Leading in Times of Challenge with Dan Houston

Principal Financial Group CEO Dan Houston has faced challenges and overcome obstacles in his position with the company. Dan is also a former chair of the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s executive board, as well as a member of the Business Roundtable, made up of the largest employers in the country, and the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Dan Houston's Leadership Tips

Dan explains how Principal has transitioned to working remotely during COVID-19. Over the course of three days, Principal has moved 97% of employees situated to serve customers from their own homes.

Dan reflects on how Principal began the implementation of a new record keeping system for the retirement division back in the ‘90s. Sixty days into the implementation, they realized the system would be more difficult to put in place than originally thought. At that point, Dan says they had to decide whether to push forward or revert to the old system. They decided to make it work. It took a year to become stable on that platform. From that experience, Dan learned about servant leadership, communication, creating focused teams and the importance of milestones, measurements and metrics. 

The Leading in Times of Challenge podcast was previously produced by the Greater Des Moines Partnership. To learn more about community events and leadership, check out The Partnership blog.