President and Chief Executive Officer, Milliken & Company
Culture at Milliken & Company
In the following interview, Ethisphere Executive Vice President Erica Salmon Byrne spoke to Halsey Cook, President and CEO, Milliken & Company about culture and ethical leadership. Milliken & Company has been honored on the World's Most Ethical Companies list for 13 consecutive years.
About Halsey Jr.
Halsey Cook Jr., President and CEO of Milliken & Company, has spoken about the company’s recognition as a Most Loved Workplace and its 13 consecutive years on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list. Cook said Milliken is on a digital transformation journey using AI and labor-saving devices to improve productivity and safety. He noted the company has faced labor shortages, stating that during COVID it was nearly 10 percent short of desired employment levels and that few people are moving into manufacturing. Cook also discussed efforts to attract and develop talent while maintaining an authentic culture, including initiatives like ice cream socials to bring employees together. In interviews, Cook has emphasized that Milliken’s ethical stance is central to its identity, stating that “the way we make money is as important as how much money we make” and that this principle resonates with the team. He has addressed the company’s approach to sustainability, particularly regarding plastics manufacturing, saying Milliken is committed to solving end-of-life issues for its products and that the company adapts and improves to address such challenges. Cook described Milliken as an innovation company with a culture of openness, hard work, curiosity, and inclusivity.
Transcript (23 segments)
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Erica Salmon Byrne0:05
So, this is Erica Salmon Byrne and I have the privilege of being here talking with Halsey Cook, who is the CEO at Milliken, about a whole variety of things. But we're going to start with the fact that Milliken is one of the very few companies that has been honored as a world's most ethical company now every year for 13 years. First off, congratulations. And what does that mean to you personally and to Milliken as an organization?
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Halsey Cook0:30
Well, to the organization, I think that this award probably means more than any other award we could win because it really defines who we are. And what I've encountered is that people love the company and have lots of good things to say about it. But our Ethisphere award, I think, really is a proof point and a manifestation of trying to do the right things and conduct business in an ethical manner. And that's something that we have tremendous support from our owners on. It's actually in the vision, values, and expectations that the way we make money is as important as how much money we make. And it really resonates with our team. I can tell you from my own personal experience, seeing that award and understanding what that award meant was an important part of attracting me to the company. And I think in some sense the Ethisphere award was a reason why I came to Milliken.
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Erica Salmon Byrne1:31
Well, and I love that story because, you know, one of the things that we talk about a lot here at Ethisphere is this concept of a values match, right? That you are looking for a place where when you get out of bed in the morning, you're going somewhere that is an organization that resonates with who you are as a person. And so to hear that that was a part of your analysis, that's
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Halsey Cook1:50
Well, it's especially I think relevant and apropos to where we are as a company, which is going through a strategic planning process. We've had many chapters in Milliken's history, but we're now actively moving from the fourth generation to the fifth generation, and new CEO and actually a new chair as well. So, we're doing some soul-searching about our purpose and trying to put a sharper definition and sense of purpose behind what we do. And I think our work in preparing for the Ethisphere exams and reviews, you know, really, has helped us kind of shape and get clarity on our purpose, and it's very much tied up in those values and culture around doing the right things and making the world a better place.
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Erica Salmon Byrne2:42
Yeah. And it's interesting that you bring up the word culture, you know, because one of the things that we talk about a lot, either here at the Global Ethics Summit or in the work that we do, is that cultural component, because you can't have people everywhere, right? And part of the success of Milliken over the years has been that you have all these people who are autonomous and are doing what the company needs them to do without a lot of hand-holding, right? So, that culture piece, how do you think of the World's Most Ethical Companies recognition in the context of Milliken's culture, and how are you thinking about culture and strategy together?
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Halsey Cook3:21
Well, I think first in terms of culture, you know, they say it takes a village, which means you've got a number of people kind of with eyeballs on raising the child, right? In this case, I would use that analogy to say the culture at Milliken is one of mutual support for doing the right things. I think it's more difficult sometimes when there isn't that support group around you, and so that feeds on itself, that doing the right things we've had successful business results and so you see culturally people really adhering to that and saying, 'Well, that's not the right thing to do.' or that is, and that is an active conversation day in day out at Milliken. And that defines us culturally as well. So, you know, the second part of your question around the culture
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Erica Salmon Byrne4:16
Oh, it was just about culture and strategy together.
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Halsey Cook4:23
Well, I think it's again, this is repeating myself a little bit, but that's where we are right now in our strategy project is starting with purpose and defining our purpose. And in doing so, we're going to be able to see the alignment between the businesses we're in and whether or not it supports the purpose that we set forward to ourselves. And we know enough we're pretty deep into the project, but we know it's about our associates and about the incredible things that they can do to impact the world. And it's about doing it and doing it in the right way so that in generations to come, we still can say the same things about Milliken. And so the culture prevails over time, the strategy will support that and take us to markets where we can be profitable and sustain the organization over time.
