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). Its the one thing that we have done well. How hard could they be? I remember we were interviewing you for the book and you had some tough questions. 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.. Robertson will lead the company's human resources organization and advance the company's people strategy. /ColorSpace << endobj As a result, we saw a rapid double-digit increase in employee engagement over three years growth we maintained throughout 2021. Email . %PDF-1.4 When I made that transition to HR, I had come out of being a consultant in the defense space in KPMG Consulting. x][~s]^}lCHAC~)qH}CpIs9;;;||G]y,ySg7v'_h?,M7u&U)iPO4_jm~nA 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 $290.3 billion in policyholder assets. It cannot be a separate thing. Reggieyiane Robertson. Thats true but I dont ever remember sending you an email or a text that wasnt instantaneously received and I was anywhere on the globe at that time. Youre assembling A-players, and no doubt I walked into a bunch of A-players with the reputation of Northwestern Mutual. Ep146: Reshaping Talent Strategies With Northwestern Mutual EVP and CHRO Don Robertson Watch on Maintaining Engagement Through the Pandemic During the Great Resignation or Great Reshuffle, engagement for many companies significantly dropped. >> About Northwestern MutualNorthwestern Mutualhas been helping families and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. >> Ive used the analogy for those people that are pro-football or soccer but there are not too many soccer fans, except Mike Cirelli, who reminds me all the time. As a matter of fact, we spent time figuring out, What is Don not going to be mad about that we leave out because there was such good material in there?. Previously Don was the Chief People Officer of Apttus. When I look at the percentage of people that are top talent and at certain levels, everything we do is directionally to try to make sure that our workforce is consistent with the diversity goals that we have. MILWAUKEE, March 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual, a leading financial services company, announced today that it was selected by Forbes as one of America's Best Large Employers. The employee has to get what they need from the company and their own development as well. /Parent 2 0 R M@bp6VCcT$*%R She took me and made me the Head of HR for HR when I had no business. Before Apttus Don was the CHRO for Sutherland Global Services. It was evident that our organization did not have a clear employee value proposition that our talent could see, feel, and understand predictably and consistently. And we strengthened our performance-based culture, ensuring that our high performers are rewarded for the results they achieve. I tell people Im getting better every year. The company always cared about this but what we wanted to do was to put a lot more mechanisms in place to make sure it happened. Business leaders, John Hinshaw, Mike Nefkens, Meg and Mark Hurd. m+LbPcByzbZ8&@eZre|(wa"A+mc1aDM~_Y#]l$0h+4qm{=9,s}sa^o{{sx]%6\pltk[;:ca$-`\k=O>+Ists:R.xesO{N'Z^5 P`lWwliLi8 7|Oj"4O 0`x >YLAep)^/Y=6P c j.qA\90jV!!`X fx?"$XN #G0,qG0'Pcy Pc9NrQZcZ;Dgg;Q:!~0rrZ\ When you use that as an example of what youve done and thats where you failed on something and its real, profound and authentic, I found that it tends to draw people out. Do you want to be in this area? Every conversation I have with that person is to help them achieve that. Northwestern Mutual Location 720 E Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53202, United States Description Industry Insurance Sources: Financial Advisor and InvestmentNews, April 2021, Financial Planning, August 2021. I should have gathered more data, or whatever it was but I liked that. I made the wrong call. How do you dig into finding that resilience and discussing failure with people you consider to work there? I had a major pull me aside and he said, Be good, be brief, be gone. That was it. Not all products and services are available in all states. Robertson joins Northwestern Mutual after serving in human resources leadership roles at companies ranging from Fortune 50s to maturing start-ups. They wanted someone to help the HR function help the sales organization from a development standpoint. << She said, This is not crisp. Im going to give her that feedback. When she is making this presentation to me, I know its a good presentation for her level but if she wants to be at my level, she is going to get questions asked this way or that way. This button displays the currently selected search type. Some policies may not receive dividends in a particular year or years even while other policies receive dividends. Here at Northwestern Mutual, we built and now consistently maintain 80%+ employee engagement levels across all our business units, across genders, across race, across tenure and more. Don also serves on the Boards of Directors for the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Wisconsin Humane Society, and the Milwaukee Public Museum. 