“You have to be able to laugh. It makes difficult things more achievable. It builds a sense of camaraderie and teamwork. It lifts up the mood, and puts everything in perspective.” Fatima (Fama) D. Francisco is P&G’s CEO of Global Baby, Feminine and Family Care — the company’s second largest sector with $20 billion in sales from brands like Pampers, Always, Bounty and Charmin. Throughout her career, Fama has been a true trailblazer, including: being the first female sales manager hired in P&a...
Jun 18, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 168
“It's less about what you do or where you do it, but more about the people you work with. That's what's going to make a difference - learn from great people and grow.” Angie Hicks is the Co-founder of Angie’s List & Chief Customer Officer at Angie Home Services. Angie Co-founded Angie's List in 1995 and served as CMO and on the company’s Board of Directors. In 2007 she led the merger with IAC Home Advisors to form Angie Home Services. Angie received her MBA from Harvard Business School and a...
Jun 11, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 167
“Really focus on people. If you have 500 people working for you, that does not mean that they're working for you, but you are working for 500 people.” Jaideep Bansal is the CEO of Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) Impact Ventures, and one of the P&G Alumni Leaders Under 40. Jaideep worked with P&G in Product Supply for almost 6 years before becoming a social entrepreneur. With GHE, Jaideep is bringing sustainable development to the remotest communities in India. GHE brings solar energy a...
Jun 04, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 166
“ 'Yes, and...' is a kind of courage. Only failure allows us to begin again more intelligently.” Emily Chang is a seasoned marketer with 20+ years of experience across the US and China. She’s currently the CEO of Wunderman Thompson West, and was previously the CEO of McCann Worldgroup China. Emily served as Starbucks SVP of Marketing, and earlier as CMO of Starbucks China. She was the Chief Commercial Officer at Intercontinental Hotels Group, and Apple’s head of Asia retail marketing. Emily got ...
May 28, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 165
Shankar Vishwanathan was P&G’s SVP e-Business leader for Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa — a 32 veteran of the company starting in India as Account Manager, and a career ranging brands/categories across India, USA, Russia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines. For Shankar, leadership starts with people — he believes in the power of relationships to unleash the best in others. Shankar is also a practitioner of yoga and mindfulness and is a trainer instructor in both. A proud husband ...
May 21, 2023•53 min•Season 4Ep. 164
“It made me think about how our sense of identity really gets mixed up in names that other people give to us.” In real life, Bich Minh Nguyen now goes by the name Beth Nguyen - Beth is an award-winning writer and professor. In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, we wanted to share a conversation from the other podcast Modern Minorities - which features minority voices for all of our majority ears. Born in Saigon, Beth is the author of books like Stealing Buddha's Dinner, Short Girls, Pioneer Girl, and...
May 14, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 163
“When you unlock an insight with curiosity, the power to drive limitless growth is huge. We as leaders can make a big difference with the questions we ask.” Shailesh Jejurikar is P&G’s Chief Operating Officer, where he has profit/loss responsibility for P&G’s Enterprise Markets - Latin America, India, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe - and leads Information Technology, Global Business Services, Sales, Market Operations, Purchasing, Manufacturing, Distribution and Ne...
May 07, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 4Ep. 162
"A brand grows in the centuries balancing between heritage and modernity - to stay modern, to stay relevant. Leadership also requires this balance.” Daniela Riccardi is a proven CEO - with extensive experience operating businesses and brands in the international consumer and retail industry. She's currently the CEO of Moleskine, and has also led as CEO at iconic luxury and fashion brands like Baccarat and Diesel. Daniela got her career start over 25 years at Procter & Gamble, where she held ...
Apr 30, 2023•22 min•Season 4Ep. 161
“AI gets back to how do I make decisions easier? Giving the right data to the right people at the right time — not perfect by any means, but it’s a powerful notion.” Franz Dill is a retired P&G Technologist and independent consultant in AI and analytics. We wanted to tap into Franz’s experience and expertise in technology to talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI) - a topic that issuddenly, everything, everywhere, all at once. Franz worked at P&G for 30+ years, where where he served as a...
Apr 23, 2023•32 min•Season 4Ep. 160
“Integrity can be a competitive advantage.” Ed Artzt served as P&G’s CEO and Chairman from 1990 to 1995. During his extensive forty-one-year career, Ed worked in multiple business sectors. To each, he brought strong leadership, strategic insight, remarkable decisiveness, and an unrelenting drive to be number one. His time as the Chief Executive was a period of unprecedented change in the global marketplace. Ed foresaw and implemented innovative transformations from restructuring the organiza...
