May 27, 2024 • 25 mins
In the latest episode of MedtronicTalks Asia, host Masooma Pathre, Director, Communications, Asia, engages in a captivating conversation with Matt Walter, Chief Human Resources Officer, Medtronic, exploring his journey, leadership insights, and strategies for success. Matt shares his career trajectory, highlighting the pivotal role of psychology and business in shaping his path.
Discussing the significance of culture in a globalized workforce, Matt underscores Medtronic's mission-driven culture and commitment to innovation as key drivers of success. He elaborates on the challenges of fostering a strong culture amidst diverse demographics and virtual work environments, emphasizing the role of purposeful connection and inclusivity. Drawing from his sporting background, he emphasizes the importance of rest as a critical component of peak performance, offering a unique perspective on work-life balance. In this episode, we cover…
00.01 to 00.45: About Matt Walter
00.46 to 03.55: Organizational Psychology
03.56 to 06.34: Cultural experience
06.35 to 10.36: The drivers of a strong, positive culture
10.37 to 12.17: Staying connected in a virtual world
12.18 to 15.45: The Future of Jobs
15.46 to 19.09: The Role of Luck in One’s Career
19.10 to 21.59: Importance of rest for peak performance
22.00 to 22.47: Life outside of work
22.48 to 24.28: Book recommendations by Matt
24.30 to 25.05: Thank you, Matt!
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Where to find our speaker and host:
Matt Walter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-walter-60a197b/
Masooma Pathre: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masooma-sandeep-76b5427/
___________________________________________________________________________
Book recommendations by Matt:
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company – by Bryce G. Hoffman
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike – by Phil Knight
First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane – by T. A. Heppenheimer
___________________________________________________________________________
Reference: World Economic Forum: The Future of Jobs Report 2023
https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/
___________________________________________________________________________
To view the full transcript, click here
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
Hello and Welcome to MedtronicTalks Asia.
I am Masooma, your host for this show,
and here I explore different leadership styles
and culture with global leaders.
It's my privilege today to have with me the CHRO of Medtronic,
Matt Walter. Welcome, Matt.
Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me.
(00:28):
It's great to sit here in India on the ground and
have the opportunity to join the podcast.
Yes. I'm so glad that you're here,
and I think it's been a busy week for
all of you for the last four days.
And I'm so glad for this opportunity to have this face to face chat
with you and hear from you about your leadership styles and more.
(00:48):
So it's my absolute pleasure to have you
here and thank you for accepting it.
Yes.
So, Matt, over to my first question.
You are the CHRO of Medtronic leading talent culture and the
organization that supports almost 95,000 people across the globe.
tell us a little more about yourself.
(01:10):
Where did it all began and how did you
start your career to reach this?
That's a very reflective and vast question that you're starting with.
But I guess to say from a career perspective, where it all began,
I'd probably go back to undergrad,
into college
(01:30):
just fascinated with the study of psychology,
so the study of human behavior and that really, I think began with me.
I was big in sports and athletics and always thought about the value
of the human mind and driving performance and optimizing
your own performance. And so was studying psychology.
(01:54):
It was probably not unlike many other college students where you kind
of hit your second year and you've got a passion for something,
but then all of a sudden you're like, hey,
I got to make a career out of this.
Am I going to do right what am I going to do with a psychology
degree that's going to be of interest to me?
And so I started exploring some other subjects as well,
and I came across, took some business classes and really just,
also just fell in love with management and organizational behavior.
(02:17):
And as luck would have it, there's an intersection,
a really nice adjacency between psychology and business
and management, which is organizational psychology,
the study of human behavior at work.
and so I proceeded to go down,
explore that path a little bit more and got an internship one of my
senior year, and it was in a kind of a talent selection assessment.
(02:41):
I got to do a lot of job analysis,
riding around in police cars and fire trucks,
and doing selection for public sector, which is fascinating.
And that was it, that was okay, this is what I want to do.
And I went on and got a graduate degree and as a result of that,
I've now spent more than 20 years in the field.
Had just incredible experience across multiple industries.
(03:04):
Healthcare, financial services,
consumer retail and then more recently spent nearly the last decade
at Medtronic. and I've had just an incredible experience.
I've had the chance to be in all of our portfolios serving as a
business partner I've helped build the HR COE and then most recently
(03:26):
over in our global operations supply chain business.
So just,
I've had a really nice diverse experience within Medtronic
and that's led me to the role that I get to have now.
Great. I mean, what an amazing story.
And I mean, many a times people choose career,
then they don't know what to do with that, right.
And I think when you say psychology,
the first thing that comes to your mind is, okay,
(03:46):
so are you going to be a psychologist or what are you going
to do and what you want to do with that degree?
It's amazing to see how you really kind of tied that to business
and organization behavior. So, so great to hear that, Matt,
I was reading through your profile and I know that, you know,
you've lived in ten different cities across the globe,
including LA twice, and Minneapolis, and also Beijing.
(04:08):
So with this diverse, absolutely different cultures altogether,
how has that shaped your leadership.
Style, worked in those cultures in the sense how you adjusted
to those kind of environments that you have worked in?
Because again, it's very diverse, right, US.
And then you are in Beijing, a very different culture way of working,
(04:29):
style, language. So how has that, I mean,
how have you really worked around that,
working in these different dynamics?
