CSR (now ESG) to D&I (now DEI)
At Lenovo, I handled every aspect of corporate communications. In Environmental Affairs, as it was called at the time, to now ESG, I worked with the global team from Lenovo’s early days after the IBM PC acquisition to build our reputation in this area.
We navigated Greenpeace’s greener electronics rankings to advancements with ULE and energy efficiency ratings to major moves in using post consumer recycled content in PCs and sustainable packaging. As we committed to more of the items on Greenpeace’s agenda, like the precautionary principle, we moved up in the rankings
The middle picture is an image I worked with a professional photographer to commission to support the launch of the ThinkCentre A61e, one of Lenovo’s most energy efficient desktops at the time.
I worked with a colleague of mine who was an amateur photographer to create the image on the far right of the ThinkStation S20 and D20, which at the time were leaders for using post consumer recycled content, equivalent to the number of water bottles you see pictured. I enterprised this image to give some lift to the announcement with press and play up the green angle. Obviously, this was before AI was a thing. Today, I could create a similar image in just seconds, but at the time, we dressed up a conference room and spent an hour or two getting the shot just right.
Shaping Lenovo’s Diversity and Inclusion (and later Equity) Narrative
As part of our work measuring Lenovo’s reputation around the world in 10 countries, we created teams focused on driving the narratives that defined reputation – innovative products and services, performance, CSR/global citizenship, and the workplace. DEI falls into this last category, and I led a team that developed a multi-year global integrated communications plan.
Benchmarking ourselves against industry peers and competitors highlighted the opportunity to make commitments around executive representation – race and gender in the U.S. I worked closely with the Chief HR & Diversity Officer and legal to research realistic targets and convince the Executive Committee to take this proactive stance. In 2018, we unveiled a monumental achievement for the company with our first Diversity & Inclusion Report. We issued separate reports for several years before folding into the company’s CSR report.
As part of the strategic layer of the D&I plan, we hosted an event in NYC with the Atlantic magazine titled Inclusion in the Workplace. This session brought together thought leaders from companies, academic and others making headlines in this space. Our CDO Yolanda Conyers participated in the headline panel on stage, and we used this event as an opportunity to generate lots and lots of owned content, which we pumped out over several months to keep a drumbeat going. After meeting one of the guests on stage – Haben Girma – our team brought her on as Lenovo’s first Accessibility Advisor.
As the first deaf blind graduate from Harvard Law School, it’s hard not to admire Haben Girma. But she told me, she doesn’t want admiration. She wants to inspire others to act. By sharing her story and perspective with Lenovo’s Diversity & Inclusion Board (comprised of Lenovo Executive Committee members), she helped the company think differently.
Which led to one of my defining career moments. After doing this work and getting a vantage point across the company that few others did, I noticed software applications coming from the team in China that didn’t align with our focus on D&I (ask me for specifics offline), and I was in a position to do something about it. I took this intelligence to the CTO who volunteered members of his team to scope out a Product Diversity review board process. We modeled it after the Security Review board, which was created after the Superfish crisis. The outcome of this work is Lenovo’s Product Diversity Office, which has grown and is thriving today.
All Things Corporate
From promoting awards like the Global Fortune 500 to writing the One Lenovo corporate narrative to managing issues, I helped carve out the design of corporate communications as the company evolved to a more complex organization with multiple business units and geographies. I worked closely with the brand team to promote all the initiatives – from Lenovo’s latest ad creative with the ad trades to a new logo design, tagline and campaign…Smarter Technology for All.
We got creative with one ad campaign and partnered with Campus Movie Fest to create a contest for student filmmakers to make their own ending to our “Seize the Night” ad. The winners debuted at a premier showing of their films at an event in Hollywood, and I got to walk the red carpet and announce the winner.
M&A
I worked on many mergers and acquisitions, including Lenovo’s two biggest – the Motorola and IBM X86 server business. Each involved working with the government relations team as the deals went through CFIUS review, so we had several instances of holding statements as the process took place. I led the Motorola communications plans (external and internal) and coordinated with my Motorola counterparts throughout time from when the purchase was announced to when it closed. The culmination was Day 1 when we announced the close and that Motorola was now as Lenovo company. From an external standpoint, I managed CEO and other leadership media 1:1s, the media briefing call, the press release/announcement, customer notifications, and other owned content. See more on the internal communications activities on the Internal Communications page.
Product Launches
Throughout my Lenovo career, I launched hundreds of products around the world. Some hero products were bolstered by the luxuries of the lift of sponsorships or big press events, while others’ “newsworthiness” was inherent in their differentiating features, and still others needed some PR magic to help them earn media coverage.
Here are some of the most memorable products I had the privilege of creating PR for are the:
- IdeaPad Yoga
- IdeaPad Yoga Tablet
- Horizon Desktop PC
- ThinkPad X1 Carbon
- ThinkPad W700ds
- ThinkPad X310 – competitor to Macbook Air and featured in The Race for Perfect
- ThinkPad 25th anniversary
Kristy Fair 