Amy S. Hilliard - Pivot for Success

What's interesting for me is that inspiring others doesn't mean that I'm always sharing stories of triumph or of “knowing it all.” Not by a long shot. In 1986, when I was a relatively new product manager at Gillette, I was given the job of managing two of the oldest brands in the Personal Care Division, Adorn and White Rain Hairsprays. I guess they figured I couldn't mess up those highly profitable brands—just keep shipping them, right? Well, obviously this was before the days of social media, and I was getting about 10 letters a week from customers who remembered the old White Rain Shampoo that Gillette marketed in the 1950s and 60s. I couldn't believe it. I figured if that many people were taking the time to write to ask a company to bring back a product, lots of customers might want it to come to back. Gillette had tried a “new and improved” version of White Rain Shampoo in the 1970s; it was fruit scented in various colors and didn't do well. These customers wanted the original, crystal‐clear version back. So, I had to inspire my management to let me bring back this product. It was a process, and I needed to draw on my Purpose to carry it out.

Using your Purpose can be spontaneous and it can also be strategic, or a combination of both. I used a combined strategic and spontaneous inspirational approach I call “Hallway Management” for gaining approval to relaunch White Rain Shampoo at Gillette. What's that, you may ask? Well, whenever I saw my boss, the VP, or the president of the division at the water cooler in the hall, I'd tell them about all the letters I received asking to bring back the original White Rain Shampoo. It was a casual, excited, but determined and purposeful way of inspiring them to see the potential in bringing back that product. Finally, after several hallway encounters and additional mentions in more formal meetings, I was given the green light. I was told I could launch the product with the following parameters: I had a six‐month timetable and no increase in my budget. I had inspired a “yes.” Next, I had to inspire the team to make it happen.

I had assisted on new product launches at Gillette while climbing the ladder, but those were well supported with major budgets and long planning times. This was very different—I was now the project lead with a super short planning window. I knew it was a major career risk, and we had to make it a success. Knowing I had to light others up with the idea, I called a meeting of everyone who would be involved to jump‐start the project—Manufacturing, R&D, Packaging, Sales, Market Research, Advertising, and Art Design. When we were all in the room, I told them, “Congratulations! I've been getting a ton of letters from customers asking to bring back the clear White Rain Shampoo. Management has just given us the green light to relaunch it! I'm not sure how to do it. But I know you all do . I want to hear from each of your areas how we can do it fast and profitably. We only have six months to get it out the door on and on the shelves. So, let's get started!”

The team sat in stunned silence at first. Marketing had never called a new products meeting like that before. Usually, Marketing came to the subject matter experts with a concept fully planned out, and their job was to execute it. They were not in on the initial planning stages. Well, let me tell you. Within minutes, that team came forth with incredible ideas. “We have a shampoo bottle that works with the line that's already tooled, and production line approved,” said Manufacturing. “We have a wonderful clear shampoo formula and fragrance that beats Suave, and has been sitting on the shelf for a while,” said R&D. “We can turn the hair spray graphics into shampoo graphics that will fit that bottle,” said Art Design and Packaging after they huddled together. “I think we can do a tag on our regional advertising media flight,” Advertising chimed in and Market Research agreed they'd look into that also. After a while, I had to slow everyone down so my assistant product manager and I could capture all the notes! It was just amazing and taught me very valuable lessons about Finding Your Purpose and using it. I knew I could inspire people, but respecting others, being transparent, vulnerable, and authentic in the process is what can galvanize and motivate people to take action. Being perfect is not important. Being real is.

White Rain Shampoo was relaunched in six months with much success and went on to help grow the White Rain franchise from $25 million to a $100 million business. I was asked to write up the launch process we used. The New Products Development process at Gillette was changed: starting with bringing the subject expert teams together at the beginning of the process instead of much later on. In addition, the work of my team to get this done was chronicled in a case study for the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

My 10 years at Gillette were a pivotal time for me and provided incredible opportunities to use Finding My Purpose as I developed in my assignments there. I say this because people often think that you need to be working in your purpose as the total sum of your job or career. For some, that is possible. But as long as you can use your purpose consistently within your endeavors, it can still provide major satisfaction, and steer you as you pivot forward. This worked for me at Gillette.

Coming from Detroit I saw Black entrepreneurs all around me—all with Purpose—including Berry Gordy, who built the Motown music empire within walking distance of my home. I grew up with a profound respect for Black entrepreneurship and Black representation in business. I saw firsthand what it took to be successful, including watching the Supremes in green sequined evening gowns singing their No. 1 hit at the Michigan State Fair while the pigs oinked loudly in the background. Nothing stopped them! As a teenager I saw my mother cut up her Saks Fifth Avenue credit card (I begged her not to do it) and send it with a letter to the President of Saks saying she would no longer shop there until they put Black models in their catalog—and he wrote her back saying they would! So, when I got to Gillette and saw that there was no advertising in Black magazines like Ebony , Jet , and Essence , I decided I would raise the question as to why not every chance I respectfully could. I brought it up in meetings with management and the advertising agencies. I would ask, “We use shampoo, hairspray, and deodorant. These magazines reach millions of consumers and they have billions of dollars to spend. Why aren't we going after their business?” My goal for using my Purpose of inspiring others was clear and strategic. Over time, Gillette's Personal Care Division started advertising in Black magazines on a regular basis. I was deeply satisfied when the cofounder of Essence magazine thanked me personally for one of the ad spreads from Gillette that helped him during a challenging time for his business.

This advocacy led me to a career pivot I never envisioned. By Finding and using my Purpose to inspire others, I was instrumental in helping Gillette recognize that the Black hair care market was exploding, and they didn't have a piece of it. A couple of years later, they asked me to be a part of the acquisition team to acquire a Black hair care company. Although I took a finance course at Harvard Business School and liked it, I was not schooled in acquisitions. But the next thing I knew, I was flying all over the country asking the premier owners of Black hair care companies if they wanted to sell to Gillette. In many cases, it was just me. And them. Over lunch or in meetings in their offices. Or in one case, at the Lustrasilk Corporation, over dinner with the owners, and then during a tour of their state‐of‐the‐art manufacturing plant while it was closed so the employees would not know of our discussions.