I think the first thing is just,
you have to be aware that there actually is a shift, right?
And that there's,
you know
the environment that you're in, the ecosystem that they're in,
there are different values, there are different principles,
there are different ways of operating.
(04:51):
And so it's really an understanding of that self awareness of, hey,
I'm going into a different situation here and taking the
opportunity to learn what those different needs are.
Some of the most diverse experiences I've had.
You mentioned the time that I was able to spend in China.
It's very different.
And
how they operate, what they value.
(05:12):
And so you can't just take kind of what you know in one culture,
right, and take it over and just copy paste and apply it.
You have to understand, what are the business needs there?
What are they trying to solve?
what do they, what are their values?
What are their kind of beliefs the unwritten rules of that culture.
(05:33):
And you have to be able to adjust, right.
A lot of what we do in our careers there could
be ten different ways to do it, right?
probably not one best way, but ten best ways,
depending on that culture that you're operating in.
So once you understand it, then you can,
and you're able to look through those different lenses then you're
(05:53):
able to apply the solution in different ways that
actually meet the needs of those cultures.
And whether that's operating from the US to China or even Medtronic.
I mean,
moving from a corporate role in Minneapolis out to California
to a frontline business, it's very different.
And kind of what they're focused on and the priorities and the culture
(06:16):
of the organization. So it again goes back to understanding that,
learning it, and willingness to meet that culture where it is,
versus trying to just
embed what you already know.
Great. Thanks for sharing that.
I'm definitely going to pick one of those.
In the current scenario,
(06:36):
when the whole Gen Z and the millennials are driving a big
part of the workforce and things are getting so global,
mainly after the COVID situation, what, according to you,
are the drivers of building a strong,
positive culture because you have one,
is that people are not seeing each other.
(06:57):
They are absolutely global. And the other thing is,
there is this whole diversity of thoughts, generation, gender, age,
and many things.
But I'm particularly thinking from perspective of Gen Z and
millennials, who really are kind of moving too fast.
So how do you,
what is your advice and what could be the
drivers for driving this culture?
(07:18):
Yeah, look, I mean, it's a big question you're asking, right.
And given how diverse we are as an organization,
it's a difficult one to answer.
And I think there's also a history of Medtronic that we've been
very fragmented, we've been very decentralized, right.
In our 75 years.
I think the good news is the huge advantage we have
as an organization, it starts with the mission.
(07:38):
You can't have any conversation about our culture without
starting there. Right? I mean, it's the why.
It's why many of us come here, and it's certainly why many of us stay.
And as I think it's the one golden thread that probably
weaves throughout the organization as well,
regardless of what building what country.
You go in and meet an employee from Medtronic.
(08:00):
they've got a connection to the mission and driving that mission.
It's incredibly, I think, unique to us.
I think other companies try to replicate it as best they can.
but you can't. It's incredibly special to us.
the other thing I think that's special about Medtronic is at
the heart of who we are.
It's about innovation, right?
(08:21):
I mean, we are an engineering company at heart.
That's where we get our growth from.
And so all of us, I think,
have a common mindset of how can we continue to push innovation.
we're encouraged to do that.
Our mission it's held within there,
it's held within our Medtronic Mindset.
and so I think there's a couple of, again,
these pillars that we can take and grasp,
(08:41):
I think our IDE strategy as well, right?
The inclusive culture that we've had.
And I think what's most impressed me about that is we've,
despite our growth over the past, I've been here ten years.
so we were a much smaller organization then we acquired covidian,
we almost doubled in size.
We've continued to just naturally grow.
but in some ways,
(09:02):
I feel like our organization has almost remained smaller in some ways,
More belongingness,
more understanding of who we are across the globe.
We've certainly globalized as an organization.
So I think as you talk about those things can democratize generations
in some ways and make us feel connected back to a core.
and I do believe you mentioned the connectedness,
(09:23):
the social capital side of this.
Right.
I think about
the differentiation to me, like,
human capital is about how far we can go,
social capital is about how fast we can go.
Right.
And the connectedness that we feel with
each other to the organization.
the collaborativeness that we can get more done collectively
than any one individual can get done by themselves.
(09:44):
So those are a couple, I think,
the special elements of our culture here at Medtronic that we can all
count on, and certainly as a horizontal, across the organization.
Great, great answer there, because I think the mission is,
as you rightly mentioned, binds us all.
And I think when you look at the Gen Z and the millennials
(10:05):
at this point of time, irrespective of everything,
they're all looking at something to look forward to from a passion
and a mission perspective. And I think even with 75 years,
the mission just remains across generations
as the most common thing that ties.
It all, and it gives us, I mean, in my world,
just from a human capital perspective,
(10:26):
it allows us to recruit talent here and attract them on a
different tier. And again, from a retention standpoint,
and it's a unique advantage that we have, and it's incredibly strong.
Yeah. I'm just spinning off a question from the same, you know,
the answer that you give going back to this whole connectedness thing.
Right.
But yet again, many a times,
(10:46):
all of us are connected through zooms and teams
and all different kind of platforms.
how do you really still make mission is one thing,
but there's also this softer aspect of human, this thing.
Right.
