The Pursuit of Truth

When asked what I most valued from my years in college, my answer has always been clear: "the pursuit of truth". Pursue it no matter where it leads. Pursue it whether you like the outcome or not. Pursue it because you are charged with nothing less. After the Navy, I planned to attend Harvard Law School. I took interviews at a few companies for a one-year job, but when I came to Procter & Gamble, something struck me. Here was a business where the same principle applied: truth mattered. The truth about what consumers really wanted. The truth about how to treat employees. The truth about building lasting relationships with communities. Within months, I knew I had found my place. Law school could wait—and ultimately, it never came. I spent 40 years at Procter & Gamble. We didn’t always get it right. At times, we were blinded by assumptions, or carried projects too far. But I never doubted the company’s core value: to pursue the truth. And that, in the end, has been a guiding principle of my life.

Everyone Counts

Everyone Counts When I look back over my life, I often ask myself: where did I first come to believe the truth that everyone counts? I know it wasn’t in college. It was in the Navy. As head of the communications department, I quickly discovered that no amount of my own effort could make us the best in the fleet. That goal depended entirely on the capability and commitment of every sailor on the team. At the same time, I could see the captain’s reliance on each officer to carry out his duty so that the ship, as a whole, could excel. It was in those moments that I began to understand: excellence is never the work of one person. It is always the achievement of many. That conviction only grew stronger when I joined Procter & Gamble. At first, the culture seemed to reward individual ambition — do well, move up. But then I attended a company-wide meeting filled with people from manufacturing, engineering, and so many other parts of the business. Sitting there, I felt something unmistakable: everyone in that room mattered to P&G. A year later, on sales training, the lesson came again. I was chasing the recognition of being number one in tie displays, but I soon realized something larger. Our district would only be celebrated for excellence if every person pulled his or her weight. The strength of the whole rested on the dedication of each. Over the years, this belief has become more than a lesson. It has become a mantra: everyone counts. It shapes how I see people, how I lead, how I live. And in many ways, it sums up everything I’ve learned about human relationships. Great things are never built by a few at the top — they are made possible by the countless efforts of many, each one indispensable. That truth is both humbling and inspiring. It reminds me to value each person, to listen, to respect, and to encourage. Because when we live as though everyone counts — we create the possibility of greatness together.

"Grapes of Wrath" Personal Reflections for Today

Grapes of Wrath" byJohn Steinbeck—Personal Reflections on Its Meaning for Today September 20, 2020 This novel takes its place among the five finest novels I have ever read: the others being Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson and Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow. Of all these novels, however, "Grapes of Wrath" has most deeply penetrated my life. For many reasons, above all because I came to know and feel the characters more intimately and viscerally and emotionally than in any other book I have ever read. I understand what Norman Mailer meant in writing of "Steinbeck's marvelous and ironic sense of compassion…daring all the time to go up to the very abyss of offering more feeling than the reader can accept." Again and again, that is how I felt, hanging on every word and phrase, wondering, worrying about what comes next. It did not happen by accident. Steinbeck records this in the midst of writing the book: "Yesterday it seemed to me that the people were coming to life. I hope so. These people must be intensely alive the whole time". The whole time. Exactly. No false notes. Through detailed depiction of the environment, layer upon layer, in cinema-like detail, through the development of the looks, gestures and clothes of every character and through dialogue, authentic and colloquial, matched to the individual, I am PRESENT. I am THERE. Steinbeck greatly respects his theme, the magnitude of the undertaking: "I went over the whole of the book in my head—fixed on the last scene, huge and symbolic (and I would add brave and unexpected), toward which the whole story moves. And that was a good thing, for it was a re-understanding of the dignity of the effort and mightiness of the theme. I feel very small and inadequate and incapable but I grew again to love the story which is so much greater than I am. To love and admire the people who are so much stronger and purer and braver than I am." Such humility combined with reverence and ambition and incredibly hard work—the sources of greatness. Like many, I resonate to this story today because it presents vividly what immigrants fleeing violence and life-threatening poverty face today. And the homeless too. It dramatizes how many will take advantage of them, some will castigate them as being dirty and threatening and dangerous, and a few generous souls will step forward as Good Saviors to try to help them on their journey. For me, this story cries out for individual and collective action today. We need the equivalent of "Grapes of Wrath" today to reveal viscerally and authentically the challenge that hundreds of thousands of threatened women, men and children face today as they seek safety and freedom for their families. In the broadest sense, this novel presents the urgent need for social justice, understanding and compassion so needed in our world today. As one commentator observed, it is also at once an elegy and a challenge to live in harmony with the earth. Hope and valor present themselves repeatedly in this magnificent novel, but never, ever at the expense of recognizing the raw often brutal challenge of life. The ex-preacher Casy captures this combination of challenge and hope as he describes how a friend looks back on being violently jailed by vigilantes because he had tried to setup a union among exploited workers. "Anyways, you do what you can. The only thing you got to look at is that every time there is a little step forward, she may slip back a little, but she never slips clear back. You can prove that and that makes the whole thing right. And that means there wasn't no waste even it seemed like there was." No matter what, we must continue on. Recalling one of my favorite texts the Talmud: "You are not required to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." Steinbeck honors the uniqueness and complexity of every individual's life but also the strength to be drawn in being part of something bigger than oneself, ones family above all and the whole of humanity beyond. It is a noble calling. One worthy of our best effort. Posted by John Pepper Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest No comments: Post a Comment Newer PostOlder PostHome Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Blog Archive ► 2025 (29) ► 2024 (38) ► 2023 (45) ► 2022 (41) ► 2021 (25) ▼ 2020 (36) ► December (1) ► November (1) ► October (4) ▼ September (5) "Grapes of Wrath" byJohn Steinbeck—Personal Reflec... James Baldwin's Mind-Opening, Mind-Challenging "Th... The Fragility of Racial Equality: What It Demands ... Words Which Describe Why Donald Trump Must Be Repl... 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