Great leaders at the top of their game have the audacity to continue to believe in themselves, to continue to work harder and keep trying, even when faced with failure. It’s a superpower that helps them redefine themselves, their companies, their industries, and ultimately be successful. 

Today, we sit down with one of those audacious leaders. Sarah Mensah is the first female president of Jordan Brand, which revolutionized sports marketing in 1984 when Nike partnered with Michael Jordan to create the first Air Jordan basketball shoe. Sarah has broken barriers throughout her career at the Portland Trailblazers, Nike, and now Jordan Brand. We’ll talk with Sarah about the power to be unabashedly yourself, harness humility and courage, and use your voice in the right way to be a trailblazer in your career. We’ll explore how Jordan Brand is committed to improving the lives of Black people and inspiring communities across the world to ensure racial equality, social justice and greater access to education. And she’ll share how risk-taking, innovation, and values-based decision-making are core parts of the DNA driving Jordan Brand’s global growth.  

We’ll also hear from Hetty Pye, a Managing Director in our London office, who will discuss the gender imbalance in today’s C-suites and the steps organizations can take to close the gap. 

If you’d like to read more about Sarah Mensah and how women are rewriting the rules for success to close the gender gap at the top of organizations today, pick up a copy of To The Top by Russell Reynolds Associates Managing Director Jenna Fisher. 

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: 

• Sunscreen and Success: Supergoop!'s Winning Formula with CEO Amanda Baldwin 
• Opening Hearts and Minds on Late Night News with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle 
• From Server to COO: Kat Cole’s Journey to the Top 

In this final episode of 2023, we’ll take a look back at the conversations we’ve had with the incredible leaders who joined us on Redefiners this past season. We’ll dig into how these leaders are guiding and redefining their organizations through some of this year’s top issues, including sustainability, AI, technology and transformation, purpose and culture, and, of course, risk and uncertainty – perhaps the biggest topic of 2023.   

We’ll also be joined by Emma Combe, a Managing Director in our London office and host of our Redefiners spinoff podcast, Leadership Lounge, who will share some of the insights she learned this past year. And as a special treat, Clarke and Hoda put themselves in our guests’ shoes to answer some fun, end of year rapid fire questions.  

Redefiners will return with more conversations in January 2024, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode!   

In the meantime, you can listen to all of our Redefiners episodes at https://www.russellreynolds.com/en/insights/podcasts/redefiners.  

Happy holidays! 

Technology has the power to redefine business and the world. The printing press. The telephone. The automobile. The personal computer. The Internet. These are just a few inventions that have transformed how we work and live. And each invention came with both the promise and peril of a new technology that had the power to uplift society while also threatening the way things had been done for years before. Today we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the introduction of another world-changing technology – artificial intelligence (AI) – that has been the hot topic in boardrooms, captured the attention of leaders and employees, and captivated consumers around the world.   

In this episode of Redefiners, we continue our special two-part conversation with Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, to dig into the complex issues around AI. Brad shares his thoughts on the scale of impact that AI will have, whether efficiency is more powerful than innovation, the promise and peril of technology, and how much leaders really need to learn before they leap. We’ll also talk with Brad about his view that every technology can be used as a tool and a weapon depending on who is using it, and the urgent need to find the right combination of private sector company responsibility and government regulation on a global scale.  

We’ll also hear from Joe Ghory, a Managing Director in our Stamford, CT office, who shares the five key areas to help CEOs, boards, and senior technology leaders navigate the impact of generative AI on their organizations.  

To learn more about Brad’s book, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, visit  https://news.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/tools-and-weapons/.  

And if you missed Part 1 of our conversation with Brad Smith, you can listen here.  

