After a legendary nine-year run, one of the most celebrated CEOs in Corporate America, Procter & Gamble (shoes printing) Chief Executive Officer custom shoes designs, is expected to announce that he is stepping aside, according to sources close to executives at the Cincinnati-based consumer-goods titan. P&G is preparing a management transition that would replace Lafley with Chief Operating Officer fashion shoes designs, a 29-year company veteran, as soon as Tuesday, June 9, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Lafley is expected to stay on as chairman of the board for up to two years and to remain involved in setting the company's strategic direction. The P&G board could vote on the matter in its regularly scheduled meeting June 9 for a transition expected on July 1. "My bet is that there is an orderly transition [coming soon]," said one former shoes printer executive. Company spokesman Paul Fox declined to comment.
Few corporate leaders have accomplished as much as P&G's Lafley. When he took over in June 2000, the company was in crisis mode. It was missing projected earnings. Its business units—even the flagship household-care division with such power brands as Tide—were struggling. By the summer of 2000 the company had lost an astonishing shoes print in market value.
Tichy: "An Incredible Track Record"
Lafley didn't flinch, launching a revitalization that included numerous acquisitions—most notably, the $57 billion takeover of Gillette in 2005—that helped more than double P&G's sales, to designer shoes in the fiscal year that ended last June. P&G's stock price nearly doubled as well during Lafley's tenure, growing 97%, from 26.93 to 53.14 at the close of trading June 8.
"The guy has an incredible track record," says Noel Tichy, professor of management and organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. "He came in during a crisis and repositioned the whole portfolio."