Please give a warm Georgia Tech Welcome
to our guest Mr Nice all and thank you

thank you thank you John.

Well hello everyone so first of all.

I just want to tell you thank you for
having me here you know the hair

stands up on the back of my neck whenever
I do any speaking in front of folks but

one thing I'll tell you about is said if
your hair stands up on the back of your

neck that means you're going into
territory that's perfect for exploring so

never resist when the hair standing up on
the back of your neck always push forward

because that's what life's about so thank
you Ana for inviting me here thank you for

taking the time out of your busy
schedules to be here today.

We're going to have this be about thirty
minutes where I'm just going to talk with

you a little bit about kind of my path
forward finding myself and finding my way

from a career perspective and then we'd
like to use the last thirty minutes for

questions from you and what I'll tell you
starting out is that I'm a very open and

candid person so nothing is off the table
so feel free to ask questions as

you move forward in case there's something
I don't cover while I'm talking but

I start with really I want to
give you a background on who I am

I want to make certain you understand
the path that I took my work for F.M.C.

corporation then Procter and Gamble and
then I've been with General Mills for

the last almost eighteen years and then
lastly I want to talk a little bit about

this concept of following your passion
because I stand before you today as

someone who had no idea that this
is where the road would lead you so

I'm one of those people who
really focused on the journey and

for me that's really been the key

as I look at my life.

And so I start by really having
you understand who I am and

you know even as I talk to you today.

Hey that's me that's who I see that's
who I feel that's me in kindergarten.

I was about four years
old on that picture and

the person who I probably say influenced
me the most was Sister Dolores

because I remembered being in kindergarten
I was only about five years of age

we'd all gone down for our naps for the
day it was the third week of September and

I remember she came over she walked
me out told me to get my things and

she walked me through joining
bathrooms kind of like Jack and

Jill because on the other side
was the first grade classroom.

And she told me alla needs to be over
there with the big kids she said you don't

belong here anymore so I was five years
of age she put me in the first grade

that was my first time understanding
you decide where you go

you let your talents take you
wherever they take you and so

I got that lesson very early so
that's the person I see every day.

I put this picture because
I think it's important for

folks to know that the path I took wasn't
one that was familiar to me I didn't

come from means there were five
of us as you can see here and

we're the oldest brother the sister
the middle brother that's me and

then that's my mom and
that's my little brother

that's the woman who had the vision
I remember being a poor kid and

she always said just because you start out
here doesn't mean you need to end up here.

And she made certain we understood that
education was the key for us and so

that's why I have this photo because I
lost my mom lots and lots of years ago.

But she made certain
that we stuck together so

this is a picture of the same little.

It is if you notice there's lots of great.

Now in that picture and

what's really interesting is that's
a picture of the land to go Sion but

I in the background of this
photo is the lead to Goshen but

it's from a very different vantage
point that's out in back of my home.

That's a very different place
than where I started and so

again it's about you let your talents take
you where they lead and then of course

these pictures that's eight Gray I'm
leaving the nuns of St Cyprian and

for the first time I'm entering high
school in a public school in a place where

I wasn't going to get the same kind of
nurturing that I'd experienced before but

as you can see I've got a big smile and
I'm ready for the world and

then this of course does anyone recognize
that picture look up their best the L.

Xander Memorial Coliseum that
was the day when I got out.

No I did not graduate from
Georgia Tech I got out.

And so I show these because those
are the things that really define who we

are we use those as the way to
decide how we move through life and

then this pitcher is kind of what
I would refer to it as my world

that person right there is my husband
Maryse He's been my husband for

thirty years we dated for three and
we met and fell in love and

electromagnetics class physics twenty
one twenty two so it does work folks.

And my son Christopher and
my daughter Shannon and

so that's my way of telling you
a little bit about who I am and

I hope from that you see that for
me it's all about the journey it's

about the people who build you up and
who helped you through the tough times and

who are they have a celebrate
with you along the way.

So what I do with continuous and.

