Coca-Cola Marketing Chief Offers MBA Pre-Commencement Address

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (May 10, 2004) – Daniel Palumbo, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of The Coca-Cola Company, offered the address at the May 9 pre-commencement ceremony for graduates of the Penn State Smeal College MBA Program.

A Smeal MBA alumnus, Palumbo joined Procter & Gamble after graduating from the program in 1983. He held a number of domestic and European line management roles before joining Eastman Kodak in 1997 as chief marketing officer and vice president for the company’s worldwide Consumer Imaging Business. Palumbo later served as corporate vice president and president of Consumer Imaging, eventually advancing to senior vice President.

Palumbo, who was named to his current position with Coca-Cola in 2003, oversees all aspects of the company’s marketing and brand building. He spoke about some of the lessons he’s learned along the way and what he knows now. Below is an excerpt.

I know that in order to truly lead you must earn followership. In order to have others follow, they must know that you care more about their future than you do for your own.

I know that in order to truly lead, people must want to be around you.

I know that people love being around people who are optimistic and celebrate every day. They shun pessimists and whiners. They shun bullies. They shun intimidators.

I know that people gravitate towards people who take responsibility for the solution, even if they didn’t create the problem.

I know that people avoid individuals who could be described as “I’m ok, you’re not ok” people, or as the “if only” people. These are people who can’t help but state out loud “if only everyone else were doing their job as well as I do mine, then everything would be fine.” Get enough of these people in an organization, and that organization is dead. Don’t ever be one of them.

I know that at its most basic level, leadership is about service. It is about serving those you have been asked to lead. Service leadership is not an easy thing, but I would suggest it is a very fulfilling thing.

And this is what I know … this troubled world is in such desperate need of leaders who are good and decent human beings. Don’t let ambition drive you to short cuts that are at the expense of others. Don’t do things that you know to be wrong, even if this integrity costs you your job.