Future Fluency

Speaker Bios: Maryanne Hancock: CEO of Y Analytics, the arm of TPG responsible for the impact and ESG mandates of the firm. Previously, Hancock spent ~20 years at McKinsey and Company, where she was a senior partner.Melody Meyer: Director, BP, AbbVie, and National Oilwell Varco; President, Melody Meyer Energy LLC and Women with Energy LLCMelissa Paschall: Director, Governance, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, Ceres

Speaker Bios: Maryanne Hancock: CEO of Y Analytics, the arm of TPG responsible for the impact and ESG mandates of the firm. Previously, Hancock spent ~20 years at McKinsey and Company, where she was a senior partner.Melody Meyer: Director, BP, AbbVie, and National Oilwell Varco; President, Melody Meyer Energy LLC and Women with Energy LLCMelissa Paschall: Director, Governance, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, Ceres

FEATURED GUESTSRam CharanRam Charan is a world-renowned business consultant, author, and speaker who has spent the past 40 years working with many top companies, CEOs, and boards. Charan was first introduced to business while working in the family shoe shop in a small town in northern India, where he was raised. He served on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University before pursuing consulting full-time. Charan has won several awards, including the Bell Ringer award at GE's Crotonville Institute and best teacher award at Northwestern. He was among BusinessWeek‘s top ten resources for in-house executive development programs. Charan has authored more than 30 books since 1998 that have sold over four million copies in more than a dozen languages. He has also written for Harvard Business Review, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive, and USA Today. Charan is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human ResourcesJudy SamuelsonJudy Samuelson is founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program and author of Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World (2021). Signature programs under Samuelson's leadership include a 10-year campaign to disrupt Milton Friedman's narrative about corporate purpose, the Aspen Principles of Long-Term Value Creation, and a partnership with Korn Ferry to rethink executive pay. She previously worked in legislative affairs in California and banking in New York's garment center and ran the Ford Foundation's office of program-related investments. Samuelson blogs for Quartz at Work. She is a Bellagio Fellow and a director of the Financial Health Network.Stilpon NestorStilpon Nestor is the executive chair of Morrow Sodali EMEA. He is also the executive chair and founder of Nestor Advisors, a company that Morrow Sodali acquired in early 2021. In this latter role, he has advised the boards of some of the largest companies and financial institutions in the European Union and emerging markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East across a variety of sectors. Until 2002, Stilpon was the head of the Corporate Affairs Division at the OECD, leading the team which produced the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance in 1999. Stilpon is a nonexecutive director of the Arabian Construction Co., one of the largest contractors in the Gulf. He is currently a member of the UK Institute of Directors (IoD) Advisory Board on Corporate Governance and cochairs its working group on governance and technology. He is a regular public speaker on governance.Mike LubranoMike Lubrano is managing director of Valoris: Stewardship Catalysts, and an adjunct professor of Sustainable Finance and Impact Investment at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Lubrano also teaches the International Corporate Governance Network's signature “Governance, Stewardship, and Sustainability” course and served as ICGN's Education Programme advisor. Lubrano was a cofounder and managing director, Corporate Governance and Sustainability, at Cartica Management LLC. Earlier, Lubrano worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group; served as advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Chile for the development of its corporate governance reforms; and was one of the group of experts that designed Brazil's Novo Mercado. Lubrano is a cofounder of the Latin America Corporate Governance Roundtable. He is currently a director of FIBRA ECO. He is the coauthor of Governance, Stewardship and Sustainability (2021). SHOW NOTESmpact of Technology on the Future of Corporate GovernanceRam Charan: Three factors every board must considerNeed to have a view of the outside world that is not purely driven by management. Need independent  view of the outsideTechnology: must focus is critical because a company cannot be everything to everyone. Must have the right CEO aCapital Allocation: balance between short term and long termTechnology will be a critical driver of enabling a board to understand these three critical areasEffective agenda setting to improve the effective time of board meetingsStilpon: Royal Post upgraded many of its digital systems. How can boards fully kick the tires on a reporting system that is fully algorithmic? Boards must be more generalist and with access to more information from the outside.Technology will change employee participation in the boardroom. Judy Samuelson: Era of hyper transparency. Employees have good sightlines into business decision making and ability to follow the money in a way never previously possible. Authentic leadership is keeping your promises and outsiders and employees are now able to apply a level of scrutiny never previously possible with new technology. Technology empowers employees to build consensus and communicate with each other in ways previously not available to other generationsJudy Samuelson: Cultural barrier to employees represented on board. Employees have same long-term interest in the companies success. In the knowledge economy ignore them at your own peril. Employees are the centerpiece of the success of the business. How will the pandemic impact corporate governance moving forward:Ram Charan: Cycle time is reducing, communicating with competitors. 6 boards meetings for boards usually sometimes 4Judy Samuelson: the pandemic ushered in a new era of private, public partnership Total reshaping of executive compensation. Move away from stock in order to incentivize long-term interests and success. “Cannot have a successful business in a failed society”Stilpon: Impacts the new “distributed board” era and will impact the agendas and consolidation of the agendas to allow for more deep diving into the issues during meetings, but less consequential stuff can be distributed to be completed outside of meetings. What knowledge and skills will future board members need?Stilpon: More well-rounded generalists rather than direct specialists on specific topics. Ram Charan: Many board members still don't have the basic finance knowledge (balance sheets)Judy Samuelson: Need more women on boards and need more diversity Final StatementsRam Charan: Broaden focus but cannot focus solely on stakeholders, have the right CEO, focus the agenda every year, employees need to be rewarded in same way as top management to decrease inequalityStilpon Nestor: Companies will become much more social animals. Boards will be freed from the short-termism and be more strategic. Variable architecture in their composition, more distributed boards and distributed dutiesChallenge: going to new social companies is lacking a complete and fulsome accountability structure to replace the shareholder accountability modelJudy Samuelson: Shareholder accountability is not the solution. How will the culture of boards evolve? Status quo will not get us where we want to go. More diversity and supporting the executive to do some difficult and “unpopular” things.