And I think sometimes it just gets difficult as a
leader to even get through someone face to face.
How do you get through someone over a Zoom call or online?
(11:10):
I mean, how do you deal or what is your advice?
How do you deal with something like this which seems to distant,
but you still want to be connected.
Yeah. And you have to.
Especially, you know, we're 100,000 employees in 150 plus countries.
Right.
So you're not ever going to be able to touch
everyone face to face or in person.
I think you still need to prioritize that and take advantage of it
(11:31):
when it is possible. But I think with the world that we live in today,
you know, a virtual world we can still remain connected.
And I think, you know, quite frankly,
the regional teams have done a fantastic job at this and still feeling
part of something where you are going to constantly
be kind of virtual or remote.
So I think the answer to your question really is about being
(11:52):
purposeful about it, finding ways to prioritize that, yes,
I'm going to be virtual,
but how do I still make that personal connection?
I know there's plenty of best practice out there in terms of
how to do that how to stay connected in the virtual world.
And I think many teams have
made that a priority and just become part of how
(12:15):
they operate that makes it work for them.
Great, great answer there, and thanks for that.
I'm going to move on something related to a little bit about,
from a data perspective. the World Economic Forum's report,
which is the future of jobs report,
actually reveals that seven out of the top skills
that is needed for a job our soft skills,
(12:37):
more than the whole technical skills that we are talking about now,
what, according to you,
is the most critical skill both now and in the future,
that is going to really, really work for global organizations?
Yeah, that's a really tough one to answer,
and certainly I think there's two ways to answer it.
One is more job specific, which is more probably the technical skills.
(13:00):
But I think as we think about just broader
relatedness and leadership skills,
I think it's certainly going to start to
tilt more towards the human skills.
I think as I think about the way that we are thinking
in the future around technology and AI and machines,
we're going to have to operate in a way that lets technology do what
(13:24):
technology does best and let humans do what humans do best.
And that's where you're going to see this rise.
And so if you think about all the things that computers and machines
can't do, those skills are going to be increasing in value, right.
So things like creativity and innovation, I think on the people side,
interpersonal relations
(13:45):
certainly emotional intelligence. Right.
Those are the things that I think are really become more valuable.
And we have to make sure that leaders, I mean,
we just talked about staying connected in a virtual world.
How do we do that?
Right? It's human skills.
And so those are areas where we're going
to have to continue to invest.
I think they're going to be increasingly important.
As you see employees that want to grow their career and advance
(14:07):
their career, they're going to become increasing,
especially for leadership and senior leadership.
and so we've got to stay committed within Medtronic
to how we continue to develop those skills,
give people opportunities to learn them and practice
them early on in their careers and develop them.
Yeah, I think, you know,
one of your points where you speak about the whole skills,
(14:28):
human skills that are needed for the future,
it also brings me back to this dialogue when the whole
Chat GPT and the AI thing started.
Oh, you know what?
They're going to take over our jobs.
But the reality is the technology is going
to do what only the technology can do.
It's the other side that we are going to play a very important role as
humans at our job to really communicate and connect the dots
(14:49):
and really do the logical stuff and the human EQ stuff
that's our job. So I think you really kind of answered that well,
and it just immediately,
when you were speaking about technology and the human side of it,
it just kind of came to me that, yes, that's the answer.
When you say that, oh, technology is taking away my role,
(15:10):
but how do you use it?
And I think one more way you can split that, too, a little bit,
is low cognition,
high cognition in terms of what are the tasks that a computer do?
Well, right now, it's at the lower cognition, and AI is great,
but it's also backward-looking.
It's everything that we teach it and have it learn is from the past,
and we've got to be able to look forward.
(15:31):
And that's uniquely a human skill as well.
So I think there's still plenty of opportunity that yes,
technology can help us become more productive.
but there's plenty of skills that humans
will continue to add value with.
Yeah, that brings me the way you just answered the question.
Brings me a very interesting question I have for you.
(15:51):
You know, as Steve Jobs said,
you can't connect the dots forward looking forward,
but connect the dots looking backwards.
So what is that one decision in your life you think has been very
pivotal in the way it has shaped your career to be now?
The CHRO.
Yeah, one decision.
(16:13):
man, I don't know if I could pinpoint one.
I often reflect on. I do sometimes sit back and think about,
how did I get here?
but one thing that comes to mind that's more common is luck.
The number of times. What role has luck played in your career?
the way I think you define that is you look at the outcome,
(16:35):
and you think about the outcome being a function of what skills,
abilities, experience you have, plus luck.
Right. So if you kind of work that backward and say, okay,
the outcome minus the skills, everything else is explained by luck.
And I think that's one thing where I look
at the different turns in my career.
how many times that it's just been.
Yes, I've been prepared, but there's a circumstance of.
(16:58):
Or happenstance of
something that happened that I had absolutely zero control over.
You know,
I think even about my first career job coming out of grad school,
and I had multiple offers on the table,
and I actually had a job that was paying 20% to 30% more.
And I didn't chose to take that one.
I went after it because I happened to meet somebody at a conference
(17:20):
and I really liked the work that they were doing and the
meaningfulness of that work, and so I chose to go that direction.
But the luck of running into that individual at a conference I had
no control over that. There was nothing that I was trained for,
educated on.