Movement is fundamentally
a culture change and we change

the culture by really fundamentally
really redesigning how work is done so

people go what is continuous improvement I
mean that's the work that I get to do day

in and day out here in these last several
years about changing almost a forty three

thousand person company to see the work
that we do in a different way so

that we can deliver
differential business results.

That's my life that's what I do and now
I want to talk a little bit about how do

I manage to get to that point where
someone gave me the right to try

to influence an organization in that
fashion and so what I'll tell you is

that leadership for me has always been
about getting others to do what you want

done because they want to do it and
so I talked a little bit with

the group earlier around
academics academics are wonderful

It gives you the grounding it gives
you the intellectual understanding.

True success comes when you know
how to practically apply that

in a way that allows you to drive business
results and so much of what you do

is not only going to be dependent
upon what you're capable of doing but

how well you're able to influence
others so think about it this way

your intellectual know how only
has the power of one if you

leverage your ability to influence
it makes that power exponential and

that's really what we're talking about
when you look at corporate America and

what really makes you successful it's
the ability to influence others and

that's how a corporation
is able to deliver results.

So talk about my career path I would love
to tell you that I sat down calculated and

decided that at the thirty year mark of
the twenty five year mark I wanted to be

a vice pres.

Since that's not the case my first
job out of school was with F. and C.

corp I'm a I worked on the Bradley
Fighting Vehicle military tanks.

Why did I choose that coming out of
school it was because after my first year

here at Georgia Tech I have a near fatal
accident on the way home from school.

The month later my father died and

a month later I found out
that my mother was terminal.

So as you go through all of that and
you make your way through Georgia Tech My

focus was on my mother had lasted
longer than they expected and

so I had the opportunity to go back and
work and be near my mom.

Not to mention I had the opportunity
to go to work and earn money and

in my mind no longer was it necessary for
me to eat ramen noodles

no longer than I have to count the days to
the end of the porter when I knew that if

you had a week's break we would get
the new funding for the next quarter.

And it was all about how
can I actually make money

just to survive but many of you learn as
you're in school this concept of mild

massless hierarchy Once you
have basic security satisfied

the world really does open up for you so
one side hit that point with F.M.C.

Corp about a year into it I really
had the opportunity to sit and

think and say you know I make
things that kill people.

And while it's necessary.

I personally didn't feel
fulfilled by it and so

that's what really drove me to say
what is it that I want to do next and

in that process I had the opportunity to
look at lots and lots of companies and

even had offers from three other
companies at this point in time but

I chose Procter and Gamble.

First lesson I wanted
to find an organization

that was reflective of who I am and
the values that Procter and

Gamble held aligned with what I wanted for
myself but

as importantly I've begun to think about
one of the things I wanted to do in life

and interestingly enough P. and G.
told me we could do that so

my first request was I actually wanted to
develop a knowledge about computer and

information systems I've never done
anything other than programming here in my

computer class but P.M.G. gave me
the opportunity and that was my first row

I ended up being able to go and
do the work that I loved and

they've allowed me to do that when Procter
and Gamble I went on and I worked for

General Mills and then I've just pretty
much moved forward through the years so

let's talk about the kind of roles I held
remember I told you I wanted to develop

this whole information technology
understanding that was because of my

experience here in General Mills as I
was finishing up about my junior year or

so I had the opportunity
to have a professor who was

visiting from Oxford I believe
his name was Dr Connelly and

he spent the time talking about what would
leaders need in the twenty first century

and at that point in time
you still had punch cards.

And he was saying that technology was
really going to rule the world and so for

me as someone who wanted to ensure that
I didn't get to be forty fifty years of

age and really be obsolete I felt that it
was essential that I start to understand

technology and Procter and Gamble allowed
me to do that so with this particular role

I have the opportunity to be part of
building a real time information system

and a pulp mill from here not far
from here I had a chance to at.

Actually do machine control on
twenty two past paper machines.

I was only twenty two
twenty three years of age.

