David Novak 0:04 

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen. And while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Today's guest is Annie young Scrivener, CEO of Wella, which is one of the world's top beauty companies. I gotta tell you, I love it when I'm talking to someone and we get into a certain topic and their whole face just lights up. Do you know what I mean? That's Annie when she talks about growth. And boy, she has just a phenomenal track record of growth in her prior roles that Godiva Starbucks and PepsiCo. Now look, you don't get that kind of consistency without being a strong leader. And one thing that makes any a strong leader is that she intentionally surrounds herself with diverse perspectives. And not just that she really listens and learns from them. That is a must have skill for a leader. You've got to seek out people who see things differently than you if you want to make better decisions, build stronger teams, and really push yourself and your organization to grow. So let's dive in and see how it's done. Here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours. Any young Scribner?

Any, it's great to have you on the show.

Annie Young-Scrivner 1:29 

Are you kidding? It's a pleasure, David to spend time with the one and only David Novak. I'm so excited.

David Novak 1:37 

Well, you're the one and only Yanni. So I'm excited as well. I understand when you were 13 you would cut and perm people's hair. Not only this, you had repeat customers, what do you think that teenage version of Annie would say, if I told her that one day she'd be the CEO of one of the world's largest beauty companies,

Annie Young-Scrivner 2:00 

I think she would be super happy at that time, because I wasn't making any money. Even though I had repeat customers. You know, when I was a kid, even at 10, I knew I wanted to run a business. And I loved cutting hair. It was in the 70s I own my own perm rods, I also did perms. It was just incredibly fun. And to be in the beauty industry. Today. It's a dream come true.

David Novak 2:27 

So it was basically in your DNA. And here you are the CEO, and I want to talk to you about how you're leading it. Well, uh, but before I do that, I want to take you back. What's a story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today?

Annie Young-Scrivner 2:43 

You know, I was born in Taiwan and moved to the States when I was seven. And I always knew I was different. I looked at my shoes, my clothes, it didn't look like everybody else. But I think that it almost gave me a little bit of freedom to allow me to be different. And growing up. My parents both worked outside. They also had businesses, different businesses, not really successful businesses, but they had different businesses that they try. So I've been surrounded by entrepreneurs. And I think that kind of shaped me. But I would also tell you, this goes way back in junior high. In ninth grade, I went to one of my teachers and I said, I have a big idea. I want to raise money for the school. And I want to do a fashion show. And instead of saying no. She said, Well, how would you get the clothes? How would you do this? And she allowed me to go to the mall, ask different people to donate clothes, because I pitched to them. If all these teens were watching their clothes go down the runway, they could elevate their sales, we raised actually a good amount of money for a junior high benefit event.

David Novak 4:02 

That is great. So your business person from day one. You know, I understand when when you moved from Taiwan to the United States, as a seven year old, you didn't know any English? What kind of impact did that have on you, Annie?

Annie Young-Scrivner 4:14 

I was learning my ABCs. And I think when you can't speak the language, you use other skills. So observation, watching people's behavior and their moods, their gesture became something that was very natural for me because I couldn't speak the language. And I think that has actually been very helpful for me as I've gone through my career. You know, I

David Novak 4:40 

was so looking forward to this conversation, Andy because, you know, we both worked in PepsiCo, and we have a lot of friends in common and tell me about the first leadership role you had at Pepsi and and what that experience taught you.

Annie Young-Scrivner 4:54 

So you'll have to know that I started in the leadership training program. You And the first tranche of the program is I had my own truck, 18 foot truck, I loaded the products, I went to the store stock, the shelves sold the display. That was incredibly tough. If I did not do that role, though, my next role, which is my first leadership role, I became a district cells leader, very, very proud. I was 22. At the time, everybody on my team was 45 years old or older, in a Teamster union environment. And the first thing they said is, you're younger than my daughter, what are you going to teach me? So I think my first lesson was to really appreciate people's work. And to understand that I wasn't going to be the smartest person in the room. But what I could do is to learn best practices from each of them, also find out what was important for them. And then galvanized the learning so that together the team could achieve, because they were each acting is individual versus his team. We had a ton of fun, we won every single district contests, those early lessons have imprinted me forever.

