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Welcome. I have Marissa Andrada

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in the studio with me today,

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and we'll be talking
about people.

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We'll be talking about culture

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and how the board
influences the culture.

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Welcome to Driving Excellence,

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where we bring
together leaders to

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talk about issues
in the boardroom.

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Thank you for being
here, Marissa.

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I'm super excited to
be joining you. Byron.

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Thanks. How can boards align?

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Purpose. Purpose is
important as that sense in

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particularly the
Drucker sense with

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performance and create
durable long term value.

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Well, I think the
role of a board is

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to oversee strategy, right?

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So if I think of the
foundation of a strategy,

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it should start with
the company's purpose

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and what the company stands for.

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And then I'll even add beyond

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that values what.
So who are they?

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What do they stand for?

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How do they roll?

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And when a management team

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is putting together a strategy,

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I think the way boards
can take a look out

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for that is how are
they integrating that?

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It's not just a simple.

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Here's our purpose
statement. And then we're

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going to give you the strategy.

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I think the strategy needs to

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articulate how the purpose
and the values come to life.

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So taking those and then

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articulating that in the very
specific strategic goals.

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I'm going to go here
very quickly because

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my background has been
in business and people.

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And you know, I'm not
even going to utter

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the three initials
that people are no

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longer using to describe
inclusion today and belonging.

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Right. And how many
companies actually

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decided to do away with that

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with certain EOS that came out?

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But then I think there
are those companies

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that are very public,

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that are very specific about

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their values and
their commitment,

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and how they didn't change

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their strategy midstream
because of an order.

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It's about really
following through on

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what they identified
and rearticulating.

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It's not just about the values,

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but we actually have

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purposeful business
objectives that

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really drive shareholder
value to it.

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So it goes back to is it

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laid out in the
foundation of a strategy?

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And I think the board needs
to be asking the question,

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not just about, oh,

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we see the title
and it's, you know,

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it's kind of the lead
in to the strategy.

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But how do these
values come to life?

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How does the purpose play

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out in these
strategic objectives?

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And I think in seeing that, um,

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you will see

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longer term sustainable
performance come from that,

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because I think in

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these volatile times
or disruptive times,

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the one thing that
people can stay true

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to is the why behind.

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You know, I say
people, the employees,

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the management of the
company stay true

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to why they're there
in the first place.

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Mhm. And how can
boards evaluate and

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understand the health
of the culture and

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communicate that purpose
down through the culture,

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beyond the pulse
surveys and the,

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the engagement scores
in an organization.

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Yeah. One thing that
I really love and

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it doesn't start and stop there.

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It's not just about pulse
surveys and engagement scores.

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What I think really
smart companies do,

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again, when it's grounded
in purpose and values,

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and they are having

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a practice of identifying
people measures,

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how are they correlating
that 360 to the business?

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And here's what I mean by that.

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How are you correlating it
to all of the stakeholders.

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So the other stakeholder,

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the customers that you serve.

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Um, we are in a
different discussion

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today where they
were talking about

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the um and the Net
promoter score

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for both the customer
and the employee.

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There are different
acronyms for that.

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Are there is there
a correlation?

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So I like looking
at correlations

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to not only the people
measures in a company.

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So engagement pulse surveys
it could be retention.

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It could be other
people metrics.

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Is there a way you
can correlate that

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to the customer and
how they're feeling

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about their experience or

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experience with the service
or product of a company,

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and then also correlate that
to the business results.

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So that's how you can tell
if there's real health.

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It's not just about, hey,

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these are really great
employee measures,

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but are you seeing a connection

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to how behavior of employees,

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the sentiment of employees,

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really impact the
results of a company?

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So that's how I
would look at it.

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And what signals should
board members look for that?

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There's alignment of purpose,

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people and performance
especially.

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I think it has to be top of

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mind in the conversations

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and the updates with the boards.

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I've seen it on both sides,

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having been on
management teams for

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some great brands where there's

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true commitment to
purpose and values,

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there is no question
whether it's the strategy,

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no question in the
business update,

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that what keeps us
centered and grounded and

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focused is really based on that.

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And so I think the signals

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is that the management
team presents that.

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But then you have a board that's

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also really present to that,

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which I and I don't know
that I've seen that.

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Um, I participate in
two boards right now.

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I serve on two boards,

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but then also just in
this board community,

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it is a newer topic versus
an old school topic.

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And so I think board members

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actually asking the question
and then more specifically,

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especially in this time when

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the latest disruption
is AI and AI,

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there's a lot of conversation at

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the boardroom level around risk.

