Marshall Dean GEOFF GARRETT hosted Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman and CEO of American Express, for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, corporate governance, and the power of a global brand.

“We’re more than a credit card company,” Squeri told Garrett. “We’re more of a lifestyle corporation. We provide access to security, events, and a membership model that people want to pay for.”

American Express is a leader in global payments and one of the world’s most respected companies. Since being named to the role of chairman and CEO in 2018, Squeri has built a culture focused on backing customers, colleagues, and communities, and has evolved the company’s operating model through an enterprise-wide strategy focused on delivering sustainable long-term growth. ⁠

“Culture starts with values,” he said. “And the values of a company determine the culture of a company. Values that are not just written on a piece of paper, but values that are lived, values that are followed.”

Those values played out during COVID, when the company made strategic early decisions to help customers and keep those employees who could not work on the payroll. Squeri attributed being able to successfully navigate the Pandemic to his long tenure at the company and his understanding of how he could best help his customers, his brand, and his employees.

“When you’ve been here as long as I have, it’s hard to separate yourself from the company,” he observed. “I’ve had almost every job in this company. What’s helped me lead this company is that I understand how a manger thinks. I understand how somebody at the second level thinks, and the third level thinks. I understand what kind of company I would want, and I’m able to make those changes.

“As a leader, you have to be willing to serve. You are there to serve the 70,000 people who work at American Express…you need to make it easier for people to operate in the environment. So to the extent I can get roadblocks removed, to the extent I can change policies, to the extent I can do that and make people’s lives easier, that to me is the most fulfilling part of this job.”

This latest installment of the Dean’s Dialogue took place Nov. 29, 2022, at Town & Gown on USC’s University Park Campus. It was also livestreamed.