Thasunda Brown Duckett, President & CEO, TIAA, 4/4/24

but good afternoon again so uh before we get started with our speaker um I have uh the great pleasure to introduce our moderator Lea Ward um so Lea started at Marshall Fields in 1991 has had 32 years of leadership experience at Target where she is currently a strategic adviser and um I recently learned today that she will be actually retiring after 30 some odd years so um in in the next couple of weeks so very excited for her on that too so um but prior to that she was Executive Vice President and uh Chief external engagement officer overseeing targets enterprise-wide approach to engage and deepen relationships with cross- sector stakeholders to drive positive business and Community impact Lea received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and her masters from the University of Chicago she currently sits on the boards of Denny's Corporation and United Airlines now onto our speaker when tashanda Brown Ducket graduated from college her father Otis Brown asked her to review his retirement plan it was then she had to tell him that after 40 years of working in a warehouse scan in boxes he just didn't have enough he had opted out of a company's generous 401K match available to all employees but with his go daughter's guidance he caught up but it is no accident that she now leads Tia a company whose mission is to make sure that those who retire can do so with dignity so born in Rochester New York and raised in Texas where her family moved for more opportunity tashanda got her degree in finance and marketing from the University of Houston and her MBA from Baylor a product of the inroads internship program a nonprofit that provides students exposure to Corporate America she was selected for an internship at mortgage garor Fanny May when all of the spots had already been filled she became a director of emerging markets at Fanny May when she led the implementation of national strategies designed to increase home ownership among among Black and Hispanic Americans at JP Morgan Chase she led the mortgage sales team of 4,000 Bankers was CEO of the auto finance group and eventually of the chase consumer Bank overseeing over 600 billion in deposits and 50,000 employees in May of 2021 she became CEO of the teachers insurance and annuity Association of America Tia a company founded in 1918 by Andrew Carnegie to help College professors save for retirement Tia now serves over 5 million active and retired employees participating at more than 15,000 institution and has 1 .3 trillion in Combined assets under management with Holdings in more than 50 countries TIAA is the largest global investor in Farmland the second largest grower of wine grapes in the United States and the third largest commercial real estate manager in the world TIAA has also been named one of the world's most ethical companies nine years in a row formerly TIAA C in 2014 Tia acquired Chicago's Newen Investments for $6.2 billion a Nike board member and one of only two female black CEOs in the Fortune 500 today tashanda has dedicated her career to addressing Financial inequities and creating generational wealth for all I am so honored um to Welcome to the economic Club of Chicago Rose and Otis Brown's daughter to Shonda Brown [Applause] Ducket uh it is so wonderful to be here today in conversation with you thank you for coming to Chicago great you know I I love this community and it is my pleasure to extend that love to you on behalf of the economic Club of Chicago thank you so much yeah and and I often call her te and so I asked for her permission to refer to her as te uh so we're going to keep this uh a real open and engaging conversation like we're in the living room right okay okay I have admired and followed you for quite some time and I've been struck by your ability to lead effectively in business in the community and with your family and from my vantage point you've done that with purpose with grit and Grace with resilience and passion uh in a way that's been incredible inspiring to me and I know countless others and so I wanted us to start our conversation today um by hearing more about your journey your personal Journey a little bit more about how Rosie and Otis shaped who you are and your life and Leadership journey and the choices quite frankly that you've made including where you've gone with your career great well first it's so awesome to be here the energy in this room is just electric so I don't know what's going on in Chicago but wow wow absolutely it's amazing um so my dad always says people see your glory but they don't know your story and you heard a little bit about it but let me paint the picture and I think it will be clear why I always talk about my mom and dad my father was born in the segregated South inou Louisiana my mother was born in the segregated South in Alabama and so I'm first generation full integration my mother is a retired retired educator my father worked for a company scanning boxes driving trucks just doing what he needed to do to try to make ends meet I would say that we were long on love and short on money we were big on ambition my father would sign us up for karate and I never got past white belt yellow strip because there were three of us trying to participate in karate uh he would sign us up for piano lessons I should just say lesson because after the first lesson that was piano um so he had my mother and my father had Big Dreams but money uh was a barrier at times I would also say growing up at a very young age I saw the fight in my parents I remember when my father would have to stand up for for us when it came to sports and injustices that we were experiencing I remember being called the nword at the age of five and my mother told me to call her one back because she's the ignorant one um and so there were so many life lessons that I learned but I also learned the power of seeing everyone I learned the power of empathy my mother being an educator would tell us that if you're at school and you see a child that does not have a meal