They gave me the opportunity to
literally do what I wanted to do

that was what I felt that I needed at that
time and as I worked with Procter and

Gamble I had the opportunity
to go into many roles.

And oftentimes these weren't
the standard paths that people took but

I decided as I understood more that I
really wanted to understand the supply

chain our products supply from end to
end and so my mission became to gain

an understanding of all the various
facets of supply chain did I have any

idea of what I would do with it at the end
not necessarily what it was a natural

curiosity a curiosity based upon
when you work in one area and you're

trying to make it better you always find
that there's him puts coming from another

area that if they were solved it would
make that downstream process better and

so literally that's how my career
progressed trying to find the very

beginning of a process story so
I had an opportunity to do a lot of work

in areas such as maintenance
reliability operations manager

the just six production planning
contract manufacturing I was

responsible to speak in Spanish to clean
comment all of those brands that you've

probably seen around your house I was
a commercialization manager which means

we look at how do you take a new product
to the marketplace perfect something

that you've developed on a bench and
actually scale it up operation

excellence consultant This is the time
that I had the chance to study in Japan

with the Japanese Institute
of plant maintenance T.P.M.

if any of you have ever heard of that

those were opportunities that this
organization allowed me to build and then.

And you ask the question so why would
you ever leave a company like that had

a wonderful career but interestingly
enough I had also begun to have

a family and I had to make
another decision did I want to

travel fifty percent of the time when
I had very small children and so

again I had to have a conversation with
myself relative to my values I was not OK

with my children being raised
by an au pair or a nanny and so

I made the decision that I needed to have
fulfillment from a career perspective but

I also needed to fulfill another piece of
me which was being the kind of mother my

mother had been to me and that's how
I came to join General Mills and

that's when I moved into the plant
technical manager or what we refer

to in some areas as the plant engineer for
the Cedar Rapids operations at that

time Cedar Rapids was constituted
twenty five percent of all sales for

General Mills which was a six billion
dollar company at the time and

it was really interesting to have me one
go into that facility in that senior

leadership role but
that was also what helped me understand

again making certain that you have
a company where you have shared values

because the reality is only
fourteen percent of women.

I'm sorry only fourteen percent
of all engineers are women and

even a small percentage of those are women
of color and here I was with a company

twenty five percent of all their sales
going through this operation and

I got to head up all technical aspects
associated with that organization but

they also at that point time I brought
a set of skills from P. and G. that

the site director in the vice president
of manufacturing felt were valuable and

this is actually where I created
the continuous improvement program for

all of General Mills.

So again this concept of doing
the work that you love but

also making certain as you go about
choosing an organization to join

make certain that that organization
that how you use you and

what you bring to the party.

And so as I've looked at this career
that I've managed to build it hasn't

been you know me alone but they have been
great people and this is what you have

the opportunity to do as you move out
into the corporate world you have

the opportunity because most of you and
many of you will be in leadership roles

think about it you have
the ability to see all types of

people come through that organization
you will have the responsibility

to make certain that you're bringing
in the talent necessary for

your organization to be successful
into that company the same

thing that the other leaders who
have the opportunity to meet me and

decide I had something to contribute and
so in that process

it becomes really important for you as
you're here at Georgia Tech but even as

you go through your career get very
clear in terms of what's important for

you I personally believe
following your passion and

able to to perform at
a level this differential.

Because if you think about
it from a career standpoint

you're going to spend over
one third of your life.

Doing your work.

Think about if that's just an extension
of who you are how much easier that

will be and that for me has been
really what I think of as being key

making certain that whatever it is you
choose to do that it's a very core

it's an extension of who you are that
you know what it is that you're good at.

And you take the time to build on that and

one of the things that I would
ask anyone to do is be curious.

As I said the path that I took wasn't
something that was intentional but

as I had each opportunity to be exposed to
another facet of a company I'd look and

I'd say I've met this person they seem
really competent I think I can do that and

this whole concept of I think I can
is really what propels you forward so

I'm as I said as I opened anytime
you encounter a situation and

that hair on the back
of your neck stands up.

