This Is Quick: What the President of Blackstone prioritizes when hiring

On this week’s rapid-fire Q&A, Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray sits down with LinkedIn’s Editor-in-Chief Dan Roth to share what he looks for in new hires, how he stays focused, and the right way to give tough feedback.

Among the insights:

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This is Working newsletter here.

Jon Gray, President and COO of Blackstone, has a simple rule: Think long-term, even when everything feels like it's falling apart.

The lesson isn't just for investors—it's for anyone building a career:

After 33 years at Blackstone, Gray's built more than just wealth—he's mastered the art of thinking beyond the moment. To hear more from Jon Gray including what he’s learned about leadership, watch the video below.

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This is Working newsletter ⁠here

Put Neal Arthur, CEO of ad powerhouse Wieden + Kennedy, firmly in the camp that AI is a great tool and will become even better — accelerating the deadlines for campaigns and making life easier for the "idea people." Definitely not in the camp recently occupied by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who predicts the $1.8 trillion ad industry is on the verge of existential AI disruption (more on this later).

"AI is probably the biggest factor change right now," he said. "But I think the conversation too often becomes very zero sum. It gets very dystopian — What's gonna happen to humans in this AI world? … I'm much more optimistic than that."

Widen + Kennedy has been around for more than four decades and knows how to adapt. Founder Dan Weiden crafted the famous “Just Do It” slogan in 1988 — one of Advertising Age's top five slogans of the 20th century — and this year the agency led the industry with five Super Bowl 59 ads.

To hear how Arthur is navigating AI and the fine art of client relations, click below.

This Is Quick is the lightning round of This Is Working. Today on the hot seat is Neal Arthur, CEO of Wieden + Kennedy, one of the largest indie ad agencies in the world. They're the creative brains behind some of the most iconic commercials of our era (Nike's Just Do It, the Coca-Cola polar bears, to name a few). He told LinkedIn's Editor in Chief Daniel Roth how he maintains focus at work, why he gets nothing from asking traditional interview questions, and who he always listens to when they talk.

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This Is Working newsletter on LinkedIn.

"We are the operating system of the digital economy."

Mastercard is one of the world's most recognized logos. It's everywhere — from point-of-sale machines to the Masters. But asked what Mastercard does, most people would probably say "they make credit cards." 

In a wide-ranging interview with LinkedIn Editor-in-Chief Dan Roth for This is Working, CEO Michael Miebach explained just how far off that public perception is from the company's business and ambitions. Yes, Mastercard powers credit cards. But what it really does is provide the rails for payments — a staggering $9.8 trillion in transactions across 210 countries last year alone — while inventing and anticipating.

"There are people that look around two corners and think about fundamental technology innovation that might inform the product, it might inform today's solution," Miebach said. "We have a labs unit. They really think far out. They don't have a budget, a revenue budget. The only task they have is innovate, do basic R&D and figure out the next piece of technology. Our product teams, they think three years ahead and have a roadmap that we can share with our customers."

Miebach also lays out how Mastercard manages a technological ecosystem where 27,000 banks, countless merchants, and a growing array of tech giants, fintechs, governments, and cryptocurrencies must all seamlessly connect; Why speed and security are non-negotiable; and how the company in the not-too-distant future intends to make payment pain points disappear with the help of gen AI.

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This is Working newsletter here.

This Is Quick: The lightning round of This Is Working. The CEO of MasterCard Michael Miebach speaks to Editor in Chief Daniel Roth about what he looks for most in new hires, why he reads everything — and the one person he always listens to.

Takeaways include:

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This is Working newsletter here.

Patrice Louvet, president and CEO of Ralph Lauren, knows a thing or two about growing with style. He's taken the fashion house's global and digital reach to new heights, all while preserving the brand's iconic look. In this episode of This is Working, Louvet talks to  LinkedIn Editor-in-Chief Dan Roth about marketing finesse, the subtle alchemy of brand evolution, and the art of keeping a legacy brand both relevant and authentic — and his management style.

When Louvet took over Ralph Lauren had a storied past, massive brand recognition and a particularly valuable, one-of-a-kind asset — founder Ralph Lauren himself. But the company had seen better days. Over the years, Patrice said, Ralph Lauren had lost its way in the U.S. In a nutshell, overdistribution in the pursuit of growth had led to dilution of the brand Lauren had launched with a single tie decades earlier, audaciously priced at three times competitors like Christian Dior. It was time for a reset. It wouldn't be easy, but the global tragedy that was COVID was forcing hands across every industry anyway, so at least the timing was right.

How Louvet keeps Ralph Lauren as going as one of the fashion world's most successful dream factories was topic one. The idea that consistently creating fashion people want to buy starts not on a drawing board or what colors will be hot next year, but as the embodiment of a vibe that Lauren himself conjures, is a major differentiator.

"He and I had a fascinating conversation a few months into my tenure," Louvet said. "The company was going through challenging times and it felt like we need to get back to our roots. And a lot of people would say, 'Well, Ralph Lauren, you do great dresses or shirts or ties. And we would say, 'Actually, no, that's not the business we're in.’ We shut down about two thirds of our department store doors, and I don't regret it," Louvet said. "We took the hit, the numbers were ugly, but we weren't in this for one quarter or a year. We're in this for the next 10 to 20 years and felt like we absolutely had to do this reset, and it is serving us super well."

To get more great insights from leaders direct to your inbox, subscribe to the free This is Working newsletter here.

This Is Quick– the lightning round of This Is Working. The CEO of Ralph Lauren, Patrice Louvet, speaks to Editor in Chief Daniel Roth about the best advice he ever got and how he manages his time.

Among the reveals:

- Why he prioritizes EQ when he hires

- How his success is thanks in part to his drive but also his flexibility in the face of new opportunity

-  Why he thinks that “Sometimes people need to be hit, hit by a 2x4 across the forehead.”

When Justin McLeod decided he had to reboot Hinge, three years after he had founded the dating app service, he had his doubts. It took a member of his team to remind him: "You're the CEO. What's stopping you?"

At the same time — and for many the same reasons — McLeod decided he needed to reboot his company: to create a transparent environment where colleagues were invested in their work and each other's success. At scale. It's why Hinge has an impressively small voluntary turnover rate of 3%. And it's not about the perks.

"People actually work very hard at Hinge, but it's that they feel like they are part of a team," Justin told me for This Is Working. "They feel like they have a purpose. They're working with people who are like-minded and like-valued and just doing work that they love. And I think ultimately that's what allows people to feel fulfillment and feel a level of sustainability with their work."

Listen in for McLeod's insights on how to manage relationships, teams, and an enterprise.

This is Quick — the lightning round of This is Working. Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod speaks to LinkedIn Editor in Chief Daniel Roth. Among the reveals: