On this episode of Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast, host Diane Brady talks to Patti Poppe, CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). Poppe left her position as CEO of Consumers Energy in Michigan in 2020 to join PG&E, shortly after the company pled guilty to criminal charges for the massive Camp wildfire that devastated California's Butte County. She only signed on after getting a promise that the turnaround would focus on the company's culture and operations. PG&E had just exited bankruptcy and Poppe told the board chair at the time, "I'm not excited about a financial turnaround. But I'm excited about an operational and safety turnaround and cultural turnaround." The playbook she and her team put into place did end up building a strong new financial foundation for PG&E but, she said it was just as important to improve physical safety, including a reduction in wildfire risk as well as workers' safety incidents.
The interview also covers building toward a decarbonized economy, nuclear energy, and why it's time for employers to go beyond the work-pay construct to, instead, lead with love. "I want my team to have the full expression of their skills, their talents, their gifts, and then the appreciation for one another as they achieve it," said Poppe.