Move forward take it on because
it's only when we press up against

boundaries of things that are unfamiliar
do we really experience and

explore gems that really can
open up the world for you.

So I get to work for a wonderful
company and this is my chance to plug

it General Mills and the things that
make General Mills so important for

me is this whole concept of a company of
champions think about what it means and

what pride you have knowing that you
are part of a company of champions.

This piece around all the brands that we
have around become around the world and

so we're seventeen point
nine billion dollars And

that doesn't include any of our joint
ventures so for example we have a joint

venture with Mesley Nestle is
probably eight times our size but

in the serial round we bring
the technology understanding and

so we have a fifty fifty fifty
fifty joint venture with Nestle So

anytime you see cereal outside of U.S.
and Canada and

it has and this lease on it is
General Mills technology driving it.

We also have Haagen Daas inside
of Japan as well so those.

All considered joint ventures and

that's not even included
in our total sales.

And so when you think about it you rarely
see General Mills on any of the brands but

you probably have them all in
your cupboards you probably all

utilize them it's this great
company sleepy Midwest and

aside from being just a great company it
is readily recognized as among the best

our most recent award probably three
days ago was from Forbes magazine

we were recognized as one of the most
innovative companies in the world.

We are routinely and
top tier of fortune for

Best Places to Work we're at
the top tier for best places for

women we're at the best places for
people of color so

you know it's a sleepy Midwestern
company but we focus on being

differential in terms of what we are in
our community we're recognized for

our work for sustainability we're
recognized by the Clinton initiative for

the work we've done with food partners so
it's a wonderful organization.

And so for me what's made it a great
career is being able to work for

a company that really holds
the same values I hold and

you get to sit in front of people
like this and be very proud about it.

And so here are a few facts about
the company for which I work.

Sixty million servings of
ready to eat cereal today.

Think about that mass and
what I get to have pride in is that

a little bit of our ability to
deliver that better more efficiently

more effectively I had
something to do with it.

That's what I think helps drive someone's
career is when you see the result.

That's gone by a big organization and
you can look and

say Where is it that I've had an impact.

Other great things we're
not a new company.

The product that we started with back in
one thousand eight hundred gold medal

flour is still number one.

And it's this concept of being a company
that's either number one or number two for

all the products that we produce
that gives all forty over

forty thousand employees a sense of pride
because you know you're part of a winning

team and when you have that kind of
pride you make certain that whatever

you put out there is reflective
of the history behind it.

And then this is the piece that
most people don't know but

this is what causes me to be exceptionally
proud we are recognized as one of

the largest philanthropic companies around
in terms of percentage of our net sales

that actually goes to Philip
traffic activities so

as I said again part of the process for

you as you look at your careers is
making certain you do whatever it

is that you love but make certain you
also have the opportunity to do it

in a place that values you and
is aligned with your values

because through that it never
quite seems like work and

that's the pleasure that I get to have
each and every day is that it really

isn't work it's my passion and
it what gives me my.

You know this aura this sense of
I made a difference and that's

really what I'd ask for any of you as part
of your development here at Georgia Tech

you know because it was Georgia Tech
that really open these doors for me.

And you know as I look out here
most of you weren't even born.

When I graduated from tech and
still when I talk about this place

there's this private comes from it
because no differently than our company.

We have a brain.

And each of us have a responsibility
to make that brand greater and

greater and
we all have a part in that being so.

So.

You know I like to close with
the company for which I work and

we did some work to say what are our
values and we talk about nourishing lives.

But we talk about it not just as a slogan
but making certain that for every employee

they understand what the expectations are
and this whole concept of playing to win

we don't play to be runner
up we don't play just so.

I expect ation is when we go into
the marketplace we expect to win and

just like we talk about a company
of champions we expect for

every employee to be a part
of that championship and

I get to help make that
linkage from the C.E.O.

to the wonderful people we get to
support and each of our operators and

our mechanics and our plants that's
what we do when we talk about playing to

win my role as a leader.

