Why this President at P&G wrote a book to pay for his college tuition.
“The best way to be successful is for the people around you to be successful.” — Patrice Louvet, Group President at Procter & Gamble
Our interview with Patrice Louvet continued to reinforce some key themes that I’ve learned since we launched Connections by Exact Media earlier this year. If I’d distill Patrice’s key traits to success, it comes from
- Being very present minded (similar to John Leboutillier, CEO of Unilever Canada) and focusing on the task at hand.
- Embracing international assignments to open up his point of view (similar to Vineet Mehra, Global President of J&J Baby Care and Javier San Juan, CEO of L’Oréal Latin America).
- Building in protected time to spend time with those he loves (similar to David Sable’s disconnected weekends, or Vineet’s shared calendar with his wife).
This interview is available on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Overcast and Soundcloud.
If you’re enjoying our episodes, please visit iTunes, give us a ⭐-Rating and write us a review to help others discover these episodes.
Here are the three things I learned from this interview:
1. Necessity is the mother of invention. Patrice didn’t have enough money to pay for his first year of college. Despite not being a natural writer, he struck a deal with his school, ESCP Europe to publish a book on international trade in exchange for his tuition. In 1987, he published “Exporter Aux États-Unis: Une Operation Semée D’obstacles Pour Les Entreprises Françaises”, which in english means “Exporting to the US — A Journey Full of Obstacles for French Companies”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my hands on a copy of this rare artifact.
2. There is no single path to success. After listening to Patrice’s interview, I encourage you to check out Michael Aidan’s interview we released last week. The similarities and contrasts between the two taught me that there are many different ways to find success in life.
Like Michael, Patrice grew up in France, studied at ESCP Europe, and had his first Marketing job at Procter & Gamble. However, each made their way to the US in completely different ways.
Patrice spent 4 years of his childhood in New Jersey when his father transferred to a job out there, and returned again to the US for school on an exchange program before returning to serve in the military.
Michael took advantage of a new program the French Government introduced, which allowed him to work in New York at a French agency instead of serving in the military.
3. True Leadership is enabling others on your team. When asked what he did differently at P&G that he thinks made him move up the ranks faster than others, his response really stood out to me:
In full humility, my life’s purpose is to enable people I interact with, whether that’s my family, my friends, or my colleagues, to leverage their full potential… as they’re successful, then I’m automatically successful. So probably the investment in other people, the time I spend on being in touch with the organization, being connected with the organization, and setting them up for success [was what I did different that made me successful]… The best way to be successful is for the people around you to be successful. That guarantees you will be successful as their leader… It’s very difficult to be successful individually if your team around you isn’t successful.
Hope you enjoy listening.
Daniel
Daniel Rodic is the Co-Founder of Exact Media, which is transforming the world of direct mail by enabling brands owned by companies like P&G, PepsiCo, Unilever and L’Oréal to distribute samples and coupons using the excess space in eCommerce parcels that have already been shipped to consumer.
Daniel was named Top 30 Under 30 by Marketing Magazine, and represented Canada at the G20 Entrepreneurs Summit in Moscow and Beijing. Daniel served on the Leadership Council for the United Nations Media for Social Impact Summit and he is a 2016 finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
