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folks good morning good afternoon good
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evening wherever you are great pleasure
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to have you all with us today this is
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the warden schools virtual Leadership
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Conference our theories with knowledge
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of warden of leaders talking about
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issues facing large organizations
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businesses government etc and
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particularly in the context of the
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challenging events we're seeing around
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the world and today it's great pleasure
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to have with us Lori Reichert Lori is
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the CEO chairman of the board president
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of Celanese company a global chemical
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company operating through headquarters
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in Dallas and Lori it's a great pleasure
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to have you with us today welcome thank
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you great to be here so Lori wanted to
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talk first just a little bit about your
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own career everybody on these calls
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listening is interested of course in
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their own careers as well and I think
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yours has had some particularly
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interesting aspects to it I was telling
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Lori before we started that we had done
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a study a few years ago looking at the
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top executives in the largest US
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corporations and about 20 years or so
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ago there was not a single woman in any
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of the top ten positions in any of the
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oil gas or chemical companies in the
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United States it was an industry that
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seemed particularly resistant or at
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least late coming to having women in
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these top positions and your career has
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been in that industry he didn't come in
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laterally he started out in it and
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worked your way up in it and I wonder if
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you just had any thoughts or folks
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though we're listening about what that
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journey was like for you and anything
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you could share with them about you
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which experience was I'm sure it was
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interesting to get to the top there yeah
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it certainly was in your in your right
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it has not been an industry oil and gas
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'add that really attracted a lot of
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women or did a very good job retaining
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or promoting women so I came in as a
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chemical engineer I was really an
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engineer that's all I wanted to do was
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engineering
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and you know join joined Exxon in Baton
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Rouge in in 1984 you know as an entry
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level engineer and in many ways you know
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like I was you know 21 years old blonde
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from the Midwest in the south I was not
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a good fit I was the only woman hired at
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that facility this year that year and I
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could tell you I mean I heard everything
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you would imagine you would hear at that
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point in time I mean you know you
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shouldn't be here what you're doing a
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man's job why aren't you my babies I
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mean it was you know is that everything
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you would expect to hear and you know
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fortunately I grew up with three older
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brothers and so there was really
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probably nothing you could say or do to
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me that would terribly insult me at that
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point in time and I think that was a
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really gift actually because you know
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and I didn't really on took it took the
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attitude that was you know I can't
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control what you think or say but I will
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control how I respond so I ignored a lot
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of it and I just kept working because I
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loved the work I loved engineering work
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I loved the complexity of it I liked the
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operating environment and luckily I work
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for Exxon and Exxon is a company that
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really values contribution over anything
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and if you worked and got good results
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and you know you know it's knowledgebase
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it's getting things done pretty much you
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would have new opportunities open up for
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you and and I really benefited from that
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kind of meritocracy system where it was
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based more on that than it was based on
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relationships or anything else and so
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you know I developed through Exxon I
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have a lot of interesting experiences
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along the way but in credits of the
