How a Disney and P&G Director found her own direction

Now, as a member of Walt Disney Co. ’s board, she is once again part of another corporate drama. (AFP)
Now, as a member of Walt Disney Co. ’s board, she is once again part of another corporate drama. (AFP)

Summary

  • Trusted advisers coached Amy Chang on management decisions, moral dilemmas and the best way to ask hard questions

When Amy Chang joined the board of Procter & Gamble Co. at 40 years old, she was so intimidated by the company’s Fortune 50 status that she arrived 30 minutes early to her first meeting and snapped a photo of her name placard. She quickly texted it to her parents.

Within months Ms. Chang found herself in the middle of what was then the most expensive proxy fight in U.S. history as activist investor Nelson Peltz pushed for control of the household products company. The two sides waged a monthslong, public battle before P&G agreed to add Mr. Peltz as a director.

Now, as a member of Walt Disney Co.’s board, she is once again part of another corporate drama. The entertainment giant is grappling with a declining share price and fallout from a dust-up with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the company’s opposition to legislation that curbed elementary-school instruction on sexual identity and gender. Last month she and fellow directors voted to renew Chief Executive Bob Chapek’s contract for another three years, ending speculation about the CEO’s fate.

Ms. Chang, 45 years old, has spent much of her life taking on such challenges. After growing up in Texas as the daughter of two engineers, she attended Stanford University knowing she only had enough money to get through the spring quarter of her freshman year. Every week on campus she biked to the engineering scholarship office and applied for funding until she landed a scholarship with Intel Corp.

After graduation she worked for McKinsey & Co., eBay Inc. and Google, where she became head of product for Google Analytics. In 2012 she had an opportunity to join her first board at Silicon Valley software firm Informatica.

“The other candidates that they were looking at didn’t look like me," she said. “I feel like I was an unexpected candidate, being in my early 30s, female and Asian."

That same year, Ms. Chang left Google so she, her husband and a friend could start Accompany Inc., a venture that relied on algorithms and machine learning to automate the process of creating information-rich personal and company profiles. In 2018 she sold the company to Cisco Systems Inc., where she had served as director, and led Cisco’s multibillion collaboration business until leaving the Silicon Valley giant in 2021.

She currently splits her time between advisory work and serving as a director for five companies: Disney, P&G, card-issuing platform Marqeta Inc., artificial intelligence firm SambaNova Systems Inc. and gaming infrastructure startup Pragma.

“It’s a great place to help facilitate more diversity and inclusion coming into the company," she said.

Here are four of her most trusted advisers:

Lorrie Norrington

Operating partner, Lead Edge Capital

More than a decade ago Ms. Chang and Ms. Norrington encountered each other at a Stanford event for board members, meeting first in the women’s bathroom and later sitting next to each other during lunch. Ms. Chang said she was impressed by Ms. Norrington’s questions.

Ms. Norrington has since become a close friend and key adviser, including at Accompany. Ms. Norrington helped strategize around the company’s fundraising, large product shifts or business model changes. “She would be my first call," Ms. Chang said, adding that they’d sometimes vigorously debate.

Ms. Norrington has also advised Ms. Chang over the years on management decisions, moral dilemmas or complicated social issues.

“A lot of times she will have solutions or she will just have more perspective because she’s been working a little bit longer, so she just has even more data and even better pattern matching," Ms. Chang said.

Robin Washington

Alphabet Inc., Salesforce Inc., Honeywell International Inc. board member

Years ago Ms. Washington and Ms. Chang were introduced by Godfrey Sullivan, someone they had both worked with at different companies. They connected over shared experiences and similar challenges.

“It’s not like everything has just been smooth and easy the whole way through," Ms. Chang said. “We are both women of color, each of us in worlds where that’s less common than it should be, especially in leadership."

The two have talked about how to respond to challenging questions that might be the result of issues such as unconscious bias. “She’s helped me figure that out and find my way when something happens," Ms. Chang said. “And figure out how to make it productive."

Ms. Chang said she admires Ms. Washington’s curiosity and desire to be the best leader she can be. “She puts all the sweat equity into it that she doesn’t have to at this point in her career—she’s so accomplished—but she does it because it’s the right thing to do and she cares about people and the community."

Frank Blake

Former chairman and CEO, Home Depot

During Ms. Chang’s first board dinner as a P&G director, she was seated next to Mr. Blake. He turned to her and asked: “What’s your favorite podcast these days?" They quickly connected.

Mr. Blake has since encouraged Ms. Chang to ask hard questions in a way that won’t put others on the defensive, even if they receive difficult feedback. For instance, he has taught her to look at a situation from the other person’s point of view. “Start with what’s important to them and how they see the world," Ms. Chang said she has learned. “Even the language choices you make, make a difference."

The two now speak for an hour each month about leadership topics, life and what their missions should be. That might include a discussion about what role a company can play in social change or what will make the world a more inclusive place.

Jolie Hunt

Founder and CEO, Hunt & Gather

When Ms. Chang was a Google executive she attended a dinner party organized by Ms. Hunt for venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital. Ms. Chang said she was impressed by how Ms. Hunt handled the event; every person who attended received in-depth descriptions of the other guests.

Ms. Hunt, who founded and runs a communications firm, later helped Ms. Chang tell the early story of Accompany and served as an adviser. “It’s a life or death skill for a startup founder," Ms. Chang said. “Nobody knows your company—you’re like a nobody with no name—so how do you tell that story such that people get interested." Ms. Chang said that was crucial for fundraising, employees, board members and others.

Ms. Chang learned to test the firm’s story on friends and check their body language, such as when they lean forward or turn their face toward her, to grasp when they are actively listening.

Ms. Hunt is also a sponsor of female entrepreneurs and executives with diverse backgrounds. “She walks the walk," Ms. Chang said.

Catch all the Corporate news and Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
more

MINT SPECIALS

Switch to the Mint app for fast and personalized news - Get App

Chat with MintGenie