As chief sustainability and impact officer at Northwestern Mutual, Grady Crosby is responsible for developing strategies and driving the overall execution of the company’s community impact and sustainability initiatives. He and his team collaborate with the enterprise sustainability and impact (ESI) leadership council to address the organization’s approach to sustainability and impact matters across a broad spectrum.  Grady is passionate about Social Impact and seeks to mix industry best practices with fit-for-purpose creative solutioning to continually shape Northwestern Mutual’s community revitalization initiatives and work closing the ‘wealth gap’ in the company’s hometown of Milwaukee. 

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John: Hey, welcome to another edition of the Impact Podcast. I’m John Shegerian, and I’m so excited to have with us today Grady Crosby. He’s the Chief Sustainability and Impact Officer at Northwestern Mutual. Welcome, Grady, to the Impact Podcast.

Grady Crosby: Hey, thanks so much, John. I appreciate the invite.

John: Hey, it’s great to have you on, and I’m so excited to talk about impact with you today and all the impact you’re making with your colleagues at Northwestern Mutual. But before we get into that, I’d love to hear a little bit about your background. Where did you grow up, and how did you get on this important journey that you’re on?

Grady: Hey, well, good deal, John. Again, thanks for inviting me here today. So mine is a simple story. Born in North Carolina, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to be specific. Ended up playing football and going to undergrad at Howard University in Washington, D.C. And then I spent most of my career practicing law, because after Howard, I went to law school at Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem as well, and launched into a legal career at the time. Don’t want to date myself, but I really kind of wanted to be like the L.A. law attorney doing civil law in the big ivory tower somewhere. Ended up practicing in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a while, and eventually moving in-house. And my first in-house role was with an apparel manufacturer called Hanes. You know, you may remember the Michael Jordan Hanes commercials, “Can’t wait till we get a Hanes on you,” type thing. And stayed there for a number of years, about 16 years to be exact, before I went to Milwaukee to join the legal department at a company called Johnson Controls. Which was a pretty much a conglomerate buildings, building automation system, was one of our core businesses, as well as automotive interiors, automotive batteries, and things of that nature. And it just so happened that during my legal career, I was a general counsel of a number of businesses along the way, but it seemed like all the work that I did, or a lot of the work that I did, had its center around people and or the environment. So take apparel manufacturing, which was very labor intensive, a lot of people involved in that process, very resource intensive with regard to sewing operations and turning cotton into yarn and fabric was water intensive. And so some of the communities that we were in, especially overseas, these resources that we were using were vital to the sustainability of those communities. So it meant that we had to be very responsible in the way that we utilize those resources and make sure that we were replenishing resources and not just using the resources in the community. And so I guess it was in that process that I saw this dynamic intersection between trying to do good as a company and trying to make sure that the communities in which we were operating did well at the same time. You can imagine as we were manufacturing in villages and provinces throughout Thailand and Vietnam and the Philippines, sometimes our facility was the biggest resource in that particular community. We would have a job opening and have lines around the block for people who wanted to be a part of the organization, not just for the work. Of course, that was great and the living wages that were paid were great as well. But they also wanted to be connected to the resources of the health care that was being provided, the facility resources in terms of having athletic spaces and places for their kids to go and play as they were growing up and developing as well. So we became, in those communities much more than an employer, but we became sort of a gathering place where people could get information about things that were going on in their community. They could have access to resources, whether it’s health care or necessary food and things of that nature. So that experience kind of opened my eyes to corporate responsibility and the fact that as a corporation, there is a tremendous responsibility that we owe to the communities that allow us to come in, build facilities, use resources, and contribute back to the good of those communities.

John: I love the example you gave, Grady, because you brought light to the fact that as a company that’s massively successful, just like Northwestern Mutual and just like Hanes and all the other great brands you’ve been associated with along the way, you don’t have to go in with a zero-sum mentality. It could be a great win for the company. It could be a great win for the community. And what better way of approaching all situations like you just laid out instead of going in and thinking, what’s best for us and only us, and let’s just do what’s really great for us, and just keep blinders on to the opportunities that arise in the local communities that you’re working in?