As well as the role of anyone in our
company is around growing making

certain that we're always expanding
not simply saying good enough but

recognizing every day we have
the opportunity to be better and

if you have a teen you have the
responsibility to not only grow them and

yourself but inspire them to want more.

And then this whole piece
around acting boldly and

moving quickly we do not want
paralysis analysis you know we talk.

About this year and maybe three years
from now we may get out there with it

we want quickness we want agility
is part of our process and

that's part of being successful and
then the other piece of it is we

readily recognize that the enemy
is not internal It's not

finance competing with another business
it's not supply chain relative

to marketing we want to make
certain that we play to win but

we do it as a team it's about
how taking the collective forty

three thousand employees of General Mills
and the siding how do we leverage each and

every one of them so
that we can win in the marketplace and

then for most this piece.

We always do the right thing all
the time not when it's convenient not

when it's just cost effective but
we do it because it's right and

there's never a question
there's never a debate.

That's how we operate and that's why
I get to sit in front of you and

talk about a great company that I've had
the opportunity to take the skills that

I've gone out here at Georgia Tech and
apply to this Fortune two hundred company.

And so with that.

I do believe we are just right on

time.

I like questions so rather than talking
at two I'd like to hear what you have for

me Celeste Avishai Please go ahead.

I want you to back track in your process
stream OK when you go back to that making

that transition out of a Ken did when
you were going to P. and G. and you said

you that you found the company that would
allow you to do what you wanted to do

how did you make that how did you find
the company did you research did you see.

And I say this is what I want to do do
they say what you want to do I'm curious

about what that process
was the process for

me was a couple of things were happening
at the same time I got married.

And there was an element
of OK I'm married we're

going to settle into Atlanta that
was the original thought and

if I go to Atlanta then what are my
opportunities in the midst of this my

husband was sent to Del Rio Texas so
that meant the United States was my

oyster I could go into place I
want to at that point time and

I very deliberately went through
a process of looking at companies and

say what's the kind of work I wanted to
do I was very clear I wanted to work for

a large company because I felt with a
large company I'd have an opportunity want

to do lots of different things but
as importantly I really did want to see

different parts of the world and so
through that process I did Job fairs

I connected with a couple of headhunters
but I really set out to explore and

as I had the opportunity to
hear from different companies

I made a point of researching them finding
out what is their record how are they

viewed in terms of their development
of people and P. and G. rose to the top

in terms of this concept of hiring
people fresh out of school or

shortly thereafter words because
they wanted to create a culture and

they wanted to make certain that the
people they held they were growing them

to see the world similarly and that's
how I ended up choosing P. and G. And

as I have a conversation with them I said
these are the kind of things I want to do

and they told me yes I had an opportunity
to talk with another company and

they told me very clearly this is
what you'll have the opportunity

to do because you're an I.E.E.E. and so

already they were trying to put me in
a box and one thing that anyone finds

is that I don't handle boxes very well and
so that's a trait that I have always.

Had And really that's how I want to about
my process making certain that I had

a company that could demonstrate that
they had a record of developing people.

Someone in the back.

Hi My question is earlier
you said something about.

Your company having that ability to make
people who are for example female or.

More comfortable what exactly is
are the you know the types of things that

demo guys when I talk about General Mills
for example we have a feminine affinity

networks for example when I went into
the supply chain we did not have

I think I may have I was the most senior.

African-American woman in the company at
that time and side of the supply chain.

One of the things that we talked
about was why do we not have

the numbers that we want and so true
form as engineers you do the analytics

you want to make certain that you
recruit where the people are but

as importantly you want to be clear
why you believe diversity is important

you know some people go after the numbers
without having a clear reason for

understanding it all
products are consumed.

By all kinds of people if we're going
to market to those individuals then

we should have an understanding of those
individuals and guess what our workforce

should be reflective of that and so
for this sleepy Midwestern company

that was a very clear mandate that
we want to reflect our consumers and

as we worked in the supply chain it became
really important is that when you bring

different perspectives together you
tend to come out with a better outcome

because there's an African saying
that you had four blind men.