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: 

Unless you’ve somehow avoided all technology for the past three decades, you’ve likely used Microsoft products. The company has been a global technology leader since the start of the Digital Revolution and has positioned itself to grow even further as a leader in the future of computing and artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT.    In this special two-part episode of Redefiners, we’re joined by Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith, who in his 30 years with the company has had a front row seat to not only how much the tech industry has changed, but also in how much it’s changed business and society in a relatively short timeframe. In fact, The New York Times has called this redefining leader “a de facto ambassador for the technology industry at large.”  We’ll talk with Brad about the big shifts in technology and the tech industry he’s seen over the past three decades, the critical role of government and regulation when it comes to digital technology, how to find common ground in the cybersecurity threat landscape, and how he develops systems thinking with his team to “inspect the trees” while “analyzing the forest” to identify patterns and better navigate complexity. Brad also talks about Microsoft’s commitment to sustainability, which he calls “…the issue of the decade, if not the century.” He likens where we are with sustainability now to where the United States was in 1961 after committing to go to the moon – we may not fully understand the problems we need to solve and we clearly don’t have all the answers, but it’s critical that we figure it out.   We’ll also hear from Maneesh Dube, an Executive Director in our New York office, who explains why finding leaders who are tech-savvy is crucial to the success of your organization.  Be sure to check back for part two of our conversation with Brad in two weeks, where we’ll dig into artificial intelligence (AI), productivity, and his thoughts on the need for the tech sector to assume more responsibility and governments to move faster to address the challenges that new technologies are creating.   To learn more about Brad’s book, Tools and Weapons: The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age, visit  https://news.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/tools-and-weapons/.  If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: 

We’re in the midst of a new technology revolution—one that is completely rewriting the rules of the game. Gen-AI isn’t hype. It’s here to stay. And the leaders who are quickest to learn how to ride this innovation wave will be the ones that stay ahead. 

It’s a high-stakes moment. And yet, there are still questions to be answered: In this time of seismic transformation, how do you keep up? How will Gen-AI challenge our definitions of what it takes to lead? And which traits do you need to hone to thrive in a Gen-AI-driven world? 

To help leaders navigate this complex moment in history, we invited Fawad Bajwa and Joe Ghory, our AI practice co-leads, and Harpreet Khurana, our Chief Digital and Data Analytics Officer, into the Leadership Lounge. 

They talk through the biggest opportunities (and risks) of Gen-AI for leaders, and share their extensive experience on what it takes to succeed during periods of large-scale transformation.

Tune in to discover how to get your hands dirty with Gen-AI, why a learning mindset is key, and why it’s so important to see Gen-AI as a sparring partner, rather than a threat. 

If your organization is like many around the world, you’re trying to figure out how to better lead through uncertainty and change, attract and retain talent, increase employee engagement, and adapt to rapid technological change. In fact, according to our latest Global Leadership Monitor report, only 55% of leaders feel prepared to face these top external threats in the year ahead.   Well, today’s episode should help give you some guidance as we sit down with Jacob Morgan, speaker and bestselling author of five books. We’ll talk with Jacob about his passion and mission to create great leaders, engaged employees, and future-ready organizations. He’ll share his insights gleaned from interviewing hundreds of CEOs and thousands of employees to help you improve your leadership and transform your organization. Jacob discusses what it means to lead with vulnerability and how can leaders tap into it more authentically and effectively; how to increase employee engagement (hint: it’s not more free lunches and happy hours!); his views on return-to-office (RTO) and hybrid work to find a balance between productivity, collaboration, and innovation; and how technology like AI will impact the future of work.  We’ll also hear from Laura Mantoura, a Managing Director in our Stamford office, who dives into our latest research on why employee experience matters—and how boards can take meaningful action.  If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: 

What do you get when you combine values-centered leadership with a long-term view of investing? In Tom Gayner’s case, you get an incredible recipe for success! As CEO of Markel Group, Tom helped grow the company over three decades from a relatively small insurance company into the diversified global conglomerate it is today. No wonder Markel Group is often called a "Baby Berkshire." In this conversation, Tom shares his career journey from teenage investor to CEO and how he dealt with various challenges along that path. He’ll talk about how the Markel Style crafted in 1986 has been so critical to their success and continues to serve as the organization’s north star today. Key to that success, Tom shares Markel’s four criteria they use to make investment decisions, including how to define a fair price on a deal. He also talks about his view on the pendulum of investment optimization versus satisfaction. And if you ever wondered how the low interest rates of the past decade encouraged risky decisions, you won’t want to miss Tom’s insightful analogy of interest rates as a form of curfew. So enjoy this episode and get to bed at a reasonable hour!  We’ll also hear from Kurt Harrison, a Managing Director in Russell Reynolds Associates New York office. Kurt digs into our latest Divides & Dividends report to explain why even though sustainability progress is being made, there are four sustainability gaps CEOs must bridge.  If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: 

Becoming a leader is an exciting (and daunting) milestone. Here we share the common pitfalls—and how to avoid them. 

