Ken Frazier on Why CEOs Must Have Principles

11/07/23 • 37 min

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Ken Frazier is currently Chairman, Health Assurance Initiatives, at General Catalyst, which is just the most recent leadership position on an impressive resume. Frazier served as CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck for 10 years, stepping down in 2021. He is also co-founder and former CEO of the OneTen initiative - aimed at connecting underrepresented talent with corporate jobs - and, until last year, was the Lead Independent Director of the ExxonMobil Board of Directors.

Frazier has also become known for standing by his principles. He first made a name for himself as a young lawyer in the early 1990s, when he represented a wrongfully-convicted death row inmate and worked to get his conviction overturned. In 2017, he resigned from former President Trump's Manufacturing Advisory Council after the president's ambivalent comments following the Charlottesville rally. The move prompted a number of CEOs to follow in his footsteps. And in 2021, spurred by a new law in Georgia, Frazier urged corporate America to vocally fight for voting rights for all Americans.

In this episode of Leadership Next, recorded live in Washington D.C. at a Deloitte Next Generation CEO event, Frazier tells host Alan Murray why these decisions were a matter of principle not politics and why he thinks CEOs can and should stand for every American's right to vote regardless of their political views. He also discusses the challenges he faced in his first few years as CEO of Merck and the shareholders who trusted his vision enough to support him. Finally, Frazier talks about starting the OneTen coalition after the murder of George Floyd and the need to find a common language to talk about ESG and DEI.

Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.

Previous Episode

L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus on How a 114 Year-Old Beauty Giant Stays Relevant

L'Oréal is a longstanding giant in the consumer beauty industry. And despite being 114 years-old, the company shows no signs of slowing down. The L'Oréal group has a portfolio of 37 international brands, more than 87,000 employees and 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world. In 2022, the L'Oréal group generated $42 billion in revenue, a 10% year-over-year increase. Nicolas Hieronimus, who first joined the company in 1987, took over as CEO of L'Oréal in 2021. He is only the sixth person in the company's history to hold the title, and he is keenly focused on keeping the century-old beauty company relevant in a rapidly changing world.

In this episode of Leadership Next, Hieronimus sits down with host Michal Lev-Ram to talk about L'Oréal's evolution into a "beauty tech" company and how it uses tech both in its consumer-facing products and in its internal R & D operations. He also discusses the luxury brands responsible for L'Oréal's historic 2022 revenue growth and how L'Oreal goes about strategically acquiring brands. Additionally, Hieronimus shares more about L'Oréal's sustainability efforts, using TikTok to gather consumer feedback and track beauty trends, and how he works to keep L'Oréal's core culture in place despite having employees scattered all over the world.

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Next Episode

How this Swedish Chemist Founded Not One But Two Battery Startups

It's become increasingly clear that lithium-ion batteries are key to a sustainable future. Is it too late for the U.S. to become a power player in this industry? That's the question Leadership Next host Alan Murray has for today's guest, a woman he calls "The Battery Queen" because she is one of the pre-eminent experts on batteries in the world. Currently founder and CEO of battery technology company Cadenza Innovation, Christina Lampe-Onnerud previously founded and led Boston-Power. That company was sold to Chinese investors in 2011. Now, Lampe-Onnerud is part of Li-Bridge, a public-private partnership working to create a robust manufacturing base and supply chain for lithium-ion batteries in the United States.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Deloitte's Next Generation CEO event (Deloitte is also a sponsor of this podcast), Lampe-Onnerud details the rise of the global battery industry, explains why her first company wound up going to the Chinese, and lays out what needs to happen in order for the U.S. to compete in this space.

She also talks about growing up in Sweden and how she became interested in a career that revolves around batteries.

Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.