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company I was given a lot of
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opportunities and a lot of chance to
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grow and develop not just my engineering
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skills but then very early on becoming a
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supervisor developing leadership skills
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commercial skills and other skills you
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know ultimately you know running a very
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large refinery in Texas running a
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chemical plant Louisiana brain a joint
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venture living in Hong Kong running a
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global organization around public
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relations government relations so I had
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a lot of great opportunities
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you know a few other things I learned
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you know yeah you're gonna run up again
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as a woman in that industry
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I mean you stood out that could be a
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good thing if you did things well but it
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was obviously a curse you know you
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didn't have some of the room to make
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fakes other did and so you know more
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pressure I think related with that but
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on the other hand again the company I
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was in it was a meritocracy and that
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that was a big a big help I think and
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that's in some ways I think it's the
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advantage of some of the technical
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fields for women to go into where
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there's not a really strong power
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structure it's more about knowledge and
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ability to get things done versus who
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you know at least in that company you
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know the other thing I learned coming
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along because I had two children along
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the way is a lot of the things that I
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thought initially were big problems like
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how do you dress and you know never
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bring up your kids at work I mean I had
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some very funny experiences that's it
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you know what actually those things
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don't matter at least when you're
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working with men engineers they're not
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really comprehending any of those things
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so as long as you do a good job and you
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can talk their technical language you
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know it was actually a reasonably level
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playing field I think it don't be wrong
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it was it was hard it was you felt
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isolated and you know but you but even
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along the way I had some it was before
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the days of really mentors and sponsors
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I never had one of those but I had some
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really good supervisors who were all men
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but who gave me good advice and guidance
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I had some really bad supervisors but
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that was also helpful because that gave
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me a good example of what I didn't want
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to be like as a leader and I had some
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great opportunities but quite frankly at
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25 years I really wanted to I was in
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government relations and public affairs
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I really wanted to go back to running a
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business I wanted to run a P&L that it
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didn't look like that opportunity was
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going to be available for me for some
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time most women in my level were being
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moved into kind of corporate functions
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and support roles I didn't want to do
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that so I left Exxon I went to Hess for
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a year and a half it was a great
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experience it taught me what the meaning
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of cash is which is something you often
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don't get at a big company like Exxon
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but ultimately it was too small and I
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ended up going to shell and how to doing
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the job in shell I always wanted to do
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an exon which is running you know
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running a business at that time Europe
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and Africa so living in Europe and
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Africa that was a big transition I often
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think you know shell chose me for the
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job because I was a American female from
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Exxon in Europe and Africa so I guess
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that way if I felt it would be easy to
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fire me because I certainly kind of had
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everything against me going to the role
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but really enjoyed the job loved running
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that team and after three and a half
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years was asked to move on and kind of
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run the global role for shell which I
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did then for five years before I retired
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which I then failed that because six
