Bumble India, Cannes Diversity, Mueller Report: Broadsheet April 19

Kristen Bellstrom
Updated
Endeavor IPO, Disney Georgia, Abigail Spanberger: Broadsheet May 30

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Cannes is set to improve on inclusivity this year, we look back at Bumble’s launch in India, and Esther Wojcicki shares her secrets for raising powerful women. Have a wonderful weekend.

  • EVERYONE’S TALKING

    • From JPM to TRICK. As you may have noticed, powerful women have been on a hell of a roll for the past few weeks. In late March, Emily Weiss’s Glossier and Jennifer Hyman’s Rent the Runway joined the unicorn club, as their startups hit (and, in the case of Glossier, surpassed) the $1 billion valuation threshold. At the same time, the ranks of female Fortune 500 CEOs are swelling. Since March 1, we’ve gotten announcements about Old Navy’s Sonia Syngal, Celanese’s Lori Ryerkerk, and Best Buy’s Corie Barry. Should all go as expected, that could push the latest tally of women leaders in the F500 above the 30 mark.

    Then came the news on Wednesday that JPMorgan Chase has named current CFO Marianne Lake to CEO of consumer lending. For years, Lake’s name (along with that of JPM Asset and Wealth Management CEO Mary Callahan Erdoes) has appeared in articles speculating about who might eventually succeed Jamie Dimon as CEO. The move will provide her first experience running an operating unit for the bank, which, according to the Financial Times, fills “a crucial gap in her CV.” In other words, it brings Lake one giant step closer to the corner office.

    While she is far from a lock for the role, seeing Lake (or another female exec) land the top job at one of the world’s largest banks would be huge. As we reported last week, Dimon and six of the other major bank CEOs—all of whom are also white and male—were recently questioned about diversity by the House Financial Services committee. Asked whether any of them expected that their successor would be a woman, all seven kept their hands glued to the table. (Dimon later backtracked, saying, “What I should have said is that we don’t comment on or speculate on succession plan.”) Hopefully, the next time the House reconvenes the group, that answer—or perhaps the people giving it—will look a bit different.

    On the topic of grooming powerful women, I hope you’ll take a moment to read this new Q+A my colleague Michal Lev-Ram conducted with Esther Wojcicki, a renowned educator and mother of one of Silicon Valley’s most impressive trios: Susan (CEO of YouTube), Janet (UCSF professor of pediatrics), and Anne (founder and CEO of 23andMe.)

    For those looking to understand the role Wojcicki played in shaping her daughters’ success—as well as that of her hundreds of students and former students—the matriarch has written a book, How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons with Radical Results. The core of the tome, as she explains to Michal, is a concept she calls TRICK: trust, respect, independence, collaboration, and kindness. The TRICK philosophy urges parents and leaders to empower the people in their charge—with dramatic results, Wojcicki tells Michal: “It is really crazy, but when someone believes in you, you’re willing to take more risks and willing to be more creative.”

    Kristen Bellstrom @kayelbee kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com

  • ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

    • Mueller mania. Yesterday was all about the redacted Mueller report. Not surprisingly, 2020 Democrats were quick to react. Sen. Kamala Harris said that Attorney General William P. Barr’s press conference was “filled with political spin and propaganda”; Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Barr was “publicist for the president”; Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that the public should hear from the special counsel directly. Also: Russian fashion influencer Miroslava Duma, an acquaintance of Ivanka Trump, was named in the report. New York Times

    • On the road with Bumble. When Bumble launched in India, Vogue tagged along. Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd talks from New Delhi and Mumbai hotel rooms about missing out on female mentorship, her 20/79 split of the company with Badoo backer Andrey Andreev, and slowing down one day to have kids (a daughter named Bee Herd?). Vogue

    • Team tiny data. Three Stanford researchers argue that relying on big pools of data—like “all women” or “people of color” instead of black women or Latinx women—harms the power of data-driven insights on diversity. Companies should be open to making changes based on smaller sub-groups of their employees, even if the percentages are tiny. Harvard Business Review

    • VC by the numbers. The Information is out with a Venture Capital Diversity Index that shows that women’s representation among VC’s senior leadership inched up from 14.6% to 15.3% in 2018; the percentages of black and Hispanic VC leaders fell. The Information

    MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Lauren Corrao replaces Karey Burke as EVP of original programming and development at Freeform, after Burke replaced Channing Dungey as ABC Entertainment president.

  • IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

    • Cannes do it. Inclusivity is set to improve slightly at Cannes Film Festival this year, with four female directors scheduled to show their work. That number is small—its out of a total of 19 entries—but it’s the best since 2011. Variety

    • Talking about truancy. More on Sen. Kamala Harris today: The former district attorney expressed regret about criminalizing truancy during her time in office. It’s not a program she would expand nationally, she said; she’s been criticized by the left for her record as a prosecutor. Washington Post

    • Girl Scout do-si-do. In the final days of Girl Scout cookie season, the Wall Street Journal follows the logistics involved in getting Thin Mints to their customers. And in related reading, Bloomberg dives into the ongoing battle between the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts over the latter’s decision to rename themselves just “Scouts.”

    Today’s Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe. Share it with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.

  • ON MY RADAR

    The Wing lands in Los Angeles The Hollywood Reporter

    By the book: Abby Wambach New York Times

    Is prison necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore might change your mind New York Times

    All eyes on Hadestown‘s Eva Noblezada Elle

  • QUOTE

    The opportunity to stand up in front of a load of grown men and shame them. 'Game of Thrones' actor Bella Ramsey on what she'll miss about playing Lyanna Mormont