Podcast: To Lead Through a Crisis, You Need the “Straight, Unvarnished Truth”

But although this pandemic is obviously unique, Kullman is no stranger to leading a company through crisis. Before becoming the CEO of the California-based company, she spent 27 years with chemical giant Dupont, and was ultimately appointed chairman and CEO in 2009—becoming the first woman to lead the more than 200-year-old company.

Throughout her seven-year tenure as CEO of Dupont, Kullman led through a number of challenges, including most dramatically a proxy fight with an activist investor—a fight she won.

Earlier this year, Kullman—a Kellogg School alumna—spoke with Kellogg professor Jörg Spenkuch as part of a leadership and crisis management speaker series.

During this conversation, you’ll hear Kullman talk openly about her experiences leading a company through crisis. She also offers advice to aspiring leaders based on her years climbing the career ladder at DuPont. But we’ll begin this conversation with Kullman discussing her current role at Carbon, and what happened in March when coronavirus cases began to rise.

Note: The Insightful Leader is produced for the ear and not meant to be read as a transcript. We encourage you to listen to the audio version above. However, a transcript of this episode is available here.