What Leadership Looks Like
WHAT DOES INNOVATION LOOK LIKE IN 2019 AND BEYOND? THE SPEAKERS AT THE FOURTH ANNUAL FAST COMPANY INNOVATION FESTIVAL WEIGH IN.
Fast Company’s Innovation Festival brought together creators, entrepreneurs, and CEOS from across industries.
Tory Burch
CEO and chief creative officer, Tory Burch LLC “For women to own their ambition and be proud of it is a great first step.”
Darren Walker
President, Ford Foundation “This country needs a form of capitalism that can deliver shared prosperity.”
AAt a time when lack of faith in
INSTITUTIONS—GOVERNMENT, CORPORATIONS, AND, YES, THE NEWS MEDIA—SEEMS TO BE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH, BUSINESS AND THOUGHT LEADERS WHO TOOK THE STAGE AT FAST COMPANY’S ANNUAL INNOVATION FESTIVAL CHAMPIONED THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING A STAND, EMBRACING CREATIVITY AND INCLUSIVITY, AND FINDING TRUSTED COLLABORATORS. “I REALLY ONLY WANT TO WORK WITH PARTNERS WHO SHARE THE AMBITION, UNDERSTAND INTUITIVELY WHAT WE’RE DOING, AND WANT TO DO THE SAME THING,” SAID COURTENEY MONROE, CEO OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC GLOBAL NETWORKS. MONROE HAS TEAMED UP WITH BRIAN GRAZER AND RON HOWARD’S IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT TO PRODUCE THE SCRIPTED ANTHOLOGY SERIES GENIUS—EXTENDING A BRAND TRADITIONALLY ASSOCIATED WITH DOCUMENTARIES AND WILDLIFE SHOWS. ARTIST AND ENTREPRENEUR PHARRELL WILLIAMS ECHOED THE SENTIMENT when talking about movie executive Chris Meledandri, who persuaded Williams to narrate the 2018 animated version of The Grinch. “I trust Chris in everything that we do together,” he told a packed auditorium at New York’s 92nd Street Y. “The work is so liberating and inspiring, and it elevates me every time.”
Williams and others spoke optimistically about the role creative types will play in shaping the future of business and society: As artificial intelligence enables companies to automate routine tasks, from filling in spreadsheets to reviewing legal documents, employers may come to covet imaginative thinkers who can’t be matched by a machine. While many of us may have grown wary of promises about our rosy Ai-driven future, a new generation of designers is actively working to ensure that the next wave of consumer technologies serves all of humanity—and not just the homogenous (highly educated, mostly white, largely male) community that mirrors the engineers who heretofore have dominated software development. “When you are used to being ‘other,’ it’s helpful when you have to think about others,” said Ian Spalter, Instagram’s head of design.
Throughout the festival, held in New York City during a week in October, entrepreneurs and executives alike offered examples of business as a force for positive change in society. Actress Jennifer Garner, a longtime ambassador and trustee of Save the Children, explained that she got into business—last year she helped launch organic baby foods startup Once Upon a Farm—because she saw it as a vehicle for helping improve the way families feed their children. “You can’t expect kids to thrive if we’re not putting good, healthy food in their bellies,” she said. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian and Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Chip Bergh both talked candidly about business decisions that rankled the gun lobby in the U.S.: After the February 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Bastian ended a group airfare discount Delta had been extending to the National Rifle Association. In September 2018, Levi Strauss & Co. established the Safer Tomorrow Fund, which will grant $1 million to nonprofits and youth activists working to end gun violence.
Bastian and Bergh both took heat for their stances: Bergh says he has received threats, and lawmakers in Delta’s home state of Georgia voted to eliminate a jetfuel tax break, potentially costing the airline as much as $40 million a year. But neither executive expressed any regret for his decision. “Our values aren’t for sale,” Bastian said, “and I’d do it again.” Bergh was equally unapologetic: “My hope is that other CEOS are going to follow, and that we will encourage the youth who are now marching and emboldened to take this issue on—and empower them to make a change.”
One of those young leaders, Parkland survivor and March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg, also spoke at the festival. He offered reassuring words to his fellow young activists, but his message is sure to resonate with anyone trying to effect a change.
“The question isn’t, ‘Who are you waiting for?’ ” Hogg said. “It’s: ‘When are you going to do it yourself?’ ”
1 Ed Bastian CEO, Delta Air Lines “I want to be in the middle of what’s going on. That’s why I fly coach, because I want to hear from the customers.”
2 Brian Grazer
Chairman, Imagine Entertainment “We just did what interested us.”
3 Ian Spalter
Head of design, Instagram “Invest in metaskills that help you adapt. Being able to draw or write clearly, these basic things will pay off.”
4 David Hogg
Cofounder, March for Our Lives “Empowerment is not something given to you, it’s something you give yourself.”
Whitney Wolfe Herd
Founder and CEO, Bumble
Diane von Furstenberg
Founder and chairman, Diane von Furstenberg
Larry Wilmore
Host, Black on the Air
Chip Bergh
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co. “In a world that is increasingly divided, where governments are pulling away from some of their responsibilities, CEOS have a moral obligation to weigh in.”
A JOKE IS TRUTH CONCENTRATE— THE MOST AMOUNT OF TRUTH IN THE SHORTEST AMOUNT OF WORDS.” —Larry Wilmore
1 Adam Silver
NBA commissioner Silver greets a guest in the 92nd Street Y greenroom.
2 Lisa Jackson
Apple’s Jackson chats with Ford Foundation’s Darren Walker and Mansueto Ventures’ Eric Schurenberg.
3 Courteney Monroe
The National Geographic Global Networks CEO relaxes before her keynote.
4 Jennifer Salke
The Amazon Studio head (left) walks backstage with Fast Company’s Stephanie Mehta.