4) Our challenge was helping employees reconnect with our mission, rediscover that few pursuits are more noble, and recognize once again the significant impact they were making in real peoples lives every day. Therefore, you become an environment thats known as developing talent. Its also now the talent needs to be diverse and have the right skillsets. The products and services referenced are offered and sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial advisors and representatives. Youre going to get to where you want to get to in your career because you experience things and you become good at it. She came from the business and then went into HR. What happened is I got in it and I realized my business background, my experience and what I had done was advantageous. /Subtype /Link Employees, your job is to work with your manager to develop a career plan. Life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits are issued by The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (NM). All Rights Reserved. Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Don Robertson. Don Robertson is the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, and a member of the Senior Leadership Team of Northwestern Mutual - a $30+ billion, Fortune 100 financial . Fractional HR Interim HR HR Gap Assessment Policies/Process/Systems Culture Scaling, Smart move"offered coaching for each of our managers on how to have effective career and development conversations with their team members." One of the most difficult things to help businesses understand is that the faster you can recognize what you need from a talent standpoint and put your talent on that, the faster you can accelerate your priorities. 9 0 obj You know how to drive the car that youre driving. My first thought was to throw my chest out, yell louder and I would lead with ego. You think youve got it all figured out. Ideally, what you will do over time is build your organization to be a talent engine so that it becomes second nature, but there are foundational elements that you have to put in place around talent succession planning, rising star analysis, talent management to career growth and career development. You need to think of it as strengthening the leadership and cultural fabric of your firm. To your point, if its not woven in, its a straight threat and people will pay attention to that however they do. The first half of my career was not in HR. Cision Distribution 888-776-0942 Where you lose most of the time is your 5 to 10-year rock stars who look ahead and they dont see the opportunity and somebody calls them. I dont think you started in HR. /URI (https://www.northwesternmutual.com/) Therefore, its things like enabling your employees to have a career and achieve their lifetime dreams. I became more authentic as I got older and I would say, Heres what I was thinking. We reconfigured our leadership structure. 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. 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. Robertson will lead the company's human resources organization and advance the company's people strategy. 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. What I would tell any company that is not emphasizing that enough is, one of the most powerful things you can do is to become a talent magnet and it becomes momentum-driven. Fortunately, Ive had opportunities to resurrect. Youve had some amazing insights. Theres no question that there isnt enough talent out there to do all the things that all the companies want to do. See Profile. Some of the things that I operate with are some of the things Ive talked about already. endobj They were like, Do you know what we do? I said, Yes, I used to do what you did. The reason for that question is youve been great at giving back and helping people along. 4 0 obj There are two sides to this coin. You have some people reading and I know they do want to read. Northwestern Mutual Capital is composed of experienced and dedicated professionals who take pride in the strength of our relationships and the clients we represent. You need to institutionalize the way you do your talent so that diversity is at the forefront of anything you do. Two additional senior leadership appointments include: Evamarie Schoenborn was named president. When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type. Dont think you have them all yourself. Were going to focus on the defense and the offense. It has to be threaded in your mainstream of what you do for talent. Cameron Robertson has been working as a A and Executive Director. Through a distinctive, whole-picture planning approach, we empower our clients to make the most of every single day and plan for important moments in their future. I learned that from going to Mark. What weve accomplished here is remarkable. I dont know about pearls of wisdom. Our company's record-setting Don Robertson on LinkedIn: Grateful for the opportunity to discuss Northwestern Mutual's historic We put in a whole new talent management process and offered coaching for each of our managers on how to have effective career and development conversations with their team members. Build those key relationships early.. Talent pools are things that youre trying to accomplish. << endobj I try to tell it in a holistic way, Its not just to benefit you now. The company manages more than $125 billion of client assets through its wealth management and investment services. 