Robyn Ptak of Procter & Gamble

Lisa Laronde (00:00.606)
Welcome to the Powerhouse Project. I'm your host, Lisa Laronde. On the podcast today, we have Robyn Ptak. Robyn has over 20 years of experience at Procter & Gamble and is the Vice President of Finance, sorry, Vice President of Sales, Canada. Welcome, Robin. How are you today? Oh, awesome. I'm actually really excited. So sorry, we'll get over the nervousness as we started and we had all the technical issues. So if I messed up your title, can you just repeat it for us so that we have it accurate?

Robyn (00:14.336)
Thanks for having me. Good, great.

Robyn (00:26.752)
You got it exactly right. Vice President Sales, P &G Canada.

Lisa Laronde (00:29.694)
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So how did you begin your journey at PNG?

Robyn (00:36.818)
Actually, I'm from Montreal originally. I'm an Anglophone. This isn't just a great accent from Montreal. And I made the choice to go to Western for university. So I wanted to study business. They had an incredible business program. So I went to Western and got recruited between my third and fourth year and started an internship over the summer in Toronto.

and fell in love with the company and the work and the culture. And I was offered a full -time job as I left for the summer and never looked back.

Lisa Laronde (01:17.822)
Oh, that's awesome. So how long have you been there?

Robyn (01:20.384)
coming up on 24 years. 24 years.

Lisa Laronde (01:22.814)
Oh my gosh, that's craziness, that's awesome. That actually says a lot for the company. I know that you're very passionate about empowering women in leadership, or I guess in all roles, and I'm assuming that P &G has a similar culture philosophy. Would that be accurate?

Robyn (01:38.368)
Absolutely. About eight years ago when I became vice president, I actually took over as executive sponsor of our women's network. So we do have a thriving women's network. It's been around probably 20 years or so. And it's our largest diversity network at P &G Canada. And we celebrate International Women's Day, support programs like Forward Together Toronto. It's an incredible...

place to work and really see the women of P &G thrive.

Lisa Laronde (02:11.006)
That's awesome. So the four were together, I'm actually excited that I'm going to be a panel member. So this is the first time I've actually heard about it. Can you just talk a little bit more, you know, how it started, what it's about? It sounds like an awesome opportunity for me, at least on the panel.

Robyn (02:24.928)
Yeah, so about, I think it's about eight years ago, sorry, 10 years ago now, two former, one former and one current P &GR got together over a cup of coffee and talked about how do they reward, recognize, celebrate the incredible potential in our organizations. And they rallied around a number of Canadian companies, non -competes. We've got Pepsi and Starbucks and Amex and Telus.

Canadian Tire to really bring together speakers and engagement programs to reward and celebrate women. And so we have a flagship event every year in April. It's our 11th coming up this April, and we bring phenomenal women from the industry, from outside the industry, from entertainment together, and it's an incredible day of connecting.

Lisa Laronde (03:22.206)
That's awesome, I'm actually very excited, very honored, very humbled to be part of this panel. I wish we had more events like that to celebrate women. I really feel, I know from coming from the construction industry, one of the things that we struggle with is actually just getting women recognized. I recently met the CEO of Fowler Construction, this is in Northern Ontario, and I had no idea she had been the CEO, and I'm like, it's interesting how we don't...

recognize more women in leadership positions. And I know there's not a whole ton of us, but it would be so nice to be able to have this ability to connect, build our own communities. I think it would be, I really believe that this is an important part of highlighting women. So I think you've done an amazing job. Can you just tell me a little bit about the world of the grocery retail?

Robyn (04:09.312)
Yeah, sure. So, you know, we have sales teams at P &G that sell across the country in Canada. We sell our strategies. We listen to the strategies of our retailers to really understand what they're trying to achieve and how they're trying to delight their shoppers. And then we come together on plans to use our brands in order to delight their consumers and drive traffic.

and drive top line sales and business for both companies. So it's a very diverse canvas of Canada across the country, but tons of opportunity. And I will tell you, I started 24 years ago on the Loblaws business, and now I'm working kind of coast to coast, multiple customers. The landscape has changed significantly. You see many more women.

Lisa Laronde (05:03.166)
Wow.

Robyn (05:05.888)
sitting across from you in the grocery industry, still lots of representation to happen, but it's certainly a more inclusive, respectful environment than it was a quarter century ago.

