Redefiners
Exploring the Art of Possible with Google and Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat
Wed, 04 Dec 2024
Change is something all leaders deal with at various points in their careers. Whether it’s technological change, organizational change, or perhaps even changing careers or industries. Our guest today has managed through all of that change and more. In today’s episode, Clarke and Hoda talk with Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer at Alphabet and Google. Ruth shares her story of career change, transitioning from her long-time role as CFO at both Morgan Stanley and Google to leading investments and philanthropic efforts at Google. Through it all, she talks about how she’s led through both business and personal change and uncertainty – including the financial meltdown in 2007-2008 when she was with Morgan Stanley, the fast-paced change that comes with technology transformation at Google, as well as her own personal battle with cancer. She’ll also talk about the promise of AI, especially in science, healthcare, education, climate, and other key areas. We'll also hear from Robert Voth, a Managing Director in our Chicago office, who will discuss the critical challenge of CEO succession facing banking leadership today. Four things you’ll learn from this episode: How to lead through uncertainty and change What steps leaders can take to ensure they’re preparing their organizations and people for the changes AI will bring What skills organizations should look for when it comes to finding technology and AI-enabled leaders How to consider future-looking investment swings when there’s no guarantee they’ll pay off If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like these Redefiners episodes: Science Fiction to Science Fact: A Conversation with Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson Reimagining Patient Care: A Conversation with Healthcare Innovator Ashley McEvoy Trust Your Gut: AXA’s Thomas Buberl Talks Transformation and Reinvention Talking Tough Decisions with TCW President and CEO Katie Koch From Server to COO: Kat Cole’s Journey to the Top
Chapter 1: What are the key lessons in leading through change?
You outlined some really fantastic thought pieces around what people can take in terms of learnings, but how do then folks apply that as they're thinking about their own careers?
I think the most important is to be authentic to what you know and be honest with oneself about what you still have to learn. So I'll give you an example. I just mentioned that during the financial crisis, I had been leading the financial institutions group at Morgan Stanley, responsible for banks and insurance companies. But the most important part of that experience was the work with U.S.
Treasury with Hank Paulson and Chairman Bernanke. Out of that, I was asked to become CFO of Morgan Stanley. And when I moved into that role, notwithstanding the fact that I had been at Morgan Stanley for several decades, I'd been on the investment banking side, the advisory side. I really didn't know the sales and trading side at the level of depth that I knew I would at a certain point in time.
And so my first series of meetings with investors, I actually anchored more on what's the regulatory environment coming out of this financial crisis. Because I knew I had a differentiated set of insights there that would be valuable, that would help contextualize the types of investments that we were making at Morgan Stanley to fortify ourselves.
And it really established, I think, a credibility because I was anchoring on things that I knew well. maybe even in a differentiated sense, as distinct from trying to pretend I knew everything about the business at one time. Another example is when I was asked to run the financial institutions group at Morgan Stanley. And this actually brings together your first question and this most recent one.
My initial reaction was there was no way I was going to do that. Really? It was too boring. Like I spent my entire career avoiding anything boring. I worked in technology, you know, kind of private equity. And somebody I respected greatly said, you got to trust me on this. Financial institutions is just like technology, ballpark 20-something percent of the global economy, multi-sector.
We have banks, insurance asset managers, and technology. When I was running it, we had hardware, software, semis, internet. And so I did. I said, I'll take it on. And he wanted to do something helpful to open doors for me in the first meeting. So we set up my first meeting covering this new industry with Larry Fink. I'm thinking, okay, this is not going to end well.
Extraordinary leader of an asset management firm. I know nothing about asset management. But what I did know was I knew about technology because I'd run the technology banking business at Morgan Stanley. And Larry has always been a leader in technology.
And so my view was if I spoke to him about BlackRock Solutions rather than other parts of the business, we would be able to go deeper than most of the bankers who covered financial institutions and it would establish a base upon which we could build over time. And so again, go to what you know idiosyncratically well. It has credibility and authenticity.
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Chapter 3: What insights can be gained from Ruth's battle with cancer?
Thank you. That's a great story.
It's true when it just happened last week. Wow. As our listeners know, we like to end each podcast with some rapid fire questions to get to know you even better, Ruth. This is where we ask you a series of questions and you respond as quickly as possible. First thing in the top of your mind. Are you ready? Go for it.
Besides mail, phone, and calendar, what are the three apps on your phone you can't live without?
Probably Maps and YouTube, both for music to start my day and pump it up the right way and for amazing podcasts.
If you could instantly become an expert in something, what would it be?
Probably, I'd probably want to be a concert pianist. What motivates you the most? Feeling like I'm having an impact, doing something valuable, learning. My father, probably in many respects, I turn back to something that he always said as I was growing up. He said, education is a passport to freedom. It's a passport for life.
And he was a Holocaust refugee, made it to the United States years after the war. I was born in England and loved this country. In his final days, he talked about the risk of coming to this country. So I think that the opportunity to do things that make a difference, to me, that's the most inspiring.
That's beautiful. And speaking of making a difference, if you were to devote the rest of your life to philanthropy, what cause would you choose? What single cause would you choose?
You know, it builds off of what I just said about my dad. It's addressing the opportunity gap. Everyone deserves the opportunity to have a shot at the best life they can lead. And there are many paths to that. I think the umbrella would be around opportunity. And so probably the most important is around education and skills to thrive in the world in which we live.
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