you do not laugh you give them your meal and somehow some way you will have a meal when you get home even though sometimes when we would get home I only saw baking soda in the refrigerator but somehow some way a meal was provided Sports was a real passion of ours and and still is and still is shout out to March Madness the [Music] women I mean yeah I love the men too but but it feels really good to show the power of exposure and what women can do on the big stage and just turn it on talk talk oh we could go on about that'll come back we'll come back to that um but sports played a real important moment in my life so fast forward I would say there were two disruptors that got me here and one was mentioned earlier the power of information there was a woman and a man by the name of Mr Miss Patterson and they told told me about a program called inroads I never heard of inroads I never even heard of corporate America if I'm honest but they exposed me to inroads and Fanny May was looking for one intern and I interviewed and a woman by the name of Valerie Manning went back to Fanny May and said we found our one intern her name is Sarah but Valerie Manning who did not have a power title you get no extra credit on bonus because you hired an extra intern but for whatever reason Valerie Manning said but there's this other girl I say this publicly because I want everyone to realize that we all have agency and power we rent our titles we own our character and Valerie Manning chose to show up and say those words that allowed me the opportunity to start in Corporate America so we should always use agency and open our mouth and use our voice when you see something that you think could be beneficial to a company even if that's not your minimum requirement she made a good she made an excellent choice um secondly I would say the power of information so with this story without Mr and Miss Patterson telling me about this program I would not have known and so I believe passionately that information is power and we need to make sure that we're sharing information freely and not judging and thinking that that information would not be appropriate for this girl who dad Works in a warehouse so information and advocacy I learned at a very young age before I even understood what advocacy was all about and so I started my career at Fanny May I uh was in Dallas and I loved Fanny May I drank the Kool-Aid the mission is our business the business is our mission so what did you love so much about I love the fact that the mission was about home ownership something that I did not have my parents did not buy their first home until I helped them buy their first home and so to understand the importance of home ownership and understanding that it should be made available for everyone everyone should have access was something that to me was core and something that I think we could all relate to when you have or live in a safe community so many things are unlocked you can dream bigger you can you can see you can go to a library and have access to great books so home ownership to me is core to the fabric of our country and one that we need to do everything that we can to make sure that people had access so I had a great run at Fanny May but I wanted to get closer to the consumer and no matter how much I loved Fanny May it was in the secondary market and so I was on Fanny May business and was at a Chase event and um the CEO of the mortgage company asked me one question and that one question do you recall the one question question it was a question about how Chase how did I view Chase or something I don't remember but I know I answered it honestly um and authentically authentically honestly just what I thought was the right answer for for the question and um he then wanted to know more about me he went to visit me in LA because I lived out there at the time working for Fanny May and the opportunity presented itself to join chase that was about six months after I said to myself I want to get closer to the consumer and so I joined JP Morgan Chase moved from California uh to New Jersey started in the mortgage company um and I remember this moment my aspiration at the time was to run a p&l now when I say p&l I'm talking manager of 10 you know like I would be doing it and um when the opportunity came I was six months pregnant with my second child and I liter almost talked myself out of the position and almost gave permission for him to say I take it back because he was giving me this opportunity and was there self-doubt why were you it was like all of the mental gymnastics that are in our heads like you know you know I'm six months pregnant right you know it's going to be a scheduled C this is not normal weight gain this is a baby and you know I'm going to be out I was saying all of this to him as if he would have said you're right I would have been like you're right too and like and I share this story publicly because I'm I'm sure I'm not the only one that sometimes when that moment of opportunity comes in your mind it's not the right moment and you almost talk yourself out of the opportunity but it was the right moment it was the right my grandmother always says things may not happen when you want them but they're always right on it was absolutely the right moment and what was great about the moment is one he was like you're coming back right and I'm like absolutely and so I love that part of it because when we talk about opportunity and we know there's not a lot of women that are ascending and we know that sometimes as women Elevate these moments happen and you may not take the moment and many times you may have a male boss but the mail boss was the one that said you're coming back right this is not a big deal and so I just think that's an important conversation because even though we may not have as many women as we need and deserve and should it doesn't mean that we don't have advocacy and we don't have leaders um that want us to win and see our talent and can understand that you may need to you know accomplish other family goals but that