Lisa Laronde (05:18.494)
Oh, that's amazing. I'm sure you've seen lots of changes. So how have you been empowered along your journey?

Robyn (05:25.888)
You know, I believe it might seem like a circular answer, but I've been empowered with trust. So when I took over this role and was promoted into this position, my manager trusted me implicitly. Okay. I had never done the job before. I never led a big team. I had never touched certain facets of the business, but...

there was an immediate trust that came out of the gates. And I felt so empowered to make decisions, to bring in change, to lean in to certain, you know, decision or choices. And it just, it fueled, I got the results and it fueled more trust. And I would say I've been empowered.

since day one, but it was the trust that really kind of opened the doors to what was possible.

Lisa Laronde (06:25.95)
So you seem to be a huge advocate for women. So has your journey always been reasonably easy or were there struggles along the way or is it just your voice now to bring women along so that they can be part of your successful journey?

Robyn (06:43.104)
Yeah, I, listen, every, I say I had eight careers at P &G because you change every few years your assignments. And I've learned and grown in each one of those assignments, whether I had chosen those or not, they were certainly a growth opportunity. What I would say is about halfway through my career, I looked up at the organization above me and didn't see a lot of me.

I didn't see a lot of women. I didn't see a lot of mothers. I am a mother, three girls actually. And I didn't see dual income families, two working parents. I just didn't see that. And so was it challenging? Yes, because it was unclear where I was headed, whether that was something I aspired to or not, because I couldn't see myself there.

Lisa Laronde (07:13.006)
Yep.

Robyn (07:43.264)
So that I think was challenging. Fast forward to where we are today, it's a completely different makeup, all shapes and sizes, tons of diversity. And I think for women coming up through the organization to see, you know, I always say, I don't want much, I just want it all. You know, people feeling like they have it all, I certainly do.

is I think refreshing and it opens up options for women, right, to really gun for it or make other choices, but at least to know that there are options.

Lisa Laronde (08:20.99)
I agree, and I think the difficulty that you have in the beginning is you don't see people like you. And you also don't see people with, I find now that I've made connections with other women in these senior roles, and I ask a lot about, for the most part, we're the breadwinners. So I'm like, how does that affect your relationship or your partner? And truly I've met, I have a very supportive partner who, because you what happens is he comes to all these events now, and he's the arm candy.

Robyn (08:50.592)
Hehehehe

Lisa Laronde (08:50.718)
Now, he's very social and he's very interactive and he loves to connect with people, but it really is, it's changed that landscape. And so some of the women that I've talked to, their relationships haven't survived so that the partners were supportive in the beginning, but then when this requirement comes that you have to attend the events and be the supportive person, it does wear on them. Did you experience any of that or? Because I'm sure you have a lot of events.

Robyn (09:15.712)
Yeah, like you, yeah, we do. But like you, I have a very supportive husband. He does have a full -time career as well. And it never, I certainly think it strengthened us that we both had thriving careers and that's been wonderful. I think where the biggest tensions come in is, you know,

Lisa Laronde (09:31.486)
Yeah. Yeah.

Robyn (09:41.664)
We have three children, I have twins who are 14 now and my little one's 11. So as you're raising kids and having to make choices and prioritization, who will do pick up, who will do drop off, that makes it more challenging, certainly. But we've navigated that really well and as partners, so I can't say that it's come between us. What I would say is I went through a period where I felt like,

when I wasn't with my kids, you know, and I was at work, I felt guilty. And when I was with my kids and I wasn't at work, I felt guilty. And that weighed on me quite a bit, you know, emotionally. And I chat that through with my husband. But overall, we've found a way and I know it changes every year, but we found a way to make it work. And so, you know, hopefully my girls have...

two independent successful parents that they look up at and aspire to.

Lisa Laronde (10:44.542)
And we also have three children. My children are now adults, but I agree with you. We have two boys and a daughter. And it's funny because someone talked to me, I don't know, quite often saying, oh, I didn't know you had three children. I thought you only had a daughter. I said, well, we're only proud of the one of them. But I'm not sure why I talk about her the most, but I guess that I do. And I think I talk about her a lot because she's taught me a lot as a young woman that's entering the workforce, just a lot about diversity, equity, inclusion, about...

