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Developmental Successes at Clorox
A Case Story
This case story is told by Will Lynn, former Group Vice President at The Clorox Company. It shows how the developmental methods taught by The Carol Sanford Institute facilitated growth, both for individuals and profits, at Clorox subsidiaries Deer Park Spring Water, Kingsford Charcoal, and Hidden Valley Foods.
Deer Park Spring Water
In the second year of using the developmental technology we grew the company 22 percent, and profits increased by 10 percent in after tax earnings in one year.
All this was in the middle of the recession with people really worried the business was going to be sold. In about a year’s worth of time we made the kind of turnaround that business leaders dream of. Business went from losing money — a substantial loss, to a substantial profit in 2 years. We became a business that was making margins equal to most of Clorox’s other businesses, with margins as good as what the very best people in the industry were making — 25 to 30 percent improvements in margins.
Kingsford Charcoal
The first noticeable result is changes in capacity. Charcoal went from 13 plants and 2 contractors to 5 plants producing exactly the same amount of tonnage. From a safety record that was substantially worse than the…
