Mark Inkster

I’ve been relatively quiet on Linkedin since I stepped down as CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. — but I’m back! Here’s what I’ve been up to. I’m in my third year of teaching the marketing required course to first year MBA students at Harvard Business School. I also sit on several boards: HP, Pinterest, E.L.F. BEAUTY, and lululemon Athletica. And I’ve spent the last couple of years writing a book. Safe to say, I like to stay busy! But I didn’t get here alone. I had mentors and colleagues who taught me how to build a team, run a business in a financially disciplined way, take calculated risks, and so much more. To me leadership comes down to serving others — helping people do their best work and creating the conditions for them to succeed. Sharing more here is one way I hope to do just that.

Last week, I had the privilege of representing Deutsche Bank Singapore’s Gender Opportunity Network (dbGO) and moderating a panel on a topic close to my heart: women’s health at work. I was joined by Lindsay DAVIS , Founder of FemTech Association Asia ; Shireena Shroff Manchharam, Life & Maternity Coach, Founder of Sheens Consulting and the Getting to Happy movement; my incredible and fearless Deutsche Bank colleague Noureen Mervani ; and Xin Lei Goh from Fertility Support SG. We explored fertility, motherhood, workplace support and the evolving FemTech landscape — sharing perspectives on innovation, personal journeys, advocacy and community. The conversation reinforced an important message: when women’s health is supported with understanding, flexibility and meaningful action, women and workplaces thrive. I’m grateful to Lindsay, Shireena, Noureen and Xin Lei for sharing so openly, and to Deutsche Bank and dbGO for creating space for conversations like these. It was an honour to lead the discussion, and I hope it continues well beyond the panel. ❤️ #WomensHealth #HealthAtWork #FemTech #WomenInLeadership #dbGO

I'm excited to share that I'll be returning to moderate the panel Five Directors, Five Tech Dilemmas: How Boards Govern When the Future Pushes Back at #NACDSummit in Washington, D.C. on Monday October 12 at 3:00 PM with panelists Kimberly N. Ellison-Taylor, Joe Hurd, Samantha Kappagoda and Lawrence X. Taylor NACD.DC. I look forward to connecting with fellow board directors and governance leaders. There's still time to register for the NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) Summit: https://direc.to/fXXu Looking forward to seeing you there!

Happy 90th birthday to my mother, Mary Lawrence! She sets a great example of what senior life can be. She does yoga and pilates, takes a drumming class, campaigns for her favorite politicians, goes to church on Sunday, sings in a choir, walks a mile to the bank, and is a social butterfly in her senior center. Sadly, I missed her party due to a bout of COVID, but her fan club came out in force. I am extremely proud of her and now recognize the physical, social, and mental efforts we all need to make to live well in our later years. Mary is pictured here in front of the SE Portland house she grew up in. It was designed by her uncle, prominent Portland architect Jamieson Parker. For her birthday, Mary chose to travel down Memory Lane and revisit sites from her youth with her children. When we were teenagers, she became a working single mother. For all the sacrifices she made for us, we celebrate her now.

Friends, my book LIVE LIKE A CITIZEN comes out October 13 and I want to share with you the pic my editor sent me of the finished product! As she said, it pops! I will have more to post later about tour events and opportunities to put this book into practice where you live. For now, just want to share my excitement that it's real and it's coming soon!

Happy first birthday to ⚡Epic Disruptions⚡! The book launched 9/16/2025, the same day Matthew McConaughey released Poems & Prayers. Fun fact. My previous book, Eat, Sleep, Innovate (with former Innosight colleagues Andy Parker and Natalie Painchaud and DBS Bank senior executive Paul Cobban) launched 10/20/2020 ... the same date Matthew McConaughey released his first book, Greenlights. Time is a flat circle, indeed. Epic Disruptions is my ninth book, all published by Harvard Business Review. My previous books were all pretty standard business books. Modern case studies support frameworks that feed into tidy bullet point implementation lists. Epic Disruptions is a history book. 11 chapters (and, as an aside, it came out the same day as Spinal Tap 2 ... if you know you know), each grounded in a historical case study. Today I wanted to reflect on a moment after launch where an unexpected insight emerged. It was February. I was doing an executive education program where I ran about 1,000 people in batches of 120 or so through a 90-minute session grounded in the book. I started with the story of the fall of Constantinople, describing how gunpowder rendered the city's defenses meaningless. I asked a question: What is a modern day equivalent of a company that looks healthy today but is likely to be substantially disrupted in the next five to seven years? Even after grouping similar answers, participants produced 255 distinct responses. 🤯 The answers ranged from specific companies and sectors to as broad a category as humanity itself. It caused me to pause. Of course, not every answer was right. Leaders have long complained about the pace of change, and not every claim of unprecedented disruption should be taken at face value. But there has been a profound change over the past 25 years. Disruption used to be episodic. It is now endemic. Disruption used to show up as a contained threat. A leader might encounter disruption once or twice in their professional career. They might read about it and think, “That’s interesting,” but never actually have to face the dilemmas of disruption. It now is pervasive. It is a broad and persistent condition of work. It is the driving dynamic affecting the global economy. Disruption moving from periodic to pervasive places an even greater premium on using history as a lens to make sense of an often confusing world. Epic Disruptions has helped me in numerous ways that I didn't expect, and I hope it has helped readers as well. Up next ... continuing to explore the leadership implications of a world of endemic disruption. (today's pictures are me on launch day, the book in Stell Hall at The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, recognition of the book making J.P. Morgan's NextList, the book in Iceland on vacation, and a fun talk at Harvard Business School, )

In 2019, I had the incredible good fortune of meeting Gloria Steinem at a memorial service where she was giving the eulogy. She wore her signature jeans and high boots (even to a dressy memorial) and spoke eloquently, weaving vivid details into a larger remembrance of the behind-the-scenes work the deceased had done for women’s rights. Her words felt real. Afterward, I got to speak with her briefly. I had 1,000 questions but before I could ask a single one, Gloria cut me off, saying, “Tell me about you.” And then she listened to my stumbling response. She was 84 at the time. I saw her again four years later at a conference, still wearing boots and a black turtleneck. Remarkably, she remembered me, pulled me into a hug, and wanted to know what I’d done since we’d last met. She was now 88. Never mind that I didn't have an exciting answer. Gloria — gorgeous, brilliant, daring — listened. And under her warm gaze, I felt seen, like being a woman who cared about others was enough. That was her gift. Here we are in a dim hallway at a conference center. Gloria, of course, looks awesome, as she always did. Stephanie Georges Steve McKibben Purva Parwani Barbara Hey The Meraki Dignity Project

Legacy starts long before the Opening Ceremony. That's the idea behind Legacy House '28, a new nonprofit initiative we're proud to help launch that will bring together leaders across sports, entertainment, business, philanthropy, and civic life to help shape the lasting impact of the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games. Led by BPI Partner Greg Propper, who serves as Executive Director of Legacy House, the initiative is launching nearly two years before LA28 to spark the partnerships, conversations, and initiatives that can create meaningful impact for Los Angeles long after the Games conclude. Read the exclusive launch story in Variety: https://lnkd.in/eynS_HHe Learn more about Legacy House '28: legacyhouse28.org