Robyn (10:59.488)
Yeah

Lisa Laronde (11:14.398)
being a strong, empowered woman, and she's in the education system now, but I really, I've learned a lot, and I always, I think, I never wanna lose that ability that I look to other people or to this next generation coming up to teach us all of the things. It's interesting, we just came back from an anti -black racism training that is actually life -changing, and we do a lot of training here.

at RSG, but this was just, again, eye opening of what people go through and just stuff that you don't think, I guess, in our own privileged worlds, in our own privileged lives, we just don't recognize that this kind of stuff happens every single day. So I like to learn something and just listen to what other people's stories are. And I think that's what I learned today is everyone has a story and it's nice to hear.

the really positive stories, but it's also nice to hear the challenges so that you know that you're not alone and that maybe there's a light at the end of the tunnel. So did you think when you were young that this is what you wanted to do?

Robyn (12:20.64)
I was kind of interested in business. I knew at one point I wanted to have my own advertising agency. So I knew business was interesting to me rather than the sciences route or a different route. I did not think I would spend my career at one place with one company. Yeah, that was unexpected.

Lisa Laronde (12:42.942)
Yeah, that's quite amazing.

Robyn (12:49.056)
I didn't think I'd spend my career in sales. I didn't grow up saying I want to sell to Costco or Walmart, but I love it. I get to exercise my competitive spirit. I get to do problem solving. I get to lead teams and people and help them succeed. So certainly not the life I expected, but

You know even even better right even better. I wouldn't I wouldn't make a different turn if I had the opportunity

Lisa Laronde (13:21.658)
Well, man, I agree.

Lisa Laronde (13:27.006)
That's awesome. Can you just talk a little bit, I know that I'm the president of the Canadian Women in Construction and one of the big topics this year is childcare. So I mean, I know your kids are probably past that age, but obviously you were growing your career when the kids were in that phase. How did you balance that and do you have any either recommendations or advice for...

Robyn (13:36.83)
Mm -hmm.

Lisa Laronde (13:54.072)
young mothers that are trying to come up and follow a similar journey to where you are.

Robyn (13:55.232)
Mm -hmm.

Robyn (13:58.912)
Yes, I have advice. I have what I did and it worked very well for us, but everybody's in a different situation and I recognize that. For us having twins, certainly having an in -home caregiver was an easy choice.

Lisa Laronde (14:19.39)
Yeah.

Robyn (14:22.644)
It was just the reality of getting the two of them out in the morning, both of us trying to get out early. It just, the convenience of it was an investment we were prepared to make. And so that worked beautifully for us. And we did that right up until the kids, quite frankly, could stay home alone. And they were part of our family and it was an incredible experience for us. I recognize some other people.

you know, prefer the socialization that comes with daycare and getting up and out. So there's benefits, there's pros and cons. For us though, it was a very quick decision to do caregiver and it worked so well that we continued it. But the second part, so the other way I balanced it was I was about 11 months into my maternity leave with the twins.

And I recall picking up the phone on a walk and calling my counterpart in HR and saying that I wasn't ready to come back full time. I loved this period in my life. And I couldn't imagine stepping back into what I'd been doing before wholeheartedly when half my life was at home.

and I requested to come back on a reduced work week. And I knew I was still aspiring to grow in my career. I still wanted to have challenging roles. I still wanted to get promoted, but the stakes were too high not to speak up because I knew it was time would pass and I'd never get it back. And thankfully,

Lisa Laronde (16:08.03)
That's awesome.

Robyn (16:17.472)
P &G accepted it. I did three assignments at four days a week. On my fourth day, I took my kids to music classes. I did the grocery shopping. Whatever I needed to do so that I could be a full -time mom when I was home and a full -time employee when I was at work. And I did that for about eight years or so. Yeah. And then I stopped and came back full -time when I got...

Lisa Laronde (16:39.23)
Oh, wow.

Robyn (16:45.16)
promoted to vice president, which was so exciting. So I was clear, really clear with what I wanted. I didn't want to be on the mommy track. I really wanted to continue to grow and have juicy roles and learn, but that extra day wasn't something I was willing to sacrifice. And like I said, I didn't want much, just wanted it all. And I do feel like I got it.

Lisa Laronde (17:12.222)
I think that's awesome and I agree with you. You never get that time back. So I tell everybody, you have your whole life to work. So you really need to, if you're gonna take your maternity leave or your parental leave, really take it, enjoy it. Your work will always be here. I do know that it's difficult for some of the young women coming up that are in these high leadership roles, because you do feel a little bit disconnected. But I just, I think, you never wanna regret a decision and I think, you know,

Robyn (17:35.36)
Mm -hmm.

