0:04

Call them changemakers. Call them rule

0:06

breakers. We call them redefiners.

0:08

Join us in conversation with

0:10

daring leaders who are creating

0:12

extraordinary impact and driving change

0:14

from around the globe. Each

0:16

episode gives you a fresh

0:18

perspective on your leadership and

0:20

career journey. I'm Hoda Tahoon, a leadership

0:22

advisor at Russell Reynolds. I'm

0:24

Murphy, the former Chief Executive

0:27

Officer and a leadership advisor. And

0:29

this is redefiners. Hi,

0:34

everyone, and welcome back to redefiners.

0:36

I'm Hoda Tahoon, a leadership at Russell

0:38

Reynolds Associates, and I'm here

0:40

with my very esteemed co -host,

0:43

Clark Murphy. Hoda, great to

0:45

be here. Appreciate it. So Clark, before

0:47

we get started, just a quick reminder

0:49

to all of our listeners that you

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can find every episode of Redefiners and

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the Leadership Lounge on YouTube. If

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you're currently watching Redefiners on YouTube,

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1:09

Clark, technology has been changing

1:11

pretty rapidly in every

1:13

facet of our lives and

1:15

sometimes technology redefines our

1:18

careers. I agree. I think

1:20

we have adapted to how we

1:22

work and live and it never ends.

1:24

It's only accelerated. And as

1:26

we talk about today is leading. in

1:28

a world that's changing so rapidly

1:30

also changes how leaders lead. Our

1:33

today, we're very excited. She has

1:35

redefined her own career. inside

1:37

a world that's redefining itself. So

1:39

not only will talk about technology and

1:41

how it affects how we lead,

1:43

but but how did she make the

1:45

changes that she has to lead, having

1:48

gone from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

1:50

So it's a double redefiners. How do we think

1:52

about the changing world and how do

1:54

we think about leading in a changing world?

1:56

world, and today's guests can hopefully

1:58

also think about the topic of- redefining

2:00

our careers in an ever -changing world

2:02

of technology, as she has

2:04

been one of the most powerful people in

2:06

both financial and technology industries over the

2:08

past two decades. Well, our guest today,

2:10

who is too modest to have agreed with

2:12

that last statement, I can tell you in advance,

2:14

our guest today is Ruth Farat, who's the president and

2:17

Chief Investment Officer at Alphabet in Google. She's

2:19

responsible for Google's corporate

2:21

investments and investment vehicles, including

2:23

the capital arm of Google Ventures, CapG,

2:26

and and the other bet's portfolio, which

2:28

come back to in a little bit.

2:31

She was previously CFO of Google.

2:33

prior to joining, she was

2:35

CFO of Morgan Stanley and had a a

2:37

number of roles there, which included the

2:39

Co -Head of tech banking, global of the Fig Group. She's

2:42

also a member of the Board of Directors of

2:44

Blackstone, Council Foreign Relations, Bloomberg

2:46

Philanthropies, and the Board

2:48

of Trustees of Memorial Sloan

2:51

-Hettering Cancer Center. What an

2:53

impressive and phenomenal biography.

2:55

Ruth, welcome to Redefiners. Thank

2:57

you. It is great to be here

2:59

with both of you. So Ruth, you

3:01

were at Morgan Stanley for almost years years

3:03

before making the move over to Google

3:05

as CFO in 2015. What made

3:07

you switch industries? And was there a

3:09

draw to the pace or energy about Google

3:12

and the larger tech industry that stood

3:14

out for you? Well, my

3:16

career at Morgan Stanley, I think,

3:18

was invigorating in part because

3:20

I moved around a lot throughout

3:22

my time there. My view

3:24

was that as the world changed,

3:26

new opportunities arose, and I wanted

3:29

to be open to those. In

3:31

fact, the key phrase that I I

3:33

throughout my career is, what's my highest

3:35

and best use? And that did

3:37

open doors that I didn't know existed. I started

3:40

in mergers and acquisitions and thought that was the

3:42

only thing I would ever want to do. But

3:44

as the world changed, I then ended up taking

3:46

on leadership of a private

3:48

equity coverage group and technology,

3:50

financial institutions, eventually leading

3:52

to the role as CFO at Morgan

3:54

Stanley. And it was an incredible

3:56

opportunity and privilege to be CFO. at

3:58

that time. It It was right after

4:01

the financial crisis still coming out

4:03

of the financial crisis in 2010 when

4:05

James Gorman took on as CEO. And

4:08

it was still pretty rough back in

4:10

2010 of out of the financial crisis.

4:12

And I think we did a lot

4:14

of really important work over the years

4:16

to put Morgan Stanley in a very

4:18

strong position. And I'm grateful to have

4:21

had the opportunity to work with him

4:23

as closely as we did. But by

4:25

2015, my question that I always asked my

4:27

career, what's highest and best use? I had

4:29

a wonderful conversation with somebody by the

4:31

name of Bill Campbell. He

4:33

was written up in a a book

4:35

called The Trillion Coach because he'd actually coach

4:37

Steve Jobs and Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric

4:39

Schmidt, and others. And so

4:41

I had this wonderful conversation with him where I

4:43

asked that question how to think about my

4:45

next chapter. And he actually

4:48

was the one who said after

4:50

a long conversation, the

4:52

obvious answer for him him was Google,

4:54

CFO of Google. And my reaction

4:56

had reaction had been, I don't want to

4:59

be a CFO again, but when he said

5:01

Google, the reaction Clark had, I kind of of went,

5:03

course. And I had actually

5:05

worked on the IPO of Google,

5:07

admired Google immensely. And so jumped

5:09

when that opportunity arose. it's

5:11

been, it's been quite a run.