And so I just think about all the moments that have happened
throughout my career that luck has kind of played a.
(17:41):
Played a role.
And it's more than you probably like to give it credit for,
but it's been constant.
Yeah. And I think it's also I mean, very well said.
It's also being there at the right place at the right time.
That's one thing. And I think the other thing is also,
you took a risk. Look, at your first job that you just mentioned, you,
I mean,
you could have easily gone for something which was paying more.
(18:03):
but you believed in what you saw when you spoke to someone,
you trusted that person. And that's, again,
the risk that you take and act boldly to believe in someone's
vision and what they are doing and then kind of join them.
And many a times, I think that also needs a lot of courage.
Right. You know,
you really don't go that path many times in your career.
And sometimes it's just the courage to trust your own judgment.
(18:25):
Right. Intuition on a matter.
There's no facts that are going to back that up feeling that you have.
And there's a lot of times you just have to trust yourself in a
willingness to say, hey, look, I've got the confidence in myself,
and I believe in myself, and therefore I'm going to take this risk.
Yeah. And I think it's also so well said.
It also is about many times you don't need to go to something
(18:48):
just by thinking that what I'm going to get out of it.
It's like you said, you met someone at the conference.
I'm sure it was not about that.
I want to work with you, but it was more about, okay,
I'm here and I like what they're doing, and that's how it is.
And I think many a times we really need to not look
at everything from a benefit point of view.
It's also from a point of view of how you're growing and
(19:08):
how it's helping you. Great, thanks.
Thanks for that.
And I'm going to move to my next question, which is,
as a CHRO of such a large company and with 95,000 people,
I'm sure your day is full of many different facets.
Good, bad, a lot of other things that you're taking care of.
how do you really unwind after a long day?
(19:29):
Yes. So I'll answer this one's perspective again,
going back to early career and when I was growing up,
always involved in sports and big in athletics and
what I learned through kind of my training.
Right.
Because sports is always about how do you maximize
your ability and your performance.
And the one common theme across every
(19:51):
sporting event that I was involved with was how important
rest was in order to actually perform at your best.
Right.
And so if you're a marathon runner if you're
a cricket player or badminton.
Right.
the day before the event leading up to the event,
you always want to kind of wind your training down so that
(20:12):
you're rested and you're able to perform at your peak.
Right. The day of.
And so that really resonated with me in my professional
career as well to say, hey, look,
I can't just constantly be performing at
peaks because eventually you burn out.
And so I have purposely made a decision throughout my career to say,
look, rest isn't separate, it's actually part of performance.
(20:35):
and then I think the second part of that is recognizing
as an individual. how do you rest?
What's important to you to recharge your batteries?
There's kind of two. One is I'm more introverted,
so I need kind of the peace and quiet.
sometimes solitude is maybe the way to best describe it.
and the second thing is family.
So a lot of energy from my family, my sons, into sports.
(20:58):
so right now I have an integrated calendar between work and my family.
And it's usually work. And then on weekends it's family,
it's my son's sport. So that to me is rest.
also enjoy travelling with my family and kind of getting away
from things a little bit.
but those are, that's how my.
Kind of the mix. That's right.
For me.
No, thanks. Thanks for that.
(21:19):
Because I also take a tip back from what you just mentioned,
that performance is not just about what you're doing at work,
but rest is actually a part of the performance.
So I think many a times we forget that we absolutely
don't talk about it.
We're so involved in that goal and that vision that we,
we are chasing that
(21:39):
rest seems like, oh, I'm wasting my time.
I could be being more productive right now.
Right.
But it actually is productivity because you're getting your energy.
Right.
I very recently learned something called as balcony view.
Like,
just be up there and just don't do anything
and just kind of give it a view.
So.
So, yeah, good to know.
(22:00):
So what kind of sports are you interested in?
What do you well, flying my center around right now.
He's only eleven so it's all about diversity of experience for him.
So he's playing american football and basketball and baseball.
And so we just kind of chase him season to season around the
around the different sports times.
(22:21):
So that's where we go.
Good to know.
My son is ten and I'm still not able to find out
what he wants to play.
And I keep asking him,
do you want to go for this badminton coaching or football?
And then he's like, okay, I want to play football.
After two years, he's like, I want to play football anymore.
Can I play some other games?
Still young enough,
he should be exploring and trying different things, for sure.
(22:44):
Thanks for that. Thanks for sharing that,
talking. about unwinding again.
Is there a book or a podcast or something that
you would like to recommend to our listeners?
Yeah I mean,
where I get a lot of my insights from going back to
your Steve jobs quote about connecting past dots.
Right.
(23:05):
so I love going back and just reading and learning
about history and other organizations,
other leadership lessons
and understanding kind of from the tip to tail of
those experiences and then extracting from that.
So really, you know, understanding the dots that they connect.
And then how do you apply those back to your own world?
(23:26):
So a lot of books in world history and just the rise and
fall of different nations or organizations or you know,
personal biographies as well.
That's really where I tend to find and gain most of my
insights and really enjoy kind of my, my reading.
Is there anyone that you would recommend?