Lisa Laronde (17:42.11)
you might as well try it. And if four days a week works, I think that's awesome. I also say when we went remote, it's not like you work 12 hours a day every single minute of the day. There's always meeting time, downtime. So if you're concentrated, you can get a lot more done in four days than you can in five days, some days, because you just allocate your time a little bit better. That's awesome. Now, do you talk? No, definitely. Yeah, definitely with twins, I can imagine.

Robyn (18:04.256)
It's so true. And the motivation was high. I needed it to work.

Lisa Laronde (18:11.358)
Now, do you talk about that a lot to other companies and how they can actually implement programs like that?

Robyn (18:18.528)
I've spoken this part of Forward Together. I haven't spoken outright to other companies directly. I know through Forward Together, we have about probably 15 or so partner companies, and they're all at different stages in their journeys of women's networks and how to support diversity. And I certainly share my story openly wherever I can. And I do hope.

that women find their voice and speak up for what they need. And then frankly, when they get to leadership positions, they'll be able to pave the way to make it even easier for those to speak up.

Lisa Laronde (18:51.038)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (18:58.462)
Yep. I agree.

Yeah, we actually have a, we offer a parental leave and one of our young PMs, or maybe it was a contracts manager at the time, he actually just took, I think he took like six weeks or something. But the talk was like, he's taking six weeks, like why is he taking six weeks? And this was his second child. And I started to talk to my senior leadership team saying, we need to promote this. Like we need to say, look at, this is what he's doing. This is why the benefit's in place. I can't remember his name, but he was co -founder of Reddit.

Robyn (19:18.08)
Okay.

Lisa Laronde (19:32.734)
and he married one of the Williams sisters. And when they had their first child, yeah, yes, yeah, when they had their first child, he took whatever, I think it was a three month parental leave. And he actually said, it's not enough to offer the benefit, you actually have to take it so that your employees know that it's okay to actually use this benefit. And that's always resonated with me to say, you know what, we need to lead by example, we need to take our vacations, we need to talk about our vacations.

Robyn (19:35.2)
Kettis players, yeah. Alex. Alex, yeah.

Robyn (19:58.144)
Exactly.

Lisa Laronde (20:01.278)
we need to actually have a little bit of flex time to take your kids or to go watch whatever it is, a school event or to take them to an appointment that's during the day and come back so that you understand that it's okay. Our landscape's changing as well, that it's not always the woman that's the primary caregiver or like in our cases when you have these senior level...

Robyn (20:21.696)
Mm -hmm.

Lisa Laronde (20:25.854)
positions, sometimes your partner has to pick up the slack on either the sick days or the appointments and that stuff. So as an organization, you have to recognize that, that it's not always going to be the woman. We just have to offer some level of flexibility. So, you know, I know we have a long way to go, but I think the more that we talk about it and the more that we represent that we can actually provide these or take these benefits and still be a productive employee, I think is an awesome message to be able to send to people.

Robyn (20:52.512)
Yeah, I think it's a responsibility of leaders to lead, right? Not just lead on the business, lead in the culture and the organization and people are looking at us, right? And we have to be sensitive to that and make sure that we're doing right, not just by ourselves, but by the messages we're sending.

Lisa Laronde (20:56.03)
Yes, I agree. Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (21:06.014)
Yes. Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (21:13.15)
Yeah. It's interesting. I had the, I was one of the ownership group actually recommended that I get an executive assistant and I fought against it. I was like, no, I can do it myself. I like control of my calendar, schedule. I want, I just don't want to do that. And he actually said to me, you know, at least you got to remember that people are looking up to you. And if you're saying I can do all of this on my own, I don't need any help. That's the message that you're sending to your team. And I was like, that's a very, very good point. And, uh, it was the best decision I ever agreed to. Oh.

Robyn (21:35.328)
Got it?

You got it.

Right? Right? Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (21:42.908)
Oh my gosh, she was on holidays last week. I was like, I'm lost. Yeah, it's been awesome. But I think that's a really important message that we need to model the behavior and ensure that we ask for help when we need help, ensure that we actually say we're overwhelmed or we're stressed and we need to unwind. My CFO is actually on vacation this week. She just left today. And we've been going through, we have a lot of stuff happening in the organization. And I was talking to her last night and I'm like, okay.

