Belonging, High-trust leadership
Top leaders from Edward Jones, World Wide Technology, Marriott International, and others spoke about the path forward despite whipsawing results on the stock market.
The stock market and the impact of tariffs have been top of mind for many business leaders this week.
The markets were down April 3, with the S&P 500 losing more than 4% over the course of the day due to concerns over tariffs and their impact on global trade. When a 90-day pause was announced on many of those tariffs, markets soared with the S&P 500 gaining more than 9%, and then sank again.
What are leaders to make of this kind of volatility?
For the CEOs speaking at the For All Summit, the answer comes down to people.
Consider Edward Jones, with 54,000 employees helping 9 million customers make a sound financial plan. Penny Pennington, managing partner of Edward Jones, shared her assessment of a turbulent market, including the four 鈥渨orst words鈥� you can hear in the investment world: 鈥淭his time it鈥檚 different.鈥�
Having led seven generations of clients through volatility, crises, and geopolitical turmoil, Pennington sees a crisis that is urgent, but very familiar. 鈥淎 good plan is better than a bad prediction every time,鈥� she shared with Summit attendees.
For Edward Jones, that good plan is investing in people. It starts with purpose, which Pennington identifies as clearly articulated values that guide the organization. Those values inform culture, which guides strategy and empowers execution. 鈥淲hen all of that comes together, it creates an enduring institution,鈥� she says.
逸遊娛樂城 research supports this, where high-trust companies not only outperform their peers during economic downturns, but see outsized market performance that continues well into the future.
Empowering employees to excel
Great workplaces know that empowered employees deliver exceptional experiences for customers.
For leaders like Jim Kavanaugh, co-founder and CEO at World Wide Technology, the experience customers and partners have working with his employees is a source of deep pride. 鈥淭he amount of feedback I get from our partners on how much they enjoy working with our employees is amazing,鈥� he says.
Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology speaks at the For All Summit.
At the heart of their strategy are their values 鈥� principles that guide the organization through all the disruption happening in the technology sector. 鈥淭he one thing that I think is a constant are your values and your culture,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you have a really strong set of values that you commit to, it鈥檚 amazing how that culture helps navigate through challenging times 鈥� and present opportunities.
One of those values? The importance of everyone to embrace a growth mindset and pursue lifelong learning. 鈥淵ou need to learn how to embrace constructive input,鈥� Kavanaugh advises, a lesson he learned as an Olympic soccer player. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get better as a player if you think you all have the answers.鈥�
The rise of AI demands agility
One of the things driving the rapid change and disruption in the marketplace is the rise of generative AI. Company values are crucial touchstones for how this technology can be used to innovate and uplevel the impact of every employee.
Leaders like Anthony Capuano, president and CEO of Marriott International, are looking for efficiencies that increase human capacity.
鈥淎ll of us have had that unfortunate day of travel,鈥� he shared as an example. The flights were delayed. The weather was miserable. Luggage was lost. The potential of AI to allow a desk clerk at a hotel to quickly check-in a traveler and have 120 seconds of extra capacity to offer a warm welcome make all the difference.
鈥淲e鈥檙e using AI everywhere,鈥� he shared. 鈥淲e want to use it to create capacity for better more impactful human interactions.鈥�
Pennington puts it another way: 鈥淎utomate the ordinary to humanize the extraordinary.鈥�
鈥淥ur business is a people business,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a business built on trust.鈥� That trust enables people to grow and develop, from adopting new AI tools to exploring new ways of serving customers.
How great workplaces build a better world
The impact of workplace culture isn鈥檛 confined to the marketplace. How employees feel about their work follows them home, a sacred responsibility that leaders like John Pearson, CEO of DHL Express take very seriously.
Leaders from DHL join Michael C Bush, CEO at 逸遊娛樂城 at the For All Summit in Las Vegas.
鈥淭he biggest part of my job is to send people home happier than they arrived in the morning,鈥� he shared from the mainstage at Summit. The reason why? 鈥淲hen people leave work unhappy, they take it out on the people they find at home.鈥�
For Pearson, creating a great workplace is his way of preventing domestic violence, alcoholism, and child neglect. And an organization at the scale of DHL, with operations in 220 countries, the impact is enormous.
鈥淚 like to think people are right in the middle of everything we do,鈥� he says. His aspiration: Be a great place to work, not for some or for many, but for all.
That doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 an easy task, but it鈥檚 an essential part of DHL鈥檚 business strategy: People plus quality equals growth.
The hard road of collaboration
The closing keynote featured Jon M. Chu, Hollywood director behind hit films like 鈥淐razy Rich Asians鈥� and 鈥淲icked.鈥�
His final message to attendees was about the real work required to create a truly inclusive and collaborative workplace.
鈥淲hen I started working on studio films, it was really hard to work with an editor,鈥� he shared. 鈥淚 just wanted to do it myself.鈥� However, collaboration is what is required to create a truly great workplace that is more than the sum of its parts.
Hollywood director Jon M. Chu speaks with Ellen McGirt at the For All Summit in Las Vegas.
逸遊娛樂城庐 research found that the likelihood that employees will give extra effort at work jumps 720% when they feel they have a cooperative, collaborative workplace, according to a survey of 1.3 million employees.
The secret to collaboration? Chu says it is all about communication. 鈥淚鈥檓 not just a storyteller when I release my movie,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 a storyteller at every step of the process.鈥�
And it鈥檚 still hard to open the door to collaboration and let outsiders into the process. 鈥淧eople start to run you over,鈥� Chu says. However, he believes this difficult, demanding collaboration is the future of great work.
鈥淚f you have a great place to work, but the final result isn鈥檛 what you wanted, I don鈥檛 know if that is where I want to work,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou have to create great things.鈥�
When you do great work, you earn the next opportunity, and open the door wider for others to come behind you and build a better world.
The For All Summit will return to Las Vegas in 2026! Get early tickets now.