5:14

And was it an easy

5:16

transition to go from finance to

5:18

technology, Were there a whole new

5:20

different language or culture you kind

5:22

of made that made that transition?

5:25

In certain respects, it was very easy. I'd grown

5:27

up out here in Silicon Valley. My

5:29

father was a physicist at Stanford. I had

5:31

run the technology banking group, capital markets

5:33

group, worked on a lot of

5:35

the IPOs through the late 90s. And

5:37

so it was familiar. And as

5:39

I said, having taken Google public, many elements

5:41

it were familiar. The

5:43

apparel was very different. That

5:45

was my first question. I'm sure I

5:47

know from lee jeans and hoodies, it different. But

5:50

other than that, it's it really

5:52

question about how do you just keep asking

5:54

what's, what's the art of the possible was

5:56

an important part for me. And really the

5:58

allure, the magnet. it to come out here. Ruth,

6:01

you've lived through change transformation, and

6:03

and frankly, crises well, both at

6:05

Morgan Stanley. and then at Google. What

6:08

have you learned about dealing with

6:10

and leading through change? I find

6:12

that I go back

6:14

to lessons from the financial crisis over

6:16

and over again. and during the financial

6:18

crisis, just for context, I was

6:20

working very closely with the US Treasury

6:22

and the Federal Reserve through all aspects

6:24

from the housing crisis, Fannie Mae Freddie

6:26

Mac, all the way through to AIG the

6:29

back end. It's probably one of the most meaningful

6:31

times in my career. working so

6:33

closely with Secretary Paulson and

6:35

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Fed obviously

6:37

at the time. And

6:40

those lessons were searing and

6:42

and important for me. What struck me when

6:44

I got to Google. is

6:47

that I was asked to take people through

6:49

what actually happened during the financial crisis and what

6:51

lessons did I think were most relevant? And

6:53

when I was first asked it, it seemed

6:55

odd because Google had only lived through sunny

6:57

days and I was trying to see how

6:59

relevant those lessons were and it struck me. importantly

7:02

to your question, these lessons are

7:04

relevant in good times and in

7:06

bad. And I keep coming back

7:08

to three. key Three key messages,

7:10

three key lessons. The first is

7:13

that it is imperative for each

7:15

of us as leaders to identify

7:17

our greatest source of vulnerability early

7:19

and fortify against it. For

7:21

a bank, one of the most important things

7:23

that one needs is to have liquidity

7:25

to keep your operations. moving. It's

7:27

really liquidity. when When you get

7:29

choked with lack of liquidity, that's

7:32

what leads to the demise. And

7:34

in that moment, in that

7:36

fall, there was nothing a bank

7:38

could do to really get out

7:40

that needed. whereas Six months prior,

7:42

it would have been easy to do and

7:45

not very expensive to do so. The

7:47

second really important lesson is something

7:49

that Secretary said to me during the

7:51

crisis, which is you need to have

7:53

the will and the means. And

7:55

too often by the time you have the will,

7:58

in other words, the political will, you no longer. will. or

8:00

have the means, the financial means.

8:02

And I think each of us can

8:04

think of times as we've been

8:06

leading where you delay making the tough

8:08

call that you need to make,

8:10

it becomes that much more expensive later

8:13

and sometimes to even grapple

8:15

with and handle the magnitude of

8:17

the issue. And the third

8:19

very important one is you

8:21

need to develop a team, pull

8:23

together a team that brings in

8:25

the requisite experience. I keep saying,

8:27

I need two things. I wanna

8:29

have horizontal vision, connect the dots

8:31

to all of the related issues.

8:34

And you also want people who

8:36

have instinct based on experience. And

8:38

again, in the moment, you can't

8:40

do that. And so that's why this

8:43

notion of having the strength of

8:45

a team that is enabling you

8:47

to think ahead, build

8:49

the strength that one needs, fortify ahead

8:51

of time is critically needed in good

8:53

times and bad. And I certainly saw

8:55

that as we were leading on a

8:57

lot of the growth that's been so

8:59

exciting here at Google but also going

9:02

through some of the tougher times like COVID.

9:04

So those would be the three lessons

9:06

I take from it. I think that's

9:08

a great transition into what we also

9:10

wanted to talk through around leading through change different

9:12

industries. And so what advice would you

9:14

have for leaders who are looking

9:16

to transform their own careers and go from

9:18

one industry to the next? You

9:21

outlined some really fantastic

9:24

thought around what people can take in

9:26

terms of learnings, but how do then

9:28

folks apply that as they're thinking about

9:30

their own careers? I think

9:32

the most important think the most important to be

9:34

authentic to what you know and be

9:36

honest with oneself about what you still

9:38

have to learn. So I'll give you

9:40

an example. I just mentioned that during

9:42

the financial crisis, I had been leading

9:44

the been institutions group at Morgan Stanley at Morgan

9:46

Stanley for banks and insurance companies. But

9:49

the most important part of that

9:51

experience was the work with was the

9:53

work with US Treasury with Hank Paulson and Chairman

9:55

Bernanke. Out of that, I

9:57

was asked to become CFO of Morgan Stanley.