David Novak 6:14 

You know, that's interesting, because, you know, I worked in the bottling business myself, and you're dealing with these route salesmen, and they've got all this great experience. And here you are 22. And, you know, when I was coming up in business, you know, I had to work with people who had a lot more experience than me. And sometimes they reported to me and that and I find that to be very challenging. How did you win these people over so that you could ultimately get all the great results that you achieved? I think

Annie Young-Scrivner 6:38 

it was appreciating them, and really understanding them as individual and understanding what was important to them. Secondly, it was working hard side by side along them. I came in earlier, I left way later. And I think I just ended up growing on them. And they also felt that there was initially a divide between management and the cells, representatives. And nobody wanted to be a district sales leader. And I think my proudest moments were two of the people actually said, I want to become a district sales leader. So that was a huge win.

David Novak 7:20 

That's fantastic. We also share income and a great deal of respect for Indra Nooyi, the former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, and I understand that she was a mentor of yours. What did Indra teach you about leadership,

Annie Young-Scrivner 7:33 

Indra is one of the most amazing people in the world. She has been able to be a mentor. On the personal side. Also, on the professional side, when I was running the China Business for the PepsiCo food and snack division, she would often come to China because it was such a big piece of the business. And I had the opportunity to be in very senior meetings with her to watch her navigate the room to spend time with her in New York. She always had time, but not only just for the business aspect, but also on the personal side as well.

David Novak 8:14 

Now, you spent 20 years at PepsiCo, before making this move to Starbucks, you know, that's a long time to stay at one place. What drove that change? What happened that made you say, Hey, I'm gonna try something new. You know, I

Annie Young-Scrivner 8:27 

still bleed blue. I still never drink and a Coca Cola X. I'm very loyal to the PepsiCo brand. And really, I could have been there forever. The Starbucks opportunity was unique. It allowed me to have a global remit. It will also allow me to get back home to Seattle. And the two combined was a rarity. And this is a time when Howard had come back to run the business. And he was recreating his leadership team. And I became the first global chief marketing officer. And that role, it's not just the branding, but it's also the products that you experience when you're in a Starbucks store. And I had the opportunity to build consumer insights, data analytics, and also build out research and development, which really helped the organization focus on customer needs states and day part, because the goal was how can we ensure that we double the a UV and still ensure that we have this amazing experience for customers?

David Novak 9:38 

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Annie young Scribner and just a moment, as you've heard us talk and he and I both worked with the legendary Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo, and he talks about why Indra is a phenomenal leader. But guess what? You've got this opportunity to hear it for yourself. Indra was a fascinating guest on my pod caste, and I absolutely loved our conversation. It's all about the importance of elevating others. And boy, is there some powerful stuff in there.

Indra Nooyi 10:08 

My grandfather, my paternal grandfather was a very strong figure. And our family always believed that it didn't matter if you're a girl or a boy, just study hard, work hard and always deliver on what you committed to deliver upon. And if you did, that, your life is going to be set forever. And don't be too ambitious. Don't be too political, don't always be thinking about the next thing you want to do, just do what you're given, do it well, and do it better than anybody else can do it. And if you did, that, the whole world was set up and take notice,

David Novak 10:40 

if you need a big dose of inspiration this week, then you've got to check out my conversation with Indra, episode nine here on how leaders lead. You're an incredible brand leader, and you've got a great reputation for taking brands and taking them to the next level, you moved from the job you just described, which is very focused on the Starbucks brand. And you took over as president of the Starbucks candidate, what was the biggest shift you had to make in your transition from being a brand or a product leader, to being a general manager?

