In a May 19 Zoom discussion — the latest in FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Women “conversations with” series — Beth Ford, CEO of Arden Hills, Minn.-based cooperative Land O’Lakes Inc., stressed that employees need to come first during the current coronavirus crisis.
“Never has it been more important than right now to put your team first, to listen, to do everything you can to help them feel grounded, comfortable, engaged and tied into the mission and with each other,” she told FORTUNE Senior Editor Beth Kowitt and other discussion participants. “I think if you do that, if you treat them well … and they know that, then everything else will take care of itself.”