And that one had this feeling
on the legs of the elephant and

he kept saying this thing has
really thick legs but the other

blind person was pulling on the tail and
they said well no it's really scary.

You know and then someone had the trunk
of the elephant all described it very

differently but guess what if you put all
four of those buying them together and

what they were describing
you literally had.

The definition of an elephant and so
that's what you're talking about when you

say diversity diversity is
about yes it's different and

ethnicity Yes it's different in gender but
as importantly

is differences in terms of how people
think and how they see the world and

when you put all of those variant
perspectives together you tend to have

a better outcome you know how to market to
different organizations you know how to

market to different groups you know how to
market to different income brackets that's

what diversity is about it's about taking
all of those concepts and idea and

ideas and coming up with a better
solution that serves us all and so

we do everything from affinity networks we
do call mentoring we do mentoring circles

we go the gambit as part of that process.

Yes.

But they're good last mile they
were like OK To the back up and

they said thanks for
coming to Georgia Tech today.

My question actually involves
innovation you mention and

congratulations on the fortunate
recognition that General Mills is one of

the most innovative companies in the world
what the base My question is that.

When you look at the markets in
which General Mills participates.

In for example when I was in
the sixty's a sack groceries and

stock shelves or grocery stores I'll
tell you that the yellow flower

back in the sixty's that does not look any
different from the flower all does today.

Now if you walk down the cereal all
the same products sixty you know

in the sixty's today if you walk down
the canned vegetables the same makers of

canned vegetables so you almost have to
say the markets if you just made a very

very stable markets you also describe
General Mills as being the source sleepy

Midwestern company like I guess what I'd
like to understand what type of innovation

do you actually do if it's not product
related to cars it's recognition and

how do you.

Do you have any suggestions of how
companies that aren't might have

some practices or

policies that could put in place a more
integrated Well you said something

that I thought was interesting you were
describing the center of the store but

if you think about what's actually
happening with most of our markets that's

not where the action tends to take place
it's at the peripheral of the store so

one of the things if you think about in
the sixty's yes there was more dry goods

there was more canned goods what you've
seen in the transition is that now

refrigerated sections prevail convenience
prevails as part of that process.

And we play very readily with our
convenience and food service business

where we have products that if you think
about those wonderful biscuits that you

find a Kentucky Fried Chicken I'm
sorry K.F.C..

Guess who makes those.

If you look at the dough that shows
up at Pizza Hut who makes that

most of your back of the store bakeries
when you go to these grocery stores

that have baked goods the product
is generally made by us and

it's part whatever inside of the stores
themselves so we play in that

space frozen goods have been another piece
where the innovation comes in the play is

this whole piece around consumer first if
you give the consumer what they want you

will be successful one of the big things
that consumers have wanted is protein.

Think about it when you have the economic
downturn you know meats very expensive so

what do people turn to in terms of
a protein source Greek yogurt it's been

one of those but if you also look
at our products you now have.

Nature Valley bars that have
protein you have cereal bars

that have protein another issue that
showed up as part of the health

consciousness as people wanted more
fiber guess what you have fiber one.

Fiber One is a major hit for us.

There was once a cereal that was five or
one but that's even then jazzed up in

a way that it has a new life as part of
this process so making certain you're

staying a tune to what the consumer wants
if you follow what the consumer wants you

will be successful as an organization
the other thing that if you remember back

during the sixty's everyone had
the sizing was a political goal for

a family of four you have more people
eating alone or you have baby boomers

where there's just too if you look at the
sizing of a lot of our products now it's

to me that particular need so innovation
comes from listening to the consumer and

then figuring out how to deliver what it
is that they want when they want it and

then the format that they want.

Yes.

You don't Hi how do you know so
basically throughout your Throughout

your experience as an engineer and as a
business woman it sounds like you amassed

a lot of experience both on the business
ROOM as well as on the technical side.