FEATURED GUESTSRam CharanRam Charan is a world-renowned business consultant, author, and speaker who has spent the past 40 years working with many top companies, CEOs, and boards. Charan was first introduced to business while working in the family shoe shop in a small town in northern India, where he was raised. He served on the faculties of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University before pursuing consulting full-time. Charan has won several awards, including the Bell Ringer award at GE's Crotonville Institute and best teacher award at Northwestern. He was among BusinessWeek‘s top ten resources for in-house executive development programs. Charan has authored more than 30 books since 1998 that have sold over four million copies in more than a dozen languages. He has also written for Harvard Business Review, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Time, Chief Executive, and USA Today. Charan is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academy of Human ResourcesJudy SamuelsonJudy Samuelson is founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program and author of Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World (2021). Signature programs under Samuelson's leadership include a 10-year campaign to disrupt Milton Friedman's narrative about corporate purpose, the Aspen Principles of Long-Term Value Creation, and a partnership with Korn Ferry to rethink executive pay. She previously worked in legislative affairs in California and banking in New York's garment center and ran the Ford Foundation's office of program-related investments. Samuelson blogs for Quartz at Work. She is a Bellagio Fellow and a director of the Financial Health Network.Stilpon NestorStilpon Nestor is the executive chair of Morrow Sodali EMEA. He is also the executive chair and founder of Nestor Advisors, a company that Morrow Sodali acquired in early 2021. In this latter role, he has advised the boards of some of the largest companies and financial institutions in the European Union and emerging markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East across a variety of sectors. Until 2002, Stilpon was the head of the Corporate Affairs Division at the OECD, leading the team which produced the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance in 1999. Stilpon is a nonexecutive director of the Arabian Construction Co., one of the largest contractors in the Gulf. He is currently a member of the UK Institute of Directors (IoD) Advisory Board on Corporate Governance and cochairs its working group on governance and technology. He is a regular public speaker on governance.Mike LubranoMike Lubrano is managing director of Valoris: Stewardship Catalysts, and an adjunct professor of Sustainable Finance and Impact Investment at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Lubrano also teaches the International Corporate Governance Network's signature “Governance, Stewardship, and Sustainability” course and served as ICGN's Education Programme advisor. Lubrano was a cofounder and managing director, Corporate Governance and Sustainability, at Cartica Management LLC. Earlier, Lubrano worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group; served as advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Chile for the development of its corporate governance reforms; and was one of the group of experts that designed Brazil's Novo Mercado. Lubrano is a cofounder of the Latin America Corporate Governance Roundtable. He is currently a director of FIBRA ECO. He is the coauthor of Governance, Stewardship and Sustainability (2021). SHOW NOTESMegatrends shaping corporate governanceJudy Samuelson: Employees are changing the power structureMuch better window into corporate accountability than investors or management, or regulatorsStilpon: Control of corporations is changing. Concentration of control with multiple voting rights, SPACs.2.) Much more voice outside of the company. Corporations are becoming much more social animals than economic animals (corporations are political actors). 3.) Ebb and flow of regulation post 2008Ram Charan: Public boards now have a new boss and the Engine #1 example is proof of that. The new boss is the long-term, permanent investor (passive, BlackRock, Vanguard, Atavists). Drivers: Sustainability and the new boss is 24/7What is the effect of the debate of the purpose of the corporationStilpon: Not quite sure that in spite of the UK CorpGov code and BRT announcement, not sure we have actually seen companies putting purpose into action, and it remains to be seen how companies will “hardwire” purpose into strategy, actions, and compensation incentives.Could simply be a way of dodging accountability to shareholders by diluting the accountability across multiple stakeholder constituenciesRam Charan: Purpose goes back to Harvard Business school since the 1930s. India culturally practices giving 10% of profit to charity. Purpose has been practiced for decades and it merely means that the current efforts of social engagement are not enough. Judy Samuelson: Stakeholder is a bad term, but we need business to be at the table. The law around corporate purpose is not holding us back, but it is the system and infrastructure that keeps the shareholders at the top and front and center to business objectives. Employees are better at accountability than shareholders, and can better account for companies aligned to the promises and expectations set out in BRT. Strong focus on what the company is doing and producing tied to that purpose and what the effects it is having in doing and producing those things on the community it operates in? Derive purpose from this17:00: Moment of huge change with directors retiring in the new normal. We need new innovation at the level of governance. CEO must assess the entire ecosystem of the business, external and internal. Rethink committee structure, employees are not going to be quiet, companies are returning 90% of profits to shareholders in buybacks and dividendsImminent and measurable: composition and diversity are improving but not there yet. 2.) increasing compensation between the top and the bottom, front line workers is untenableTalking about how the business model works and what it is designed to do and then what is the impact in the real world of that modelStilpon: Skeptical, startup model with purpose is potentially a way towards instituting the purpose into the organizationLarge Companies – Is there a dichotomy between the bosses and players a large company has versus mid and small cap that are not high-profile (not as big targets for activists and passive investors)Judy Samuelson: Not sure. Capital is not scarce and many companies simply go public as a means of providing an early escape hatch for their early investors, but they do not actually need capital. Large and small is not the right distinction. Focusing on culture and impact. Inequality needs to bring everyone to the tableCrisis is driving change. Larger companies as they are targeted as they provide a means of bringing the entire vendor, supply chain, and ecosystem to the table to drive change. Small is much more dynamic so it will be interesting to see how they impact this spaceStilpon: Large companies are just engaged in a political communications exercise. 

