Today's CEOs are speaking out and taking a stand.

Insights: Driving Change From the C-Suite

[MUSIC PLAYING] Tim Cook is something of an accidental CEO of Apple. People said of Tim Cook, well, Apple can't innovate under him, certainly not the way it did under Steve Jobs. Or Apple can never be on top the way it was again. Or Apple is losing market share, and so on and so on and so on. And so our number one leader is somebody who persevered through the criticism, who didn't necessarily have the same qualities as the legend that he succeeded, but who is succeeding anyway in the job. This is my first product launch since being named CEO. Well, he knew there would be a lot of criticism. And he knew it would be emotionally difficult being the CEO of Apple. He said he really wasn't prepared for just how harsh the glare is on the CEO of Apple. He said that Steve Jobs took the heat. He also took the praise. But as a result, the rest of them were able to just go about their business, making products, running a business. And that when he became CEO, he realized just how much Jobs had protected him before. Apple clearly is firing on all cylinders. Its stock is at an all-time high, worth more than $700 billion. The company sold 74 million iPhones in the last quarter that it reported. And it finally has new products to share with the world, especially the Apple Watch, but also Apple Pay, its payment system. The non-business world, to the extent that it thinks about Tim Cook at all, is beginning to see him as a leader, and for one reason in particular, and that was his having come out as being gay toward the end of 2014. What he's done in particular over the last year or two is begun to speak out on major societal issues that are of interest to him and that he also thinks are of interest to Apple and its employees. Now what makes Cook such an obvious choice for number one leader for the year is that it wasn't so long ago that nobody would have predicted this. He truly is leading the company in that he has very capable, very qualified, and now even very high profile people working for him, who he is leading, but also putting out in front and saying these are the people who are responsible, among many others, for the greatness and the success of the company. He is almost saying out loud, it is not all about me. And that, after all, is a major characteristic of leadership. 

Insights: Why Tim Cook is the World's Greatest Leader

Uncategorized

Why the Apple CEO made it to the top of the list.

Why Tim Cook is the World's Greatest Leader

Fortune's Adam Lashinsky explains why the Apple CEO made it to the top of the list in March 2015.

quick is something of an accidental CEO of Apple, People said of Tim Cook. Well, Apple can't innovate under him. Certainly not the way it did under Steve Jobs or Apple can never be on top of the way it was again. Or Apple is losing market share and so on and so on and so on. And so our number one leader, it's somebody who persevered through the criticism who didn't necessarily have the same qualities that the legend that he succeeded, but who is succeeding anyway in the job. My first product launch that thing that we knew there would be a lot of criticism and he knew be emotionally difficult. Being CEO of Apple City really wasn't prepared for just how harsh the glare is on the CEO of Apple. He said that Steve Jobs took the heat. He also took the praise, but as a result, the rest of them were able to just go about their business making products running a business, and that when he became CEO, he realized just how much jobs had protected him before. Apple clearly is firing on all cylinders, its stock is at an all time high worth more than $700 billion. Company sold 74 million iPhones in the last quarter that it reported, and it finally has a new products to share with the world, especially the Apple Watch, but also Apple pay its payment system. The non business world, to the extent that it thinks about Tim Cook at all, is beginning to see him as a leader and for one reason in particular. And that was his having come out as being gay at toward the end of 2014. What he's done, in particular over the last year or two, is begun to speak out on major societal issues that are of interest to him and that he also thinks are of interest to Apple and its employees. Now what makes Cook such an obvious choice for number one leader for the year? It wasn't so long ago that nobody would have predicted this. He truly is leading the company and that he has very capable, very qualified and now even very high profile people working for him, who he is leading but also putting out in front, saying these are the people who are responsible among many others for the greatness and the success of the company. He is almost saying out loud, it is not all about me. And that, after all, is ah major characteristic of leadership.

[MUSIC PLAYING] I also want to ask you, Alan, about the evolution of Tim Cook as a leader because he has increasingly come out and taken these kinds of positions very forcefully. Look, I remember back when Enron and all the corporate crises of the last decade were happening. At the time, I was at CNBC. I was hosting a television show, trying desperately to get CEOs to come on and talk about this. Nobody wanted to pick their head up. Nobody wanted to say anything publicly. Tim Cook has now on a couple of issues-- he did it on that Indiana law over gay rights. On a number of issues, he taken very, very public stands. And I think he thinks he's doing it partly because it's important to the company. But I think it's a change in the way corporate leaders establish themselves. People want to work for companies that have leaders who they see as good, doing good things. So this is a way of inspiring his employees as well as pleasing his customers. Absolutely. And it sort of begs the question, Andrew, Tim Cook, Apple is at the top of our most admired companies list. It's been there for several years now. This list is really a measure of what business thinks about other businesses. So it's sort of, what do other CEOs think of-- what company do they most envy. And it's Apple. But is this, do you think, part of the reason he's at the top of that list? Or do you think this will solidify his place there? That's a great question. I think it will. I think it does play into-- we've demonstrated that it plays into the Apple brand. We've demonstrated that it plays into the consumer, which is all that it's about here. I think it only helps, even if he goes down trying. Let me let me give you-- can I can I'll just give you one little piece or evidence? Last words, yeah. Charles Koch, Koch Industries, one of the most secretive business executives in this country, never talks about the business, contributes to conservative causes. Wrote a piece publicly saying that Bernie Sanders is right about inequality. He's not right about the solutions. But he's right about the issue. Why is he doing this? He's doing it for the same reason Tim Cook is doing it. In today's world, business leaders have to have a positive public profile to succeed. It's a very different world than it was 10 years ago. And this has become an important element of CEO leadership. Fascinating times, absolutely. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: The Evolution of Tim Cook’s Leadership

The Apple CEO is taking stands on social issues.

The Evolution of Tim Cook’s Leadership

The Apple CEO is taking stands on social issues. (February 2016)

