I've been privileged to attend several meetings hosted by SMU in the past few months that featured outstanding CEO presentations. They've included:
- James Donald, president, chief executive officer and director of Starbucks, co-presenting with David Pace, executive vice president, Partner Resources
- Alan Boeckmann, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of Fluor Corporation, jointly hosted by SMU and Ernst and Young
- Myron (Mike) Ullman, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Company, Inc., co-presenting with Mike Theilmann, executive vice president, chief human resources and administration officer
The sessions including the HR executives talked about the importance of HR as a strategic contributor to the business. Starbucks is hiring 400 people per day, according to Mr. Pace, and HR management is core to their global success as a business. Both Startuck's executives spoke of the life changes that Starbucks careers have made for many of their employees. One very notable and commendable commitment made by Starbucks is to offer health care benefits to all employees. That benefit is their largest corporate expense, and they continuously pursue effective ways to enhance the benefit while reducing the cost.
The J.C. Penney executives talked about the great turnaround that has occurred in the company, taking the stock price from a low of around $9 in 2000 to today's high of $76.60 (as of this writing). They talked about their commitment to maintaining the company's core values (sometimes difficult to distinguish) but making strategic changes and building new values to achieve success in today's global marketplace. Changes that are currently underway include creating a more relaxed, accessible, diverse and involved management team.
Fluor Corporation relocated its corporate headquarters from Southern California to Irving, TX, in 2006. Fluor provides global services of engineering, procurement, construction, operations, maintenance and project management. Mr. Boeckmann spoke about his passion for ethical leadership and eliminating global corruption, especially in his company's industry, which has historically been one of the worst for bribery. He is achieving change through leadership of a groundbreaking 120+ member global organization called Partnership Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), a multinational group that sets standards and tracks compliance for participants.
Congratulations to SMU for leadership in hosting sessions that are so relevant to today's executives. The topics covered by the presenters, in each case, addressed the importance of strategy, innovation, people and values in the global marketplace.
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