Annie Young-Scrivner 11:18 

I'm going to give you another name that you know, and that's Craig, whether up Craig, whether up was the head of the board. And he was also my mentor. And one of the things that he said to me as Annie, you think you know, Canada, you don't know Canada. So when you get to Canada, really relearn Canada through the lens of the people that are there versus being the CMO. So one of the things that he taught me is to do an extensive listening tour. And I asked simple questions, tell me three things that you're really proud of that you would keep doing three things that you would stop and if he had a Harry Potter magic wand, with the two things that you would do to change the trajectory, the business that I sent the size that and that we put a plan in play. And the candidate business was not performing well at the time. By the time I left, it was accelerating. And the next person that came in continue to accelerate the business.

David Novak 12:25 

I worked on the Canada business when I was at Pepsi. And Canadians are very proud. They're not just the northern edition of the United States. They take great pride in their culture, and rightly so. Craig, I worked for Craig weather, and he taught me a lot. Was there anything that he taught you that really helped you develop as a leader?

Annie Young-Scrivner 12:46 

Absolutely. You know, one of the things he told me is Anna, your your derailleur will be your strive to be perfect. He said, Don't be like that. And he gave me an example. He said, When you come to the boardroom, you have all the answers all the answers. And I said, Craig, I stay up all night just to make sure I know the answers. Because I feel like it's very disrespectful not to know. He said, No, the board just wants to have a conversation with you. I said, What if I don't know the answer? He said, Just say, I'm gonna get back to you. I know that sounds silly. But I asked him I go, that's gonna be okay. Now he's grasping

David Novak 13:32 

me, I I gotta tell you a funny story about Craig. You know, when I was at Pepsi, there was this incident with syringes. Some people put some syringes and some Pepsi cans. And it was a big crisis. And you know, it was a major issue that we had to handle well with the press. And I remember going and talking to Craig into his office, when he was going to be interviewing with Larry King. And I said, What do you do when you're going on live with Larry King? He said, I'm reading my mail. But you know, he knew his business. So well, he was so confident that he could answer any question that Larry had. And I think that's what he's saying to you. You knew your business, just trust in that, and things will go just fine. Now, your last role at Starbucks was that I believe you were the global leader of digital and loyalty. What are some practical things every brand can do to create a bond and loyalty with their customers?

Annie Young-Scrivner 14:24 

I think a couple of things, I think you have to be true to your brand. Don't see what the competitors doing, say, let's go do that be true to your brand. And I think if you look at the Starbucks Rewards program, it has been so successful, for many reasons, the authenticity, and also making sure that when you're leveraging the data to connect with your customers make it relevant. It has to be that one to one. And I think those are the key things to ensure that you could leverage that to make it work.

David Novak 15:00 

You were so successful at Starbucks and Pepsi, you were asked to take over as the CEO of Godiva, which from what I understand that was your first CEO job. What's something about being the CEO that caught you by surprise,

Annie Young-Scrivner 15:14 

loneliness. So having a great board is so important, because then you can leverage the board to have various conversation with, because when things are going tough, or when things are going really great, you have to stay very balanced for your team. And I think also ensuring that you have a great network externally as well, to kind of help shape your thinking. And there's always things that are around the corner that you're considering. To have that network to kind of bounce idea along with your board was really important.

David Novak 15:54 

How did you go about creating that network? That's interesting.

Annie Young-Scrivner 15:57 

I love people. I like learning from people. I was also very privileged to sit on the boards of Macy, Inc. And then also Tiffany and Co. And so leveraging those board of directors that were there as well, has been helpful. And I'm also very involved at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington business school, and I'm on the Dean's Council. And there are fabulous leaders that also contribute, and networking with them also has been helpful.

David Novak 16:33 

And you've had some incredible leadership opportunities, you don't get those opportunities, unless you really grow the businesses that you've been a part of. If you had to boil it down, what would you say are the real keys to growing a business,

Annie Young-Scrivner 16:48 

creating value for the companies is critical. So a couple of things, one, do the listening tour, and you'll find that there are golden nuggets, ideas that's really consumer relevant, that you can probably double or triple. So look at total addressable market opportunities, but also figure out within your industry, what are the problems that hasn't been solved? And are there innovation ideas to solve that, I've always doubled down on a couple of things, and ensure the entire organization is aligned. And value creation is both you know, extract getting growth, but also ensuring that your growth becomes more profitable. So what are the things that's not driving profit? And how do you remove that as well, so that you could reinvest,

David Novak 17:43 

makes a lot of sense. And you know, one of the things you kind of touched on a little bit earlier, when you're talking about some of the feedback he got from Craig was that I've heard you say that you could be very critical of yourself, put a lot of pressure on yourself to have all the answers. For example, how does this impact how you lead with your team when things don't go as planned?