e. I want to ask you, Alan, about the evolution of Tim. Cook is a leader because he has increasingly come out and taken these kinds of positions very forcefully. Look, I remember back when the, uh, back when Enron and all the corporate crises of the last decade were happening, I was at the time I was a CNBC. I was hosting a television show, trying desperately to get CEOs to come on and talk about this. Nobody wanted. Nobody wanted to pick their head up. You know, nobody wanted to say anything publicly. Tim Cook is now on a couple of issues. He did it on that Indiana law over rights on a number of issues. He has taken very, very public stands, and I think he thinks he's doing it partly because it's important to the company. But I think it's it's a change in the way corporate leaders established themselves. You know, people wanna work for companies that have leaders who they see as good doing good things. So this is a way of inspiring his his employees as well as pleasing is absolutely, and it sort of begs the question. Andrew Tim Cook, Apple is at the top of our most admired companies list has been there for several years now. This list is really a measure of what business thinks about other businesses. So it's sort of what other CEOs think of what company does a most envy. And it's Apple. But is this Do you think part of the reason he's at the top of that list or do you think this will solidify his place there? That's a great question. I think it will. I think I think it does play in time. We've demonstrated that it plays into the Apple brand. We've demonstrated that it plays into the consumer, which is all that it's about here. Uh, I think it only helps even if he goes down trying. Let me give You can just give you one little piece of Charles Coke. Coke Industries, one of the most secretive business executives in this country, never talks about the business, contributes to conservative causes, wrote a piece publicly saying that Bernie Sanders is right about inequalities, not right about the solutions. But he's right about the issue. Why is he doing this? He's doing it for the same reason Tim Cook is doing it. In today's world, business leaders have tohave a positive public profile to succeed. It's a very different world than it was 10 years ago, and this has become a A an an, an important element of of CEO leaders. Fascinating time, absolutely.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Home of the US motor industry and the Motown music phenomenon. Waving the white flag, the city filing for bankruptcy. The economy was so bad, it prevented people from opening and starting new businesses. And I don't think that the banks could get involved because the market just wasn't there for it. It took two decades of decay to bring down the one-time industrial giant. I think for a long time, people thought that through the Housing and Urban Development and other federal programs, they would come in and solve the problems. And the fact is, the federal government has less resources. It's just a fact. What the smarter cities and leaders are recognizing is they have to turn to businesses and other entities. We are particularly pleased to be here today to be announcing the $100 million investment in Detroit. So we provided both capital and capacity to community development and finance institutions. So we're creating jobs, helping businesses grow. We're investing in infrastructure, building CDFIs, small business. I wanted to open up a restaurant or business in Detroit. A lot of the banks that I was approaching were just too intimidated, I think, and nervous. A, it being a restaurant and the failure rate of restaurants is really high. And B, it being a location in a neighborhood that hasn't really developed quite yet. So I think the challenge has been that most small companies just are not bankable companies. The credit score isn't very high. They don't have enough collateral. Perhaps they've lost money in the last year, and perhaps the balance sheet is not as strong as a bank would like. I had some money to start the project. But I needed a substantial amount to finish. And that's where I'd gotten the money through Detroit Development Fund. When we first announced our investment in Detroit in 2014, our small business focus which were great for downtown, but we realized we weren't having the impact we wanted. And we shifted to much more focus on minority entrepreneurs who needed capital, needed counseling, who needed advice. We tried to go where we think there's some stability in the neighborhood and where we can find empty retail space. Along the way, we're trying to make sure that when we do residential rehab, that a good portion of that is affordable rental or affordable sale units, so that we don't get to a point where we're creating a hub in a neighborhood. And the home values go up so much for the rentals that the people who now live there can't live there anymore. And we'll make our way over to the studio, which is the coolest affordable unit you will ever see. So we are developing a $4 million mixed use project, eight townhomes, four apartments, 1,200 square feet of retail. This is really the first effort in years to do ground up development in the neighborhoods in Detroit. And so it always takes somebody to take the first chance. So when we started the project, we had some neighbors who, frankly, were less excited. But the reason that we're able to have a transformative impact on the neighborhood is because there were people who were here before us who held on, right? And who put money into their houses. I came here in 197-- well, we came to Detroit in '69. Our first houses we paid $1,000 for. $1,000 now. The young kids are doing great things. I'm not finding fault with any of them. I'm glad they're here. I'm glad that they are taking on these projects. They seem to be able to get money to fix them up, which we couldn't. We fixed them up as best we could. And now they're mad because they can't get it from me for $20,000. They thought that I would be willing to sell it for cheap. Two family flats in West Village sold for 200 to 300. Well, what's the business case for the big companies investing in Detroit? First of all, they need to attract talent. And the other part, frankly, is that a lot of companies got caught up in the meltdown, the mortgage mess. And they had to take a hard look in the mirror at their own practices. I think what you're seeing is a renewed sense of social responsibility. And certainly, when it comes to JP Morgan Chase, Detroit has been a huge beneficiary of that. But where a lot of the job growth I think will come in the future are smaller enterprises that might be 25 employees or less. If those companies can grow, the net result of having a lot of employers adding small numbers of jobs can equate with what the big employers used to be. Even the most optimistic people in Detroit would tell you the work is far from done. Gentrification where it is thrown around and is talked about, and there's ways of doing things tastefully and being inclusive. And there's ways of not. And so it was an opportunity to show the kids, though, for them to see, to be very frank, a 40-year-old black man whose business partner is a 43-year-old black man, who are really two kids just from the inner city, who believe in development, and wanted to change people's lives through real estate development was exciting for us. One of the hopes that we have was-- what Chase has is that if we do well, it can be duplicated in Baltimore, in New Orleans, and other cities. And that's kind of the test that they're looking for. If we can do it here, why can't we move it to other cities that need the same kind of assistance for their population? 

Insights: Inside J.P. Morgan Chase's Detroit Revitalization

The bank has invested millions into the town.

 Inside J.P. Morgan Chase's Detroit Revitalization

The bank has invested millions into the town. (September 2017)

home of the U. S. Motor industry and the Motown Music channel, leaving the white flag the city filing for bankruptcy. Theo economy was so bad it prevented people from opening and starting new businesses. And I don't think that the banks could get involved because the market just wasn't there for decades of decay to bring down the one time industrial giant. I think for a long time people thought that through the housing, Irving development and other federal programs, they would come in and solve the problems. And the fact is, the federal government has less. Resource is it's just the fact what the smarter cities and leaders are recognizing, that they have to turn to businesses. Another, you know, and we are particularly pleased to be here today to be announced $100 million. It's $100 million Detroit. So we provided both capital and capacity to community development finance institutions for creating jobs, helping businesses grow. We're investing in infrastructure building, CDF eyes, small business. I wanted to open up a restaurant or business in Detroit. A lot of the banks that I was approaching were just too intimidated, I think nervous a being a restaurant and the failure rate of restaurants really high and be being a location in a neighborhood that hasn't really developed quite yet. So I think the challenge has been that most small companies just are not bankable company. The credit score isn't very high. They don't have enough collapse. Perhaps they've lost money in the last year, and perhaps a balance sheet is a strong is a banquet life. I had the money to start the project, but I needed a substantial amount to finish. And that's where I got money through Detroit Development Fund when we first announced our investment in Detroit in 2014 are small business focuses, which is great for downtown. But we realized we weren't having. In fact, we wanted, and we shifted to much more focused on minority entrepreneurs. Need capital mean counseling? I needed advice. We try to go where we think there's some stability in the neighborhood and where we can find empty retail space along the way. We're trying to make sure that when we do residential rehab that a good portion of that is affordable, rental or affordable sale, you know, so that we don't get to a point where we're creating hub in the neighborhood and the whole values golf. So much for the rentals that the people who now live their lives and we'll make our way over to the studio, which is the coolest, affordable unit you will ever see. So we are developing a $4 million mixture project. Um eight townhome for apartment, 1200 square feet of retail. This is really the first effort in years to do ground up development in the neighborhood in Detroit, and so, you know, it always takes somebody to take the first chance. So when we started, the project had some neighbors who, frankly, were less excited with. The reason that were able to have a transformative impact on the neighborhood is because there were people who were here before us, who held on right and who put money into their houses. I came here in 19 seventies what we came to Detroit in 69 our first houses. We paid $1000 for $1000. Now the young kids are doing great things. I'm not finding fault with any of them. I'm glad they're here. I'm glad that they are taking on these projects they seem to be able to get money to fix him up. What we couldn't wait. Now they're mad because I can't get it for me. For $20,000 they thought that I would be willing to sell it for James Family Flats in West Village. War 203 100. Well, what's the business case for the big companies investing in Detroit? First of all, they need to attract Taylor. And the other part, frankly, is that a lot of companies got caught up in the meltdown, the mortgage mess, and they had to take a hard look in the mirror at their own practices. I think what you're seeing is a a renewed sense of social responsibility, and certainly when it comes to J. P. Morgan Chase, Detroit has been a huge beneficiary of that. But where a lot of the job growth I think will come in the future are smaller enterprises that might be 25 employees of those companies. Congrats. The net result of having a lot of employers adding small numbers of jobs can equate with what the big employers used to be. Even the most optimistic people would tell you the work is done. Gentrification Word is thrown around, um, and talked about. And there's raises doing things tastefully and being inclusive. And there's ways, you know I'm not. And so it was an opportunity to show the kids go for them to see, to be very Frank, a 40 year old black man who's been a partner of 43 year old black man who were really kids from the inner city who believe in development and one of the chance to live the real estate development was excited for one of the hopes that way have with Chase, as is that if we do well, it could be duplicated involved in New Orleans and other cities, and that's kind of the test that they're looking for. We do it here. Why can't we move it to other cities that need the same kind of assistance for their population?

