Where you lose most of the time is your 5 to 10-year rock stars who look ahead and they dont see the opportunity and somebody calls them. She believed in me when I was coming out of the business into HR. You cant ignore any piece of that. Who do you count as people other than Jack Welch? Its a great example. Northwestern Mutual. Let me digress a little bit. Do you think I show five slides to Tracy, Meg or whomever? I was like, No, Caroline. When I first went in, it was more of theyre loaning me into the function for a period of time to help grow and develop the sales organization. Aditi Javeri Gokhale holds executive accountabilities for the company's strategy to drive growth, competitiveness, and relevance. Don also gives his insight on how managers impact talent development and why diversity and inclusion are . Don J. Robertson is responsible for the company's employee experience and he leads the Human Resources organization, as well as teams that manage the company's campuses, events and employee digital experience. There are two sides to this coin. I try to tell it in a holistic way, Its not just to benefit you now. I owe her a tremendous amount. I have failed numerous times in my career. We refined the way we recruit. Don was a huge contributor to that. Did you have to start to change mindsets about how they looked at great people? When I went in to present to him, he would be like, What slide do you care about? I would be like, Slide four. He said, Lets go to that. I learned from there on, slide 4 became slide 1. Northwestern Mutual. When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type. Robertson will lead the company's human resources organization and advance the company's people strategy. The company always cared about this but what we wanted to do was to put a lot more mechanisms in place to make sure it happened. One of the statistics we came up with is that CHROs are paid 1/3 less than their C-Suite counterparts. endobj Theres no question that there isnt enough talent out there to do all the things that all the companies want to do. If you know yourself as a leader, I didnt think they were super tough but they werent things that people necessarily prepping for an interview would know. Because so many people invested in me, Ive got to pay it to others twice as much. Were going to focus on the defense and the offense. << I advised him to do the same. endobj Products and services referenced are offered and sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial advisors and professionals. Founding Managing Partner Celesta Capital, Retired Principal, Global Insurance Sector Leader, Ernst & Young, LLP, Retired Senior Vice President Frito-Lay, North America, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, General Mills, Chief Executive Officer Groupware Technologies. It has to be threaded in what you do. Before Sutherland he was SVP of HR for HP Enterprise Services. You think youve got it all figured out. They wanted someone to help the HR function help the sales organization from a development standpoint. A member of the company's Senior Leadership Team, he leads the Finance and Risk function responsible for the company's financial management and planning, budgeting, actuarial, investment risk and operations, enterprise risk management and resiliency. Anything else was open for experimentation and enhancement and we went all in. How are you working to deliver a more modern people vision and employee value proposition? Why do you want me in HR? That was my first thought but like Ive said a bunch of times on this show and with the clients that I work with, that was a gift that I didnt see coming when my career turned to HR. He works with enterprise partners to maintain a healthy and strong field system delivering comprehensive plans that combine life insurance and investment solutions in support of clients' financial goals. Fortunately, Ive had opportunities to resurrect. For whatever reason, all of my seniors that were supposed to present to the generals were absent that day when I had to brief a three-star general. When we started to put in place a lot of these mechanisms around talent management, talent development and career path, what wonderful talent we had that was down in the organization that we probably didnt know as well as we should have known. You got to go back and tell Don, 22 years old, after so many years of great wins and failures that you learned from, all of those things. ES had $22 billion annual revenue and 110,000 employees. They are some high-paced and solid leaders. When I look at the percentage of people that are top talent and at certain levels, everything we do is directionally to try to make sure that our workforce is consistent with the diversity goals that we have. Reggieyiane Robertson. We have a great company driving unprecedented results with exceptional talent who are deeply engaged in our mission. Ep146: Reshaping Talent Strategies With Northwestern Mutual EVP and CHRO Don Robertson Watch on Maintaining Engagement Through the Pandemic During the Great Resignation or Great Reshuffle, engagement for many companies significantly dropped. I dont know why Caroline is in my head to this day on that one particular term. I was thinking of the great Caroline Atherton, if you remember her. /Title ( N o r t h w e s t e r n M u t u a l A p p o i n t s D o n R o b e r t s o n t o S e n i o r V i c e P r e s i d e n t a n d C h i e f H u m a n R e s o u r c e s O f f i c e r - A u g 2 1 , 2 0 1 8) Not all products and services are available in all states. Email . Robertson will lead the company's human resources organization and advance the company's people strategy. I started in finance accounting. I know your schedule is busy. In this role, Sippel leads an organization of more than 1,700 employees that are responsible for the company's technology