After four decades leading companies large and small, Michael Polk Newell Brands has settled on a short list of qualities he considers essential to the job. Accessibility, authenticity, and the willingness to make sharp choices top that list, principles he says apply just as much at a public conglomerate as they do at a small, privately owned business.

Staying Accessible Regardless of Company Size

Polk has led organizations ranging from Kraft and Unilever to Newell Brands and now Implus, each with vastly different structures and reporting demands. Across all of them, he has tried to remain approachable to employees rather than retreating into a distant executive role. That accessibility, he believes, builds trust throughout an organization and helps employees feel comfortable raising problems before they grow into larger issues.

Authenticity and Decisiveness Go Hand in Hand

Michael Polk also points to authenticity as a trait that has served him well across very different corporate environments. Leaders who try to project an image rather than communicate honestly, he suggests, tend to lose credibility with their teams over time. Paired with authenticity is a willingness to make sharp, clear decisions rather than delaying tough calls, something Polk considers just as important whether leading a large public company or a smaller private one.

These values in Polk’s telling, matter more than any specific playbook tied to company size or ownership structure. Public companies demand accountability to shareholders, while private companies like Implus offer more room for long range thinking, but Michael Polk maintains that the traits separating strong leaders from weak ones remain remarkably consistent no matter where a chief executive sits.

Younger managers watching his career, he suggests, would do well to focus less on chasing a particular title and more on building those habits early, since accessibility and decisiveness tend to matter at every stage of a leadership path rather than only near the top. Refer to this article for related information.

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