Here Forever

John Smale was arguably the most influential corporate leader of the second half of the 20th century. He grew one great company, Procter & Gamble, more than six-fold during the 21 years he led as president, CEO and chairman of the board. He helped another great com-pany, General Motors, regain momentum in his role as chairman of the board at a critical time in GM's history - and set a new stan-dard for corporate governance that has since transformed the role that Boards of public companies are expected to play. He champi-oned diversity, not only as a US priority but also as a global priority. And he defined a corporate vision for the purpose and social responsibil-ity of business that was decades ahead of its time. And yet, John Smale is largely unknown to many leaders guiding American and global businesses today.