We’re pushing the pause button on the podcast for just a bit, but we’ll be back to cover the issues you care about. So subscribe and keep an eye out for more.

FEATURED GUESTSDavid RockDr. David Rock is the Co-founder and CEO of the NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI). The Institute is a 23-year-old cognitive science consultancy that has advised over 50% of the Fortune 100. With operations in 24 countries, the Institute brings neuroscientists and leadership experts together to make organizations better for humans through science. Rock has authored four successful books including Your Brain at Work, a business best-seller. He has written for and been quoted in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider,CNBC,  Forbes, Fortune, Inc., USA Today,BBC, The Boston Globe, and more. He holds a professional doctorate in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University in the UK. RELATED RESOURCESDavid Rock, Heidi Grant, and Jacqui Grey, "Diverse Teams Feel Less Comfortable — and That’s Why They Perform Better," Harvard Business Review.Mark A. Thornton and Jason P. Mitchell, Theories of Person Perception Predict Patterns of Neural Activity During Mentalizing 

FEATURED GUESTS Ruth V. Aguilera Ruth V. Aguilera (Harvard University, Ph.D.) is the Darla and Frederick Brodsky Trustee Professor in Global Business and Distinguished Professor, International Business and Strategy at Northeastern University’s D'Amore-McKim School of Business. She is also a Visiting Professor at ESADE Business School in Spain. Her research interests lie at the intersection of strategic organization and global strategy, specializing in international corporate governance and corporate social responsibility/sustainability. She has written close to a hundred academic and professional articles on these research topics. She is an Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Review and Consulting Editor at the Journal of International Business Studies. She serves on the board of directors of the Strategic Management Society and the International Corporate Governance Society and is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and the Strategic Management Society. Aguilera teaches executives and advises companies on issues related to corporate governance across a variety of countries (Spain, U.K., Mexico, Peru, etc.) and organizations on areas that range from the development of effective corporate governance of family-owned businesses to improving ESG performance and D&I practices. Venkat Kuppuswamy Venkat Kuppuswamy is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. His research investigates the influence of race and gender in entrepreneurship and other economic domains, including interventions to mitigate racial and gender biases in these contexts. In 2020, he was the inaugural recipient of the prestigious Bradford-Osborne Research Award from the University of Washington, the first national award to recognize research published in peer-reviewed journals that contributes to advancing the growth of businesses owned by people of color.  He was also the recipient of the best paper award from the Journal of Business Venturing in 2019 for his work on racial bias on crowdfunding platforms. His research has been covered by numerous publications including The Atlantic, Forbes, NPR, and the Harvard Business Review. He is affiliated with the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, which supports his research on corporate governance in emerging markets. Prior to Northeastern University, Kuppuswamy served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he received his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Harvard Business School. RELATED RESOURCED Resources for India’s COVID-19 Crisis, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.Aguilera, Ruth V., Venkat Kuppuswamy, Rahul Anand, “What Happened When India Mandated Gender Diversity on Boards ,” Harvard Business Review(February 05, 2021).

We’ve got some great news. We’ll be back with all-new episodes of the Future Fluency podcast beginning May 6. Be sure to listen in and subscribe!