Whether you’re joining the C-suite for the first time or are about to take on the coveted CEO role—the stakes are high. 

For CEOs in particular, you have the unique challenge of transitioning into a role that only a small number of people have ever held. 

Any mistakes or missteps made will impact the entire organization, as well as investors, and stakeholders. Couple that with the fact that the current business climate is turbulent at best, and it makes for an incredibly complex role. 

How do new leaders put their best foot forward? What sets successful leaders apart? 

In this episode of Leadership Lounge, we put these questions and more to four of our leadership advisors; Shannon Knott, Joey Berk, Ty Wiggins, and David Lange. Here they use their extensive experience speaking with new leaders to share their tips and tricks. Tune in to discover why as a new leader you no longer need to be the smartest person in the room, the importance of humility, and why you need to become comfortable with constructive conflict.

Sustainability has quickly risen to the top of corporate agendas, as shareholders, investors, employees, policy makers, and other stakeholders demand action. We talk with two passionate leaders – Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Google and Sophia Mendelsohn, former Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of ESG at Cognizant – about how they embed sustainability into their organizations’ core business strategy. They’ll share how they’ve mastered the role of “CEO whisperer” to drive top-down change and connect sustainability initiatives to their company’s business, products and supply chain. We’ll talk about why it’s critical to shift our thinking from how to reduce our business impact on climate change to how to reduce climate change's impact on our business. And for those interested in becoming a CSO, Kate and Sophia share their career advice on how to navigate the often-undefined path to the role.  If you’d like to learn more about Sustainable Leadership, check out Redefiners host Clarke Murphy’s new book, Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of Vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World. The book is a complete blueprint for infusing sustainability across business strategy, all while growing your bottom line. Drawing on the stories of 35+ CEOs at world-leading companies, including Adidas, Heineken, Duke Energy, Natura &Co, Maersk, Mahindra Steel, and Salesforce, veteran leadership expert Clarke shows how sustainability action is within reach of every business executive. Perfect for CEOs and boards across industries, Sustainable Leadership is also a can’t miss book for sustainability experts, entrepreneurs, and next-generation leaders looking to make sense of the latest—and most profitable—sustainability strategies. Order your copy here.  To hear more from other global leaders on sustainability, you might also enjoy these Redefiners episodes: 

What’s life really like at the top of a $30 billion healthcare company? While many might find the prospect of serving 300 million patients around the world daunting, Ashley McEvoy, Worldwide Chairman of Johnson & Johnson MedTech, sees it as a privilege. While at the helm of J&J MedTech, her impact has been significant: she has tripled its revenue growth since 2017 and spearheaded its entrance into telehealth, robotics, and digital surgery. At a time when senior executive tenure is often short, Ashley has carved out a career at J&J MedTech spanning almost three decades—all while maintaining an unwavering passion for providing the very best care to patients when they need it most. In this fascinating episode of Redefiners, Ashley lifts the lid on how J&J MedTech is transforming how it delivers care to patients with the help of AI, why being an exceptional listener should be in every leader's toolbox, and why your inner voice is the most powerful voice of anyone in the world. It’s a conversation you don’t want to miss. We’ll also hear from Fawad Bajwa, a Managing Director in our Toronto office. He’ll outline how generative AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the game for leaders, and how great leadership is critical to its successful implementation. Click HERE to access our report How will ChatGPT and other generative AI impact leadership? If you enjoyed this interview, you might also like these Redefiners episodes:• Risk-taking and Dealmaking with Global MedTech Leader, Kevin Lobo• Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur with Mario Schlosser, CEO and co-founder of Oscar• Break the Bias: Closing the Gender Wealth Gap with Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and c-founder of Ellevest