[MUSIC PLAYING] When I turned 13, I got my first shotgun. It was a rite of passage. It was considered part of a moral upbringing. You're in a city and in a state where the people see the NRA as having protected that right for years and years and years. And yet, you made the decision to end your relationship with that organization. Why did you do it? Well, we're in counter to the values mentioned. I was watching your opening remarks here and read some of what you wrote this morning. Because I did read your little daily this morning. You do it every morning, right? Most mornings. OK. I try to do it every morning. And you know what? At Delta, our values are everything. It's the culture of the company. It allows us to be who we are. We've got 85,000 employees around the world that want to know what we stand for. And when we saw the divisive rhetoric coming out of the NRA following the shootings, and honestly, I did not even know we had it because it's a relatively modest small little discount program that we had with the NRA. But any implied endorsement that anyone could ever attach Delta to, to the NRA, we couldn't be part of it at that point. We had to stand and take notice. We were not the only ones. A number of other companies did the same thing. Did you talk to your board? Not in advance of the decision. You didn't. I did not. Did you get any pushback from the board? No. No. The board read about it as everyone else did that next morning, as soon as we made the decision. And the sparks started flying. And no one said, hey, we have a lot of people who fly this airline who are members of the NRA? Yeah, well, we knew that. And we've got a lot of people that were also offended by the comments of the NRA, many, many more that were offended than were actually advocates of it. I did have a couple of board members wonder why I felt the need to move as quickly as we did, as soon as we found out that we had this little discount program, which we had for thousands of organizations. It's not a big, big discount program. I told them that that ran so counter to who we are, that the decision to make it-- and we knew there was going to be potential backlash. The decision to make it to me was crystal clear. Did you have to scrub your list of other organizations that you have to see if there were other organizations that you might not feel comfortable with? We have, and we've ended some relationships as a result as well. Two, three, 10, 15? Nope. Nope. Not giving any-- Orders of magnitude. I mean, it's-- Giving a breadbox. Yeah, I mean, it's probably about 20. About 20. But we're not going to about who they are. Yeah, but that's very interesting. So that suggests that that exercise had never been done before. Not at that level. Not at that level. It put another screen on top of what we view to be just a simple-- and it was just going to their national convention. It wasn't that they could travel on their own personal time, just as a rite of being an NRA member. That's just the opportunity to go to one convention. But that's a pretty clear piece of evidence that you're holding the organization to a higher standard than it has been held to in the past. No question about it. And our people demanded it. There was a point during that process that people were not certain why we made the decision when we did. Because we had-- the state legislature came out. It was certainly it was the lead story in Atlanta for about 10 days. It led to questions whether Delta is even going to stay in Atlanta headquartered there, which-- Was that ever an issue? Never an issue. Never an issue. And I moved to dismiss it quickly. But you did have this tax issue pending before the state legislature. Can you talk a little bit about that? Sure, there is a $40 million exemption that the state had already approved to-- and by the way, it wasn't just Delta. It was all the airlines operating out of Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta to eliminate fuel taxes. And we're the biggest beneficiary, $40 million a year of those savings. And as soon as we made the decision to end the discount, the NRA members of the state legislature were up in arms. Which is most of the state legislature. Which is most of the state legislature. And they said that publicly if we did not drop our opposition to the NRA and that modest discount program, that they were going to eliminate the tax benefit that we were ready to receive. And we said, well, if that's the decision you take, you take that decision. But we were not going to be moved by it. So at a minimum, leaving aside whether it's affected bookings or anything like that, at a minimum, you lost $40 million. $40 million a year. And how do you justify that to your investors? Well, from an investor standpoint, the most important asset we got on our balance sheet is our culture and our values. And I think that's a modest investment in the culture of the business. 

Insights: Delta CEO Explains Why Company Cut Ties With the NRA

The move cost Delta $40 million in tax exemptions.

Delta CEO Explains Why Company Cut Ties With the NRA

The move cost Delta $40 million in tax exemptions. (June 2018)

When I turned 13 I got my first shotgun. It was a rite of passage. It was considered part of a moral upbringing. You're in a city and in a state where the people see the n r. A. Is having protected that right for years and years and years. And yet you made the decision to end your relationship with that organization. Why did you do it? Well, ran counter to the values mentioned. I was watching your opening remarks here and read some of what you wrote this morning. I did read your little daily this morning. You do it every morning, right? Most mornings. Okay. I tried to do it. Everyone, Uh and, um, you know what Delta you are. Our values are everything. It's the culture of the company that allows us to be who we are. We've got 85,000 employees around the world that want to know what we stand for. And when we saw the divisive rhetoric coming out of the Honore following the shootings, and honestly, I did not even know we had a relatively modest small little discount program that we had with the Honore. But any implied endorsement that anyone could ever attached Delta two to the NRA. We couldn't be part of it. At that point, we had to stand and take notice. We were not the only ones. Number of other companies did the same thing. Did you talk to your board? Uh, not in advance of the decision. You didn't. Did you get any pushback from the board? No, no. The board, The board read about it as a CZ. Everyone else did that next morning. I made the decision in the The Sparks started flying, and no one said, Hey, you know, we have We have a lot of people who fly this airlines who are members of the N R A. Yeah, well, we knew that. And we've got a lot of people that were also offended by the comments of the of the NRA. Many, many more that were offended. Them were actually advocates of it. I did have a couple of board members. You wonder why I felt the need to move as quickly as we did as soon as we found out that we had this little discount from which we have for thousands of organizations. It's not a big, big discount program. I told him that that was ever and so counter to who we are That the decision to make it and we knew there was gonna be potential backlash. The decision to make it to me. It was crystal clear. Did you have to scrub your list of other organizations that you have to see if there were other organizations that you might not feel comfortable with? We have, and we've ended some relationships as a result as well. 23 10. Nothing in order to the bank and food. I mean, it stayed in the breadbox. Yeah. I mean, it's probably about 20 about 20 but we're not gonna talk about who they are. Yeah, but that's very interesting. So that suggests that that exercise had never been done before. Not at that level, not at that level. Put it another screen on top of what we view to be just a simple it was just going to their national convention. It wasn't that they could travel on their own personal time, just as a rite of being an honorary member. That's just the opportunity to go to one convention, But that's a pretty clear piece of evidence that you're holding the organization to a higher standard than it has been held to in the past. No question about it on our people demanded. You know, there was a There was a point during that process that people were not certain why we made the decision when we did, because we had the state Legislature came out. It certainly was the lead story. Atlanta for about 10 days led to questions whether Delta is even gonna stay in Atlanta headquarter there. Which was that ever an issue. Never initial. Never an issue when I move to dismiss it quickly. But you did have this tax issue pending before the state Legislature. Can you talk a little bit about that? Sir? There is a $40 million exemption that the state had already approved. Thio. It was, by the way, wasn't just dealt. It was all the airlines operating out of Hartsfield Jackson in Atlanta. Thio eliminate fuel taxes and we're the biggest beneficiary. $40 million a year of those savings. And when the soon as we made the decision to end the discount, the NRA members of the state legislature were up in arms, which is most of which is most of most of the state Legislature. And they said that publicly, if we did not drop our opposition to the N. R. A. And that modest discount program, that they were going to eliminate the tax benefit that we were ready to receive and we said, Well, that's that's the decision you take. You take that decision but way we're not gonna be moved by. So at a minimum, leaving aside whether it's affected bookings or anything like that. At a minimum, you lost $40 million.40 million dollars Here, uh, and and how do you justify that to your investors? Well, from A from an investor's standpoint, the most important asset we got our balance sheet is, is our culture and our values, and I think that's a modest investment in the culture of the business.