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months later I went back to work I'm
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taking the CEO role at Celanese yeah
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well that's a falling up by retiring up
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issue of one of the things I wanted to
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ask you about is the Royal Dutch Shell
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Exxon story these are two companies that
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are famous for operating in very
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different ways very different cultures
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and they also don't like each other very
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much and going from one to the other
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must have been a fascinating experience
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how are you welcomed or I'm sort of
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initiated in Royal Dutch Shell when they
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knew you really we're an Exxon person in
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terms of your training and expertise
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yeah I mean there really are very
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different companies and you know Exxon
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is very data-driven very focused I mean
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you know it also has evolved over time
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but during the period I was there it
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wasn't really about people liking you it
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was really about getting things done and
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so you had some characters that you know
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work really all that likeable but we're
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you know but we're successful in getting
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things done and so it was a very you
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know in some ways it was it was a tough
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culture but you actually knew we're used
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to it I mean it was very straightforward
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and and you know shale is is much more
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about relationships you know do people
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like you did you get along with everyone
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more so than even getting things done
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and again their culture also continues
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to evolve but you know and I would
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almost put it down to as much the
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difference between kind of an American
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culture which is about you know get it
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done success what you know and a
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European culture which is more about
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social values and you know a cohesive
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society and even in Holland we call it
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the polder culture you know which is
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everybody puts their finger in the dike
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to save the city so it's all about doing
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things collectively so it was very
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different I mean when I went into shells
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put you joining in Europe yeah I think
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initially people who were going to be
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working for me we're really you know
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afraid I was kind of the devil coming in
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because I mean these are all the things
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right they really didn't want and and
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but again in some ways I was fortunate
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because I was going in into a
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manufacturing organization and so I had
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the opportunity when people realize oK
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you've actually you actually know a lot
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about refineries and chemical plants and
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you can talk the technical talk and and
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you've done it all from coming up all
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the levels and you can talk to operators
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as well as mechanics and as well as the
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senior people you know at least four
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people working for me in my organization
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having that technical credibility goes a
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long way in establishing your
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credentials and then people start to
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learn your style and okay you're here to
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help us get better and get better
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results and you know you have to be more
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careful in the relationship side and
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build those relationships which Indian
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wasn't as big of a deal in Exxon and you
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know in my early days you know that you
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just had to take a very thoughtful
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approach it really it really helped
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actually that when I was in Exxon I
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lived and worked in Hong Kong for nearly
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four years because that was a really
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good experience for me and learning how
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to how to work in a different culture
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and you know how to respect you know in
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in Asia if you're very direct people
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will always follow the guidance of the
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leader they'll never express their
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opinion you had to learn to keep your
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own opinion to yourself to really draw
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people out and Europe you know every
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country in Europe had its own nuance in
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Africa a different nuance and so being
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able to take that experience I had in
