1/ I’m going to bring some heat in this TweetStorm and talk about the boards of some public CPG companies. Holy what? You’re naming names? Yes. Yes I am.
Unfortunately I can’t tag them because most aren’t on Twitter.
Unfortunately I can’t tag them because most aren’t on Twitter.
2/ I’ve talked before about the lack of innovation in consumer/retail, what’s driving that and why it is such a big deal….
3/ ….And what I would do differently if I were the CEO of a public CPG co….
4/ But let’s drill down on something a lot of folks haven’t had the courage to name publicly- the Board of Directors. The people in charge of firing/hiring the CEO. Lets imagine for a second that boards matter- and can help influence (not determine) the direction of a company.
5/ Try googling the boards of some tech companies you’ve heard of and Google the boards of any public CPG company.
First - you’ll find both have pathetic ethnic and gender diversity. @WSJ has done some nice work on this: graphics.wsj.com/boards-of-dire…
First - you’ll find both have pathetic ethnic and gender diversity. @WSJ has done some nice work on this: graphics.wsj.com/boards-of-dire…
6/ Second- Beyond a lack of ethnic/gender diversity, you’ll see something else when you drill into CPG boards. They don’t have any innovators. Forward thinkers - visionaries who have spent their life predicting the future and putting their time and money behind those predictions.
7/ Public tech boards have innovators. Facebook- has 6 by my count. If you don’t think @pmarca, @reedhastings, and @peterthiel make those board conversations focus more on the future than you’re….wrong.
investor.fb.com/corporate-gove…
investor.fb.com/corporate-gove…
8/ Public CPG boards are full of 1975. People that have never built anything from scratch. Those that have spent careers protecting what was developed decades before – never having to build something new and disruptive. Trying to slow the decline into irrelevance by going golfing
9/ Look at @pepsi . Crazy impressive resumes- no doubt. But is Fed Dallas head Richard Fisher at the core of innovation in consumer…or anything? What I do find interesting is the inclusion of the Novartis CEO given the parallels between pharma and CPG
pepsico.com/About/board-of…
pepsico.com/About/board-of…
10/ If you think I’m cherrypicking examples feel free to do the research. You’ll find a consistent pattern.
11/ There are some exceptions- @amazon ’s board isn’t full of innovators….w/ exception of one of the top 5 innovators in the world. See that’s what’s key. CEOs in tech are often the visionary founders. CPG companies are 50-100+ years old and cant rely on a founder for vision.
12/ Thus making it even more important for CPG boards to have innovators. The CEOs are career long, slow growth company peeps. They need to be surrounded by forward thinkers with a growth mindset. VC investors, entrepreneurs that have bet their lives on betting on innovation.
13/ What is crazy is that the CPG brands every year are coming across world class entrepreneurs when they buy those companies. (2017 M&A in consumer & retail was $300B).
How are they not putting those founders on their boards? Or the early investors in those brands?
How are they not putting those founders on their boards? Or the early investors in those brands?
14/ Why is @jonsebastiani (founder of @KraveJerky) not on Hersey’s board. That is INSANE. Look I don't know if he wants it- but Hershey should?
hersheypa.com/about-hershey/…
hersheypa.com/about-hershey/…
15/ Or take @Unilever - why wouldn’t they have put @mrdubin on their board. They bought his co for $1b- think they can learn more from him about innovation than they can….say…. a 14th internal person on their board? Or the ex-CEO of @RollsRoyce?
reuters.com/finance/stocks…
reuters.com/finance/stocks…
16/ Look maybe I don’t know anything. Maybe the best way to spur innovation is to gather a bunch of slow growth industry people and create a room with little diversity of any kind (including diversity of thought).
17/ But here is what I believe. CPG boards are full of the people being disrupted. The CEOs of those companies have demonstrated zero ability to innovate. How can we expect then that their companies to innovate?
18/ Put @kirstenagreen, @rebeccak46 on the boards of @GeneralMills, @ProcterGamble, @CocaCola, @Loreal. Put the founders of @RXBAR on @KelloggsUS's board...actually nevermind I'm sure @DollarGeneral CEO pounds the table on investing into innovation.
19/ If you're the Chairman of one of these CPG boards - you should lead this charge. Get innovation into your board quickly.
20/ Or just keep playing golf with the 16+ other stale thinkers on your board while you get eaten from the bottom by the tidal wave of innovation that is coming at you from emerging CPG.