does not mean that you cannot continue to ascend and add outside value to the company absolutely and so that I think was a very important moment for me and then you know it kept going and became the CEO of Auto I think that's an important message moving into the Auto industry because many times we talk about um why you would want to have um diversity and I know we'll hit that but the reason why I would also share a counternarrative is the client base does not have to look like me in order for me to establish a great relationship and deliver alpha y and I think that's important as Leaders because if we don't subscribe to that notion then you clearly would not NE necessarily see me as the CEO leading an auto industry that is not as diverse with female representation or people of color and at the time I was younger but it ended up being just a phenomenal run and I met clients and I'm lifelong friends with and the results were there and so I just think that is a moment that we should not limit the box of why you want to have talent in your Workforce and you should not limit the box of the value that they can provide even if they may represent a a different box than their client base they understand how to connect with relationships they understand the business they're going to deliver outside Alpha and by the way you may end up having even stronger relationships as a result I think it says a lot about your leadership though as well right you are an exceptional leader um a curious learner and you build strong teams diverse High performing teams and you deliver results so it also says lot about you absolutely so absolutely um it it leads me to a question I'd love to press on which is about your leadership style because in each of these sort of life stages and career stages that you've been walking us through including this incredible stage that you're on as one of the few uh CEOs of color and women of color as a CEO you bring an authenticity to your leadership but how would you describe your leadership and part two of that how is that leadership approach helping you shape the transformation that you and your team are undertaking at Tia yeah I mean it goes back to Otis and Rosie Brown you know I was I did the um upen Warton School of Business commencement and I said everything I learned about being a CEO I learned as a child um I learned character um I learned grit tenacity perseverance I learned understanding root cause analysis because I understood that some of the opportunities of my melanin were not presented that may cause people to think we're less thin but if you do a root cause it started from exclusionary practices um and and so I then could have an appreciation or at least an understanding of why things may seem more difficult or why my father would say you have to be to times better which is very stressful um but that was the reality and so having that backdrop and understanding the power of compassion and seeing people and understanding what it means when someone doesn't see you those are things that I learned and observed growing up and so when I Define my leadership style I'd say first it's with a bold Vision my father told me to reach for the moon because even if I missed I would be among the stars and so as a CEO as a leader you have to have bold Vision Vision that will allow everyone to see themselves in it as part of the solution so bold Vision teamwork I talked about playing sports my brothers played Sports on any given day that means there's an appreciation of the power of team it's a we thing we say at TIAA I cannot do anything without my team and so it's important that you feel the team that have all different skill sets all different backgrounds but we wear one Jersey and the character are the ties that bind us and the passion that we have for this vision and this mission is the power of team so teamwork I have a lot of passion and I think as Leaders it's important to show your passion and however way you show it we're all very different in terms of our personality Styles but I am committed to what we do and I'm committed to the people that I'm privileged to surround myself with intellectual curiosity my team would say I asked the third the fourth and the fifth question and if you can answer the fifth question we'll have a great jam session um if we stop at the first or second we may have to go back and reconvene later but I do think intellectual curiosity is so important in leadership I'm curious to understand what what are the people dealing with that are facing our clients what challenges are they seeing so I want to go to the meetings I want to listen to the people in the call center and understand what are they hearing so that I can have a better appreciation when you have multiple systems and how they're clicking and trying to navigate and wanting to do great work so intellectual curiosity I think is so important especially in the environment that we're in where everything is changing you have to be curious and with curiosity breeds agility if you are curious is you're open to the possibility that you may have to Pivot and then finally process process process process process process to lead to outcomes you can have the greatest Vision the greatest team the greatest intellectual curiosity and passion but if it is not yielding the outcomes it's not worth it and process is so important because process should transcend you if you are here and have the privilege especially for me to lead a company over a hundred years clearly Alpha should not start an end with me I am just having the ability to carry a baton during this moment and all the great things that this team will do together it should transcend all of us and the only way you can have staying power is to have operating practices that are built to last when you are not around amen amen amen I could not agree more process is sexy trust me it is absolutely uh and and it allows sustainability and Legacy and things that um are durable business models and org models I think is so important so I could not be more happy that