Walker Webcast: Principal Financial’s Dan Houston Changes Lives Every Day

Upon his 1984 graduation from Iowa State University, Dan Houston fielded three job offers, all with consumer product companies. Although he might have taken the offer that allowed him to capitalize on his background as a certified auto mechanic, he instead went to work for a company where, he was told, he would have the opportunity to “change people’s lives, every day.” He has worked for that company, now known as Principal Financial Group, ever since, serving as its president and CEO since 2015. 

In common with his 14 predecessors in that role, Houston and the company he leads train their focus on determining what’s to come, Houston told Walker & Dunlop CEO Willy Walker on this week’s Walker Webcast. “We partner with a lot of organizations to try to anticipate the future,” he said. 

That forward-looking approach comes with the territory when your product offering revolves around retirement services, insurance solutions and asset management for both businesses and individuals. Globally, Des Moines-based Principal serves 34 million customers and maintains offices in 25 nations and territories. 

For a key demographic of that customer base—Millennials—the horizon is especially long as advances in medicine are leading to longer life expectancies than ever before. Walker cited a recent talk given by Houston in which he noted that those being born now could live to see their 100th birthdays with far greater frequency than previous generations. 

To that end, Houston pointed out that Millennials are far more conscientious about saving for retirement than they’re often given credit for. Part of that, he told Walker, is that they may have a more pessimistic outlook on whether Social Security will be available to them, although Houston expressed confidence that it would be. 

“I’m a big proponent of servant leadership,” Houston said on Wednesday’s webcast. It’s a leadership role Principal seeks to take in the communities where its employees live and work, offering trainings in financial skills and other areas. He’s proud of the fact that in India, 80% of the participants in what’s called the Lighthouse initiative locally have gone onto middle-class jobs—employment opportunities they otherwise might never have had. 

Throughout the pandemic, Houston said, “I never left” to work remotely, instead coming into his office every day. As Principal’s employees have been returning to the office in a hybrid work arrangement, Houston said his biggest concern hasn’t been ensuring that they’re protected against possible COVID-19 infection. Instead, it’s the impact that a hybrid arrangement—let alone a fully-remote one—has on the in-person relationship-building that’s key to a successful workplace. 

He recalled making a trip from Dallas, where he was then based, to Principal headquarters as second prize for a “rookie of the year” competition in which he was vying. Although he missed out on the top prize—a vacation in Hawaii—the six-hour meeting with key Principal executives proved invaluable from the standpoint of establishing relationships early in his career. 

“We’ll have some work to do” to recreate that kind of collegiality in a hybrid environment, said Houston. 

On-demand replays of the Nov. 3 webcast are available by clicking here and through Walker & Dunlop’s Driven by Insight podcast series.