[MUSIC PLAYING] For Apple, we've always been about changing the world. And it became clear to me some number of years ago that you don't do that by staying quiet on things that matter. And so for us, that's really been the driving issue. And there's no formula about when you speak and when you don't. But the way that I think about it is, is it something that Apple has a special expertise on? Because I don't want Apple to be another talking head, right? We should only speak when we have certain knowledge to bring to the subject. And I always ask myself, do we have standing? Do we have a right to talk about this issue? And generally speaking, more than just it's not enough to be a large company to speak. Or at least I don't see it like that at all. And so I think about those. And so what that means for us is we typically speak about education, about privacy, about human rights, about immigration, and about the environment. Because there's something that we have where we can bring a point of view. It may be discounted. Most people may view it to be not correct, right? But nevertheless it's a point of view that we can share and we think we have something to offer in those spaces. We have a lot of different people from a lot of different places. And we are accepting of people from everywhere. And so we think we have something to offer about talking about that kind of environment. And ultimately, that is what human rights is all about. It's about just treating people with dignity and respect at the end of the day. And so these are topics that we think we can add something to. And so we don't get into politics on any of these. We stick to policy. How are people treated? What is the immigration policy? These are the things that we stick to. And we work with people from both parties or no party. And at times, one party doesn't like something we do. At times, the other party does't. And at times, both of them don't. But we just stick to the policy. And I think if you do that, most people, I think, will respect that. 

Insights: Tim Cook - "You Don’t Change the World By Staying Quiet"

“It’s not enough to be a large company.”

Tim Cook - "You Don’t Change the World By Staying Quiet"

apple. We've always been about changing the world, and it became clear to me some number of years ago that you don't do that by staying quiet on things that matter. And so for us, that's really been the driving driving issue. And, uh, there's no formula about when you speak and when you don't. But for the way, the way that I think about it is, um is it something that Apple has a special expertise on? Um, because I don't want Apple to be another. You're talking head, right? Uh, we should only speak when we have certain knowledge Thio to bring to the subject. Uh, for, uh, I always ask myself, Do we have standing? You know, do we have a right to talk about this issue and generally speaking Maur than just, uh, it's not enough to be a large company to speak are at least I don't like that at all. And so I think about those. And what that means for us is we typically speak about education about privacy, uh, about human rights. Ah, about immigration and about the environment, because there's something that we have where we can bring a point of view, it may be discounted, Uh, most people may view it to be not correct, right? But But it nevertheless, it's a point of view that we can share, and we think we have something to offer in the space. We have a lot of different people from a lot of different places, and we we are, are accepting of people from everywhere. And we think we have something to offer about talking about that kind of environment, and ultimately that is what human rights is all about. It's about just treating people with dignity and respect at the at the today and so these air topics that we think we can add something to and we're not, we don't We don't get into politics on any of the we We stick to policy. How are people treated? What is the immigration policy? Uh, these are the things that we stick to, what we were, and we work with people from from both parties or no party. Uh, and it times one party doesn't like something we do at times. The other party doesn't and it times both of them don't you know, But But we just stick to the policy. And I think if you do that, you can, uh most people, I think will respect that

[MUSIC PLAYING] Really believe that the day I'll change 100% of jobs-- change. I didn't say replace. I didn't-- Every job. But every job-- in some way, different degrees. Some will be new, but otherwise change. And so then the most important question becomes-- people talk-- we'll talk about privacy and trust, those things. But boy, I think the other thing is, if you don't feel like you have the skills to participate in this world and work with this, this is a very divisive thing. It means you got to find a way for everyone to be able to participate, and that the system's got to work for everyone. It means everyone can't have a college degree because it's moving too fast. If we think everybody's got to be a data scientist and all these things, that's crazy. And so there's got to be a way for less than four year degrees to get a huge part of the population participating. And at the other end, there's got to be a way-- and we've got something to talk about, to retrain. It's our responsibility to start to prepare society for them. And one of the ways is, to Alan's point, would be around training. So here, I have all these open jobs, 30,000 jobs open in the United States. And I say, well, what am I going to do? And we started to say, look, yes, we hire lots of PhD's, university graduates. But I need another-- I need more workforce. And we had coined this idea-- and I keep using the words, and I'd like to try it on you-- called new collar. The idea was if you could believe in a different paradigm, not white collar, not blue collar, so no thing negative about this, but that you could make a really good living, a career. You did not have to have a four year degree. So I would value your skills over your degree. I would value your skills. I would also believe that there could be new models of education that could get you there in different pathways. One thing we started was something called Pathway to Technology Early College High School. It's a mouthful. PTech. PTech. But it's just a-- and I don't believe it's my job to replace government or anything like this. I need these workers. I need these employees. And I need society to love these technologies. But you've gone way beyond training your own-- Yes, oh, yes. --voice. So why-- Oh, I can come back to my own. --why are you taking on the bigger respons-- Well, I need more than just even what I have. And so the idea was to say let's start to prepare. And we went to high schools. We went to the most disadvantaged high schools that we could find. The first one was here in Brooklyn. This is now seven years and going. So think of a six-year high school, would be an easy way to think about it, with a community college. A community college and the high school together, and there is a very distinct formula. The formula is-- because I'll come back to it. The most important skill is human centered, actually, not the higher technology skills. And align them with a curriculum, and not vocational, a kind of a how do you learn curriculum. Give them internships, mentors, your employees, and a chance at a job. We have watched 100% of kids come through. We're now up to 125,000 kids, almost all first generation, 14 countries, 11 states, and-- How long does the program last? --400x-- well, you can get through as fast-- a six year you can get through. And the kids, actually, the most interesting thing is many are graduating in four years and 4 and 1/2 with both their high school degree and their associate degree. And some go the whole six. And ironically, we thought they'd all go to work. About a third are coming right into work. And the others are now going on to their four year degrees. I'm like, that wasn't supposed to work that way. Come on back here. The whole idea was to get away from four year, yeah. Get back here. Yeah, but where there's a will, there's a way. There's plenty of ways. And it has been repeatable. So now it's not just us. We have 500 other companies. 

Insights: IBM Champions New Skills for Post-AI Workplaces

Ginni Rometty spoke at CEO Initiative June 2019. 