you raised that point but I would also say as I was doing my homework okay um not just my own experience with you but others who I know who have worked with and for you and around you I also heard a lot about this ability to build a great culture yeah that you're a culture Builder and and culture helps bring strategy to life so how do you do that so effectively because to a person I heard best leader I've worked for or with um uses her power to empower others and is a great culture Builder right I mean we've all heard culture eat strategy for lunch um culture is the attraction and in this environment where you are competing around the globe in this environment where there are so many amazing amazing companies and individuals have Choice why are they going to choose your company and I believe culture has to be at the Forefront and culture is the model that you that you project you know you can say you're authentic but how do you show up if I am saying I am striving to be the best version of tsha that's what authentic means to me I am just trying to be the best version of me that creates space for you to be the best version of you and be you the best shot that you have as a leader in getting the best productivity from your teammates is if they show up the best version of them if they are taking on this extra task of being someone that they're not or trying to fit in that is not positive return so you are not getting maximum productivity I also think culture is about setting that Vision so that when you are pushing the team when you are saying that is not good enough we can do better if you have been clear on the vision even though that feedback is not exciting but you know it's not personal she wants to get the best out of you and by the way I am open to the feedback as well and one of the things that I share with my team they're sitting right in front of me um is what's the counternarrative here is my view but give me the counternarrative you have to invite culture into the room and the only way that culture is real is if what people experience it's not what you say it's not the awards it's what you feel and you have to earn it every day and I think having a North star having a vision being clear making sure people understand that I am right there with you I will roll up my sleeves but I will also give my power away because I want you to be great that to me is an attraction and it's one that people understand if you're going to partner with me you know the rules of engagement and you know that I will go to bat for you and for this company but we have to never lose sight of the North Star and that means there will be hard decisions that sometimes individuals may not like but hopefully they can respect because it's not personal in terms of you the individual it's about doing the best thing for the company so culture is everything but culture is what you model yeah love that and I often say it needs to not be on the walls but in the Halls right keeping it real clearly that's something you do exceptionally well y purpose culture values process so many nuggets I hope you're taking notes right I want to build on this idea of passion because you are a very passionate leader and one of the topics that I know you're passionate in terms of of trying to drive change is around closing the Gap with retirement income savings yes um and trying to close that gap for for Americans and especially women and people of color where that wealth Gap is significant right so I'd love to hear you tell us kind where does that passion come from why is that a priority and what are the kinds of things that you and your team are doing through programs public policy and other initiatives to close that Gap what's so great about the team is that um they provide me such great insight and I mentioned root cause so what are the facts the facts are 40% of all am Americans do not have enough to retire that's Urban Suburban Blue State Red State it's everywhere and then when you look at well what else do you see after that 40% you realize that women retire with 30% less you realize that 54% of African-Americans do not have enough saved for retirement 64% of Hispanics do not have access to a workplace plan 41% of young people between the ages of 25 and 45 are not contributing to their 401k or 403b plan those are the facts so it should be no wonder why I have a fight and a fire in my belly I shared this story about my father and I think when you're dealing with a crisis and I do think we have a retirement crisis R it's about an individual it's about a family buy a show of hands who knows someone personally that does not have enough money for a Secure Retirement and you might be helping them out look around the room this is our problem how are we ever going to close the wealth gap for example with people of color when we are transferring debt not wealth when we are having to take care of Mom and Dad and they may no longer live together we may be married have a significant other a partner or choosing to be single so we're having to split that dollar now three ways and then if we decide to have children we want to live in a decent neighborhood we want to travel with our friends make it make sense and so the reason why I think this is an urgent situation is because we know that we are also living longer we know that we are living in the time of the largest intergenerational groupings from the silver Boomers jiny Alpha there's so many generations living right now and we're living longer so this is an American crisis this is not a woman's crisis a black person's crisis this is our crisis and we know ches most people see it as a crisis is that a well-known crisis T well I am here talking to the economic Club of Chicago I am sure it will get out now if it's not already but it's the facts and so what are we doing about it we at Tia launch what we call a retirement Bill of Rights because we know this is not something that one company can solve we know that this is not just about policy we know that we need all of us working together and so with