IQ | Insigniam Quarterly - Spring 2023: "Unleashing the Magic of Talent"

UNLEASHING THE MAGIC OF TALENT ISSUE

CRISIS HAS NO PLAYBOOK

HOW BILL PAPPAS, METLIFE’S HEAD OF GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS, KEPT A TEAM 0F THOUSANDS FOCUSED ON CUSTOMER SUCCESS WHILE THE SKY WAS FALLING AROUND THEM.

Over 30 years ago, Insigniam pioneered the field of organizational transformation. Today, executives in large, complex organizations use Insigniam’s consulting services to generate breakthroughs in their critical business results. Insigniam’s innovation consulting enables enterprises to identify and cross into new strategic frontiers to rapidly generate new income streams. Insigniam provides executives of the world’s largest companies with management consulting services and solutions that are unparalleled in their potency to quickly deliver on strategic imperatives and boost dramatic growth. Insigniam solutions include Enterprise Transformation, Strategy Innovation and Innovation Projects, Breakthrough Projects, Transformational Leadership and Managing Change. Offices are located in Philadelphia, Laguna Beach and Paris. For more information, please visit www.insigniam.com.

“YOU MUST HAVE PASSION FOR PEOPLE. IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT PEOPLE—FROM THE FRONT LINE TO EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP—EVERYTHING ELSE WILL COME TO FRUITION.”

—Bill Pappas, EVP & Head of Global Technology, MetLife

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Shideh Sedgh Bina sbina@insigniam.com

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jon Kleinman jkleinman@insigniam.com

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Daniel Heller dheller@insigniam.com

MANAGING DIRECTOR OF INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY

Natalie Rahn nrahn@insigniam.com

EDITOR

Jonathan Ball jball@insigniam.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Sarah Dancy Blackburn, Marie-Caroline Chauvet, Cody Cerny, Anna Islamova, Ryan Jones, Josh LeGassick, Kelly Robyn, Mia Studenroth

IQ Insigniam Quarterly is a thought leadership publication committed to transforming the world of business by offering content relevant to the C-suite and their executive teams at large, complex global enterprises.

IQInsigniamQuarterlyis a production of Insigniam Holding LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher and Insigniam. Printed in the U.S.A. For subscriptions, please visit quarterly.insigniam.com Insigniam distributes this editorial magazine to share the opinions and insights of companies and their leaders on impactful global business issues. The statements, opinions, and information contained in this publication are those of the individual authors and contributors, not of Insigniam. Insigniam disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, topicality, or quality of any statements, opinions, or information provided. Any liability claims against an author or contributor in respect of damage to persons or property caused or alleged to be caused by the use of this publication, including any statements, opinions, or information which are incorrect or incomplete, are therefore excluded. IQInsigniam Quarterly’s inclusion of a company or individual does not indicate that they are a client of Insigniam. Remuneration is not provided for editorial coverage. Individuals appearing in IQInsigniamQuarterlyhave done so with direct consent, or provided consent by a designated authorized agent in addition to being informed of the magazine’s audience and purpose. Both INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY and IQ INSIGNIAM QUARTERLY are registered trademarks in the United States, the European Union, China including Hong Kong, and other countries. Copyright © 2023 by Insigniam Holding LLC

WELCOME TO OUR NEXT CHAPTER

Suffice it to say that when we launched our very first issue of Insigniam Quarterly ten years ago, the world was a very different place. Looking back on the top stories of 2013, Bitcoin was on the rise, Twitter was coming of age, and Netflix was fast on their way to becoming a full-fledged production studio and streaming platform. On second thought, perhaps the world wasn’t quite as different as we assume.

This issue of IQ marks our transition to a 100% digital publication. While we love the tactical nature of a physical magazine, it’s difficult to reconcile the fact that 85 million tons of paper waste is created each year globally. As human-made environmental impacts push supply chains worldwide to their breaking points, the move to ‘go green’ and embrace a fully digital future made sense from our point of view. Additionally, transitioning toward a digital-first strategy allows us to enrich our online content and the way you consume it.

Moving forward, each issue of IQ will be delivered via a digital flip book, which will serve as a hub for content throughout the IQ ecosystem, with links to feature stories, Q&A interviews, videos, podcasts, audibles and much more.

Thank you for taking this incredible journey with us, and cheers to the future –both ours and yours. IQ

HOW TO NAVIGATE OUR DIGITAL ISSUE

Flip through the magazine, just like our previous print edition.

Tap any of the ‘Features’ in the table of contents to read the full article.

Tap the ‘Web Content’ stories on page 3 to read more on our website.

Visit (or tap) insigniam.com/thought-leadership to access more IQ content.

Shideh Sedgh Bina Founding Partner, Insigniam

UNLEASHING THE MAGIC OF TALENT ISSUE

4

TAP TO READ FULL ARTICLES

FEATURES

FROM THE BOARDROOM: ALL IN THE FAMILY

How boards of founder-led and family-run companies can adapt to ownership changes with agility.

By Gregory Trueblood

8

BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS: THE BEST [VIRTUAL] ONBOARDING OF MY CAREER

And how to afford your employees a world-class onboarding experience.

By Jonathan Ball

CEO MASTERCLASS: DO NO HARM

A hippocratic playbook for newly-minted CEOs—and those looking to avoid PR landmines.

VIDEO: TIME TO TRANSFORM? Insigniam’s co-founder tells Fortune how to gauge the need for transformation.

By Nathan Owen Rosenberg With Shideh Sedgh Bina

20

COVER STORY: BILL PAPPAS

How MetLife’s head of global technology and operations wrote his own playbook on crisis management.

28

SEMINAL FEATURE: NOT ALL CONVERSATIONS ARE CREATED EQUAL

In a hyrbid work environment, these five critical conversations are key to your success.

34

GEOPOLITICAL FEATURE: STARVING FOR ACTION

How global enterprises can effect positive change while also reducing operating expenses and product waste.

By Jonathan Ball By June Zeringue & Jon Kleinman By Katerin Le Folcalvez

WHAT IS THE COST? THE PRICE OF FAME

What happens when a celebrity spokesperson turns toxic?

By Jennifer Zimmer

“As leaders, we have the responsibility to ensure that AI is designed, developed, and deployed to benefit everyone, not just a few. That’s why we need to ensure that AI is developed in a way that is transparent, explainable, and ethical.”

Lauren Woodman, CEO, DataKind Davos World Economic Forum 2023

DEPARTMENTS READ MORE

TECH BYTE

The inside story on generative AI.

BY THE NUMBERS

In-house vs. external CEO hires.

BROWSER HISTORY

Recommended reads for the C-suite.

PERSPECTIVES

Choose your legacy— on your terms.

AUDIBLES & PODCASTS

Listen to insights on breakthrough, innovation, and transformation.

ON THE COVER

Bill Pappas, Head of Global Technology and Operations at MetLife

Photography by Michael Benabib

(Left) Lauren Woodman, Chief Executive Officer, DataKind, speaking in the Investing in AI, with Care session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 18, Jan. 2023. Copyright: World Economic Forum / Boris Baldinger. Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/ worldeconomicforum

INSIGHT FROM THE BOARDROOM

ALL IN THE FAMILY

How boards of founder-led and family-run companies can adapt to ownership changes with agility.

By Gregory Trueblood

Although perhaps not a household name to many outside of Japan, Kongō Gumi—a construction company based in Osaka— has long held the moniker of “world’s oldest family run company.”

Just how old, you ask? 1445 years, to be exact. Should one be interested in tracing Kongō Gumi’s corporate lineage to the very beginning, look no further than the company’s 10-foot-long, 17th century

scroll that denotes the firm’s creation in 578 A.D. by founder Shigemitsu Kongō.

In the case of Kongō Gumi, several factors contributed to the company’s enduring longevity. Yet, a decision to go public in 2005 shifted the business into the realm of a post-founder family enterprise.

For Kongō Gumi and Masakazu Kongō—the 40th and final Kongō to lead the firm—this decision was seen as a way to raise much-needed capital and

increase the company’s access to financing, which had been depressed for decades due to exorbitant debt on their balance sheet.

Additionally, financial difficulties related to a decline in demand for traditional Japanesestyle temples and other wooden structures, and an increase in competition from larger, more modern firms, was a key driver as well.

Ultimately, it would seem, even the world’s oldest family-owned firm was not immune from disruption within its ownership structure.

In January 2005, Kongō Gumi went public on the Osaka Securities Exchange. Yet, just one year later, the company was acquired by a larger conglomerate: Takamatsu Construction Group Co. Ltd.

Although Kongō Gumi’s superlative record may never be challenged, they are certainly not the only family-run business thrust into the world of post-founder family enterprises.

“[Don’t] think just about management and operational excellence, but also think about what it is that you own, how it’s owned, where your enterprise is going, and how disruption is affecting that environment.”

—John Davis

Future Family Enterprise Program Faculty Director, MIT Sloan School of Management

INSIGHT FROM THE BOARDROOM

According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, approximately 33% of Fortune 500 companies are family-run, although the report notes that percentage can fluctuate over time, as companies may change ownership or control structures.

Additionally, some of the world’s largest brands faced similar transitions when moving away from founder-or-family-led ownership structures, including:

• Ford Motor Company: Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Company in 1903 and served as its CEO until his son, Edsel Ford, took over in 1919. Since then, the company has remained in the hands of the Ford family, with various family members serving in leadership positions.

• Walmart: Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962 and was succeeded as CEO by his eldest son, S. Robson Walton, in 1992. The company is now primarily controlled by the Walton family.