Grady: Yeah. And, John, I think that’s really- of course, I’m definitely biased, but I think it’s the best way to do it. It has to be about the wins not only for the company, but also for the community and the individuals they’re in as well. So after doing that for a number of years, the latter part of my career at Johnson Controls, I transitioned out of the law department and started leading our public affairs group, which included our global sustainability efforts, included our global community involvement and government relations efforts, our foundation. And so it even more solidified this connectivity between corporations and their responsibilities. I say all the time that the corporate citizen has a tremendous amount of rights, and you know to whom rights are given, there also comes responsibilities. The rights as a corporate citizen include we live in perpetuity. We don’t have to worry about being handcuffed and hauled off to jail. We pay taxes at a different rate than the average or regular citizen. We’re not even subjected to jury duty. And so if you have those types of rights, you ought to also have a sense of responsibility for the communities that grant you those rights as well to make sure that you’re not just a usurper of resources, but you’re adding value to those communities as well. So after Johnson Controls, I came to Northwestern Mutual to stand up this sustainability function about 3 and a half years ago now. And so our goal has always been to look out over the landscape and look at those particular issues that may not appear on the balance sheet, but are certainly those things that we need to be mindful of to make sure that we are able to deliver on our business mission as well. So at the end of the day, we’d like to look at sustainability as another layer of mitigating any risk that would prevent us from delivering on our value proposition to our policy owners.

John: I want to go back to Johnson Controls, when you were in the legal department, but then started segueing over to public affairs because you saw the interconnectedness between the goals of the company and the connecting to the communities that you’re working in, including at Hanes, did you ask for the evolution of your career, or did they tap you on the shoulder because they knew you were loving that kind of work?

Grady: Yeah, it was one of those things where I didn’t ask for it. In fact, I tell people a lot of times that at Johnson Controls, before ESG became a polarizing term, we kind of had ESG right before it became a thing, so to speak, because I mentioned to you that we had sustainability in one place. We had government and community relations all in one place. We had our offices with regard to diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility all in one place. So all of those things that make up that landscape of potential business risk that don’t always show up on the balance sheet, but still have the potential of derailing you kind of got conglomerated together. When I was in law school, this job that I’m being right now didn’t necessarily exist, so the only reason I got here was being continually inquisitive about the things that I was doing and making sure that I was trying to execute to the best of my ability all those things that I had been given charge of to execute upon. So, I tell young people all the time, the best kind of boost to your career is continuing to be excellent right where you are, and if you’re excellent right where you are, opportunity will find you. You don’t have to go seek it out. Opportunity will find you. There was a quote that goes something like, “When you can do the ordinary things in an extraordinary way, you will command the attention of the world.” And John, I really believe that because it was just a matter of me continuing to keep my head down on the legal side, making sure that we were dotting our I’s, crossing our T’s, and doing all those things that we were charged to do, and somehow someone noticed that and said, “Hey, that fellow Grady may be good in this new expanded role,” and one thing led to another, and I haven’t looked back since. It’s been absolutely a fantastic journey.

John: I love it. I just love it. And for our listeners and viewers to understand also where Grady is today at Northwestern Mutual, the annual revenue at Northwestern Mutual is in excess of $38 billion a year with over 8,300 employees, and they serve the entire United States. It’s important to know that. To learn more about Northwestern Mutual, please go to www.northwestermutual.com. Northwesternmutual.com will also be in the show notes. Grady, you laid out a real… You really unpacked a lot, and I want to go over this a little bit. As you and I both know, there’s been a massive shift away from these alphabet soup of acronyms that have become highly politicized and polarizing, and more of a shift to what you were just describing, which is what I call the shift to sustainability, the linear to circular economy, equals and then also with the need of materiality, the connection of the core of the business and the culture and the DNA of the company and the organization and the communities and everyone that benefits along the way. There’s material connections that you’ve just already laid out. Can you share with regards to sustainability and impact and what that means with regards to Northwestern Mutual and the work that you do, not only how you benefit the communities, but how it benefits the core business as well?