9:59

And when I moved, into that role, notwithstanding

10:01

the fact that I had been at Morgan

10:03

Stanley for several decades, I'd been on the

10:05

investment banking side, the advisory side. I really

10:07

didn't know the sales and trading side at the

10:10

level of depth that I knew I would

10:12

at a certain point in time. And

10:14

so my first series of meetings

10:16

with investors I anchored more on

10:18

what's the regulatory environment coming out

10:21

of this financial crisis, because

10:23

I knew I had a

10:25

differentiated set of insights there would

10:27

be valuable, that would help contextualize

10:29

the types of investments that

10:31

we were making at Morgan

10:33

Stanley to fortify ourselves. And

10:35

it really established, I think,

10:37

a credibility, because I was

10:39

anchoring on things that I

10:41

knew well, maybe even in

10:43

a differentiated sense, as distinct

10:45

from trying to pretend I

10:47

knew everything about the business

10:49

at one time. Another

10:51

example is when I was asked

10:53

to run the financial institutions group

10:55

at Morgan Stanley, this

10:58

actually brings together your first question

11:00

and this most recent one. My

11:02

initial reaction was there was

11:04

no way I was going to

11:06

do that. Really, it it was

11:08

too boring. Like I I my entire

11:10

career avoiding anything boring. I in

11:12

technology, know, kind of private equity.

11:15

And somebody I respected

11:18

greatly said, you to

11:20

trust me on this. Financial institutions

11:22

just like technology, ballpark, 20

11:24

something percent the global economy, multi sector,

11:26

we have banks, insurance asset managers,

11:28

and technology, when I was

11:30

running it, we had hardware, software,

11:32

semis, internet. And

11:35

so I did. I I said, I'll take it on. And

11:37

he wanted to do something helpful

11:39

to open doors for me in

11:41

the first meeting. So we set

11:43

up my first meeting covering this

11:46

new industry with Larry Fink. I'm thinking, okay,

11:48

this is not end well, the extraordinary leader

11:50

of an asset management firm. I

11:52

know nothing about asset management. But

11:54

what I didn't know was I knew about technology

11:56

because I'd run the technology banking business

11:58

at Morgan Stanley. And Larry

12:01

always been a leader in

12:03

technology. And so my

12:06

view was I spoke to about BlackRock Solutions

12:08

than other parts of the business. we

12:10

would be able to go deeper than

12:12

most of the bankers who covered financial institutions

12:15

and it would establish a base upon

12:17

which we could build over time. And

12:19

so again, go to what you

12:21

know idiosyncratically well. It has

12:23

credibility and authenticity. You can be differentiated

12:25

and you will fill out the rest

12:27

over time. So just pulling on that thread a

12:29

little bit. So technological

12:32

change. or executives

12:34

adapting to different roles. As

12:36

you think about the tech world where we've

12:39

gone from digitization machine

12:41

learning to now and cloud

12:43

and AI, What

12:45

skills do organizations look for when

12:47

it comes to finding tech leaders?

12:50

and, and thinking about disruption,

12:52

innovation, et cetera. Do you look for

12:54

different things or what are they

12:57

from 28 years on Wall Street and what

12:59

it looked for? think it's a, it's an

13:01

question at this moment in time

13:03

because I do believe that we are

13:06

extraordinarily fortunate to

13:08

be living in this time with

13:10

AI and the implications for society.

13:12

And the way we talk about

13:14

it at Google, they're really four primary

13:17

opportunities with AI First,

13:19

Very exciting is advancing the frontiers

13:22

for science. The second is

13:24

just the economic uplift that's been

13:26

estimated to be in the trillions globally. The

13:29

third is really advancing solutions

13:31

around some of the biggest

13:33

social issues facing humanity around

13:35

education, healthcare, climate. And

13:37

the fourth is really

13:40

enhancing cybersecurity. And two

13:42

examples may best help at your

13:44

question. know, at Google,

13:46

one of the many things I'm proud of is

13:48

we've done with Google Translate. And

13:51

Over the last 20 years, our teams

13:53

have been working to expand the

13:55

number of languages included within Google Translate.

13:57

They're now 260 languages. Wow. six

14:00

months alone, the team added 110

14:02

of that 260. In other words,

14:04

it's been a vertical lift. We

14:06

added 500 million people on the

14:08

planet can now access information in

14:10

their own language. But that vertical

14:12

lift is important because if you're

14:14

not at the front end of

14:16

change, how do you catch up

14:18

when something's under a vertical lift?

14:20

The second, which starts to get

14:22

even more closely to your question

14:25

is really the work that was

14:27

done by Google DeepMind to deliver

14:29

something called AlphaFold. And I'm so

14:31

proud of my colleagues, Demisis Abbas

14:33

and John Jumper who were awarded

14:35

the Nobel Prize for AlphaFold. What

14:37

AlphaFold does is it predicts protein

14:39

structures. They went on a path

14:41

to predict the protein structure for

14:43

all proteins. So they have now

14:45

predicted it for more than 200

14:47

million proteins. What's important about that

14:49

is that it is being described

14:51

as the single greatest contribution to

14:54

drug discovery in our lifetime. without

14:57

AI applied to predicting protein structures,

14:59

we're talking about millions of scientists'

15:01

years to try and reach this.

