Innovation at Procter & Gamble
Over the past seven years, Procter & Gamble has tripled profits; significantly improved organic revenue growth, cash flow, and operating margins; and averaged earnings per share growth of 12 percent. How? A. G. Lafley, Chairman and CEO, Procter & Gamble, and his leadership team have integrated innovation into everything P&G does and created new customers and new markets. In this interview, A.G. Lafley talks about how innovation is at the core of P&G’s business strategy, and how P&G makes innovation an everyday practice in their organization.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5713372592472441001
About A.G. Lafley:
As the CEO of Proctor and Gamble, A.G. Lafley is a world renowned leader in innovation. He began at Proctor and Gamble in 1977, and was chosen as CEO in 2000. He inherited a struggling company that was then and still is adapting to a new global business unit. He saw one of the only ways to get out of trouble was to focus on innovation in his company. A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan have co-written “The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation”.
The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Cause Change
Renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw once said “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” By this definition, some of today’s entrepreneurs are decidedly unreasonable–and have even been dubbed crazy. Yet as John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan argue in The Power of Unreasonable People, our very future may hinge on their work. John Elkington talks about how the most successful social entrepreneurs are unreasonable, but their emotional, highly ambitious nature drives them to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6601825708028297707
About John Elkington:
Co-founder of SustainAbility in 1987 (Chair from 1995 -2005), and Founding Partner & Director of Volans Ventures, John Elkington is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. In 2004, BusinessWeek described him as “a dean of the corporate responsibility movement for three decades.” Established in 1987, SustainAbility advises clients on the risks and opportunities associated with corporate responsibility and sustainable development. Working at the interface between market forces and societal expectations, SustainAbility seeks solutions to social and environmental challenges that deliver long term value. With offices in London, Zurich, New York and Washington, DC and team members representing more than ten nationalities, SustainAbility works with leading companies, NGOs and influencers around the world. Clients include ABN Amro, BP, Coca-Cola, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, Nike, Norwich Union, Shell, Swiss Re, Unilever and Wal-Mart. A global network of experts and partners helps SustainAbility to track emerging agendas, evaluate the market implications and engage business and its main stakeholders worldwide.
Read more about John Elkington
Tags: Abn Amro, Bernard Shaw, Business, Corporate Responsibility Movement, Environmental Challenges, George Bernard Shaw, John Elkington, London, Market Implications, Microsoft, Norwich Union, Pamela Hartigan, Playwright George Bernard, Power, Reasonable Man, Renowned Playwright, Social, Social Entrepreneurs, Societal Expectations, SustainAbility, Three Decades, Unreasonable Man, Volans, Wal Mart, Zurich New YorkWhy Zappos Pays New Employees To Quit – And You Should Too
Zappos, the Nevada-based online shoe and accessories retailer, has an interesting twist on new-hire bonuses. After applying and being chosen for a job, employees get a month of paid training. Then they’re offered $1,000 to leave. It’s a test of commitment, meant to see if money is what matters to workers. The amount offered has risen from an initial $100 and could grow even more. Only 1 in 10 take the offer, according to CEO Tony Hsieh, and the company now employs approximately 1,600 who passed the test.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8718971878738053474
About William C. Taylor:
William C. Taylor is an agenda-setting thinker, writer, and entrepreneur. His new book, Mavericks at Work, has been a New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller. As cofounder of Fast Company, he launched a magazine that earned a passionate following among executives and entrepreneurs. He is an adjunct professor at Babson College and a former associate editor of Harvard Business Review.