IBM Champions New Skills for Post-AI Workplaces

I really believe it. The day I'll change 100% of jobs change I didn't replace. I didn't every job but every job in some way different degrees. Some will be new but otherwise changed. And so then the most important question becomes. People talk. We'll talk about privacy and trust those things. But, boy, I think the other thing is, if you don't feel like you have the skills to participate in this world and work with this, this is a very divisive thing. It means you gotta find a way for everyone to be able to participate and that the system's gotta work for everyone. It means everyone can't have a college degree because it's moving too fast. If we think everybody's got to be a data scientist and all these things that crazy and so there's gotta be a way for less than four year degrees to get a huge part of the population participating, and at the other end, there's got to be a way, and we were about to retrain. It's our responsibility to start to prepare society for them, and one of the ways is Alan's point would be around training. So here I have all these open jobs, 30,000 jobs open in the United States. And I said, Well, what am I going to do? And we started a look. Yes, we hire lots of Ph. D's university graduate, but I need another. I need more workforce, and we had coined this idea, and I keep using the words I'd like to try it on you called New Collar. The idea was, if you could believe in a different paradigm, not white collar, not blue collar. So nothing negative about this, but that that there you could make a really good living a career. You did not have to have a four year degree, so I would value your skills over your degree. I would value your skills. I would also believe that there could be new models of education that could get you there in different pathways. One thing we started with something called Pathway to Technology Early College High School, a mouthful, Pete. But it's just a and I don't believe it's my job to replace government or anything like this. I need these workers. I need these employees and I need society to love these technologies, but you're gone way beyond training your own? Yes. Oh, yeah. So what? Oh, I get on a response. I need more than just even what I have. And so? So the idea would waas to say, Let's start to prepare. And we went to high school. We went to most disadvantaged high schools that we could find the 1st 1 was here in Brooklyn. Uh, this is now seven years and going So think of a six year high school. Be an easy way to think about it with a community college, community, college in the high school together. And there is a very distinct formula. The formula is because I'll come back to the most important skill of human centered actually not the hard technology skills and aligned them with a curriculum and at vocational kind of How do you learn curriculum? Give them internship, mentors, your employees and a chance of a job. We have watched 100% of kids come through. We're now up to 125,000 kids. Almost all first generation 14 countries, 11 states. And how long? 400 ex. Well, you can get through it fast. Six year you can get through and the kids. Actually, the most interesting thing is many are graduating in four years and four and 1/2 with both their high school degree and their associate degree, and some go the whole six. And ironically, we thought that I'll go to work. About 1/3 are coming right into work, and the others are now going onto their four year degrees. I'm like that wasn't supposed to work that way. Come on back here, get back here. But there's whether the Willers away there's plenty of ways and it is. It has been repeated. So now it's not just us. We have 500 other companies.

 What is tackling inequality mean to you? And how does all of this fit into a broader framework of a business imperative? It starts a little bit with our obligation as businesses now. I don't think that businesses can shun or avoid the issues of our day. I think we have a moral responsibility to step up, to be a part of this solution, to work with governments, to work with NGOs, to work with academia, to figure out, how can we come together to address these issues? And I think the very best businesses have a mission that inspires their workers, that have values that support them. And our mission at PayPal simply put is to try to democratize financial services, which is a fancy way of saying that we think that managing and moving money should be a right for all citizens, not just a privilege for the affluent. And that's a very inclusive vision. And as such, our primary value at PayPal is diversity and inclusion. There's a great saying that Justin Trudeau's dad actually came up with, which was that diversity is a fact but inclusion is a choice. And I love that saying. I think it's really a beautiful saying. And for us, I think for all of us, that means that we need to step up as leaders and assure that we have inclusive workforces for two reasons. One, the more diverse your workforce, the more successful you will be as a company. There are facts over and over and over that prove that. Diversity of thought, diversity of opinion is incredibly important for a business. And two, if we're going to serve a global community-- and for us it's all citizens-- our workforce should mirror that population, that customer segment that we're trying to serve. And so we take this very, very seriously. We stand up for our values. We act on our values, because if values are just something you have up on a wall, they're not really values. They're propaganda. And if you act on them, then they really are values. 

Insights: PayPal CEO - We Have a Moral Responsibility to Tackle Inequality

PayPal CEO: Moral Responsibility to Tackle Inequality

CEO Dan Schulman explains why at Fortune’s Global Forum. (October 2018)

What is tackling inequality on dhe it mean to you? And how does all of this fits into a broader framework of a business imperative? It starts a little bit with our obligation as businesses. Now, I don't think that businesses can er, shun or avoid, uh, the issues of our day. I think we have a moral responsibility. Thio Step up to be a part of the solution toe work with governments, toe work with NGOs, toe work with academia to figure out How can we come together to address these issues? And I think the very best businesses I have a mission that inspires their workers that have values that support them. Um, and you know, our mission at PayPal. Simply put it is to try to democratize financial service is, which is a fancy way of saying that we think that managing and moving money should be right for all citizens, not just the privileged for the affluent. And that's a very inclusive vision. And, as such are primary value at PayPal. Is diversity inclusion? There's a great thing, uh, that Justin Trudeau dad actually came up with which waas that diversity is a fact. But inclusion is a choice. And I love that saying, I think it's really a beautiful saying and um, for us, I think for all of us, that means we need to step up as leaders and assure that we have inclusive workforces for two reasons. One, the more diverse your workforce, the more successful you will be a za company. There are facts over and over and over that prove that diversity of thought diversity of opinion is incredibly important for business. And two, if we're gonna serve a global community, and for us, it's all citizens. Our workforce should mirror that population, that customer segment that we're trying to serve. And so we take this very, very seriously. We stand up for our values. We act on our values because it values or just something you have up on a wall. They're not really values their propaganda. And if you act on them than they really are, values

[MUSIC PLAYING] We are at a moment of reckoning-- not just for tech, but for business as a whole. And the crisis of trust in all institutions is basically at an all time high. What gives me immense optimism is that we've been here before as a society. We heard this morning about the movement for free secondary education. I want to remind you of a different moment-- the introduction of automobiles, commercial automobiles. Imagine what it was like to stand on a dusty street corner in New York in the early 1900s after automobiles were first introduced. People were dying in record numbers on the streets. It was-- and I quote this from a historian-- "more dangerous to try to cross the street than to try to cross the Atlantic in a clam shell boat." And so what happened? You had leaders rise up and say, I think we need a brilliant piece of technology called the stop sign, which was introduced about 10 years after automobiles came into commercial circulation. Later, we had movements around automobile safety-- seat belts. It's easy to forget that. But today, safety is a competitive advantage in industry. I think we're at a similar moment with regard to how guardrails for tech get created. And here's what the difference is. Tech is moving much faster than we have time to reckon with. But the key to trust is listening. We need to be listening to the people within society that have ideas about how tech should be governed and what ethical principals get incorporated. You heard, this morning, Marc Benioff mention that we had a moment of crisis last year at Salesforce when employees and others were protesting about our contract with the US Customs and Border Protection Agency. We set up this office of Ethical and Humane Use with a council of both internal and external members. And the key thing that we do when we have difficult issues that we have to grapple with is listen. We bring in civil society leaders. We talk to employees. We talk to customers. And these decisions are not easy, and those conversations don't always have people agreeing. But I want to suggest that the number one thing that we can do as business leaders is set up similar processes, whereby we're involving everyone in these decisions, because these decisions definitely affect everyone. And with that, I will end by saying I'm greatly optimistic, as well, because we're having this conversation today amongst forward-looking business leaders like yourselves. And I can't wait to hear what we come up with together. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Insights: Salesforce Ethics VP - Key to Trust is Listening

Paula Goldman is the company's first Ethical Use Officer.