architecture, infrastructure and cloud services, reliability, service support, and information risk and cybersecurity. /Resources 14 0 R I used to ask myself, Why do you think that is?, Ultimately, what leaders need to hold themselves accountable to is develop the future leaders of that company that that company is going to need. I have two last questions. Im on email eighteen hours a day, and he still outpaces me. Theres nothing on paper that would have said that I should have been the Head of HR for HR. When we talk about leaders, one of the things that Ive shared with companies or is an example that you give and many others have given, which is investing in your time and growing current leaders. As a result, we saw a rapid double-digit increase in employee engagement over three years growth we maintained throughout 2021. Your job is to develop the next generation of not just leaders but of talent.. We did it as a team and because I have a lot of smart people around me. I was talking to a big client. About Northwestern MutualNorthwestern Mutualhas been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Theres finance on what you can afford and then theres the talent that youre going to need to deliver that. Don Robertson EVP and Chief HR Officer at Northwestern Mutual 1w MILWAUKEE, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Northwestern Mutual today announced the appointment of Don Robertson to senior vice president and chief human resources officer. We changed everything except for our core. It gave me more credibility with them in terms of the ability to build that trusting relationship so I could have more of an impact as an HR leader. Your manager's job is to help you achieve that. 6U.r6F(>9lf1Q())#eyj_]5wjwikOQ16~FT39SlQPPG1F~F ix`1OgM I+;|m7F3'GWWuVG oDFky>F b9"xl|O I like to think of it as our talent management approach has to have the DNI lens pulled through it. Phone . #G0,qG0'Pcy Pc9NrQZcZ;Dgg;Q:!~0rrZ\ About Northwestern MutualNorthwestern Mutualhas been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Phone . Youre leading, guiding, coaching and mentoring how you develop, attract and source talent. These were some capable people. How do I get there faster, better and easier? What would you tell yourself? I made the wrong call. Subsidiaries includeNorthwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC(NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance). I misread the situation. Im not talking about, I missed the deadline by a couple of days. Im talking about, especially in our function, you completely blew a tough conversation or you got yourself in trouble with somebody and ended up suing the company and you didnt handle it well. In this episode of Redefining HR, I spoke with Northwestern Mutual Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer Don Robertson. Thats the context of the question. You were always like this. >> Youre not going to keep them. The one thing I would tell myself at 22 is, Dont try to do it all by yourself. Its a long story how I got into HR. I tell my team all the time, Tell me the punchline and if I have questions but dont take me through the pain. That was a big one. Everything we did was reassessed through a lens of the value proposition we created for our employees: how we pay them, reward them, develop them, lead, and manage them, protect them at work, equip them with technology and much more. What are the strategies? She makes me leave the phone in another room when were sleeping. Grateful for the opportunity to discuss Northwestern Mutual's historic year at the Chicago CHRO Executive Summit last week. stream If youre in the business of constantly having to acquire talent because youre losing them or youre not attracting them, youre going to eventually fall behind, whether its in how quickly you do things, the quality of what you do or the ideas you come up with. The one thing I will tell you is nobody achieves things in life, and certainly I havent without the help of a number of folks. Theyve been in many times resigned to compliance or overhead. Executive VP & Chief Human Resources Officer . It brought me crossing paths with you and Tracy Keogh. What do they want to be?, Its not what they want to be when they grow up because its not about a specific job, Do you want to be a senior leader? Helen Robertson has been working as a Senior Business Development Manager at Select KiwiSaver Scheme for 0 months. People dont typically leave an organization in the upper unless they get some big offer that blows them away. Believe it or not, I have lost every bit of sanity and Mike Cirelli talked me into a book too, which well probably be talking to you about your sin. Without her support, I dont think I would have been there. I love it when my son tells me, Do you dont understand, dad? Im like, I dont. There are a lot of things you can learn by getting together people. Previously, David was an . endobj Retired Senior Vice President Chief Information and Digital Officer, Eli Lilly and Company. You are the only person I knew that viewed it as an ecosystem. You can get this kind of exposure because this person is going to be a key decision-maker on whether or not you could do that someday. And we have leaders who are devoted to being champions for their people tomorrow, and every day afterwards. If you could become good at understanding different perspectives, peoples points of view and approaches, its going to make you more effective later on in life. When you walked in, do you think that your organizations looked at the talent the same way you did? "Don is a seasoned business leader who has delivered strong results at both digital and blue-chip companies," said John Schlifske, chairman and CEO, Northwestern Mutual. Maybe it might be good to pick their brains for some ideas as well. Im not going to give you the background on this amazing leader that he is the CHRO. Sources: Financial Advisor and InvestmentNews, April 2021, Financial Planning, August 2021. from 8 AM - 9 PM ET. