Northwestern Mutual ranks 104 on the 2018 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE as one of the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2018. M@bp6VCcT$*%R From the beginning, we identified the non-negotiables that make us so unique: why we exist, who we serve and what we prioritize. from 8 AM - 9 PM ET. Don Robertson is an Executive Vice President and the Chief Human Resources Officer of Northwestern Mutual a $30 billion in revenue, Fortune 90 financial services company; the largest U.S. provider of individual life insurance; and manager of more than $290.3 billion in policyholder assets. MILWAUKEE, Aug. 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Northwestern Mutual today announced the appointment of Don Robertson to senior vice president and chief human resources officer. I was up in Dallas and I said, There are so many people that do approach it as a bolt-on. /CA 1.0 /Type /ExtGState Oftentimes, companies are simply thinking about the talent they need to deliver for them but if they dont create an environment that allows the employee to benefit from that experience and grow and develop, youre not going to develop and grow your talent. I feel like this is debt that I have to pay to people. I started in finance accounting. Its oftentimes not what you want them to fill it in with. If you learn early in your career how to influence those kinds of people or at least how to understand them better so you can speak a common language, its a very powerful thing. In fact, one of the things about the chef versus the baker is Bina was a great example of that. 6U.r6F(>9lf1Q())#eyj_]5wjwikOQ16~FT39SlQPPG1F~F ix`1OgM I+;|m7F3'GWWuVG oDFky>F b9"xl|O I dont know why Caroline is in my head to this day on that one particular term. 15 0 obj Previously, David was an . The employee has to get what they need from the company and their own development as well. Sources: Financial Advisor and InvestmentNews, April 2021, Financial Planning, August 2021. What was striking to me is how well a lot of our leaders know the people that they come in contact with regularly but how great the talent was down in the organization that we didnt know very well. 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. I dont think its that unique. Don Robertson is on Facebook. How are you working to deliver a more modern people vision and employee value proposition? Thats when our teams got to work. He wrote 18 published novels. Talent pools are things that youre trying to accomplish. If I never got off of it, that was fine. Who do you count as people other than Jack Welch? Im looking for somebody who has good energy because what we do is not easy and you need to have the energy, resilience and perseverance. Extremely gratifying to see Northwestern Mutual selected by Forbes as one of America's Best Large Employers. That was a big support. /A << There were pockets of high engagement here and there, but many employees did not feel they had the same opportunities for growth and career success as others. I dont think you started in HR. We want to get you the right exposure., What I like to call it is career conversations with an intention. Don Robertson EVP and Chief HR Officer at Northwestern Mutual 1w I said, Okay. She was like, I want to see this. I gave it to Caroline. 5 0 obj 1 2 . What would you say to companies that dont put talent first? When you now are that business person who knows HR and youre working with the business, especially coming from sales, talent is everything. /S /URI If your mission and vision are motivators, and your company has the capacity to meaningfully change the world for the better you have a foundation to recruit, retain, develop, and inspire your talent. 9 0 obj Search for specific advisors, products, services, articles, etc. 3 0 obj They have more energy than the two of us put together, which is frightening. You have to be a student of the business. As a result of that, we need to do a lot of technological builds and other things client-wise. You have some people reading and I know they do want to read. 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 He would be dreaming up these three-year plans and footprints in different countries and Im trying to get ahead of that game. It cannot be a separate thing. Our company's record-setting Don Robertson on LinkedIn: Grateful for the opportunity to discuss Northwestern Mutual's historic Now that companies are allowing much more flexibility and remote capabilities, youre going to have a challenge that anyone anywhere in the world can recruit your talent. We changed the way we interview. Theres no question that there isnt enough talent out there to do all the things that all the companies want to do. 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). Robertson joins Northwestern Mutual after serving in human resources leadership roles at companies ranging from Fortune 50s to maturing start-ups. Tracy was that way. This is a people business, and I can't think of a | 15 comments on LinkedIn Don Robertson on LinkedIn: Northwestern Mutual Recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Large | 15 comments The one thing Ive learned is if you dont give them the information, theyll fill it in with things. Ive used the analogy for those people that are pro-football or soccer but there are not too many soccer fans, except Mike Cirelli, who reminds me all the time. There are a lot of companies that dont do that, that talent is an afterthought. /Border [0 0 0] We are very proud of the outcomes we have delivered but we know that we must keep going. There are two sides to this coin. All right. Long-term care insurance is issued by Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI, (NLTC) a subsidiary of NM. All Rights Reserved. In addition, she leads teams that oversee more than $570 billion in company and client assets. /Type /Action I know your schedule is busy. One thing I would tell you is to be a lot more humble and willing to listen to other peoples points of view. One of the statistics we came up with is that CHROs are paid 1/3 less than their C-Suite counterparts. Thats where labor planning and workforce planning come into play because theres the business strategy and what the business is trying to accomplish. Best Talent: Businesses have large appetites for things they want to do, but oftentimes then they dont think about the talent thats going to take to deliver that. Timothy J. Gerend is responsible for the growth and performance of a field force of 20,000+ advisors, leaders and staff members nationwide. /Annots 15 0 R << Two more things before I finally get to the wrap-up question. /ca 1.0 ES had $22 billion annual revenue and 110,000 employees. I did this thing and I screwed up. People Also . The biggest lesson I would tell you is to get to know the people that think differently than you and that disagree with you often. I wouldnt want to be anywhere near you if youre