Salesforce Ethics VP - Key to Trust is Listening

Paula Goldman is the company's first Chief Ethical and Humane Use Officer. (June 2019)

way are at a moment of reckoning, not just for tech but for business. The whole, uh, and the crisis of trusting all institutions is basically at an all time high. We what gives me immense optimism is that we've been here before as a society we heard this morning about the movement for free secondary education. I wanna remind you a different moment. Ah, the introduction of automobiles, commercial automobiles. Imagine what it was like to stand on a dusty street corner in New York in the early 19 hundreds. After automobiles were first introduced, people were dying in record numbers on the street. It was. And I quote this from a historian more dangerous to try to cross the street than to try to cross the Atlantic in a clam in a clam shell boat. Um and so what happened? You had leaders rise up and say, I think we need a brilliant piece of technology called the stop sign, which took into into account with was introduced about 10 years after automobiles came into commercial circulation. Later, we had movements around automobile safety seat belt. Today it was easy to forget that. But today you know, safety is a competitive advantage in industry. I think we're at a similar moment with regard to how guardrails for tech get created. And here's what the difference is. Tech is moving much faster than we have. We have time to reckon with. But the key to trust is listening right. We need to be listening to the people within society that have ideas about how Tex should be governed and what ethical principles get incorporated. You heard this morning, Marc Benioff mentioned. We had a moment of crisis last year, its sales force, when employees and others were protesting about our contract with the U. S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. We set up this Office of ethical, inhumane use with a council of both internal and external members. And the key thing that we do when we have difficult issues that we have to grapple with is listen. We bring in civil society leaders, we talk to employees, we talk to customers and these decisions are not easy. And those conversations don't always have people agreeing. But I want to suggest that the number one thing that we can do it as business leaders set up similar processes whereby we're involving everyone in these decisions because these decisions definitely affect everyone. And with that I will end by saying I'm greatly optimistic as well because we're having this conversation today amongst forward looking business leaders like yourselves, and I can't wait to hear what we come up with together.

[THEME MUSIC] I want to talk about business, activism, CEO activism. Because I've been covering business for four decades, and I think something has profoundly changed in the last decade. There used to be a very clear line between what business responsibilities were, what government responsibilities were. If you got into hot button social issues, most CEOs would be under the table in a heartbeat-- didn't want to talk about it. Didn't want to go there. It's not my bottom line. And you were kind of at the front end of changing that. When Indiana-- was it four years ago, five years ago-- passed a religious liberties law that you perceived as being discriminatory, you stepped out. And it wasn't even in San Francisco. It was in Indiana. Why did you do it? What was going on, there? Well, the reason why we got involved, and the reason why we get involved in most things, is it's driven by our employees. And I think that if you're-- to kind of get to your question of what's happened in the last decade-- that as millennials have entered the workforce, and companies like mine, they're far more active and more involved in creating the culture. Before, I think, creating the culture was kind of the very lonely job of the HR executive, or maybe even the CEO, and now the workforce realizes they're actually a critical part of making that happen. And so you're really seeing active employees. And that's creating active CEOs. And you can see a lot of examples where we have significant employee activism in tech companies, for example, that has changed the course of the history of the technology industry. And how do-- I think that's a really interesting point. We had a presentation earlier about millennials. And one of the things we didn't get to in that presentation is, because millennials are taking longer to get married, they're less likely to be involved in organized religion, they're less likely to join social clubs, groups-- the Elks club, the Moose club, the Rotary Club, whatever-- the employer becomes their most important formal connection to society. And they put a lot of hopes and dreams and values into the employer. I think, also, that they've just realized they have a choice where they can work. And the thing is that they want to be in an environment and a business that is about purpose. They want to make sure that their company that they're in is actually committed to improving the state of the world. That is a critical part of the employees that we're hiring today. And certainly, the next wave of employees imagine that 2x or 3x. So we're just getting a taste of the future. But you've got people who have a lot of opinions that may not be the right thing for the company, may not be the right thing for the country. I mean, you had an interesting moment when your employees said, hey, we don't want to do work for the Customs and Border Patrol. That's right. I said, really? Yeah. You're not going to support protecting our borders? So how do you-- how do you decide which impulses to support and which impulses to resist? Well, I think this is now-- CEOs are going to have to react to these changes. So what is the first thing the CEO is going to have to do? Well, all of a sudden, I got labeled activist CEO. OK? And it wasn't me. I'm just finishing this book right now called "Trailblazer." It comes out in October. I saw some-- I'm right at the end of the process. And it's really the story of, this is not me. It's not about me. I didn't become, all of a sudden, this activist CEO. I got kind of pushed by my employees, into it. And my job as CEO is to listen deeply to my employees and my customers, and to respond to them effectively. You mentioned Tableau-- I'm doing that because it's customer driven. I was with the-- The investors aren't crazy about it. I was-- well, the investors, they will see, just as they've always seen how amazing it is. Over time. Oh, well, it's just spectacular. I mean, it's just a spectacular combination. Yeah. I didn't mean to-- That was also a year ago, when we bought MuleSoft. But let's keep moving forward. So this concept of, it's about, how do you listen to CEOs? How do you listen to your employees? How do you listen to your customers? And that might-- then, you might be called, oh, I'm an activist CEO because I'm responding to what my employees want. OK? But it's not true. The reality is, if you're not going to do that, you're not going to be the CEO. And we have a lot of examples, actually, in Silicon Valley, of CEOs who are no longer CEOs because they did not listen. Fired by their employees. They did not respond-- fired by their employees. And it's gotten really close on some super high-profile CEOs, where you see employees storm out of the building because they're unhappy with a critical part of the culture. So-- You're talking Google? I'm not naming any names. I just want to say that-- [LAUGHTER] --there is a moment where things can tip. And you have to pull back as a CEO and say, who am I? What am I doing here? And am I listening? And the one other point is this, which is that because of that, you're going to be faced with these kinds of challenges by your employees. You better have a repository for that, that you can then process that. Most organizations don't. And that's why we created our Office of Ethical Use. Because for example, in the example of Customs and Border Patrol, when our employees say, well, should we be doing business with this organization or should we not, then we can say, oh, well, here, we can actually talk to this Office of Chief Ethical Use, and let them be the arbitrator of that. So how would that have been-- tell us how this works. I mean, you say you had a bunch of employees who came to you. They said, we should stop doing business with Customs and Border Patrol. You said, I don't agree. No, I didn't say that. I said-- I would say-- I would never say such a thing. I think if you're a CEO and you say that, you are in big trouble. I don't agree. I this, I that. what I said was, what, I am an expert in this, all of a sudden? Somehow, this is now also something that I have to do as CEO? But you-- you accepted this mantle. Not only do I have to do all these other things, I now have to do this? No. That is not-- But you kind of led the way into this-- It's not the job of the CEO. As a CEO yourself, you know that's not the job of the CEO. Because the job of the CEOs is then to create a process and a structure that lets it auto-resolve. And we'll do whatever we need to do. And for example-- Yeah. So how does this-- We hired Paula, who's going to speak, I think, later today. Yeah. And her job is, she's a phenomenal person in this-- world-renowned expert in this area. And then she sets up an organization, and those employees can go and they can be fully vetted. And in some cases, there will be action, and some cases there's not. Is it a democracy? Do you take an employee vote? How-- how does she-- what is her process to decide whether you should cut off business-- Well, you're going to have to ask her, I guess. That's why you have her on stage, Alan. But as an example-- But what good is a CEO if you can't do that? Well, one of the things in-- we have an amazing thing. We have an incredible product line. Some that we've built organically, some inorganically. And one amazing inorganic acquisition we bought several years ago, now, is Demandware, which is now our Commerce Cloud. And we sell a huge amount online, like Adidas. We're selling lots of Adidas shoes. And everybody wants access to this Commerce Cloud technology, because you can just radically increase the velocity of your sales. And it's got artificial intelligence, our Salesforce Einstein built into it. It's next generation. It is built into our Customer 360. It works with all of our other products. So we have a lot of gun sellers coming to us and saying, we want to sell guns. And we're not opposed to selling guns. Then we had bump stock sellers coming to us. We want to sell bump stocks. Then we had our employees who are in the Commerce Cloud see that, and come to Paula and say, Paula-- We can't do this. Not-- well-- they said, should we be doing this? Is this ethical? How do you look-- and through our own resolution study, evaluation and mitigation with other experts, outside voices, inside voices, we decided we're not going to sell bump stocks. That's not something that Salesforce is going to do. But I'm not going to make that decision. I don't think I can I think I have I think it's better for the company if this is actually a professionally-- because, by the way, it's not just that. There is a list-- OK-- of things that employees want evaluated. Right? And not just from my company-- I'm sure in your organization, and every organization. But if you do not make those changes, then you cannot say-- if business is the greatest platform for change, and you're going to focus on these changes, you can't focus on everything, and you can't do everything. You've got to make priorities. You're not going to take on every cause, and whatever. But you do have to kind of have a north star, and it better be around a structured process to make that happen. And that's why I think, an Office of Ethical Use-- we might be the first ones in technology to do that, but we will not be the last. Just as we were the first to put in a Chief of Quality Officer. You think it's just technology? Or do you think it's much bigger than that? You think this is something that has to be adopted across the board? I think this is far bigger. Well, I went through all the biotechnologies. I mean, you talked about the ethical use of the biotechnologies is amazing. [THEME MUSIC]