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in my global jobs from excellent Estelle
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really helped to learn to you know and
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it was a skill I had to learn as I went
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through my career you know listen more
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try to understand other people's point
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of views still focus on results and
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getting things done but with that
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opening myself up more to kind of that
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relational side and that communication
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side I just ask you on that advice that
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you would have for people when you're
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moving into a new country or a different
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company you're trying to figure out the
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rules and things any advice that you
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have but you could offer people on how
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to do that
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got it fairly often yeah I mean this
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will go against I got a lot a lot of the
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leadership books that always talk about
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oh you're first hundred days you need to
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have a plan you mean to make all these
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changes I actually would tell you your
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first hundred days especially if you're
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moving into a new country a new company
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or a completely different culture is you
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actually need to spend that first
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hundred days getting to know people
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getting to know the company talking to
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people talk to customers talk to
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suppliers bid in that time actually
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keeping your mouth shut and and hearing
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what everybody else has to stay and
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really understanding the entirety of the
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landscape not just the technical work
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but the social situation the community
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situation and the reputational situation
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all of that it just becomes so important
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the more senior you get and the more
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time you learn kind of immersing
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yourself and learning from others I
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think for the first hundred days that's
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how I would suggest doing it because
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otherwise you really can make some big
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misstep early on that you will spend the
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next five years trying to recover from
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yeah that's great that sounds exactly
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right we wanted to ask you a little
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about your experience in the pandemic
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here because you your company has
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operations around the world and you've
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kind of seen Dina coming I guess to the
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US and starting out in China could you
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tell us a little bit about what the
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company faced and you faced as a CEO
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when we started to see this I guess you
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probably saw it before most US business
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people right because you saw it in China
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yeah well and you know to be fair I had
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a little bit of experience all right
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when I was living in Hong Kong which I
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referenced earlier was actually during
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the SARS epidemic so it felt a little
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bit deja boo' I mean I remember during
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Czar's and working through that living
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in Hong Kong you know with my family
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managing the situation there thinking
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well this this is a once in a lifetime
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experience it's been interesting but I
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hope to never repeat it so I've gotten
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to repeat it and in this hope it's been
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different because ko bid was much more
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global than SARS it's been much longer
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duration as a company we did start
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dealing with it back in January when I
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first emerged I mean my facilities in
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China are mostly centered around
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shanghai zoo shanghai zoo Han so you
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know we did you know we did start taking
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action then and then we saw it moved to
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Europe a lot of my office of my my two
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biggest centers in Europe are Italy so
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again one of the districts really
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heavily impacted and then Germany which
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was later more impacted and then of
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course then we move to the US and so
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we've really been dealing with this all
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year round we've been able to run all of
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our manufacturing facilities we've kept
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we could we're able to keep all of them
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up we had no cases of COBIT actually we
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had no cases of COBIT for any of our
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employees in Asia
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we've only had ten cases total in Europe