Annie Young-Scrivner 18:04 

Gosh, that's a good question, they would probably tell you, I asked probably more questions than usual, and then have ideas because I want to be helpful, and helping them solve the problem. And then sometimes it's also just sitting back and almost allowing them to fail, and then allowing them to fail quickly. I'll give you an example. I have a rule with just my direct reports, I'll do the final interview, the slate has to be diverse. And then I'll do the final interview the candidate. And I have not said no to anybody, because there wasn't anybody that I said, There's no way this person would add value to our company. But I would say, Hey, here's a couple of watch outs. And you should go back and deep dive into this area. Because I see this could be a concern. And usually, I'm right. But if I just say hey, you can't hire this person. People won't learn. Yeah,

David Novak 19:07 

so you put that you put it back at them. And they go through that learning process. And, you know, when it comes to business, you know, we're not 100% right all the time. You know, we we have failures. Are you ever risk averse after a recent failure? If so, or if not, how do you work through it? And if you could share a story be great.

Annie Young-Scrivner 19:27 

I think that you always question yourself, but you have to lean in because making mistakes is part of life. It's just that you don't want to make the same exact mistake again. And I could give you an example we launched a product called True gray. It's for people that are graying, but they want to go natural gray, but really they don't because great not all gray hairs look beautiful. So we launched a product that's called True gray. It didn't necessarily work out well in every single bar. market. But we didn't say Wow, the next innovation we launched, we're not going to go do. But instead, what we did is we took the lessons learned to apply to our new innovation launch, which is called Ultimate repair, Miracle hair rescue in which we could repair damaged hair in 90 seconds. And you could say, wow, how did you take from that learning into this? I think it's making sure that we really understand the consumer needs. And we focus on the data and the analytics. And that I believe, is going to be a big, big change for us.

David Novak 20:43 

That's great. And I know you're a big believer in surrounding yourself with people who think and act differently than you. Do you have a story where someone really pushed you beyond where you are comfortable, and it ended up being a good thing.

Annie Young-Scrivner 20:57 

You know, I've always known that I have opportunities in certain areas and strengthen others. And that's like everybody. And I think that when you create a team, you can actually create that perfect person. And it has to be a team that's diverse, otherwise, you'll have the same opportunity areas. And so people that challenged me in an uncomfortable way, are typically people that are introverts, and I actually think they do the best on helping me grow the business and rethink what we're gonna go do. And oftentimes, especially in this world, where it's more digital, you're doing your business half the time on teams or zoom, I always make sure that I'm actually reading the deck on an iPad, and I'm watching faces on the screen, and to be really observant of their cues, particularly the people that are more introverted and call them out on their ideas. That has been a real helpful trick.

David Novak 22:05 

You know, so here you are. Now you're the CEO of well, if you would give us a snapshot of the well a business.

Annie Young-Scrivner 22:12 

The wall of business is 140 years old. It was started by entrepreneurs in Germany, it was sold to Procter and Gamble, and when Procter and Gamble purchased it, they said, you know, this is not what we do. So we had Wella was end to end for the professional. If Dave, you wanted to be a hairdresser, you just come to Wallah, we would help you design your salon, help you sell you furniture, because we had a furniture department sell you all the different equipment. And so when Procter came in, they said, This is not us. We're going to sell this part. Later on, they sold the business to Cody, and then KKR private equity firm purchased two different divisions of Cody and put it into one. And so today we play in the 100 billion beauty category, and we're one of the fastest growing business in hair nail, and also beauty tech.

