# ‘I can be a three-time CEO because I’ve never been infected by systemic racism’: Newell chief executive vows to level the playing field

The deaths of Floyd, Arbery and many other unarmed Black people spurred protests and a national reckoning this past summer on racial injustice across many dimensions of society. Within the walls of Newell
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which Saligram has led for about a year, he also heard from Black workers who were struggling to find their place at the company. 

Saligram is focused on how to make Newell an inclusive environment where everyone has a shot at the top tiers of business. He draws on his international experience and his work at companies across the globe for inspiration.

“This is a time CEOs have got to listen, have got to learn,” he said. “Having lived in six countries, I spent a lot of my time living in other people’s shoes, listening to their perspectives. And what I’ve concluded: People are more similar than different. We’ve got to embrace commonalities and differences, understand them, and figure out how we adjust to them.” 

He began by writing a letter, “Embracing Our Humanity,” that examined the issue from a national point of view, as well as from the perspective of Newell’s workplace.

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“As Americans, we need to proactively address aspects of our society in which discrimination and racism are systemic and root them out,” Saligram wrote. “We need to open our hearts and truly believe that every one of us is equal, not succumb to tawdry stereotypes or allow the insidious hand of unconscious bias to seep deep into our souls.”

To start, he encouraged employees to help make Newell more welcoming, offering simple suggestions like being mindful of word choice in emails and showing empathy. Members of internal groups focused on diversity are helping to drive change, he said.

But he also discussed changes that need to be made in society following ongoing nationwide protests.

“It would be tragic if the narrative that the general public remembers is property damage and violent acts instead of focusing on the real issues at hand, namely justice, equality and ending systemic discrimination,” he wrote. “We cannot revert to the old normal of ‘Us versus Them’ and perpetuate senseless killings of people of color.” 

Saligram, born and raised in India, has had a 42-year career that includes senior roles at companies like Aramark
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InterContinental Hotels Group
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and SC Johnson. More recently, he served as CEO of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc.
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a company that specializes in selling heavy equipment, and OfficeMax Inc.
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Saligram had been leading Newell through a business transformation before the coronavirus pandemic, one that included a new leadership lineup; a focus on sales growth in the company’s varied core categories, which include writing, home fragrance and baby; and improvement in operational margins.

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In Newell’s portfolio are items like Elmer’s glue, Calphalon cookware, Yankee Candle home goods, Marmot outdoor gear and Rubbermaid food-storage containers. In its most recent earnings announcement on July 31, Newell beat the FactSet consensus reporting adjusted earnings per share of 30 cents and sales of $2.11 billion, though sales fell nearly 15% from the previous year.

Saligram says the company has put “cash first” throughout the coronavirus, ending the second quarter with $2 billion of liquidity. The company has also been “laser-focused” on simplification, trimming items and streamlining processes for greater efficiency.

Newell is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 30.

Newell received a subpoena in March from the Securities and Exchange Commission over sales and accounting practices over the past four years. The company says it’s cooperating. “It’s ongoing,” Saligram said. “We’re very confident in the management team we have and our accounting practices.”

Perhaps one of Newell’s biggest business challenges has been the back-to-school season that wasn’t. Many Newell products are on traditional school-supply lists.

“In the short term, this is definitely a challenge for us,” Saligram said. “But in the long term, the writing business, the learning and development of a very strong business philosophy, represent a significant amount of profit and a lot of innovation.”

In this latest installment of The Value Gap, MarketWatch’s interview series about how to address inequality and racism, Saligram largely put business aside to discuss his company’s efforts to recognize and eliminate discrimination:

MarketWatch: If you’re an investor and you’re taking a look at all the businesses that Newell is involved with, the new leadership and the turnaround, how should they be thinking about the company and its path forward?

Ravi Saligram: My No. 1 priority was to get the right leadership in place and get a structure that worked for us, because we have different businesses all the way from fire alarms to candles to Rubbermaid containers. And, by the way, I’m very pleased to say four out of my eight business-unit CEOs are women.