this retirement Bill of Rights it's really shining a light on the statistics and then giving simple recommendations and Solutions on what we can all do better and so a few things that I would offer up is one if you all want to be part of the Coalition of the Willing please join us because it takes all of us how would people join you tashonda attia for her team who's right here at that table Yeah the team right here reach out to me or any of our colleagues because it really takes all of us working together in a few areas one we're spending a lot of time around policy we know that the secure act 2.0 did a long long good job in helping to make sure that we have a policy to ensure that more people can have access and we're working um with others to think about and with Congress on what more can we do to improve simple Le Things We Believe passionately in Auto enrollment we all should have plans at our companies that auto enrolls everyone everyone including the people in the mail room do not assume that because this person may be part of the lower wage earner that they do not want to say for retirement do not make that assumption make it available they can choose to opt out and then next year you opt them in that is something I would ask all of you to check and see does your work plan provide that secondly it's Auto escalation we know that when you start you may not contribute the max amount of what your company can match you may put in a little Auto escalate 1% again they can take it back down if they can't do that but the next year you do it again what studies find is that when you Auto enroll and if someone opt out and you Auto enroll again they stay but we all know that someone could have had a moment and they opted out that one year and that one moment lost 20 years of compounding that one moment had a really bad outcome over time and so simple things Auto enrollment Auto escalation what we're doing at Tia is also look at your data are people participating and taking full advantage and if they are not what are we doing about it give the information to your manager of 10 and make sure you can have the Brown Bag lunch and talk about it make sure the benefits are working hard are they naming beneficiaries or not we know the answers to the test especially as Leaders leading companies it is our responsibility to not just stop at the wonderful awards that we receive but to make sure it's working hard for every individual in your company because the outcome can be someone like Otis Brown that had access to a 401k he did have his pension because it was provided but when the daughter has to tell a father that he does not have enough but to recognize that there was a plan that was there but that plan didn't reach the guy in the mail room or the guy scanning boxes that is a call to action and so this crisis is real we all feel it the question is what can we do about it as leaders and it takes good policy it takes the voice of business and it takes the awareness and the education to individuals the last thing that I would say about this is young people do not assume young people do not care about retirement they do care it is up to us to make it relevant and clear and meet them where they are and talk to them in a way that will compel them to take action and the big piece is the word compounding that we all love here at the economic Club of Chicago making sure that they understand what they're leaving on the table the tax benefit they're leaving an employer match so you're saying I'm good with the the the base salary you can keep this benefit and they're losing the ability to change the course of their life and the people who they love life and I believe that if we talk about it younger we can change the course in the direction but it is something that we all have to get involved in and understand that this is an American issue that is really burdening taxpayers it's causing a lot of stress in the household and it's the worst feeling for people as they age to know that they're a burden on their children because they just was not clear or understood or had the ability to make different decisions in their earning years so one of the things I think you're doing an exceptional job of is bringing more storytelling to this right make it real make it real make sure people are aware of the issue personalizing it so that they can really understand it and making it less theoretical making it practical by the show of hands it's real for all of us so this is why I think it's such a a a a real issue and I would say what I am happy about it's one of the few issues that can Garner bipartisan support because you cannot do this without good policy and so that to me leaves me with optimism that we can get things done that benefits everyone um and allows us to be able to close the wealth Gap you won't close the wealth Gap if you're having to subsidize your family and not have enough to start building your nest egg in your investment strategy so I think it's something that I'm passionate about we at Tia and nine are passionate about it and the good news is I think we can make real progress on this topic it helps be a foundation of a strong democracy absolutely to to wrestle with us and make progress on it and I love how you also identified some of the biggest barriers yes to retirement today um something I think that all of us can walk away with thinking about not only what can I be doing for myself I will be retiring in two weeks so I've been working on my plan um but have many people uh in my life friends family who are still wrestling with this and so yeah I mean the PO is that f 53 million Americans don't have access to a workplace plan 53 million and we all know that many of the accumulation of our wealth is coming from you know our workplace plans to be able to have that nest egg and so this is a real issue but I do think making sure that we can address the savings Gap that's why I think that's important to make sure that we're helping people get on the savings plan as early as possible we also have to address the