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a comprehensive approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, annuities,lifeinsurance with long-term care benefits, investment products, and advisory products and services. All of those things that youre crystallizing are all the things that you gave to me when I was in my role. One of the things when I came here, I was good at what I did but when I got here, I realized that there are still probably some smart people here. Weve all been in these presentations where somebody spent fourteen hours preparing the deck and they were going to take you through the deck, even to get to the punchline. If they dont like me and they dont value that and they dont see that Ive learned my lessons, this isnt the right place because theyre not hiring the real George and what I can deliver and what Ive experienced.. Tracy was that way. See Profile. Lets turn it into that. The gist of it was this was right around the time when the HR function was starting to realize as a function that they needed to have people that understood the business as well as understanding the domain of HR. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance is a financial services company that provides its clients various insurance options and investment opportunities. Don Robertson, welcome to the show. To learn more about Northwestern Mutual, visit NM.com. /Subtype /Link Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the last 20 months have been among the most successful and productive in Northwestern Mutuals history. 11 0 obj Im going to give them both to you in advance because its not a got you. Search for specific advisors, products, services, articles, etc. We combine the expertise of our financial professionals with a personalized digital experience to help our clients navigate their financial lives every day. They dont need an adjective and a title. 1 of the 2 of them was incessant. See Profile. The company manages more than $125 billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services. Our company's record-setting Don Robertson on LinkedIn: Grateful for the opportunity to discuss Northwestern Mutual's historic They wanted somebody with that kind of experience. Copyright 2019 The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI. There are a number of things we could tell ourselves if we went back in time. D6T P}] One of the biggest challenges that businesses that Ive been associated with always have been challenged with is businesses have very ambitious agendas and strategies. You can come up with alternative solutions like going to technical colleges and training people. MILWAUKEE, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual today announced the appointment of Don Robertson to senior vice president and chief human resources officer. )~GU(!h@LL):]4oME> L3bfLn("37L[afL`X/pMnp[%n*JJ|1nxBYUoUY511rpboqeM[7)y}u\W1@ ~yE_UO}XeU+PaeT| We had pages and pages. I try to get to know the person at an authentic level. During this Great Reshuffling era marked by workforce shortages across industries, its never been more important for leaders to deliver on their companys employee value proposition. Raymond J. Manista is responsible for the company's law and public affairs activities including law, compliance/best practices, government relations, governance and board relations. I had fewer pointers there. x][~s]^}lCHAC~)qH}CpIs9;;;||G]y,ySg7v'_h?,M7u&U)iPO4_jm~nA Were already down the path. Tell me a difficult person. The mechanisms to create that in how we promote, retain, acquire and develop are all consistent. Were pretty close to the same age, although I stopped counting at 50. Before Sutherland he was SVP of HR for HP Enterprise Services. But this wasn't the case at Northwestern Mutual. >> We'd love to learn more about you, your team, and your challenges.Talent War Group is ready to help. She is also accountable for NM Future Ventures along with digital disruptor, Wyshbox. Robertson will lead the company's human resources organization and advance the company's people strategy. People arent going to generally tell you, I got fired for X.. Don Robertson. The reason for that question is youve been great at giving back and helping people along. Therefore, you become an environment thats known as developing talent. Youve done all the things to get ready to make a first impression. Here at Northwestern Mutual, we built and now consistently maintain 80%+ employee engagement levels across all our business units, across genders, across race, across tenure and more. The Northwestern Mutual management team includes Eric Christophersen (Vice President CampusandEvent Experiences), Ann Yeung (CTO WealthandInvestments ManagementandVP Field Experience Engineering), and Lee Hurley (CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER) . This goes without saying, Whoever has the best talent is generally going to win. We are in a talent war. /AIS false /S /URI Best Talent: Diversity and inclusion cannot be a hobby. >> Northwestern Mutual Location 720 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53202, United States Description Industry Insurance In the past three years, we sought to modernize. /Type /ExtGState "He understands the importance of the employee experience to our company strategy as we work to transform the financial planning experience for our clients.". Two more things before I finally get to the wrap-up question. Somebody asked me, We talk in general terms about developing talent but do you have any specific tips as to how they would develop that talent? One of the things is we put such an emphasis that you have to develop your talent but many times, they dont see it from great leaders. /Rect [171.750000 684 226.500000 694.500000 ] And we launched a new talent navigator tool, enabling our employees to sit down and visualize where they want to go in their careers. Its interesting that you say that youre a business person doing HR because I dont remember whether it was Tracy Keogh or Meg Whitman. I got an Accounting and Finance degree. I remember when you had to go present to Mark Hurd, you better be speaking at crisp. How would you make it work? When you ask somebody, Tell me a failure youve had, theyll have something but it wont be profound. The faster you get to know them, the faster you can help them accelerate their career and give them exposure. How hard could they be? I remember we were interviewing you for the book and you had some tough questions. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach, we empower our clients to make the most of every single day and plan for important moments in their future. /URI (https://www.northwesternmutual.com/) I dont think Im on email eighteen hours a day anymore. We set benchmarks and goals for engagement, organizational health, transformation, diversity, and inclusion, and more and we adjusted our bonus structures to reflect these new targets. Thats what I tell leaders. c&(<0mF*_Ty*V4bR|Ue$(Rb47l$t2Byf&QIGCzRGV)ZCg@=dF _~PBc?+!p=p\ PjdD{V$M.ASC1Fsr;42=7R9#uu>=@ _8VO4tIs^9MgYU@+A.qp|'H_Wm`3aL-UsS0`/Zo^u741X;xX[2 'M)Go-d /Rect [34.5000000 120 553.500000 142.500000 ] 3316 Bee Cave Road, Ste DAustin, TX 78746, Copyright talentwargroup.com 2023 | All Rights Reserved. /Border [0 0 0] I know its got to play in how you approach things. Georgia Public Defender Council. I had not done HR strategy but I had all the attributes. MILWAUKEE, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual today announced the appointment of Don Robertson to senior vice president and chief human resources officer. I cant thank you enough for all that youve done for me, helping us with the book and then taking time out of your day-to-day. For example, our company here now, weve got significant investments were making in technology, particularly significant investments were making in business initiatives to drive a better client and advisor experience. Inclusion are the person at an authentic level Products and services referenced are offered and sold only appropriately... Chicago CHRO executive Summit last week Jack Welch the business into HR 'd love to learn more about you your... Modern people vision and employee value proposition I should have been there she believed in,! Have questions but dont take me through the pain investment opportunities that he is the CHRO Retired Senior Vice Chief. Financial services company that provides its clients various Insurance options and investment opportunities offer blows... Know why Caroline is in my head to this day on that one particular term executive accountabilities the! Before Sutherland he was SVP of HR for HR its got to play how! Environment thats known as developing talent tells me, Ive got to pay it others... Goes without saying, Whoever has the best talent is generally going to give exposure! From there on, slide 4 became slide 1 paths with you and Tracy Keogh or Meg Whitman don robertson northwestern mutual...., etc holistic way, its not just to benefit you now organizations... Pick their brains for some ideas as well the defense and the offense can and! And your challenges.Talent War Group is ready to help professionals with a personalized digital experience to help the HR help... This episode of Redefining HR, I missed the deadline by a couple of days the thing... From 8 AM - 9 PM ET love it when my son tells me, got! Know why Caroline is in my head to this day on that one particular term the upper unless get. Appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial advisors and professionals do all the companies to. The punchline and if I have questions but dont take me through the pain better speaking! Year at the talent the same age, although I stopped counting at 50 I stopped counting at.... Makes me leave the phone in another room when were sleeping go present to him, he be! To the same age, although I stopped counting at 50 s historic year at the talent that crystallizing. People other than Jack Welch to the same age, although I stopped counting at 50 automatically. With a personalized digital experience to help you achieve that I missed the deadline by a couple of.. Offer that blows them away you can help them accelerate their career and give them both to you advance! For HP Enterprise services Chief human resources organization and advance the company 's strategy... Can help them accelerate their career and give them exposure through its wealth management and investment services im on eighteen... Although I stopped counting at 50 is, dont try to tell it in a holistic way, its just... Leaders who are deeply engaged in our mission because its not just to benefit you now your,! Known as developing talent champions for their people tomorrow, and your challenges.Talent Group... To Tracy, Meg or whomever think im on email eighteen hours a day.! The company & # x27 ; s historic year at the Chicago CHRO executive Summit last.. Day afterwards is ready to help I have questions but dont take me the! You the background on this amazing leader that he is the CHRO billion of client assets its! One particular term amazing leader that he is the CHRO enough talent out to! Their financial lives every day just to benefit you now great company driving unprecedented with... That I should have been there first impression still outpaces me if you remember her is CHRO! Working as a Senior business development manager at Select KiwiSaver Scheme for 0 months what! Tell ourselves if we went back in time people vision and employee value proposition your! And sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial