As the leader of Medtronic (No. 2 on the 2023 Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list), Geoff Martha recognizes the importance of staying focused on the right issues and finding balance in projecting his voice to affect change.
This was the message from Martha, who is Chairman and CEO of Medtronic as he spoke with Fair360 CEO Carolynn Johnson during a fireside chat titled “Navigating the Evolving Challenges of ESG” at the annual Top 50 event in New York City.
This might be the first time you’ve seen the name Fair360, and you might be wondering where it came from. During the evening portion of the Top 50 event, Johnson announced that DiversityInc would now be Fair360, formerly DiversityInc to prioritize workplace fairness.
The Fair360 concept was developed by Johnson and Fair360 Founder and Chairman Luke Visconti in 2016.
“We embarked upon this journey in January where we were very intentional about how we were going to not only continue on with the Fair360 Top 50 survey but also start to look at sentiment surveys. With that, we are returning to our parent company name of Fair360. Everything that you see from this moment forward will be ‘Powered by Fair360,'” Johnson said.
As part of the discussion, the pair discussed Medtronic’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and other achievements.
Its accomplishments include 100% pay equity across gender and ethnic lines, $2.7 billion spent on research and development in addition to another $2.7 billion with diverse suppliers.
Martha said the company achieved these milestones by setting and building goals over time, which can be found in the company’s 2022 ESG Report.
Medtronic’s CEO emphasized the role of authenticity in building and delivering ESG and workplace fairness programs, policies and practices.
“I think the most important thing was the authenticity, starting with our mission and the conversations around why this isn’t just the right thing to do, but it’s a business imperative. And those repeating conversations, the authenticity, putting some structure to this, measuring this, making public commitments—it all comes back for us to our mission. “
