Commitment To Business Stewardship and Corporate Citizenship
Reflections from David K. Young, President, the Committee for Economic Development (CED) of The Conference Board
At this year’s CED Distinguished Leadership Awards Dinner, we gathered, as we have for over a quarter century, to honor business leaders and the companies they lead, those who exemplify CED’s mission by answering the call for corporate citizenship and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to advancing reasoned solutions in public policy in the Nation’s interest. As CED’s new President, it is a privilege to work with our inspired Trustees and to lead this organization which forms a vital part of The Conference Board.
We live in remarkable times, with many challenges for business, and as we return to daily work from a memorable dinner, perhaps the best way to summarize the evening is to recall the key themes each speaker chose to emphasize the theme of leadership in challenging times.
Dinner co-chair Byron Boston shared his family’s history as a sign of the progress that we can make and the importance of our collective efforts. Peter Altabef, the other co-chair, thanked all Trustees for their continued commitment to CED, and former CED President Dr. Lori Esposito Murray warned of a deepening global divide that complicates our ability to navigate the challenges before us. In this environment, the need for US leadership—and thus for CED’s mission of business leadership—becomes more and more obvious.
Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, introduced Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks and highlighted how Nikesh does everything with integrity, trust, and speed while maintaining a focus on his family even as the company he leads enjoys great business success. Arora, speaking of his own work in cybersecurity, noted that every day in his business is a challenging time—but that these are also times for great optimism, a moment in life standing on the edge of a great technological revolution improving the quality of life for billions of people, eliminating disease, and solving problems that have been beyond our previous ability to solve. He reminded business leaders of their responsibility to deliver and to lead in a responsible, mission-driven manner.
Michael Milken, Chairman of the Milken Institute, introduced Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton and reminded attendees that people around the world look to the US for leadership, particularly leadership through our free enterprise system. Johnson spoke warmly of her team and highlighted four keys to business success.
- Passion: love what you do, and it doesn’t feel like work.
- Purpose: describe what you do in a purposeful way, and rally people behind you and the cause.
- People: do something that helps people.
- Persistence: the difference between success and failure is sometimes simply who holds on longer.
Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO of TIAA, introduced Robert F. Smith of Vista Equity Partners and highlighted Smith’s role as a trailblazer in finance and his passion for philanthropy and access to STEM careers for everyone. He spots problems and solves them. Smith emphasized that business leaders leverage their platforms to inform the world that business people have to change not only the economic environment in which they operate but also the social environment as well, to impact the communities in which they operate, including communities of employees, giving employees the chance to excel, to bring their best selves to work every day, and to express that through creativity, diligence, and passion—all to bring about a virtuous cycle of capitalism.
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, introduced Raj Subramaniam of FedEx and highlighted the challenge of taking over an iconic company from its founder—and how he surmounted that challenge through a leadership style that is both strategic and resilient but also modest, staying close and connected to employees, quick to own a problem but last to take credit for its success. Subramaniam spoke not only of his work in making supply chains smarter for everyone but of his company as a driver of impact and change, shaping communities and connecting people and possibilities all over the world.
Peter Zaffino, CEO of AIG, introduced Julie Sweet of Accenture and spoke of the challenges of building a company whose mission is to care for other companies and to serve them, particularly during difficult times such as the pandemic as well as her commitment to spend $1 billion on professional development for employees. Sweet highlighted leadership lessons she learned from her parents: good jobs matter, service is not negotiable, and doing the right thing sometimes means taking real risks, noting how her parents used their life savings to help a troubled youth begin a new life.
Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health, introduced Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani and shared his passion of the need to restore civility to public discourse and to promote a sense of community across the US, attacking a pandemic of misinformation and speaking with each other openly, honestly, and with truth, in the understanding that how we promote decency, integrity, and trust defines who we are. He also noted Ulukaya’s strong commitment to help refugees all over the world and to fight hunger and food insecurity. Ulukaya ended the evening by telling his story—from growing up as a Kurdish nomad to being an exile to running a very successful business—inspiring the audience by the audacity of his journey. He noted how he hated business before coming to the US but changed his view because of the positive impact business can have; a cup of yogurt may not change the world but how it is made just might. He concluded by asking how to keep the promise alive so that more people from around the world can come and run companies, inspire humanity, fix problems, and reach their dreams.
Thanks to all of you who attended our dinner and a special thanks once again to our introducers, honorees, our sponsors and all who worked hard to make this dinner such a success. This is what CED does and has done since 1942. Our hope is that we continue to do it well.
