Corporate America and P&G Respond to the Coronavirus Epidemic

 As those of you who read my blogs might recall, I have published several pieces asserting Corporations" responsibility and opportunity to add value and bring support to society and  their communities. At no time is this as important than at a time of crisis like the world is experiencing  right now with the tragic Covid-19 epidemic. 

And corporations are responding. My company—Procter & Gamble is one of them, building on its tradition of over 175 years. How it is doing this is spelled out in this letter to employees from P&G's CEO, David Taylor.  

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We (P&G) have a long history of supporting communities in times of need—and we are answering the call to do even more. We’re stepping up to provide much needed product donations and financial support. Our contributions of product and in-kind support now exceed $15MM and will continue to increase as we work with communities around the world to understand how we can best serve them.

Millions of P&G products are being donated from 30 brands in more than 20 countries, with more on the way. These donations ensure that families who do not have basic access to the everyday essentials many of us take for granted, can have the cleaning, health, and hygiene benefits P&G brands can provide.

Our contributions are broad-based with cash support to ensure disaster relief organizations can meet immediate needs, including hygiene education and medical equipment and supplies. We’re partnering with some of the world’s leading relief organizations, including the International Federation of Red Cross, Americares and Direct Relief, and key regional organizations such as Feeding America, Matthew 25: Ministries, the China Youth Development Foundation, One Foundation, the Korea Disaster Relief Association, the United Way, and more.

P&G people across the world are stepping up to use our innovation, marketing and manufacturing expertise to directly support our communities for the greater good.

We have installed new lines to start production of hand sanitizer in five manufacturing sites around the world, using it to ensure our people can continue operating safely and sharing it with hospitals, health authorities and relief organizations. We are expanding manufacturing capacity further in additional facilities in the coming weeks and will have a capacity of at least 45,000 liters per week when fully operational.

Work is underway to produce critically needed face masks at nearly a dozen P&G manufacturing sites around the world. We’re up and running already in China. We have teams working to install capacity in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and will quickly begin production in the coming weeks. This is important for several reasons:

1. It will increase the supply of masks for hospitals, first responders and other organizations by reducing market demand for production and industrial use;
2. It helps us create a safe working environment for P&G people;
3. Longer term, it will allow us to directly help many communities across the globe where there is unprecedented need for protective supplies. 

And we’re not stopping there. Around the world, P&G people are evaluating how we can be of service to the communities who desperately need help. We’re in this together and working side-by-side with retail customers, suppliers, agency partners and government officials to do our part. We’re using areas of P&G capability and know-how to develop and deliver solutions to protect those who are most vulnerable. We’re funding startups with innovative ideas and partnering with established companies who have complementary capabilities. We’re also using our marketing and communications expertise to encourage consumers to support public health measures to help flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus. 

We cannot predict how and when this crisis will end but we’re committed to be part of the solution. We have mobilized the full capabilities of P&G and our partners to help out in this time of need, and we will be there for our employees, consumers and communities—stepping up as a force for good—however long it takes.

David Taylor

Our Nation in a Two Front War

Our Nation, indeed all Nations —and their people and governments-- have not been so challenged since WWII and the Great Depression. 

We must wage and win a simultaneous two-front"war"— for the health and economic sustainability of the nation's people .

All sectors of our nation:  business, education, religious, medical, media, public and private, government at all levels, the people at large, all of us, must work together decisively to win this "war". Moving fast and aggressively is of unique importance since the geometric spread of the coronavirus is rapid and a nation or any entity pays a gruesome price if it delays the containment measures (isolation; social distancing), allowing the virus to achieve critical levels of penetration. 

After a slow start, partly attributable to the President's denying the reality of this unique threat, I am encouraged by what I see the Federal government and our State of Ohio doing at this moment. Different sectors of the government are coming together. Private-public partnerships are forming as they did in WWII, for example to provide more test equipment, necessary medical supplies, expertise on communicationI and more.

 I see leaders being data driven and seeking and applying learning from other nations who experienced—or responded to-- this virus at an earlier date than we did. Most importantly, I see leaders with deep professional competence  at the Federal and State and Local levels stepping forward together to lead the effort. They are providing transparent, frequent updates on the reality and the impact of the health and economic of the virus

 As the experts and history of this virus tell us: we are still at the critical early stage. We know the health crisis will grow over the next several weeks. We don't know how far nor nor how long it will wake for the threat to dissipate to the extent we can relax the social isolation steps which have been and will continue to be implemented. But we do have a good idea scientifically and from what  has happened in other countries what actions the public—all of us—need to take to lower the curve of the spread and incidence of this serious infection. We also know the economic dislocation will be immense in lost jobs and income. 