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I think where you tell can

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tell that there's
alignment to purpose and

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values in people is
when the questions from

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the board become how resilient
is the organization?

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How capable is the organization?

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Now with the implications of
AI and how it's changing,

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evolving the work and the
output of the company?

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And so I think it's that level

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that makes it super present to,

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you know, is the
board also aligned to

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the purpose and values
of the company?

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So let's talk about

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the the one Activity that

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boards should be doing and
that is bringing the people,

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persons into the boardroom.

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I find it amazing that there
are boards, and for example,

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I've heard of large
banks who bring

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the car or the people
person into the room.

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What one practice like
that or that one?

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Have you seen work best for

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helping foster the culture
in a in an organization?

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Well, I think I love saying

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this culture is a
reflection of leadership.

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And you see that because
at the board level,

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of course, we're
interacting with the CEO.

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We're assessing the CEO,

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and then the CEO leads his
or her management team.

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And so I think a good
practice is really tied

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to succession planning and

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the health of the organization.

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And a great practice is

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when and I've been on
the management side.

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So having been a CRO,

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working with the chair of

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the Human Capital
Compensation Committee.

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It's beyond just the exercise

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of here's the succession
plan for the CEO.

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And then you take it to
the next level of for

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the key leaders on the team.

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What is the succession plan?

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A best practice is how

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is the board actually
really getting to know

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that talent beyond
the key talent

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coming in and presenting,

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you know, key points
of the presentation?

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I think it's taking
the time while we're

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all in for these board
dinners, board breakfasts,

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a good practice is to have

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that next level leadership

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that the board doesn't
typically have exposure to,

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to actually have meals with them

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and really get to know
the talent in that way.

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I think the second thing related

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to getting to know
the talent at that,

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I'd say L3 level, right?

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L1 being the CEO,

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L2 being that next,

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the C-suite, and then
at that next level.

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I think these informal

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ways of getting to know
each other over a meal,

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I think is important.

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And then what Boards
also should be making

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a practice of is

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understanding the sentiment
of what's happening.

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We've been talking about
employee engagement.

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Don't just rely on the results

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that the management
team presents to you.

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Actually be curious.

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And what I mean by that is,

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I know that boards
had the chance to,

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depending on what kind
of company it is,

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go and spend time
with the customer.

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Go and spend time
with the employee,

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ask a lot of questions,

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and do a lot of listening

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just so that you
can double check.

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Here's the data that I see.

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But then are you getting
the feeling of it?

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So, um, that's a best practice.

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And there's the third
thing I would share with

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you that I know that I try to

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incorporate because
I'm so committed

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to ensuring that there's
alignment with purpose,

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values, performance,

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outcomes, that good
governance for a board.

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I also chair the
governance committee

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in one of the boards
that I serve on.

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It's really about good
governance is as board members,

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are we actually taking the time,

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even if it's once a year.

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And we recently did
a board refresh.

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So it's great with new directors

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and current directors
came together.

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And we actually had
a great discussion

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in service to this organization,

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in service to how
we work together,

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how do we bring these values
to life and like reflect on

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this most recent
board meeting that we

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had and then how do we actually

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leverage that in how we serve

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each other in serving
this company?

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So what I'm taking
away from that is,

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is for board members to be
connected to the people.

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Absolutely meaning the people,

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people as well as the
people down through

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the organization
that are connected,

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the sometimes called Chro.

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But it's nice. I like the, uh,

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the concept of a
chief people person.

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Yes. Well, these days it's now

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chief people and
culture officer.

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I think that's been the trend.

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And you get so much insight.

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It's as important as
understanding marketing.

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It's really about the
collective people experience.

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So when I say the collective
people experience,

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at the end of the day, you're
serving a customer, right?

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And at the end of the day,

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employees inside the company
are serving the customer.

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So boards should
be really tuned in

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to the collective
people experience.

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I think all too often it's

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always the experience
of the stakeholder.

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Very important, the
experience of the customer,

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also an important stakeholder.

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Don't forget the third piece

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because that's what
brings it all to life.

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I recently was
speaking with a with

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a leadership team and

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their customer they said is
their customer customer,

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their employees reports
meaning and they articulated

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the myriad of of customers that

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they serve and including
regulators in their industry.

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And I thought, that's
a great because it

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emphasizes this people aspect.

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I love that.

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Marissa, thank you
for being here.

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And thank you for this time.

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Oh, yeah. Thank you for having
me. And great to see you.