Journey to Excellence with Synchrony

Michael C. Bush (00:00):

Thank you very much for coming. 

Brian Doubles (00:02):

Thanks for having us. 

Laurel Richie (00:03):

Can I just take a moment and say, this is incredible. 

Michael C. Bush (00:06):

Okay, thank you.

Laurel Richie (00:07):

I just have to have a moment of like, it's just fabulous. It looks great. It's full. People seem happy. 

Michael C. Bush (00:15):

Yeah. 

Laurel Richie (00:16):

Nice job. 

Michael C. Bush (00:17):

It's really nice on, what is this? April 9th that people are happy, feeling good. And that's one thing about Great Place To Work. We collect people who are great people because they believe in a way of life of not only do they want to do well, they want other people to do well too. This thing we believe in. Everyone does better when everyone does better. And congratulations on number two.   

Brian Doubles (00:43):

Thank you. It feels great. Wow. Looks like we bought a lot of tickets to this one.

Michael C. Bush (00:51):

Yeah, well that's what happens when you’re number two. So congratulations. Synchrony is a great example of hard work paying off from the beginning. So just the climb from 2020, number 44. It's just been a gradual climb a few spots every year and then shooting through all due to your employees. That's the thing about our work, as you know. And so we talked earlier, I don't know if you were here or not, but your face was up there.

Brian Doubles (01:22):

You know Michael, I wasn't here thankfully because I saw how big my face was. I would not have, but I got a video. I got lots of pictures. 

Michael C. Bush (01:31):

Good. But just stuff is together. 

Brian Doubles (1:33):

I appreciate your kind words. 

Michael C. Bush (1:34):

It look good. Yeah, it looked good. And so it was a great moment because it just drove home the points that Anirudh just made. That's the point. Making sure that our businesses are doing well. And you always talked about from the beginning when we met that you and Jim Kavanaugh were instantly like, it's not just about being a great place to work, it's about creating a great place to work for live, to live. And so, can you first of all just elaborate on that? 

Brian Doubles (02:00):

Yeah. We pride ourselves on giving back to the communities that we operate in. And our employees feel passionately about that. And I truly believe that if they feel supported and they feel like we're listening to our employees, they feel like this is a great place to work. They're going to pass that on. They're going to pass it on to our consumers, our partners. They'll pass it on to the communities. And I think that's why this all works. And we're not a household name, Synchrony's not, but we serve 70 million consumers in the U.S. One out of every four adults in the U.S. have a Synchrony credit card. We're still not a household name. We serve 400,000 small and medium sized businesses in the U.S. and our employees wake up every day and they're passionate about that. Access to credit is really challenging today. So many people are being underserved by the banking system. 

Brian Doubles (02:57):

And our employees want to change that and they're proud of that. And they wake up every day trying to help. And I think if we're supporting them, then they're going to make that a better experience for our 70 million consumers. They're going to wake up every day trying to figure out how to help 400,000 small to medium sized businesses compete and win and thrive. And that's what makes me so proud of this company. The ranking's great, but it is our employees. We owe it all to them. We listen to them, but they share their thoughts. I like to say we're co-designing the workplace of the future, and I really feel like that's because our employees are at the heart of everything we do. 

Michael C. Bush (03:40):

And Laurel, we asked you to come, very happy to have you join us, because there's no company on the list, don't want to offend anybody, whose board is more involved in Great Place To Work work than Synchrony’s board. And so you've been on the board over 10 years. I know you from sitting and meetings, sweating from the questions. And where does that come from, that priority at the board level on this work? Because it's uncommon. 

Laurel Richie (04:11):

Yeah. I think all of us who are on the Synchrony board join the board. Brian spoke a bit about the mission of the company, of extending credit to many in our country who don't have access to it, and the breadth and reach of Synchrony products. So we bought in from day one that this is a company that has a clear mission and second, that it's a company that understands deeply that to deliver, they got to come up with a great strategy. But that strategy is only successful if it's powered by its people. And so when you have a mission, a focus on people that is core to the company, as board members who've signed up for this oversight, fiduciary responsibility, we are deeply committed to supporting Brian's vision, strategy, and commitment, and understanding of the power of the people and the power of the culture. So it's almost like asking why does water quench thirst? It's so endemic to us. So it's how the board was constructed, it's how the company is run. And we as board members feel very much a part of that and very much bought into it. And because of the impact, we see the impact of investing and believing and nurturing the people. 

Michael C. Bush (05:43):

But I know board members know other board members. Am I correct that your experience is uncommon in terms of these topics being talked about in the boardroom? 

Laurel Richie (05:56):

I think sometimes they get talked about and I think the difference is at Synchrony we go way beyond talking. 

Michael C. Bush (06:05):

Yeah, that I know.

Laurel Richie (06:06):

Right? 