David Novak 23:13 

You've loved growth you light up when you start talking about growth. You're described as someone who accelerated growth through innovation, while honoring the brand's heritage. Now, your CEO Godiva What did you learn from Godiva that you're now bringing over to Wella, a company who also has a rich brand history.

Annie Young-Scrivner 23:33 

Godiva has such a rich history as well, you know, it was founded in 1926. And so it was an opportunity to elevate and enrich the brand and also expand the brand's accessibility. And I think that's the big thing that we're bringing to Wallah. So Wella is comprised of many brands OPI nail polish was founded by a woman founder Suzy Eva Graham founded Nioxin, which is a haircare brand. And she created that business with $500 in our pocket, and it was incredibly successful. We have Sebastian professional, all of these incredible founder stories. We've been able to uplift, keeping the essence but also modernizing for the future. And we recently purchased brioche Ziya Biagio which is founded by Nancy twine, one of the largest African American female owned beauty businesses that is focused on ethos ethical clean. So I think for us what's really exciting is the brand building the second piece from the PepsiCo days is you learn to love small businesses, and well let supports over 500,000 small businesses across 100 countries. trees around the world. So and we love small businesses because every healthy economy is comprised of healthy, small business.

David Novak 25:11 

Well, that's a tremendous scope of your company. And you know, one of the things that's very interesting is I would have the opportunity to take over pizza at Taco Bell and KFC when PepsiCo spun off the three restaurants, you moved in as the inaugural CEO of a company that kind of merged together talk about that, and what the big challenge was for you, because you had to bring companies together,

Annie Young-Scrivner 25:32 

companies together. And then also, the biggest challenge was to create the culture, because you had Wellock, old wallet, culture, old Procter and Gamble culture, and then the old Cody culture. And then as we were developing the new wallet company, what's the culture that we want to create? And so we aligned our values. And then we also leverage all the listening tours that myself and the leadership team were doing to say, here is the fabric of what we want to do, we want to be able to create a performance driven company where people could bring their best self to work. And we want to ensure that we can allow people to be their true selves, leveraging our products.

David Novak 26:24 

It's obvious after hearing some of this episode, that Annie knows the power of listening, both to the customer, but especially with her employees, you know, I believe that listening is a key skill that every great leader should have. If you aren't listening to what your employees are actually thinking, feeling and saying, you miss out on key insights that can positively impact this trajectory of your business. This idea of listening to your employees and really getting inside their minds is a critical part of the leadership philosophy, I teach in my course called taking people with you. If you want to get big things done. As a leader, it's crucial that you take the time to understand the perceptions, habits and beliefs of your employees and listen to what they're truly struggling with, and what they truly want. gathering those insights is something a lot of leaders just don't do. And I believe that holds a leader and a business back. So if you want to learn how to listen to your employees, and gather insights that will really take your business to the next level, get access to taking people with you today is completely free. And you can get access for you and your entire team at how leaders lead.com Again, that's it how leaders lead.com.

I've heard you say that you want to make sure that you're growing the right way. What does the right way mean to you? In what ways are you you're trying to influence that kind of growth,

Annie Young-Scrivner 27:56 

I think growing the right way is not only is your company growing, but you're also helping the industry. And I think the acts that you perform, could also elicit better economic health for the entire industry. So a great example is, you know, the beauty business on the professional side comprises of small businesses. And so we're very focused on their economics, how do we help them drive trips into their salons? And when they're in there? How do we ensure that we could teach them the best way to service their customers? So we have the Wella power four, which is about power booking? How do you book your clients? How do you ensure that you do cross sell, upsell and add ons? And that's been very helpful. The second piece is when you look at the Earth, and the planet, we have such a responsibility. So we're really thinking through how do we ensure that we take care of water? And this is how we're doing it? Because when you think about when I went in, I said how do we ensure that we have shampoos, I have no water. And what my research and development team said is it's not just that it's reducing water for that. But it's also the rinse off process when you're in the shower or when you're at the basin. So we're very careful on how do we use clean formulation. And how much water are we using. We're also very focused on plastic and carbon. We're a very young company, but we actually signed on to the United Nations Global Compact as a company that was less than two years old. So we have our scope, one, two and three lined out. And we're very, very bullish on diversity within our organization as well.

