Purpose Before Profit: Prudential Financial’s Lata Reddy On The Benefits Of Running A Purpose-Driven Business

In today’s competitive business landscape, the race for profits often takes center stage. However, there are some leaders who also prioritize a mission-driven purpose. They use their business to make a positive social impact and recognize that success isn’t only about making money. In this interview series, we are talking with some of these distinct leaders and I had the pleasure of interviewing Lata N. Reddy.

Lata N. Reddy is senior vice president, Inclusive Solutions at Prudential Financial and chair of The Prudential Foundation. In these roles, Reddy harnesses the power of capital markets to drive financial and social mobility. By combining diversity strategies, impact investments, philanthropy, corporate contributions, and employee engagement with Prudential’s full business capabilities, she helps position the company for sustainable growth by promoting inclusive economic opportunity. Under her leadership, Prudential became one of the first institutional investors to grow and manage an impact investing portfolio with $1 billion in assets under management.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thank you for the invitation. My “origin” story is in some ways a fairly recent one. I’m the first person in my family born in the United States and the first generation to grow up here. Both of my parents were born and raised in India. They came to the United States at a young age, my father first, to go to university, followed by my mother. I grew up in a bi-cultural household. Everything about it — the food we ate, the clothes my mother wore, the language we spoke — was a mash-up in the best possible way. My early years were spent in a college town in upstate New York, where my father was a professor. I thrived in that environment, with a social circle that was very diverse, and in a school where I felt appreciated for who I was.

My father got a tenured position at a university in the Midwest, so we moved when I was nine. We were now living in a suburb that was very different from my earlier experience. It didn’t take long for me to realize that in this new town, we were viewed as “other.” Because of that, my teenage years were spent figuring out how I could be more “American.” It wasn’t until I went to college that I began to appreciate what I had growing up and how these experiences would shape my career.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?

An unforgettable moment in my career arose out of the tragedy of the Great East Earthquake and Tsunami. I was working closely with a colleague from our business in Japan on our recovery and rebuilding efforts in Tohoku following the disaster. On one of my many visits towards the end of our engagement, I visited the home of a family of oyster farmers. Their house was on a peninsula, so it was only accessible via a three-hour drive or a short boat ride. We opted for the boat and were ferried over by the family. I was privileged to sit with them as they shared the horror of running up the hill to escape the waves, and how their oyster beds, and with them their livelihood, were destroyed. Our funding had enabled them to rebuild, and they were once again selling to local restaurants. It was a remarkable story of resilience.

What inspired you to join a purpose-driven business? Can you share a personal story or experience that led you to prioritize social impact in your business?

My father grew up in a rural village in India, with a school that only went to the fourth grade. His options were to go work on the family farm with his older brothers or go to the nearest town and continue his studies. His mother was against the idea of him leaving, but with the help of his brother-in-law — who saw the potential in my father — he was able to convince his mother to let him go. He was 10 years old. The “what-ifs” in that one moment were not lost on me and my sister growing up. What if his brother-in-law didn’t step in to help? What if my grandmother refused to let him go? He faced countless hardships while pursuing his dream of going to an American university. So what if my father gave up along the way?

His experience led me to realize at an early age that too many people in too many places are shut out of opportunities because of societal issues and structural barriers. It also taught me that while hard work is necessary to achieve your goals, it is not always sufficient. My father shared that there were many individuals along the way that provided help at critical moments. Because of their help, he was able to access educational opportunities that led to a good job with workplace benefits, and eventually home ownership. His education and achievements propelled our family to become financially secure and able to build generational wealth. But I was conscious that our good fortune was in part because of good luck.

I eventually went to law school and became a civil rights attorney focused on leveling the playing field. While I was passionate about my work and helping individuals with their issues, I was not addressing the underlying problems that were creating the issues in the first place. This is what led me to Prudential, a company founded on the principle of democratizing access to financial security. Being at a company driven by a strong sense of purpose was a natural fit for me, and a platform to address the structural barriers that hold people back from achieving their dreams.

As a successful leader, it’s clear that you uphold strong core values. I’m curious what are the most important principles you firmly stand by and refuse to compromise on. Can you share a few of them and explain why they hold such significance for you in your work and life?

I would say humility, empathy, and trust are the values I strive to live by. My family’s experience taught me that it’s a thin line between those who can achieve their dreams and those who can’t. I am humbled about the fact that I have benefitted from my father’s journey. While I was in law school, I worked with people who were incarcerated and on death row. One of the lawyers I worked with, Bryan Stevenson, talks about the need to get “proximate” to suffering and understand the nuanced experiences of those who experience inequality. Hearing their stories taught me about empathy. All of this led to the idea of trust — trust that the people closest to the aspirations and needs of communities have the best solutions. That is how we strive to do our work at Prudential, to help bring to life the solutions they want to see.

