P&G President & CEO Robert McDonald speaks at Business and U

Yesterday the Salt Lake Chamber co-hosted the first of what we hope will be many Business and U luncheons. We want to thank the David Eccles School of Business for bringing Procter & Gamble President and CEO Robert A. McDonald to discuss his ideas on leadership. McDonald is a graduate of the University of Utah.

Here are just a few nuggets of wisdom McDonald shared:

• Everyone wants to succeed.
• Leadership is not time efficient but it is worth your time.
• Putting people in the right jobs is the most important job of a leader.
• Character is the most important trait of a leader. That means putting the needs of the organization ahead of your own.
• “No excuse, sir,” implies that something went wrong and that you won’t let it happen again.
• Choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong.
• Diverse groups of people are more innovative than homogenous.
• Ineffective strategies, systems and culture are bigger barriers to achievement than the talents of people.
• There will be some people who will not make it on the journey.
• Organizations must renew themselves.
• Recruiting is a top priority. P&G only promotes from within.
• The true test of a leader is the performance of the organization when he or she is absent or after he or she departs.

We’re excited to host the next edition of Business and U. We’ll post the next one on slchamber.com.