marsh & mclennan

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Marsh & McLennan | 2023 World's Most Admired Companies

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Marsh & McLennan

Marsh & McLennan | 2023 World's Most Admired Companies | Fortune

Susie Gharib

Marsh & McLennan CEO’s Motto: There is No Innovation Without Dissent

/2017/12/21/marsh-mclennan-dan-glaser-ceo-tips/

How To Redefine The Role Of Business In Society

/2017/09/28/dan-glaser-marsh-mclennan-leadership-advice/

Dan, you're in the leadership business, you talk to CEOs about chosing leaders, at Marshall McGlennon you are grooming the next leaders so what do you think is the most important characteristic of a successful leader? I look at leadership essentially about setting a direction, aligning people, motivating action And think in terms of possibilities, not probabilities, so suspending judgment for a second and thinking about aspirations and even dreams. So what are you looking for when you're hiring someone for a leadership position. Well I'm a tough interviewer because I- Uh- oh. ask questions that they've probably never asked before. Things like, are you a happy person? Why does that show you somebody's a leader or not? I want to get at who they really are and so I don't even know whaI want to hear. I don't want to hear somebody say no, I'm a terribly unhappy person or I'm so happy I tapdnce to work everyday. But I want to get at that level of authenticity. You know when I'm interviewing for leadership roles, a lot of times I'm hearing whether somebody is talking about there success. Anybody who's interviewing for a leadership role, has a long history of success, so how do they describe it? Just about every CEO I talked to, when they describe what it takes to have a successful business, they say you have to be very nimble. You have to be innovating constantly. You have to be willing to take risks. Now, when I look at [ UNKNOWN ] a company that's been around for 150 years. Right. You think change must come difficultly to this company. What do you tell your people, your employees about innovating and about taking risks and things like that? What I say to our people in almost every town hall is a quote from Oliver Wendall- Holmes and I say, I say his quote of most of us go to our graves If something is resonating in your brain that's different than what you're hearing around the table. Well, you also have this other great quote that is always said about you, there is no innovation without descent. Yeah. So it seems like you're encouraging conflict, and how does this work? Well, I'm happy with conflict. But I want cognitive conflict. I don't want people yelling at each other or an environment where it feels intimidating in any way because that will stifle the level of innovation and the safety of speaking up, right? So I want an environment though where the best idea wins. I'm very much more of the belief That is not about the moon shot, the one great idea. That is more about making one thousand great decisions and doing things, multiple things every day, better than you had done them the day before or the week before that really gets the company. not only motivated, but where there's a lot of contribution across many many different people. So Dan, you are full of great ideas and you've been running Martian Mcllenan a long time, but if you look back on your career, your personal life, what's the best leadership advice that you ever received and how did it shape you as a leader? Well it's interesting, when I was graduating university, my dad who was running a small manufacturing business running about 20 employees sat me down int he living room and he offered me a job and much like my older brother and my older sister, I turned him down. The look of relief in his face was apparent. I didn't realize it but he was He was always one step away from the last paycheck for the company, because there was a tremendous amount of global competition and cheaper labor, etc. And I told him that I had had a job offer from a company called Marsh & McLennan. And we talked about it a little bit, and he said to me And if you make your decisions that way, you'll probably be okay. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

In Search of Innovation, This CEO Encourages Dissent

Leadership

Dan Glaser of Marsh &amp; McLennan thinks cognitive conflict is good for business.

Dan, many companies are now talking about leading with purpose. Doing more to improve the world. Why is this coming up now? Why is everybody talking about it? Employees have changed. They're much more active. They're much more interested in a company that has values. I mean people have opportunities to work in many different places. They choose where they work. They choose where they give their careers. And companies have to literally think about, well, what is our reason for existing, like, why do we exist? A lot of companies can easily say what they do and how they do it. They really have to start thinking about, why do we do what we do? Well we are seeing that many more business leaders do want to do good for their communities and to solve some of these social problems. And they are letting go of this notion that our primary purpose is to make profits and a good return for our shareholders, but still. How do you help advise CEOs to explain that to their shareholders, to their investors, and to their employees? Well, if you look at a presentation that I would've made five or six years ago, I would've said there's a lot of different issues, there's a lot variables, there's a lot of KPIs. Profit is our most important motivation. I wouldn't say that anymore. I don't feel it myself and part of it is just living in the world, experiencing the types of calamities that have existed, the. Gut wrenching changes in society, that came after the financial crisis and we're still in the aftermath of that, so, I've to say as a CEO, I changed and I changed my view and so that same presentation today, I would still say profit, but I would say profit and purpose, that you have to stand for something. The way I look at things, our colleagues Our clients and our communities come first. So who's a role model in this? Who's getting it right? I heard Jamie Dimon is speaking this morning. I think he really gets it. Essentially, being local, being in your community, supporting your community, using some of your Corporate profitability to recycle it within a community. I think is vital and very important. So I would certainly signal that JPMorgan seems to be getting it right. You're talking about means that you have to change the culture. You have to change the mindset. That's hard to do. It takes a different kind of leadership right? I think that if you're going to be the CEO of a company today, you are going to think like this. You can't have an innovative company where it's hierarchical. It almost certainly has to be about circles, or working on project teams, and having the ability at every level to contribute to that project, as opposed to Taking an order or taking an instruction, and so I do think that the actual form of corporations in terms of hierarchy versus in a more fluidity is changing rapidly. Well as much as everybody's talking about all of these and doing all of these [ UNKNOWN ], how do you measure success? How do you know if you're in the right track? How do you know if you really are doing good? You have to resist the urge of grabbing the early wins and saying we're done. This is foundational, this is something that as you mentioned is cultural within your own company. And so you measure culture by looking at colleague turnover rates. Colleague engagement levels. The amount in social media that is supportive of your companies ideals and values, as opposed to that is negative about it. I think colleagues are seeking leadership from companies to have a stance which is based upon the company's own values. So are you saying that the CEO's role has changed That it's just not a formal role of hitting up a company, you have to have a true north, a moral standard. Absolutely. I think that a CEO today literally should recognize themself as the servant of there company. Not even the leader of their company. A servant, a fiduciary to their company and CEOs who operate that way with humility recognize that it's not about them, it's about the people who work for the organization and. And it's about the clients and it's about the community. Those are the core constituencies. You do that right, shareholders will be fine. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Marsh and McLennan Companies CEO Dan Glaser discusses leading with purpose.

How This CEO Balances Profit And People

Marsh & McLennan

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World's Most Admired Companies
As of 2/1/2023

Marsh & McLennan

Company Information

World's Most Admired CompaniesAs of 2/1/2023

World's Most Admired Companies
As of 2/1/2023