Apr 16, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 159
“When people learn and feel valued, they want to make a difference and help each other. And when that comes alive, amazing things happen.” Jon Moeller is P&G’s current CEO & Chairman. Jon has been an integral part of P&G's leadership team for over two decades, developing strategies that P&G people are executing with excellence to drive the company’s growth today. Prior to becoming CEO, Jon served as P&G’s Chief Operating Officer for six years, and also held the role of P&...
Apr 09, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 158
“The most important part of humor in the workplace isn't the humor — it's the outcome, which is it’s fun. Bracken Darrell is President & CEO of Logitech - where for more than a decade he’s been the driver for Logitech’s continued growth and profitability. Prior to joining Logitech, Bracken spent a decade in executive roles @ Whirlpool, Braun, and General Electric - and also worked in brand management at P&G. Prior to receiving his MBA from Harvard, Bracken worked at Arthur Anderson and P...
Apr 01, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 157
“If you don't have a room of people that can reflect your ideas, then you don't know how they'll play out in the real world — you need a sounding board.” Misha Euceph is a Pakistani-American writer, podcast host, and producer - Misha also happens to be Founder & CEO of Dustlight Productions, the critically acclaimed podcast studio that has created podcasts with Spotify, Bruce Springsteen, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Rolling Stone, REI, Subaru and many more. She’s also the creator and host ...
Mar 26, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 156
“Be intellectually honest in any decision - otherwise you only see the answer that you want to see.” Charlotte Otto served as P&G’s Global External Relations Officer for thirteen years, and later as Senior Corporate Advisor to PR industry leader Weber Shandwick for six years. At P&G - Charlotte led the company's external relations activities worldwide - including media relations, employee + shareholder communications, government +community relations, and corporate contributions. Charlott...
Mar 19, 2023•44 min•Season 4Ep. 156
Bob Gilbreath is a longtime friend of the pod, and a career friend and mentor to many. He is also a 2x-exit entrepreneur and co-founder of Hearty, a curated matchmaking service that combines top software developers with early-stage, venture-backed startups. He recently wrote a post entitled "Thinking of a Career Change? Try the Minimum First" - so we decided to sit down with him to learn more.. You can read more of Bob's writings @ behearty.substack.com
Mar 12, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 154
“Outsiders bring fresh thinking to the table. Some of my biggest contributions were because I thought differently and spoke my own mind all the time.” Peg Wyant is the Founder & CEO of Grandin Properties. But before that, Peg broke the glass ceiling at Procter & Gamble in 1967 - a decade before the phrase entered the lexicon. When the company tried to put her in the typing pool, she responded with “all I can do is think, don’t you have a test for that.” She rose through the ranks, becomi...
Mar 05, 2023•38 min•Season 4Ep. 153
“The words follow the action. Make sure you're doing the work - making the impact so when you make a statement, it's from the overflow of what you're already doing.” Susan Baba Oguche is the Cleveland Cavaliers EVP and Chief Communication Officer. For nearly two decades she has had the honor of leading communications and PR fo rsome of the world’s most beloved companies and brands. Previously Susan served as a Communications Director at Nike for three years. She also served in senior comms roles...
Feb 26, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 152
"Some have to carry more weight than others - everybody's got to do their part to try to lighten their load." Linda Clement-Holmes served as P&G’s Chief Diversity Officer AND P&G’s Chief Information Officer - significantly elevating the company’s efforts and standing in the space of Diversity & Inclusion. Starting as a systems analyst in 1983, Linda has led a global career as an “executive of firsts” - the first Black female Senior VP, and later President. Linda’s been named one of C...
Feb 19, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 151
"People are willing to risk a lot to show their support for our freedoms." Ed Rigaud was the Founder & CEO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, which pays tribute to all efforts to abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people. At Procter & Gamble, Ed was P&G’s second-ever Black Vice President - spanning a 36-year career at the company in 1965 - during which he was the R&D Technical Brand Manager who helped create Pringles. Ed was later the first Bla...
Feb 12, 2023•49 min•Season 4Ep. 150
“If what is meaningful and important to me takes me off track - then it probably wasn't my track anyway.” Anne Sempowski Ward is CEO & Board Director at CURiO Brands, a consumer goods company that manufactures and sells personal care and home fragrance products. Prior to CURiO Brands, Anne served as CEO at Thymes from 2012 to 2016 when it merged with DPM Fragrance to become CURiO Brands. Anne was previously CEO and Co-founder of consulting firm The FORWARD Group, focused on growth strategies...
