這個委員會什么時候開始召開會議？

????未來幾個星期之內。我想要做的是創造一種注重生產力的企業文化。實現這個目標的方式就是讓各業務部門的工作人員都參與進來，讓他們形成一個指導性的聯盟，這正是我們正在做的事情。必須確保我們在這方面達到一種平衡。注重創新和注重提高生產力兩者并不矛盾。

????生產力是一個促成因素。它使我們有能力把資金重新投向創新產品，或者使我們有能力在應對意外事件時擁有緩沖資金。寶潔公司已經有175年的悠久歷史了，本月底我們將慶祝寶潔成立175周年。我正在重讀《財富》雜志（Fortune）1981年發表的一篇文章。文章談到了寶潔鼎盛時期的CEO約翰?斯梅爾當時面臨的困境，并且采訪了一位寶潔退休員工，這位退休員工表示寶潔公司創新不足。那篇文章還談到了寶潔在1973年至1980年期間股價下跌的情況。

????使寶潔公司與眾不同的特點之一是我們公司在一段時間內會徹底改造自己。每個接受任命、擔任公司CEO的人都必須重塑公司，這樣公司就可以為未來175年做好準備。

鮑勃，為什么寶潔以前沒有徹底改變自己呢？現在你擔任寶潔CEO已有幾年的時間了。現在才說要形成一個注重生產力的企業文化，這個想法令我感到有些奇怪，大多數CEO都是在走馬上任的時候發表這類言論。寶潔公司的生產力到底出了什么情況？

????我們面臨自1929年至1933年期間全球性經濟大蕭條以來最糟糕的一個經濟狀況。我們在大宗商品原材料方面的成本開支增加了35億美元，這對我們的盈利能力造成了極為不利的影響。我們的計劃正是對目前的形勢作出的一個回應。

但是其他公也面臨這樣的經濟阻力，然而他們的業績都比寶潔出色。如果可以的話，你希望改變自己過去在哪些方面的做法？

????我在今年6月份在巴黎召開的德意志銀行全球消費者與食品零售商大會上已經闡述過有關這方面的所有原因。

能再說一遍嗎。我知道你對這個問題進行了大量的思考，難道寶潔從中沒有任何經驗教訓可以吸取嗎？

????我們已落實的計劃表明了我們從中已吸取到的經驗和教訓。我們目前把重點放在改善非連續性創新的任務上。我們目前計劃在全球范圍內裁員5,700人，削減成本100億美元。

我的理解是，這個計劃來看，你們吸取的經驗教訓就是，公司之前開支過度了。

????是的，我們面臨大宗商品原材料價格上漲的不利因素，而倘若我們沒有把原材料價格上漲反映到我們的產品定價中去的話，那么就會對我們的盈利能力造成同等程度的削減。

但向貴公司股票投資的投資者群體并不認同這種說法。前寶潔部門總裁加里?馬丁撰寫了這封批評信。阿克曼與你會晤——要求你辭職。投資者似乎并不接受你傳遞的訊息。可以這么說嗎？

????我們提供了這個信息。投資者現在相信，我們正在按照這個計劃持續實現目標。在4～6月份的季度里，我們曾表示我們已走在計劃前面了，當時投資者對此反響積極。我們公布4～6月份的季度財報之后，寶潔股價當天上漲了2美元。或許這個信息已傳達給了市場，而投資者正在尋找信心，但我們正在實現這些計劃中所制定的績效目標。

????譯者：iDo98

When will that council begin to meet?

????Within the next couple of weeks. What I want to do is create a culture of productivity. The way you do that is you involve people in the various business units and they create a guiding coalition and that's what we're going to do. You have to be sure that we have balance. Innovation and productivity are not contradictory.

????Productivity is an enabler. It allows you to invest back into innovation or by being able to have a shock absorber against surprises. The Procter & Gamble Company has been around 175 years, and we are celebrating our birthday at the end of this month. I was rereading an article in Fortune from 1981. It talked about the difficulty John Smale had and interviewed a retiree who said the company didn't have enough innovation. It talked about the stock price falling from 1973 to 1980.

????One of the things that makes this company unique is the way it reinvents itself over a period of time. Each of us that is asked to be CEO at one time during their tenure is required to reinvent the company so it becomes ready for the next 175 years.

How come this didn't happen before, Bob? You have been CEO now for several years. The idea of NOW creating a culture of productivity strikes me as strange; Most CEOs say something like that when they start their job. What happened to the productivity of the company?

????We faced one of the worst economies that we've had since the Great Depression. We had $3.5 billion of incremental commodity costs that affected our profitability. Our plan is a reaction to the situation.

Yet other companies have had this economic headwind but have done better. What part do you wish you had done differently?

????I laid out all those reasons in the June Deutschebank Conference in Paris.

Tell me again. I know you've given a lot of thought to this. Aren't there any lessons learned?

????The plan that we've put in place suggests what we've learned. We're focused on improving discontinuous innovation. We're reducing enrollment in the company by 5700, saving $10 billion.

So what I would take out of that is that the lesson would be that you spent too much money.

????We had the commodity headwinds, right, which had we not priced would have reduced our profitability by that amount.

But it didn't take with the community that invested in your stock. Former executive Gary Martin writes this [critical] letter. Ackman meets with you. That message did not get through. Is that a fair statement?

????We provided the message. Investors now are confident that we're delivering against the plan. In the April through June quarter, we said we were ahead of the plan and the investors reacted positively there. When we announced April through June the stock went up $2 that day. Maybe the message was out there and investors were looking for confidence but those results are being delivered.