• Samsung Group: Lee Byung-chul founded Samsung Group in 1938 and was succeeded as CEO by his son, Lee Kun-hee, in 1987. After Lee Kun-hee’s death in 2020, his son, Lee Jae-yong, took over as de-facto leader of the company.

A common question among companies exploring ownership changes is: What involvement and influence should boards exercise during, and after, a company has transitioned or changed hands?

“To understand the future of your family’s enterprise, you need to gain altitude,” says MIT Sloan Business Faculty Director for the Future Family Enterprise Program, John Davis, in a video message on the university’s website. “Think about what it is that you own, how it’s owned, where your enterprise is going, and how disruption is affecting the environment.”

A Cautionary Tale

The failure of Sears has been attributed to their transition from a founder-led company to a publicly traded one, whose new executives were more focused on financial engineering and short-term profits than on building a sustainable business.

Perfecting Professionalization

In his book, Family Business, author Ernesto Poza defines professionalizing as the process of transforming a family business from an informally run organization, with decision-making concentrated in the hands of family members, to a more formally run organization, with decisionmaking based on sound business principles and practices, and with roles and responsibilities defined and assigned based on merit and qualifications, rather than family status alone.

Poza, a fellow at Cambridge Institute for Family Enterprise—a leading education and research center dedicated to family enterprise issues—is not the only academic to suggest that boards can either greatly help or hinder an enterprise through a period of great transition.

“[Although] most executives agree that it’s management’s responsibility to develop the company strategy and then discuss it with the board...we also commonly hear from founders that they don’t need a board because they already know what’s right for their company,” writes Mary Ann Cloyd, in “What Is a Board’s Role in a Family Business?” published by the Harvard Law Forum on Corporate Governance.

Cloyd suggests that a lack of board input— or the complete absence of a board entirely—is a dangerous liability, noting that when an enterprise faces a new situation, such as a change in ownership structure, an established board that understands a family-led business can help executives respond to innumerable challenges with sound advice and perspective.

Succession To a Non-Family Member (or Sale)

In Leaving a Legacy: Navigating Family Businesses Succession, author David C. Bentall writes that succession to a non-family member can be a viable option when there is no family member who is willing or able to take over the business, or in the case of a sale to a third-party.

“It is important to identify and recruit a successor who shares the values and vision of the family and who has the necessary

“Identify and recruit a successor who shares the values and vision of the family and who has the necessary skills and experience to lead the business forward.”

—David C. Bentall Author, Leaving a Legacy: Navigating Family Businesses Succession

skills and experience to lead the business forward. This process may involve searching for external candidates, evaluating internal candidates, or a combination of both,” he writes.

One cautionary tale of what can happen when a successor does not share the values or vision of the founder after transitioning from a family-led organization into a publicly traded company is that of Sears.

In the 1980s, the iconic American retailer began to struggle as it faced competition from discount retailers like Walmart and Target.

In an effort to turn the company around, Sears brought in outside executives and began to focus more on financial engineering than on retail operations. This led to a series of missteps, including the acquisition of Dean Witter Reynolds and Coldwell Banker, which distracted the company from its core retail business.

In 2005, Sears merged with Kmart, another struggling retailer, in an $11 billion (USD) deal intended to create a stronger competitor to Walmart. However, the merger failed to adapt to changing consumer trends and competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon. Ultimately, Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018.

“Sears failed because it lost touch with the needs and preferences of its customers, and it failed to invest in its stores and online in a meaningful way,” said Neil Saunders, managing

director of GlobalData Retail

interview with CNBC

in an

According to author Bentall, once alignment is found between a family-controlling group and external successor, boards can play a key role by, “developing a comprehensive succession plan that includes a clear timeline, a transition strategy, and a plan for communicating the transition to employees, customers, and other stakeholders.”

Bentall advises companies that their succession plan should also, “address issues such as compensation, incentives, and governance structures, to ensure that the new leader has the support and resources necessary to lead the business successfully.”

Protecting CEO Value

One final variable to consider is how a CEO can enhance their value while helming a company in transition, especially if they plan to remain chief executive post-sale of their company, or if listed on a public exchange. One such blueprint is Walmart, or more specifically, Sam Walton, who continued serving as CEO 22-years after taking the company public in 1970.

As is the case with Walmart, the CEO in family and founder-run companies is often a family member or someone who has a deep understanding of its values and culture. However, once their company goes public, the CEO’s role may shift to a more strategic and corporate-focused position, as they have a greater responsibility to the shareholders and must make decisions that are in the best interest of the company as a whole.

Andrew Keyt, executive director of the Family Business Center at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business and author of Myths and Mortals: Family Business Leadership and Succession Planning, says CEOs can add value by shepherding a “unified vision” for the future amid such transitions.

“Beyond financial gains, the successful multigenerational family-business [CEOs] create strong and enduring family relationships,” says Keyt, and “make significant contributions to their communities and establish a legacy for future generations to be proud of.” IQ

“Beyond financial gains, the successful multi-gen familybusiness [CEOs] create strong and enduring family relationships, significant contributions to their communities, and establish a legacy for future generations to be proud of.”

—Andrew Keyt Executive director of the Family Business Center at Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business

INSIGHT BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS

THE BEST [VIRTUAL] ONBOARDING OF MY CAREER

And how to afford your employees a world-class experience— regardless if they work remotely, hybrid, or on-site.

By Jonathan Ball

Once upon a time, in a past [career] life, I was recruited by a Fortune 100 company to serve as their creative director. Right off the bat, I must say how much I genuinely treasured my time with the firm. The projects I led were stimulating and the relationships I built with my colleagues—many of whom were the best in the business at their respective disciplines—endure to

this day. That said, my onboarding was not what you might call “robust.”

Upon arriving on my first day, I obtained my employee ID badge before being whisked away to a small, windowless conference room alongside hordes of other greenhorns for new employee orientation.

Later that afternoon—after completing all the requisite benefits paperwork—I was handed a swag-bag filled with company-branded pens, notepads and a frisbee. Shortly thereafter, we were dismissed, never to convene again.

A few days later, I realized that my rapid-fire onboarding left me with zero context for the company’s unwritten rules—the social norms, mental models, and unconscious collections of vested interests, beliefs, and customs that truly define an organization.

Once again, I must reiterate that my overall experience there was exceedingly positive. But it’s not because I was prepared to hit the ground running—or because I understood how to relate to my peers and colleagues in a way that created strong relationships or facilitated an environment of collaboration and innovation. And, as it turns out, I wasn’t alone.

All Aboard

According to Business News Daily, “only 43% of employees report an onboarding experience that was more than a single day of orientation and basic benefits information,” and global recruiting firm Hays suggests that, “51% of employees say they’d go ‘above and beyond’ in their work if they had a good onboarding experience.” Perhaps most troubling, poor onboarding can result in an abrupt loss of talent.

“Numerous studies have shown that the risk of employee turnover is highest early on in an employee’s tenure and sometimes occurs within a person’s first 45 days on the job,” says Business News Daily. “Without the right information and tools to set them up for success, newer employees are quick to leave for other opportunities.”

At this point, I bet you’re thinking, “Hang on...didn’t this guy say he just had the best onboarding experience of his career?” I did. And it was here at Insigniam.

Now, before clutching your pearls and grabbing your pitchforks because I duped you into reading an advertorial about my company’s hiring practices, allow me to share a bit of context.

“During a time when companies are struggling to retain talent, creating a strong onboarding process for new hires is imperative.”

—Harvard Business Review

When viewed through that lens, what belongs— and what doesn’t—in an effective onboarding curriculum begins to come into focus.”

On that note, let’s explore what worked, why it worked, and how to inject similar thinking into your own onboarding programs and practices—which are equally applicable for hybrid teams and on-site employees.

Context is Key

First and foremost, my exemplary onboarding experience lasted more than a day. In fact, it lasted two months.

During this time, my only “job” was to immerse myself in the nuances of the firm. Each week was broken out with a specific goal in mind, with several sub-milestones (80+ total) related to each stage. For example, my agenda looked like this:

For many years, I worked alongside Insigniam as a vendor, even serving as an editor of IQ at various points in its publication history. Despite my close proximity to the company, I was never privy to the day-to-day goings-on of the firm behind closed doors. In order to amass this knowledge, I needed to be onboarded.

“Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders,” says Marie-Caroline Chauvet, an Insigniam partner based in Paris who joined the firm in 2003 and oversees onboarding curriculum and delivery.

“Even organizations that are willing to invest the blood, sweat, and tears into designing effective onboarding programs can see their efforts fall short when key essentials are overlooked,” she says.“The goal for a successful onboarding experience is for a new colleague to feel at home and effective.”

Being ‘at home’ and ‘effective’ is foundational to any program because, early on, everyone must understand who does what, when, where, and why, says Ms. Chauvet.

“It’s about understanding and utilizing the tools and structures necessary to do your job.

—Marie-Caroline Chauvet Insigniam Partner

• Week 1: I feel welcomed and familiar

• Week 2: I can navigate basic tools and practices

• Week 3: I understand what makes us distinct

• Week 4: I have a deeper grasp of the company

• Week 5: I am equipped for success

• Week 6: I feel at home and set-up

• Week 7: Onboarding is complete

The subtext behind each stage denotes how I was meant to feel at the end of each week. By the end of week one, I felt welcome. By week three, I had a deeper understanding of the company’s secret sauce, and by week six I felt at home and fully set-up.

“Early into someone’s onboarding journey, we do not consider them trained on anything—which is more a paradigm of training and development,” says Ms. Chauvet.

