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Lafley drove P&G's innovation by getting as close as possible to the customer. This sometimes meant visiting customers in their homes or shopping with them in stores. "The idea was to make the point that we had to be in touch, we had to know [the consumer], and know her better than any of our competitors."

Innovation drives growth
P&G grew its business about 12 percent in the past 10 years. "We were serving 2 billion of the 7 billion in the world," he said "By the end of 2010 we were serving 4 billion." Lafley said innovation was a main driver of that growth.

"You want to attack yourself," Lafley said. "You don't want to be attacked by somebody else." Part of attacking yourself means making tough decisions about which brands to keep, fold, or sell. His criteria to keep brands include:

• Industry attractiveness
• Innovation at core of biz model
• Global growth potential
• Do we have a market or segement leading position, or can we get there?

He warned that innovation does not mean technology. "In my view, innovation must meet a consumer need, the consumer must be willing to part with their money for it, and it must provide value to both us and the customer. An invention is not an innovation until it's commercialized. Anything is on the table as innovation. We continuously innovated how we innovate."

Lafley also spoke of the importance of a culture that drives innovation and creativity. "The essence of a creative culture is true openness, real curiosity to learn about things you don't know, connecting, collaborating, and courage.