We often learn the most from our mistakes. Can you share one that you made that turned out to be one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned?

Several years ago, we were transforming the way my organization worked to better harness the full set of Prudential’s capabilities. This meant working in an integrated way across Prudential to leverage all its businesses to create greater and scalable social impact. While I had a clear vision that I communicated often, I soon realized that ‘often’ was not enough. Affecting organizational change — in this case pivoting a mission-oriented team to be more commercially oriented — requires constant communication. While it is the job of a leader to look around corners and anticipate what is next, leaders can’t assume everyone is on the same page. In this case, I had assumed that everyone understood we would not be compromising on our mission and impact-first ethos. I learned the importance of spending ample time doubling back to ensure the team understands intent.

Can you help articulate a few of the benefits of leading a purpose-driven team?

Prudential’s purpose is to make lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world and we strive to ensure it is embedded in everything we do. For me, leading an organization with that purpose at its core affords me the opportunity to work with people who also want to create good in the world, specifically ensuring more people in more places are financially secure. For the Prudential team, working for a purpose-driven company is motivational and inspirational. And we know that when people are inspired, they will stay engaged and do their best work.

How has your company’s mission or purpose affected its overall success? Can you explain the methods or metrics you use to evaluate the impact of this purpose-driven strategy on your organization?

Purpose is the North Star for how we execute our vision and strategy. Our vision is to expand access to financial services.

Much of that happens at the intersection of business and society which means we as a company devote significant resources to addressing societal issues that impact our ability to do business. We believe that is the space that will lead to more growth opportunities, so we are building an integrated approach to measurement that captures both societal and business outcomes of our work. For example, for our work to address the financial wellness of diverse communities, we are looking at things like access to financial education, access to capital, and use of Prudential products and services.

Can you share a pivotal moment when you realized that leading your purpose-driven company was making a significant impact? Can you share a specific example or story that deeply resonated with you personally?

A long-standing partner of ours, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ), used to run a pre-apprenticeship workforce development program aimed at helping Newark residents gain admission to the unions’ apprenticeship programs and ultimately secure union jobs. We invited a graduate of the program to come speak at our Foundation Board meeting. She shared her story, that she had been unemployed and was living off the couches of various relatives, with her kids in and out of school. After being accepted into the program and graduating, however, she obtained steady employment as a steamfitter. Her job enabled her to secure an apartment and ensure her kids were in school. It turned out that one of the jobs she was placed in was the construction of the Prudential Center in Newark.

We were taking our Board on a hardhat tour of the Prudential Center following the business portion of our meeting, including her presentation. After hearing her story and learning that she had not seen the Center after her part of the job was completed, we invited her to tour with us. It turned into an incredible moment. She was recognized everywhere we went, with people smiling, waving, and hugging her as we walked by. The ability to see first-hand the direct impact Prudential had on her, her family, and the community, was incredibly special.

Have you ever faced a situation where your commitment to your purpose and creating a positive social impact clashed with the profitability in your business? Have you ever been challenged by anyone on your team or had to make a tough decision that had a significant impact on finances? If so, how did you address and reconcile this conflict?

Prudential decided a few years back to build an operations center in a new community. The ethos of our company is to think about how we show up as a good corporate citizen when we enter new markets. That meant engaging with and supporting local organizations. Several years later, a decision was made to close the center. While exits are tough for everyone involved, we knew the best possible outcome could be achieved if we exited in a way that was consistent with our purpose. In this case, we knew that while the business decision to close the center would stand, we were not going to immediately exit the community. We continued to engage with residents and make investments in the community following the closure.

How can our readers further follow your work or your company online?

I can be followed on LinkedIn here, and you can keep up with Prudential news at our newsroom, and on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

This was great. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your business. We wish you continued success!

About the Interviewer: Chad Silverstein is a seasoned entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience as a Founder and CEO. While attending Ohio State University, he launched his first company, Choice Recovery, Inc., a nationally recognized healthcare collection agency — twice ranked the #1 workplace in Ohio. In 2013, he founded [re]start, helping thousands of people find meaningful career opportunities. After selling both companies, Chad shifted his focus to his true passion — leadership. Today, he coaches founders and CEOs at Built to Lead, advises Authority Magazine’s Thought Leader Incubator, and launched and leads an online leadership development community which can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android.