On the economic front, we will need to implement what in historical terms might be described aa a modern Marshall Day plan in the need to take comprehensive and decisive action, the best analogy in my mind is the action the Nation had to take to address the devastating consequences of the Depression with its 25%+ unemployment. Fortunately, compared to the Depression, our economy entered this unexpected challenge far stronger than was at the time of the Depression. 

Our challenges at this moment in time seem to be to be three: 

1) Each of us following the best containment actions;

 2) Being ahead of the wave of more people needing hospitalization with adequate hospital beds, medical supplies and medical personnel.

3)  Putting in place dramatic and rapid economic support for individuals (cash supplements, assured free heath coverage ) and for the recovery of businesses, large like the airlines, and small and medium size business, where the loss of jobs will be greatest.

As I have written,  this war presents striking similarities to what out Nation faced and needed to do in the Great Depression and in WWII. It is often said—and it is true—that it takes a monumental existential threat to drive us to collective, decisive action. We have that existential threat today. 

We of course will get through this. The question is how fast and to what degree we will minimize the harm to people. 

By coincidence, I just started the new best-seller: "The Splendid and the Vile: a Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz". I am lifted by Churchill's spirit and wisdom as he addressed the British people—this during the first month after becoming Prime Minster in the dark days of May, 1940.  "It would be foolish to disguise the gravity of the moment. It would be still more foolish to lose heart and courage." 

And then this shortly after the fall of France: "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Commonwealth and Empire last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'". 

So may it be for us.

Raising Kids—The Role of Kindness

(This is a  letter I wrote to my four children and their spouses. I decided to post it on my blog)

I  read an interesting and important article in the recent issue of The Atlantic which I thought I would share with you.  It was written by Adam Grant and Allison Sweet Grant on the subject of raising kids.  It is well worth reading in its entirety.  In a nutshell, it presented persuasive evidence that “children who help others end up achieving more than those who don’t.”  As evidence, it cites academic progress in later years and overall success in life as relating closely to how the children were rated as being helpful or not by Kindergarten and early grade teachers.

The article draws on knowledge from psychologists and evolutionary biologists to explain this.  In part, it comes down to the reality that concern for other people promotes supportive relationships.  Students who care about others tend to see their education as preparation for contributing to society—an outlook that inspires them to persist when difficult studying is required.  Interestingly, research shows that “kindness can also make kids happy in the here and now.”  Psychologists call this “the helpers high.”  Economists refer to it as the “warm glow of giving.”  Neuroscientists find that generosity activates reward centers in our brains.

Reading this article brought me a smile because I thought of how many times I have seen personally and read reports from your children’s teachers of how they care for other classmates.
  

I was talking the subject of kindness with a fellow P&G alumni last week.  She quickly signaled her agreement with the thesis in raising her own two girls, but she took the conversation in an unexpected direction as she talked about the role of “kindness” in a workplace culture.  She applauded it; she felt it very important.  But she asked me for my perspective on what she described as the “soft under-belly of kindness”—that occurring if we do not bring candor and courage along with it.  I told her I knew exactly what she was driving at.  I experienced this challenge in my own life.

So, how do you try to ensure that kindness doesn’t lead to a lack of decisiveness and candor in a relationship?  Here is how I explained I have tried to resolve this.  

I have tried to keep three precepts in my mind, especially as I am dealing with a personal subject which could hurt the feelings of another person or be something, in hearing, they wish weren’t true: 

1.      I start by trying to answer the question for myself:  “what is the right thing to do?”  

2.      Is what I would say something that the other person needs to know for his or her own benefit?  They may not like to hear it, but they need to know it. 

3.      Do I convey it in a way which expresses my deep respect and caring for the other individual, so that I have a reason to believe they will understand that whatever I am saying is intended for their benefit?

Maggie (my daughter-in-law) once asked me a question the answer to which comes at this same subject in a different and perhaps simpler way.

 She asked me how do you think through what to say to someone with whom you disagree.  My response was to answer three questions:

1.      Is what I am going to say true?

2.      Is what I am going to say necessary; that is, will my communicating it lead to a better outcome?  Am I doing it for the benefit of achieving a better outcome, not just to make myself feel I have done something?

3.      Is this the time and place to have the communication or should I do it in a different place (perhaps one-on-one and fewer people or at a time better suited to achieve a constructive outcome)?

I hope this is helpful.