Not every corporate leader spends their early career managing papermaking machines on a rotating shift. Michael Polk did. And he has said that experience at a Procter & Gamble mill in northeastern Pennsylvania ranks among the most influential of his professional life.

Polk arrived at P&G in 1982 after graduating from Cornell University’s College of Engineering with a degree in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering. The job was unglamorous by most measures supervising one of seven papermaking machines in a factory, working a Southern swing schedule he has described as something he knew nothing about when he accepted the offer. He took it anyway.

What the Factory Taught Him

The years at P&G taught Michael Polk Newell Brands lessons that business school cannot replicate. He has described learning how much a professional depends on the people around them, how respect for every role in a manufacturing system is not optional but essential, and how real accountability looks on a factory floor versus in a classroom. After three years two in Pennsylvania and one in research and development in Cincinnati he left for Harvard Business School.

His MBA accelerated the career pivot he had been working toward. At Kraft Foods, he moved through brand management, sales, and general management. At Unilever, he rose to lead the Americas and then moved to London to lead Global Food, Home and Personal Care. Each role added new complexity to his operating experience.

A Career Still in Motion

As CEO of Newell Rubbermaid from 2011 to 2019, Polk grew the company from $5.4 billion to $9.4 billion in net sales and guided it through 35 transactions. He retired in 2019 before returning to active executive life as CEO of Implus LLC under Berkshire Partners. Michael Polk has said that each chapter of his career helped him grow, and from the outside, the arc bears that out. Refer to this article for related information.

 

Find more information about Michael Polk Newell Brands on https://www.implus.com/leadership/