David Novak 29:53 

You know, I found it interesting when I was doing my research that in the beauty industry, it's comprised of 89% Women, and yet, you're only one of seven female CEOs in your industry? What's the opportunity you see in developing female leaders? And what are you personally doing about it?

Annie Young-Scrivner 30:10 

Yeah, I think that it, you know, you would want the organization to mirror your consumer group. So I think for us, what we're trying to do is to ensure that we always hire the best candidate, but the slate has to be very diverse. At my leadership team level, we're 40% female, diverse. And I'm really proud to share that my board of directors is 5050. And I have incredible board of directors. And we have the gender ratio as well. You're very

David Novak 30:47 

focused on developing others. And I know a couple of years ago, you put together a digital training program and made it available free to people tell us about it, and how you got so many people involved.

Annie Young-Scrivner 31:00 

This is a time when the entire world was locked down, you couldn't go outside or you had to be really messed up. And for the beauty industry, we support artists in so many ways. And everybody was locked in, in their little apartment or home. And so we did an event call we create in which we usually charge $200 for a session, we gave it all away for free, in which people can learn best practices from global artists around the globe. What it did is in reinspired, people gave people new skill set so that when COVID was over, and things were back to normal, they had new skill set. Those are the things that we continue to do for the industry. And it's been incredibly rewarding.

David Novak 31:54 

Well, it has multiple brands and different parts of the beauty industry and as the CEO, what rhythms and routines do you follow to to ensure that you stay on top of all what's going on in such a diverse business?

Annie Young-Scrivner 32:10 

We definitely have a lot of people that's always sharing ideas for us. And we're always looking at products, just like when you were at yum brands, you're tasting a lot of different food. We're trying a lot trying a lot of shampoo, conditioner, different formulation, understanding what the needs of the consumer are. It is such a fun industry. I think it's making sure that when we're looking at trends, it's not just from one part of the world, but it's from all different parts of the world. And then there are certain pockets that set the trend. So we're hyper focused on that. And we have a very good team that's also doing social listening is tick tock is creating new trends every single day. And then to be really true to our brands. We can't do everything. So you have to be true to your brand. And then how do you elevate and bringing innovation that's truly differentiated is very helpful. We have a brand that's called GHD good hair day, it was founded in the UK, it's a London brand. And when you go to the UK, you don't curl your hair or style your hair, you GHD your hair, and we just launched a innovation that has been in the works for nine years, and basically dries your hair and style your hair with one tool with no damage. It's incredible. And it's just blowing up across the globe. And we figure this out because women want something that's easy, beautiful, and unique. And this does it all with no damage.

David Novak 33:57 

And you share this learning and these insights across your brands. And that really helped absolutely everywhere. You You said something interesting about your listing tour, which I really loved it was that you asked this question that you said it's a Harry Potter question that you could wave your magic wand. What are the three things you do to improve your company? What are some of the most memorable ideas that people have given you when you've asked that question?

Annie Young-Scrivner 34:23 

You know, when I started, we were still connected to Cody. And so a lot of the answer was about technology, separation, new technology, new technology. That was definitely a consistent theme. But there was also things on investing in our brands. There's such incredible passion for the brand, and the business had been under invested. And so to percolate some of the ideas has just mobilize the entire organization. And back in the PepsiCo days, we had the share power, which was incredible because everybody had the owners mindset. And I'm really proud that we just launched an employee based equity plan as well, two weeks ago, in fact, and it's called Wow. And it's called, we own our way. But when people hear about it, they go, Wow, wow. Because you don't have to do anything. You're a part of it. And you know, because we're owned by KKR. And this is something that KKR has done for their other companies. When they exit, everybody will monetize.

