Chairman and CEO of Dun & Bradstreet on Customers, Teamwork, and Culture

Chairman and CEO Sara Mathew opens up about Dun & Bradstreet’s recent shift in its company culture, focusing on their customers and driving client satisfaction. She recognized the 170 year old company needed to change its culture about 12 years ago when she saw DNB struggling to deliver returns investors were expecting. Mathew’s spent the next few years attaining an agile and flexible culture that could survive challenging economic times and alterations in the business landscape. Such a shift included enabling the corporate culture through a technological infrastructure, holistically and with integrity.

When Mathew’s is asked about where her role lies in building Dun & Bradstreet’s cutlure, she calls herself the architect, saying the organization is a mirror of how she behaves. Despite the amount of pressure this role comes with, she enjoys having the opportunity to acknowledge her mistakes and address them. Mathew says that other CEOs should recognize they are not perfect and need to take ownership for their own mistakes, and let their company know how they will adjust accordingly. She describes the culture of Dun & Bradstreet as an energetic team, who care about winning with their cusotmers, shareholders, and team members, comparing it to winning a game of sport. Mathew’s stresses the importance of being able to measure the progress of these three constituents by looking at customer satisfaction scores, shareholder value, and recognizing how engaged the organization is.

Like a true entrepreneur, Sara Mathew lights up when talking about her customers and creating value for their businesses to thrive. She quotes the famous Peter Drucker who said, “There is no business that can be around without a customer”. Sara Mathew recognizes without customers you have no business, and continues to strive on building a successful team that will create long term customer relationships. Watch the latest episode of The CEO TV Show on demand now.

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