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and the US and we'd been able to you
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know through better hygiene better
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social distancing all of that interrupts
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being able to keep our operations up and
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running you know as needed for demand we
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did we did go to work from home at all
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of our offices
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you know consistent with government
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guidelines and w-h-o and CDC guidelines
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we went from work from home I have a
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fantastic team around the globe they
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have all been extremely productive
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working from home we've been able to do
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closes we've kept contact with customers
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you know but it's been different we've
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all had to learn we've really had to
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increase communications you know we all
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like to think we're good communicators
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but I think this is something that's
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really changed and their role as the CEO
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over the years I mean if I go back to
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when I started
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I really knew who the CEO was I mean you
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might have gotten a form letter once a
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year from the CEO but they never even
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showed up at site I mean during this
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period of code bed you know I send a
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note out to my organization twice a week
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and we sure as a we have blogs and we
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have ways to connect the community and
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we have videos that we post new videos
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every week some you know business leader
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talking about new business or things
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that are happening just ways to really
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try to keep people connected and engage
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and even working from home you know
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saying you know we're all still here the
00:16:08
business is still running we're
00:16:10
financially secure but also a lot
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reminding people we have mental health
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services available everywhere in the
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world reach out if you're having trouble
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or if your family members are having
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trouble and you know because we also
00:16:21
feel responsible for the well-being of
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our employees so telling them take care
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of yourself not just physically but you
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know but mentally so it's it's been a
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real change we've all had to learn as we
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go we've had to stay really connected as
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a leadership team and each of them with
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with their teens but I think the
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organization has responded really well
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and now the question is okay how much of
00:16:42
this do we keep up going forward how
00:16:44
long can we keep it up going forward we
00:16:47
are starting to get people now back to
00:16:48
work people are happy to be getting back
00:16:51
to the office quite frankly and starting
00:16:53
to get some of that social interaction
00:16:54
again but even that we're having to be
00:16:56
really careful in social distancing and
00:16:59
people wearing masks and when they're in
00:17:01
common spaces in the office and you know
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like I think all businesses we're just
00:17:05
learning as we go right now and one last
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question on this because I know we got
00:17:10
we got people chomping here to ask you
00:17:12
some questions but but the executive
00:17:14
ranks it sounds like you are kind of on
00:17:17
and off you and other leaders are not
00:17:19
there at the same time to sort of
00:17:21
prevent the spread of the virus yeah
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yeah so really you know we've a lot of
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our leaders are continuing to work from
00:17:28
home although we have a schedule now or
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kind of everybody back through you know
00:17:33
through middle to in July depending on
00:17:35
where in the world they are my CFO and I
00:17:39
for the same reason we don't travel on
00:17:41
the same airplane where we're
00:17:43
alternating weeks currently to make sure
00:17:47
if there were
00:17:48
to be an emergency COBIT it will at our
00:17:50
location in Dallas that we both wouldn't
00:17:52
get it at the same time we're probably
00:17:55
only a few more weeks of doing this and
00:17:57
then you know I think we've seen the
00:17:58
case rate decline sufficiently and we've
00:18:01
seen this society open up enough that
00:18:02
we'll we'll go back to both being in the
00:18:04
office but yeah but these are all kind
00:18:07
of unusual things and keeping our board
00:18:09
informed I mean a lot more time being
00:18:11
spent keeping the board informed and and
00:18:13
rightly so you know they're making money
00:18:15
to make sure not just that we're taking
00:18:17
care of the business but that we're also
00:18:19
taking care of the employees and the
00:18:20
social environment our community that's
00:18:24
great
00:18:25
I'm going to turn it over to Stephen now
00:18:26
my colleague who's got the questions
00:18:28
queued up for so Stephen welcome thank
00:18:31
you thanks Peter Lorre thanks so much we
00:18:34
do have a lot of great questions we'll
00:18:35
never get them all but I'll hit you with
00:18:37
a few of the are the most relevant ones
00:18:40
for our discussion about the pandemic
00:18:43
which which changes positive changes in
00:18:47
your corporate culture that have sort of
00:18:49
arisen from this crisis do you think
00:18:51
will most likely carry over beyond it
00:18:53
you talked about great communication
00:18:56
emphasis on mental health which changes
00:18:58
you think are really going to be sort of
00:18:59
an emphasis going forward permanently I
00:19:02
didn't what actually one of the really
00:19:04
good changes that has happened here is
00:19:06
this has made us a better global company
00:19:09
if I could just you know our be our
00:19:12
headquarters is in Dallas and although
00:19:14
we have people around the world I would
00:19:16
say we were a little Dallas centric so
00:19:19
if you think about it when we even
00:19:20
though I have leaders at our other parts
00:19:22
of the world we know we have the big
00:19:23