Grady: Absolutely. I like to think about it in terms of the seamless web, if you will, and that is something that I think helps to crystallize the interdependence that not only we have within organizations, but how those organizations reach out in the communities as well. Going back to Northwestern Mutual, I consider myself now a recovering attorney working on these issues of how sustainability and impact can really help mitigate business risks and not only just mitigate risks, but flip those risks into opportunities that will help us create long-term responsible growth and value creation as a mutual company being beholden not to shareholders, but to our policy owners. They expect, they deserve growth and value creation. Not only that, but the one thing that I think our listeners would be very interested to know about Northwestern Mutual is that Northwestern Mutual is nearly 170 years old. Even though I talk about the fact that I came here 3 years ago to stand up this sustainability function, obviously Northwestern Mutual has been doing things right for considerable amount of time to be here, to be relevant, and to be able to create so much value for so many people over that extended amount of time. It means that they’ve always been looking out in terms of how our work interacts with the communities and how making sure that the way we govern ourselves, being very transparent, engenders trust as well so that we would have the trust of those who give us information not only about their finances, but about their health so that we can deliver on the promises that we’ve made. So being here at Northwestern Mutual, an organization that has always been serious about investing in opportunities to drive positive change, and not just for today, but looking out over generations to come. That long-term perspective and that deep sense of responsibility is what I think differentiates Northwestern Mutual from a lot of companies, and that’s what really continues to inspire me today as well. So our sustainability and impact efforts actually play a critical role then in protecting our financial strength. And unless you can make that connection, it’s really hard to do this work because if you can’t make that connection between what you’re doing in a sustainability space to make sure you’re relevant and create long-term value creation. If you can’t make that connection, then you’re just adding to people’s to-do list and taking them off of the mission-critical business of that particular entity that you’re serving. But when those can enmesh with each other, as we have with our sustainability function at Northwestern Mutual, we find ourselves playing this role in making sure that we are elevating our business operations, making sure that we’re driving positive economic outcomes, that we are remaining relevant and well-positioned to grow policy owner value and serve future generations. And so that is, I think, the secret sauce of enmeshing what we do on the sustainability space in conjunction with our business mission and vision, and that is to promote financial security, financial strength, and become America’s number one financial partner.

John: With regards to sustainability and impact, you’ve covered a variety of different issues, Grady. How narrow or wide are your social impact investments? What does your lens look like? What were you charged to do? And what have you brought back to the company? And how has that worked over the last 3 and a half years?

Grady: Yeah, so I tell our team this all the time, that we’re in place to be that sole source of truth around all the things that Northwestern Mutual is doing to bring back and give value to our communities. And we do it in so many different ways, and so many different parts of the organizations play a part in this role as well, from our buildings people who contribute to our built environment, to our investment groups who help us manage investments in our community, to our community relations group that help us with regard to liaising with non-profits in our community, and providing not only financial resources, but human capital from employee volunteerism to do the things that they’re doing. So that’s a big part of what we do. And we try to go wide and deep as well, but we try to do it within the capacity that we have, because you can get yourself so spread out and so thinned out that you’re not really making a meaningful impact. So take for instance, when we look at investing in our community, community revitalization is actually a business strategy for Northwestern Mutual. Because we believe that when everyone has an opportunity to achieve their full potential, we all succeed, we all end up growing the pie, we all end up having an opportunity to deliver financial security and expand financial access. And so that’s why community revitalization is a business strategy for us. As I said before, one of our core missions is around delivering financial security and expanding financial access. We recognize that it’s imperative for us to reduce what we consider and what we call this wealth gap. We recognize that that’s an imperative because it allows more Americans to be able to live their full lives in a very intentional way. And so the ways that we do that is looking at those businesses that have been historically and generally undercapitalized. And how can we help with regard to helping those businesses stand up, not only just from the standpoint of the infusion of cash, but from the infusion of thought leadership as well. And so on all these programs that we talk about, we provide a very heavy touch, if you will. So we’re talking to these founders and startups about how they are pursuing their business mission, talking to them about what are the main elements of having a solid business plan, talking to them about how they’re looking at their own financial growth and development. We’re pairing them with our financial advisors so that as they grow their business, they can understand how that impacts their lives personally as well. And then lastly, we’re continuing to earn our trust through governance of this work and accountability. So you mentioned our website. And when your listeners go to that website, northwestermutual.com, they’ll be able to pull up our 2024 Sustainability and Impact Report. And in that report, it’ll talk about these things that I’m kind of brushing over in our conversation today. But specifically, it’ll talk about our acumen towards governance and accountability and how we are trying to be as transparent as possible with our intentions, with our goals, and holding ourselves accountable to our ambitions in these spaces. And we want our potential policy owners to see this because we think that that also engenders their trust of entrusting us with the vital and important information they’ve entrusted us with so that we can make good on all the promises that we’ve made, not only for our policy owners today, but for policy owners who haven’t even been born yet. Sustainability to us means that we have to be around for generations to come to make good on all of those promises.