guarantee Gap because we know Social Security was never intended to be the only guarantee and we know that pensions have gone down materially since the 70s and we know that within 401K plans or 403b plans we want to make sure that in addition to exposure to equities and bonds we want to make sure that there is insurance that there is that guarantee that you cannot outlive to be part of your allocation and that is something that we're really um talking to others and our clients and as a matter of good POS policy to make sure that we can design plans that can address some of the real barriers to helping people have a more Secure Retirement so again I'm taking lots of notes even though I'm about to retire from Target not life so I want to make sure if I can live as long as my great great grandmother who is 105 I have some more saving to do so I plan to to stay with us and that I think that's such a good point the 105 because you know I think I'm going to live to 110 um but the reality is everyone always says you know how long do you plan to live I don't know I I I don't think that's the right question I think the question is can I be confident yeah so I don't know how long you don't know we don't know but the real question is can I be confident that I'm going to be okay and I think that's the question that we want to make sure that when we're sitting down and talking about plan and planning that it's a confidence factor is what people are really looking for will I be confident will I be okay hey as I age that I will have enough will I run out of money because I don't know how long I'm going to live and again hopefully all of us in this room will have a very healthy and many more chapters in terms of living a very long time but not feeling burdened yeah by that will it be enough and and again to your point enough for me and others in my circle absolutely who I may be supporting and helping as well when you mentioned confidence um I want to Pivot a bit to the economy I'm curious to hear a bit about your your sort of confidence or or view on the outlook for the stock market or the economy overall and in particular what your thoughts are on the fed and where rates might go well I mean overall the US economy is strong I mean when you look at company's balance sheets they're healthy they're strong consumer confidence uh continues to remain solid even though there are some concerns on how consumers are are feeling in the near term uh when we look at some of the underlining fundamentals uh we're seeing we'll see the unemployment data I think will come out on tomorrow um but you're seeing that there was a beat on jobs 185 I think the forecast was around 150 so there was a beat that could have pressure on wage because wages ticked up a little bit um I think the question that's on everyone's mind of course is inflation and interest rates um you know I think uh our fed pal has been very clear that that we want to get inflation down to the 2% and so I know that there is a lot of excitement about six rate uh dips in the New Year decreases that's not going to happen I think now folks are thinking anywhere from one to three who knows but I don't see that happening in the short term I think it'll be in the middle or the latter part of the year but I think he's been very clear he wants to see some of that data um with some of the actions that have been taken see what does this do and what pulls through interest rates um I think continues um to also be a big question for many people um and what does that mean especially when you look at that in concert with inflation if you're trying to buy a home it's causing more to buy a house if you're trying to buy groceries it's more expensive gas is more expensive um and so I do think that we have a situation where there's still a lot of uncertainty and when you look at the stock market there's a lot of volatility it's been on a run lately but you know it's been up and down um and I think that when you also recognize the backdrop that we're in the geopolitical environment is still very high we still have two really big Wars going on um around the world uh we have an election in our country and you have elections going on around the world that leads to a lot of uncertainty um and so I think the the the bottom line here is that there is a lot of uncertainty there's still a a lot of shoots as Jim says um some some green shoots that are coming down there's a lot of cash on the sidelines you know cash is an asset class there's trillions of dollars that are pin up so I do think that as things continue to improve and I do believe that it will improve we may have a slight recession but I do think we'll see for a while we've been saying a lot of things for a while but you know when it comes back it's going to come back roaring because there's a lot of cash um on the sidelines and we know that the PE Market has been slower than expected in terms of um IP Etc um but for me I think if you asked the question around the stock market I'd say for us that navine and tia Top Line um I'd say neutral on um Global equities I'd say um definitely an overweight on fixed income uh and given the inflationary environment I'd say opportunity in real assets notes but no forward-looking statements from none not at all okay all right so I'd love to Pivot once again to another Topic in the headlines beyond the economy which is this Dei conversation right and the push back quite frankly that we've been seeing around diversity equity and inclusion and ESG issues so I would love to hear your point of view um around the importance of or lack thereof of Dei and ESG efforts and and how is that taking shape at Tia yeah I mean this is such a Dei room by the way um it's a diverse room there's so much energy so you know there's some Equity here and there's a lot of inclusion when I look at the tables and when I think about what's happening and I've said this before diversity equity inclusion those are values that we're raising all of our children to embrace and understand we want our children to embrace differences