After having worked for
a large company such as General Mills.

It sounds to me that you may have gotten
a lot of different exposures to the way

these large corporations
become successful so

throughout this process was
there ever a point where you.

Came interested in potentially branching
off and maybe becoming your own

entrepreneur and applying the same
skills towards your own business

well.

You know I think maybe that's something
I think about in the next act.

Here's why I say that part of
it's understanding what makes me

me I love being part of something big

the other piece that I've enjoyed is
having the opportunity to mentor and

that's given me a ready stream
inside of this organization.

The other thing for me has been
this curiosity about cultures and

all of that and in working with
a global company I have that exposure.

Entrepreneurial ship was never
a part of what I call my D.N.A.

that got me excited and so that's why for

me more of the Corporate America has been
the thing that I've enjoyed most and so

for people who want to be an entrepreneur
I'll tell you there's an opportunity

to experience a large corporation
understand gain skills and

then definitely follow your passion if
that's what drives you go for it but

that's not the necessarily
what's driven me.

OK And I guess you mention one of
the key things in your continuous

improvement rule is driving cultural
change and sometimes there can

be resistance to such a major shift and
you think you know.

What.

Jews have use in your toolkit to overcome
any resistance that may have happened well

here's what I'll tell you what we found
particularly as you drive cultural change

and as you look at large corporations so
often we will focus on and we hear

this sometimes well the workers don't want
to change or others and they organise.

I don't want to change what you
traditionally will find the biggest

area of resistance tend to be
at the management level and

the reason why that happens is because
when you're fundamentally saying

that things need to be different the very
things that allow them to be successful

you're now looking to change and so
a big piece of how you change leaders

is that you have them understand
what's in it for them.

Most of the folks who lead organizations
will know the dollars in the sense and

what how does that correlate with what
they might expect otherwise and so

through that process you have the
opportunity to if not necessarily get full

ALM buy in you at least
minimize the resistance and

what happens when this stuff starts to
take hold is that you create believers

as a part of the process but we also find
that culturally there are differences

between regions there's a part of
the world that I will say will do

the work to be convinced and then there's
another part of the world where you must

convince them to do the work that's where
we spend a lot of time making certain

we can quote unquote build the business
case of why this is essential and

oftentimes in some sectors you'll
find that a burning platform

is usually the way that
you get your in road.

So when things are at their toughness
is generally when you can get leaders

to buy in because if you don't have
a solution you generally are going to go

with something else because you go
well I really don't have anything

to lose in the process.

I.

So it's sort of related to this question
in your experience as a leader what do you

think is what was essential of making
other people want where you want.

But I want to make certain I say this
correctly part of it is making certain

that what I want isn't something that's
purely selfish and self-centered and so

at times though what I want is what
ideally I thought the leader should want

as well but may it may not have been
framed in the way that they thought and

so a big piece of what I do is trying to
understand what are you trying to hit in

terms of goals what are the things that's
going to make your organization better and

more successful so that as we
frame up the work it's addressing

concerns issues or problems that
that organization is facing and

so there's nothing like getting in
a romance when there's a burning problem

that they've had that they've
not been able to solve and you

are able to work with them to a solution
that gets you all kind of buy in and

that's literally the approach that we've
taken we do the very same thing as part of

our Proctor and Gamble they talk a lot
about the idea of us methodology

it's really around creating world
class operational excellence as part

of the process and you can generally
get there if you understand

what are the issues that people are facing
and I said this to someone before

no one shows up at the office or
at work saying I want to do a bad job

no leader says I want to drive my
company into the whole of the ground so

if you recognize that fundamentally people
want to be successful they want to do

the right thing it really becomes my
responsibility to understand how to frame

this in a way that allows them
to see that there's a line that.

Yes hi.

And it's like I said So you have great
responsibilities for the company and

it's like you also have responsibility for
the family so sometimes you're very busy.

So we're OK by the balance between.

