Leadership Reimagined: Marco Ten Bruggencate (Chapters in the description)

Thank you, Maria, and happy to be here this morning. I joined Dow in 2001 and did a variety of roles in different businesses and geographic locations. I must say all these different opportunities that Dow was always able and willing to provide me excited me, and I grabbed them with both hands. That enabled me to develop and got me where I am today as the Commercial Vice President for our packaging and specialty plastics business in Europe. I would say my role model was one of my leaders early on in my leadership journey, J. Palmeri, with an incredibly strong emotional intelligence. She gave me some very valuable but also tough messages regarding my leadership style early on, and that ultimately enabled me to become a better leader. She was incredibly honest — I would call her almost Dutch. Her feedback on the 'how' and making sure how you become a more inclusive leader and create diverse teams, ultimately leading to better decision making and business results, is something I really took to heart and still utilize. It's also why I got involved with inclusion and diversity topics in employee resource groups like the female, LGBTQ, and disability networks.

We did a survey in 2019 and looked at the issues that came up. A couple of them were the glass ceiling — the inability to reach beyond a certain level. Another element was promotion biases: performance versus potential, affinity biases, and also the element of over-mentoring versus under-sponsoring of female talent. So a lot of discussion internally, and we identified several areas for improvement. One is strengthening and diversifying the talent pipelines through inclusive hiring practices — having a diverse candidate slate and diverse interview panels, setting standard processes to take bias out as much as possible. Also investing in training and sponsorship programs. We started the 'Miai' female sponsorship program where an executive advocates for the female rather than just providing advice. Another was engaging over 600 men in a dialogue program designed by Catalyst to create awareness and inspire them to become more vocal advocates for females, driving toward equity.

One thing companies should really strive for — and we emphasize this a lot — is creating an environment of psychological safety. That enables a person, female or male, to open up when domestic violence occurs and request help. Without that, it's incredibly difficult. Another reason for psychological safety in our industry is opening up and talking to prevent accidents, because we're all driven to zero. That's another element why it's very important.

It starts with relatively simple things — making the workplace accessible physically (plants and offices) and the tools we use every day. Also in hiring practices, if you look at your overall diverse workforce, you'll probably notice that from a disability perspective, at least in our company, we're not very diverse. That's another element — attracting that talent into our workplace. They find it very difficult, especially during COVID, to find roles. We need to open ourselves up.

Just having the conversation around diversity alone is not enough — inclusion is essential. That's where Jim was coming from. Companies that make real progress are creating an inclusive environment where all employees feel a sense of belonging. How to do that requires thorough change management at all levels. First, start with a very clear ambition. At Dow, inclusion is one of our four strategic pillars — ambition clearly set from the top. But you need a clear strategy too. In 2017, we created the Office of Inclusion and regional leaders to customize the approach and ensure relevance. Then embed it into business strategies and set KPIs — hold people accountable. That accountability is part of our financial reward at year-end. Also, role modeling: visible executives with profit-and-loss accountability championing inclusion. And it's not just training; we give leaders feedback on inclusive behavior through an annual leadership effectiveness survey, a very honest mirror that allows them to reset and improve.

The industry has a very strong bond with many universities worldwide, enabling students to gain experience and team up with experts to feel our innovation and sustainability agenda. We inspire young people in three ways at Dow: through our work on decarbonization and sustainability, describing the vital role our products play — lightweighting, food preservation, contributing to decarbonizing society. Equally important are the people you work with; diverse teams with different backgrounds and expertise solve the greatest challenges. Third is the culture and work environment. We provide greater flexibility through digital solutions, which COVID accelerated — even the hardest resistors embraced it. We're shaping a different way of working where flexibility is key, aligned to trust. We talk about 'design your day' — employees discuss their work-life balance needs with their leader to design their working day. That hopefully inspires, motivates, and creates commitment, enabling everyone to bring their best.

Absolutely, and it is changing. The elements that will help drive that are flexibility, empathy, and ultimately equity. If you keep these in mind and design your company frameworks around them — enabling people to manage their careers and individual needs with an equitable, fair approach — you get a long way. Equally important are enhanced paid leave policies; we recently introduced equal parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents, and volunteerism policies with paid time off to give back to the community. The framework is crucial, and companies have a role to play. We take it very seriously.

We definitely see it. What we try to do is create the same opportunity for both. When both partners work at Dow and one is asked to relocate for a new role, we ensure the other is offered an opportunity in that setting as well, enabling the family to make the move. Companies have a role to play. We have 33% women in leadership positions. Is it quick enough? Probably not — we still have a long way to go. But progress is there. It's not a sprint, but it shouldn't excuse inaction. We need year-on-year progress, and that comes back to setting KPIs and linking them to financial rewards for all employees.

There are many challenges for our petrochemical industry post-pandemic. We need to do more to meet rising customer and societal expectations on sustainability, and be part of the transition. We need to drive not just decarbonization but also circularity. I believe that is a phenomenal opportunity. Companies that embrace sustainability as an opportunity and invest in decarbonization and circularity will be the winners. To make it happen requires courage — not everything is crystal clear — determination, new ways of working, and an unprecedented level of innovation. Solving these big challenges brings us back to inclusive and diverse teams. Only with them can we generate the innovation society needs.