New Book by Rick Popp: “The Game of a Lifetime”

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Rick Popp Interview with Jack Krasula on WJR’s “Anything Is Possible” - March 2021

http://www.anythingispossible.biz/archives/RickPopp/RickPopp.mp3

Articles of Interest

CEO discuss race relations and social justice

Over 300 U.S. CEOs, mayors and government officials gathered for an online roundtable this week to discuss the business impacts of the coronavirus, however, with protests gaining momentum across the U.S., the participants changed the subject to race relations and social justice—and the public role CEOs now see for themselves. Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines, talked about deciding his comments on political and social issues matter, while executives from IBM highlighted concerns about the experience of their black employees, and General Motors’ CEO Mary Barra talked about the need to provide education and career opportunities for African-Americans. Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said that while leaders may wish to view themselves as removed from politics, their actions telegraph values. Mr. Gorsky said: “There are few decisions we make that aren’t political—whether it’s access to restrooms, whether it’s what candidate we might support in a particular stand that we’re going to take on an environmental issue—so, frankly, I think that comes with the territory.” Meanwhile, Merck’s Kenneth Frazier, one of just four black CEOs in the Fortune 500, said that businesses need to lead on issues like police reform, access to capital and economic opportunity for black Americans. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna urged the leaders to talk directly with black employees about their experience of the events of the past two weeks. “Keep it about the race issue right now,” he said.

Wall Street Journal June 2020

A focus on corporate purpose in Davos

Suzanne DiBianca, Chief Impact Officer & Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations of Salesforce, and Jesus Mantas, Senior Managing Partner of IBM, are among business executives who talk with Bloomberg’s Mallilka Kapur about the power of corporate purpose at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead: Redefining Corporate Responsibility in Davos, Switzerland. Meanwhile, the FT's Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson says company executives at Davos who trumpet their enthusiasm to pay a living wage and invest in a culture of life-long learning need to overcome deep-seated employee skepticism.

Bloomberg   Financial Times January 2020

Culture rises to the top for CEOs

The Conference Board’s latest annual survey of more than 1,500 global business leaders suggests the development of a more creative culture is becoming an  increasingly important internal issue for organizations. Culture-related issues are now included in the top four internal concerns among the 19 listed by the executives, according to the non-profit think-tank's poll. The Conference Board said in its report on this year’s survey: “A strong culture of innovation energizes and enables a company’s innovation performance . . . In turn, continuous innovation keeps organizations and their brands relevant and refreshed during periods of intensifying competition and frequent market disruptions and can serve as an effective recruitment and retention tool for quality talent.”

Forbes, January 2020

Hedge fund weighs how effective companies are as employers 

Hedge fund ValueAct, which invests in companies seeking to address environmental and social issues, is backing smaller rival Irrational Capital, which picks stocks based on how effective companies are as employers. Irrational Capital was founded three years ago by Duke University behavioral economist Dan Ariely and his business partner David van Adelsberg. “Dan (Ariely’s) work makes the case for connecting positive workforce culture to performance,” observed ValueAct founder and CEO Jeffrey Ubben, who has said he wants to convince investors that a commitment of resources to employee well-being isn't inimical to shareholder value. Dan Ariely says of his venture: “We don’t intervene in what the data show by saying something like this company scores highly but we don’t like the CEO. We are true to the data.”

Reuters