Managing Material Change – Some Seasoned Advice
As we learn more each day about some of the corporate challenges that stricter ESG scrutiny and climate change targets present, it is increasingly clear that winners in the corporate world comprise those with the greatest clarity of leadership thinking and have the skills to pull all stakeholders within a company through a transition in some cases, and a full pivot in others.
Over the last few days, two “friends of C-MACC” (supporters from our first day) were featured in discussions about the challenges the world faces and leadership challenges in general.
The first interview link below features Andrew Liveris. He covers a broad beachfront of relevant topics from how the world looks post-COVID to climate initiatives and leadership in the interview: https://liveris-academy.uq.edu.au/article/2021/02/leaders-for-our-future
The next link features Raj Gupta in a BCG discussion about leadership in general and leadership through change, which we believe is arguably more critical today than at any point in the past. In the past, specific corporate opportunities or problem-solving were the primary drivers of corporate change. Today, while those corporate-specific opportunities still exist, there are significant existential pressures common to all industries that require a broadening of skill sets: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/the-board-ceo-partnership-during-transformation
Our relationships with both Andrew and Raj date back close to 25 years, and in Andrew’s case back to some of the “wild west” Asia experiences he discusses. Both have seen the ups and downs associated with managing businesses through change and we believe there is something to be gleaned for everyone from both discussions.
Andrew N. Livieris, AO
Andrew is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Dow Chemical Company and the former Executive Chairman of DowDuPont. With over forty years of global leadership experience at The Dow Chemical Company, his career included roles in manufacturing, engineering, sales, marketing, and business and general management around the world. Andrew is currently a director at IBM, Saudi Aramco, Worley, Lucid Motors (Chairman) and NOVONIX. He is on the advisory board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Teneo and NEOM. He is Chairman of the Blackrock Long Term Capital and a special advisor to the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Raj Gupta
Over three decades, Gupta has served as CEO, chair, and director at several companies undergoing transformations that unlocked significant value. In addition to his current roles at Aptiv and Avantor, Gupta is former chairman, CEO, and president of Rohm and Haas and has served on the boards of DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Vanguard, and Tyco International.
