Higher Ambition Practices Are A Guiding Light In Challenging Times: Reflections On The 2021 CEO Summit

It’s been a remarkable year. Through COVID-19, racial injustice in the spotlight, civil unrest, increasing polarization, and remote work and school, organizations, and leaders have been put to the test.

Despite these challenges, leaders across our Higher Ambition Leadership community were a bright light in a dark time. They came together to help the public and each other. They broke down silos and old ways of working to speed the delivery of critical personal protective equipment, tests, and vaccines. They reached out and helped people stay connected. They innovated. They listened. And they learned.

While it’s early to measure the long-term impacts of the past year, we expect our member organizations to perform better through and coming out of the pandemic than many other organizations -- in part because of their long-term commitment to Higher Ambition principles.

At the Summit, we heard from five purpose-driven CEOs who are leading their organizations through the COVID-19 pandemic in a way that embodies the best principles and practices of Higher Ambition leadership. They reflected on what they’ve learned and shared new ways of working their organizations will carry forward.

Ed Ludwig, former Board Chairman, President, and CEO of BD, began by sharing a poem from a sea captain about being wiser for the storm.

“We are wiser for the storm. Ready to set a new course……TOGETHER.”

— A SEA CAPTAIN

This set the stage for the panel discussion and in-depth small group conversations that followed. Here are five common themes that surfaced:

Theme #1: A purpose-driven organization has a high payback during challenging times. A strong culture with deep trust can’t be built overnight, it takes years.

All our panelists lead organizations aligned around higher, shared purpose and are committed to broad stakeholder engagement. They have been building these foundations into their culture for many years. Through the pandemic, clarity of purpose created an almost shorthand way of working, where people knew what they had to do and made it happen. The CEOs shared stories of leaders stepping up without being asked and teams working creatively to get the job done.

At CVS Health, the commitment employees had around a common shared goal enabled intense focus and powerful results. Leaders on the frontlines were empowered to do what they thought was right, which guided actions and decision-making.

President and CEO of CVS Health Karen Lynch shared, “At the start of the pandemic, we pivoted and rapidly innovated to meet customer needs for COVID-19 testing in the community. Our first test site opened in March 2020 in a parking lot in Shrewsbury, MA. Our team worked together to provide COVID tests to long lines of first responders, law enforcement, and health care workers. Today, we remain the largest community testing organization in the U.S., having conducted more than 15 million COVID-19 tests.”

 Theme #2: The crisis led to a faster, more agile way of working that will continue post-pandemic.

Again and again, CEOs shared stories of their teams delivering in unprecedented timeframes. This was enabled through deep levels of trust built over time internally and externally. They gathered top talent from all parts of their organizations united around a clear and bold goal. Teams broke down silos, experimented with new ways of working, and took risks. Not every action succeeded, but this more fluid and iterative approach led teams to make what was impossible before possible.

“The FDA opened the door to commercial labs on February 29th to develop their own COVID-19 testing, and we moved very quickly to bring up our own laboratory-developed test,” said Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, President, and CEO, Quest Diagnostics. “Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated our agility and capability for innovation. We had to move quickly. We had to work with others and then also we had to work externally... looking back, it’s humbling and gratifying to think of the impact we were able to have on the pandemic response.”

Theme #3: Distributed leadership and rapid cycles of learning and reflection were critical practices through COVID-19.

From daily stand-ups and virtual check-ins to tabletop exercises, all of these companies have learning embedded into their cultures and operations. Through the pandemic, they took extra care to inquire and surface important information from employees on the front lines and share it to inform actions and decisions going forward. Along with the focus on speed, they created time for reflection, critical for learning and strategic progress.

As Dr. Robert Grossman, Dean and CEO, NYU Langone Health, shared, “You know, one of the hardest things about COVID -- and it's a lesson you learn over and over -- you don't know what you don't know…The ability to recognize your mistakes early, and to learn from your mistakes was instrumental in our outcomes.”

“The ability to recognize your mistakes early, and to learn from your mistakes was instrumental in our outcomes.””

 Theme #4: Employee mental health and wellness are of paramount concern — not only through the pandemic but in the months ahead.

Data shows that rates of anxiety and depression have climbed through the pandemic, and this is among the factors leading organizations to look more holistically at the wellbeing of their employees. Our participants spoke about teams feeling tired and burned out after so many months of strain, and these organizations are actively working to help their people and their families through these challenging times.

“I worry about the mental state,” commented Stanley Bergman, Chairman of the Board and CEO for Henry Schein. “If it's not about the team member, the employee itself, I worry about a family member or a friend or somebody that is challenged. So, we have to understand that the scars, the mental scars of this period, will last for a long time. Yes, the economic scars will be there, it's obvious, but the mental impact on people who were quarantined, who had pressures day in and day out on providing product to frontline workers, the shortages, the dealings every day with different challenges in the supply chain, I think will be felt for a long time.”

 Theme #5: Communicating with authenticity and humility is critical for leaders working to build high-trust, inclusive cultures and inspire their teams.

The pandemic has led nearly all of us to create new habits. The CEOs at our Summit described new ways they were communicating with employees and staff through the pandemic, particularly those with remote and hybrid workforces. A common theme was bringing more transparency and personal stories into interactions — showing real humanity to their teams. And showing employees that they care about larger social issues, along with profitability and performance.

 “One of my top priorities culturally was creating a broader speak-up culture, shared Tom Polen, CEO and President of BD. “Beyond COVID the big thing for me that made a lasting impression on the company this past year was racial injustice…BD started taking a much more public position on racial and just general injustice issues, things that were beyond specific medical topics.”

 Tom went on to say, “if you want people speaking up in an organization when they see something that's wrong, make sure that they see their leaders doing it -- both inside the organization and when there's a social issue --  standing up and speaking against those as well.”

 What’s Next?

In his closing, Ed Ludwig said, “As we continue to build and grow our purpose-driven and ambition-driven organizations, rest assured that the Higher Ambition Leadership Alliance is here to help in new and different and exciting ways.”