Feb 05, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 149
“Faith should bring us together and not drive us apart. And we will all have differences in what we believe, but it should never be the thing in the workplace that drives us apart.” Kirk Perry is CEO of IRI Worldwide - and among our first / favorite guests (his threepeat!), returning for another learnings “deep dive” - where we go deeper on a topic folks are passionate about. For Kirk, that topic is his faith. In this authentic, vulnerable and revealing conversation - you’ll hear of the grounded...
Jan 29, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 4Ep. 148
“It's consumption media, not social media. A lot of people are struggling with this, and a lot more are going to. And I would like to be part of the solution.” James Veraldi is the CEO & Co-founder of Loop.co — a company focused on Improving the world’s social and mental health. So many of us - including the people we love and work with - have had experience with mental health - and solving these challenges aligns with "touching lives, improving life." As an accomplished entrepreneur, James’...
Jan 22, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 147
“Functional is not enough — and that's a critical factor in developing innovation. It's really hard to break through if you don't factor the emotional.” Marlon Hernandez is Molson Coors Beverage Company’s Director of Innovation where he’s responsible for strengthening Molson Coors’s innovation capabilities and building the long-term product pipeline. Marlon has spent 6 years rising through the innovation ranks of Molson Coors, and another 10 years in the spirits industry working in innovation fo...
Jan 15, 2023•48 min•Season 4Ep. 146
“Imposter syndrome is very real to a lot of people — but it's not representative of what reality really is. There are possibly people who feel exactly the same way you do.” With a new year comes a desire to get better — so we wanted to share a powerful conversation on tackling imposter syndrome AND the power of coaching. Research shows that 70% of people experience imposter feelings at some point in their career. Recently, this important topic was discussed by several P&G Alumni Coaches: Car...
Jan 08, 2023•31 min•Season 4Ep. 145
As 2022 comes to a close, we compiled some of the year’s learnings...from leaders. So sit back with your beverage of choice and enjoy. And give us a gift - leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts — hearing from YOU, our fellow Alums makes a big difference for our team as we reflect on the year. THANK YOU for the continued support of our podcast and our amazing guests... Suzy Deering: Ford Motor Company CMO Claire Elvers, Wayfair’s Head of Global Brand Management & Insights Matthew McConaughe...
Dec 30, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 143
“My job as CEO wasn't to be right, it was to see that the right thing gets done. Surround yourself with the people and resources you need to solve things.” David Taylor served P&G’s Chairman & CEO from 2015 to 2022 - having worked at P&G for more than 40 years. Throughout his career, David held leadership roles within both operations and marketing, managing P&G manufacturing sites, and eventually leading various consumer brands across North America, Europe, and Asia. David reinvi...
Dec 25, 2022•59 min•Season 3Ep. 143
“I was not gonna follow rules if they didn't make any sense to me. There's a healthy sense of curiosity and a willingness to challenge the status quo.” Sudha Ranganathan is LinkedIn’s Director of Product Marketing on the Talent Solutions business — helping employers worldwide hire and develop strong talent in the new world of work. Sudha’s advocacy of consumer-centric marketing comes from a career spanning consumer insights and product marketing. Prior to LinkedIn, Sudha worked at Paypal as Seni...
Dec 18, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 142
“Finding your voice in an organization is not easy. Great leaders gave me a push when I needed the push. So now I need to do the same - giving others their voice.” Oya Canbas is Global Brand Director and I&D Lead for Bayer Consumer Health — leading Bayer’s biggest nutritional brand, Elevit, globally which has a purpose of giving every baby best start in life. She is also the global lead in Inclusion and Diversity. In her 8 years in Bayer Consumer Health, Oya held two GM roles in UK and Irela...
Dec 11, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 141
“Be curious. Curiosity is the foundation of success. Understanding where people are coming from helps you to ask the right questions.” Vahe Ayvazian is Abbott’s Divisional Vice President of Marketing & Core Diagnostics. Having served at Abbott for 8+ years, Vahes work is focused on delivering measurably better healthcare performance through innovation to the healthcare ecosystem. Vahe got his start at P&G, spending twelve years in marketing and category management roles, from Prilosec OT...
Dec 04, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 140
“For the time that you're chief executive or leading a business, you are the soul of the company.” A.G. Lafley and Charlotte Otto return to our podcast — as two P&G Alumni whose career was directly and influenced by John Smale, and his unique style of leadership. A.G. Lafley served P&G’s CEO & Chairman twice - from 2000-2009 and 2013-2015, and Charlotte served as P&G’s Global External Relations Officer for thirteen years - the company’s first female corporate officer. Both have a...
Nov 26, 2022•55 min•Season 3Ep. 139