Michael C. Bush (06:06):

Yeah. 

Laurel Richie (06:07):

So Brian, I don't know of a CEO and I work with a lot of great CEOs, but I don't know of a CEO who gives such unfettered access to the employee base. So at every board meeting we have some interaction with Synchrony folks that can be the young BLP early career, those just starting out in their career at Synchrony. It can be senior leaders, it can be ERGs. And it gives us a chance to get to know the people, to get firsthand experience to see is this culture cascading through the organization? We spend time at the innovation lab, we spend time with frontline workers and employees. And I think that it says to us, this is important to us as board members. And equally important, I think it says to the employees, it's important to the board. 

Brian Doubles (07:08):

And they get that one-on-one with our board members. I’m not in the room. The leadership team's not in the room. We don't know what they're talking about. We hope it's good, but it's not always good. And our board will come back to us and say, “Hey, we heard X, Y, and Z. That really lines up with how you're thinking about the company and the strategy, but this individual, never named names, had a comment about X and we should go focus on that and work on it.” And that's really helpful for us. I mean I do that a lot with the leadership team, but that takes a lot of time from our board. They are highly engaged with our employee base.

Michael C. Bush (07:42):

And a lot of trust on both sides.

Brian Doubles (07:43):

A lot of trust on both sides.

Laurel Richie (07:44):

And the test and power of the culture. At the end of every meeting with employees, I always ask, what is it that you would like the board to know that you don't think we know? And I have yet to be in an environment with Synchrony employees where they don't have an answer for that. So the fact that they feel comfortable answering that question and giving really good feedback and insight, I think is a testament to the culture that Brian and the senior leaders have set up that they feel comfortable sharing. 

Michael C. Bush (08:16):

First of all, putting you in close proximity with those people and then they're telling you the truth because they believe you want the truth because it's going to make a difference for them and for the others in the company. And Brian, I remember a day I was with your maybe top 300 leaders, it was March 13th, you probably remember it well too. And it was a strange day. It was raining in southern California, which never happens. It's pretty unusual, especially in March. But it was raining and banks were collapsing that actual day. As a matter of fact, I woke up eating breakfast, bowl of oatmeal looking at the TV, and looking at a bank where we had a lot of money and it had just collapsed. So I had a tough day too. Luckily we got money out. 

Brian Doubles (09:00):

It was a tough day. The rain was the least, it was the least of our issues that day. 

Michael C. Bush (09:03):

And then your stock plummeted. And you were just about to roll out a new core set of leadership behaviors to a room of people. And I knew the work that your team had done that DJ and Michael had done to prepare, very thoughtful. And then they told me it was in your hands. You were now doing the work and you were literally putting pen to paper to do that and you were about to roll this out on a tough day to do it. I was about to say, man, don't do it. This might not be the day, look at the rain. But you did do it. And I was struck by that and it's odd how things work out now. Your stock took off after that, but all these stories, you don't know if they're going to have a happy ending at the time. So I just wanted you to share with the audience why you got so hands-on, had the clarity to define what leadership, and you already had a great company. What was it that you felt you needed to address? 

Brian Doubles (10:02):

Yeah, and I remember that day vividly. I remember just about to go up on stage, 300 of our senior leaders, stock markets crashing, banks are failing. 

Michael C. Bush (10:12):

Kind of like yesterday here.

Brian Doubles (10:13):

Yeah. And I said, this is really going to test my ability to compartmentalize. And I said, okay, you got to put all that away. 

Brian Doubles (10:21):

This is important for the future of the company. And I think redefining the leadership behaviors is probably one of the most important things that we've done. And you and your team were great in helping us do that because we wanted to align our leadership behaviors with the high trust behaviors that Great Place To Work has. And I think because we collaborated on it, we got an even better result. We always had values, one word values, and I just felt like they were maybe a little too vague, a little too open to interpretation. And we were anchored in a hybrid work environment. We're still anchored to that. And I said, man, that is the highest trust exercise that there is. And I said, I just want to make sure everybody knows these are the leadership behaviors that we, myself, the leadership team plan to role model and we want to get everybody bought in on these. 

Brian Doubles (11:16):

I'll give you a good example. One of our values is honest. Straightforward, honest, but it can mean different things to different people. Certainly we should tell the truth in the workplace, but I felt like we needed to make it come to life a little more. So to me it meant being really transparent with each other, not just about what's working, but more importantly what's not working. I think companies generally, they gravitate towards celebrating their successes. And I love to celebrate successes, love to celebrate great work. But where I want to spend my time, where the leadership team needs to spend their time, is on the stuff that's not working, where we have roadblocks and we need to change strategy or make additional investment where the employee experience for some reason maybe isn't that good. Any people that will come tell us that so we can go work on the tough stuff. 