Insights: CEO Marc Benioff on Salesforce Ethical Use Office

The importance of using business as a platform for change.

CEO Marc Benioff on Salesforce Ethical Use Office

Marc Benioff, Chairman and Co-CEO of Salesforce, discusses the importance of using business as a platform for change. (June 2019)

e talk about business activist CEO activism Because I've been covering business for four decades, and I think something has profoundly changed in the last decade. There used to be a very clear line between what business responsibilities were what government responsibility he were. You got a hot button social issues. Most CEOs would be under the table in a heartbeat, didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to go. There is not my bottom line, and you were kind of at the front end of changing that. Uh, when Indiana was four years ago, five years ago passed the religious liberties law that you proceed this being discriminatory, you stepped out. I wasn't even in San Francisco is in Indiana. Why didn't you do it? What was going on there? Well, the reason why we got involved in the reason why we get involved in most things is it's driven by our own place. And I think that if you're kind of get to your question of what happened in last decade, is that his millennials have entered the workforce, Um, and companies like mine, they're far more active and more involved in, um, creating the culture before I think kind of the culture was kind of very lonely. Job of the HR executive or maybe even the CEO. And now the workforce realizes they're actually a critical part of making that happen. And so you're really seen, you know, active employees, and that's creating active CEOs. And you can see a lot of examples where you know, we have significant employees, activism in tech companies, for example. That has changed the course of the history of the technology industry. And how did I think That's a really interesting point. We had a presentation earlier about millennials, and one of the things we didn't get to in that presentation is because Millennials are taking longer to get married. They're less likely to be involved in organized religion. They're less likely to join social clubs, groups, the Elks Club, the Moose Club, the Rotary Club, whatever the employer becomes their most important formal connection to society, and they put a lot of hopes and dreams and values into, I think also that they're just realized they have a choice where they can work, and the thing is, is that you know they want to be in an environment and a business that is about purpose. They want to make sure that the company that they're in is actually committed to improving the state of the world. That that is a critical part of the employees that were hiring day and certainly the next wave of employees. Imagine that Two or three X So we're just getting a taste of the future. But you got people who want who have a lot of opinions that may not be the right thing for the company may not be the right thing for the country. I mean, you had an interesting moment when your employees said, Hey, we don't want to do work for the custom and Border Patrol really like you're not gonna support protecting our borders. So how do you How do you decide which impulses toe support and which impulses to resist? Well, I think this is this is now CEOs, we're gonna have to react to these changes. So what is the first thing the CEO is gonna have to do? Well, they said, you know, I got labeled, um, activist CEO. Okay. And, um, it wasn't me, and I'm just finishing this book right now called Trailblazer comes out in October. It's awesome, you know, right at the end of the process. And you know, it's really the story of this is not me. It's not about me. You know, I didn't become this all of a sudden. This activist CEO I got kind of pushed, you know, by my employees into it. And my job as CEO is to listen deeply to my employees and my customers and to respond to them effectively mentioned like tableau. I'm doing that because customer driven, you know, like I was with the investors, aren't crazy about I was, well, investors. They will, you know, See, just as they have always seen you know, how amazing it is. Overtime. Oh, well, it's spectacular. I mean, you know, it's just a spectacular, um, combination. I didn't mean that was also, like a year ago when we bought meal soft, but let's but let's keep moving forward. So this odd concept of it about how do you listen to see how do you listen to employees? How do you listen to your customers? And that might Then you might be called. Oh, I'm an activist CEO because I'm responding what my employees want. Okay, Um, but it's not true. The reality is, if you're not gonna do that, you're not gonna be CEO. And we have a lot of examples, actually, in Silicon Valley of CEOs who are no longer CEOs because they did not listen, fired by not mired by their employees, fired by their employees. And it's gotten really close on some super high profile. You know, CEOs were seeing, you know, you see, employees like storm out of the building because they're unhappy with a critical part of the culture. So you're talking Google this? I'm not naming any names. I just want to say that, you know, there is a moment where, um, you know, things can tip and you have to pull back a CEO and se Who am I? What am I doing here? And am I listening? And now and the one other point is this, which is that because of that, you're gonna you're gonna be faced with these kinds of challenges by your employees. You better have a repositories for that that you can then process that most organizations don't. And that's why we created our office of ethical use. Because, like for example in an example of a custom and border patrol. When our employees say, Well, should we be doing business with this organization? Or should we not? Then we can say, Oh well, here we can actually talk Thio custom the this talking with that chief ethical use and let them be the arbitrator. So how would that have been? Tell us how this works. I mean, you say you had a bunch of employees who came to you. They said we should stop doing business with Customs and Border Patrol. You said I don't agree. No, I didn't say that. I said I would say I would never say sister thing. I think of your CEO and you say that you are in big trouble. I don't agree. I I this I that you know what I said was what I am an expert in this all of a sudden. Somehow this is now also something that I have todo accepted that not only do I have to do all these other things, I never have the boys this No, that is, you know, But you kind of lead the way and not the job of the CEO. That's a CEO yourself. You know that's not the job of CEO, because the jobless CEOs then d'oh creative process in the structure that lets it auto resolve. And you know, we'll do whatever we need to do. And for example, yeah. So how do we hired Um uh, Paula? Who's going to speak? I think later today. And her job is she's a phenomenal person in this, a world renowned expert in this area. And then she sets up an organization, and those employees could go and they could be fully vetted. And in some cases, there will be action. In some cases, there is a democracy. Do you taken employees vote? How did she What? It's her process to decide whether you're gonna have to ask her. I guess that's what you have been on stage, Alan. But you know what? It is the CEO. If you can't do that. Well, one of the things that got you know where we have an amazing thing. We have what we have. Ah, incredible product line some that we've built organically, some in organically and won. A amazing inorganic acquisition we bought several years ago now is demand where which is now our commerce cloud and we sell a huge amount online like Adidas. You know, we're selling lots of Adidas shoes and everybody wants access this commerce cloud technology because you can just in Craddick Lei increase the velocity of your sales and it's got artificial intelligence are seals First Einstein built into its next generation. It is built into our customer 360. It works with all of our other products. So we have a lot of gun sellers coming to us saying We want to sell guns and we're not opposed to selling guns. And then we had bump stock sellers coming to us. We want to sell bump stocks. Then we had our employees who are in the commerce crowd see that and come to Paul and say, Paula, we can't do that. Why not? Well, they said, should we be doing this? Is this ethical like, how do we look? And through, you know, our own resolution study evaluation in mitigation with other experts outside voices inside voices, we decided we're not gonna sell bump stocks. That's not something that sales force is going to dio and, um but I'm not going to make that decision. I don't think I can. I think I have. I think it's better for the company if this is actually a professionally because, by the way, it's not just that there is a list okay of things that employees want evaluated right and not my company, I'm sure in your organization, in every organization. But if you do not make those changes, then you cannot say if business is the greatest platform for change and you're gonna focus on these changes, you can't focus on everything and you can't do every guy I make. You're not gonna take on every cause and whatever you do have to kind of have a North Star, and it better be around a structured process to make that happen. And that's why I think an office of ethical use. We might be the first ones and technology to do that, but we will not be the last. Just as we were the first voting technology officer, I think it's just technology or think. I think it's much bigger than that. You think this is something that has to be adopted across the board? I think this is far bigger. Well, I went through all the biotechnologies. I mean, you talk about the ethical use of the biotechnology is is amazing