FEATURED GUESTSShai AkabasShai Akabas is BPC’s director of economic policy. He has conducted research on a variety of economic policy issues, including the federal budget, retirement security, and the financing of higher education. Akabas joined BPC in 2010 and staffed the Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force that year. He also assisted Jerome H. Powell, now Chairman of the Federal Reserve, in his work on the federal debt limit. For the past several years, Akabas has steered BPC’s Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings, co-chaired by former Senator Kent Conrad and the Honorable James B. Lockhart III.Akabas has been interviewed by publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and has published op-eds in The Hill and The Christian Science Monitor. He has been featured as an expert guest several times on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.Prior to joining BPC, Akabas worked as a satellite office director on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 campaign for reelection. Born and raised in New York City, he received his B.A. in economics and history from Cornell University and an M.S. in applied economics from Georgetown University.Jennifer GlassJennifer Glass is the Centennial Commission Professor of Liberal Arts in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center of the University of Texas, Austin.  She has published over 60 articles and books on work and family issues, gender stratification in the labor force, mother’s employment and mental health, and religious conservatism and women’s economic attainment, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  She received the Jessie Bernard Award  in 2020 from the American Sociological Association, the Harriet Presser Award in 2019 from the Population Association of America, the 2016 Best Publication Award from the Family Section of the American Sociological Association, the Reuben Hill Award from the National Council on Family Relations in 1986, and has thrice been nominated for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Her work has appeared in the Monthly Labor Review, American Sociological Review, Demography, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Social Forces, among others. She is currently the Executive Director of the Council on Contemporary Families, and past Chair of the Social Sciences and Population (B) Study Section at the National Institutes of Health. Ira KalishDr. Kalish is the Chief Global Economist of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. He is a specialist in global economic issues as well as the effects of economic, demographic, and social trends on the global business environment. He advises Deloitte clients as well as Deloitte’s leadership on economic issues and their impact on business strategy. In addition, he has given numerous presentations to corporations and trade organizations on topics related to the global economy. He is widely traveled and has given presentations in 47 countries on six continents. He has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The Financial Times. Dr. Kalish holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Vassar College and a PhD in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.Nate WongNate Wong leads the day-to-day operations of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovationat Georgetown University that seeks to scout, surface, and scale promising ecosystem-centered solutions in the impact space. The Center works directly with leading practitioners and students around its two main portfolios centered around making finance more equitable and improving how governments use the tools of data and digital to deliver better services to its residents. Prior to coming to the Center in 2018, Nate helped launch and direct two social impact units at Deloitte Consulting and more recently at Boston Consulting Group’s non-profit, the Centre for Public Impact in the US. He has worked in over 10 different countries, helping partners maximize their social impact. Nate has worked on issues around economic development/ mobility and inclusive entrepreneurship including stints at Obama Foundation, Acumen, Endeavor, and TechnoServe. Nate has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. When not in a pandemic, you can find him exploring the DC food scene, getting lost in a travel book, throwing ceramics, or improving his boxing technique. RELATED RESOURCES“Taking Stock of the Market: A Conversation With Kim Parker,” Future Fluency podcast (NACD, Nov. 19, 2020).“Where the Money Meets the Road: A Conversation With Shai Akabas,” Future Fluency podcast (NACD, Jul 23, 2020).“Emerging Workforce Trends: A Conversation With Dr. Jennifer Glass,” Future Fluency podcast (NACD, Aug. 06, 2020)."Flattening the Inequity Curve: A Conversation with Nate Wong," Future Fluency podcast (NACD, Sept. 10, 2020).

FEATURED GUESTSKim ParkerKim Parker is director of social trends research at Pew Research Center. She oversees research on emerging social and demographic trends, manages major survey projects, and writes and edits reports. Parker was previously the associate director of social and demographic trends research and the research director for the Center’s political unit. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, she worked as a research associate at the American Enterprise Institute. She holds a master’s degree in American government from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College. Parker is an author of studies on a variety of topics including gender and work, the changing American family, generational change, higher education, the Great Recession, the middle class, aging, military veterans and Asian Americans. Parker frequently discusses social and demographic trends with journalists and has been interviewed by broadcast outlets such as NPR, NBC, MSNBC and C-SPAN. RELATED RESOURCESIgielnik, Ruth, “Few in U.S. owned stocks outside of 401(k)s in 2019, fewer said market had a big impact on their view of economy.” Pew Research Center, September 25, 2020.Menasce Horowitz, Juliana, Ruth Igielnik, and Rakesh Kichhar, “Most Americans Say There Is Too Much Economic Inequality in the U.S., but Fewer Than Half Call It a Top Priority.” Pew Research Center, January 9, 2020. Parker, Kim and Richard Fry, “More than half of U.S. households have some investment in the stock market.” Pew Research Center, March 25, 2020.Schaeffer, Katherine, “6 facts about economic inequality in the U.S.” Pew Research Center, Frbruary 7, 2020. 

FEATURED GUESTSLeah RozinLeah Rozin joined the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) in 2019 as the senior manager of Research. Prior to joining NACD, she was Vice President at ISS Corporate Solutions (ICS) where she served as the principal advisor for the Sustainability Suite working with corporate clients understand the ESG landscape and improve disclosure practices. She joined ICS in 2015 from the Corporate Executive Board where she specialized in investor perception studies and investor messaging. RELATED RESOURCESRozin, Leah. "Understanding the Board’s Role in ESG," NACD BoardTalk blog (Sept. 22, 2020).NACD. Strategic Oversight of ESG: A Board Primer (Sept. 22, 2020; NACD member exclusive).Cyrus Taraporevala letter, State Street Global Advisors (Jan. 28, 2020).NACD ESG Oversight Resource Center 

FEATURED GUESTSEsther AguileraEstherAguilerabrings together accomplished executives at the highest levels of corporate governance to advance diversity in the boardroom. She is recognized as a social entrepreneur and turnaround specialist leading scale-up, innovative change and managing high performance teams. She brings a 25-year record of success executing strategic business plans to drive organizational effectiveness, growth and impact. Previous positions included leading the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) for 11 years as its President & CEO, principal at the Dewey Square Group, senior advisor to the Secretary of the US Department of Energy, executive and legislative director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), and a policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Occidental College and completed the Harvard Corporate Governance Executive Program in 2005. RELATED RESOURCESLatinas Only 3.3% of Women Appointed to California Boards Since SB 826 Legislation Enacted, LCDA press release (March 2, 2020).The Latino Corporate Directors Association Publishes New Research on the State of Latino Representation on F1000 Corporate Boards, LCDA press release (Nov. 12, 2019).Mcgreevy, Patrick. "Newsom signs law mandating more diversity in California corporate boardrooms," Los Angeles Times (Sept. 30, 2020).A Call to Action for Equity and Inclusion in the Boardroom. The Diverse Corporate Directors Coalition.