answering texts in the middle of the night with Anne. Are there certain things that you hold dear that are in your muscle memory that, If Im developing somebody, these are the things Im going to do?, Its something that a lot of people leaders could benefit from understanding. Without her support, I dont think I would have been there. Its a long story how I got into HR. They wanted someone to help the HR function help the sales organization from a development standpoint. . Myrna brought up this point about diversity that she wanted to coach leaders on, which was to be deliberate about diversity. Do you want to be in this area? Every conversation I have with that person is to help them achieve that. As a matter of fact, we spent time figuring out, What is Don not going to be mad about that we leave out because there was such good material in there?. Ill ask, Have you thought about this? She will be like, No. When you go present to these guys at this level, theyre going to ask that so you need to think about that.. This is a people business, and I can't think of a | 17 comments on LinkedIn Don Robertson on LinkedIn: Northwestern Mutual Recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Large | 17 comments Anything else was open for experimentation and enhancement and we went all in. Don Robertson is an Executive Vice President and the Chief Human Resources Officer of Northwestern Mutual - a $30 billion in revenue, Fortune 90 financial services company; the largest U.S. provider of individual life insurance; and manager of more than $290.3 billion in policyholder assets. #G0,qG0'Pcy Pc9NrQZcZ;Dgg;Q:!~0rrZ\ Don Robertson is now chief human resources officer. Unless theyre right out of college, theyre lying because I dont know anyone that has gone through life and never had a failure. << I look forward to talking to you again soon. I started with them in the 80s. >> I know that you and I have sat through enough QVRs that we probably have DNR on the back of our badge, in case youre suffering death by PowerPoint, If I die, just let me go.. 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. Youve had some amazing insights. You and I both used to do services business. We reconfigured our leadership structure. Its interesting that you say that youre a business person doing HR because I dont remember whether it was Tracy Keogh or Meg Whitman. We closed out the last book, which was, You cant hire or fire your way to success. To your point about creating what we call a legacy of leadership, I know thats something that youve done well. /Rect [34.5000000 120 553.500000 142.500000 ] In this episode of Redefining HR, I spoke with Northwestern Mutual Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer Don Robertson. Reggieyiane Robertson. >> You have to have resilience. Managing Director and Director of Asset Management Robert W. Baird & Co. Arbitrator, Mediator & Advisor Weber Advising, LLC, Global Co-Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer K2 Integrity. As we refined our culture and our offerings to align with our new employee value proposition, we also started measuring in a much more thoughtful and thorough way. Don is a catalyst of change within Northwestern Mutual, bringing a strategic mindset and a unique flair for identifying and developing talent to his role as CHRO. The reason why I ask a lot of different questions in a lot of different ways is Im trying to understand your intellect. /PCSp 4 0 R Thats the context of the question. 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. Career Journey Coach | Development Enabler | Talent Management | Learning and Development at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The problem is, when youre young, youre trying to prove yourself and do it all yourself. They used to track that and give a lot of credit for that. This goes without saying, Whoever has the best talent is generally going to win. We are in a talent war. 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. Outside of the talent acquisition space and creating talent pools, what do you say to the up-and-coming managers or the newly-minted managers or supervisors, people that are now in charge of developing others? How can you assure that you have the best talent for your company? 2 Ranking for Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC. Its a skill Ive developed now but it wasnt one I had in most of my career and it would have benefited me tremendously. /SA true I make it okay to talk about a real failure because we all get these questions, Tell me something that didnt work. Im not going to give you the background on this amazing leader that he is the CHRO. Ive had the great fortune of having some amazing guests. I try to get to know the person at an authentic level. It has to be threaded in your mainstream of what you do for talent. Thank you for your leadership, Don! Weve married up, which was not expected of us. /Type /Catalog Phone . There are a number of issues out there that companies are facing. Northwestern Mutual is part of the Insurance industry, and located in Wisconsin, United States. Don Robertson is the Chief HR Officer for Northwestern Mutual. We took intentional steps to be champions for our employees, and we protected the very core of our company what makes Northwestern Mutual such a special place to work. >> 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. The more that weve had experiences in life that allow us to master certain types of skills, the faster youre going to be able to assimilate to whatever new environment youre in. /URI (http://www.prnewswire.com/) If you have never carried a bag as a sales leader and had a quota and held those kinds of things, youre not going to talk to those salespeople the way that I could because I understood the language, challenges and what they were going through. endobj For some reason, the more senior I got, it finally clicked in my head. Theres nothing that youre going to be trying to take on from a challenge at a business level that is going to go from A to Z in a straight line. You have to approach the folks that youre privileged to have worked for you. But this wasn't the case at Northwestern Mutual. When youre looking for talent, tell us what youre digging into if you have to interview a person. Northwestern Mutual. Legal Assistant . 4 Northwestern Mutual continues to have the highest financial strength ratings awarded to any U.S. life insurer by all four of the major rating agencies: A.M. Best Company, A++ (highest), May 2021; Fitch Ratings, AAA (highest), December 2021; Moody's Investors Service, Aaa (highest), December 2021; S . The third thing is to try to give your employee base as much context as you possibly can. Where do they want to go? Mpb4 << Thats what I try to get to, is get people to not give me those pat answers but they have to think from their experiences how they would operate. 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