15:03

In other words, not in our

15:05

lifetime. And to me, what is

15:07

so profound about this is the

15:09

way Demisis Abbas thought about it

15:11

when he embarked on the journey.

15:13

And so many people have said

15:15

to him, how can this be

15:17

possible? And his answer was why

15:19

not? And I think the importance

15:21

with AI, and it starts to

15:23

get to your question more directly,

15:26

is each one of us needs

15:28

to radically rethink what is in

15:30

the art of the possible just

15:32

as he did with AlphaFold? And

15:34

that's true with how do you

15:36

connect with customers? What's operating efficiency?

15:38

What are risk analytics? How does

15:40

a public sector leader better communicate

15:42

with constituents? What is the art

15:44

of the possible as fundamentally changed?

15:46

And so when I think about

15:48

the type of people that are

15:50

imperative, it's always been people with

15:52

a growth mindset who want to

15:54

learn, who push themselves. And that

15:56

is true now with a sense

15:58

of because you just go back

16:00

to this. Google Translate, and

16:02

the vertical lift what we're seeing in so

16:05

many areas, so you want to move.

16:07

with speed and think broadly about

16:09

what is the art of the possible. We'll

16:13

be right back with Ruth Parat.

16:15

But first, let's hear from Robert Voth,

16:17

a managing director in our Chicago office,

16:20

who will discuss a critical

16:22

challenge facing banking leadership

16:24

today. succession being one of the board's being one

16:27

of the board's most critical responsibilities,

16:29

it remains a blind spot for

16:31

many U.S. .S. banks. into

16:33

CEO into CEO succession across the

16:35

top U .S. regional banks in

16:37

the last decade found that

16:39

around half didn't approach succession planning

16:41

in a thoughtful way. The

16:43

implications of poor CEO succession

16:45

planning on financial performance are clear.

16:48

when we analyzed the short -term

16:50

price reactions of 50 publicly

16:52

traded banks following initial CEO

16:55

succession announcements. we

16:57

found that banks the most

16:59

significant impact. and shareholder

17:01

value when their CEO left abruptly

17:03

without any public announcement of

17:05

a long -term succession plan. But

17:08

there is good news. The Harvard

17:10

Business Review found that banks

17:12

that implement robust succession plans

17:14

can boost their valuations and

17:16

investor returns by up to

17:18

25 percent. In

17:20

our latest article, we identify

17:22

five key strategies to help

17:25

your organization effectively plan for

17:27

CEO succession. to learn more about

17:29

what these strategies for succession are.

17:31

and how you can ensure a smooth

17:33

leadership transition. you can

17:35

find the full paper via

17:38

our show notes or by

17:40

visiting russellrunnels.com. And

17:42

now, back to our conversation with Ruth.

17:48

This is just amazing because we

17:51

continue to hear how AI is

17:53

not only disrupting, but advancing all of

17:55

these different business areas, but in

17:57

particular the space. And

17:59

so. what you're describing now is just

18:01

so profound. And

18:03

I think what we will continue to

18:05

see is AI will continue to find

18:07

new ways to diagnose and detect and

18:10

treat diseases like cancer. And

18:12

we know that you've personally battled

18:14

breast cancer not once, but twice. Tell

18:16

us about your experience and

18:19

really how that has shaped your

18:21

influence and your perspective on leadership.