I have heard this with me for people so
this thing about work life balance and

what I tell people you can have it all
you just can't have it all all the time.

The key becomes you're looking for
it over a span of time that there is

balance because just like anything else
there are times when in all honesty

just before school starts you know in
certain times you've got to make certain

that you're giving what you need to the
family so that they can be successful but

there are times when you know honey
you need to make certain that

the kids get left overs or whatever or
take out as part of the process and so

it's really not necessarily that every day
every week it's an balance but when you

look at it over a span of time you've got
to make certain that you have it I think

if you want to have a healthy personal
life as well as a healthy career and

I think working for a company such as
General Mills makes that possible so for

example everyone knows
Minnesota's a little bit chilly.

You know winter is really tough and so

one of the things that was implemented
at the company over fifteen years ago

is that our offices close at noon on
Fridays during the summer months so

between Memorial Day weekend and
Labor Day offices are closed at noon so

that people get the opportunity to have
a longer weekend and it's things like

that that allow you to gain more of
that balance while the weather is

beautiful we better enjoy our ninety
days when you've got some weather and so

we try to help that as
part of the process.

OK.

With such a large company and so many
brands how do you make sure that everybody

kept the lines of communication open and

nobody had any brand competition or
things like that when you guys carry.

So many different lines.

You know one of the things
that's important for

a company is this whole concept of
portfolio management of most of you heard

of that when you have multiple
brands one of the first steps in

the process is being clear
what's the purpose of each and

if you do work relative the portfolio
management you'll start to understand.

How best to position your brands
as part of that process and

that's what most large companies do they
really balance out are they expecting

a particular brand to be a volume
contributor they expecting another brand

to literally provide innovation and
new products as a key driver to the bottom

line are there areas where a company
wants to explore and therefore they're

going to look to this to really be an area
where they're going to test what's new and

see what's really happening in the
marketplace and so portfolio management is

really a big piece of how you manage
a large company with multiple brands but

first of all you've got to be clear
starting out what's your strategy because

the strategy then allows you to do
the proper type of portfolio management.

OK you discussed the importance of
mentorship within general males

would you mind explaining a little bit
more in detail and how senior leaders

not necessarily just the managers but the
senior leaders as well participate with.

Kind of like family environment
that you were talking about.

Inside of General Mills We have several
types of mentoring most times you may even

have with then a division
mentors who are set up

it's either people who are more
senior mentor new folks coming in but

at a company level we have what's called
our new manager mentor program which is

looking at individuals who have probably
less than two years with the company and

most are paired with
individuals who are directors.

Or vice presidents as a way of kind of
helping them on board and really learn how

to navigate the waters we earlier
on had cold mentoring relationships

between particularly as we wanted to
increase the number of women in senior

levels where you had vice presidents were
paired with women who were directors and

it was a coal mentoring relationship
where the intent was to have

leaders if you've grown up in
an environment that is totally male or

totally majority male guess what
it's not that you intentionally

are not allowing others and you may
not even be cognizant of what those

nuances are and so with a cold mentoring
relationship it allows a senior

leader to have a safe environment to learn
have someone who can tell them here's

what's different Here's how that makes
me feel Here's what I've experienced and

so I must say that the company
was very forward thinking in that

concept of allowing leaders to learn
we always think about everyone else in

the organization learning but leaders also
need to learn and so we've had a number of

those types of initiatives I've personally
been part of a mentoring circle I

think were at eight point one So for
eight years I was a director and

I had a group of women who were either
within one year of joining the company up

to about five years and we've stayed
together over the last eight years and

what that allowed them to do is to have
a support network there's nothing like as

you're going through your career and you
encounter some difficulty to have a safe

haven but as importantly there's nothing
like having someone you believe in

trust until you know that's not
your manager that's you and

that's the kind of relationship you're
able to build when you create the safe

network and you're able to create the kind
of relationships that allow you to have

open and candid feedback with each other.

Thank you so much to me for
coming back to tack Well thank you.