group of leaders together in Dallas and
00:19:25
then other people calling in and quite
00:19:27
frankly they probably never had an equal
00:19:29
voice at the table now that we've gone
00:19:31
to everybody having to call in we start
00:19:34
to hear more from our leaders in Asia
00:19:36
and our leaders in Europe and they're
00:19:37
able to get their voice better in the
00:19:39
room and we start to realize you know
00:19:41
what we probably more being as inclusive
00:19:42
with our leaders who weren't sitting
00:19:45
physically with us and that really
00:19:47
changes up how we think about our global
00:19:49
model and how if we really wanted you
00:19:52
know we don't want to be a US company
00:19:53
that operates globally we want to be
00:19:56
global company but that means we need to
00:19:58
rethink how we communicate how we make
00:20:00
sure we bring everybody in and that
00:20:03
we're not being to us centric in our in
00:20:06
our viewpoints so I think that's a
00:20:07
really positive experience that we've
00:20:09
had and I think our leaders in other
00:20:11
parts of the world have commented
00:20:12
positively about how much actually more
00:20:15
inclusive they think it feels now that
00:20:18
we've all been working from home and
00:20:19
kind of on a more level playing field so
00:20:21
I think that's a really positive
00:20:22
learning I think we've also learned we
00:20:25
you know we have a lot of customer
00:20:27
interaction and supplier interaction and
00:20:29
we've maintained all that now through
00:20:31
video and phone by technical folks are
00:20:34
actually have you know over you know
00:20:36
FaceTime and other apps you know
00:20:38
providing technical services with people
00:20:41
who have molding issues or if different
00:20:42
issues using our polymers and we've been
00:20:44
able to do a lot more remotely than we
00:20:47
ever would have thought beforehand and
00:20:49
so I think it tells us actually we can
00:20:51
probably have better customer service
00:20:53
and better customer relations if we do
00:20:55
more virtually not that we're going to
00:20:57
completely get rid of seeing our
00:20:59
customers but maybe we see them less
00:21:00
often face to face but a lot more often
00:21:02
virtually I think it will change change
00:21:05
that dynamic as well and then I think I
00:21:07
don't like everyone we've just found as
00:21:09
we've worked from home you know I
00:21:11
there's a few things we've quit doing
00:21:12
that we never need to start doing again
00:21:14
we found opportunities to streamline be
00:21:16
more efficient and frankly we found a
00:21:18
lot of opportunities to automate and
00:21:22
start using more digital technologies
00:21:25
that is really sped up our our plan to
00:21:28
go digital but this has sped it up a lot
00:21:31
because we've been forced to in many
00:21:32
aspects right if you had known a year
00:21:36
ago that this pandemic was coming what
00:21:39
would you have done differently no I
00:21:43
don't know I would do any different
00:21:46
anything different I mean like as
00:21:48
business leaders you know look I've
00:21:50
lived in manufacturing and so we always
00:21:53
have something happening right whether
00:21:55
it's a hurricane or a typhoon or
00:21:58
snowstorm or an electrical outage I mean
00:22:01
you know one thing I think as leaders we
00:22:03
need to realize is the
00:22:04
we'll always be something happening we
00:22:06
can't anticipate and what we need to
00:22:08
build is an organization that is
00:22:10
resilient and robust and that you know
00:22:14
takes on the challenges and realizes hey
00:22:16
look if we're going to get a 90% right
00:22:19
and that's good as long as we
00:22:20
communicate and we keep talking to each
00:22:23
other and learning from each other we're
00:22:24
going to get through it I think actually
00:22:26
doing that building that organization
00:22:29
and having that inclusiveness as an
00:22:31
organization gets you through anything
00:22:33
because I don't know what the Knicks I I
00:22:34
don't know what the next thing is going
00:22:37
to be right right he knows right but we
00:22:41
have time for just one more question so
00:22:43
the question is how has your own
00:22:46
leadership style changed as a result of
00:22:49
the pandemic I think my own leadership
00:22:52
style so again I grew up in a very
00:22:56
results-oriented company and so I tend
00:22:57
to be very results oriented you know I
00:23:00
always thought I was a good communicator
00:23:02
but when you go into this kind of
00:23:05
situation where you have to do it
00:23:06
remotely you realize you can be a lot
00:23:09
better communicator and you can do a
00:23:11
whole lot more and there is no amount of
00:23:14
communication that people think is too
00:23:16
much communication people want to hear
00:23:19
from the leadership and not just
00:23:20
corporate speak they want that personal
00:23:23
experience they want the video they want
00:23:26
the virtual town halls they want the
00:23:28
letters they want to see pictures they
00:23:30
want their leaders to be real people and
00:23:32
I think this is you know this is a
00:23:34
change from you know what I started
00:23:35
three five years ago where the CEO felt
00:23:37
like this big important person who must
00:23:40
live in a castle somewhere you know now
00:23:42
people they know where real people they
00:23:45
want us to be real people they want to
00:23:46
see that side of us they know it's okay
00:23:48
that we're not always right it's okay
00:23:50
that we occasionally stutter on a call
00:23:52
it's it's all fine and people you know
00:23:55
this generation and all of us actually
00:23:57
we respond better to real people and but
00:23:59
that means a lot more communication a
00:24:01
lot more times that talking listening
00:24:05
communicating through airiest forms and
00:24:08
and realizing that everybody but some
00:24:10
people love online other people need
00:24:12
push emails some people want video some
00:24:15
people want written
00:24:16
everybody needs a different form and the
00:24:18
only way to really get to all of your
00:24:20
folks is to use every possible form
00:24:23
available and you know I think again I
00:24:26
thought I was a good communicator I
00:24:28
wasn't doing nearly enough before this
00:24:30
and so that will be a permanent change
00:24:32
you know maybe it won't be twice a week
00:24:34
but it will be more often more
00:24:36
intentional communication than I would
00:24:38
have done prior to this crisis oh thanks
00:24:42
very much Laurie thank you I think it's
00:24:46
back to me here to to wrap up a little
00:24:48
bit you know Laurie one of the things
00:24:49
that listening to you certainly struck
00:24:51
me as if we had turned back the clock
00:24:54
and this was 20 years ago interviewing
00:24:56
your predecessor in this job I don't
00:24:58
think we would have heard nearly as much
00:25:00
about the importance of listening and
00:25:02
communicating that was just not such a
00:25:05
big deal and it is a big deal now it's a
00:25:08
really important change and I think
00:25:09
those were great points so please folks
00:25:13
if you could virtually help me thank
00:25:15
Laurie for being with us today well I'll
00:25:17
do a virtual Thank You Laurie great
00:25:19
pleasure to have you with us Laurie
00:25:20
right quick again is the chairman and
00:25:22
CEO of the Celanese Corporation and has
00:25:25
been operating globally for a while and
00:25:29
the company and also herself across your
00:25:31
really interesting career let me just
00:25:33
say just a little bit about what's
00:25:35
happening next next Thursday we have
00:25:37
another speaker in our series and next
00:25:40
Thursday with this is my land land plant
00:25:42
who will be with us at the same time
00:25:45
10:30 to 11:00 o'clock when is the CEO
00:25:49
of the amway corporation and we look
00:25:51
forward to having you all with this then
00:25:53
this presentation will be podcast and
00:25:56
available on our knowledge of Wharton
00:25:57
site so if you want to pass it on to
00:25:59
your colleagues you can see it all then
00:26:01
so on behalf of the knowledge of Wharton
00:26:03
crew and our work Leadership Conference
00:26:05
thank you all very much for being with
00:26:06
it okay and we hope to see you next week
00:26:16
you