(23:46):
Oh, man.
you know, some, again, just going back and thinking about,
there's a great book.
some of these are more kind of american business stories,
but there's one called american icon,
which is about the recent kind of fall and rise of Ford Motor company.
there's one by Phil Knight around the nike company and how he kind of
(24:09):
started that from nothing and the funding and so really enjoyed that.
And then there's one around the
the first flight, the Wright brothers,
and understanding their journey to innovation
and taking their first flight.
So those are some of the ones that I've enjoyed
historically and I've taken a lot out of.
So great. Thank you very much, Matt, for joining us today.
(24:32):
It was a real pleasure to talk to, you know, your perspectives,
and I definitely take back a few tips.
So thank you very much once again for joining us for our podcast.
Absolutely. It was my pleasure.
And thank you for having me today.
So that was Matt Walter, what an amazing conversation,
talking about different leadership styles,
sharing his anecdotes throughout his career.
(24:54):
And I think I also learned and took tips along with me,
and I hope you too.
So with that, we come to the end of this episode,
and I'll see you on the other side with another guest.
Hello and Welcome to MedtronicTalks Asia.
I am Masooma, your host for this show,
and here I explore different leadership styles
and culture with global leaders.
It's my privilege today to have with me the CHRO of Medtronic,
Matt Walter. Welcome, Matt.
Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me.
(00:28):
It's great to sit here in India on the ground and
have the opportunity to join the podcast.
Yes. I'm so glad that you're here,
and I think it's been a busy week for
all of you for the last four days.
And I'm so glad for this opportunity to have this face to face chat
with you and hear from you about your leadership styles and more.
(00:48):
So it's my absolute pleasure to have you
here and thank you for accepting it.
Yes.
So, Matt, over to my first question.
You are the CHRO of Medtronic leading talent culture and the
organization that supports almost 95,000 people across the globe.
tell us a little more about yourself.
(01:10):
Where did it all began and how did you
start your career to reach this?
That's a very reflective and vast question that you're starting with.
But I guess to say from a career perspective, where it all began,
I'd probably go back to undergrad,
into college
(01:30):
just fascinated with the study of psychology,
so the study of human behavior and that really, I think began with me.
I was big in sports and athletics and always thought about the value
of the human mind and driving performance and optimizing
your own performance. And so was studying psychology.
(01:54):
It was probably not unlike many other college students where you kind
of hit your second year and you've got a passion for something,
but then all of a sudden you're like, hey,
I got to make a career out of this.
Am I going to do right what am I going to do with a psychology
degree that's going to be of interest to me?
And so I started exploring some other subjects as well,
and I came across, took some business classes and really just,
also just fell in love with management and organizational behavior.
(02:17):
And as luck would have it, there's an intersection,
a really nice adjacency between psychology and business
and management, which is organizational psychology,
the study of human behavior at work.
and so I proceeded to go down,
explore that path a little bit more and got an internship one of my
senior year, and it was in a kind of a talent selection assessment.
(02:41):
I got to do a lot of job analysis,
riding around in police cars and fire trucks,
and doing selection for public sector, which is fascinating.
And that was it, that was okay, this is what I want to do.
And I went on and got a graduate degree and as a result of that,
I've now spent more than 20 years in the field.
Had just incredible experience across multiple industries.
(03:04):
Healthcare, financial services,
consumer retail and then more recently spent nearly the last decade
at Medtronic. and I've had just an incredible experience.
I've had the chance to be in all of our portfolios serving as a
business partner I've helped build the HR COE and then most recently
(03:26):
over in our global operations supply chain business.
So just,
I've had a really nice diverse experience within Medtronic
and that's led me to the role that I get to have now.
Great. I mean, what an amazing story.
And I mean, many a times people choose career,
then they don't know what to do with that, right.
And I think when you say psychology,
the first thing that comes to your mind is, okay,
(03:46):
so are you going to be a psychologist or what are you going
to do and what you want to do with that degree?
It's amazing to see how you really kind of tied that to business
and organization behavior. So, so great to hear that, Matt,
I was reading through your profile and I know that, you know,
you've lived in ten different cities across the globe,
including LA twice, and Minneapolis, and also Beijing.
(04:08):
So with this diverse, absolutely different cultures altogether,
how has that shaped your leadership.
Style, worked in those cultures in the sense how you adjusted
to those kind of environments that you have worked in?
Because again, it's very diverse, right, US.
And then you are in Beijing, a very different culture way of working,
(04:29):
style, language. So how has that, I mean,
how have you really worked around that,
working in these different dynamics?
I think the first thing is just,
you have to be aware that there actually is a shift, right?
And that there's,
you know
the environment that you're in, the ecosystem that they're in,
there are different values, there are different principles,
there are different ways of operating.
(04:51):
And so it's really an understanding of that self awareness of, hey,
I'm going into a different situation here and taking the
opportunity to learn what those different needs are.
Some of the most diverse experiences I've had.
You mentioned the time that I was able to spend in China.
It's very different.
And
how they operate, what they value.
(05:12):
And so you can't just take kind of what you know in one culture,
right, and take it over and just copy paste and apply it.
You have to understand, what are the business needs there?
What are they trying to solve?
what do they, what are their values?
What are their kind of beliefs the unwritten rules of that culture.
(05:33):
And you have to be able to adjust, right.
