Ann Mukherjee had never dreamed of being a CEO. But when she got a call from French liquor company Pernod Ricard, it felt like more than just a plum professional opportunity.
“Alcohol has played a very difficult role in my life,” she says. “It felt like destiny. Something was telling me from the universe: Don’t complain about it. Do something about it. ”
Mukherjee, who just completed her first year as chief executive of Pernod Ricard North America, is open about why she’s an unlikely choice for the top job at a company whose entire business is selling alcohol. At the age of four, Mukherjee was assaulted by a man who was inebriated. Years later, when she was a teenager, her mother was killed by a drunk driver. And as an adult, Mukherjee was in an abusive relationship in which, she says, alcohol played a role.
Many leaders would shy away from divulging the details of their personal trauma to their employer. As an Indian-American woman in an industry where CEOs typically skew white and male, you’d imagine Mukherjee might be even more guarded. But she sees her life experiences as core to her identity as a leader. “I was very upfront when I interviewed that I’ve had this history,” she says. “I didn’t know what that would mean in terms of what I would do. But I told the company, ‘I have this background, and it’s important for me to do something about it.’”
In fact, her own experiences informed one of her first initiatives as CEO: an ad campaign about consent for Absolut Vodka, one of Pernod Ricard’s flagship brands. It also felt like a natural extension of Absolut’s reputation as a “brand of provocation,” Mukherjee says, referencing its support of gay rights dating back to the 1980s.
“If you really want to drink responsibly, it’s more than just drinking and driving,” she adds. “It’s about every touchpoint that you have with alcohol. You can use it for fun and enjoyment and conviviality. You can also use it as a weapon.” The campaign, a partnership with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), emphasized that the onus of obtaining consent was not on victims of sexual assault, but on the perpetrators. It launched last February, on Valentine’s Day.
“I was like, ‘Not only are we going to do this campaign on Valentine’s Day, I’m going to personally speak up why it’s important to do it because I’ve lived through it,’” Mukherjee says. “There’s a lot of CEOs who don’t want to mix personal and business. I believe you can’t separate the two, and who you are as a leader is how you run a business.” If this seems like a bold statement so soon after taking the helm of an alcohol company—well, that was exactly her intent. “Your first 90 days matters,” Mukherjee says. “This was my way of setting the tone.”
It was perhaps all the more important because of what came next: In March, just a few months into Mukherjee’s tenure as CEO, the pandemic swept across the country. Pernod Ricard followed the lead of its peers and perfume brands and started making hand sanitizer, which the company donated to FEMA. But even as the economy cratered and millions of Americans lost jobs, the circumstances of the pandemic have helped Pernod Ricard’s bottom line and that of other businesses in the beverage industry.
With bars closed and people staying home, retail sales of alcohol spiked: Americans were drinking 14% more than in pre-pandemic times, according to a JAMA study. At the same time, there have been increased concerns about whether people are drinking responsibly, given alcohol abuse can be linked to mental health struggles and the incidence of domestic violence—both of which have been exacerbated amid the pandemic. (Many victims of abuse and domestic violence were isolated from their usual support system and particularly vulnerable under lockdown; just weeks into the pandemic, the National Domestic Violence Hotline saw an increase in callers.)
When I ask how a business like Pernod Ricard has navigated this paradoxical period, Mukherjee insists the company is “maniacally focused on responsible drinking.” She argues that much of the drinking that was previously happening at bars has shifted to the home, and that drinking—in moderation—can also be a source of comfort, particularly during a time of social isolation. “Mental health is just as important as physical health,” she says. “People need comfort. Comfort comes from not being alone and feeling like you’re not alone in the universe.” Pernod Ricard has tried to advocate for “using a cocktail to connect,” she says, not overconsumption.
Even during the upheaval of a pandemic, Mukherjee has tried to forged ahead with the sort of initiatives that she might have pursued under normal circumstances. Over the summer, Pernod Ricard joined more than 1,000 advertisers in boycotting Facebook for a month, a response to the company’s inaction on hate speech and misinformation. But Mukherjee wanted to do more. So Pernod Ricard introduced a new initiative to help fight hate speech—supported by Salesforce—called #EngageResponsibly, which is slated to launch early this year and will provide advertisers, including small and mid-sized businesses, with a tool that allows them to easily track and report content.
“The revenues that [these social media platforms] get from us big manufacturers—it’s a tiny portion of their revenue,” Mukherjee says. “Their revenue comes from this long tail of 10 million little tiny companies. If you talk to those long tail advertisers, they’re like yes, I want to do this, but I’m small. Can you give me a tool to go do it?”
And yet the pandemic has completely changed Mukherjee’s approach to many aspects of her job, particularly when it comes to hiring and retraining employees. “I’m recruiting people that maybe couldn’t work full-time because they were a mother,” she says. “But now I can leverage them in ways I never thought.” With restaurants and bars shut down, Mukherjee’s team also wanted to figure out how to give back to their community. “There are a ton of bartenders that are out of jobs,” she says. “My team said, ‘How about if we start educating them on cocktails and hospitality?’”