“Our philosophy for onboarding is that everything is contextual and applicable. It is not just about knowing where things are, but equally as important is the context of why we do what we do, why we use the tools that we use, and why relationships are the foundation for all accomplishments.”

“Onboarding, also known as organizational socialization, refers to the mechanism through which new employees acquire the knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders.”

According

employees want a buddy or mentor” who is different from the person’s manager, so that the new employee feels comfortable asking any question, large or small.

As a linear-learner, I felt confident as I moved from week to week, amassing contextual knowledge about how to operate effectively within the organization. Additionally, within my first threemonths, I completed several surveys and participated in one-on-one calls to provide real-time feedback on the onboarding program so that the firm could continually refine and evolve their onboarding prototype.

Getting Related

The highlight during my onboarding period entailed connecting with my new colleagues through a series of conversations designed to build relationships.

“A critical part of onboarding involves building relationships—and every relationship begins with a conversation,” says Ms. Chauvet.

“In order to ‘get related’ to others, we must move beyond the transactional nature inherent to many professional conversations and into an informal environment to build trust and camaraderie.”

Case in point, every week my calendar was filled with Zoom invitations from colleagues around the world, all of whom were willing to take half-an-hour away from the pressing matters of the day simply to chat with me. Through these conversations, I learned which colleagues have pets, children,

grandchildren, and passions such as traveling and cooking. One colleague even knows Jon Bon Jovi personally (don’t ask who—I’ve been sworn to secrecy).

Speaking as a virtual employee who is 600 miles from the company’s closest physical office, these conversations were an essential first touch point to my colleagues, especially those outside my department. According to Harvard Business Review, there’s real value to these informal, one-on-one interactions.

“In a virtual setting, you can’t rely as much on the organic and spontaneous relationship-building that happens in hallways, over lunches, and at office events,” says James Citrin and Darleen DeRosa, co-authors of Leading at a Distance: Practical Lessons for Virtual Success, writing in the Harvard Business Review

One risk of virtual work, say the authors, is the likelihood that individuals or leaders will operate in silos due to interfacing with the same small network of people on a regular basis.

“Creating both a strong core network and a broader network across the organization will allow executives to be more successful long-term,” say the authors. “To do this, create a blended series of informal and formal experiences that aim to create community and build in touchpoints.”

The Buddy System

to onboarding firm Click Boarding, “56% of new

Buddies & Sponsors

Beyond the group dynamic, I was also fortunate to build a strong 1:1 relationship with my ‘buddy’—a designated colleague who made themselves available to triage any number of questions or curve balls that came my way. According to authors Citrin and DeRosa, this formula works in both traditional and virtual environments.

“Even in the office, it’s a good idea to have someone fill the role of informal mentor to support a new hire, but it’s even more critical remotely because the new leader won’t have colleagues around to spontaneously ask questions as they come up,” say the authors in Harvard Business Review. “It’s important that this informal mentor be a different person from the person’s manager, so that the new employee feels comfortable asking any question, large or small.”

Furthermore, buddies are in demand. According to onboarding company Click Boarding, “56% of new employees want a buddy or mentor.”

In addition to my buddy, I was also assigned a sponsor, who is someone responsible for expanding my capacity to make meaningful contributions to the firm. In a traditional setting, this would be a supervisor or manager, but the context for the relationship at Insigniam is unique.

“This structure is a response to an appreciation that one size does not fit all,” says Ms. Chauvet.“Some people need direct management to expand their capacity and some people need additional prowess.”

As a hallmark of the contributor-sponsor relationship, I was able to define my goals for the year—which were accepted and agreed upon by my sponsor—who will now work in tandem to ensure that I deliver on my promised outcomes.

Make it Yours

For enterprises open to enhancing their own programs, the Harvard Business Review recommends leveraging the power of coordinated action.

“Ensure this new platform integrates with your overall human resource management system,” says the Review in a piece entitled, Onboarding Can Make or Break a New Hire’s Experience. “That way, you can easily track the impact of your onboarding program on an actual new hire’s on-the-job performance and levels of new employee satisfaction.”

Lastly, if you’ve felt the pinch from the war for talent, now is the perfect time to enhance your approach, continues the Review.

“By implementing a strategic onboarding program, managers can build new hires’ confidence, increase engagement, and create an environment that retains talent for years to come.” IQ

Authors, Leading at a Distance: Practical Lessons for Virtual Success

Feedback Loop: Insigniam consultants reflect on their recent onboarding experiences.

“As someone who was working through the visa process at the time, I want to say ‘chaotic’, but it was truly ‘unbelievable’. Insigniam provided me with the resources and support that I needed as I moved to Paris, which happened to occur at the same time as onboarding.”

“Open communication throughout the onboarding process helped me codify my goals for the first 12 months, and I found the ability to selfmanage with the support of a buddy both refreshing and empowering.”

“The amount of context I was given for each milestone helped me connect the dots between small activities and major outcomes. Setting a broader context is in our company’s DNA, ensuring teams are aligned and engaged to deliver results with minimal supervision.”

“The relationships I built during onboarding have been essential to my success at Insigniam—and I appreciate and recognize how each of my colleagues was committed to establishing a strong rapport with me.”

“I was fortunate to be matched with a sponsor who is not only an extremely engaged leader and mentor, but is also one of the top performers in the firm. This relationship has been critical to my success at Insigniam.”

“Creating both a strong core network and a broader network across the organization will allow executives to be more successful long-term.”

—James Citrin & Darleen DeRosa

Sarah Dancy Blackburn ONBOARDING IN ONE WORD

Cody Cerny SETTING EXPECTATIONS

Anna Islamova CRITICAL CONTEXT

Ryan Jones RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

Kelly Robyn SPONSOR RELATIONSHIP

INSIGHT CEO MASTERCLASS

DO NO HARM: A GUIDE FOR FRESHLYMINTED CEOs

How to avoid career-ending mistakes upon ascending to the corner office.

By Nathan Owen Rosenberg

As one would expect, there is no more consequential, visible role within an organization than that of chief executive officer. For those new to the corner office—or who stand on the precipice of reaching the pinnacle leadership

position of their career—there is an inherent responsibility to not only ensure the sustainability, profitability and development of their enterprise, but also to do no harm.

“Not getting accurate, objective, performancerelated insights is a mistake any new CEO can make. But the right advice can prevent it from becoming a career-ending mistake.“

—Gallup

According to global research firm Gallup, the first few months of a CEO’s tenure are disproportionately important in determining their success.

When done well, an incoming chief executive can unlock enterprise transformations and catalyze higher engagement, productivity, and profitability throughout an organization.

When done poorly, however, not only can CEO’s find themselves the target of an unrelentingly negative news cycle, but they can also inadvertently sabotage their respective organization and its value to shareholders—as well as their own personal reputations, legacy, and career trajectory.

Perhaps the most recent and relevant example is Elon Musk’s rocky accession into the role of Twitter’s “Chief Twit”—the self-styled moniker Musk adopted after assuming the chief executive office following a very public fallout with the platform’s former board and executive team before Twitter’s sale was finalized in October 2022. While his turbulent tenure continues to garner headlines, the variables that make Musk an effective cautionary tale and unique case-study for upwardly mobile executives is three fold:

1. The damage Musk inflicted to Twitter began before his first day as chief executive;

2. His erratic behavior and decisionmaking—such as eliminating 80% of Twitter’s contract employees without notice—has raised doubts regarding the effectiveness of his leadership at Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink—where he concurrently serves as owner and CEO;

3. Lastly, Musk bungled an opportunity to mint himself as a turn-around CEO capable of transforming the heavily indebted, liquidity-challenged organization.

“Given the abrupt rise in CEOs leaving unexpectedly, companies without an emergency plan jeopardize their financial futures and relationships with stakeholders.”

—The Harvard Law School Forum

on Corporate Governance

CEO MASTERCLASS

To wit, The University of Michigan’s Journal of Economics summarized Twitter’s dire financial situation prior to Musk’s acquisition, stating, “Twitter has been operating at a massive loss for years, failing to book an annual profit since 2019,” writes Matthew Mahoney, who penned the journal’s report. “For eight of the last ten years, the company has posted a loss. While losses are trending downwards, the company saw a net loss of a staggering $1.14 billion (USD) in 2020.”

Given the company’s inconsistent financial performance, Twitter was the perfect test-case for a once-in-a-generation CEO to make their mark—but only if shepherded by the right chief executive. Unfortunately, Musk’s affinity for untethered disruption only further pushed the company into a financial tailspin.

The Financial Times goes on to note that Fidelity, which owned a sizable stake in the social media platform through a listed fund, cut the value of their holdings from approximately $20 million in October 2022 to $8.6 million after Musk closed the deal.

While his coffers on Wall-Street hoped Musk could quickly transform Twitter, much in the same way his persona bolstered Tesla and Space X, the billionaire techmogul instead directed his ire on a war with advertisers who had paused or ceased spending on the platform.

According to a report by Media Matters, half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers—who have collectively spent almost $2 billion since 2020—have abandoned the platform entirely. This includes major brands such as Chevrolet, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ford, Jeep, Merck & Co. and Novartis AG. Additionally, Reuters notes that overall advertising spending by the top 30 companies on Twitter fell by 42% in November and December of 2022 combined.

This compression, according to The Financial Times, has left the world’s richest person with “far less room to raise cash by collateralizing more shares.” Additionally, Musk continues to raise concerns from his investors, having sold over $40 billion in Tesla shares to both help finance the Twitter acquisition and make good on his first interest payment, which came due in December 2022.

