your companies results now, four years can get done in one year. or your constituents any favors. You’ll burn versus things Think of the speed at which things out, which is not only dangerous for you happened that, without the pandemic, personally, but it’s also dangerous for your that in the might’ve taken many years. And by the company culture. years ahead way, just because the pandemic will pass, would be doesn’t mean we’re out of exponential IQ: As an experienced CEO, what advice time. It’s going to continue. So leadership would you give to someone who has just a better during this decade is going to continue arrived in the C-suite? decision?” to have to deal with these accelerated Mr. Banga: If you surround yourself with —John Sculley rates of change. The focus has got to be people just like you, then you’re probably on adaptive innovation. going to have some blind spots and end up Ms. Wilderotter: CEOs have a lot coming creating more challenges for yourself. The at them that they didn’t have to worry real definition of diversity is surrounding about [before]. We also have more diverse yourself with people who don’t look like employee bases, and being able to appeal you, don’t walk like you, didn’t go to the to diversity—to promote it and provide same schools as you, didn’t grow up where opportunities for it—is a new role for CEOs. you grew up, didn’t work with you in your I always felt that diversity was good prior three jobs. They will bring these beau- business, but as a woman, I was a minority tiful, different experiences to the party, and in leadership. I made sure that 50% or more they’ll make you stronger because they of my board was women and 50% or more question. of my leadership team was women in the I haven’t talked about strategy, great companies that I ran. They weren’t like that wisdom, understanding the market, being when I got there, but they were like that focused on your customer … those are all while I led and when I left. I think that’s a things that CEOs talk about and do. But new thing for a lot of male CEOs, who are people and culture are inside of all this. I still the majority today. continue to believe that the single most Finally, I think that we can’t forget the important thing a CEO does is focus on soft side of leading and the fact that our people and culture. If you can do that well, businesses today are 24/7. We have to then all of those other things will come. replenish our energy for running companies Mr. Sculley: Perhaps the best lesson I learned and doing our jobs every day. We say that came from Steve. He used to say that you we’ve been working from home during the need to look at the edge of an industry, not

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INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY COPYRIGHT © INSIGNIAM HOLDING LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONFIDENTIAL SUMMER 2021 AND PROPRIETARY. MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY ELECTRONIC OR PRINT OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF INSIGNIAM. VISIT WWW.INSIGNIAM.COM FOR CONTACTS. John Sculley Mr. Sculley began his career at PepsiCo Inc., where he rose from marketing trainee to president and CEO of the company. Along the way, he helped create the largest packaged-goods brand in America, thanks in part to the Pepsi Challenge and his leadership of PepsiCo’s International Food Operations division. Mr. Sculley then moved to Apple Inc. During his decade- long tenure as CEO, he grew annual sales from $800 million to $8 billion. Since leaving Apple in 1993, he has remained active as a business leader, speaker, author, entrepreneur and investor in high-tech startups.

Learn more: at the center. He called it zooming. Ms. Wilderotter: We have to be lifelong https://www.sculley- speaks.com/#bio-widget It’s a natural tendency for people to learners as CEOs. We have to learn and look at things from the standpoint of the reinvent ourselves, and that part of the expected, as opposed to the unexpected. journey is the best part. It’s only when you can look beyond the But that means you have to give people industry as it exists today that you start to permission to give you candid feedback see possibilities that don’t occur to most and to tell you not to do things. CEOs are people, and that’s where builders are people of action, and we have very little most effective. patience. We have a sense of urgency, and we I’m a builder, and I tend to be involved in want to fix things. Instead, start by saying, things that are foundational to what comes ‘Tell me what you want from me in this 10, 20 years later. I’m just as proud of that conversation.’ It’s OK to give permission to as I am of things that were happening at your people to tell you what they really need the time I was a CEO of the largest-selling from you versus just taking orders from you. computer brand in the world. You have to Finally, take the time to get to know realize that you’re not there forever. You’re people who work very closely around you as there for a period of time, and there are human beings first and as executives second, some things you can do that will affect the because we all have lives and livelihoods that here and now. Even more importantly, there matter. You have to know who you want are things you can do that are foundational to be in the foxhole with, and they need

COURTESY JOHN SCULLEY JOHN COURTESY to the company long after you’re gone. to know you. IQ

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