More than anything, Mukherjee is thinking about how she can carry the lessons of 2020 into a post-pandemic future—and she hopes other leaders do the same. “To every other CEO out there: How are you going to be different now?” she says. “I think you can’t be the same leader pre pandemic versus post pandemic. And I think it’s time to bring humanity back into the workforce and into the business world.”
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There is enormous mobility in today’s job market. This applies to all generations, but it is especially true for millennials. According to a Gallup Poll, half of millennials don’t expect to be at their current company in one year.
There are many reasons for this mass shift. Some involve restructuring and layoffs by companies, a situation that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But other reasons are individual: Many employees are leaving their companies in search of new job experiences and to achieve career goals.
While the grass may look greener on the other side of the job fence, you might also consider advancing your career by staying with your current employer. Your dream job just might be waiting for you in your present firm.
I recently spoke with Emily He, Oracle’s senior vice president of the human capital management cloud business group, who has great advice about how to build your career internally. She says now is the perfect time to look to your present company for your next career move. “The global pandemic has given companies new priorities,” He says. “This has opened the door to new opportunities for employees and lessened the need for job-hopping.”
Here are six things you can do to get that next big job in your company:
1. KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
The starting point for finding opportunities is to notice what’s going on around you. This will enable you to see how people perceive you and know where your strongest relationships are.
Early in my career I joined a large bank as manager of executive communications. I had a small staff and met with each separately shortly after I was hired. I still remember one woman whose advice to me was, “keep your head down.” I asked her what she meant. She explained: “Do your work, and don’t get involved with the things around you. That way any problems will just fly over your head.’”
Doing so meant that she had no advocates, no colleagues who would vouch for her, and no conversations that would raise her profile. Unsurprising she was never promoted. Keeping your head up is far better. Spend time talking with your colleagues, building relationships, and discovering your advocates. Show others that you are an asset.
2. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
A second way to build your career internally is to network. In fact, when you’re looking for a job in-house, networking is very similar to networking externally.
“Networking is a huge factor in finding new opportunities within your company,” says He. “When looking inside an organization, it’s really about getting to know your colleagues, both within your teams but also across other departments. As you build connections with people you don’t traditionally work with day-to-day, more opportunities—and many that you never even thought of—will arise.”
Oracle Human Capital Management has a cloud-based tool called Connections that helps with networking. This platform “allows everyone in an organization’s network to connect, engage, and learn about each other,” says He. You can use that platform to find the positions and people that will lead to that next opportunity within the company.
3. VOLUNTEER FOR A PROJECT
When looking for a promotion, it’s helpful to find a project that will raise your profile and showcase your talents.
To get noticed as a go-getter, look for ways to assist with or lead an initiative that will bring you company-wide attention. “A worker who proactively seeks opportunities to expand his or her skillset (by volunteering) is likely to catch the eye of internal managers,” says He. So raise your hand to help out with an important project, or simply create a program that builds upon your strengths.
One vice president I know hosts a luncheon every year for clients and executives on International Women’s Day. She speaks to the women at the beginning of the event and invites an outside speaker. She has earned tremendous cachet within the firm for her initiative. If you’re in HR, you might introduce a new employee wellness program. If you’re a creative, you might offer art classes for the children of employees who are learning at home during the pandemic.
4. STAY ON TOP OF JOB OPENINGS
If you want to succeed in growing your career in your current company, pay attention to job openings via job boards and/or word-of-mouth. Don’t worry about not having all the requirements for a job. If you think it could be a fit, take a risk and apply.
5. PURSUE MENTORING MOMENTS
The fifth way to drive your career forward is to seek out what He calls mentoring “micro-moments.” This is a new take on mentoring. These “micro-moments,” says He, are “any opportunities where you can learn something from someone around you.” The learning, according to He, involves “any skill, tip, or insight that you’re interested in and someone can share. By intentionally seeking out these moments, you can accomplish, skill by skill, everything you need to take your career to the next level.”
If you see someone giving a great presentation, take note of what’s working, and have a chat with them about it. If someone in a meeting offers an opinion that you think is brilliant, get to know that person. If someone gets shut down at a meeting, figure out what happened and how you can avoid a similar outcome. Take this advice and you’ll find you have mentors all around you.
6. SEEK A SPONSOR
Finally, to get ahead in your company, find a sponsor.
If a mentor is someone who teaches you, a sponsor is someone who has your back, and who will speak up and bring your name forward if there is an internal job opportunity. Many companies are eager to retain and develop their talent and reward their best employees with promotions and raises.
The best way to find a sponsor is to identify a senior person who has clout and who respects you and the work you do. Perhaps it’s your boss, but it might be an equally senior person in another department who knows you and respects you. Or it might be a person in a more senior role. Once you identify the right person, ask if they’ll be a sponsor for you and keep their eyes open for a suitable promotion. It takes courage to reach out to someone like this, but it’s an extraordinarily effective way to get ahead.
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