Cold Call How Equitable Confronted Its Inertia After 160 Years in Business
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Jan 6, 2026 Mark Pearson, President and CEO of Equitable Holdings, leads a team aiming for cultural transformation in a 163-year-old firm. Joined by Das Narayandas, a Harvard Business School professor, and COO Jeff Hurd, they discuss how the 2018 IPO sparked a need for innovation and faster adaptation. They explore building organizational muscle, breaking down silos through boot camps, and the importance of internal ownership for lasting change. The conversation highlights balancing respect for history with a future-focused approach, and the ongoing evolution of their New Ways of Working initiative.
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Five Pillars Make A Coherent System
- Combine OKRs, adaptive leadership, agile, redesign, and skills as a coherent program.
- Flatten layers and empower leaders to speed decisions and accountability.
Opportunity Fairs Unearth Talent
- Equitable ran opportunity fairs where leaders pitched missions and opened roles to any employee.
- The approach revealed internal talent who later assumed leadership roles.
Turn Skeptics Into Ambassadors
- Identify influential skeptics and convert them into ambassadors through measurement and engagement.
- Accept some people will leave; momentum often creates a tipping point of adoption.
