Michael interviews Doug Milliken, former Clorox VP of Marketing and now partner at Kremer & Milliken, a consultancy focused on helping large companies understand and evolve organizational culture to improve performance. Milliken argues culture—defined as behavior and how work gets done—is a primary driver of operating profit and a capability leaders can intentionally manage. He discusses driving change as an “outsider-insider,” a Clorox decision-making initiative where teams discovered faster, Agile-like approaches by gaining agency and clarifying what decision-makers actually needed, and his experience leading Clorox’s digital transformation by building psychological safety, achieving zero attrition, record engagement, and 3x expected financial returns. They also explore rising change fatigue from overlapping transformations (including AI) and efforts to build teams’ capacity to absorb change.

Timestamps:
00:24 Welcome and Guest Intro
01:27 Career and Culture Focus
04:11 Outsider Insider Change Agent
07:13 Decision Making Transformation Story
13:29 Culture as Capital Capability
18:10 Winning Over Skeptical Leaders
22:19 Digital Transformation Culture Proof
27:08 Change Fatigue in the AI Era
34:08 Key Takeaways on Culture
36:47 Hardest Career Pivot Lesson
40:31 Where to Find Doug and Closing

Connect with Doug:
https://creamerandmilliken.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-milliken-3798a01/

Michael's National Workforce Study on Change Management: https://www.michaeljlopez.coach/research