A lot of what we do in our careers there could
be ten different ways to do it, right?
probably not one best way, but ten best ways,
depending on that culture that you're operating in.
So once you understand it, then you can,
and you're able to look through those different lenses then you're
(05:53):
able to apply the solution in different ways that
actually meet the needs of those cultures.
And whether that's operating from the US to China or even Medtronic.
I mean,
moving from a corporate role in Minneapolis out to California
to a frontline business, it's very different.
And kind of what they're focused on and the priorities and the culture
(06:16):
of the organization. So it again goes back to understanding that,
learning it, and willingness to meet that culture where it is,
versus trying to just
embed what you already know.
Great. Thanks for sharing that.
I'm definitely going to pick one of those.
In the current scenario,
(06:36):
when the whole Gen Z and the millennials are driving a big
part of the workforce and things are getting so global,
mainly after the COVID situation, what, according to you,
are the drivers of building a strong,
positive culture because you have one,
is that people are not seeing each other.
(06:57):
They are absolutely global. And the other thing is,
there is this whole diversity of thoughts, generation, gender, age,
and many things.
But I'm particularly thinking from perspective of Gen Z and
millennials, who really are kind of moving too fast.
So how do you,
what is your advice and what could be the
drivers for driving this culture?
(07:18):
Yeah, look, I mean, it's a big question you're asking, right.
And given how diverse we are as an organization,
it's a difficult one to answer.
And I think there's also a history of Medtronic that we've been
very fragmented, we've been very decentralized, right.
In our 75 years.
I think the good news is the huge advantage we have
as an organization, it starts with the mission.
(07:38):
You can't have any conversation about our culture without
starting there. Right? I mean, it's the why.
It's why many of us come here, and it's certainly why many of us stay.
And as I think it's the one golden thread that probably
weaves throughout the organization as well,
regardless of what building what country.
You go in and meet an employee from Medtronic.
(08:00):
they've got a connection to the mission and driving that mission.
It's incredibly, I think, unique to us.
I think other companies try to replicate it as best they can.
but you can't. It's incredibly special to us.
the other thing I think that's special about Medtronic is at
the heart of who we are.
It's about innovation, right?
(08:21):
I mean, we are an engineering company at heart.
That's where we get our growth from.
And so all of us, I think,
have a common mindset of how can we continue to push innovation.
we're encouraged to do that.
Our mission it's held within there,
it's held within our Medtronic Mindset.
and so I think there's a couple of, again,
these pillars that we can take and grasp,
(08:41):
I think our IDE strategy as well, right?
The inclusive culture that we've had.
And I think what's most impressed me about that is we've,
despite our growth over the past, I've been here ten years.
so we were a much smaller organization then we acquired covidian,
we almost doubled in size.
We've continued to just naturally grow.
but in some ways,
(09:02):
I feel like our organization has almost remained smaller in some ways,
More belongingness,
more understanding of who we are across the globe.
We've certainly globalized as an organization.
So I think as you talk about those things can democratize generations
in some ways and make us feel connected back to a core.
and I do believe you mentioned the connectedness,
(09:23):
the social capital side of this.
Right.
I think about
the differentiation to me, like,
human capital is about how far we can go,
social capital is about how fast we can go.
Right.
And the connectedness that we feel with
each other to the organization.
the collaborativeness that we can get more done collectively
than any one individual can get done by themselves.
(09:44):
So those are a couple, I think,
the special elements of our culture here at Medtronic that we can all
count on, and certainly as a horizontal, across the organization.
Great, great answer there, because I think the mission is,
as you rightly mentioned, binds us all.
And I think when you look at the Gen Z and the millennials
(10:05):
at this point of time, irrespective of everything,
they're all looking at something to look forward to from a passion
and a mission perspective. And I think even with 75 years,
the mission just remains across generations
as the most common thing that ties.
It all, and it gives us, I mean, in my world,
just from a human capital perspective,
(10:26):
it allows us to recruit talent here and attract them on a
different tier. And again, from a retention standpoint,
and it's a unique advantage that we have, and it's incredibly strong.
Yeah. I'm just spinning off a question from the same, you know,
the answer that you give going back to this whole connectedness thing.
Right.
But yet again, many a times,
(10:46):
all of us are connected through zooms and teams
and all different kind of platforms.
how do you really still make mission is one thing,
but there's also this softer aspect of human, this thing.
Right.
And I think sometimes it just gets difficult as a
leader to even get through someone face to face.
How do you get through someone over a Zoom call or online?
(11:10):
I mean, how do you deal or what is your advice?
How do you deal with something like this which seems to distant,
but you still want to be connected.
Yeah. And you have to.
Especially, you know, we're 100,000 employees in 150 plus countries.
Right.
So you're not ever going to be able to touch
everyone face to face or in person.
I think you still need to prioritize that and take advantage of it
(11:31):
when it is possible. But I think with the world that we live in today,
you know, a virtual world we can still remain connected.
And I think, you know, quite frankly,
the regional teams have done a fantastic job at this and still feeling
part of something where you are going to constantly
be kind of virtual or remote.
So I think the answer to your question really is about being
(11:52):
purposeful about it, finding ways to prioritize that, yes,
I'm going to be virtual,
but how do I still make that personal connection?
I know there's plenty of best practice out there in terms of
how to do that how to stay connected in the virtual world.
