Eight years ago, I stopped waiting. It was time to act!
With top leadership changes at P&G, and a newfound urgency after Debbie's cancer diagnosis, it was time to make a radical change. I spent my last two years at P&G being incredibly transparent ("straight talk" as our CEO would tout it), focusing externally to create value, accelerating talent development, and driving management crazy by refusing to wait on "slates" of leadership transition. When you're measuring your life, or your partner's life, in months, waiting for something to change is not an option.
I was leading an organization that consisted of Global IT, Business Shared Services across Sales, Marketing, Analytics, eBusiness, & Consumer, and the Project Delivery organization, delivering the largest M&A portfolio in the history of P&G. I delivered over $120 Million in direct savings, with the help of 22 direct reports (half of them Fortune 500 CIO-level leaders) and 1,500 multi-functional leaders (working with over 5,000 partner resources) across the globe. It was a multi-billion-dollar ROI company project portfolio, and the future capabilities P&G needed to win.
By focusing more externally, and no longer being bound by how things have always been done, I created more value in those last two years than in the previous eight years combined. I was well paid at P&G (I put myself through college working at a chicken restaurant and never dreamed of anything like this), had the corner office (but insisted on sitting at a collaboration table with my team), and could have coasted into retirement over the next ten years. Despite all of this, I was ready for something radically different.
P&G gave me four weeks to decide on retiring. It was a big decision, but one I had already made before 'the meeting' even ended. That evening I went home, gave Debbie a high five, and accepted their offer the following morning, July 14, 2016. I had no clue what I would do next but staying with the status quo would not work.
Life is too short, and Waiting Is Not an Action!