Lessons from P&G Alumni

This weekend I gathered with ~400 global alumni at the Procter & Gamble Meeting the Moment conference in Washington DC.

It was an incredible few days of connection, inspiration, and reflecting on our formative career years.

The vibe was really intimate and human-centric, with values-based leadership, humility and consumer centricity being strong, recurring themes. I left with a full heart and immense gratitude for my time at P&G and the gift of belonging to a thriving alumni network full of people making a difference as entrepreneurs, C-suite executives and philanthropists.

My personal highlights included savouring every pearl of wisdom generously shared by former CEOs John Pepper, Bob McDonald, AG Lafley, David Taylor and current Chief Brand Officer Marc S. Pritchard; being deeply moved by the conscious, heart-led leadership principles expressed by Dalia Feldheim and Andrew Swinand in their respective talks; and bonding with the small but mighty Canadian contingent.

I filled an entire book with notes, but my 5 gold nugget takeaways were as follows:

1.    Always be willing to listen to diverse and divergent voices. Don’t shy away from courageous conversations.
2.    Integrate moments of pause, movement and kindness into every day to foster creativity and innovation.
3.    Fire yourself (and then quickly rehire yourself back to the same job!) every 18 months to continuously maintain fresh eyes.
4.    Be vulnerable and let go of the need to be right. Admit when you’re wrong and pivot – and be vocal about both.
5.    SLOW DOWN.