John: And that might be the greatest definition of materiality as well. You know, what I love about your approach, Grady, when I was learning about you and doing some homework on you before we had this tape, this episode, was that you just don’t enjoy talking the talk and being an ambassador for sustainability, impact, and all that’s good. But you also put yourself on the playing field. You are on the board of directors, if I’m not mistaken, for the Marcus Performing Arts Center, Visit Milwaukee, Wisconsin Policy Forum, and the Wisconsin Center District. Why is it important to stay heavily involved with your communities that you live in and that work in and that the company that you represent is also a citizen in? Tell me the importance of not just writing checks and talking the talk, but actually walking the walk.

Grady: John, I love that question. And it’s kind of what we preach all the time. Sure, we have a very robust and healthy Northwestern Mutual Foundation that has provided a tremendous amount of financial support in a lot of areas around our city, whether it be in the spaces of education, adding more quality education seats. Whether it be in the area of fighting childhood cancer, and all of the dollars that have gone to research in those areas, not only childhood cancer, but the disease of sickle cell in communities around our country as well. And I always say that, sure, we can think about how many zeros we could put in front of a decimal point on a check. But to me, the greatest gift that Northwestern Mutual has, that it has the ability to share with the communities in which we’re located, is our people. Because as you know, when you work with some of these nonprofits, you understand that they are operating a lot of times on shoestring budgets. And those shoestring budgets have to account for everything. It has to account for the product or service delivery, but it also has to account for the human capital they have to run the business as well. It just so happens, John, that Northwestern Mutual is filled with a bunch of accountants, a bunch of HR professionals, a bunch of marketing professionals, a bunch of lawyers, who, when they end up lending their resources, their time, their skill sets to these organizations, it helps those organizations function just that much more better in their communities. So the giving back through our own personal commitment is twofold. One, it acts as a means of helping to steward the gifts that are in our communities through these various organizations that we’re funding. But it also supplements those staffs with professional legal services, HR services, accounting services, marketing services. The list goes on and on of what our professionals are bringing to those organizations. And here’s the interesting thing about that as well, because some people will say, “Well, that’s great. People are volunteering their time. That’s great.” But that time and those skill sets they’re learning in those organizations are transferable back to the business of running Northwestern Mutual as well. Why I say it? Because some of those nonprofits, the missions are just too great to fail. So they have to figure it out. They have to be innovative. And you can bring that innovation back to your own job at Northwestern Mutual. You’re typically dealing with people who you may not deal with on a daily basis in your regular day job at Northwestern Mutual. So being able to work with a wide diversity of individuals and skills and people in our community is another skill set you get to bring back and interject into our community right there at Northwestern Mutual. Which only makes us stronger, only makes us better, while at the same time making our community stronger and better at the same time. I told you Northwestern Mutual is a mutual company. We’re beholden to our share, to our policy owners, and so we’re also beholden to having mutual wins. So we think that when we win, we’re going to help the community win. When the community wins, we also win at the same time.

John: Share with us, Grady, one example of one of your favorite social impact investments that you’re most proud of in the last 3 and a half years at Northwestern Mutual.

