This time last year I met Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley at an ANA Marketing conference as he was just finishing his book that recently hit the shelves (virtual "shelves" at “The Game - Changer, How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth With Innovation“)
He spoke and writes about how innovation is the key to his success of tripled profits over the last eight years. Here are eight (one for each year?) important lessons that we can all use to hopefully inspire the kind of conversation at your company that is both fun and profitable:
- Motivate purpose and ideas: People work better when turned on.
- Stretch goals: Pushing is important but don’t overdo as P&G did in 2000.
- “Choiceful” strategies: Innovation gives you more choices for when to launch new products or drop old ones.
- Unique core strengths: Utilize what you have always done well.
- Enabling structures: Org charts and decision paths must endorse innovation. Tech infrastructure must empower and allow it.
- Consistent and reliable systems: You need a check for the chaos.
- Courageous and connected culture: Don’t punish innovators.
- Inspiring leadership: The best will honestly energize and inspire
I am still trying to see where P&G's original and controversial logo represents these concepts (... stargazing for inspiration...?)
