Leadership Next

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United's Vaccine Mandate: "Clearly just the right thing to do" Nov 16, 2021

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United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby was one of the first leaders of a major American company to insist all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. The move was controversial. But in the end, over 99% of workers complied. Kirby tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt that while he was confident the mandate was the right choice, he's glad the process is now in his rearview mirror.

In this episode of Leadership Next Kirby shares how he makes hard decisions. He talks about United's commitment to be "100% green" by 2050. (He's quick to point out that carbon offsets do NOT figure into the company's plan.) And, he explains how his military training and love of reading have set him up for success.

How Adrian Gore Turned a Hunch Into a Winning Business Model Nov 09, 2021

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When Adrian Gore decided to build an insurance company in South Africa in the early 1990s, he took a novel approach: the company should aim to make people healthier. This was not - and is not - a common tactic in the insurance business. But in a country with lots of sick people and not enough doctors, it seemed like the only sustainable choice Gore told Leadership Next.

His gamble paid off - Discovery is now a very successful global business that has expanded beyond health insurance. In this conversation with Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt, Gore explains how he founded Discovery, the power of incentives to drive healthy behavior and where the company is headed next.

Autonomous Vehicles Coming to a Road Near You? Nov 02, 2021

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Cruise, backed by General Motors, plans to have one million of its self-driving cars on the road by 2030, according to CEO Dan Ammann. But the cars won't be sold to individuals. Instead, Cruise plans to introduce the public to its autonomous vehicles via ride sharing. The idea is that instead of calling an Uber or a Lyft, passengers will call a Cruise AV.

On this episode of Leadership Next, Ammann tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt how the company plans to pull this off. He also explains why he's so eager to get more self-driving cars on the road. For him, it's about safer roads and saving lives.

An Inclusive Approach to Training Company Leaders Oct 26, 2021

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In the past, offering executives leadership training was an expensive proposition. This meant only a handful of employees were able to participate. But what if you blew that model up? If you could lower the. cost, you could increase the number of employees being trained to excel. The result: a broader and more diverse group of up-and-coming corporate leaders. This is exactly what ExecOnline's CEO and co-founder, Stephen Bailey, has done. His company partners with top business schools and offers their material online to nearly half of all Fortune 500 companies.

In this episode of Leadership Next he tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt why he started ExecOnline. The three discuss how the responsibilities of corporate leaders have changed, and what it takes to be a successful leader today.

Esri: The Private Company Whose Maps 'Run the World' Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

Jack Dangermond founded Esri over 50 years ago and has grown it into a giant private company that provides software to global corporations, governments and NGOs. At its heart, it's a map-making company. Customers pull data into Esri software to create maps that help inform all sorts of decisions. As Jack tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt, "Our customers run the world ... and they do it through maps."

But Esri's mission runs deeper than this.

"We look at issues of a social nature or an environmental nature, and try to build some of the parameters of that kind of thinking into the basic tools. So when our users buy those tools, they wind up doing usually a lot more than their basic mission. ... They do things more efficiently. They do things more sustainably, ... So we can't actually control them or tell them what to do. But we can introduce to them this geographic way of thinking and acting that ultimately drives better action and behavior on their part."

Michael Dell: We've Only Seen Tech's 'Pre-Game Show' Oct 05, 2021

Show notes

Michael Dell had a reputation for not paying attention in school. But apparently, reading computer magazines in the back of his high school classrooms paid off - he went on to found Dell Technologies. This story, and many others, appear in Dell's new book, 'Play Nice But Win.' And today he's sharing several of them on Leadership Next.

Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt spend some time digging into Dell's decision to take his company private in 2013 and then return to the public markets in 2018.

You may not be surprised to hear that the CEO of Dell Technologies also has a lot to say about tech itself. He believes "nobody is going to be spared" from transformation, that the experience will be "wicked and brutal" but also "wonderful and amazing."

Helping Women Build Families Is a Smart Economic Move Sep 28, 2021

Show notes

Thanks to COVID-19, corporate America has been forced to reimagine how, where and when works gets done. And the former CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, is pushing companies to inject "more humanity" into these future of work conversations. For her that means including discussions on how to support families, enabling everyone to fully participate in the workforce. As she tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt, this is not a "feminist issue," it's an economic one.

Drawing on her new book, "My Life In Full," Nooyi lays out some specific steps she believes companies should take to better support working women. The Leadership Next conversation also touches on Nooyi's moves as PepsiCo CEO to make healthier products and boost sustainability efforts.

How to Create a Great Place to Work Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

In today's race to attract and retain the best employees, creating an inclusive environment where people actually want to work is key to success. And this is something today's Leadership Next guests have been focused on for years. Michael Bush is CEO of Great Place to Work (GPTW), and Aron Ain is CEO of UKG, the company that recently acquired GPTW.

The two tell Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt why their companies recently joined forces, and share advice on navigating the rapidly-changing world of work.

Can a Robot Do Your Job? Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

Robots have been moving into factories and other manufacturing facilities for some time. But Daniel Dines is out to automate tasks traditionally done by knowledge workers. Dines's company, UiPath, is working hard to bring robotic process automation, or RPA, into offices across the world. He argues that automating routine tasks ultimately enhances jobs - and investors seem to agree. The company went public earlier this year in one of the largest U.S. software IPOs in history, and continues to grow.

On this episode of Leadership Next, Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt dig into Dines's argument that this automation is a positive development for all concerned.

Are CEOs Truly Committed to Stakeholder Capitalism? Aug 24, 2021

Show notes

It's been almost exactly two years since the Business Roundtable - a DC-based advocacy group comprised of the country's biggest companies - updated its mission statement to include stakeholders like employees and communities alongside shareholders. The move signaled a change in approach that Leadership Next's Alan Murray calls "transformational." As co-host Ellen McGirt points out however, skeptics continue to say this is all just talk, not substantive change.

So today, Alan and Ellen check in with the head of the Business Roundtable - Josh Bolten - to hear the arguments he offers critics. They also discuss implementing standards to better measure the impact of the stakeholder approach, how the pandemic has impacted adherence to the stakeholder model, and Bono (yes, that Bono).

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