While Musk is hardly the first CEO to experience an erratic accession to the chief executive office, his example is rich with insights for other CEOs—and soonto-be executives—seeking to exercise the corporate equivalent of a physician’s hippocratic oath.

Pick Your Battles

Putting aside Twitter’s ad-revenue challenges, many of the company’s current obstacles can be traced to statements—and actions—Musk has made in the press or on his platform.

According to Bill George, senior fellow at Harvard Business School and the former chair and CEO of medical device company Medtronic, both new and seasoned chief executives have powerful voices, yet cannot —and should not—speak out on all issues or they risk losing relevance and creating selfinflicted damage.

“[CEOs] should start with their mission and values,” writes George in an April 2022 op-ed in Fortune. “If an issue relates directly to their mission, it is incumbent on CEOs to have a position.”

The challenge for Musk—a selfproclaimed free-speech absolutist and owner of the world’s most influential social communication platform—is determining when and where his voice adds value; a decision necessary to other CEOs as well.

“[CEOs] should start with their mission and values. If an issue relates directly to their mission, it is incumbent on CEOs to have a position.”

—Bill George Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School and former CEO and Chair of Medtronic

Meet the New Boss Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek (right) exited the ‘House of Mouse’ after a two-year stint marked by Covid-19 shutdowns and PR debacles. He was replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger (left), in Nov. 2022.

INSIGHT

However, measured action is very different from inaction, which George is quick to point out in the case of Bob Chapek and Disney.

“When Bob Chapek became [Disney CEO] in January 2021, [he] resolved not to take a public position on controversial issues, recognizing that there were many pitfalls in doing so, such as offending employees, customers, and public officials on opposite sides of any given issue,” writes George.

“Thus, when the Florida legislature proposed the Parental Rights in Education bill restricting discussion of sexual identity in schools, Chapek stayed quiet. Meanwhile, 150 companies signed a letter opposing the legislation,” says George.

Ultimately, Chapek’s inaction and subsequent comments to limit the firestorm of controversy he created at The House of Mouse resulted in his dismissal.

In November 2022, Chapek was replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger, having just assumed the chief executive role in late February 2020.

According to The New York Times, Disney’s board surmised that Chapek had done “irreparable damage to his ability to lead, with a string of missteps resulting in the lost confidence of Wall Street and most senior Disney executives, as well as many rank-and-file employees.”

George says that consumer companies like Disney are particularly vulnerable to these types of cultural minefields, given the diversity of their customer base, which even in their shared passion, rarely have a unified position on cultural and social issues.

“As the Disney case illustrates, [CEOs] will be criticized whether they speak out or not,” says George

“With increasingly aggressive politicians challenging them, real money is at stake—not just public opinion. If companies have stated values about the importance of diversity, then they should line up in supporting their people. If sustainability is their focus, then they should be advocates for preventing the negative impact of climate change.”

Getting it Right...The First Time

For organizations who are able to select their next chief executive—barring a merger, acquisition or hostile takeover—companies can hedge negative headlines and any financial losses from an incoming chief executive through enhanced board oversight and intervention, as well as solid succession planning, say authors Maria Castañón Moats and Paul DeNicola in How the Best Boards Approach CEO Succession Planning, published

by The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.

While board inclusion is par for the course for succession planning, the rate at which CEOs are resigning or being removed from their positions has rapidly increased in recent years, suggesting more can be done within the boardroom to ensure their longterm success.

“In 2020, 56 S&P 500 CEOs resigned,” note the authors. “Of those who quit, 20% did so under pressure, up from 13% the year before. Meanwhile, average CEO tenures continue to fall, making it increasingly likely that directors will oversee more CEO successions during their board service.”

Interestingly, Chapek’s selection was applauded by analysts at the time who felt Disney’s board had secured the right

Egotwistical

According to a March 2023 email, Elon Musk believes Twitter is now worth about $20 billion—a hefty drop from the $44 billion he paid to purchase the platform in Oct. 2022.

candidate, given his 26 years of experience with the company

One such expert was Steven Kaplan, professor and corporate governance expert at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, who told the The Los Angeles Times that “Chapek is very good on the execution side [and] he makes decisions and gets things done.”

Conversely, however, other industry analysts have pointed to Bob Iger’s abrupt exit from Disney and Chapek’s shifting responsibilities as a sign of misalignment at the board-level.

“Iger stepped down with 22-months remaining on his contract to focus on the creative side of the business, while handing day-to-day management to Chapek,” wrote The Los Angeles Times.

However, by April 2020, Iger had resumed control of the company’s operational duties while Chapek was still CEO, a decision the company attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The challenge, as cited by Harvard Law, is that “too many boards have only a vague notion of how they would respond to a sudden CEO departure, let alone one as enormous as Disney, with a $200 billion market cap. Given the abrupt rise in CEOs leaving unexpectedly, companies without an emergency plan jeopardize their financial futures and relationships with stakeholders.”

The report further advocates that companies develop an emergency succession plan, which entails identifying capable interim candidates who can step in quickly, “such as

the CFO, COO, or other candidates already being groomed for the position,” the report says. By having “emergency CEO candidates” entrenched with boards and current executive leaders, companies can help, “smooth the transition...while the board searches for a long term replacement.”

Ready to Rise

Perhaps at no time in history have global enterprises found themselves wrestling with so many seemingly insurmountable challenges—from supply chain collapses amid the war for talent to increasing environmental and market pressures.

While freshly-minted CEOs will undoubtedly face these obstacles to varying degrees, it is critical that enterprises establish systems and structures to avoid self-inflicted, and sometimes cataclysmic damage, that can arise when an incoming executive becomes the focus of the story instead of the facilitator of results.

Lastly, by staying in close communication with their respective boards and CXO-level mentors, the better prepared an incoming executive will be to do no harm, writes Gallup.

“Not getting accurate, objective, performance-related insights is a mistake any new CEO can make. But the right advice can prevent it from becoming a career-ending mistake.”IQ

Half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers— who collectively spent almost $2 billion since 2020—have abandoned the platform entirely. This includes major brands such as Chevrolet, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ford, Jeep, Merck & Co. and Novartis.

VIDEO: Can You Handle a Transformation?

Not for the faint of heart, transformations take intestinal fortitude, says Insigniam co-founder Shideh Sedgh Bina in an interview with Fortune

How can executive leaders assess if their organizations are in need of a transformation? Start by considering the future: Do you believe that your business will continue to meet and exceed its goals based on your current strategy? If you look clinically (remove hope and optimism, but avoid pessimism) how secure are you about your enterprise’s future?

If gazing into the proverbial crystal ball causes feelings of anxiety or uncertainty, it might be time for a transformation.

Next, perform a self-administered gut check. You can’t be bold without intestinal fortitude, and transformations require leaders stand for the future of their organizations, while still being flexible, adaptable, and agile to get where they want to go. IQ

CRISIS

PLAYBOOK PLAYBOOK CRISIS has no

How MetLife EVP & Head of Global Technology and Operations Bill Pappas harnesses the magic of talent to ensure unrivaled service amid global upheaval.

BY JONATHAN BALL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL BENABIB

PLAYBOOK PLAYBOOK

Hyper-Agility

Mr. Pappas says that during a crisis, we must streamline decisionmaking toward a singular goal in order to bring agility into our businesses.

eated behind the desk of his Manhattan office, Bill Pappas gently adjusts his eye-glass frames during a brief moment of quiet selfreflection before carefully choosing how to contextualize the past 36 months of his professional life.

“Crisis management, when done well, can be very addictive,” says Mr. Pappas, head of global technology and operations at MetLife—one of the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, with more than 90 million customers in over 40 markets.

This is not abstract hyperbole; Mr. Pappas innately understands the hallmarks of effective crisis leadership, having joined the New York-based firm just a couple of months prior to the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was brand new into my role when we made a decision to transition 98% of MetLife’s employees to work fullyvirtually in just a matter of days,” says Mr. Pappas. In doing so, he and his team had the monumental task of ensuring tens-ofthousands of employees could continue to offer the highest levels of customer service just as the proverbial sky was falling around them.

“I’m proud to say that, from a MetLife perspective, we remained constant for our customers,” Mr. Pappas continues, noting that despite the massive disruption fueled by the pandemic, the company actually exceeded its previous customer

and associate satisfaction scores during this time period.

Now, three years after “crossing the Rubicon,” Mr. Pappas is shepherding another seemingly impossible journey: a shift to a new normal. Behind him stand a sea of employees and contractors who are responsible for technology development, infrastructure, information and cyber security, data strategy, customer service and much more.

“What does normalcy really mean?” Mr. Pappas asks rhetorically, “Because there is no going back to a pre-pandemic state—and there is no playbook for charting a path forward.”

Fortunately for Mr. Pappas, his internal compass always seems to point true north.

“It is my belief that when an organization like MetLife must pivot and adjust, we should also adjust our decision making processes, management routines, communication styles and frequency with both front-line employees and senior leaders,” says Mr. Pappas, referring to the internal sea change transpiring not just at MetLife, but also within thousands of other large enterprises around the world who are trying to read the tea leaves.

Yet, for Mr. Pappas, the way forward does not necessarily require throwing the baby out with the bathwater, since many of the lessons learned over the course of the pandemic are eerily adaptable within our new normal.