We’re taking a break this week to participate in the virtual NACD Summit. We’ll be back with another episode of Future Fluency on October 22nd.

FEATURED GUESTSEric LopezEric Lopez is the Director of Corporate Accountability at the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR). He is responsible for the collection and analysis of diversity and inclusion data from U.S. based companies across the country, including HACR Corporate Members and Fortune 500 companies to understand current trends in the advancement of Hispanic inclusion in Corporate America. Through his work, Eric supports HACR’s broader research efforts to ensure corporate responsibility in the areas of Employment, Procurement, Philanthropy, and Governance. Eric joined the HACR team in March 2015, as Manager of Research. In this capacity, he managed the HACR research databases, analyzed relevant trends in academic research, and collected raw data from the HACR Corporate Inclusion Index (CII) to develop Hispanic inclusion best practices. Prior to working at HACR, Eric was the CEO and Founder of GlobeServe Consulting where he managed the analytical, fundraising, and event needs for nonprofit and for-profit organizations in the Washington D.C. area. RELATED RESOURCESJens Manuel Krogstad; Luis Noe-Bustamante. Key facts about U.S. Latinos for National Hispanic Heritage Month (Pew Research Center, September 10, 2020).Society for Human Resource Management and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. The Changing U.S. Workforce: The Growing Hispanic Demographic and the Workplace (September 14, 2016).Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility. Corporate Inclusion Index.

FEATURED GUESTS Nate Wong Nate Wong leads the day-to-day operations of the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University that seeks to scout, surface, and scale promising ecosystem-centered solutions in the impact space. The Center works directly with leading practitioners and students around its two main portfolios centered around making finance more equitable and improving how governments use the tools of data and digital to deliver better services to its residents. Prior to coming to the Center in 2018, Nate helped launch and direct two social impact units at Deloitte Consulting and more recently at Boston Consulting Group’s non-profit, the Centre for Public Impact in the US. He has worked in over 10 different countries, helping partners maximize their social impact. Nate has worked on issues around economic development/ mobility and inclusive entrepreneurship including stints at Obama Foundation, Acumen, Endeavor, and TechnoServe. Nate has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. When not in a pandemic, you can find him exploring the DC food scene, getting lost in a travel book, throwing ceramics, or improving his boxing technique.  RELATED RESOURCES Padró, Miguel, “America’s Corporate Governance System Is Racist Too,” Aspen Business and Society, June 29,2020.US Digital ResponseWong, Nate and Audrey Voorhees, “Hard-wiring Corporate Purpose in the Age of COVID-19,” Beeck Center, May 15, 2020.Wong, Nate and Vaishant Sharma, “Here's how to make sure the economic recovery from the pandemic helps the people who need it most,” Business Insider, June 20, 2020.Zarek, Cori, “Power of Organizing and Networks in Crisis (and Everyday),” Beeck Center, April 1, 2020.

FEATURED GUESTSKian BakhtiariKian Bakhtiari is the founder of The People, an award-winning youth powered consultancy. He was formerly Head of Strategy at Dentsu Aegis Network, one of the largest media and advertising groups in the world. For his contributions to marketing, he has been named as one of the Top 50 Future Leaders by the Financial Times. He is also a global judge for the Festival of Media, a One Young World Ambassador, and an Agenda Contributor to the World Economic Forum. Kian regularly writes about marketing through a Millennial and Gen-Z lens for Forbes‘ CMO Network.RELATED RESOURCESThe Great Reset: Insight Into Post-Pandemic Consumer Behavior.https://indd.adobe.com/view/6b21a0f2-7ba9-4516-aa57-cfbbfca7d1ee (The People)

FEATURED GUESTSJennifer Glass, Ph.D.Jennifer Glass is the Centennial Commission Professor of Liberal Arts in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center of the University of Texas, Austin.  She has published over 60 articles and books on work and family issues, gender stratification in the labor force, mother’s employment and mental health, and religious conservatism and women’s economic attainment, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  She received the Jessie Bernard Award  in 2020 from the American Sociological Association, the Harriet Presser Award in 2019 from the Population Association of America, the 2016 Best Publication Award from the Family Section of the American Sociological Association, the Reuben Hill Award in 1986 from the National Council on Family Relations, and has thrice been nominated for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Monthly Labor Review, and Demography, among others She has chaired the Sex and Gender Section, the Family Section, the Organizations and Work Section, and served as Vice-President of the American Sociological Association.Dr. H. Elizabeth PetersH. Elizabeth Peters, an Institute Fellow in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute, is a labor economist and demographer with more than 30 years of experience in social and family policy research. Her work focuses on family and social investments in children and youth, family outcomes and risk factors, the role of the family as a social safety net, and the impacts of public policies on father involvement. She has several current projects that assess the impact and implementation of policies such as paid leave and schedule control that help workers manage work and nonwork responsibilities related to family. Her previous research has examined the effects of public policies such as divorce laws, child support policy, child care policy, taxes, and welfare reform on family and child behaviors and outcomes.Before joining Urban, Peters was a professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University and was the founding director of the Cornell Population Center. She is currently Professor Emerita at Cornell. From 1993 to 2004, she was a partner in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development–funded Family and Child Well-Being Network, where she directed the network’s fatherhood efforts. She was also a member of the steering committee that guided the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics’ Nurturing Fatherhood initiative. Peters earned her MPP and PhD in economics from the University of Chicago. RELATED RESOURCES