Grady: Sure. You know, we talked about a little bit. I talked about our efforts in terms of helping to reduce this wealth gap. Because the gap is real. The gap is significant. In fact, there is a stat that the bottom 50 percent of households in the U.S. own only 2.5 percent of our nation’s wealth. You know, think about that. 50 percent of the households in the U.S. own only 2.5 percent of our nation’s wealth. And when that happens, it really undermines economic opportunity. It undermines people’s ability to be mobile and mobility to move and change situations. So we’ve taken bold steps to invest in undercapitalized entrepreneurs and advanced businesses that spark community growth. And one way we do that is through our impact investing fund. And so through that fund, we’ve made a number of investments in venture capital organizations nationally and locally in Milwaukee. We have pillars around business readiness, financial readiness, affordable housing, as well as health and wellness. So in those categories, our impact investment teams are looking for companies that haven’t been able to get the capital they need to execute on their business plan and providing that heavy wraparound touch of linking them up with the professionals at Northwestern Mutual to help their businesses continue to grow. And just through those 2 funds, we’ve committed a total of about $175 million to support undercapitalized entrepreneurs. And that is manifesting itself through the impact of creating more jobs, turning blighted houses and properties into tax contributing properties in communities, contributing to the safety of those communities by our efforts in that affordable housing space, as well as just increasing the affordable housing stock specifically in Milwaukee as well. And we know that home ownership a lot of times becomes kind of that central core of someone’s ability to create their own financial security and to create transferable generational wealth. But that’s tough if you don’t believe that owning a home is something that’s even attainable. And especially when you’re subjected to the rising interest rate markets, the demands of landlords and huge swings in rental prices and affordability, creating more affordable housing actually brings more people to the table to be able to own houses. And what’s been great about that work is that we see people who have been lifelong Milwaukee residents, who have been linked up to some of our efforts in affordable housing and through our partners in the city, in this space. And are now saying for the first time, for the first time, I feel like I’m really a part of the city. I’m a resident here, but I’m an owner here. And not only it’s me, but I have something that I can pass along to my family for generations to come as well. That’s the type of work that’s really exciting to me as we kind of look and try to make sure that we’re keeping score of our impact numbers. You know, just those personal stories of people who felt like something was unattainable, now realizing something that they never thought they would have an opportunity to experience has been extremely rewarding in the space for me.

John: Grady, I’m 63 years old. That used to be called, when I was growing up, that was called being part of the American dream.

Grady: Yep.

John: `And that was just simply, that was what it was. For our listeners and viewers who’ve just joined us, we’ve got Grady Crosby with us today. He’s a Chief Sustainability Impact Officer at Northwestern Mutual. To find Grady and his colleagues and all the important work they’re doing in sustainability and impact, please go to www.NorthwesternMutual.com. Grady, go into that a little bit more. You know, your planning and progress study at Northwestern Mutual showed that buying a house is one of the top 3 financial concerns of this new generation Gen Z and millennials, by the way. Explain to the listeners and viewers, what’s the innovative approach that you’re taking to connect affordable housing with the people that are in need for it? Because it’s a passion of yours. I think it’s such an important connection of the dots to not leave behind this next generation of Gen Z and millennials. We can’t leave them out of the American dream if we expect the American dream to live on after the 250-year anniversary. What’s Northwestern Mutual’s innovative secret sauce, your approach to this whole connectivity of capital and housing?

Grady: Yeah, I wish we had a secret source. It’s just rolling up our sleeves and it’s really hard work. But we know we have to help build a stronger economic engine in our cities where our policy owners, employees, and our field force advisors call home. And as you talked about, John, what used to be the American dream now as a result of that study, we found out that over half of Americans don’t own a home and feel that home ownership is a fairy tale. And that used to be something that we would all work towards. So what do we do about it? In our hometown of Milwaukee trying to create a larger affordable housing stock to bring more home ownership opportunities to help advance financial stability in our communities. We recognize we can’t do it alone because we’re in the business of financial services and becoming America’s most trusted financial advisor. And so we have to partner with some subject matter experts. And so there’s a group in Milwaukee called the Milwaukee Community Land Trust. There’s also groups called the Community Development Alliance, CDA, the Habitat for Humanity. We partner with a number of these organizations. But specifically, let me talk about MCLT, Milwaukee Community Land Trust. This is a group that we found that actually buys neglected properties, blighted properties, abandoned properties from the city. And then they renovate them. And because these properties are put under a land trust agreement, a trust agreement, they have to be sold at under market prices. And what that does is allow us more people to experience home ownership without being crushed by the financial burdens of interest rates or rising rental rates and things of that nature. And so our investment in Milwaukee Community Land Trust allows them to do that renovation. And not all of it is renovation. Some of it, some of these are empty properties and these are new builds. But allows them to build these homes and be able to sell them at an under market price. And so those homeowners that come in at the under market price now have the opportunity to do a little bit more saving. But there’s also this heavy, I talked about this heavy touch, this heavy wraparound. And that goes on in this space as well, because we’ll make sure that those homeowners understand specifically the responsibilities of home ownership. From the standpoint of saving for taxes, from the standpoint of making sure that you’re ready to do all of the maintenance and preventative maintenance that needs to go on at your property, from the standpoint of making sure that you are just being a good neighbor. And also understanding how you can help from the standpoint of this property undergirding your future financial success as well. So that’s why I say I wish there was a secret source, but it just takes a lot of work in doing it. And so since that property is in a land trust, when those homeowners have saved enough or they’re ready to move on, they also agree to make sure that those properties are sold at an under market price as well. Now it allows another homeowner to come in and do the exact same thing that they did to help them get their footing to launch out into something new, different, or something that meets their lifestyle changes or choices at that particular time. But at the end of the day, it makes sure that we have a viable, vibrant, affordable housing stock in Milwaukee that has some permanency as well. And so that’s one of the programs and projects and initiatives that our Impact Investment Group is engaged in. And we’re counting all the numbers from helping people move from being unbanked to banked, helping people improve their credit scores, the jobs that are generated from the construction projects. Even the underlying tax basis of the city from having properties that were not contributing to the city tax revenue, now being properties that are contributing to that tax basis. Which again undergirds all of the services that the city of Milwaukee provides to its residents.

