‘The Leaders Aren’t the Boss – The Consumer is the Boss’

Earlier this month our Senior Vice President and Managing Director Tom Moody paid a virtual visit to Rory Sutherland’s ‘On Brand’ podcast, which brings together big names from the world of advertising, marketing and media, to dissect and debate success, ingenuity and future possibilities for our industry.

Understandably, the beginning of the conversation focused on the topic which has dominated 2020, the coronavirus pandemic. As well as praising the incredible resilience of our Product Supply teams, who ensured that we could continue to make our vital household essentials available to everyone who needed them, Tom highlighted our 3 main priorities throughout the pandemic:

1. Protecting the health and well-being of P&G people
2. Serving all those around the world who count on our brands and the benefits they provide
3. Supporting communities, relief agencies and people who are on the front lines of this global pandemic

The rest of the conversation explores P&G’s rich heritage in innovation, looking at how much of our global innovation originates in the UK, in particular from our Gillette Research & Development centre in Reading. Tom discusses our mission to be a Force for Good and a Force for Growth and how that manifests in our innovation, manufacturing and wider societal purpose – noting that our employees are our greatest activists of change and how it is through their passion that we can drive small changes in our communities.

One of many examples given is how, following an insight from an employee who volunteers as an ambulance first responder and noticed that during the first few weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, front-line workers were required to shave to allow a more secure fit of respiratory masks, we were able to donate 90,000 Gillette razors to NHS staff across the UK and 6,000 razors to Health Service Executive in Ireland.

Whether it is our Children’s Safe Drinking Water programme, originating from innovation which came about by accident by a UK scientist, which has now allowed us to donate over 17 billion litres of clean water globally, or our Pampers Preemies campaign, lending a helping hand in caring for premature babies and making parents’ neonatal experience as positive as possible – we aim to Lead with Love in everything we do.

Make sure to listen to the full podcast here and to hear more from Tom Moody make sure to connect with him on LinkedIn.