You need to disconnect. And she goes, no, no, I'm going to schedule some more time. I said, you know what, you just need to disconnect. It's a week. If we can't survive without you for one entire week, I think the blame is on me. We're not set up for success. So you need to not take that on, and you need to relax. So it's only half a day. I'm hoping to make it through the full day without calling her. So we'll see.

Robyn (22:13.576)
Mm -hmm.

Robyn (22:28.882)
Yeah.

Robyn (22:32.768)
Good for you. You know, that is one example where I do feel I role model and I was just joining a new team here. And I shared with everyone on vacation, we often find ourselves checking email and then telling ourselves it makes me feel better because then I know nothing's blowing up and nothing's happening. But what I was finding on vacation is I was checking email, even if nothing was blowing up, because it usually doesn't. You were seeing the work.

Lisa Laronde (22:58.62)
Exactly.

Robyn (23:01.12)
coming in, the questions being asked, the questions being answered, maybe not how you would have answered them, you still get pulled back in. You lose all mindfulness for your vacation, even if you do nothing, even if you actually do nothing. So I've told my team, I do not check email. I move my email icon to the back page of my app. And I said, if you need me, text me. If you have a question, text me. I'm always happy to take a call. And that way, that's a gift to me.

Lisa Laronde (23:21.726)
Yeah. Yeah.

Robyn (23:30.24)
knowing you'll text me because that way I don't have to check my email. And I feel completely unleashed and I encourage everyone on my team to try and do the same.

Lisa Laronde (23:41.662)
And it's interesting, because in our industry, we work nights. So somebody's always interacting with you at some point in time. And I do think that when we went to remote, it was good for the team. It was bad for me, because people were like, you know, I was talking like all day, all night, because everyone had all these different schedules. But not last year, but the year before, we ended up going to Singapore and then to Bali over the holiday period. And so we don't shut down, but it gets really, really quiet, you know, through the...

December 25th, 26th, 27th, that kind of thing. And that was the first time that I've ever actually disconnected to that level. And I came back, I was like, I'm rested and relaxed. And I was like so shocked. And I agree with you. I think if you just, and I've always said I'm available, call me, text me, I'll always be there. But I think that's great advice not to check emails. I just wanna ask you, how do you think we can get more women into the C -suite?

Robyn (24:38.016)
Again, a circular answer, but representation, right? There will be the first that break down the barriers, there will be the first, then there'll be the seconds. But then, then it all starts to happen. You see women making decisions about who gets into the C -suites, women giving each other opportunities, celebrating the achievements of women, which we don't often do. And so,

Lisa Laronde (24:41.852)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (25:04.03)
Yep. Yep. I agree.

Robyn (25:06.4)
representation to me is the key to changing the future, right? So yeah, I think that's, we have to be very conscientious of it. And when we're not, you know, like, what do we need to do to accelerate? How can we help? How can we support? Because there's probably some kind of mess in how we're calibrating or in how we're

evaluating or supporting if we don't have representation in facing that.

Lisa Laronde (25:40.67)
I agree. The McKenzie report, they've been tracking this for years. Again, it's come back with, if you have a woman on your executive team, you're 30 % more profitable than those companies that don't. So even if you're looking at it from a financial or a profitability standpoint, I mean, the stats are all there. So it is quite interesting that we don't have more women in the C -suite. But I 100 % agree with you. I think representation is the key. Once you get some women in there, then it just...

you know, it snowballs from that effect. And then finally, I just wanted to ask if you could give your younger self some advice, what would it be?

Robyn (26:10.784)
fuels itself.

Robyn (26:19.808)
Um...

Robyn (26:24.16)
I was gonna say, it all works out, so don't stress. But you know what, I think stress is a really healthy part of what got me to where I was. You know, I think there isn't one path, right? Don't limit yourself to one vision or path of who you can be and what's possible.

Lisa Laronde (26:26.462)
Yeah.

Lisa Laronde (26:32.828)
Okay.

Robyn (26:48.576)
I think I would tell myself, stay open to the opportunities where it feels right, where you can contribute, where you can grow. Those are the ones that are meant to be. So I think that's what I would tell myself. There's not just one path.

Lisa Laronde (27:02.174)
That's awesome. I love that. Robin, thank you so much for participating in this podcast. I just love you. I can't wait to see where you go. And I'm going to follow your career. So thank you so much for joining us. Thanks. Thank you, you two.

Robyn (27:10.24)
Thank you.

Thank you, Lisa. Take good care.

Lisa Laronde (27:21.244)
And don't leave.