“During a crisis, you must align on the singular goal you seek to achieve, and then streamline your decision-making process to act quickly and effectively in order to bring

—Bill Pappas

“Jack [Welch] once told me that my job was ‘always to be a manager of human resources’, which is a simple phrase that I’ve reflected on time and again throughout my career.”

agility and innovation to your business,” says Mr. Pappas, who believes such a formula can be adapted to maintain relevance with customers and achieve a competitive edge within the marketplace.

“To deescalate away from crisis mode toward a more stable environment, we should start by determining what should stay fixed to our radar screens,” he says. “Then, like anything else in life, we can determine when and where to adjust our attention.”

Learning to Lead

When Mr. Pappas joined MetLife in 2019, his adeptness at crisis leadership was but one of the many arrows in his quiver.

Prior to joining the insurance giant, Mr. Pappas served as the head of operations for the consumer, small business, wealth management, and private banking businesses at Bank of America. In his role, Mr. Pappas directed a team of more than 40,000 employees to deliver integrated services and solutions to approximately 63 million consumers and clients. He also served as chief information officer for global wholesale banking technology and operations at Bank of America, as well as head of capital markets and operations.

Seen as a hands-on leader with a penchant for consistently putting the customer first, Mr. Pappas was named one of Bank Systems & Technology’s “Elite 8” for being a chief information officer who embraced change and innovation to achieve a competitive distinction.

Yet, when asked to expand on his early career success, Mr. Pappas is quick to give credit to the leaders who inspired and shaped his leadership philosophy.

“When I look back, I was extremely fortunate to work for three of the most powerful women in banking: Barbara Desoer, former-CEO of Citibank, N.A.; Cathy Bessant, Vice Chair at Bank of America; and Margaret Keane, former-CEO and current executive chair of Synchrony Financial,” cites Mr. Pappas, who exemplifies the leadership qualities he absorbed from his tenure with this distinguished group.

“The first lesson I learned was how to lead with confidence amid disruption, which was taught to me by Cathy Bessant during the financial crisis of 2008,” Mr. Pappas recalls. “She said to me, ‘I trust you. I trust you. You will figure it out.’ That was the most powerful thing I could hear—not because somebody

STEM Cells

At the Triangle Tech X Conference—which focuses on developing solutions to increase the number of women in STEM—Mr. Pappas and team hosted over 3,500 attendees at the company’s Global Technology Hub in Cary, North Carolina.

Leading the Future

Alongside the executive team at MetLife, Mr. Pappas is helping to build a purposedriven and inclusive culture that energizes employees to make a difference. As of 2021, 40% of managers globally at MetLife are women, and 24% of officers in the U.S. are ethnically and/or racially diverse.

was solving a problem for me, but because our people and our leaders trusted that we would do the right thing so long as we cared about our customers and associates.”

As he notes, trust and empathy are critical for leading during a crisis, especially when there lacks a precedent.

“Much like the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial crisis did not come with a playbook for when to adapt or pivot,” says Mr. Pappas, “But, I always say that the risk of trying is failing—yet simply doing nothing is by far a greater, more malignant risk.”

As a former member of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Payments Risk Committee, Mr. Pappas keenly understands the nature of risk, as well as how to mitigate its impact, especially during times of upheaval.

“When other leaders ask how they can prepare an organization to adapt and pivot, I often tell them to learn how to receive bad news well,” Mr. Pappas says, in reference to many difficult, internal discussions regarding how to improve processes and capabilities during a period

of extreme market compression, the likes many had never experienced early in the pandemic.

“In order to learn from bad news and mistakes—as well as guide others through uncertain times—we must cultivate an environment built on radical trust and empathy in order to instill the confidence leaders need to execute with excellence when the deck seems stacked against them.”

Fortunately, Mr. Pappas had perhaps the best mentor for inspiring confidence that a leader could hope for in the late Jack Welch, legendary former Chairman and CEO of General Electric.

“Jack once told me that my job was ‘always to be a manager of human resources’, which is a simple phrase that I’ve reflected on time and again throughout my career,” recalls Mr. Pappas.

Under Welch’s tutelage, Mr. Pappas cemented his view that an organization’s associates are their greatest assets, and leaders must ensure that they understand them.

“You must have passion for people,” says Mr. Pappas, whose eyes light-up when he begins extolling the virtues of catalyzing talent. “If you have the right people—from the front line to executive leadership—everything else will come to fruition.”

For Mr. Pappas, Welch’s guidance underscored the need to develop human resource skills as a core competency within his own leadership répertoire, in order to attract, retain, and develop a deep leadership bench within an organization—something not always synonymous with the financial and technology sectors.

“I grew up in finance, technology, and operations, but I knew I needed to learn how to create a culture where people would be able to succeed, regardless of their function or role,” says Mr. Pappas, who notes that, “inclusiveness is key so that everyone can achieve their respective career aspirations.”

“I will never forget Jack’s statement,” he says. “Today, I believe I have a peoplefirst mentality: you need the right people first and then solutions will come.”

The Magic of MetLife’s Talent

For Mr. Pappas, the spark lit by Jack Welch’s mentorship evolved into a unique perspective on how to unleash the magic of talent with an organization, which he attributes to powerful alignment around a shared purpose.

In fact, Mr. Pappas says what drew him to MetLife was the vision of the company’s CEO, Michel A. Khalaf.

“At MetLife, we are a purpose-driven company, and our purpose is to put our customer at the center of everything that we do. This focus is what defines Michel, and as a result, defines MetLife. He looks beyond industry boundaries—he’s authentic and emotionally connected; principled with an unparalleled sense of commitment for our customers and employees. No matter where you sit in MetLife—in what organization or at what level—Michel’s passion around the customer aligns us all to a common goal.”

Additionally, Mr. Pappas says your employees must be brand advocates to serve customers the way they deserve to be served. He says ‘unleashing the magic of talent’ manifests itself in his multifaceted approach of nurturing a culture of innovation, creativity, and growth—as well as providing employees with the right tools, resources, and support to excel—which is foundational to his success as a leader of people who work in vastly different disciplines. Yet, for Mr. Pappas, leadership begets leadership.

“I wake up every day and the first thing that comes into my mind is to connect with the leaders inside our organization who I depend on to shepherd their respective disciplines,” says Mr. Pappas. “No singular person can lead 50,000 people effectively by themselves alone, so as a leader, I must always remain intellectually curious, ask questions, defer judgment, and ensure that I have context from the leaders I count on.”

Also important, says Mr. Pappas, is the ability to find common ground with a colleague, irrespective of their specific role.

“Regardless of where you sit in a particular discipline, our enterprise-wide charter is to understand how our actions impact our customers, which is foundational to our shared success.”

Within MetLife, the idea of coalescing around customer care was central to the formation of ‘All Together Possible’—a core cultural tenant that posits that people are

the most powerful force-multiplier within an organization. According to the company, catalyzing the magic of talent requires:

• Leadership engagement and accountability throughout their global operations, with a commitment to create equity across our workforce. This entails establishing a set of expectations, setting clear goals and objectives, and communicating them throughout the enterprise, which Mr. Pappas muses is actually, “a way to take layers out of the organization. But you must communicate more authentically than you have ever before.”

• Upskilling each employee’s ability to grow professionally and to build a career that matters regardless of their background or company role. The challenge, says Mr. Pappas, is upskilling at scale, which requires identifying skills gaps, developing training modalities, investing in technology as well as peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and measuring the effectiveness of an employee’s progress to ensure improvements can be made where necessary.

• Unique experiences, perspectives, and voices that collectively make the company stronger and more inclusive. Per the company’s 2030 DEI commitments, MetLife is addressing the needs of the underserved and underrepresented through a mix of investments, products and services, supply chain, volunteering and community efforts. Each commitment is anchored to the company’s business strategy and informed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The financial components of these commitments will total more than $2.5 billion by 2030.

The concept and execution behind ‘All Together Possible’ ensures customers remain at the center, which emboldens everyone within the organization to stay grounded to their shared vision.

“Creating a positive and inclusive workplace culture, investing in employee training and development, providing opportunities for career advancement, and fostering a culture of innovation has been key to unleashing the magic of talent within MetLife,” says Insigniam co-founder, Shideh Sedgh Bina, who views Mr. Pappas as a leader who is equally as invested as his direct reports.

BIO: Bill Pappas

EVP

& Head of Global Technology and Operations, MetLife

As a corporate officer and a member of MetLife’s executive leadership team, Mr. Pappas directs teams responsible for technology development, infrastructure, information and cyber security, data strategy and analytics, customer service, operations, crisis management, and business continuity for all lines of business across 40+ countries around the world. Mr. Pappas joined MetLife in 2019 from Bank of America, where he was the head of operations for the consumer, small business, wealth management, and private banking businesses.

Mr. Pappas is on the Business North Carolina Power List, highlighting the state’s most influential business leaders, and was named the NC TECH CIO of the Year. He is a past member of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Payments Risk Committee and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Council on the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence. He holds a B.A. cum laude in government and an MBA in international business from Bentley University where he serves on its Board of Trustees.

Keep It Simple

Mr. Pappas says that, “Doing good doesn’t mean that everyone will always agree about everything, but quite simply, when you go to bed, you know that you did your best and you know that you did good.”

“In order to ingrain these principles throughout an enterprise, leaders must live by example,” says Mr. Pappas, who says a “do what I say, not as I do” mentality will sabotage a leader’s ability to realize their aspirations.

“To be effective, people must see that you’re just as engaged and willing to always put in the work too, which provides leaders with the needed credibility to develop teams to be hyper focused on the goal at hand.”

Did You Do Good Today?