John: So really as a macro approach, you’re an educator in terms of financial literacy with a whole generation that desperately needs it.

Grady: Absolutely. And that has to be a part of it because we want to make sure that this helps individuals establish their own financial independence. [crosstalk] And so that’s where we’re going at the end of the day.

John: What strikes me, Grady, about the paradigm that you just laid out is it’s not all that complicated. It sounds like if others would catch on to this and other smart political leaders and business leaders caught on to this, this is a paradigm that could be replicated all across America.

Grady: Well John, it takes wanting to get to the root cause of some of these issues that are plaguing our communities. Instead of looking at a band-aid approach or anything, it really takes rolling up the sleeves and doing the heavy work. I’ll give you another example. Through our foundation, we are contributing to a number of quality education seats in our community through liaising with a number of our educational, not only from public, private charter, but liaising with those professionals who are in the schools. So the leadership teams and making sure that we’re upscaling them, helping with the near peer mentors that are actually interfacing with the students in school to look at their performance and understand what’s going on with helping them improve their performance. You know, you can ask someone, “What do you think is the number one contributor to reading insufficiency by third grade? Why aren’t more kids in the third grade reading at a level of proficiency?” And you’ll get a lot of answers. And a lot of them will probably start with things such as it’s the educators, it’s the resources, it’s the curriculum, it’s the facilities. But John, do you know what is one of the most significant contributing factors to underperformance and reading proficiency for third graders? I’ll tell you. It’s food. It’s hunger. It’s hunger and food scarcity that has these kids not ready to learn and be ready to receive the instruction they’re getting on a daily basis.

And so if you want to help with regard to education, you have to look at the holistic solutions. It’s not just educators alone. It’s not just facilities alone. It’s not just parents alone. But it’s helping support and augment all of that and making sure children are ready to learn. But that takes more than a cursory look. And it takes more than just as we talked about before, stroking a check and patting yourself on the back and feeling good about it. It takes really wanting to get to the root cause of these issues. And I think when we do that, John, we would be able to help better a number of the issues that are going on in our communities. And again, at Northwestern Mutual, we don’t do it so we can pat ourselves on the back and say, “Look how good we are.” We do it for the exact reason that you talked about earlier, John, and that is to encourage other companies similarly situated to us to join in with us in this work. The old adage is many hands makes for light work. And so we would like to as I started off our talk with this afternoon, underscore the significant responsibility that corporate citizens have in our community. And that’s to give back and make sure that our communities are better as we leave and exit than when we found them.