Commitment To Business Stewardship and Corporate Citizenship
Reflections from David K. Young, President, the Committee for Economic Development (CED) of The Conference Board
At this year’s CED Distinguished Leadership Awards Dinner, we gathered, as we have for over a quarter century, to honor business leaders and the companies they lead, those who exemplify CED’s mission by answering the call for corporate citizenship and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to advancing reasoned solutions in public policy in the Nation’s interest. As CED’s new President, it is a privilege to work with our inspired Trustees and to lead this organization which forms a vital part of The Conference Board.
We live in remarkable times, with many challenges for business, and as we return to daily work from a memorable dinner, perhaps the best way to summarize the evening is to recall the key themes each speaker chose to emphasize the theme of leadership in challenging times.
Dinner co-chair Byron Boston shared his family’s history as a sign of the progress that we can make and the importance of our collective efforts. Peter Altabef, the other co-chair, thanked all Trustees for their continued commitment to CED, and former CED President Dr. Lori Esposito Murray warned of a deepening global divide that complicates our ability to navigate the challenges before us. In this environment, the need for US leadership—and thus for CED’s mission of business leadership—becomes more and more obvious.
Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM, introduced Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks and highlighted how Nikesh does everything with integrity, trust, and speed while maintaining a focus on his family even as the company he leads enjoys great business success. Arora, speaking of his own work in cybersecurity, noted that every day in his business is a challenging time—but that these are also times for great optimism, a moment in life standing on the edge of a great technological revolution improving the quality of life for billions of people, eliminating disease, and solving problems that have been beyond our previous ability to solve. He reminded business leaders of their responsibility to deliver and to lead in a responsible, mission-driven manner.
Michael Milken, Chairman of the Milken Institute, introduced Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton and reminded attendees that people around the world look to the US for leadership, particularly leadership through our free enterprise system. Johnson spoke warmly of her team and highlighted four keys to business success.
- Passion: love what you do, and it doesn’t feel like work.
- Purpose: describe what you do in a purposeful way, and rally people behind you and the cause.
- People: do something that helps people.
- Persistence: the difference between success and failure is sometimes simply who holds on longer.
Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO of TIAA, introduced Robert F. Smith of Vista Equity Partners and highlighted Smith’s role as a trailblazer in finance and his passion for philanthropy and access to STEM careers for everyone. He spots problems and solves them. Smith emphasized that business leaders leverage their platforms to inform the world that business people have to change not only the economic environment in which they operate but also the social environment as well, to impact the communities in which they operate, including communities of employees, giving employees the chance to excel, to bring their best selves to work every day, and to express that through creativity, diligence, and passion—all to bring about a virtuous cycle of capitalism.
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citi, introduced Raj Subramaniam of FedEx and highlighted the challenge of taking over an iconic company from its founder—and how he surmounted that challenge through a leadership style that is both strategic and resilient but also modest, staying close and connected to employees, quick to own a problem but last to take credit for its success. Subramaniam spoke not only of his work in making supply chains smarter for everyone but of his company as a driver of impact and change, shaping communities and connecting people and possibilities all over the world.
Peter Zaffino, CEO of AIG, introduced Julie Sweet of Accenture and spoke of the challenges of building a company whose mission is to care for other companies and to serve them, particularly during difficult times such as the pandemic as well as her commitment to spend $1 billion on professional development for employees. Sweet highlighted leadership lessons she learned from her parents: good jobs matter, service is not negotiable, and doing the right thing sometimes means taking real risks, noting how her parents used their life savings to help a troubled youth begin a new life.
Michael Dowling, CEO of Northwell Health, introduced Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani and shared his passion of the need to restore civility to public discourse and to promote a sense of community across the US, attacking a pandemic of misinformation and speaking with each other openly, honestly, and with truth, in the understanding that how we promote decency, integrity, and trust defines who we are. He also noted Ulukaya’s strong commitment to help refugees all over the world and to fight hunger and food insecurity. Ulukaya ended the evening by telling his story—from growing up as a Kurdish nomad to being an exile to running a very successful business—inspiring the audience by the audacity of his journey. He noted how he hated business before coming to the US but changed his view because of the positive impact business can have; a cup of yogurt may not change the world but how it is made just might. He concluded by asking how to keep the promise alive so that more people from around the world can come and run companies, inspire humanity, fix problems, and reach their dreams.
Thanks to all of you who attended our dinner and a special thanks once again to our introducers, honorees, our sponsors and all who worked hard to make this dinner such a success. This is what CED does and has done since 1942. Our hope is that we continue to do it well.
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