Lessons in Executing Strategy from General Mills’ CEO

David K. Young: Welcome to C-Suite Perspectives, a signature series by The Conference Board. I'm David Young, the president of the Committee for Economic Development, the public policy center here at The Conference Board, and delighted to say guest host of today's episode. 

In today's conversation, we'll discuss Leadership in Challenging Times, where we feature the outstanding CEOs who are the recipients of CED's Distinguished Leadership Awards for corporate citizenship and business stewardship. Today, I have the privilege of speaking with one of our 2025 honorees, Jeff Harmening. 

Jeff is the chairman and the CEO of General Mills. Under Jeff's leadership, General Mills is guided by its mission. Making food the world loves for decades, General Mills has been focused on and having significant impact in the communities in which they operate, standing for good, if you will. Today, we will talk about how that work comes to life through their focus on planet and the people. Jeff, welcome. Great to have you here with us today.  

Jeff Harmening: Thank you, Davy. It's great to be here. I appreciate you having me.  

David K. Young: Our pleasure. So, Jeff, you joined General Mills in 1994. You were then named the CEO in 2017. Tell us about your career and your path to leadership. And what are some of the core values that are key to being a successful leader?  

Jeff Harmening: Yeah, well, I think my professional journey really started at DePaul University, and right after graduation, where I joined Eli Lilly & Company in finance and accounting. And I spent three years at Lilly. It'sa great company, great values. I went back to business school, and I realized even though I had an offer to go back to Lilly after business school, I realized that finance and accounting wasprobably not going to be my future. And marketing at a pharmaceutical company in 1994 was pretty nascent. 

And so as I looked around, I looked around for organizations that had the same sort of values and commitment to good that I saw on Lilly, and I found that in General Mills. And so I came to General Mills in 1994 for the reason that most people come to General Mills, which is that I came for the people and I came for the brands, and kind of in that order. And General Mills has some of the most iconic brand food brands in the world. Betty Crocker and Pillsbury and Blue Buffalo, Cheerios and so forth. And so that's why I came. 

I spent 31 years at the company through a variety of roles, including mostly in marketing, but a little bit in sales, where I realized that I'm a really good marketer, but maybe not so much in the sales organization. Some time in our food service business. And then some time in Switzerland at our joint venture with Nestle before heading to the C-suite, if you will, and running our US business and becoming CEO.  

David K. Young: Did you ever think you would become CEO in your early days? 

Jeff Harmening: I didn't, no. The idea of becoming CEO really didn't hit me until I was probably running our cereal business about 15 years ago. And it only hit me because I was working with an executive coach who asked me if I wanted to be the CEO. And I told him no. And the look on his face was priceless. And when he picked himself off the floor, I said, "I don't want to be a CEO, but if I'm going to be one, I want to be a really good one." The idea of just getting there is not very appealing to me. The idea of being a CEO who can do a lot of good for the company shareholders, the world, that's pretty appealing. So I don't want to be a CEO, but if I'm going to be one, I want to be a good one.  

David K. Young: As a company, Jeff, General Mills is focused on driving sustainable growth through the pillars of your Accelerate strategy. Can you share a little bit more about General Mills' Accelerate strategy and what that means and how it's defined? 

Jeff Harmening: Yeah, so our Accelerate strategy was, on its own, one sheet of paper. But our Accelerate strategy was born in February of 2020, so our timing was impeccable. It was about three weeks before the global pandemic really came into full force, and it was really to accelerate growth in both our sales and profitability. 

And strategy is a fancy business school term for prioritization. And so really, our Accelerate strategy is, where are we going to prioritize our resources in order to accelerate growth?And it's a pretty basic strategy, but I think basic strategies are the best. And it really talks about where we're going to compete and how we're going to win. 

And so, where we're going to compete. We have five global platforms for us to grow. Things like cereal and Mexican food, snack bars, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and pet food. Those are our five global platforms, as well as some really big iconic local brands like Pillsbury or Totino's or Wanchai Ferry in China. And so that's kind of wherewe're going to play. And then it also talks about how we're going to win using our scale for advantage, or relentlessly innovating, or boldly building brands, and something you already talked about, which is standing for good. 

And so the Accelerate strategy is about where we're going to play, how we're going to win, and kind of bookending that strategy, and something we can certainly get into later, is our purpose: Making food the world loves, which is kind of the beacon, and the values, is how do we keep ourself tethered when the winds start blowing. And over the last seven years or so, ifthey've really blown hard through pandemics and inflation and supply chain disruptions and geopolitical turmoil. And so that's really the base of our Accelerate strategy, and it is really meant to be a guidepost and what we prioritize in order to grow.  

David K. Young: It's fascinating how you mentioned the Accelerate strategy, and it's also more than just sales and growth. And you mentioned one of the pillars there of the strategy is standing for good. Why is it important to have purpose built into your business strategy?  

Jeff Harmening: Yeah. So as I said, we talk about purpose and company values. It'sreally important because these are things that arereally never changing, and in a worldthat's changing around us—and we need to change as a business, we need to change where we go to market and how we go to market. But things that keep us tethered are where we're going, which is our purpose as a company, and our values. And if we think about one of the legs of the pillar being standing for good, the importance of I can't really overstate. 

General Mills has been around since 1866. It was formed on the banks of the Mississippi River here in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. And it has a long history, the company has a long history for standing for good. I'll give you a couple of examples. 

The main flour mill that General Mills operated exploded in 1878. And there were a couple things that were remarkable about that. First is, flour is very flammable, it's very combustible, and it'svery dangerous when it's milled. And so there were 18 people who lost their lives. But the company then, the company founder, set up an orphanage for the children who were orphaned during that disaster. 