when they're at school we want every person to feel like they have an equitable shot and that if there's something getting in the way we will do all that we can to make sure that you have a fair opportunity and inclusion don't we all want inclusion and some how those words have just become something that can feel threatening these words have become something that could feel that there is an equation of less than my view and then I want to talk about the view at TIAA is that I also go back to history inclusion is new for us inclusion is new it wasn't until the 70s that laws were off books women having leave did not happen until there was a lot more women in the workforce getting proximate to the challenges and then fighting for those rights to be able to have leave and have protection Ada is in the 90s my point is inclusionary practices are new because we've had a history of EX exclusionary practices and always Associated meritocracy in the backdrop of exclusionary practices and now we don't have those laws and we have an a Very diverse society and we're getting comfortable with wanting to understand what that means and so I just think that for us it boils down to Talent if you are a leader and you are running a company you do not want to have any restrictions on opening up the aperture for talent and if you believe that Talent is created equally opportunity is not and if you understand history even within your own company then you would always want to make sure that there's no residue of practices that could preclude anyone anyone from having an opportunity to be their very best if there was not a ramp in the building get a ramp because I know that there are people that are very talented they just needed a ramp to get into the office get a ramp but that was a fight and so my point is Dei to me as a CEO is about talent I want to open up the aperture of talent I want want to make sure that everyone can see themselves at our company and I want to ensure that when they come they can fill the culture of inclusion everyone men women glbtq plus first gen immigrant whatever it is I want you to bring all of that to the table to ensure that you can bring your perspective to help us solve very complex problem problems that we are navigating As Leaders the last thing that I will say about this is that I'm very proud to work for a company that has over a hundredy year history in this Andrew carnegi saw that there was a group of people who was educating the world's most Brilliant Minds but was retiring in poverty and decided to have inclusion for those individuals to have access to a more secure retirement and this was before Social Security so it is in the fiber of our company and the beautiful thing is that the opportunity for us especially here in our country and to compete at a global level is to make sure that we are unlocking the talent that is here if you are in rural Oklahoma or in the inner city of Chicago we want to make sure that we can bring the opportunity to you because that could be the next future CEO of a company that could be the next entrepreneur that can unlock new innovation for more jobs and I think instead of making this such a polarized topic and making this an us and them or making people that feel like when you look at me there must have been a reason you're right there was a reason I am good you're right you're right you're right and I would also say like my mother Rosie Brown said is when someone is doubting you and when someone is saying things about you that do not belong to you it's like receiving mail that went to the wrong address you return it to Cinder and so I just think that we as leaders have to get back to the fundamentals of what is Dei you can call it whatever you want it's Talent it's about practice practices in the company it's about making sure that we are bringing everyone to the table white men black everybody to feel like we want to unlock the talent and the only way we're going to continue to grow GDP the only way we're going to continue to prepare ourselves for the global stage the only way we're going to deal with issues that we never thought that we would have to deal with and by the way it's it's multifaceted right now you better have the people at the table and give them permission to bring their perspective so that we can be as smart as we can be to understand the issue and as importantly come up with Sound Solutions that to me is what Dei is all about and I just think we have to do everything that we can to make sure that young people are not opting out to make sure that different groups of people um feel that these opportunities are not for them or that someone feels like you've moved my cheese no we want to create the whole garden for everyone and I think the opportunity is there for us to take and I think anything that we do to stifle growth in our country anything that we do to stifle young people for feeling like they can have a better tomorrow is not good for all of us and so that is my view and and I'm proud to work for a company that has held those values for over a hundred years and is part of the fiber of our existence well thank you for speaking out on that um I appreciate it I think at this moment sometimes people are are afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing or potentially being sued and and so there is um pull back but there is nothing wrong with Talent you I don't you know but of course you're you're going to understand the reality that there are um real issues at play and clearly as a company you're going to abide by all you know laws and you're going to do all of that but there is not a law that says I cannot attract and retain the best talent in order to deliver Financial results for the people that I serve and for us it's a serious situation we need to have an unlock the best talent because we are a long-term investor we have patient Capital that has to go to work we have to make sure we understand issues today and tomorrow so that people can have confidence in their retirement so we need diverse perspectives at