David Novak 35:36 

That's great. And I remember the PepsiCo share power, and is basically you got 10% of your salary went into options. They were given to you at every play. And I remember when Callaway, the chairman of PepsiCo is talked about that he'd say, do it for the company, and do it for yourself, which I think is really key, it really captures that Ownership mindset. You touched on this a little bit earlier, you're all over the consumer and where are the consumers heading? How do you tap into the needs of your customers so that you know what products to give them next?

Annie Young-Scrivner 36:09 

What's happening with hair happened to skin about 20 years ago, if you go into a bathroom counter 20 years ago, you might have one cream for women. Now you have something for the eye, something for your jaw, something for your neck, something for your face, and depending on the season, you change that's happening to hair now because there's much more sophistication. What should you use on your scalp? How how do you get more volume on your hair, I don't think people know that you should be using a different shampoo for your scalp than the rest of your hair. And depending on your hair type, you should be using a mask. You should be using a serum to protect your hair at night. And so the only difference between skin and hair is skin regenerates itself. So hair actually needs a little bit more help. So that is called the skin ification of hair. And we are teaching consumers on how to better take care of their hair for the future.

David Novak 37:09 

The skin ification of hair and the GHD the good hair day I'm going to ask my wife if I'm having a good hair day. I love the way you're you put these phrases together. It's great. It makes it simple. And he This has been so much fun. And I want to have some more with my lightning round of questions. Are you ready for this?

Annie Young-Scrivner 37:26 

Sir? Let's go.

David Novak 37:27 

Okay, what's where? What's one word others would use to best describe you.

Annie Young-Scrivner 37:33 

Wow, let me think. They would say I'm fine. And I think big.

David Novak 37:43 

That's two things, but I'll let you get away with it. What would you say is the one word that best describes you?

Annie Young-Scrivner 37:49 

Um, caring?

David Novak 37:51 

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself? Who would it be and why?

Annie Young-Scrivner 37:55 

I would be my great grandfather, because I was always curious what that was like he was in China. He ran the Yunnan Province. I was I would always wonder what was that? What was it like during that time? What's your biggest pet peeve being on time? I can't help it. It's just surprised me that's when I'm late or when someone else's late.

David Novak 38:21 

When was the last time you gave someone a perm?

Annie Young-Scrivner 38:25 

Oh, I could tell you about two months ago. I gave my son a perm. It's coming back all the boys want perms. And I actually had to repurchase perm rods. What do you want one day?

David Novak 38:41 

I think I need a perm. I need a little bit of more body in my hair for sure. You know, what's something that you'd only know about China? If you were born there or your family was from there?

Annie Young-Scrivner 38:53 

Yes. doesn't always mean yes. But what they will do is they will say curry curry, which means yes, I can Yes, I can. But it doesn't mean yes, they're gonna do it.

David Novak 39:07 

What's a book on leadership that you bought and given away the most copies of

Annie Young-Scrivner 39:11 

it would be entered Neues book. I bought so many for so many people. I think she has just some great lessons in there. And I'm reading Henry Kissinger's new leadership book right now.

David Novak 39:28 

And what's your go to order at Starbucks?

Annie Young-Scrivner 39:31 

Oh, I could tell you. It is double shore latte with just a little milk whole milk foamed

David Novak 39:41 

dark chocolate or white chocolate.

Annie Young-Scrivner 39:43 

Milk chocolate.

David Novak 39:46 

There you go. If I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?

Annie Young-Scrivner 39:51 

You would hear my dad. My dad was a professional singer in Taiwan and he used to make his own CD for his customers. And he recently passed. So I listened to him all the time when I'm in the

David Novak 40:08 

car, what's something about you that few people would know? I was a ballerina. Wow, great. And now I know we're out of the lightning round a great job, by the way. And I know you're on the board of yum brands by my former company, when you go in there and sit in those board meetings, what are the kinds of things you're listening for? And where do you find that you offer the most unique insight.

Annie Young-Scrivner 40:32 

I listen for the business and digital. I think there's huge transformation on digital. And I think the young team has done a great job adding digital assets, talent, you have done a great job, your other CEOs have followed you, David's in the role now creating the next generation of talent. And I think where I could be most helpful is looking at the business looking at m&a opportunities. What could accelerate growth for the future? But it's such an amazing board. And I'm so pleased to be on it with Brian with all these fabulous board of directors. It's a fun board.