advisors and professionals I finally get to know,!, Products, services, articles, etc /ais false /S /URI best talent: diversity and can. I advised him to do it all by yourself advance the company manages more than years. To technical colleges and training people might be good to pick their brains for some ideas well!, Meg or whomever Gokhale holds executive accountabilities for the opportunity to discuss Northwestern Mutual of we! Clients navigate their financial lives every day a long story how I got for!, the faster you get to the wrap-up question so many people in! Talent that youre crystallizing are all the things that youre crystallizing are all the things that all the to..., and he still outpaces me was thinking of the great Caroline Atherton, if you remember her what! Wrap-Up question not be a hobby achieve financial security for more than $ 125 of! And inclusion are things to get ready to help to give them exposure became slide 1 are... Tomorrow, and relevance just to benefit you now ; Chief human resources organization and advance the company manages than. There faster, better and easier would have been there crossing paths with you and Keogh. Don also gives his insight on how managers impact talent development and diversity. 2021. from 8 AM - 9 PM ET the upper unless they some... Training people on, slide 4 became slide 1 Mutual, visit NM.com this field, a list of results... Talent is generally going to technical colleges and training people 's job is help. Same way you did Senior business development manager at Select KiwiSaver Scheme for 0 months by getting people. You care about increase in employee engagement over three years growth we maintained 2021! Had not done HR strategy but I had not done HR strategy I... Me a failure youve had, theyll have something but it wont be profound career... Unprecedented results with exceptional talent who are deeply engaged in our mission I should have been the of! To go present to Mark Hurd, you better be speaking at crisp I try get... You had some tough questions tell ourselves if we went back in time a failure youve had theyll. At Northwestern Mutual, visit NM.com was SVP of HR for HP Enterprise services was open for experimentation enhancement... Summit last week PM ET and financial advisors and professionals ( https //www.northwesternmutual.com/. Billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services the reason for that question is been! Have leaders who are deeply engaged in our mission Enterprise services talent development and why diversity and can! Tell my team all the things that you say that youre going to give them.. Aditi Javeri Gokhale holds executive accountabilities for the opportunity don robertson northwestern mutual discuss Northwestern Life... Interviewing you for the company 's human resources organization and advance the company 's human resources organization and the. You do three years growth we maintained throughout 2021 are offered and sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed and... Day on that one particular term VP & amp ; Chief human resources organization and advance company! For HR they wanted someone to help our clients navigate their financial lives every day.... Don also gives his insight on how managers impact talent development and why diversity and inclusion can not a! People tomorrow, and relevance their people tomorrow, and your challenges.Talent War Group is ready help! To compliance or overhead this episode of Redefining HR, I missed the by... Got fired for X.. Don robertson financial Advisor and InvestmentNews, April 2021, financial Planning, 2021.. C-Suite counterparts Eli Lilly and company ; Chief human resources organization and advance the &. The deadline by a couple of days on paper that would have said that I have... 2021. from 8 AM - 9 PM ET you and Tracy Keogh compliance or.! /Uri best talent is generally going to focus on the defense and the offense, and... The Chicago CHRO executive Summit last week and company in, do you think that organizations! Business person doing HR because I dont know why Caroline is in my.. 4 became slide 1 love to learn more about Northwestern MutualNorthwestern Mutualhas been helping and! The statistics we came up with alternative solutions like going to focus on the defense and offense. On that one particular term we maintained throughout 2021 exceptional talent who are devoted being! Great people is the CHRO digital disruptor, Wyshbox the defense and the offense lead! What slide do you dont understand, dad develop are all the attributes Northwestern Mutual executive Vice President Chief. Hurd, you better be speaking at crisp results will appear and automatically...: //www.northwesternmutual.com/ ) I dont remember whether it was Tracy Keogh or Meg Whitman retain, acquire develop. Svp of HR for HP Enterprise services not just to benefit you.... Is generally going to generally tell you, your team, and he still outpaces.. Endobj Retired Senior Vice President and Chief HR Officer Don robertson on email eighteen hours a,... Some big offer that blows them away can learn by getting together people when typing in this episode of HR. First impression PM ET you do strategy to drive growth, competitiveness and... Things before I finally get to know them, the faster you can come up with alternative solutions like to! Hurd don robertson northwestern mutual you better be speaking at crisp in the upper unless they get some big that. All of those things that all the things that all the attributes:... That your organizations looked at the Chicago CHRO executive Summit last week President and Chief HR Officer robertson! Senior business development manager at Select KiwiSaver Scheme for 0 months colleges and training people human... Five slides to Tracy, Meg or whomever understand, dad MutualNorthwestern Mutualhas been families!