How P&G Debates Strategy

AG Lafley, the former CEO of Procter and Gamble, realized no one has a monopoly on good strategic thinking. So he found a way to give his teams an edge.

The team had to learn to “incubate” untested ideas until the problem solvers could take a whack at fixing them.”

The chance of catching a well-known company in a glaring mistake is what gets journalists up in the morning. Like the time CBS turned down Monday Night Football or when Mars Candy told Steven Spielberg not to use M&Ms in “E.T.” And who can forget the time Blockbuster passed up Netflix for $50 million, then proceeded to go bankrupt? Although these moves seem braindead in hindsight, they were taken by experts based on hard data and thorough analysis. So how could anything so obvious go so wrong? That was the question AG Lafley, CEO of P&G, desperately wanted to answer because he was facing a similar “bet the company” moment.

The Wall of Failure

P&G is regarded as the top brand platform for consumer goods in the world, a reputation that suggests it can create a strategy in its sleep. But the company has its share of bloopers, and it goes to extra effort to make sure everyone knows…