FEATURED GUESTSJennifer Glass, Ph.D.Jennifer Glass is the Centennial Commission Professor of Liberal Arts in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center of the University of Texas, Austin.  She has published over 60 articles and books on work and family issues, gender stratification in the labor force, mother’s employment and mental health, and religious conservatism and women’s economic attainment, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  She received the Jessie Bernard Award  in 2020 from the American Sociological Association, the Harriet Presser Award in 2019 from the Population Association of America, the 2016 Best Publication Award from the Family Section of the American Sociological Association, the Reuben Hill Award in 1986 from the National Council on Family Relations, and has thrice been nominated for the Rosabeth Moss Kanter Award for Excellence in Work-Family Research. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Monthly Labor Review, and Demography, among others She has chaired the Sex and Gender Section, the Family Section, the Organizations and Work Section, and served as Vice-President of the American Sociological Association. RELATED RESOURCESBarton Edgerton, “Strategy, Workforce Issues Top Director Concerns Post-Crisis, Survey Finds,” NACD BoardTalk Blog (June 9, 2020).Linda Smith, Ben Wolters, “Challenges Child Care Programs and States Face in Reopening and Beyond,” Bipartisan Policy Center blog (Jun 23, 2020).

FEATURED GUESTSShai AkabasShai Akabas is BPC’s director of economic policy. He has conducted research on a variety of economic policy issues, including the federal budget, retirement security, and the financing of higher education. Akabas joined BPC in 2010 and staffed the Domenici-Rivlin Debt Reduction Task Force that year. He also assisted Jerome H. Powell, now Chairman of the Federal Reserve, in his work on the federal debt limit. For the past several years, Akabas has steered BPC’s Commission on Retirement Security and Personal Savings, co-chaired by former Senator Kent Conrad and the Honorable James B. Lockhart III.Akabas has been interviewed by publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, and has published op-eds in The Hill and The Christian Science Monitor. He has been featured as an expert guest several times on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. RELATED RESOURCES Hoagland, G. William, Ben Gitis, Shai Akabas. "It Doesn’t Have to Be All or Nothing: How Unemployment Insurance Could Support Work and Continue to Provide Financial Relief." Bipartisan Policy Center, July 8th, 2020. Gladstone, Nicko, Shai Akabas, Nora Cahill, Charlotte Houghton. "Racial Inequities Have Long Existed in the Economy. A New BPC Survey Shows COVID-19 Made Them Worse." Bipartisan Policy Center, June 22nd, 2020. Watkins, Kara, Shai Akabas. "The savings gap for Americans is a key component of economic stability -- here’s what we can do about it." Bipartisan Policy Center, July 1st, 2020. Elis, Niv. "Women suffering steeper job losses in COVID-19 economy." The Hill, May 25th, 2020.

FEATURED GUESTSStephanie J. Creary, PhDStephanie J. Creary, PhD is an identity and diversity scholar and field researcher, an assistant professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and affiliated faculty member of Wharton People Analytics.  Dr. Creary’s research investigates the work that people in organizations do to manage identity and diversity and improve the quality of relationships across differences at work.  She regularly shares her research and applied insights with academic and practitioner audiences and the media.  She also leads the Leading Diversity@Wharton Speaker Series as part of the Leading Diversity in Organizations course she has developed and teaches at Wharton. Prior to joining the Wharton faculty, Dr. Creary was on the faculty of Cornell University. She has served as a research associate at Harvard Business School and The Conference Board in NYC researching corporate diversity and inclusion practices. RELATED RESOURCESKnowledge@Wharton: How to Begin Talking About Race in the WorkplaceCreary, Stephanie J., Nancy Rothbard, Elena Mariscal,Olivia Moore, Jared Scruggs, and Natalia Villarmán. “Evidence-Based Solutions for Inclusion in the Workplace: Actions for Middle Managers.” Wharton, May 2020.

We are taking a bit of a break this holiday week, but will be back next week with a new episode.