18:24

So I was first

18:26

diagnosed with cancer, it

18:28

it terrifying. My My children

18:30

at the time were five, seven

18:32

and nine. And

18:35

I I just to

18:38

make sure I was there to

18:40

see them grow up to be their

18:42

mom. It was absolutely, absolutely terrifying. And

18:44

I think that one of the

18:46

important points to your question is one

18:48

in eight women will be diagnosed

18:50

with breast cancer in our lifetime. 40

18:53

% of Americans will be diagnosed

18:55

with some form of cancer in their

18:57

lifetime. And so there are some

18:59

really important learnings that I've had

19:01

that I I really

19:04

actually to share with people because

19:06

I think there's a level

19:08

of optimism which you

19:10

first hear that awful diagnosis, it's

19:12

hard to realize that you can

19:15

have. The first thing

19:17

is I learned to love

19:19

the word manageable. When I was

19:21

first diagnosed and realized

19:23

I to go through chemo as

19:25

well, it it was a terrifying concept,

19:28

but I actually learned that even

19:30

chemo was manageable. I was one

19:32

of the lucky ones. know some

19:34

people do have reactions to it,

19:36

but this was 20 years ago

19:38

and it's only gotten better since

19:40

then. the level of

19:42

care, the quality of

19:44

care and the success rate

19:46

is extraordinary. The

19:48

process itself is

19:50

manageable. The second really

19:52

important lesson that I learned,

19:54

and I learned this the

19:57

second time I was diagnosed

19:59

with cancer. It It like at

20:01

that point, it was this

20:03

never -ending uphill battle, and

20:05

I I spoke to someone who had cancer a

20:07

number of times, and he told me

20:09

a story that I've repeated frequently because

20:11

it inspired me so much, which was

20:14

that you have cancer on good days, a

20:16

a bird will come to your shoulder,

20:18

and that bird will say, you you

20:20

may think you're having a good day,

20:22

but actually you have cancer. And I

20:24

was assured that over time, the

20:26

bird would come less frequently, and

20:28

one day day that would fly away

20:30

for good. And it was was a

20:32

really important message because when the bird showed

20:34

up and it does, anyone who's had cancer, I

20:37

would bet, has had this freaking bird show

20:39

up. You You notice, say, not going to be

20:41

coming back and get out of there, and

20:43

I want to own my life. I want

20:45

to enjoy life and you can. And that was

20:47

the way I got it back.

20:50

For me, it was really valuable to

20:52

hide and work. I got joy out of

20:54

that. Everyone has their own way to

20:56

do it. You can't prejudge. You can't know

20:58

until you're in the moment. But

21:00

But would say that level

21:02

of confidence about the pace

21:04

of change is something everyone

21:06

should have. And with AI,

21:08

the pace of change is nothing short

21:10

of staggering. The

21:13

final thing I would say sort of

21:15

goes back to the way you

21:17

frame the question, everyone needs to get

21:19

that diagnosis early because the difference

21:21

between getting it early and getting it

21:23

late can be the difference between survival. anyone

21:26

Everyone pushed off getting a checkup, go

21:28

get a checkup. And what I'm

21:30

really proud of, again, with AI is

21:32

some work that our teams years ago, we

21:35

can now, with AI, AI, identify,

21:38

diagnose early stage breast

21:41

cancer and other cancers at the

21:43

highest quality level. And when I called

21:45

my oncologist and asked if this

21:47

was as profound as I thought, his

21:49

comment was the only way to

21:51

democratize health care is with AI. Wow.

21:54

Because it means that any that any

21:57

patient on the globe

21:59

has the same quality read as

22:02

I had at Memorial Sloan And

22:05

it's an operating leverage

22:07

for radiologists everywhere. So

22:10

I look, I think the main thing is. with

22:12

the advances in care. remain

22:15

optimistic. So many cancers are actually

22:17

now in that land of of manageable.

22:19

I appreciate not all of them

22:21

are and there's a lot of

22:23

work being done to add to

22:25

the list of cancers that are

22:28

manageable. But for many of

22:30

us, that bird is the right metaphor. It

22:32

will fly away. You know,

22:34

I'll surprise some people here. Hopefully, get

22:36

through this. So never

22:38

told anybody I'm a a -time cancer survivor. the

22:41

most recent this summer. And

22:43

the the thing that I've seen my friends do

22:45

since then is on social media they ring

22:47

the bell because I was so

22:49

private. I didn't

22:52

to tell anybody. You know, and particularly

22:54

the second time, I don't know about Ruth, we

22:56

have four children. who in and

22:58

and out of college now. But. But You

23:00

know, going back to the kids the second

23:03

time and saying, so I told you be fine and

23:05

I was, but we're back at

23:07

the plate swinging again. Um

23:10

And luckily me, early discovery, your message

23:12

is what made me decide to speak

23:14

up, Ruth. Ruth. I'm 61

23:16

years 61 years old men

23:19

and women, you know, got to have checkups. And

23:21

I caught both of them early. Somebody else else

23:23

the first one, I caught the second one. But

23:26

But think psychologically, as I see people,

23:28

you talk about the bird. I

23:31

see I I just saw a video a friend of

23:34

mine. ring the bell and walk out

23:36

of MSK. Um I I

23:38

think ringing the bell is important psychologically.

23:41

Uh... We all face things differently. But,

23:44

But know, I think it's important and go

23:46

early. Talk to the bird,

23:48

ring the bell. and

23:50

then try help others as best you can. Those

23:53

are redefining moments, that's

23:55

for sure. If I can add

23:57

one thing, I'm so, sorry. so sorry,

23:59

you You two are going. through it. it's

24:01

a large club that we have. Yeah,

24:03

we're not alone. When I went through

24:05

it the first time and I was bald

24:07

and had a mastectomy I've never actually talked

24:09

about that publicly. And working

24:11

in a a bank with basically only men,

24:13

it was not something I wanted to

24:15

talk about. But I found that when

24:17

I did, the

24:19

outpouring of support and care

24:22

was about the best medicine

24:24

that I could have. And

24:26

I think that to

24:28

your point, Clark, yeah,

24:30

everybody wants to ring that bell with you and it

24:32

does fortify. It

24:35

does. It's a a good moment. I might go

24:37

ring a bell just for hell of it. Go ring

24:39

a bell. Yeah. I think you should. As

24:42

we talk about investing our lives

24:44

and our future, you have looked looked at

24:46

investments your whole life. One of

24:48

them now is in other bets I

24:51

think most people don't know

24:53

about. So many different areas that

24:55

you oversee the to change the

24:57

world, to to democratize health care, whatever

24:59

it might be. How do

25:01

you think through where to make the bets

25:03

and how much and when? What's the process

25:05

of thinking through these huge bets? And it's

25:07

so important at Google for for of us. So I

25:09

think the most important thing is each of

25:12

us needs to invest for long -term growth

25:14

because if you're not investing for long -term growth,

25:16

you're sowing the seeds of your own destruction.

