By Emily Glazer
In Personal Board of Directors, top business leaders talk about
the people they turn to for advice, and how those people have
shaped their perspective and helped them succeed. Previous
installments from the series are here.
Anna Catalano stumbled into the energy sector as a freshman in
college after snagging a ride home to Kansas City with the son of a
division manager at oil company Amoco Corp. Instead of working as a
guard at a local library during the summer, she joined Amoco doing
secretarial work. By the time she graduated college, she already
landed a full-time job at the energy firm.
Ms. Catalano moved up the ranks at Amoco and hoped to one day
work in Beijing since her parents immigrated from China and she
spoke Mandarin fluently. But when the opportunity arose, she was
expecting her second child and a room full of male executives
initially thought she wouldn't want to go. Luckily, one of them
decided to ask her -- and she excitedly moved across the world.
"It was an assumption that was made about me, but thank God for
the other man in the room," Ms. Catalano said. "That is the one
move that majorly changed the trajectory of my career."
Ms. Catalano, who spent decades in the energy sector, joined BP
PLC when it merged with Amoco in 1998. She ultimately left the oil
giant as its chief marketing officer after spearheading the "Beyond
Petroleum" campaign. Since then, she has served on a number of
company boards, including advisory Willis Towers Watson PLC and
chemical firm Kraton Corp., advocating for sustainability, equality
and other issues.
When she first joined a corporate board 18 years ago, she said
she was often the only woman or person of color.
"I'm comfortable asking those questions that no one wanted to
ask."
Here are four of her most valued advisers:
Jaymin Patel
President at Clarim Acquisition Corp.; Executive Chairman, Cloud
Agronomics, corporate board member
Ms. Catalano met Mr. Patel on the Willis board, before it merged
with Towers Watson.
When it came to the merger, Ms. Catalano said Mr. Patel wanted
to take the time to speak with employees and check in on how they
were doing. During mergers there are often situations where
employees don't have the full picture, she said.
"When business is faced with difficult financial decisions, it's
always good to have voices in the room to say: 'What's the right
thing? Yes it'll cost a little bit more but this is the right thing
we need to do, '" she said.
Shelly Lazarus
Chair Emeritus of advertising firm Ogilvy
Ms. Catalano worked closely with Ms. Lazarus during the "Beyond
Petroleum" rebranding and often turned to her for advice on how to
navigate complicated internal dynamics.
"When you're an oil company, and you're trying to convince
people at an oil company that sustainability and green is
important, there are naysayers inside the company," Ms. Catalano
said. "She is someone who really helped me navigate what I call
'the land mines.'"
Ms. Lazarus counseled Ms. Catalano on different approaches to
win support internally, such as gathering a larger group of people
together and gaining the confidence of others, Ms. Catalano
said.
"She really understands the broader picture of many, many
stakeholders and many people who can impact how a company is seen,"
Ms. Catalano added.
Curtis Chin
Milken Institute Asia fellow, former U.S. ambassador to the
Asian Development Bank
Ms. Catalano worked with Mr. Chin when he was an executive at
public relations firm Burson-Marsteller in Beijing and she worked
in marketing at Amoco more than 20 years ago. She said they've
stayed in close touch through the years and she turns to Mr. Chin
to get an expert opinion on what's happening in Asia and how to
talk about it.
"Curtis is someone I go to when I want to talk to someone about
impact communications, how to make an impact, how to understand the
broader world global picture," she said.
Since Ms. Catalano sits on boards that are considering a lot of
global matters in a nonpartisan way, she often looks for Mr. Chin's
perspective. Lately, for instance, they've discussed hate crimes
against the Asian-American Pacific Islander community, she
said.
"I look at him as a role model for how to communicate in a way
that makes people want to keep communicating with you, which I
think in the current environment is really important," she said.
"He doesn't shy away from controversy, he makes statements in a way
that invites conversation."
Toby Redshaw
CEO of consultancy Verus Advisory, former Verizon Communications
Inc. 5G executive
Ms. Catalano said since she met Mr. Redshaw in an innovation
group in Chicago, he "stretches my brain."
She said when it comes to technology, directors often just think
of cybersecurity rather than considering how technology will change
the business from a strategic standpoint, what innovation like 5G
will enable and how business may be threatened or flourish.
Ms. Catalano said her biggest fear when she left her full-time
job was "going stale." Mr. Redshaw helps her continue to learn,
whether it is about virtual reality or convincing her recently to
get an Oculus headset.
"In my role as a director, I do not want to be someone who is
taking up a chair in a boardroom that doesn't understand the impact
that things like technology have on a business," she said. "I need
to make sure I can bring that to the room. I don't want to be one
of these people who sit around just talking about the way things
used to be 20 years ago."
Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 01, 2021 00:14 ET (04:14 GMT)
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