FEATURED GUESTSLeo E. Strine Jr.Leo E. Strine, Jr., is of Counsel in the Corporate Department at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Before joining the firm, he was the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from early 2014 through late 2019. Before becoming the Chief Justice, he had served on the Delaware Court of Chancery as Chancellor since June 22, 2011, and as a Vice Chancellor since November 9, 1998. In his judicial positions, Mr. Strine wrote hundreds of opinions in the areas of corporate law, contract law, trusts and estates, criminal law, administrative law, and constitutional law. Notably, he authored the lead decision in the Delaware Supreme Court case holding that Delaware’s death penalty statute was unconstitutional because it did not require the key findings necessary to impose a death sentence to be made by a unanimous jury. Mr. Strine holds long-standing teaching positions at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches diverse classes in corporate law addressing, among other topics, mergers and acquisitions, the role of independent directors, valuation, and corporate law theories. He is a member of the American Law Institute, and currently serves as an advisor on the project to create a restatement of corporate law. Mr. Strine also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Program on Corporate Governance and as an advisor to Penn’s Institute for Law & Economics. From 2006 to 2019, Mr. Strine served as the special judicial consultant to the ABA’s Committee on Corporate Laws. He also was the special judicial consultant to the ABA’s Committee on Mergers & Acquisitions from 2014 to 2019.Mr. Strine speaks and writes frequently on the subjects of corporate and public law, and particularly the impact of business on society, and his articles have been published in The University of Chicago Law Review, Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Stanford Law Review, among others. On several occasions, his articles were selected as among the Best Corporate and Securities Articles of the year, based on the choices of law professors.RELATED RESOURCESStrine Jr, Leo E. "Toward Fair and Sustainable Capitalism: A Comprehensive Proposal to Help American Workers, Restore Fair Gainsharing Between Employees and Shareholders, and Increase American Competitiveness by Reorienting Our Corporate Governance System Toward Sustainable Long-Term Growth and Encouraging Investments in America’s Future." (October 3, 2019).Strine, Leo. "Toward Fair and Sustainable Capitalism," Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. (October 1, 2019).“About the Division of Corporations.” Delaware Division of Corporations (accessed June 17, 2020), https://corp.delaware.gov/aboutagency/.Warner, Judy. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood” (An interview with Delaware Supreme Court Justice Leo E. Strine Jr.) NACD Directorship magazine (May/June 2015).

FEATURED GUESTS Catrice M. Jackson Catrice is CEO of Catrice-ology Enterprises an international anti-racism speaker, and a best-selling author. She’s a self-described “straight up, on the rocks with no chaser” voice for racial justice who is unapologetic and unflinching with her anti-racism message. She founded SHETalks-WETalk™ race talks for women and WETalks for women of color. Jackson serves up the hard truths necessary to eliminate the lethal infection of racism from humanity. She is a licensed mental health practitioner, a licensed professional counselor, and she is pursuing a doctoral degree in organizational psychology at Walden University. Jackson is also a certified domestic abuse and sexual assault advocate, trainer, and speaker. Howard Ross Howard Ross is a lifelong social justice advocate and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias. He is the author of Reinventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance, and the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives. His latest book, Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect is Tearing Us Apart, published in May 2018. Ross has specialized in the synthesis of neuro-cognitive and social science research and direct application related to diversity, inclusion, equity and accessibility work. In 47 of the United States and over 40 countries, Ross has successfully implemented large-scale organizational culture change efforts in diversity and cultural integration for academia, governmental institutions, professional services corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and other organizations. RELATED RESOURCES • Ross, Howard J. Reinventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose, and Performance. Rowman & Littlefield, 2011. • NACD Resource Center: Board Diversity • NACD. “The Thin Red Line“ Future Fluency. (May 30, 2019). • Lopez, German. “There are huge racial disparities in how US police use force." Vox, Sept. 11, 2018. • Edwards, Frank, Hedwig Lee, and Michael Esposito. “Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race–ethnicity, and sex.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116, no. 34 (2019): 16793-16798. • History.com. “Tulsa Race Massacre.” (updated: Oct. 21, 2019; original: Mar. 8, 2018). • NAACP. “History of Lynchings.” • Torres, Sam. “Hate crimes against African Americans: The extent of the problem.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 15, no. 1 (1999): 48-63. • Erin Duffin. “Hate crime in the U.S..” Statista (Feb. 7, 2020). • Lillianna Byington, Brittany Brown, Andrew Capps, News21 Staff. “Black Americans Still Are Victims Of Hate Crimes More Than Any Other Group.” The Center for Public Integrity (Aug. 21, 2018). • John R. Allen. “White-Supremacist Violence Is Terrorism.” The Atlantic, February 24, 2020. • Southern Poverty Law Center. “Civil Rights Memorial.”

FEATURED GUESTS Dr. Jennifer Kavanagh Jennifer is a senior political scientist. She leads RAND’s Countering Truth Decay initiative, a portfolio of projects exploring the diminishing reliance on facts and analysis in U.S. political and civil discourse. Jennifer is also the Director of the Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources program in RAND’s Arroyo Center, which supports the U.S. Army. Jennifer’s research interests include the changing media landscape, the effects of the new information environment on national security, and military strategy. Jennifer is a faculty member at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and teaches research methods courses as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. While completing her Ph.D., she was a Department of Homeland Security fellow and completed a research internship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Kavanagh graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in government and a minor in Russian language. She earned her Ph.D. in political science and public policy at the University of Michigan. RELATED RESOURCES Kavanagh, Jennifer. Michael D. Rich. Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. Countering Truth Decay. RAND Corporation. NACD Resource Center: Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis

In this episode of Future Fluency, we speak with Richard Edelman on the ways that peoples trust in governments, corporations, and individuals have changed during the COVID-19 crisis.

In this episode of Future Fluency, we speak with Admiral James Stavridis on the broader risks and consequences to the current crisis, from cyber risk and talent, to supply lines and globalization.

In this episode of Future Fluency, we speak with Admiral James Stavridis on how boards and C-suites can not only navigate crisis, but use it as an opportunity for to foster greater connectivity, resilience and innovation.

In this episode of Future Fluency, we connect with Dawn Zier to discuss the importance of culture and creativity in leadership during times of crisis. Dawn also shares the traits of leadership that will help boards and senior management now and into the future.

In this episode of Future Fluency, we reconnect with Johnny C. Taylor Jr. to discuss how the COVID-19 crisis is effecting the workforce across the board, and to shine some light on how a company’s culture can be an anchoring point in a time of transition.