So if you’re an investor, I think the No. 1 thing you want to look at is a leadership team that has longevity and is committed and aligned. The businesses are [focused on consumer trends]; they have that insight. They drive the innovation.

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We’ve done a lot of good things on both the food business and commercial business last year, so when the pandemic hit, we were able to capitalize.

MarketWatch: A lot of leaders might be nervous about addressing diversity issues. How have you been able to approach these topics in a way that is both comfortable for you and good for the business?

Saligram: Let me address female diversity first: I grew up with five aunts in India, and my first boss was a female. I’ve also seen how a female point of view, and especially when a lot of your consumers are women, creates a different way to look at things.

My father died at a very early age. He was in the Indian Army. And my mother had never worked. She didn’t even know how to write checks in India. But she was very resourceful.

After that, I was committed, saying, “I want every woman to have the right to work if they want, because I do not want them to be economically dependent on men.” I’ve inculcated that into my daughters. My wife is definitely smarter than I am; she has a PhD in biochemistry. I want my daughters to grow up in a society and an environment where they can be what they want.

I hate it when people say to women, “You’re bossy,” but the same word is applied as a great leader to a man.

For me, I’ve got to say until now [the Black Lives Matter movement] was not an area I paid a lot of attention to — and frankly, until now, I had never even thought of myself as any color. America has been very kind to me. I work hard; it has allowed me to flourish.

I’ve always believed the CEO role is absolutely about shareholder value, but also about stakeholder value. There is both a moral imperative and a business imperative to do this right. I don’t know that I can change America, but I can definitely change Newell.

So I wrote a letter called “Embracing Our Humanity.” Before I sent it out, I convened our group called Beacon, for Black employees, about 150 or so. They said, “We cannot bring our whole selves to work. We’re constantly assimilating.”

I said, “I’ve lived in six countries. I know about assimilation as an immigrant into this country. You were born here. Why do you need to assimilate?”

It became clear that they didn’t feel part of the fabric of America, and that systemic racism was such a barrier. And that’s when I said, “That’s why, as an immigrant from India, I can be a three-time CEO because I’ve never been infected by systemic racism. But those who were born here start off with a handicap.”

I heard stories about one of our managers telling me just this year, “I’ve been stopped by police 24 times. I get pulled over for no reason.” I heard Black mothers, my employees, say, “Every night I worry about my sons coming home, and daughters coming home, but especially sons.” It had a profound effect on me.

[After I sent the letter], I got a lot of positive [responses] from white employees, from Asian employees, and I also got some pushback. Some employees said, “Hey, it’s not just Black lives that matter, all lives matter.”

I’m not favoring or being partial to Black employees, but I want them to have a level playing field. I want them to rise to their full potential.

That’s the job of a CEO, to create an environment where every employee — no matter your race, your sexual preference, your religion — you should be able to rise to your full potential. That’s the kind of company we want to build, because that’s when we become a magnet for the best [candidates].

I’ve put together a small Black advisory group, and while my chief diversity officer is focusing on all our diversity issues, I’m trying to champion this Black initiative because it needs championship at the top to cascade down.

MarketWatch: How has coming from India and the immigrant experience here in the U.S. impacted your path to the chief-executive level?

Saligram: I came to this country with $9 in my pocket. I turned down a scholarship to go to the University of Michigan. My aunt had to borrow money to pay for my fees.

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I was 20 years old when I came to America. In some ways, my identity is clear in the sense that there is a lot of “Indian-ness” about me. In India, we have many religions; there’s a lot of diversity. Hinduism, as its core principle, asks you to have tolerance for other religions.

Living not only in India but five other countries, you learn that [even] when you don’t speak the language, you’ve got to get work done. When I was in Korea, when an employee’s parent died, I’d go to their homes. I drove [with] our truck drivers. And I worked on the factory lines to show them I was one with them because I had to compensate for my language inability. But they saw I was keenly interested in their success.

I believe in the American dream. How can we make it available not just to a select few, but to everyone? Because that’s the power of America. And right now, there’s a lot of division in our country. Corporate leaders, in our companies, we’ve got to heal those divisions.