John: You know, Grady, 2 things strike me there. First of all, it’s unbelievably sad and disheartening that in 2025, you and I are having a conversation and food scarcity is still on the table as one of the root causes of our literacy issues in this country and education issues in this country. It’s unbelievably sad and frustrating. Number 2, but your message of hope and inspiration that we all as individuals, citizens, and as corporate citizens can do more and be better is tremendously hopeful. And I love that about your message and your ongoing narrative today. I want to go back to something you shared earlier. And I want that lovely quote for the young people that listen and watch the show, not only in the United States, but literally around the world, which is really fun and exciting. And one of the main reasons we do this show about doing the important, ordinary work with all their effort and all their might so they can then stand out as extraordinary. One of the biggest issues that I hear all the time, and I’m sure you do as well as a mentor and as a leader and as a person of inspiration. But one of the things I’m hearing from the folks that I mentor and young people that I get to speak with on a regular basis is their fear of being replaced by AI. And the hype of AI, the hype cycle is ever increasing vis-a-vis traditional media, social media, and really it’s coming at us from all different forms. You and I happily and luckily have made a place, we’ve made a place for ourselves, but we weren’t faced with the AI generation that the new digital natives, the youth of America and the youth around the world is faced with. What advice could you give to the young people around the world that want to be like you, Grady, that want to make a difference and also make a paycheck along the way, but they don’t want to be replaced by AI either as they forge their new and growing careers?

Grady: Yeah, great question. One of the things, and this comes up all the time, and as I said, the job that I’m in didn’t exist when I was in school, in college or law school. How I got here was being inquisitive about everything that I was doing. And I’ll give you my 4Gs for success here in a second. But I tell young people all the time, “Embrace AI, learn AI, incorporate AI into what you’re doing so that you’re just that much more proficient about the tool, because it’s not AI that’s going to replace your job. It’s the person who knows how to use AI that’s going to potentially replace the job, so to speak.” So the more proficient you are, the more you’re in a better position to deal with that. And that’s not something new to this generation, so to speak. Our forefathers had to deal with the great industrial revolution when machines were taken over, and they learned how to adapt. Because as I believe that the mind and the human capacity is the greatest gift the world has ever been given, and none of this stuff that exists can exist without the human touch and the human contribution of inventing that. So I need people to stay grounded in that, that AI is not going to take over for you. You need to embrace it. You need to become as proficient in it as anyone else. But here’s what I kind of continue to go back to, and these are my 4Gs. It’s grit, grande, it’s grace, and it’s gratitude. Grit in that every day, you just got to get up and make sure that you are doing those things that are going to make you successful. And every day is not easy to get up. When the alarm goes off, sometimes you’re second guessing yourself. But it’s a grit that you know you got to get after it. And I want our young people to understand that it takes that. It’s not always pretty. Everyone can’t be an influencer. Sometimes it just takes the grit to want to go out there to do the job that has to be done. The grande is also a part of that, is understanding that I have a role that needs to be played, and I am the best one that’s suited to do it. I don’t need to try to replicate or duplicate anyone else because no one is better at being me than me. And that’s my grande. I got to stay in my grande. But also, grace, because we are humans, and we’re going to make mistakes along the way. But none of that should derail us. And if you don’t catch that exit ramp that you thought you were going to catch for your career, that’s okay. Get back on your horse and give yourself the grace to continue to get back to the grit and the grande that you were already on. And then lastly, this significant amount of gratitude, of being able to just take time out and being grateful for those things that are existing in your life the way they are at that particular time. It can be better, but it can also be worse. So just being gracious about where you are right now on the journey, I think, goes a long way as well. Everybody wants to differentiate themselves in terms of career and their abilities because they want to get to that next level and to that next level. And if you don’t watch it, you’ll always be kind of subjected to trying to get to that next level without enjoying where you are. And that’s why I say you have to be comfortable with going the extra mile right where you are, doing the ordinary in an extraordinary way. Because guess what? If you’re willing to go the extra mile, you’re going to distinguish yourself. You’re right. These career paths are just jammed and full of people. And it seems like you’re kind of caught up in the masses of people. But I’ll tell you what, John, there’s no traffic jam on the extra mile. If you get on that extra mile, you can really distinguish yourself. And that’s what I think our young people need to concentrate on.

John: And what I also believe in is that we’ve become more… I think all your points are absolutely spot on, Grady. And we’ve also become more isolated now because of the beauty of technology, which has interconnected us more than ever. And you and I are having this wonderful conversation over Zoom today, over technology and using it for all the great reasons that it should be used. But it’s also isolated so much of the next generation coming up. And that isolation has created fear, but it’s also created a lack of social fluency, social fluency that you’ve exhibited in your career. For instance, AI is not going to replace you on the Marcus Performing Arts Center Board of Directors.