25:18

And so you need to aggressively

25:20

invest. And sometimes you're

25:22

taking bigger bets than others, but

25:24

you need to be very clear

25:26

eyed and stack rank. are the biggest

25:28

priorities? Where can you

25:31

deprecate free of to self

25:33

the most important priorities? And

25:35

that needs to be a rigorous

25:37

process in every area across one's portfolio.

25:39

And for us, it starts with search.

25:41

The search experience continues to evolve. You

25:44

see it now with AI reviews, everything

25:46

we're doing, enhancing what is the user

25:48

experience. How do you access information? And

25:51

you, for example, we're very quick

25:53

to move to like it's all about voice it's

25:55

you see know, increase. It's about video. So continues

25:58

to evolve. We need to

26:00

be. evolving product to

26:02

stay ahead of where we

26:04

need to be. We're investing

26:06

for long -term growth because

26:09

if you wait until you get to

26:11

that point, which is a banker,

26:13

I saw too many companies do, and

26:15

then they're like, but now what

26:17

do I do? If you're not investing

26:19

early, you're sowing the seeds your own destruction. And

26:21

it is very exciting within the

26:23

portfolio to see what are some of

26:25

the efforts that we've been nurturing

26:27

for years, and you're now experiencing firsthand.

26:29

The The number tourist attraction in San

26:31

Francisco today is Waymo, self -driving cars. And

26:34

And anyone who comes out, you need

26:36

to pop in one because it truly

26:39

is an extraordinary experience. That's been

26:41

years in the making, and now you're

26:43

increasingly seeing it in cities across the

26:45

United States. But again, it starts with

26:47

identify the highest priorities, identify what you

26:49

can free up to fund those highest

26:51

priorities, self-funding of what the growth

26:53

is across one's portfolio. And Ruth,

26:55

on that thread, in addition

26:57

to overseeing the investments, you also

27:00

oversee the organization's philanthropic efforts. So a

27:02

lot of the expansion and the

27:04

access to digital infrastructure and

27:06

seeking initiatives globally, can you tell

27:08

us a little bit more about

27:10

what you're doing at Google and Alphabet

27:12

create more access to opportunities for

27:14

everyone? So key thing I

27:16

find as I travel the

27:18

globe is leaders everywhere are saying

27:20

they be part of this digital

27:22

transformation. They see the economic

27:24

uplift that's available with the

27:26

proper application of AI across industries.

27:29

They see the opportunity to

27:31

address education, to address healthcare, to to

27:33

be address agriculture. And

27:35

so their question is, how do

27:37

we become part of this? How do

27:39

we become an attractive place for

27:41

investment? And I keep coming

27:43

back to what I visually

27:45

think of as a triangle, which

27:47

is Google idiosyncratically has products and

27:50

services that enable people everywhere to

27:52

have the same quality access to

27:54

information and markets that we

27:56

do sitting here in the Bay

27:58

Area or do in the U.S. in your, that's the

28:00

suite of Google products and services

28:03

that we're very proud of.

28:05

But to your question, the

28:07

only way to access that

28:09

is if there are investments

28:11

in technical infrastructure, second part

28:13

of the triangle. And if you

28:15

have a population that is

28:17

educated, that has the skills,

28:20

that is digitally proficient, digitally

28:22

skilled, and so that's the

28:24

triangle. Solutions, infrastructure, and

28:26

really investments in a resilient

28:28

workforce with the digital skilling

28:30

that's needed. That's what we

28:32

look to provide as we

28:34

go into any market, any

28:36

country with whom we're working. You've

28:39

worked in the financial crisis, obviously

28:41

with regulators. We talked about

28:44

Treasury Hank Paulson, where

28:46

you're with regulators now. both

28:48

dealt with the uncertain, the

28:50

fear of the uncertain, and

28:53

the power of a few

28:55

investment houses in Wall Street.

28:57

G-SIBs. said G -Sibs. now tech

29:00

companies are there few with too

29:02

much power. How

29:04

do you navigate

29:06

showing the opportunity, the

29:09

democratization to talk to the

29:11

regulators about this world and

29:13

the role of technology? The

29:16

opportunity with technology is profound

29:18

for every country. 85 %

29:20

of economic growth over the

29:22

last 80 years is attributable

29:24

to technology. And so most

29:26

important thing as we're sitting here

29:28

today is to identify

29:30

how collectively we can benefit from

29:33

the upside while protecting against

29:35

mitigating the downside risks. We

29:37

need to be clear about the

29:39

art of the possible and

29:42

fortifying to make sure that

29:44

we're being responsible, collectively responsible in everything

29:46

we can do. I've already

29:48

spoken about the upside. It's profound,

29:50

whether it's advancing science, it's

29:53

the trillions economic uplift, it's around health care,

29:55

it's around education. The

29:57

upside is clear. And...

