Leadership for the Next Decade

P&G has earned a reputation as one of the world’s best companies for leaders. We work hard at leadership development because, as a build-from-within company, our future success is entirely dependent on the ongoing strength of our talent pipeline.

Succession planning is an important element of this focus on leadership. We are methodical about identifying multiple succession candidates for every senior executive leadership position and then ensuring each individual gets the experience to be ready for the job.

We began planning for my successor as CEO several years ago. Bob McDonald emerged as the right choice to lead P&G in the decade ahead. Bob has nearly 30 years of brand-building, market development, global business unit and global operations leadership experience across the Company and around the world. I’ve worked with him for most of my career at P&G. We’ve worked side-by-side over the past decade.

I am equally confident in the leadership team that we’ve put in place to lead P&G in the decade ahead. This executive team has more than 1000 years of collective industry experience — in every part of P&G’s business, in developed and developing markets, in good times and through business and economic crises. This is a team you can count on.

I will continue to be engaged: I will chair the Board; I will continue to provide advice and counsel to Bob and will join him at business strategy, innovation program and talent development reviews. I will continue to be involved in coaching senior managers.

The breadth, depth and quality of management — and of the organization as a whole — is another way we design P&G to lead. I could not be more confident in the new leadership team or in the 135,000 P&Gers who lead our business every day.