But beyond that, she had a plan to modernize and expand the retirement behemoth’s offerings via a product dubbed “guaranteed lifetime income,” and five years into her tenure, it’s delivering.
Brown Duckett and I spoke about her CEO playbook on the most recent episode of my podcast, Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry, which is out today. We also covered the leadership and life lessons that have helped her succeed at the highest levels in business. A few that stood out:
Live life like a diversified portfolio. “You only have 100% [of your time] to offer. You do not have 110%,” she says. “You have to allocate it to the things that define who you are. I’m a philanthropist, a mother, a sister, an auntie, a wife, an executive. The reality is, my children don’t get 100%—they get 30%, and I have to divide that across three kids.”
You rent your title and own your character. “Yes, I am the CEO of a Fortune 100 company, and I am jealous of me in terms of what I get to do every day,” she says. “But it is rented. There will come a time when I will no longer be the CEO of TIAA. But I am always Thasunda Brown Duckett.”
Pursue joy, not happiness. “I try to live a life of joy, not happiness,” Brown Duckett says. “Happiness is a reaction: The kids are happy, I’m happy. Joy comes from within.”
On leaving JPMorgan and what it’s like to be recruited for a Fortune 100 CEO job. “Timing sometimes is not perfect. But behind the scenes, you get the call from a recruiter. You do not not take the call. You start asking a ton of questions, and then you get to the point where you’re like, ‘This is something that I can’t pass up,’” Brown Duckett says. “This was an opportunity to make a different impact. It was an opportunity to run the entire company and make history at the same time.”