When asked what advice he might offer to other executives wrestling with the myriad of challenges in our current businesses landscape, Mr. Pappas doesn’t hesitate in responding:

“I’ve learned that the only person who can define you is you,” says Mr. Pappas, who says he spent a great deal of his 20’s and 30’s thinking he needed to be someone else, versus creating the person and leader he sought to be.

“For many, the sky is the limit. But first, you need to figure out who you are in order to be able to define who you want to be,” he says.

Mr. Pappas, a self-professed believer in the mantra that ‘fear is temporary but regret lasts forever’ says, “I love change management because I am comfortable operating in an environment with calculated risk,” which has been a common thread throughout the course of his career.

Reflecting back on said career, which is far from over, Mr. Pappas believes his legacy will be defined by the way he treated others and made them feel.

“For me, I will always go back to a quote from Maya Angelou: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

At the end of the day, Mr. Pappas says, “I can talk about all the exciting, transformational work being done day-in and day-out, but I believe far more people will remember how I made them feel during our interactions, and whether or not MetLife made them feel like they belonged to something bigger.”

From his vantage point, Mr. Pappas believes that MetLife’s employees are not just with the firm due to its strong reputation, but instead, because MetLife is a powerful platform to serve customers, colleagues, shareholders, and the communities in which they live.

“I have an 86-year-old mother and when I was a child, she would say, before you go to bed, think about whether or not you did good today,” he says.

“Sometimes, life doesn’t have to be much more complex than that. Doing good doesn’t mean that everyone will always agree about everything, but quite simply, when you go to bed, you know that you did your best and you know that you did good.” IQ

“I will always go back to a quote from Maya Angelou: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

—Bill Pappas

UNLEASHING THE MAGIC OF TALENT ISSUE

CREATED

The five most important conversations within an enterprise—and how remote tools can bridge the digital divide in our new hybrid environment.

BY JUNE ZERINGUE AND JON KLEINMAN

NOT All CONVERSATIONS ARE EQUAL

early a decade ago, Insigniam authored a piece entitled, “Business Results Depend on Managing The Network of Conversations,” which posited that while no two companies, organizations, or enterprises are the same, the big—

and small—differences between organizations that look similar on paper come down to its “network of conversations.”

Foundational to our work at Insigniam is the belief that all companies are constituted by a network of conversations. The reality is that business gets done through conversations, from boardroom meetings and client engagements to informal email exchanges and so on.

When conversations are effectively led and managed, business performance can be remarkable. Conversely, ineffective conversations can hamstring momentum and growth in an enterprise, because culture often emerges and takes shape from conversations.

For many of us—even those who travel often—the majority of these conversations took place in person, often within the context of a physical building or workspace. And then March 2020 happened, and the way executives, colleagues, and teams related to each other for decades suddenly went out the window due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, many of us have become quasiprofessional Zoom’ers who live inside Trello boards and relate to our colleagues through Slack channels. Although many companies have

returned to the office, our hybrid environment is here to stay, as evidenced by research from online professional recruitment platform Zippia, which as of February 2023, suggests that 74% of U.S. companies are using or plan to implement a permanent hybrid model; 44% of U.S. employees prefer a hybrid work model, compared to 51% of employers; 63% of highgrowth companies use a “productivity anywhere” hybrid work model; and 55% of employees want to work remotely at least three days a week.

Perhaps most telling, nearly 60% of employees surveyed said they are more likely to choose an employer that offers remote work opportunities over one that does not.

With the writing on the wall, let’s revisit the types of conversations beneficial to an organization’s growth and advancement, and then how remote tools and hybrid strategies can enhance the quality and effectiveness of our conversations.

1Conversations that Build Relationships

Conversations that build relationships give people an opportunity to get to the heart of what matters to them and to understand commitments and concerns of the people they are working with. Humans are hardwired to seek these conversations, which harken back to the tribal origins of our species. These conversations lay the foundation upon which all other interactions between employees will be centered.

Writing in Forbes, Neal Stanton, co-CEO of Vbrick, a leading cloud-native, end-to-end enterprise video platform utilized by Cisco, Ford, and even NASA, is naturally impartial to the power video can unlock to build relationships in a remote or hybrid environment.

“Video is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal, so how are you using it to support team building?” asks Stanton. “Are you using video to encourage real connections between your employees? Have you educated your workforce on how to use video to break down silos?”

Despite the fact that many of us have relied on tools like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams for the better part of three years, Stanton advises companies to approach video differently by proactively orchestrating opportunities for teams to develop meaningful connections.

“Mandatory interactions are better than no interactions,” writes Stanton.

By setting aside time for employees to interact beyond the transactional nature of most video calls, Stanton believes teams can elevate their conversations to a higher level by creating real, personal connections between colleagues separated by time zones and international borders. This can be especially effective when employee interactions have nothing to do with projects or business objectives. Cloud-based software platforms such as AirTable, Monday.com, Asana and Notion can be utilized to schedule and manage conversations between employees that otherwise may not have an opportunity to collaborate outside a designated workspace.

These cloud-based management tools, when used in tandem with video for the explicit sake of building relationships, can expand the relational foundation between employees by helping to build trust, increase transparency, and provide enhanced visibility between team members who can relate to each other—regardless of physical proximity.

THE TAKEAWAY: All results are built on a foundation of relationships. The bigger the foundation, the bigger the opportunity for transformative results.

relegated to boardroom discussions or multiday strategy sessions. Sometimes a great idea can arise through informal conversations between two colleagues with a strong sense of trust and respect.

Consider the story of two men who walked into a bar fifty years ago and walked out with the idea of creating a boutique airline that only flew between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas.

Although you may already be familiar with the story of how Southwest Airlines was originally conceptualized by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King on the back of a cocktail napkin, it represents the power informal exchanges can have. It is especially important to create an environment within our hybrid workplace reality where these conversations can continue to flourish.

Several online tools can be used to generate new possibilities or new insights between hybrid employees including Miro, a collaborative online white-boarding platform that allows teams to brainstorm, create diagrams, and collaborate in real-time. Additionally, Ideaflip offers customizable templates for different types of brainstorming sessions, as well as features like voting and grouping that can help teams prioritize their ideas in a relaxed setting.

“I’ve used [Ideaflip] for everything from project planning to content creation, and it’s been a game- changer for me and my team,” writes Kelly Hoey in her book, Build Your Dream Network.“Relationships are built conversation by conversation... [it’s not just] small talk; they use the information they gather to build a foundation for a stronger relationship.”

By helping hybrid employees collaborate and generate new possibilities or insights regardless of their location, teams can continue to foster creativity, communication, and innovation often found in informal collisions; the accidental, impromptu interactions found in traditional office settings.

Conversations That Build the “Why”

Often, the most important exchanges between colleagues are those that create new possibilities for an organization. However, these conversations are not exclusively

THE TAKEAWAY: Not every conversation about the business needs to be heavily structured, nor end in a commitment to action. Some conversations that deal with possibilities tackle huge challenges, yet can be had in a relaxed, collaborative setting— conducive to a hybrid work environment. By creating space for those conversations to exist, companies have a foundation to explore new possibilities, whether in a hybrid or traditional environment.

Regardless of their location, teams can foster creativity and innovation often found in informal collisions; the accidental, impromptu interactions often found in a traditional office setting.

4 3

Conversations that Construct Opportunity

In a hybrid work environment, conversations can be a powerful tool for turning aspirational ideas into feasible actions. Conversely, a lack of communication can cement incorrect assumptions, thereby clogging up a company’s network of conversations. Ideally, productive conversations take speculation and create a positive pathway to make opportunities actionable.

Several tools exist for hybrid teams to maximize these conversations, including Mural and IdeaBoardz—virtual collaboration platforms that allow team members to add and categorize ideas in real-time via virtual sticky notes, diagrams, and other visual aids.

“Mural has completely transformed the way we facilitate groups, both virtually and in-person,” writes Bo Storozuk, strategic learning and talent management consultant at Jacobs—an American international technical professional services firm with $16 billion (USD) revenue, consistently ranked No. 1 on Engineering News-Record (ENR)’s list of the Top 500 Design Firms from 2018 to 2021.

“Having a living, digital record of the experience and outcomes of [a conversation] not only saves incredible amounts of time from transcribing live sticky notes and whiteboards, but it gives participants the opportunity to revisit whenever they need, work asynchronously, and reflect and process on their own time,” said Storozuk in a case study published by Mural.

Storozuk says reduced travel costs (by thousands of dollars per employee workshop) afforded by the platform drove great efficiencies such as faster onboarding for hundreds of team members and higher employee engagement rates.

THE TAKEAWAY: To gain commitment to new aspirations—especially in a hybrid environment—the people you lead must also see clear pathways to accomplishing those aspirations, and virtual collaboration platforms can be effective tools to that end.

Conversations that Manage Action

This type of conversation asks, “Who is doing what, and by when will it be done?” Beyond simply monitoring action, leaders in a hybrid environment must also be able to catalyze and sustain coordinated action amongst their teams.

However, what happens when you get to an action-based conversation and the action didn’t happen? That resulting conversation—especially within a hybrid environment where trust might not yet be established between direct reports who were onboarded virtually, or there is a disconnect between an employee and an enterprises’ vision of the future—can devolve into a blame game.

“If remote workers are struggling to feel connected to the team, putting yourself in their situation will help them feel that they now have equal access to the manager,” writes Darren Menabney in Forbes.

Menabney, who is lead of global employee engagement at Ricoh Co. Ltd—a Japanese multinational imaging and electronics company with 95,000 employees in over 65 countries— believes that by “leveling the playing field” not only can teams establish trust, but they can also spur conversations that generate action.