David Novak 41:15 

Brian, who and he's referring to is Brian Cornell love Brian Cornell, of target. He's a great, great person. How do you any navigate and balance career with family? Because I'm sure your attention is constantly pulled in several directions. And, you know, into writes about that in her in her book,

Annie Young-Scrivner 41:36 

you know, it's not easy, and I don't think a playbook, the same playbook works for everybody. For myself and my husband, we decided that one of us should stay home and he became the stay at home parent. I've always travelled so much with my job. But there's real I call a mom guilt. There's real guilt on how many times I've moved my family. And I think you could just do the best during COVID. My son said to me, Wow, this is the most time that I've spent with you. We've had dinner every single night. It's been amazing. And I think that you can't feel guilty because at the end of the day, they're actually here with me in New York, they're on their spring break, and they chose my sons in college, not to go to Florida, but to hang out with mom in New York. Did something right? Yeah, you must be

David Novak 42:33 

doing something right. I was gonna say, Now, if you could go back and give a pep talk to the 13 year old Annie that was giving cuts and perms to her friends. What would you tell her?

Annie Young-Scrivner 42:45 

I would tell her to be more patient, be more patient. Enjoy life. I'm always thinking, Okay, what should I go do next? What should I go do next. And I remember being at PepsiCo, in my early career, were six months seem like forever, one year in a role with, you know, a long time. And I would just be more patient. And I think as I age is I age like a fine bottle of wine I'm learning.

David Novak 43:19 

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to be a better leader?

Annie Young-Scrivner 43:24 

I would say listen, listen, and be thoughtful and go back and teach. I think that's probably the most important thing. And I think each individual will have their strengths. So that could be someone superpower or ready. But for me what's been really helpful is really listening, and then acting, and act with speed. And I just had a couple closing thoughts. I think what's helped me is to be able to dream big. Define your own destiny, because as a little Chinese girl, not knowing a stitch in English. I think if I didn't have a dream of becoming a CEO, I would never be here today and take calculated risk. I took a whole bunch of jobs that others would say, Why are you taking that. But for me, it's to be able to see around the corner and really learn from great leaders. And don't be afraid of failure. If you fail, just fail fast. Don't make the same mistakes. And make sure that you're giving back give back to those that are around you and support others uplift others.

David Novak 44:39 

Well, thanks for those thoughts, because I think they're absolutely right on for every leader. I want to thank you Annie for taking the time to be on the show. You know, your reputation precedes you. You have such a fantastic track record of impacting growth and people wherever you've been. And I've really enjoyed catching up with you on this podcast and thank For all you're doing to make the world a better place.

Annie Young-Scrivner 45:02 

It is amazing. Thank you so much for selecting me for this episode. I've enjoyed every single minute

David Novak 45:19 

gotta tell you, it's so powerful to hear Annie's story, how she moved here from Taiwan still learning her ABCs as a kid, today, literally living her dream of leading companies and building strong teams. And really, at every point along the way, she's never stopped listening, she intentionally seeks out other people's perspectives, especially when they're different from hers. And when you embrace those outside perspectives, it's a game changer. Like any mentioned, you find big opportunities to create value, you build stronger teams, and you make better decisions because you've got people pushing you to think differently. That's the power of surrounding yourself with different perspectives. And to help you tap into that this week, I want you to think about someone in your work world who thinks differently than you, you may not want to hear it and it may be the person you probably buttheads with the most, but schedule some time to grab coffee or lunch with that person. Get their take on the big questions you're currently working through. I bet you will learn a ton from their perspective and leave with some big insights. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders surround themselves with different perspectives. Coming up next on how leaders lead is Michael Walrath, Chairman and CEO of Yext

Speaker 1 46:40 

founders, they live in the future and they build what's missing. And I think the only way you do that is by analyzing all the time what's missing, what's not right here, what can be better, what can work better.

David Novak 46:50 

So be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday, you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be