Bob McDonald, CEO of P&G

Tonight our guest lecturer was Bob McDonald, CEO of Protor & Gamble, speaking on "Values-Based Leadership."  He suggests that leaders should talk to their employees about their core beliefs. Here are his:

1) Everyone wants to succeed – the leader’s job is to help people succeed.
2) Success is contagious – the leader’s job is to catch people succeeding. One success will always lead to another.
3) Put the right people on the right jobs. People like doing what they are good at.  They are good at doing what they like.  Matching these can lead to better success.
4) Character is the most important trait of a leader. Character means:
- putting the organization’s needs above your own needs;
- taking personal responsibility for failures, giving credit to others for successes.
- Living by your word and actions.
5) Choose the “Harder Right” and not the “Easier Wrong”.  This was a slogan from his time at West Point.

6) Ineffective strategy, systems and culture are greater barriers to success than people. Before you blame people, check the systems / culture / strategy the organization supplies to them. It is the leader’s job to improve those.
7) There will be people who will not make it through the journey. It is the leader’s job to help them find another job. As a leader, you need to get to know the person as a person, not just as an employee.
8) Organizations must renew themselves. Growth requires change, and change requires renewal. A leader should supply training and development opportunities for his people to grow.
9) Recruiting is a key priority. Promoting at P&G is done from within the company and performance based.
10) A leader is measured by his / her organization’s performance when he or she is absent or gone. A leader should build the capabilities for the organization. “We want leaders who build watches, not those who tell the time”.