Leaders Lounge Podcast | Episode 5 | February 4, 2022
Moving at the Speed of Trust
Ron Bundy, a pioneer of the ETF industry and the head of the index business at Morningstar, talks about disrupting a consolidated industry and the role of trust in accelerating change. “There’s a speed of trust that accelerates all the things we want to do in our business.”
Summary
Leadership has to adapt — to existential disruption like the COVID crisis, of course, but also to the routine but demanding challenges leaders face in a time of constant change. Like managing people through an acquisition by a competitor. Or navigating within an established business to harness resources for the high-potential business you’ve been brought in to lead.
Our guest for this episode of the Leaders Lounge provides first-hand insight into all these challenges. Ron Bundy built the Russell Indexes – still the leading US equity benchmark for institutional investors — and led the business through its 2015 acquisition by the London Stock Exchange Group, a merger that dramatically realigned the index world. On the eve of the pandemic last year, Ron was hired to transform Morningstar’s index division — essentially a start-up within the big Chicago-based investment ratings firm — into a disruptor in the industry.
Topics we discussed:
Being a leader – versus being a manager
Purpose and mission alone won’t make a firm successful. But having a north star makes decision-making easier and creates a cohesion around big initiatives and big goals
Collaboration can slow you down. But “things move so much more quickly when you're not second-guessing somebody's motives.”
Giving trust “There’s a speed to trust and I find that giving it early accelerates all the things that we want to do in our business and helps us with our clients as well.”
Managing through a merger is about helping people cope with change. “It’s about bringing people into the tent to help solve problems but sometimes it just doesn't work.”
Diversity “is about getting people together who think differently than you do, who have different experiences and who try to solve problems in a different way.”
Getting resources within a larger organization “You can't just go out and demand resources. They need to want to help you. We talk about ‘Unleashing the power of Morningstar.’ It goes it goes both ways.”
How to Listen
About Our Guest
Ron Bundy is Head of Indexes at Morningstar. Ron joined Morningstar in 2019 and is responsible for all business activities related to index data licensing, benchmark adoption and IP licensing for ETF’s, mutual funds and derivatives.
Prior to joining Morningstar Ron was CEO, Benchmarks North America for global index provider FTSE Russell, part of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). Ron was CEO of the Russell Indexes division of Russell Investments, served on Russell’s executive committee, and was a member of the Russell global council. Prior to that, he served for two years as president and CEO of Russell’s business in Japan and head of Russell’s office in Tokyo. Ron also served at Xerox Corporation for 10 years and was active in sales, sales management, and senior management roles.
About The Leaders Lounge
Our host, Larry Black is a leader in helping financial firms modernize their client engagement platforms. After a trans-Atlantic career in financial journalism, he pioneered content marketing at Credit Suisse, launched AllianceBernstein's award-winning blog, and championed digital marketing at London Stock Exchange Group, where he ran marketing globally for FTSE Russell.
Our guest host, Craig Welch has always been drawn to great leaders, especially those who help others see and believe in a vision, and lead innovation in a company. During Craig’s +20-year career in financial services he has had the opportunities to work directly with leaders of some of the industry’s top global brands such as American Express, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Bloomberg. Craig’s educational background in psychology and marketing combined with his career experiences as a “brand evangelist” bring a unique perspective as host of The Leaders’ Lounge podcast.
The Leaders’ Lounge is a new podcast series from BlackMoss Partners. We share the voice of Industry leaders—thoughts about overcoming challenges and realizing success in times of change and uncertainty. The programme explores how today’s most transformational business leaders see the future, and how they are driving change to achieve that vision.