29:59

But concern to your

30:01

question about downside risk is

30:05

appropriate, important, and we're

30:07

very focused on it. And so

30:09

I think it's our obligation to work

30:11

constructively with regulators when they ask

30:13

any of the questions or at any

30:16

of the issues around workforce transition or

30:18

energy utilization content to make

30:20

sure that we're operating on

30:22

a solid foundation. We need

30:24

to constructively engage. And

30:26

I found the same thing when I was

30:28

in financial services. As they were looking to

30:30

implement changes coming out of the financial crisis, those

30:33

who were in banks who were putting

30:35

country first trying to. understand are some of

30:37

the issues around implementation. became

30:40

valuable partners to people

30:42

in the regulatory world who

30:44

are trying to understand how to something. that

30:47

enables the upside benefit

30:50

without the downside risk. And so so

30:52

imperative to be constructively

30:55

engaging, responsibly putting. the

30:57

problem solving first in order

30:59

to get this. upside downside right.

31:02

What do you take? from Street

31:04

and technology to other industries

31:06

in this power of technology,

31:08

whether it's building supply or

31:10

construction or any industry, how

31:12

can you? take this knowledge

31:14

to other industries as a leader and

31:16

think about how we accelerate some

31:19

of those. I think it's

31:21

such an important question because I said, we're

31:23

privileged to be living in this amazing

31:25

time in history with AI, and it

31:27

does require each of us to radically

31:29

rethink. all elements of our

31:31

business because what you don't want to do is

31:33

be at the back end of something that is

31:35

evolving. It is easier to prevent

31:37

than to fix. It It is easier to be ahead

31:39

of the curve than trying to catch up. So

31:41

give you two examples, one of the ones I

31:44

get really excited about and a lot of this is

31:46

Google Cloud the work that they do with their

31:48

partners. One example is

31:50

with logistics leaders across a

31:52

whole host of different areas. They've come to

31:54

us and said, how can we optimize? our

31:57

routes? and that saves the money. It

31:59

saves. them time. And in many instances,

32:01

what they're also saying is, thank you,

32:03

it's also addressing our carbon footprints some

32:05

of the goals that we've set

32:07

for ourselves there. I I'll give you

32:09

one in the public sector, which I

32:11

really like the state of Minnesota. We

32:13

were asked to do some work

32:15

with the public sector, where they wanted

32:17

to better provision services to their

32:19

constituents. And initially, they said

32:21

they wanted to be able to do

32:23

that in four primary languages. I

32:26

hadn't even realized there were four

32:28

primary languages that would be critical

32:30

there. There after a number of months,

32:32

they came back and said, actually, we

32:34

want to extend it by another

32:36

26 languages. The ability with

32:38

Google Translate, whether you're in the public

32:40

sector or the private sector, to meet

32:42

people where they want to be met

32:45

in their own language is so easy

32:47

with AI. And so again,

32:49

each one of us has opportunities, whether

32:51

it's how you interact with customers

32:53

or how you how you manage your expense line so

32:55

can invest more for long -term growth.

32:57

There are a host of opportunities that

32:59

are relevant for every industry. You

33:01

have to radically rethink what you're doing.

33:03

So So I to give a a little

33:05

boost to Google Translate. Our

33:07

23 -year -old son has just, it's

33:09

a long story, doesn't matter, has

33:11

just been in Serbia, Romania,

33:15

and Lithuania, among some

33:17

other crazy places.

33:19

And unfortunately, some difficult

33:22

situations arose Romania and Serbia,

33:24

and Serbia in particular where he had

33:26

a little, a lot of risk in a

33:28

certain situation. And he whips

33:30

out his phone and he's putting Google

33:32

Translate in and he's he's speaking Serbian on

33:34

the screen that de-escalated could have been a

33:36

really bad situation. Wow. So So Ruth, I'm super

33:38

happy that Google Translate has come up

33:40

as far as it has. you. you. That's

33:42

a great story. It's true and it just

33:44

happened last week. Wow. As our listeners

33:46

know, we like to end each podcast

33:48

with some rapid fire questions to get

33:50

to know you even better, Ruth. This

33:52

is where we ask you a series of

33:55

questions and you respond as quickly as possible,

33:57

first thing in the top of your mind. Are

33:59

you ready? Go for it. Besides mail... phone calendar.

34:01

What are the three apps on your phone can't live

34:04

without? Probably

34:06

Maps and

34:08

YouTube, both for music to start

34:10

my day and pump it up

34:12

the right way and for amazing podcasts.

34:14

If you could instantly become an

34:16

expert in something, what would it

34:18

be? Probably, I'd

34:20

Probably, I'd probably want to

34:22

be a concert pianist.

34:24

What motivates you the most?

