Conventional wisdom holds that the best leadership training happens at the biggest companies. Michael Polk’s experience tells a more nuanced story.
Polk spent years at the top of large public organizations, including senior leadership roles at Kraft Foods and Unilever, followed by his tenure as CEO of Newell Brands. Over the course of that career, he developed a sophisticated understanding of how large corporations build and deploy executive talent. He also came to recognize the limitations of that model.
Depth Versus Breadth in Leadership Development
When Polk took the CEO role at Implus LLC in 2020, he encountered a fundamentally different approach to developing people. Implus is a private company owned by Berkshire Partners, with 16 fitness and active lifestyle brands and a lean organizational structure. Without the layers of staffing that define large public corporations, employees at Implus are required to engage with a wider range of business functions from the start.
“They grow and learn by doing,” said Michael Polk, describing how smaller private organizations accelerate the development of their people. “As a corollary, senior leaders are drawn deeper into the business as player-coaches and have to help their people in those moments of choice and also manage risk.”
That model, he argues, creates both stronger employees and more engaged senior leaders. The flat organizational structure at Implus means that Michael Polk Newell Brands himself works directly alongside his team on brand strategy, commercial decisions, and business development, functions he was largely separated from at Newell Brands.
The Flat Hierarchy Pays Dividends
“I spend much more time doing the brand and business development work directly with my team as opposed to focusing on resource allocation and having to work through layers in the organization to influence the demand-creation or cost-reduction choices people are making. I am right there with them in the crucible, helping them make the choices that are going to drive our business forward,” Michael Polk explained.
Polk’s time at Implus has also reinforced his view that private companies offer something public corporations rarely provide: genuine exposure to the full arc of running a business, from sourcing and manufacturing to retailer relationships and consumer-facing brand decisions. For Michael Polk, that breadth of involvement has not only made him more effective. It has made the work more meaningful. Refer to this article for more information.
Learn more about Michael Polk Newell Brands on https://ir.newellbrands.com/news-releases/news-release-details/newell-brands-announces-ceo-transition