“Avoid the communication and collaboration inequality that can arise when half the team is together in one room and can chat freely, while the other half is each sitting alone at home and seeing everyone through a Zoom window. Level the playing field by having everyone join the meeting remotely, even when in the office,” writes Menabney.

Lastly, Menabney says, by promoting equality and inclusiveness, leaders can, “reduce the possibility of hybrid teams fracturing into office-based and remote subgroups, who increasingly find less in common with each other.”

THE TAKEAWAY: To avoid blame that causes bottlenecks, conversations that generate action must be held in the context of conversations that have built relationships and explored and attempted to create new possibilities and opportunities. By actively

—Reed Hastings CEO, Netflix

“One VP said to me: You’re so intense when you believe in something, Reed , that I felt you wouldn’t hear me.”

managing the network of conversations to learn what is being said—and what is being heard—teams can keep the dialogue flowing as accurately and cooperatively as possible.

Conversations that Uncover Gaps and Interruptions

All too often when things go poorly, people hide, deflect, or give up altogether. In a hybrid environment, this can be exacerbated by any number of variables, such as a lack of in-person communication, lack of shared context, technical issues and even cultural differences among team members.

For example, in 2011, Netflix was growing rapidly and had just announced a new pricing plan that separated their DVD rental and streaming services into two separate plans. The move angered customers and led to a massive backlash, with thousands of customers canceling their subscriptions and calling for a boycott of the company.

“Everything we’d built was crashing down because of my bad decision...It was the lowest point in my career—definitely not an experience I want to repeat,” writes Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in a Forbes op-ed.

Hastings notes that in the next few quarters following Netflix proposed pricing scheme, the company lost millions of subscribers and its stock dropped 75% in value.

“That humiliation was a valuable wakeup call, because afterward dozens of Netflix managers and VPs started coming forward to say they hadn’t believed in the idea,” writes Hastings.“Finally, one VP said to me, “You’re so intense when you believe in something, Reed, that I felt you wouldn’t hear me. I should have laid down on the tracks screaming that I thought it would fail. But I didn’t.”

Hamstrung by a cultural inability to engage in difficult conversations, Hastings believes that Netflix had been sending the message to their people that, despite their talk about candor, uncovering and resolving differences of opinion were not always welcome.

“That’s when we added a new element to our culture,” notes Hastings. “We now say that it is unacceptable and unproductive when you disagree with an idea and do not express that disagreement. That’s why I and everyone else at Netflix now actively seek out different perspectives before making any major decision.”

THE TAKEAWAY: Conversations that identify and resolve failures or setbacks can be highly effective once an honest corporate dialogue has been established. By reframing setbacks as milestones along the way to achieving your aspirations, companies can make it popular to root out these obstacles and in turn, focus on the resolution instead of assigning blame. IQ

UNLEASHING

THE MAGIC OF TALENT ISSUE

FOR ACTION STARVING

STARVING FOR ACTION

Even the most efficient business models cannot overcome a global workforce facing starvation.

BY KATERIN LE FOLCALVEZ

In the 2022 edition of its annual report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 811 million people worldwide suffer from hunger.

Additionally, the FAO says, 2.4 billion people—or about 30% of the world’s population—are moderately or severely food-insecure, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture defines as, “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.” Rather startlingly, the number increased by nearly 320 million people over the previous year alone.

The report also notes that progress to reduce hunger and malnutrition have been slow in many parts of the world and has worsened significantly following recent global events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have disrupted food systems and worsened existing supply-chain vulnerabilities worldwide.

According to the U.N., “Despite hopes that the world would emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and food security would begin to improve, world hunger rose further in 2021,” says the agency’s report. “The increase in global hunger in 2021 reflects exacerbated inequalities across and within countries due to an unequal pattern of economic recovery among countries and unrecovered income losses among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Eradicating global hunger is a foundational component to the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Agenda—the agency’s 15-year plan to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere by 2030—which was adopted by all U.N. Member States in 2015.

Yet, at the current pace, the U.N. now projects that nearly 700 million people will still be facing hunger in 2030—or 8% percent of the world’s population—which is the same as when the agenda was initially launched eight years ago.

For perspective, consider that the total global workforce is estimated to be around 3.5 billion people, yet roughly one in ten do not

have enough food to eat on a regular basis. Hunger alone regularly leads to increased absenteeism and reduced productivity in the workplace, as hungry workers may be too weak or sick to work, or may need to take time off to care for sick family members. Even the most efficient business models cannot overcome a workforce dying of starvation.

In short, food insecurity is not a problem limited to the agriculture industry. If your enterprise employs human beings, then the problem is at your doorstep too.

Trimming the Fat

Although food insecurity is a serious challenge facing our planet, global business leaders have the power and capacity to catalyze great changes while also enhancing their business models by eliminating waste from their supply chains and manufacturing processes.

“I grew up on a farm and know what it’s like to be hungry and undernourished,” says Dr. Shenggen Fan, former director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from 2009 to 2019. “Reducing food loss and waste is a critical step toward this.”

As a leading expert on food security who has published extensively on issues related to agriculture, nutrition, and poverty reduction, Dr. Fan believes that by reducing food waste, businesses can help increase the availability of food for those in need. Yet, before any food waste reduction strategies can be implemented, a company must know the scale of waste they generate.

According to the Harvard University Office of Sustainability, businesses should consider conducting a waste audit in order to ‘create a baseline reference of your progress from one waste audit to the next.’

Although collecting and sorting food waste may not be rocket science, data does play a key role to identify areas where waste can be reduced or eliminated. By analyzing trends of the types of food waste generated and determining which categories make up the largest percentage of your business’ waste, companies can begin to develop a waste

reduction plan based on the data collected, rooting out areas where it’s most needed.

For instance, ReFED, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to ending food loss and waste across the U.S. food system by advancing data-driven solutions, is working to achieve 50% food waste reduction in accordance with the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. One of the biggest offenders—and perhaps most appealing from a potential cost-saving perspective—is eliminating unneeded food packaging.

“Packaging plays an important role in protecting food until it reaches the consumer, but at the same time, packaging can make it difficult to access content (like condiments), become damaged or fail in ways that cause food to spoil, or lead someone to buy more than they need – all of which can lead to food waste,” according to a ReFED article entitled How to Design Packaging to Prevent Food Waste ReFED also notes that packaging materials themselves often become waste, contributing up to 28% of what ends up in landfills.

Additionally, a ReFED analysis indicates that, “improving package design could divert more than 1 million tons of food waste and avoid 6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year, [and] solutions in this area would also have a net financial benefit of $4.13 billion.”

Despite such potential cost savings, says the non-profit, many manufacturers and retailers have, “struggled to understand exactly how to pursue these changes.”

However, companies such as Bonduelle Fresh Americas—a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bonduelle (BON.PA) and home of the Ready Pac Bistro brand—have found success by partnering with other like-minded enterprises.

In 2020, Bonduelle Fresh Americas joined Walmart in the groundbreaking “10x20x30” initiative to root out food loss and waste from their supply chain. Led by Walmart, several of the world’s biggest food retailers and providers have committed to engage at least 20 suppliers in a “whole supply chain” approach to cutting food loss and waste in half by 2030.

“Bonduelle is a seventh-generation familyowned business, and sustainability has been one of our core tenets long before it was in fashion,” says Andrea Montagna, CEO of Bonduelle Fresh Americas.

“All our products are farmed from vegetable plants, and we do see the effect of climate change,” he says. “In some cases, we’ve seen reductions in crop yields, and environmental impacts are driving us further and further toward sustainability. Our actions continue to focus on making a positive impact on people, the planet, and food, with programs driving inclusive hiring, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, water and waste management, plastic reduction and so on.”

The company has committed to a 50% reduction target in its own operations, to measure and publish its food loss and waste inventories, and to create actionable strategies to reduce this waste. This includes reducing the amount of food waste created in their facilities, increasing product donations to communities in need and providing food for animal feed.

For companies seeking to follow suit, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)—a membership-based nonprofit that brings together businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to advance the business case for more sustainable packaging—recently published a guide entitled Best Practices for Designing Packaging to Prevent and Reduce Food Waste.

Progress Report:

An alarming update on the U.N.’s 2030 development goals.

In July 2022, the U.N. issued a global progress report regarding their ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, using the latest available data and estimates. The report “tracks global and regional progress, with in-depth analyses of selected indicators for each goal.”

According to the report, “Cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival.”

The report highlights the severity and magnitude of a “confluence of crises”, dominated by COVID-19, climate change, and armed conflicts, which are creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report indicates urgent action is needed to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030.

Although food insecurity is a critical challenge facing our planet, global business leaders have the power and capacity to catalyze great changes while also enhancing their business models by eliminating waste from their supply chains and manufacturing processes.

Deadly Disruptions

Progress to reduce hunger and malnutrition have been slow in many parts of the world and has worsened significantly following recent global events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which disrupted critical food systems and worsened existing supply-chain vulnerabilities worldwide.

With members that include Kroger, Procter & Gamble, and Blue Apron, Inc., the SPC guide presents specific design strategies, such as resealability, new portion and pack sizes, plus active and intelligent packaging.

“These may seem basic, but they require [companies] to think beyond merely getting the product to a consumer, and instead embrace the growing movement among businesses toward taking responsibility for consumers’ climate impacts from downstream food waste,” says an assessment by ReFED.

Furthermore, the SPC guide also points out areas where companies may need to navigate tradeoffs between packaging sustainability and food waste.

