You’ve probably seen the blue and white logo of Procter & Gamble on your toothpaste, your detergent, or your kid's diapers this morning. It’s a massive machine. But back in 2015, that machine was coughing and sputtering. Revenue was flat. The stock was a snooze fest. That is exactly when David Taylor stepped into the CEO role, and honestly, the stakes couldn't have been higher.
He didn't just "manage" the company. He basically tore down the walls and rebuilt the engine while the car was moving at eighty miles per hour.
The Engineering Mindset Meets the Marketing Machine
David Taylor wasn't your typical Madison Avenue suit. He started at the bottom. We’re talking the factory floor in 1980. He spent a full decade in product supply, managing plants before he ever touched a marketing plan.
That matters.
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When you spend ten years seeing how Tide is actually made, you develop a sort of "molecular" understanding of the business. Most CEOs come up through finance or creative, but Taylor’s background in electrical engineering from Duke gave him a different lens. He looked at P&G as a system that needed optimization, not just a brand that needed a catchy jingle.
By the time he took the top job, P&G had grown too fat. It had over 170 brands, many of which were just eating up resources without moving the needle. Taylor didn't hesitate. He slashed the portfolio down to 65 core brands. If it wasn't a leader in its category, it was out.
The Battle with Nelson Peltz
You can't talk about david taylor ceo p&g without mentioning the 2017 proxy fight. It was the largest in corporate history. Nelson Peltz and Trian Fund Management came swinging, arguing that P&G was "suffocating under its own weight."
It was messy.
Taylor stood his ground. He didn't just play defense; he used the pressure to accelerate his own "constructive disruption" plan. Even though Peltz eventually got a seat on the board after a literal recount of the votes, the two ended up working together. It’s kinda rare to see an activist investor and a CEO actually find common ground, but they did. Taylor’s willingness to listen—rather than just ego-tripping—is probably why P&G’s market cap started soaring shortly after.
Turning the Ship Around (Literally)
Under Taylor’s watch, P&G didn't just cut costs. They doubled down on what they call "superiority."
Basically, he realized that if a product is only "okay," people will buy the generic brand to save two bucks. But if the product is significantly better—if the Dawn dish soap actually cuts grease faster—people will pay the premium. He pumped $2 billion annually into R&D.
He also decentralized the whole place. Before Taylor, a brand manager in Geneva might have had to wait for permission from Cincinnati to change a label. He hated that. He pushed the decision-making power down to the people actually running the categories.
The results?
- Organic sales growth hit levels the company hadn't seen in a decade.
- E-commerce sales exploded by 40% during the peak of the 2020 shifts.
- The stock price, which had been stagnant, roughly doubled during his tenure.
The 2026 Perspective: Where is He Now?
Taylor handed the keys to Jon Moeller in late 2021 and fully retired as Executive Chairman in 2022. But he didn't just disappear into a golf course.
He’s been incredibly active as a Senior Operating Adviser at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). He’s also the Chairman of the Board for Delta Air Lines. When you look at how Delta has navigated the post-pandemic travel chaos, you can see those same "operational excellence" fingerprints that Taylor left all over P&G.
Interestingly, he's also spent a lot of time on the "Alliance to End Plastic Waste." He’s been vocal about the fact that big companies can't just "bolt on" sustainability at the end. It has to be designed into the molecule of the product. That's the engineer in him talking again.
What Leaders Can Learn from the Taylor Era
If you're looking for the "David Taylor playbook," it isn't about flashy speeches. It’s about the grind.
1. Less is almost always more. Most businesses fail because they try to do twenty things at a "C+" level. Taylor proved that doing ten things at an "A+" level creates way more value. He cut the brand list by more than half, and the company got twice as big.
2. Accountability is the only currency. He moved thousands of reporting lines. He made sure that if a business unit failed, there was one person to look at, and if they succeeded, they got the reward. No more "consensus-based" hiding.
3. Constructive disruption is a survival skill. Taylor often said you have to disrupt yourself before someone else does. He leaned into e-commerce and digital marketing long before the old guard was comfortable with it.
Honestly, the david taylor ceo p&g story is a reminder that the best leaders are often the ones who aren't trying to be celebrities. They’re the ones who understand the plumbing of their organization and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty fixing it.
Practical Steps for Implementing the Taylor Strategy
To apply these principles in your own professional context, start by auditing your current projects. Identify the "bottom 50%"—the tasks or products that consume 80% of your time but only provide 20% of your results—and aggressively divest from them.
Next, redefine your "superiority" metric. Ask yourself: "Is my output noticeably better than the cheapest alternative, or am I just competing on price?" If you aren't significantly better, shift your focus toward R&D and innovation immediately. Finally, flatten your communication structure. Remove at least one layer of approval between the person doing the work and the final decision-maker to increase organizational speed.