Lessons in Engagement from Campbell Soup

In a two part interview, Gallup questioned Douglas R. Conant, president and CEO of the Campbell Soup Company on his approach to engagement and how that helped him when he took over at Campbell Soup nine years ago when he company’s share price was down and customer loyalty was falling.

Since Mr. Conant stepped in, Campbell has grown every year. Excerpted below are key nuggets of wisdom from Mr. Conant from the Gallup interview:

On TRUST: “We have what we call our Campbell Leadership Model, and we drive off of that. It basically says you have to inspire trust, and once you earn people's trust, you have permission to do some amazing things.”

On CULTURE: “I strongly believe that you can't win in the marketplace unless you win first in the workplace. If you don't have a winning culture inside, it's hard to compete in the very tough world outside.”

“I said it wouldn't be a top-down culture -- it would be a high-engagement culture.”

On ENGAGEMENT: “You can't ask employees to achieve extraordinary results if they're not fully engaged. That's why we focus a great deal on getting the workplace right so that people are engaged and proactive -- so that people are moving forward arm in arm and competing with a spring in their step. As they become more engaged, they find ways to win in the marketplace that are sustainable.”

“Engagement is embedded into our culture. For me, there simply is no other way.”

On EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP: “There are only two things that I track at the highest level in this company, and we report those measures each year in our annual report. One is total shareowner return over a rolling three-year timeframe, and the other one is how we are winning in the workplace, as measured by employee engagement.”

“You have to model the behavior; you have to be the change that you want from the company.”

“We've gotten to a point where higher executive engagement has brought a focus to the enterprise, not just to pieces of it.”

On MEANING & PURPOSE: “This recession provides a unique opportunity to seize the day, leverage the momentum we're building both in the marketplace and the workplace, and do something really special. We devote more of our waking hours to our work than anything we do, oftentimes more than to our families. If we can't make that work special -- meaningful in some compelling way so that we get excited about doing something special -- shame on us. For me and many others at Campbell, it's about leaving a legacy.”