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Erica Salmon Byrne5:18
Yeah. And you know, Milliken has a 150-year history, right? So, it's a prime example of sustainability writ large, which is are you going to be here in 50 years or 100 years or 150 years? Um so, you know, one of the things that we talked about last night at the World's Most Ethical Companies dinner and then I will continue to be using the data is some of what we see come out of the Trust Barometer. And particularly this idea that employees are looking to CEOs and the companies that they work for to fix or have a voice in critical social issues. How do you think about your role in that and Milliken's role in that? And how are you choosing which issues to take on?
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Halsey Cook6:02
Well, I think it's obviously something that I deal with every day because more and more your associates and larger communities don't let you sit on sidelines of issues. You get the questions very directly. And you've got to answer them and answer them in authentic ways. Otherwise, you don't keep the trust with people. So we very much take the stance, and this is my own personal belief and part of why I'm comfortable at Milliken, to be able to do the right things is going to be the right thing for the business. So for instance in the area of diversity and inclusion, we're working very hard with the goal that somebody could move to Milliken from anywhere in the world even though we're in a rather small rural southern town. They could come from anywhere in the world and feel included and feel like they could bring their authentic self to work every day and be themselves and contribute. And what we've seen time and time again is that diversity works. We get the best ideas. And it doesn't matter what political party you're in. Doesn't matter what color you are. If you come and bring the best ideas, the company's going to prosper. So we want to create that type of environment. So I'm very supportive, quite outspoken about the diversity issues, show up to our affinity groups which are some proactive steps that we're taking to really support our employees.
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Erica Salmon Byrne7:36
Um one of the things we heard the CEO panel talk about this morning here at the GES. So we had three different members of the CEO panel and they talked about looking local. Um so, what are the things that you can impact in the communities in which you're operating and I know you guys do a lot in your local communities. Can you talk a little bit about that?
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Halsey Cook7:54
Yeah, it's something that quite frankly is new to me. I mean, I've liked to be engaged in local boards and things in prior roles and prior companies, but the expectation at Milliken is that everyone contributes. And so, I encourage everybody on my team to be on at least one board in the area community board. And they do and we make time for people to actually be out in the communities. This year we have a goal that we have 10,000 hours of volunteer work. So, we find that pays big dividends, too, because people are proud of the company they work for. The company's well-known in the area. And so, they get lots of positive reinforcement in the community for being part of the Milliken team.
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Erica Salmon Byrne8:46
Yeah. Um so, one of the things that we do a lot here at Ethisphere is we try to bring individuals together from a variety of different industries and companies to share ideas and talk about their biggest issues and try to collectively figure out how to solve some of the biggest problems. How do you think about the role of collaboration both in the work that you do and then also for your teams? You know, the people on your team.
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Halsey Cook9:09
Well, I think benchmarking and understanding where you really are is very important. This year we've decided to do our first corporate sustainability report. And in the process of doing that, we've found some areas where maybe we aren't as good as we thought we were. When you look at the data in the cold light of day, you realize that there's lots of areas for improvement. I think one of the things that's valuable to us in Ethisphere is we can go look at other companies and how they're dealing with those types of issues. We know for instance through the benchmarking that we probably need to do a little bit more training of our board on some ethical issues. So I think it's the basis of a continuous improvement process is to get outside of your own company, constantly kind of review what good looks like and steal shamelessly the best practices of other companies and implement them in your own.
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Erica Salmon Byrne10:06
Yeah, we like to say there's no competition with compliance. Um you know, it's and we encourage shameless adoption of the best practices because that's really how it all builds upon itself.
Um so Halsey, last question which is really around that continuous improvement piece that you raised. How you know, you talked a little bit about the strategic planning process you guys are currently engaged in, you know, sort of the vision of the next 150 years. Where does that continuous improvement cycle happen and how do you do continuous improvement without impacting who you are as a business?
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Halsey Cook10:42
Well, I think what one of the fallacies is that old companies that have managed to stay active and successful over long periods of time don't change. I think in fact they are constantly changing. So we try and hold the culture and the values and beliefs as a constant, but we're constantly changing as well to adapt to markets and businesses that we're in change and we have to be very flexible in that. I mean, I think a good example is we got into making plastic additives and colorants in the '60s and '70s. And at the time, this was the material of the future and I don't think we understood all the implications of plastics in the manufacturing of plastics. We're committed to that segment, but we're also committed now to solving some of the end-of-life issues that are inherent in that that are very much in the press today. So, we don't run away from the issues. But we have to adapt and continue to improve and eventually we find we solve them.
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Erica Salmon Byrne11:59
Yeah. So, you guys are going to make sure that I can see what's in my Tupperware container. And then when my Tupperware container is done, that it doesn't live forever.
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Halsey Cook12:08
Forever, correct.
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Erica Salmon Byrne12:09
Perfect. Um so, I don't know how long that will take, but we're absolutely committed to being a thought leader and somebody who's investing a lot of money in research and development on those solutions. That's great. Well, that's part of the reason why you've been on the list for 13 years. So, delighted to hear that continues to be a focus. Halsey, thank you so much.
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Halsey Cook12:27
Thank you, Erica. Appreciate being here.
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Erica Salmon Byrne12:29
Thank you. And congratulations again.
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Halsey Cook12:30
Thank you.