In the first episode in a series on leadership during times of uncertainty, we speak with Rick Skidmore, founder and CEO of Timberlane Inc. Rick shares how he see the role of the CEO in this moment, and discusses his decision to transition Timberlane from its traditional business of window-shutter manufacturing to making personal protective equipment for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients.

Hey Future Fluency listeners! This is Bruno Falcon your producer and editor. I am sure all of you have been impacted by the challenges the spread of COVID-19 has caused. We had hoped to have a new episode for you this week but feel that while our episodes on Purpose and Family Leave remain important, they don’t speak to the current pressing concerns of you, our audience. Additionally, we take the health of our guests, hosts, and staff very seriously, and have decided to step back and assess how to offer the most valuable content for our listeners, while taking the best care of our team. Thank you so much for being a part of our listening community, and an additional thank you to the NACD members listening in. Stay tuned for updates and new episodes and stay safe and healthy out there! Until next time, this is Future Fluency.

Hey Future Fluency listeners! This is Bruno Falcon your editor, producer, and interim host. We are taking the next few week off but will be back on March 19th with a brand new episode. Thank you so much for being a part of our listening community, and a special thank you to the NACD members listening in. We look forward to bringing you more fresh content next month.

For part two of our deep dive on purpose, we dig into some practical examples of what it means to create a purpose-driven culture.

This week we discuss the what and why of purpose: some driving forces behind it, its value for business, and the changes it has already made across workforces and consumer bases.

This week we look at the impact automation will have on African American workers, and dig into some of the ways geography and gender play a role in that impact. We also discuss the questions and solutions organizations should have in mind, and how those can positively impact the economy at large.

This week we look at some of the challenges and limitations of automation and algorithms. From hiring and data collection, to job loss and retraining, we discuss the importance of thoughtful application of new technologies and explore questions business leaders can ask to ensure these technologies are forces for good.

This weeks bonus episode offers a primer on the NACD CES Experience. From AI and healthcare, to inclusion and innovation, we fill you in on what to look forward to, and what not to miss.

Automation and computer assisted work has already permeated modern life, yet many workers fear losing their jobs to robots. This episode explores the upside of human/machine partnerships, and puts some much needed context around the what jobs are at risk in the new economy, and what can be done to prepare the workforce for their AI coworkers.

What can companies learn from the less-than-radical inclusion practices adopted by a firm that hires workers predominately on the autism spectrum? Erin and Ashley spoke with Rajesh Anandan, founder of Ultranauts, about the value his company gains from hiring for neurodiversity and daring to build an authentically inclusive workplace.

This episode is the second in a series on the Future of Work. Erin and Ashley hear from experts who discuss how organizations are adjusting who they consider to be an ideal team member and embracing a neurodiverse employee base.

In this episode, Erin and Ashley start their foray into a multi-part conversation about the future of work. They speak with experts who provide an introduction into the purpose-driven employee, the death of jobs, and the concept of ghost work.

Erin and Ashley hear from four thought leaders who challenge how we think about approaching everything from scandal to belonging to failure in this episode that draws from speeches delivered at the NACD Global Board Leaders’ Summit.

We just can’t talk about it at work. Or can we? Conversations about race and identity in the workplace can be difficult to navigate. In this last in a four-part series, Erin and Ashley go in-depth and get a lesson from Mary-Frances Winters, founder and CEO of diversity and inclusion consulting firm The Winters Group, Inc.

How has the conversation around diversity and inclusion evolved? Is there a way to systematically address our own biases as we strive to help stakeholders feel a sense of belonging in our organizations? In this third of four in-depth episodes, Erin and Ashley learn a few practical tips from Howard Ross, author of Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives.

In this second of four in-depth episodes, Erin and Ashley hear from Catrice Jackson, a licensed mental health practitioner and professional counselor who leads anti-racism workshops for women. Catrice describes what it’s like living in a dominant culture that is not your own and what it means to awaken to ‘ally-ship.’

Where does bias in decision making come from? In this first of four in-depth episodes, we delve into the neuroscience and physiology behind bias and decision making with Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology whose TED Talk was one of the most popular of 2018.

In an increasingly competitive and dynamic marketplace, talent is key to growth. Attracting and retaining the right talent hinges on creating a healthy and inclusive culture. That’s where the chief human resources officer (CHRO) comes in. Once a function relegated to the back office, the CHRO has emerged as a key business leader whose approach can make or break company strategy. In this episode, we follow the path of innovation as seen through the lens of the CHRO, and discover the secret sauce to creating a winning culture.

Talking about race and identity at work has long been considered a third rail by many companies. But creating workplaces where employees can truly bring their whole selves to work requires it. In this episode, we’ll discuss how companies are rethinking this conversation in the context of culture, talent and reputation risk.

This episode explores the challenges of finding diverse candidates who have strong corporate experience. We cover where to look, how to open opportunities, and ways to seal leaky pipes when our companies are losing people (especially women) along the way.

Understanding our past is the key to building a stronger future. In this episode of Future Fluency, we’ll tackle institutional discrimination—what it looks like historically, how that history shapes the present, and what it means for business.

The research is in: high-performing teams have one thing in common—a strong sense of safety and belonging. In other words, create a culture of inclusion, and you create a culture of innovation.