[MUSIC PLAYING] So the Business Roundtable was an organization that was started originally to lobby for business in Washington. They were there to look after business interests. And for years, they focused on things like tax policy, or spending policies, or things that affected businesses interest. I think what you've seen in the last couple of years is a recognition on the part of the Business Roundtable. And I credit a lot of this to the leadership of Jamie Dimon-- the CEO of JP Morgan, who now heads the Business Roundtable-- that they have to take a broader role. I've always looked at anything you do in corporate social responsibility-- and I've never had this conflict between shareholders and corporate responsibility-- I look at business very personally. If I have a store in a town-- it could be a corner bakery store-- you participate in the neighborhood. You help the homeless. You might help the local church or synagogue or a Little League team. Might give some summer jobs. That's what you do. That is called humanity. I've never been conflicted in that. So 20 years ago, the Business Roundtable adopted a statement of corporate purpose that, pretty much, mirrored what Milton Friedman had said, the goal of a corporation is to serve its shareholders, period. Obey the law, of course, but its principal responsibility was to shareholders. What you're seeing now is a restatement of that corporate purpose. It's not enough just to serve shareholders. They need to be focused on a broader array of stakeholders-- their employees, their customers, but also the communities in which those people operate. Because if you don't have healthy communities for your employees and your customers, you're not going to have a healthy company. The ones who have taken a leadership role in this statement of purpose, the new statement of purpose for the corporation are Mary Barra from General Motors, Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson, Ginni Rometty from IBM, and, of course, Jamie Dimon. What can they do to help fix some of the problems that our society is showing right now? So, for instance, they've taken a much broader role in developing training programs and platforms for training programs to help people make the transition to new technologies. Think of a six-year high school, be an easy way to think about it, with a community college. A community college and the high school together and there is a very distinct formula. The formula is-- because I'll come back to the most important skill is human-centered, actually, not the hard technology skills-- and align them with a curriculum. Not vocational, a, kind of, how do you learn curriculum. Give them internships, mentors-- your employees-- and a chance at a job. I think the new statement of corporate purpose is important. It reflects, to some degree, reflects a change that's already happened in the business community. People are thinking differently about their role in society. But I have to tell you, I talked to a lot of CEOs who feel the change is not happening fast enough. That there's a real trust gap that's developed in society. And we see it in political results. We see it in polling. There's a feeling that the statement needs to be backed up by action. That business has to make a concerted effort to show it can do a better job of addressing the most pressing needs of society. [MUSIC PLAYING] 

Insights: Today's Business Leaders Redefine Corporate Purpose

The Business Roundtable, which includes Jamie Dimon, Ginni Rometty, Alex Gorsky and other powerful business leaders, is redefining corporate purpose. (August 2019)

The Business Roundtable was an organization that was started originally to lobby for business in Washington. They were there to look after business interests, and for years they focused on things like tax policy or spending policies or things that affected businesses interest. I think what you've seen in the last couple of years is recognition on the part of the business. Roundtable on Dai credits a lot of this to the leadership of Jamie Diamond, the CEO of J. P. Morgan, who now heads the Business Roundtable, that they have to take a broader role. I've always looked at anything you do in corporate social responsibility, and I've never had this conflict between Charles and responsibility. I look good business kind, very personally. If I have a store in a town, it could be a corner bakery store. You participate in neighborhood, you help the homeless. You might help the local church synagogue. A Little League team might give some summer jobs. That's what you do that is called humanity. I've never been conflicted in that. So 20 years ago, the Business Roundtable adopted a statement of corporate purpose. The pretty much mirrored what Milton Friedman had said the goal of a corporation is to serve its shareholders period. You know, obey the law, of course, but it's principal responsibility was to shareholders. What you're seeing now is a restatement of that corporate purpose. It's not enough just to serve shareholders. They need to be focused on a broader array of stakeholders, their employees, their customers but also the communities in which those people operate. Because if you don't have healthy communities for your employees and your customers, they're not gonna have a healthy company. The ones who have taken a leadership role in the statement of purpose. The new statement of purpose for the corporation or Mary Barra from General Motors. Alex Gorsky of Johnson and Johnson, Ginny Rometty from IBM and, of course, Jamie Diamond. What can they do to help fix some of the problems that our society is is showing right now, for instance, they taken a much broader role in developing training programs and platforms for training programs to help people make the transition to new technologies. Think of a six year high school. Be an easy way to think about it with a community college, community, college in the high school together and there is a very distinct formula. The formula is I'll come back to the most important skill of human centered, actually not the hard technology skills, and aligned them with a curriculum and at vocational kind of. How do you learn curriculum? Give them internship, mentors, your employees and a chance at the job. I think the new statement of corporate purpose is important. It reflects to some degree reflects a change that's already happened in the business community. People are thinking differently about their role in society. But I have to tell you, I talked to a lot of CEOs who feel the change is not happening fast enough that there's a riel trust gap that's developed in society on and, you know, we see it in in political results. We see it in polling that there's a feeling that that statement needs to be backed up by actions that business has to make a concerted effort to show it can. You can do a better job of addressing the most pressing needs of society

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