the table period absolutely and to ensure that you're able to articulate how your focus on Dei and ESG aligns with your business and organizational strategy absolutely right if that's the underpinning of your strategy or a market or a consumer segment or a talent based there is absolutely and that's important for us I mean naine clearly you know we we have to manage risk and we have to take a long-term View and that means we have to understand what are all the potential scenarios that we would need to understand in order to make sure that we're um making the right decisions and the right Investments for the long term of ultimately um people's retirement and so understanding e SG or any other issue to me is understanding risk and making sure that you know how to manage that level of risk and I think that's to your point never losing sight of the main thing and for us we have to care about this in terms of what we do and how we do it at naven and at TIAA and as a matter of principle and values as a company and talent we have to make sure that we're doing everything we can to make sure that everyone feels like they can have a a great career at our company and bring Great Value to our company agreed managing risk also leads to great opportunity absolutely on the other side of risk is opportunity I think absolutely okay I want to switch to uh a conversation um about how I think you've demonstrated both a hum a humility and a vulnerability in the way that you've um balanced Andor juggled your life as a high level executive a wife a mother a friend many the do and yet it seems to me that you've done it in a way that has allowed you a freedom to move Beyond societal expectations to do it your way to not just play by the rules but when required to redefine or rewrite those rules how have you done that and continue to be so successful and not only achieve the level of success that you've had but to bring others along with you I mean we're going to have real talk right so how many of you all have been working on work life balance for like 5 10 20 30 40 years good news it's a lie stop it um I've said work life balance is a lie and I had to learn this the hard way you know like many of you we're all hyphenated you know your moms dads your sisters uncles aunties Friends Community you know Community leaders um and I remember uh when I was a young mom and I was trying to figure out work life balance and the reality is I was getting up in the morning not seeing my kids and I would drive to the bus commuter bus take the commuter bus from New Jersey to New York then walk or take a taxi into the office and by the time I got home my kids would be sleep and I remember one night I was at the Port Authority and um I I don't know if you've ever been at the Port Authority when you're catching the very last commuter bus everyone was going to the casino but me and I just broke down crying and I called my husband and I was just having that moment and now my husband is a a marine an engineer and he's now the stay-at-home father and he just told me well then quit now we'll have to figure some things out but quit of course and I was like that's not what I'm trying to say I love my job but at that point I had to change my mindset so here's what I would offer to all of you that have struggled in trying to reconcile work and life it's a lie instead I chose to live my life like a diversified portfolio the reality is we only have 100% of ourselves so quit telling yourself a lie there's no such thing as 110 what you have 100% then you put together your categories just like you would your financial portfolio my categories are executive philanthropist mommy wife Auntie sister friend self and you allocate the reality is my children don't get 100% of me they get 30% tell yourself the truth by telling myself the truth I became a more present mother because I know when I have that time with my kids they only have 30% so I stopped the yeahuh mama listening mhm yep hold on yep uhhuh way to go way to go because I told myself the truth just like a diversified portfolio you're going to deal with Market volatility like life volatility when my dad got diagnosed with cancer I had to reallocate to being a daughter when my brother suddenly passed away I had to allocate my portfolio to not just being a daughter but being a sister and being an auntie you give yourself permission to reallocate because there will be Market in life volatility sometimes you have to short the stock I'm going let y'all marinate on that when it comes to life but here is the point everything that matters to me is in my portfolio and so yes there will be volatility there will be sometimes aspects of my portfolio as not yielding the highest return there are times where I do not feel like I am a great mommy like now because I've been traveling a ton but I know over time I'm a very good mother there are days where I might feel like I'm letting my amazing team down but over time I believe I'm a great leader if you live your life like a diversified portfolio just like you do with your money over time you will outperform this thing called life because everything that matters to you is in your portfolio you will never put everything with 100% allocation in with your money no matter how good that stock is therefore there is not one thing that gets 100% of me because I am more than a CEO I'm more than a mommy I'm a lot of things and they do not get 100% but collectively within that allocation I give it 100% of what I have it has given me permission to say no it has given me permission to give me confidence and Grace and so live your life like a diversified portfolio overtime you'll outperform there will be life volatility but you will live a joyful life because everything that matters to you is in your allocation oh thank you beautiful here to a joyful life to a joyful life

Channel: The Economic Club of Chicago

Views: 1,038

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Id: v5CVJkRtYus

Length: 56min 36sec (3396 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 04 2024