Learnings from Leaders: the P&G Alumni Podcast

Katie Couric is renowned and award-winning  journalist, producer, and best-selling author. Katie is currently the Founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. Katie also publishes the daily newsletter "Wake Up Call" From 2013 to 2017, Katie was Yahoo's Global News Anchor. Katie has been a host on all 3 major US TV networks — NBC News from 1989 to 2006, CBS News fro...

“Tech will do everything - but it won’t make you a better human. Use technology to get less busy and focus on being a better human, and the world will be a better place.” Vivek Sunder is CEO of Cuemath - the education technology company whose mission is to make the world’s children great at math — to create invincible problem-solvers who will go on to solve humanity’s biggest problems. Vivek’s bee...

“You need other people — work well with others and learn from them. The more you grow, the more you realize you don't get anything done alone.” Poliana Sousa is Latin America’s Coca-Cola™ Lead, which includes communication strategy and innovation in 39 countries in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Poliana also plays a key role in the brand’s long-term strategic planning and le...

“Leading in social media and fighting bad actors - these problems didn’t always exist. It's fascinating how quickly things change.” Jakub Kocinski is a Digital Safety & Trust leader - with experiences across P&G, Google TikTok, and Meta — where he’s held responsibility for a wide array of key issues of digital platform integrity. Prior to his most recent role of Responsible Innovation at M...

“We are all intersectional - uniqueness is our greatest gift. Empathy makes you a better leader.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. Shelly McNamara is P&G’s Chief Equality & Inclusion Officer, where she’s responsible for shaping culture, policies, and leadership to promote greater diversity. Shelly’s also an a...

“Let's be wrong sooner because we'll learn from it - move on and take on challenges in a very different way.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. Jay Sethi is the CMO of Diageo Beer Company and Senior Vice President of Diageo’s Convenience Category. In addition to leading and executing for three of Diageo’s business uni...

“Being the first person in a role can be a career accelerant.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. And what better executive to revisit than Julie Eddleman, DoubleVerify’s Global Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to joining DoubleVerify, Julie spent six years at Google as one of the companies top Client Partners - acceler...

“Authenticity and relevancy are easy to connect back to the business when you have people who represent the diversity of our consumers.” Kevin Shapiro is Coty’s SVP of US Marketing at Consumer Beauty at Coty, where he manages a large portfolio of consumer brands, including Sally Hansen and CoverGirl. Kevin has led beauty brands across a number of iconic global companies, including L’Oreal, Revlon,...

“Politics is all about empathy — people believing that you understand their plight, their issue, their life  — and that you have a plan to help them.” Aftab Pureval is the Mayor of the city of Cincinnati. As Cincinnati’s 70th Mayor, Aftab has made equitable economic growth a top priority of his administration, as well as a comprehensive reform and improvement of public safety, affordable hous...

“There is a level of compassion to understanding that there's things that need to be done.” // “We have to make up for lost time - transparent actions and results need to follow.” In the midst of all the social and upheaval we continue to face facing - we sat down with serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, alongside Logitech CEO (+ P&G Alum) Bracken Darrell for a conversation with two “Masters...

“It's through language that you understand another culture - how their world works. It's about that human connection with people.” Mike Shangkuan is an EdTech entrepreneur, fitness fanatic, and pioneer in language learning. As the CEO of Lingdoda, Europe’s leading online language school. And he’s a polyglot -  speaking six languages - English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese and Japanese — h...

"Humor is a way to deal with failure, because you'll be onto something much bigger. Nothing is the defining moment of your life — if you don't let it be.” Did you know that several P&G Alumni have become (inter)nationally known stand up comedians? In honor of World Laughter Day (May 1st), we decided to go deeper and chat with not one, not two, but THREE P&G alumni who are now full-time in...

"There is no bending your principles and values, you either stick by them or you don't.” Qaisar Shareef spent a 30 year career at Procter & Gamble - where he led the company’s operations in Pakistan & Ukraine. As April marks the Holy Month of Ramadan in the Islamic world this year, we decided to revisit some past conversations with past Muslim guests that you may have missed — and even if...

