What Inspires Me?

What inspires me???

This is a question I am often asked and one that I love answering because for me, inspiration is the constant spark of new solutions to some of the toughest challenges we face. It is the drive behind my personal growth and the force that can ignite impact through collaboration and creativity.?

After a three-week trip traveling to San Diego for the Sustainable Brands flagship conference, Tokyo for the WBCSD annual council meeting and a day with our incredible Japan team, and lastly, Cincinnati in the U.S. for the first face-to-face meeting with my Global Sustainability Team in 3 years! – I feel particularly inspired.? ?

I have been inspired by the like-minded leaders at Sustainable Brands 2022 – peers, business partners, and youth– who are pushing boundaries to create a future where business and society thrive in harmony with nature. I recently shared my experiences of coming together with my friend Vincent Avanzi - Chief Poetic Officer ??????? to kick off the conference, opening people’s hearts and minds to the possibilities of combining growth and good to elevate our positive impact to new heights – “new flights, new light, new life, new right, new sights....” You can watch our presentation here.

I have been inspired by seeing industry-leading collaboration in action at the WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development council meeting, where CEOs from 200 companies convened in Tokyo to reconfirm their commitment to accelerating collaborative efforts toward a Net Zero, nature-positive and equitable future. I valued the opportunity to participate in the “Scope 3 Transparency” panel with Christoph Jaekel , Michele Galatola , and Sunny Verghese . Here, I was inspired by our conversation around trust and transparency across the value chain to achieve the needed system transformation on Scope 3 emission reduction.??

As with external inspiration, I feel incredibly fortunate to find a constant source of inspiration within the walls of 宝洁 , among my passionate and committed colleagues, which is why visiting the P&G Japan team was a real highlight of my trip to Tokyo. While meeting the team for a Townhall conversation, I could immediately feel their shared eagerness to make sustainability an integral part of their work and forge a path to better innovation, better customer activation and better employee satisfaction.?

My experience with this team also reminded me that inspiration is the catalyst to impact, as they gave me the opportunity to experience P&G’s superior and sustainable activation firsthand at the Daimaru SKII corner.?

Helping to inspire positive recycling habits, Daimaru SKII is a one of its kind recycling program where SKII users are rewarded for bringing back their used bottles for recycling. The results are already proving that creating an experience of ‘delight’ can also reduce impact on the planet, as 50% of the invited users have opted to participate so far in the pilot – meaning the program is now expanding to 400 stores.??

The final stop on my trip led me to meet my global sustainability team in person in Cincinnati. Following three years of virtual meetings, this ignited euphoric inspiration. We came together to reflect on the challenges faced and victories achieved since the team’s formation seven years ago, to re-center on our identity and mission, and to accelerate our efforts to deepen our impact.??

Being inspired is what is driving me each and every day. Being inspired – etymologically means having breath or life or spirit infused into the human body and soul. That’s a strong word. When you are inspired, you go past the transactional aspect of a relationship down to the spirit. And you inspire others.??

Six months ago, I created a monthly session called “All In On Sustainability” open to all employees. This is an opportunity for them to ask me any questions and share their concerns and challenges. This is a live, unscripted session. We get down to the spirit. It is inspiring for all of us.? In my last session, I asked the attendees what inspired them. They answered: #1 Impact, #2 Sustainability/Nature and #3 Positive impact. It proves the points – being inspired and making an impact are two sides of the same coin and Sustainability is one of the biggest drivers of inspiration for them.?

I know from personal experience that when we are inspired, we are more likely to grow and make an impact, we feel more rewarded as we have an intrinsic motivation. This is the basis on which we rely to be a force for growth and a force for good at P&G.??

Now, I’m so excited to be back home, ready to harness this new inspiration for positive action. But inspiration isn’t passive. You need to work on it. Knowing what it takes for you to be inspired and creating the conditions for it to happen. It’s also more than simply three weeks of energizing experiences. It requires a constant mindset of growth and possibility, and a culture where ideas and impact are shared, recognized, and rewarded because inspiration is contagious. ?

That’s why at P&G, we’re passionate about creating an inclusive workplace where inspiration thrives. As part of this, we believe it is essential to take the time to celebrate and reward the impact our employees are making to improve lives through irresistibly superior and sustainable innovation and transformative partnerships that help address our greatest sustainability challenges.?

This is something we’ve been doing for four years as part of the “It’s Our Home Awards” and yesterday, I was delighted to join 宝洁 ’s Chairman, President & CEO Jon Moeller and several other leaders including R Alexandra Keith , Tracey Grabowski , Ana Elena Marziano , Marc S. Pritchard , and Shailesh Jejurikar to recognize individuals and teams across the company at all levels and functions who are driving our Sustainability efforts forward— enabling irresistible superiority and creating transformative partnerships, while reducing our footprint across Climate, Water, Waste, and Nature to help us accelerate our Ambition 2030 goals.??

This year, we created a new award, The Rising Stars Award, to recognize employees who have been with the company for fewer than four years and who have already used their leadership, passion, and conviction to make a significant positive impact in Sustainability. The winners were invited to the Sustainable Brands Conference last month where I had the opportunity to have breakfast with three of them and discuss the innovative contributions they’re making to our teams – what a strong moment of mutual inspiration!??

Inspiration truly is everywhere – in diverse people and places, conversations and experiences, collaboration, and celebration. So, lean in, look around and get ready to be inspired.?

Learn more about the #IOHAwards and the leaders across our company driving sustainable solutions here: https://us.pg.com/blogs/its-our-home-awards-2022/. #ItsOurHome