5 0 obj When you walked in, do you think that your organizations looked at the talent the same way you did? What I tell managers all the time is, Your job is to be a talent multiplier. I tell employees, Your job is to own your career. You need to be clear as an employee, what it is you want to accomplish in your career, the path that you want to go down, the skills and capabilities that youre going to need to achieve that but your manager needs to work with you to chart out a path. If they do that, it means the person is performing. Don Robertson. One of the things that Ive spent my time and most of the companies Ive worked with is trying to help the business understand that you need to be thinking about the talent that its going to take as youre thinking about what it is youre trying to do. Phone . The problem is, when youre young, youre trying to prove yourself and do it all yourself. Its the ultimate compliment. See Profile. In fact, one of the things about the chef versus the baker is Bina was a great example of that. Only those representatives with "Advisor" in their title or who otherwise disclose their status as an advisor of NMWMC are credentialed as NMWMC representatives to provide investment advisory services. 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. /Type /Annot I hit 60, believe it or not, in June 2021. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com She makes me leave the phone in another room when were sleeping. >> I try to get to know the person at an authentic level. I advised him to do the same. We're still Liked by John Roberts Northwestern. To learn more about Northwestern Mutual, visit NM.com. Schlifske joined Northwestern Mutual as an investment specialist and later led a variety of the company's investment operations as well as different parts of its business operations. Phone . People Also . Alongside all the exceptional strengths that it brought to the table, there was one clear opportunity for change. You remember the old days when the company would sell a product and then they would try to bolt on the services as an afterthought. The people leaders have to be an extension of the leadership teams. 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. 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 You wear your best clothes. Its either you have it or you dont. You know how to get to work every day. Im not going to give you the background on this amazing leader that he is the CHRO. << Weve all had failures. Thats what I found in my career is that because I can attend to think and talk more like a business person who happens to know HR rather than an HR person who is trying to understand the business, it gives me an ability to accelerate a lot of times to a stage of making an impact versus spending a lot of time trying to convince people that I can help them. One of the first things I did when I got here was put in place metrics that we would put in our bonus programs to make sure we achieve our diversity goals. Its a long story how I got into HR. When youre looking for talent, tell us what youre digging into if you have to interview a person. 6U.r6F(>9lf1Q())#eyj_]5wjwikOQ16~FT39SlQPPG1F~F ix`1OgM I+;|m7F3'GWWuVG oDFky>F b9"xl|O Im talking about some significant stuff because most people that Im going to be interviewing with have had those kinds of things. Most recently, he headed HR at Apttus, a Silicon Valley start-up firm that provides software solutions for mid-sized and enterprise companies, Sutherland Global Services, and start-up firm TrueCar. Ive been doing this for many years and last time I checked, I still havent cornered the market on all the great ideas. The second thing is to spend time with your people at the lower levels and I would say this for any leader. Don Robertson is now chief human resources officer. /CA 1.0 /Type /Action We set benchmarks and goals for engagement, organizational health, transformation, diversity, and inclusion, and more and we adjusted our bonus structures to reflect these new targets. I feel its my responsibility to help prepare them for what theyre trying to achieve in their career and create an environment and experiences that give them the opportunity to hone those skills. 3 Dividends are reviewed annually and are not guaranteed. A key strategic advisor to the CEO, Mike is chair of the company's Senior Leadership Team and has oversight of the enterprise Quarterly Business Review (QBR) and Sustained Funding process. How do you start getting there? Fortunately, I got a chance to work with probably what I consider one of the greatest HR people Ive ever known, Marcela Perez De Alonso. Thats where labor planning and workforce planning come into play because theres the business strategy and what the business is trying to accomplish. Leaders need to hold themselves accountable to develop the future leaders of that company that that company is going to need. You were always like this. Weve married up, which was not expected of us. Before Sutherland he was SVP of HR for HP Enterprise Services. "Don is a seasoned business leader who has delivered strong results at . They engaged our employee population to understand how they were feeling and why. 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. Did you have to start to change mindsets about how they looked at great people? There are a number of issues out there that companies are facing. 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 Business background, my experience and what I had a major pull me aside he. Results will appear and be automatically updated as you type that diversity is at the forefront anything. Leaders need to hold themselves accountable to develop a career plan time is, youre! Authentic as I got into HR results at business background, my and! As a a and Executive Director are a number of issues out there that companies are.. 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