John Pepper knows all about success, and the commitment necessary to achieve it.
John became CEO of the company in 1995. Following his time at P&G, he went on to serve as Board Chair at Walt Disney as well as Board roles at other fine companies and served as Board Chair at Yale. During his tenure as CEO, John led Procter & Gamble through a period of significant growth and expansion, introducing new products and expanding the company’s global footprint. He also spearheaded efforts to improve employee diversity and inclusivity, earning recognition for his commitment to corporate social responsibility.
John’s Characteristics of Successful P&G Managers is as sound and useful today as it was when he wrote it in 1980.
And this advice holds true to any company, organization or profession. These characteristics are as relevant today as they were over forty years ago.
The following are some personal observations on those characteristics that most clearly and consistently distinguish successful P&G Managers. Of course, no one exhibits all these characteristics in a complete fashion all the time – but our strongest managers do approach them in a very consistent fashion.
They have a tremendous personal interest in leaving their individual stamp on the business … in contributing to the business … in bringing innovation to it. They attach great importance to making a personal difference in whatever they do. They feel great “ownership” of their area of responsibility. They tend to expand the scope of the job that they are in. They do more than is expected. They are looking for new areas and new ways in which to contribute new ideas that can build volume and profit and people.
They have uncompromising intellectual integrity. They speak their mind on an issue, whether their view is popular or unpopular. They try to follow a set of facts to the logical indicated action, even though that action may be punishing, controversial and unexpected.
They are “non-political” and relatively “non-defensive”. They are interested in what’s right – not who’s right. They carefully consider points of view of senior managers, as they do the views of peers and those reporting to them, but they do not let these views lead them to adopt a course of action or conclusion which is contrary to that in which they believe.
They have a critical and objective view of the imperfection and improvability of things – whether it be how we operate; how we’re marketing a brand; the effectiveness of a brand’s copy; etc. This is coupled with a realistic and positive determination to make these improvements.
They are not critical carpers. Identification of a flaw leads almost reflexively to the development of an action plan to correct it.
They derive real stimulus from their perception of the improvability of things. It is one of the sources of the challenge and freshness of their jobs.
They have a deep respect for other people and themselves. This enables them to maintain strong personal initiative and individuality of thought while gaining important learning and ideas from others. They have well-considered, often strong points of view. But at the same time, they are exceptionally attentive listeners.
While they have a deep respect for people, they have a realistic and penetrating view of people’s strengths and weaknesses – their capabilities and development potential. Where necessary, they will move aggressively to upgrade the leadership of a part of the business that’s in trouble, because they know that the only way a severe problem is going to get fixed is to put the right person in charge of it.
They know that the Company’s success is dependent on its people — their ability, training and motivation. This is a recognition that grows over the course of the years they spend with the Company. But their concern for people goes beyond the recognition of their intrinsic tie to the health of the business. It also reflects what, at heart, is the character of P&G Managers.
Their appreciation for the importance of people manifests itself in tremendous concentration on training and personnel development. In particular, they emphasize the identification and rapid career development of our future top-potential managers.
They recognize the importance of delegating responsibility for key parts of the business to strong managers.
They concentrate their energies on doing the job they are in now as well as possible – not with undue calculation or deliberateness, but simply because that’s the thing to do… because that’s what’s personally rewarding. They spend relatively little time thinking about the next position they might hold because they are so involved in their current position. They have a relatively high degree of confidence that their own performance and the objectivity of Company Management will result in their careers taking them to the appropriate position.
They develop objectives and standards for their organization which are stretching and beyond those which the average person might adopt. But at the same time, they are highly realistic in assessing what it’s going to take to get to these objectives and how far along that road they have come. Far better than most, they tend to see things as they are, unclouded by either undue optimism or pessimism.
They approach decisions and issues strategically and on the basis of principle (e.g., providing superior performance/value to consumers in our products) but they try to do so on an empirical and pragmatic basis. For example, on a project designed to provide a superior product to consumers, they want to see evidence that, in fact, consumers agree that the product is providing better performance or better value.
They resist over-intellectualizing and over-complicating things. They concentrate their attention on the substance, not the form of issues. They try to identify practical values. For example, a new method for developing new products will be appraised not by its intellectual neatness or appeal, but by whether it works.
Their approach to business can often be best characterized as one of common sense and results orientation.
They are decisive. They treat time as a precious commodity. They get on with it. They accept risk. They take the time needed to get the information needed to make a good decision. But they are very wary of delaying a decision to get more information than is really needed.
John Pepper spent much of his career at Procter & Gamble, becoming CEO of the company in 1995. Following his time at P&G, he went on to serve as Board Chair at Walt Disney as well as Board roles at other fine companies and served as Board Chair at Yale. During his tenure as CEO, John led Procter & Gamble through a period of significant growth and expansion, introducing new products and expanding the company’s global footprint. He also spearheaded efforts to improve employee diversity and inclusivity, earning recognition for his commitment to corporate social responsibility.
Notably, John also co-founded the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, a museum and educational center dedicated to telling the story of the Underground Railroad and the struggle for freedom and civil rights in America.