“Nothing can teach you more than your failures. Your struggles are where you're growing the most.” Ikdeep Singh is Mars Petcare’s President of North America, responsible for iconic brands such as Pedigree, Iams, Cesar, and Sheba — and driving the company’s purpose of “A better world for pets.” Prior to Mars, Ikdeep served as the President at the L’Oréal Group, and he started his career at P&G...

“The higher you go, it's harder to understand the front lines. Be in touch to accelerate your growth.” Kevin Hochman, is Kentucky Fried Chicken’s US President at Yum! Brands, and the former President of Pizza Hut US. As KFC’s President Hockman oversees more than $10 billion in retail sales across 10,000 restaurants. For more than eight years, Kevin’s held numerous senior positions at Yum! Brands....

“People tend to be afraid of the unknown. The most dangerous thing is the illusion of knowledge. We need to have an open mind and embrace the world.” Dian Alyan is the Founder & CEO of the GiveLight Foundation (GiveLight.org) — a non-profit inspired by Islamic values to help orphans across the globe regardless of nationality, race or religion. As April marks the start of the Holy Month of Rama...

“The first job of any leader is to coach people that can do a better job than them, and lead better than them — to unlock people's fullest potential.“ Raj Rao is IBM’s General Manager of Blockchain Ventures where he oversees programs in blockchain, AI and cloud architecture. Raj was previously the CEO of Ford Mobility, leading the automotive company’s Palo Alto based mobility business investments,...

“When you take care of yourself, you are much more able to lead, to be more creative, more empathetic.” Arianna Huffington is Founder & CEO of Thrive Global, a firm centered on health and wellness information. Arianna was also the Co-founder of The Huffington Post , the author of fifteen books, one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People,” and Forbes “Most Powerful Women,” among numerous other...

“In facing a crisis, you have to try to understand the reality as seen by different people. We've got to bring that to bear now, even as we're speaking.” -John Pepper UPDATE 3/14/2022: Our original podcast discussion was recorded on 3/72022. Many things have changed since that moment, including a vocal response to erroneous statements we made on this show. Those incorrect statements have been remo...

“We really want to dive deep because no two people are going to answer the same,“ “These deeper conversations are what's going to be true years from now.” 100 Episodes later, Drew & Raman sit down for a chat about what they’ve learned from all their Learnings from Leaders, answer some of the questions they get most often about this P&G Alumni Podcast, share a little more under the hood, an...

“You've got to suspend how you think about things to be successful. There is power in creating the story that will be told.” Seaphes R. Miller is an accomplished entrepreneur - the Founder & CEO of Fusion Integrated Solutions - a design, engineering and technology firm he started in 2004 -  focused on creating innovative solutions for the CPG and energy industries — recognized as a top mi...

“People need to be treated equitably to move forward.  As we normalize and equalize, we’re saying all people are the same. Well, guess what? They're not.” Sharon Hall is Walmart’s VP of Global Executive Recruiting - where she's building a dynamic organization for a changing culture. Sharon previously spent 20+ years as a Partner at Spencer Stuart, a leader in executive search, board services...

“Stay humble, stay grateful. Your position or work isn’t what matters most. For me, it's my family and the opportunity to impact others and give back.” Marissa Solis is the National Football League’s SVP of Global Brand & Consumer Marketing. Prior to joining the NFL, Marissa led marketing for Frito Lay North America and was at PepsiCo for almost two decades.  She won several preeminent ma...

"I needed to work on something that had social impact — a game changer for schools to hear from parents in a different way." Christine Fisher is the Co-Founder and COO for Possip - an education technology start-up that helps schools better hear from parents. Christine spent 13 years at P&G working in Finance on some of the company’s biggest brands—including Tide, Charmin, and Bounty. But equal...

“In Africa there's a billion people about to get on the Internet. What kinds of opportunities will they create? How will they solve problems?” Nitin Gajria is Google’s Managing Director for Sub-Saharan Africa- where he works to make the internet more helpful for Africa - leveraging  technology as an enabler for amazing things. Google recently announced a $1B investment over the next 5 years i...