And I think many teams have
made that a priority and just become part of how
(12:15):
they operate that makes it work for them.
Great, great answer there, and thanks for that.
I'm going to move on something related to a little bit about,
from a data perspective. the World Economic Forum's report,
which is the future of jobs report,
actually reveals that seven out of the top skills
that is needed for a job our soft skills,
(12:37):
more than the whole technical skills that we are talking about now,
what, according to you,
is the most critical skill both now and in the future,
that is going to really, really work for global organizations?
Yeah, that's a really tough one to answer,
and certainly I think there's two ways to answer it.
One is more job specific, which is more probably the technical skills.
(13:00):
But I think as we think about just broader
relatedness and leadership skills,
I think it's certainly going to start to
tilt more towards the human skills.
I think as I think about the way that we are thinking
in the future around technology and AI and machines,
we're going to have to operate in a way that lets technology do what
(13:24):
technology does best and let humans do what humans do best.
And that's where you're going to see this rise.
And so if you think about all the things that computers and machines
can't do, those skills are going to be increasing in value, right.
So things like creativity and innovation, I think on the people side,
interpersonal relations
(13:45):
certainly emotional intelligence. Right.
Those are the things that I think are really become more valuable.
And we have to make sure that leaders, I mean,
we just talked about staying connected in a virtual world.
How do we do that?
Right? It's human skills.
And so those are areas where we're going
to have to continue to invest.
I think they're going to be increasingly important.
As you see employees that want to grow their career and advance
(14:07):
their career, they're going to become increasing,
especially for leadership and senior leadership.
and so we've got to stay committed within Medtronic
to how we continue to develop those skills,
give people opportunities to learn them and practice
them early on in their careers and develop them.
Yeah, I think, you know,
one of your points where you speak about the whole skills,
(14:28):
human skills that are needed for the future,
it also brings me back to this dialogue when the whole
Chat GPT and the AI thing started.
Oh, you know what?
They're going to take over our jobs.
But the reality is the technology is going
to do what only the technology can do.
It's the other side that we are going to play a very important role as
humans at our job to really communicate and connect the dots
(14:49):
and really do the logical stuff and the human EQ stuff
that's our job. So I think you really kind of answered that well,
and it just immediately,
when you were speaking about technology and the human side of it,
it just kind of came to me that, yes, that's the answer.
When you say that, oh, technology is taking away my role,
(15:10):
but how do you use it?
And I think one more way you can split that, too, a little bit,
is low cognition,
high cognition in terms of what are the tasks that a computer do?
Well, right now, it's at the lower cognition, and AI is great,
but it's also backward-looking.
It's everything that we teach it and have it learn is from the past,
and we've got to be able to look forward.
(15:31):
And that's uniquely a human skill as well.
So I think there's still plenty of opportunity that yes,
technology can help us become more productive.
but there's plenty of skills that humans
will continue to add value with.
Yeah, that brings me the way you just answered the question.
Brings me a very interesting question I have for you.
(15:51):
You know, as Steve Jobs said,
you can't connect the dots forward looking forward,
but connect the dots looking backwards.
So what is that one decision in your life you think has been very
pivotal in the way it has shaped your career to be now?
The CHRO.
Yeah, one decision.
(16:13):
man, I don't know if I could pinpoint one.
I often reflect on. I do sometimes sit back and think about,
how did I get here?
but one thing that comes to mind that's more common is luck.
The number of times. What role has luck played in your career?
the way I think you define that is you look at the outcome,
(16:35):
and you think about the outcome being a function of what skills,
abilities, experience you have, plus luck.
Right. So if you kind of work that backward and say, okay,
the outcome minus the skills, everything else is explained by luck.
And I think that's one thing where I look
at the different turns in my career.
how many times that it's just been.
Yes, I've been prepared, but there's a circumstance of.
(16:58):
Or happenstance of
something that happened that I had absolutely zero control over.
You know,
I think even about my first career job coming out of grad school,
and I had multiple offers on the table,
and I actually had a job that was paying 20% to 30% more.
And I didn't chose to take that one.
I went after it because I happened to meet somebody at a conference
(17:20):
and I really liked the work that they were doing and the
meaningfulness of that work, and so I chose to go that direction.
But the luck of running into that individual at a conference I had
no control over that. There was nothing that I was trained for,
educated on.
And so I just think about all the moments that have happened
throughout my career that luck has kind of played a.
(17:41):
Played a role.
And it's more than you probably like to give it credit for,
but it's been constant.
Yeah. And I think it's also I mean, very well said.
It's also being there at the right place at the right time.
That's one thing. And I think the other thing is also,
you took a risk. Look, at your first job that you just mentioned, you,
I mean,
you could have easily gone for something which was paying more.
(18:03):
but you believed in what you saw when you spoke to someone,
you trusted that person. And that's, again,
the risk that you take and act boldly to believe in someone's
vision and what they are doing and then kind of join them.
And many a times, I think that also needs a lot of courage.
Right. You know,
you really don't go that path many times in your career.
And sometimes it's just the courage to trust your own judgment.
(18:25):
Right. Intuition on a matter.
There's no facts that are going to back that up feeling that you have.
