Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah
Boston consistently ranks among the best cities in the country for entrepreneurship and is home to countless start-ups—including some started by Boston College graduates. One source of Boston’s innovation culture is the strong and interconnected community of business leaders that make up the highest levels of Boston’s corporate world. That community is fostered in part by the Boston College Chief Executives Club, a network of Boston’s business leaders who gather several times a year to hear from a variety of visionary global CEOs and business leaders.
As the business world has adapted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the CEO Club has also shifted, transitioning their in-person gatherings to an online format and introducing virtual “Conversations with CEOs.” One recent Conversation featured Niraj Shah, co-founder, co-chairman, and CEO of Boston-based online home goods retailer Wayfair. During the May 21st interview, hosted by CEO Club Executive Director Warren Zola, M.B.A. ’96, Shah spoke about collaborative online workplaces, innovation in e-commerce, and how the coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the way consumers approach retail purchases. The expansion of e-commerce has been a boon to online retailers like Wayfair, and Shah predicts that this shift to online shopping as a primary mode of retail purchasing might be here to stay: “A surprising number of folks say, ‘Even after this, I’m going to keep ordering online.’”
Wayfair, which was one of the first major businesses in Boston to switch to remote work in early March, plans to allow thousands of corporate employees to work remotely through Labor Day. And although Wayfair has relied on open-plan offices to encourage innovation and cooperative work, Shah is optimistic about how new technologies have allowed businesses to foster connections remotely and adapt to “the new normal.”
Looking to the future, Shah spoke about how Boston’s interconnected business community will be an asset as Massachusetts moves toward reopening its economy. He remarked that the breadth of the business community in Boston is “not just business leaders or just non-profits or just certain industry sectors, but it crosses those [sectors] and I think that does actually end up being part of the fabric of Boston . . . and that will, in turn, manifest into Boston and the Massachusetts economy recovering quite well.”
Since 1992, that community could be seen in action at Boston College Chief Executives Club events, where managers and executives have met throughout the year to hear from influential corporate leaders from across the globe. Featured executives cover a wide array of industries: previous speakers have ranged from Martha Stewart to Stephen J. Easterbrook, president and CEO of McDonald’s, to Major League Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. The CEO Club has hosted these and other lunchtime gatherings at the Boston Harbor Hotel, prior to pivoting online. The planned in-person spring lineup of CEOs from Procter & Gamble, JPMorgan Chase, JetBlue, and Dow was postponed and the more intimate and informal iteration, “Conversations with CEOs,” was born.
This summer's virtual CEO Club conversations reflect both the cross-sector breadth of the Boston business community and the ability of remote connection to foster community over distances. Other online events featured Boston-based leaders Corey Thomas, chair and CEO of Rapid7; Linda Henry, managing director of the Boston Globe; Carol Fulp, founder and CEO of Fulp Diversity; and Jim Fitterling, chair and CEO of Dow Inc., which is headquartered 800 miles from Boston in Midland, Michigan.
To see the full recordings of previous talks, and to be notified when future recordings are available, subscribe to the BC CEO Club’s channel on YouTube.
—Rachel Bird, Carroll School News
Image credits: Wayfair, Inc.; the Office of Governor Baker