Leadership Next

To those who love online trading or flock to the latest cryptocurrency, Edward Jones may appear old-fashioned. The company has been offering clients financial advice for 100 years and it remains focused on face-to-face interactions. And, CEO Penny Pennington says while cryptocurrency may be a fit for some portfolios, "we do not believe that speculation is a part of serious long-term financial plan...

When Dr. Marlow Hernandez was a child in Cuba, he promised his grandmother he would become a doctor. He did so, and is now the CEO of Cano Health, a primary care provider specializing in senior care. Cano has 137 medical centers across the country. The majority of its patients are located in low-income areas of South Florida. Companies the size of Cano Health don't typically appear on Leadership N...

As the war in Ukraine continues, it's brewing one crisis - threatening the global food supply - and deepening another - pushing millions of Ukrainians from their homes. Today on Leadership Next, Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt speak with two leaders who are working hard to mitigate these problems. Svein Tore Holsether is the CEO of global fertilizer company Yara. He explains why the war is hurting ag...

Fred Smith envisioned FedEx during his time as an undergrad at Yale. By 1973 his school project had become a functioning business. He's been a part of the organization ever since. But on June 1st he'll step down from the role of CEO and transition to FedEx Executive Chairman. Taking the reins at the Fortune 500 giant is current President and COO, Raj Subramaniam. In his first interview with a majo...

As Leadership Next listeners know, the role of business in society is changing. Companies are being held responsible for their environmental footprint, CEOs are asked to weigh in on social issues. Employees and customers both have new expectations of the corporations in their lives. And as companies respond to these changes they need corporate boards that understand these new expectations and pres...

When the COVID pandemic struck, Pfizer was ready to tackle the challenge of developing a vaccine. That's due in large part to some key decisions CEO Albert Bourla made after becoming CEO in 2019. In this episode of Leadership Next he was also quick to acknowledge the role purpose played in making this feat possible. "I think it was the most important factor," Bourla said. "It was not the singular...

On February 24, Russia fired missiles into Ukraine, launching a war that has displaced millions and likely killed thousands. One week later, mega retailer IKEA announced it would pause all production in both Russia and Belarus and shutter its namesake stores. This decision was anything but simple. Showing support for Ukraine ultimately meant impacting over 12,000 IKEA employees in Russia, not to m...

Linda Rendle is one of just a few women to be running a Fortune 500 company. She took over the top job at Clorox early in the pandemic when the company was scrambling to meet unprecedented demand for its cleaning products. That demand has subsided but inflation has skyrocketed, handing Rendle yet another challenge. On today's Leadership Next, she tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt how she's approa...

Global Payments provides the technology plumbing for a lot of digital commerce. That means when life moved largely online for many in 2020, the company's bottom line benefited. And while pandemic restrictions have eased, CEO Jeff Sloan says consumers will likely continue to order dinner, buy shoes and visit the doctor online. "Cash and check is the enemy. And the pandemic has accelerated the decli...

Ahead of Russia launching attacks on Ukraine, businesses and governments were warned to brace for cyber warfare. That hasn't transpired yet, but it doesn't mean it won't warns the co-founder and CEO of security company CyberArk. "Perhaps they're saving it for a later time," Udi Mokady tells Leadership Next. "(Y)ou don't certainly pull out all of your arsenal at once. And of course, my concern is t...

What is design thinking, and why should you care about it? " You know, so many leaders today are asking the question, what comes next? How do we prepare ourselves for what we can't even see? ... Well, that's where design thinking comes in," Sandy Speicher, CEO of IDEO, tells Leadership Next. Design thinking is a different way of seeing the world, a different approach to problem solving and leading...

Bigger is no longer better for General Electric, according to CEO Larry Culp. When he took charge of the iconic company in 2018 it was clear change was needed - GE was in the midst of a years-long slump where much of its market value disappeared. His solution: break the corporate giant into three smaller, focused companies. How did he come to this conclusion? Why is it the right move? And what lea...

Signet Jewelers - parent company to Zales, Kay and several other brands - has seen its digital sales quadruple since the start of the COVID pandemic. And an estimated 85 percent of customers interact with the company digitally at some point during their shopping process, according to company CEO Gina Drosos. But pushing the company towards a digital future is just part of the transformation plan D...

Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya immigrated to the U.S. from Turkey, He purchased an old yogurt factory in upstate New York in 2005. Two years later, the company sold its first Greek yogurt. Today, the brand is reportedly worth billions and is preparing for an IPO. But perhaps the most remarkable part of this story is HOW Ulukaya met his goal of making quality yogurt available to the mass market. As he t...

As recently as 1993, 80 percent of Africans had never heard a phone ring according to Cassava Technologies CEO Hardy Pemhiwa. Today, the vast majority of people on the continent own mobile phones. But connecting those phones to the internet remains pricey. This is where Cassava Technologies enters the picture. The company aims to become the first tech company to connect all of Africa. This massive...

In this episode of Leadership Next, Alan Murray and Ellen McGrit take listeners inside the annual CEO meeting that Fortune typically hosts at Davos. Davos itself was postponed due to Omicron, so Fortune moved its meeting online - and attendance was impressive. Leaders who joined oversee an estimated $2.6 trillion in annual revenues and directly employ just under seven million people. On the agenda...

For years Steve Case has been pushing venture capital investors to look beyond California, New York and Boston for startups to support. This has been the driving mission of his investment firm, Revolution, and his seed fund has backed nearly 180 companies in 80 cities. But now - finally - a growing number of investors are joining him. "I do believe one of the silver linings of a terrible tragic pa...

In this final Leadership Next of 2021, Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt are joined by Joe Ucuzoglu, CEO of Deloitte US and long-time sponsor of the podcast. The team reviews highlights from the season, identifying themes that emerged from the 40 episodes, and discusses what's ahead for business in 2022. Voices from the season appear throughout the episode. Hear from the CEOs of UPS, Chipotle, Intel, S...

After 24 years at Home Depot, Carol Tomé was ready to retire. But United Parcel Service - where she had served as a board member since 2003, had other plans. Why did she decide to accept the CEO job at UPS? That's just the first thing Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt want to know in this episode of Leadership Next. UPS is the leading delivery business in the U.S. Tomé says the company delivers six per...

Before the COVID pandemic, roughly 10 to 15 percent of Chipotle's business came in through digital channels. Today, that number is closer to 40 percent. "Sometimes, you know, your strategies end up finding an unknown accelerator. And the pandemic proved to be an accelerator on the strategy," CEO Brian Niccol explains. The company was well positioned to excel during the pandemic in other ways too....

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

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

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

In the past, offering executives leadership training was an expensive proposition. This meant only a handful of employees were able to participate. But what if you blew that model up? If you could lower the. cost, you could increase the number of employees being trained to excel. The result: a broader and more diverse group of up-and-coming corporate leaders. This is exactly what ExecOnline's CEO...

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