Grady: No.

John: Or on the Visit Milwaukee Board of Directors or the Wisconsin Policy Forum. AI is not going to replace you and show up and intermingle and work with the other people and other leaders and get to know them and then get to know you and the brands that you represent and the vision that you represent for the greater Milwaukee community. And that’s the beauty of what you’ve done. But there’s a generation behind us. Like when you and I were growing up, everything was done in person. In person was the connectivity, it was ubiquitous. And now everyone thinks they’re going to close their next big deal or make their big fortune by texting or over Snapchat or whatever else is out there over Instagram or DMs. And they’ve forgotten the whole beauty and the importance, or they never were taught the importance of doing the interpersonal relationships and having social and personal fluency to work with others in person. And the beauty of in-person can never be forgotten, I don’t think either.

Grady: I agree with you. And it’s not too late, John, for people to reorient themselves that way as well.

John: 100%. Grady, you have 3 and a half years behind you here at Northwestern Mutual. What are you looking most forward to in 2026 and beyond?

Grady: I think I’m looking forward to seeing some of our impact continue to mature and materialize. As I said, we’ve been at this work for a little over 3 years. And so some of our investments are still very early stage. Some of the fruits that it’s bearing are still at early stage. And I think as we continue to do this work and see more jobs created and see more people move towards financial stability and see people move towards generating more transferable generational wealth, I think that’s the thing that I’m really excited about going forward and how our policy owners will benefit from that. Because at the end of the day, more people are going to be looking for the types of services that a company like Northwestern Mutual provides, which only inures to the benefit of our entire policy owner population at its close.

John: Grady, I don’t know about what you’ve watched recently. Have you had the chance yet to see the movie F1?

Grady: I have not.

John: Okay. Well, I’m going to ask you a question. I’m going to share a little bit of the story. I took my wife this last weekend. And Brad Pitt played this race car driver named Sonny Hayes. And Sonny was going to make a big comeback in F1 racing, where he had never raced before. But it was racing nonetheless. And they asked him along the way, they said, “Why do you drive?” And he had a statement that really ended up being the whole basis of the movie. He goes, “Because when I drive, the rest of the world, fame, the fortune, the adulation, all the noise falls away. And I’m not driving. I’m flying.” You’ve been your recovered lawyer, went to public affairs, but found your bliss, obviously. And sustainability and the critical and important and impressive impact work that you’re doing at Northwestern Mutual. Grady Crosby, are you flying now?

Grady: Oh, my goodness. I certainly am. I am in a place and a position right now that I think is absolutely where I needed to be, wanted to be at this stage of my career. Because you’ve said this phrase a couple of times, not only am I able to have a job, but I’m able to also make a difference. And being here at Northwestern Mutual allows me to be a part of an organization that’s really serious about investing in opportunities that actually drive positive change, not only on the community side, but on the business side as well. And when you can marry those 2, oh, man, it’s a place of pure joy and bliss, because not only I can command the attention of community leaders, but I also can command the attention of our C-suite as well, because they recognize that these investments are not just about today, but they’re about generations to come. And having that long-term perspective of a Northwestern Mutual. So Northwestern Mutual is the first non-global, non-public company that I’ve worked for. And you know, sometimes with the public companies, you’re only as good as your last quarter. But at Northwestern Mutual, having the ability to take this long-term perspective and have this deep sense of responsibility embedded within that as well, that’s what brought me to Northwestern Mutual. And that’s what continues to inspire me each and every day.

John: And that’s why the world needs a lot more Grady Crosby. For all our listeners and viewers to find Grady and his colleagues and all the important work they’re doing in sustainability and impact, please go to www.NorthwesternMutual.com. Grady, thank you today for not only the generosity of your time and your thoughts and your vision for where we are now and where we need to go in the future, but more important than that, I’m really grateful to you, Grady, for just making the world a better place.

Grady: Thank you for that, John. I’m grateful to you as well for allowing me to leverage your platform and for you just even having this platform to get out some good news. Because you don’t have to search too hard to find the bad news. You don’t have to look up badnews.com to find it. It is everywhere. And so I’m so appreciative to you and all those who have appeared on this podcast before me for continuing to engender hope and inspire the generations to come to do great things for our communities.

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