34:27

Feeling like I'm having an impact,

34:29

doing something valuable, learning. My

34:32

father, probably in many respects, I

34:35

turned to something that he

34:37

always said as I was

34:39

growing up. said, education

34:41

is a passport to freedom. It's

34:43

a passport for life. He

34:47

was a Holocaust refugee, made

34:50

it to the United States years after the

34:52

war I was born in England, and

34:54

and this country. In

34:56

his final days, he talked about the

34:58

risk of coming to this country. I

35:01

think that the opportunity

35:04

to do things that make

35:06

a difference to me,

35:08

that's the most inspiring. That's

35:10

beautiful. Speaking making

35:12

a difference, if you were to devote

35:15

the rest of your life to philanthropy,

35:18

what what would you choose? What single

35:20

cause would you choose? It It

35:22

off of what I just said about

35:24

my dad. It's

35:26

addressing the opportunity gap. Everyone

35:28

deserves the opportunity to have a

35:30

shot at the best life

35:33

they can lead. There are many

35:35

paths to that. I

35:37

think that the umbrella

35:39

would be around opportunity. Probably

35:42

the most important is education and

35:44

skills to thrive in the

35:46

world in which we live. If

35:48

you were to give one

35:50

book to everyone on your team,

35:52

what would it be? Well,

35:54

the book I just finished reading

35:56

was Maniac. I

36:00

read it because the author is such

36:02

an extraordinary author, And first

36:04

book I read was when we cease Understand

36:06

the World, so immediately we get into the next

36:08

one. And importantly, it

36:10

traces the life

36:13

of an extraordinary physicist,

36:15

Neumann, and then it

36:17

ends with our colleague, Demis Isavas, in the

36:19

final chapter. so everyone at Google has

36:21

to read that book. Last question. Knowing

36:24

what you know now, what advice

36:26

do you give to someone who thinks they

36:28

want to be a C -suite leader when they're entering

36:30

their career? Well, when I entered my

36:32

career, it didn't occur to me I would be a C

36:34

-suite leader, and I had never thought about it. I

36:37

think that people who plan

36:39

to deliberately miss things along

36:41

the way, and that what

36:43

actually opened the door for

36:45

me to be here was

36:47

the fact that I wasn't

36:49

rigid in my thinking and

36:52

I didn't have a clear

36:54

plan. My plan was just

36:56

to continue growing and learning and

36:58

having an impact. It goes back to

37:00

an earlier answer when

37:02

I said the most important thing for

37:04

me is to keep asking what's your highest

37:06

and best use, and if you keep addressing

37:08

that question, what's your highest and best use,

37:10

and you don't have blinders on, you

37:12

will find that leaders eventually say, wow,

37:14

if you did X and Y and A

37:17

and B, you can probably do something else

37:19

as well. And that's why doors then kept

37:21

opening, and I didn't take all of the

37:23

doors. You have to know yourself and know when

37:25

to say no. but it's also important to

37:27

have that debate with people you trust and

37:29

respect who are thinking out for you, not

37:31

just for the expedient problem they have. So

37:34

you know when to turn down a door

37:36

and when to take the door. That's

37:38

what I would say is the most important. Just

37:40

keep learning and being open to new ideas. Ruth,

37:43

thank you again for being here.

37:45

What an amazing conversation and broad ranging learning

37:48

from the past to thinking about how

37:50

we invest in the future and optimize all

37:52

of that. And And

37:54

about optimizing in your

37:57

own redefining of yourself, you

37:59

said, listen, What is is

38:01

highest and best use? And

38:03

when the world changed, you changed. but

38:05

you knew what those opportunities were and

38:07

you took advantage of them. When

38:09

we look towards the future. and think

38:11

about the power of technology, the power of

38:14

AI AI particular. The most important

38:16

thing is asking why not. this

38:19

sense of optimism. to

38:21

ask why not and act on it. it, to

38:23

reframe the impossible. to

38:26

the possible. And if you

38:28

think broadly, you can act on

38:30

the art of possible. And when

38:32

things like alpha folds and

38:34

Google Translate from people who said. let's

38:37

think about what we can do. and

38:40

not worry about what we can't do. We

38:42

also talked about some of your journeys

38:44

and mine through cancer. And

38:47

the fact that 20 years on the

38:49

quality of care, the level of care and

38:51

the process is so much improved, that

38:53

it is manageable. and

38:55

40 % of Americans will be diagnosed

38:57

with cancer in their lifetime. but

38:59

there's room for optimism. Don't let

39:01

the bird scare you off. And

39:03

that Speaking to others creates

39:06

an outpouring. of support

39:08

and humor and to take on

39:10

anything. And last,

39:12

as we think about these big thoughts. Where

39:14

do you invest for the future? How does

39:16

Google think about where to make the big

39:19

bets? You said

39:21

it's really important. that you don't

39:23

just move on from what success is. You

39:26

invest in search and it's gone to

39:28

voice. because that's what the next

39:30

generation wants. What you have. must

39:32

evolve. or be gone.

39:36

So don't just focus on the new

39:38

new thing. Make sure you continue

39:40

to invest primarily and what you have

39:42

and make it improve. by investing

39:44

in long -term growth. You

39:47

focus on the highest priorities and you invest

39:49

in long -term growth or you sow the

39:51

seeds. of your own destruction. but

39:54

there's also the obligation to have a

39:56

foundation around privacy. and

39:58

creating a a solid foundation for society. that trust

40:00

technology. We trust these investments. So

40:02

we look both for where we can

40:04

go, but protecting how we get

40:06

there. Thanks again, Have a great day.

40:08

We appreciate you being here. Thank you

40:11

so much, Ruth. Thank you. It's

40:13

a wonderful being with you. for

40:15

joining us on this episode of

40:18

Redefiners. For more compelling insights from

40:20

leaders across industries and around the

40:22

world, listen to Redefiners wherever

40:24

you get your podcasts. And to

40:26

learn more, or or to get in

40:28

contact with us, visit our website at

40:30

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40:32

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40:34

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