“On average, only 3-3.5% of the climate impact of packaged food comes from the packaging itself—the rest comes from producing, transporting, storing, preparing, and potentially disposing of the food,” notes ReFed’s assessment.

“This proportion can be significantly higher for certain kinds of foods and formats, but ultimately, packaging ‘pays off’ if it helps to reduce waste of the food it contains by at least 4%. This means that even when packaging creates climate impact, companies should prioritize strategies that reduce food waste.”

Corporate Social Responsibility

While many of these tactics can help close the food insecurity gap, it is critical that such initiatives are managed by a group of highly engaged, dedicated leaders within an enterprise. This is

perhaps one reason corporate social responsibility (CSR) teams have become increasingly commonplace within Fortune 500 companies.

According to a study by the Governance & Accountability Institute, “Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies published sustainability reports in 2019, up from just 20% in 2011. These sustainability reports often include information on the company’s CSR programs, such as environmental initiatives, social impact efforts, and governance practices.”

Naturally, the question arises: If so many companies are already deploying heavilyresourced teams to address key issues, then why is such little progress being made in key areas such as food insecurity?

The problem, according to Corporate Citizenship—a London-based management firm focused on sustainable business practices—is that many CSR programs fail for a variety of reasons, including lack of commitment, insufficient resources, and unrealistic goals.

Without leadership support, says Corporate Citizenship, “CSR initiatives may not receive the resources, funding, and attention necessary to succeed. Additionally, many CSR initiatives require resources such as time, money, and expertise. If these resources are not available or are spread too thin, the initiatives may not achieve their intended impact.”

Lastly, poor implementation, ineffective communication, inadequate training, and a lack of stakeholder engagement can all hamstring an organization’s ability to catalyze results.

According to Harvard Business Review’s assessment in Five Ways to Improve Your Company’s CSR Efforts, leaders can improve the effectiveness of a CSR team by setting clear goals and metrics that measure progress and demonstrate impact—which can focus a team on areas that are most important to the business and its stakeholders.

Additionally, the assessment recommends aligning business objectives to ensure activities are integrated into the company’s core operations and are supported by leadership. By engaging stakeholders, such as employees, customers, suppliers, and community members to identify key issues and priorities, leaders can create a sense of shared ownership and responsibility.

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR)—a global nonprofit organization that works with more than 250 member companies—says that if a CSR team is focused on solving food insecurity within their local community, there are several tactics to increase their effectiveness.

According to BSR, companies can raise awareness of food insecurity through campaigns and educational initiatives. One notable example is the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) in partnership with Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Running since 1992, “Stamp Out Hunger” has collected over 1.5 billion pounds of food to date. The event has been supported by a number of corporate partners over the

years, including Campbell’s and Coca-Cola. Furthermore, says Forbes, these events and initiatives can pay dividends.

“A recent report from Aflac said that 77% of consumers are more willing to purchase from a company with a corporate social responsibility pledge—and 73% of investors agreed,” notes Forbes in a piece entitled How Leading Global Companies Are Using Sustainability as a Market Differentiator.

This carryover effect is not lost on business leaders either. According to one study, “9 in 10 business leaders said consumers would hold them accountable for the environmental impact they make through their business — an even greater ratio than shareholders, employees, or government regulators.”

Securing the Future

It is difficult to predict with certainty if or when our global food infrastructure will ‘collapse’, however, the number of people experiencing hunger and malnutrition has been steadily increasing in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating the situation.

To address food insecurity, it will require concerted efforts from governments, civil society, and the private sector to develop sustainable and equitable food systems that prioritize access to healthy, nutritious foods for all. The goal should not be to wait for food insecurity to collapse, but rather to work towards a future where all people have access to adequate and nutritious food. IQ

THE PRICE OF

THE PRICE OF

FAME FAME when a celebrity spokesperson turns toxic

BY JENNIFER ZIMMER

In October 2022, American recording artist and fashion designer Kayne West sparked widespread public outrage following a series of increasingly damning antisemitic remarks, which made international headlines. As West’s bigoted rhetoric escalated, several companies and major brands—GAP, Balenciaga, Vogue and Creative Artists Agency—reacted swiftly by terminating their partnerships and condemning his comments.

One noticeable holdout was German sportswear group, Adidas. According to Financial Times, top staffers at Adidas had repeatedly raised concerns that the fashion giant was over-reliant on their Yeezy franchise—West and Adidas’ flagship collaboration. However, the company was so heavily entrenched with West that Yeezy-branded products accounted for $1.8 billion (USD) in annual revenue for Adidas, or 7% of their totals.

is Born

When public outcry reached critical mass, Adidas finally relented. Across the mediasphere, Adidas’ perceived inaction was widely covered in the press, with many pundits puzzled as to why they chose not to act sooner.

Then, in November 2022, Adidas issued a corporate press release stating that their updated net income forecast—which no longer included the Yeezy brand or any affiliation with West—was only half of what it had been ($251 million [USD], down from $500 million) just nine days earlier. Furthermore, Adidas’ inaction to cut ties with West only further painted the company into a corner, which was already facing the loss of two other profit centers—a sales plunge in China and lost marketshare in Russia following the company’s decision to suspend sales and operations amid the invasion of Ukraine.

“A whole Adidas brand reset is probably needed,” wrote analyst Thomas Chauvet, head of luxury goods equity research at Citi, in a note to clients last November.

Is it Worth It?

According to an assessment published by MarketWatch, a single, well-executed celebrity partnership can result in an immediate 4% sales increase for a brand. While this could equate to millions in revenue, Christopher R. Chase, a partner specializing in advertising and entertainment law at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, advises clients to be careful what they wish for.

“Talent lawyers have said, ‘Listen, you’re hiring [so-and-so] because she’s a little out there, so I’m not going to let you terminate because she does something that’s a little out there,’” Chase told the The Wall Street Journal.

A Star

Certain variables must be considered in order to minimize potentially negative impacts and ensure close alignment between a company’s values and the views and behaviors of their celebrity partners.

Interestingly, consumer attitudes may be shifting as well, especially among Millennials and Gen Z audiences. With approximately $360 billion in disposable income, this combined demographic has the greatest buying power in the marketplace, according to Bloomberg, yet may be largely immune from a celebrity’s ability to influence sales.

A study by Roth Capital Partners found that 40% of Millennials say paid endorsements erode a celebrity’s credibility, as well as that of the brands they represent.

For many companies, the decision to partner with a high-profile spokesperson may seem like a sound practice to drive sales in the short term and brand awareness over time. However, when the partnership sours to the point of damaging the brand or company, when is the right time to cut ties—and how?

Don’t Wait—Act Now

Relatively few companies are well positioned to react quickly and effectively when a celebrity spokesperson becomes a liability. Often paralyzed by fear of creating negative disruptions that could impact a brand’s reputation, supply chain or stock price, the longer a company hesitates, the greater the damage, says Alan R. Friedman, partner at entertainment industry law firm Fox Rothschild.

“Every day that you delay may be damaging your brand,” said Friedman to Financial Times

Similarly, corporate bureaucracy can also slow decision-making in moments of crisis, notes Mark DiMassimo, founder of New York-based advertising agency DiMassimo Goldstein. In an interview with Forbes, DiMassimo posited that, “When something comes up that requires a fast, human, unambiguous action, very few companies are prepared.”

Part of the issue, says DiMassimo, is that most major brands tend to lean heavily on their respective advertising and public relations agencies to gauge public opinion before issuing any statements or taking action on a response. Internally, competing narratives can arise that also facilitate more delays, DiMassimo says.

According to Chase, companies can sometimes quietly terminate basic

contracts, such as licensing a celebrity’s likeness to sell products. However, in situations where the collaborator owns a portion of intellectual property, as West did with the Yeezy brand, finding an off-ramp can be much more complex.

“If the talent retains some ownership, then you have to stop making the product entirely instead of just taking their name off,” Chase told The Wall Street Journal. “This is literally shutting down the factory to some extent.”

Case in point, as 2022 came to a close, Adidas was still determining how to offload $530 million worth of Yeezys in inventory, according to the Financial Times

Even when front loading agreements with such clauses, companies are still at risk if and when a celebrity partner acts in a way that is inconsistent with a brand’s values, which in recent years has led to several very public and messy breakups.

Finding The Right Match

Despite the risks, many brands will continue to seek collaborations with high-profile, influential personalities.

According to Forbes Council Member, Mo Mostashari, certain variables must be considered in order to minimize potentially negative impacts and ensure close alignment between a company’s values and the views and behaviors of their celebrity partners. Paramount to this is a shared passion and mission between the brand and the ambassador.

“Finding a celebrity collaborator who is emotionally invested in the success of your company ensures they will go above and beyond in their promotional efforts for the brand,” wrote Mostashari in a Forbes op-ed. “Having a passion for the company that runs so deep that the celebrity wants to be actively involved in the day-to-day business should be the mentality of most partnerships.”

By following this approach, Mostashari believes brands can “expand their reach and have an instant association with the celebrity they choose to work with,” he says. “Be sure to really invest some thought into these types of collaborations and evaluate how a partnership will be perceived by the public.” IQ

Win Some, Lose Some

Although they can bear fruit, celebrity endorsements are not always a slam dunk for a company’s bottom line.

4%

40% Millennials

$530

The

The average sales bump from a well-executed celebrity partnership.

who say paid endorsements erode celebrity credibility, as well as that of the brands they represent.

amount, in millions (USD), worth of unsold Yeezy’s now collecting dust in Adidas’ inventory.

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