And there's a lot of times you just have to trust yourself in a
willingness to say, hey, look, I've got the confidence in myself,
and I believe in myself, and therefore I'm going to take this risk.
Yeah. And I think it's also so well said.
It also is about many times you don't need to go to something
(18:48):
just by thinking that what I'm going to get out of it.
It's like you said, you met someone at the conference.
I'm sure it was not about that.
I want to work with you, but it was more about, okay,
I'm here and I like what they're doing, and that's how it is.
And I think many a times we really need to not look
at everything from a benefit point of view.
It's also from a point of view of how you're growing and
(19:08):
how it's helping you. Great, thanks.
Thanks for that.
And I'm going to move to my next question, which is,
as a CHRO of such a large company and with 95,000 people,
I'm sure your day is full of many different facets.
Good, bad, a lot of other things that you're taking care of.
how do you really unwind after a long day?
(19:29):
Yes. So I'll answer this one's perspective again,
going back to early career and when I was growing up,
always involved in sports and big in athletics and
what I learned through kind of my training.
Right.
Because sports is always about how do you maximize
your ability and your performance.
And the one common theme across every
(19:51):
sporting event that I was involved with was how important
rest was in order to actually perform at your best.
Right.
And so if you're a marathon runner if you're
a cricket player or badminton.
Right.
the day before the event leading up to the event,
you always want to kind of wind your training down so that
(20:12):
you're rested and you're able to perform at your peak.
Right. The day of.
And so that really resonated with me in my professional
career as well to say, hey, look,
I can't just constantly be performing at
peaks because eventually you burn out.
And so I have purposely made a decision throughout my career to say,
look, rest isn't separate, it's actually part of performance.
(20:35):
and then I think the second part of that is recognizing
as an individual. how do you rest?
What's important to you to recharge your batteries?
There's kind of two. One is I'm more introverted,
so I need kind of the peace and quiet.
sometimes solitude is maybe the way to best describe it.
and the second thing is family.
So a lot of energy from my family, my sons, into sports.
(20:58):
so right now I have an integrated calendar between work and my family.
And it's usually work. And then on weekends it's family,
it's my son's sport. So that to me is rest.
also enjoy travelling with my family and kind of getting away
from things a little bit.
but those are, that's how my.
Kind of the mix. That's right.
For me.
No, thanks. Thanks for that.
(21:19):
Because I also take a tip back from what you just mentioned,
that performance is not just about what you're doing at work,
but rest is actually a part of the performance.
So I think many a times we forget that we absolutely
don't talk about it.
We're so involved in that goal and that vision that we,
we are chasing that
(21:39):
rest seems like, oh, I'm wasting my time.
I could be being more productive right now.
Right.
But it actually is productivity because you're getting your energy.
Right.
I very recently learned something called as balcony view.
Like,
just be up there and just don't do anything
and just kind of give it a view.
So.
So, yeah, good to know.
(22:00):
So what kind of sports are you interested in?
What do you well, flying my center around right now.
He's only eleven so it's all about diversity of experience for him.
So he's playing american football and basketball and baseball.
And so we just kind of chase him season to season around the
around the different sports times.
(22:21):
So that's where we go.
Good to know.
My son is ten and I'm still not able to find out
what he wants to play.
And I keep asking him,
do you want to go for this badminton coaching or football?
And then he's like, okay, I want to play football.
After two years, he's like, I want to play football anymore.
Can I play some other games?
Still young enough,
he should be exploring and trying different things, for sure.
(22:44):
Thanks for that. Thanks for sharing that,
talking. about unwinding again.
Is there a book or a podcast or something that
you would like to recommend to our listeners?
Yeah I mean,
where I get a lot of my insights from going back to
your Steve jobs quote about connecting past dots.
Right.
(23:05):
so I love going back and just reading and learning
about history and other organizations,
other leadership lessons
and understanding kind of from the tip to tail of
those experiences and then extracting from that.
So really, you know, understanding the dots that they connect.
And then how do you apply those back to your own world?
(23:26):
So a lot of books in world history and just the rise and
fall of different nations or organizations or you know,
personal biographies as well.
That's really where I tend to find and gain most of my
insights and really enjoy kind of my, my reading.
Is there anyone that you would recommend?
(23:46):
Oh, man.
you know, some, again, just going back and thinking about,
there's a great book.
some of these are more kind of american business stories,
but there's one called american icon,
which is about the recent kind of fall and rise of Ford Motor company.
there's one by Phil Knight around the nike company and how he kind of
(24:09):
started that from nothing and the funding and so really enjoyed that.
And then there's one around the
the first flight, the Wright brothers,
and understanding their journey to innovation
and taking their first flight.
So those are some of the ones that I've enjoyed
historically and I've taken a lot out of.
So great. Thank you very much, Matt, for joining us today.
(24:32):
It was a real pleasure to talk to, you know, your perspectives,
and I definitely take back a few tips.
So thank you very much once again for joining us for our podcast.
Absolutely. It was my pleasure.
And thank you for having me today.
So that was Matt Walter, what an amazing conversation,
talking about different leadership styles,
sharing his anecdotes throughout his career.
(24:54):
And I think I also learned and took tips along with me,
and I hope you too.
So with that, we come to the end of this episode,
and I'll see you on the other side with another guest.
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