Leadership: M’m M’m Good
Leadership, Learning and Performance at Campbell Soup Company
Campbell Soup Company has been a fixture in American pantries for more than 140 years. While it is the world’s largest soup maker, it also boasts large and growing businesses in healthy beverages anchored by its V8 brand, and in baked snacks with Pepperidge Farm and Arnott’s in Australia. The company’s products are available in more than 100 countries around the world, and Campbell is currently expanding intothe soup-loving nations of Russia and China. In the past 10 years, Campbell has refined its product offerings and made them more convenient, healthier, and more substantial.
Leadership: By Tony Bingham and Pat Galagan, March 2011 | T+D |
| At C Level | Doug Conant, CEO
Standing behind the company’s success today is another story. While Campbell’s ubiquitous red and white soup can became an icon of the Pop Art movement in the 1960s, the waning days of the 20th century saw quite a different picture for the company. Campbell’s management team at the time had fallen into very difficult financial straits and opted to cut quality, reduce advertising, and trim innovation—the lifeblood of any consumer packaged goods company—to drive short-term results. While the company was able to produce solid earnings, it was an unsustainable model.
Campbell needed a new leader with a vision to guide it into the 21st century. In January 2001, Doug Conant, a veteran of Kraft and Nabisco with a history of rejuvenating brands, was brought in as president and CEO. He has led a transformation to revitalize the company, making it not just a market success but a company that cares for and develops its employees. In 2009 and 2010, the company earned rankings on lists of Best Places to Work, Most Ethical Companies, Best Employers for Healthy Lifestyles, Best Corporate Citizens, and Best Global Brands, to name just a few.
We spoke with Conant at the company’s world headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, about that rise to excellence.
Current ASTD National members, access the interview here: http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/A72A4F20-AB9F-4087-AE60-DD5725C46820/0/76110336.pdf
Non-Members, get temporary access to the article here: https://www.td.org/Publications/Magazines/TD/TD-Archive/2011/03/MM-MM-Good-Learning-and-Performance-at-Campbell-Soup-Company
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