The Modern Activist Toolkit

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[00:02:31] – (First question) – Lauren's background and how she landed at Impactive Capital

[00:06:25] – Impactive’s strategy vs the stereotype of the activist investor

[00:10:55] – Potential candidates for what they do 

[00:13:26] – How they view the small cap tech world as the space is dominated by huge companies

[00:15:24] – How capital allocation has evolved over her career

[00:15:30] – The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

[00:17:38] – Best capital allocation strategies and mistakes that most companies make

[00:18:48] – The levers activists pull: cap structure; capital allocation and operating structure

[00:22:00] – Major lessons from earlier in her career

[00:23:25] – Major changes in Governance as part of the ESG strategy

[00:26:13] – The issue of dual-class stock in the space

[00:27:35] – Features of a pristine healthy board

[00:28:40] – Board’s role setting incentives and objectives for management

[00:29:55] – How she thinks about the E&S in ESG and how it helps shareholders

[00:32:56] – Applying her strategy in a real-world example

[00:37:40] – What they look for in a business when it comes to sum of the parts

[00:40:29] – Businesses that are misunderstood and what she looks for in that category

[00:41:39] – How she manages relationships with the boards

[00:45:11] – What she has learned transitioning business models

[00:47:08] – The rise of employee activism 

[00:50:02] – What she’s seeing in terms of diversity and inclusion in board rooms and C-Suites

[00:53:32] – Best practices and ways to disrupt hiring

[00:57:48] – Something she doesn’t understand well today that she wishes she did

[00:58:59] – Kindest thing anyone has done for her