Answered: Read the case, Leadership Musical…

Principles Of Marketing

17th Edition

ISBN:9780134492513

Author:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)

Publisher:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)

Chapter1: Marketing: Creating Customer Value And Engagement

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1.1DQ

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Read the case, Leadership Musical Chairs at P&G (attached) answer the following question:

What strategic forces affect P&G? Consider internal and external factors.
What are the factors that affect the leaders’ discretion?
What are key elements of Lafley’s style?
How does culture affect an organization’s ability to implement employee participation?

Bob McDonald, who succeeded Lafley in 2009, was considered Lafley's protégé and was the winner of a thorough and exhaustive leadership development program
based on 360-degree feedback and evaluation (Reingold, 2009). He inherited a company in the midst of a global economic downturn and actually managed to deliver
reasonable performance. Like his mentor, he was known to be understated and dedicated to the company and its leadership. He carried with him a list of ten leadership
lessons that include, "Everyone wants to succeed," "Success is contagious," "Character is the most important trait of a leader," and "Organizations must renew
themselves" (Dana, 2007). However, his understated message of "purpose-inspired growth" failed to inspire employees, the board, or investors (Lublin, Byron, and Glazer,
2013).
While not projected to stay on the job for more than a couple of years, Lafley is expected to once again revive the company, rebuild the leadership team that was
depleted because of many executive defections when McDonald was appointed, and find the next CEO (Lublin et al., 2013). To accomplish all these challenging tasks, he
must work with a P&G board of directors that is considered to be one of the most powerful boards in the world, with six top CEOs from other companies, including
Boeing, Hewlett Packard, American Express, and Macy's, and a former Mexican president among its twelve members (Kerber, Damouni, and Wohl, 2013). However,
working with such powerful people, several of whom face upheaval and crisis in their own company and may not have time to dedicate to the oversight of P&G, and
having them look over your shoulder, may be a challenge for any CEO (Pichler, 2013).

Transcribed Image Text:Leadership in Action Leadership Musical Chairs at P&G The venerable consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) was founded in 1837 and is known globally for its products primarily directed at women, with brand such as Tide, Ivory, Pampers, Crest, Clairol, Cover Girl, and Pantene, just to name a few. Despite its history and well-known brands, P&G faced turbulent times in the 1990s, which some people attributed to a focus on internal promotions and sets of guidelines called "Current Best Approaches" that informed employees on how to do most everything. The company would have joined other disappearing business dinosaurs had it not been for the turnaround orchestrated by 20-year company insider A.G. Lafley in the first decade of 2000. Lafley retired in 2009 in accordance to the company tradition of retiring executives at age 65. Through a carefully orchestrated succession plan, he handed the company to another insider Bob McDonald. In 2013, P&G faced yet another crisis that caused the board to call Lafley out of retirement to become CEO once again. The appointment of a former CEO, rather than a new one, was a big surprise for a company that was known to have an excellent leadership and succession plan (Rosenbaum, 2013). During his first tenure, Lafley quietly and effectively changed the P&G culture and the performance of the company. His actions were deceptively simple with what he called "Sesame Street language” to “make things simple because the difficulty is making sure everybody knows what the goal is and how to get there" (Markels, 2006). He consistently and patiently repeated those same messages any chance he got. In a highly symbolic, practical, and well-publicized move, he transformed the executive offices in the top floor of the company's headquarters into a leadership training center and moved the senior executives to the same floors as their staff. He created open offices, including one for himself and a couple of other executives. Lafley believed that the arrangement was not only symbolic of the new openness in the company and showed the importance of learning at P&G, but it also was conducive to collaboration, creativity, and flexibility, "I wanted an environment that would be more collaborative, more in touch, more designed to bring human beings together.... I wanted a place that was low tech and high touch" (Corporate Design Foundation, 2004). Lafley's ability to transform P&G is even more surprising, given his quiet leadership, or maybe precisely because his style seems to so well fit the family culture at the company. He states, "I'm a low-ego guy. I don't have problems putting the greater good of the company or the P&G brands way ahead of my personal aspirations or achievements" (Jones, 2007). Words such as quiet, soft-spoken, affable, calm, and consensual are often used to describe Lafley along with mentions of his sharp focus and unbending resolve. Describing himself, he says, "I'm not a screamer, not a yeller. But don't get confused by my style. I am very decisive" (Berner, 2003). Regarding power, he believes, "The measure of a powerful person is that their circle of influence is greater than their circle of control" (Sellers, 2004: 162). After he was reappointed as CEO, Lafley was characteristically understated: "Out of the hat came my name and I said yes. Duty called" (Coolidge, 2013).

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