Quotes From The Top CEO’s Focus on Communication



Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley
“What I think about all of the time is whether our goals, strategies, structure, systems, culture and leadership are all on the same page and growing in the same direction,” he said. “It sounds easy, but over the past 30 years I’ve found it difficult - difficult at the country operating unit level, difficult at the category operating unit level, and very difficult at the company global strategy and operating level. But if you can achieve it, you have a much better chance of delivering consistent, sustainable growth.”

P&G holds two - to three-day leadership council meetings every quarter where each and every top development employee is evaluated. Lafley, who personally tracks 500 employees, likens the process to the depth chart used by a World Cup soccer team. “For each individual we look at everything - how they’re doing in their current assignment, what their next assignment should be, what training they should have and who their sponsor is-every year,” said Lafley.

George David, CEO of United Technologies
Clear communication as to the company's mission, values and operating disciplines, backed by metrics, is an equally crucial element of strong performance, agreed business leaders. “CEOs need to project clear metrics that define success, or exactly what it is that we want the organization to do,” David said. “And that has to be consistent over time. You need to have strong convictions and beliefs. Too much of corporate America operates by group mentality, a kind of floating consensus where you never know where anyone stands. An organization needs to know where the CEO stands.”

Vernon Ellis, international chairman of Accenture
“If you’re going to sustain the metrics, values and beliefs, the CEO has a responsibility to really be an effective and continuing communicator,” agreed Ellis. “CEOs should never worry about being redundant. Sending a consistent message - once, twice, five times - on values, beliefs and operating disciplines is a major role of the CEO.”

Farooq Kathwari, chairman of Ethan Allen.
Yet many companies focus exclusively on communicating with customers, rather than employees. “We all tend to spend time on advertising programs for consumers, rather than communicating to our own people,” noted Kathwari “We need to communicate on a proactive basis—not only during crises—with our people. An internal marketing program is just as critical as an external one.”

Larry Mason, president and COO of Goodyear, who said CEOs need to be realistic about the capabilities of their organizations. “Often, when you see organizations stall, it's because they didn't have the capability that the CEO believed they should and were unable to bridge that gap,” he pointed out.