Leadership Next

Typically, company CEOs also serve as Chairman of the Board. But that's not the case at AT&T. Bill Kennard is the newly installed Chair at AT&T and today, he's our guest on Leadership Next.

The pandemic has made clear the importance of universal broadband access - and just how far the U.S. is from that goal. Kids struggling to connect to remote school "hits us in our gut" Kennard tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt. He lays out the history of this problem, and explains what needs to be done to fix it.

Also in today's conversation: the innovations likely to come from 5G, and the race to establish standards for the technology; diversity in corporate America; and a favorite Leadership Next topic - the role of corporations in society.

Ever since he fell ill with COVID-19, Visa CEO Al Kelly has made sure his 21,000 employees know they have a role to play in ending the global pandemic. And while he's made a full recovery, he admits Visa is still feeling some pain as the coronavirus continues to depress spending on travel and entertainment. But long-term, it seems as though the pandemic may wind up being good for business. Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt dig into why that is, and then move on to a variety of other topics: how Bitcoin is impacting Visa, the company's renewed efforts to boost internal diversity, its commitment to the environment, and how Kelly's faith impacts him as a leader.

One year ago we were just beginning to feel the impact of COVID-19 here in the U.S. And our efforts to fight the virus were in early innings.  But it was already clear to 3M's Mike Roman that the coronavirus was a force to be reckoned with. 3M is the company behind N95 respirators. Demand for the product took off early last year, and has remained incredibly high ever since..

Today on Leadership Next, Roman tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt what the early days of the pandemic were like for the company and how his employees worked to meet increased demand. He shares 3M's response to the killing of George Floyd, the company's newest sustainability efforts, and his approach to stakeholder capitalism.

Also in today's episode, Deloitte's Joe Ucuzoglu details findings from a recent Fortune/Deloitte survey of big company CEOs, highlighting their thoughts on returning to offices, resuming business travel, and more.

Has the stock market lost touch with reality? That’s the first thing Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt want to know from this week’s Leadership Next guest, S&P Global CEO Doug Peterson. The conversation quickly turns to talk of ESG investing – the desire by investors to know their money is being invested in companies that are doing good for people and planet. Recent studies have shown that not only are big dollars flowing into these types of investments, but the funds themselves are outperforming the general market. Is this a trend that’s here to stay? And just because an investment claims to be ESG friendly, how do you know that’s really true?   

Jeff Immelt was the CEO of General Electric for 16 years. It was a controversial run to say the least. During his tenure company stock plunged, wiping out well over $100 billion in market value. Now, Immelt is ready to talk about what went wrong – and, what went right. He’s written a new book called Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company. And today, he joins Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt on Leadership Next. 

Also in today’s episode, Fortune’s Geoff Colvin who has spent years chronicling the company and has his own insight to offer. 

Years ago, the average person didn’t have a cell phone – mobile phones were a tool used primarily by big business. Of course today everyone has a phone in their pocket. Peggy Johnson believes augmented reality tech is going to follow this same trajectory. She’s the new CEO of Magic Leap, a startup founded in 2010 that makes augmented reality headsets. When it became clear that selling these devices to consumer gamers wasn’t going to sustain the company, Magic Leap decided to pivot to the enterprise market. And Peggy Johnson is leading that charge.  

In this episode of Leadership Next, she tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt why she raised her hand for this challenging job and lays out the business case for industries adopting augmented reality. She also talks about building her management team, supporting employees and says even small companies can “embrace stakeholder capitalism.”   

Fed up with razor blades that irritated his skin, and tired of walking down “ethnic” beauty aisles, entrepreneur Tristan Walker decided to start his own company. In 2013 he launched Bevel, a suite of shaving products designed for Black men.  Walker & Company Brands was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018, making Tristan the first Black CEO of a P&G subsidiary.  

In this episode of Leadership Next he tells Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt that he believes all companies should have a plan to serve customers of color. “Every company in 20 years, when folks of color become the majority in this country, if they do not have a plan to serve this audience with empathy, I believe that they will not exist.” 

Walker believes the global pandemic may have accelerated opportunity for employees of color, and he shares his outlook on the likelihood of lasting change in the wake of this past summer’s social justice uprising. Also in the conversation: why Walker sold his startup to the giant P&G, his complicated feelings around venture capital, and advice for other Black entrepreneurs.   

Each year Fortune assembles about 50 of the top CEOs in the world for a dinner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Of course this year, the annual event was postponed due to COVID-19. But Fortune still wanted to convene this group to discuss how business could best join forces to make a positive impact in 2021. How can all of us emerge from the global pandemic stronger than before?

And today, on Leadership Next, our listeners are getting a special seat at that event. Before setting priorities for 2021, attendees heard updates on several of the most pressing issues of the moment: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla spoke about the coronavirus vaccine efforts; Mary Barra of General Motors unveiled how her company plans to fight climate change; Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg offered a picture of tech regulation in the months ahead.

Leadership Next's Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt bring you highlights from these reports. Also joining the conversation, the co-host of Fortune's Brainstorm podcast, Michal Lev-Ram.

Leadership Next kicks off a new season with important discussions around Black Americans and work. Alan Murray and Ellen McGirt speak with tech executive Charles Phillips who is a founding member of OneTen – a coalition of business leaders committing to hire one million employees of color over the next ten years. Phillips explains how the group came about, and why it’s so important. He talks about his own experiences - how he became interested in computers, how his upbringing prepared him to succeed in a corporate world where very few people looked like him, and why he sold his company to Koch Industries instead of taking it public. 

Also on today’s show, David Craig the CEO of data company Refinitiv. Refinitiv is a key partner in a new Fortune initiative, Measure Up which pushes companies to track, report and disclose their employee diversity numbers. While many companies proclaim the importance of corporate diversity and inclusion, very few actually report their progress towards meeting DEI goals. You can join the effort by heading to https://Fortune.com/measureup

Leadership Next has wrapped for the year. We’ll be back with more CEO interviews in January, when we kick off Season 2. 

In the meantime, we invite you to check out - and subscribe - to a new Fortune podcast: Fortune Brainstorm.  

Each week hosts Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe talk about how tech is reshaping our world. They’ve explored how robots are identifying COVID-19, how AI is preventing wildfires, and why we should all care about the government’s antitrust lawsuit against Google. 

Today, Alan selected one of his favorite episodes to share with Leadership Next listeners. It's all about Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year, Elon Musk.  You may admire Musk, you may despise him – but you'll likely learn something new about him in this episode of Fortune Brainstorm.  

If you enjoy what you hear, you can find more episodes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brainstorm/id1533311996