(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Taylor Morrison.)
By Fortune
On this episode of Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast, cohosts Diane Brady, executive editorial director of the Fortune CEO Initiative and Fortune Live Media, and editorial director Kristin Stoller talk to Sheryl Palmer, chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison. They reflect on the pressure CEOs face to speak about societal issues; how to work effectively with both sides of the political aisle; and why Palmer has spent almost 20 years with the company despite a brief resignation in 2010.
Transcript:
Diane Brady: Hello everybody, and welcome to Leadership Next. I’m Diane Brady.
Kristin Stoller: And I’m Kristin Stoller.
Brady: Quantum computing has the potential to transform industries by solving optimization problems, boosting machine learning, and sparking innovation in logistics, finance, and material science. Jason Girzadas, CEO of Deloitte US, is a longtime sponsor of this podcast and is here with us today. Hi Jason, thanks for joining us.
Jason Girzadas: Great to see you Diane.
Brady: So what is quantum computing, and how do you see it transforming industries?
Girzadas: Well, quantum computing has been a topic for some time in research circles, certainly closely watched by business, but it’s fundamentally a different computing paradigm that uses the principles of physics instead of mathematics to drive the computing outcomes. That’s been largely the domain of research, and it’s becoming seen as being a more viable commercial computing methodology and an approach. And I think the real uses will be ultimately around very complex optimization scenarios, further enhancements to scaling, machine learning, and also very complicated simulations that could be relevant to a whole host of different business applications.
Stoller: Jason, what steps should leaders take to prepare for both its potential benefits as well as its potential risks?
Girzadas: It’s really about readiness planning right now, and preparing an organization to understand the implications. So it’s about understanding what skill sets would be required, what type of cybersecurity protocols would need to be in place, and begin to think about the types of use cases that would be very germane around optimization and simulation.
Stoller: Excellent advice. Thank you so much, Jason.
Brady: Thanks, Jason.
Brady: In this episode, we are speaking with Sheryl Palmer, who is the Chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison. And Sheryl, you are the first and only woman to lead a public home builder. Still to this day. You went there in 2007 and it’s an incredible job you’ve done, we’ll be talking about that. We are taping this episode here in Scottsdale, Arizona, before an audience of leaders. So thank you—for Deloitte’s North America Next Generation CEO program. Thank you all for joining us for this live conversation.
Stoller: Absolutely, and thank you, Sheryl, for joining us as well.
Sheryl Palmer: Yeah, of course.
Stoller: So one of the things I love, Sheryl, and that you’re so good at, is—I love hearing stories. You’re really good at telling stories. You have interviewed so many high profile people, and I have it here, George W. Bush, Michelle Obama, Steve Case. You told Diane and I that you also worked for Ray Kroc at McDonald’s, which is a really fun surprise. But I’d love to hear your top story of interacting with them and the leadership lessons that you think about to this day.
Palmer: Oh, goodness, so many. But if I were to–specific to your question, Kristin–you know, I think about—I’ve had the absolutely amazing opportunity to interview George W. three times, and so the first time was very systematic. I had to go through Secret Service to get all my questions. And the third time was very casual, and his authenticity and candor really came out because he was just not—he wasn’t on guard at all. He was very engaging. But what I loved about him was just his genuine one care: that I looked good in the interview, which how unique would that be? Right? We’re walking from the green room, and he’s like, “don’t worry. You got this. It’s my job to make you look good.” And I’m like, “No, I don’t think it goes that way, but I so appreciate that.” But he was really quite genuine. And then from a leadership standpoint, and this might sound so silly, but three interviews, I also had the opportunity to be in the rotunda when his dad passed and I’d sent him a note that I was sending my respects, and each one of those four communications, I got a handwritten letter from him, and that’s a lost…
Stoller: My mom says it really matters.
Palmer: And it really matters!