Brian Doubles (12:11):

And so we put all of that just in that one value. We said, okay, this is kind of what we expect of everyone. And then we brought those same 300 leaders, brought 'em back through what we called impact sessions. Two days. And we talked a lot about the behaviors, what they meant to us. We debated, we kind of crystallized around them. And I feel now as a company, Michael, we are better aligned than we ever have. I just came from that senior leadership meeting, the one that you were at, everybody that was on stage, all the smaller group settings, everybody was so well aligned. And I feel like that was one of the most defining things that we've done in the past four years. 

Laurel Richie (12:56):

Can I say one thing about those leadership behaviors? I was looking at them the other day and I had two thoughts about 'em. One is listening is at the core of it. And they're all verbs. 

Laurel Richie (13:14):

They are not nouns, they're verbs. And I think what that means is the undercurrent of your leadership behaviors are all about relationships and they're very relational. Because I remember when you said you were doing leadership behaviors, I would've asked that was kind of asking the same question of we've got this great culture, we have really clear values. People know them, understand them and live by them. Because I meet with lots of people and I can see it's cascading and it's exactly how it should be. But when I read them and looked at them, that's the difference I think that you brought to it is it's more, I think it creates opportunity for how we engage within each other. So it's things like caring, inspiring, right. 

Michael C. Bush (14:03):

You’re making me feel great.

Laurel Richie (14:04):

But that's saying to our leaders and we as board members take that on as well, that this is how we're going to relate to each other to get the work done, to have the impact that we want to have. And it requires us to be very intentional, not just about the work, but how we work with each other to get the work done. 

Michael C. Bush (14:27):

And do you feel Laurel, as a board member that, talk about your experience of being able to access any of our data that you want. Because there's a small group of board members in the world who have that access.

Laurel Richie (14:49):

Well, it's invaluable, right? Because I think you've got to have a feel for the company which comes through this unfettered access to speak with anyone, anywhere, at any time, scheduled and unscheduled. So we have that access, but you also, which gives you the quantitative feel, but then you need the, that gives you the qualitative. You need the quantitative, right? So my experience through the engagement with employees tells me that the culture's pretty solid. And then you read the report and you look at data like 90% of people, employees feel heard. And perhaps more significant to me is over 90% of people at Synchrony feel that their manager seeks out their input and responds to it. And that is how you make sure that all levels within the organization speak up, contribute, add, and are a force for good. And those are to me, as I look at a whole sea of really rich data, those are the two that stood out to me and give me confidence in Synchrony being on a path of continued growth because people feel like they can speak up, they feel like they're heard. And for those who may be a little bit more reserved or more junior within the organization, they know that their managers seek out their input and respond to it. And when you seek out input and respond to it, you build the muscle of providing input and feedback. 

Michael C. Bush (16:26):

So Brian, the one thing you get, which I just thought about just listening to you, Laurel, is because I'm normally nervous in those meetings, but I'm not today. But in those meetings I am okay because it's so unusual. But you have very committed board members. 

Brian Doubles (16:47):

Absolutely. 

Michael C. Bush (16:47):

Because by them touching the people, they get more into the business, they care more about the business. I didn't think about the power of that. And most of the world isn't recognizing that or getting the value of that right now, most CEOs are doing all they can to make one PowerPoint slide with one data bullet on employee engagement score. Maybe that's just the situation. So this is an opportunity I think, but just like any other opportunity, it takes some courage. I think some final thoughts, free for you to give, but just want to open the door on why you do that. And then any other advice that you have for our audience around getting the board involved and the power of it. 

Brian Doubles (17:30):

I think it does to some extent come back to trust. I trust our 20,000 employees. I trust our board. We have a fantastic board. Sure. Having Laurel and the board members meet unfettered access to the data, to our employees. Sure. Could that be a little uncomfortable? You don't know what, it's unscripted. Definitely. But it works. And that feedback loop is so important. When an employee tells you something's not working, they're trusting you and they're trusting you to do something about it and you have to act on it, right? And I think that, that's why this works. I look forward to getting feedback from the board. We just had our meeting in March and they met with our technology teams, they met with our senior leaders. And I like to hear from the board on what they learned. 

Brian Doubles (18:26):

I mean, it's really valuable. I hear it from employees all the time, but I might get a different take on it from their interactions with the board. And I feel blessed to have a board that is willing to make that investment. We spend a lot of time going over the business results, the strategy, the company, but we spend an equal amount of time talking about our people, going through the Great Place To Work studies, and we share our pulse surveys with the board as we want to be transparent and look, we're not perfect. We say, here's the things we're going to go work on. Scores decline two points. Okay, these are the three things we're going to focus on. And we'd just love to have that alignment with the board. 

Michael C. Bush (19:08):

Well, that courage and trust has been rewarded. Congratulations on number two. Please give a warm Great Place To Work thank you. Thanks to Brian and Laurel.