He also decided to rebuild the plant, and as importantly, he said, look, we can't let this happen again. And so he literally scoured the world for technology, much of which he found in Europe, by the way, for milling flour more safely, and they brought that back to their plant. Not only did they bring that back to the General Mills plant,he actually gave that technology to all of his competitors. 

And the reason he gave it to his competitors was because he said,we're going to compete on the base of product quality. We'll compete on the base of price, we'll compete on the base of availability and branding, but we will not compete on food safety. And the people we serve, as well as every other flour maker, the people they serve, deserve to have safe manufacturing facilities. 

And sokind of starting from then, going into the First World War, where General Mills provided flour for our troops in World War I. But not only that, as we were looking to rebuild Europe after World War I, provided product for them. In the 1970s, General Mills helped found Feeding America, which is a national food bank, to serve those who face food insecurity. And so for many, many decades, General Mills has really stood for good. And it's important for us to know what we stand for because as times get challenging, it's easy to lose your way if you don't know what you're about. 

David K. Young: Pretty impressive history and legacy, Jeff. No pressure running the organization. 

Jeff Harmening: No pressure. No pressure at all.  

David K. Young: You mentioned Feeding America, you mentioned earlier standing for good. General Mills does a wide variety of things beyond just kind of making cereal and pet food. It has some very big ambitions and philanthropic initiatives. How have you set your philanthropic priorities for the initiatives that you support, and what are some of the key initiatives that you've prioritized through those initiatives?  

Jeff Harmening: Yeah. So you know, as we think about, I'll start the conversation about an initiative we prioritize with. It all starts with delivering shareholder value. And so while we stand for good, I mean, it starts with delivering shareholder value, which General Mills has really done through our Accelerate strategy. And we've reshaped our portfolio for growth. We've added data and technology. We'rekind of an industry leader now in the use of data and technology, and so we've really rewarded shareholders over the last five years. And as a result of that, and partially attributed to that, we're able to do a lot of good. When I took over as CEO, so you can imagine a company I just talked about, with such a multi-century tradition of doing good in the community. When I took over as CEO, we had a lot of initiatives in place to show that we stood for good. In fact, we had 70. And that sounds like a really good thing, but really, the problem is, is when you try to do 70 things really well, you end up doing none of them as well as you want. 

And so, one of the first things I did as the CEO in accordance with our Accelerate strategy was cut down the number of initiatives we have in the Standing for Good to 10. And so as you say, they range from regenerative agriculture to greenhouse gas emission reduction to plastic recycling to animal welfare. 10 different areas that we focus on. And so we found that actually by focusing our area on what we're doing, we could actually domore good than we were doing with 70. And of those 10, there are three that have become really, really important to us. 

One is regenerative agriculture. So we use a lot of wheat, we use a lot of oats. We grow a lot of things from the ground. And so regenerative agriculture really is about restoring soil health, which has a tremendous number of benefits, not only to the planet, but also to us. Great soil health sequesters water better. It has greater biodiversity, so it creates an ecosystem that is more sustainable. And as the climate continues to change, that's more important for our business, but it's also really good for the Earth. 

And so we set a goal of having a million acres under regenerative agriculture practices by 2030. That's about 25% of our total land usage. Soit'snot insignificant. And we're over 600,000 acresof the way there already, and we set this target only a couple of years ago, and so we're well on our way to achieving that. 

Greenhouse gas reductions, we were, General Mills was the first company—not the first food company, the first any company—to have a science-based target initiative of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And we said we would reduce it by 30% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. Then we also set a packaging reduction, which is our third big pillar. And so almost 95% of our packaging is now recyclable, with a goal to get to 100%—again, by 2030. 

And so one of the things I'm proud of is that we talk about strategies, but they're not just strategies on a page. They're things we actually do. And we do these things, we measure them, we report back how successful we are. And so, because it's a part of our strategy, it's important. Our shareholders know it's important. Our employees know it's important. Our retail partners know it's important. Our consumers know it's important. 

And so, one of the things I'm really proud of is how we've been able to make progress on the things that are most important to us. And we've done it by cutting down and by focusing.  

David K. Young: Jeff, you mentioned earlier delivering shareholder value, then you've just alluded to the employees that you work alongside at General Mills. And one of the final questions I've got for you is about your employees. and this statistic I'm going to give you, I find amazing: 90% of employees at General Mills say it'sa great place to work, 90%. And the company has obviously received numerous honors and rewards over time, including being one of Fortune's most admired companies. 

There's clearly a very strong company culture and focus, especially from your point of view, at General Mills on employees. Why do you think a strong company culture and a value-based system is so important for the business and for your success? And what are the keys to nurturing an innovative culture that can respond rapidly to change, especially these days wherewe're seeing change, and the need to respond, being critically important?  

Jeff Harmening: I mean, you answered part of the question, which, first of all, is incredibly important. I mean, culture eats strategy for breakfast, and we should know we're a breakfast cereal company, so we should know this. 

But anything you try to do strategically, if you don't have a culture that backs it up, you're only going to get so far. And so, while I feel great about our culture and it's nice to do, it actually rewards shareholdersin the end of the day because employees who are engaged—I mean, effort's discretionary. People get to decide how much effort they're going to give you. You can't make them give you effort. And so this idea of company culture is really, really important. And the way we've gotten to 90%, really, of people saying, look, they feel as if they're engaged at General Mills and belong, is we'veestablished what we call a culture of belonging. Where everybody feels, at least 90% of people feel, as if they belong at the company. 

And I love this idea of belonging because a lot of times we talk about diversity, and we talk about inclusion, and in some sense, these can be kind of a "fixed pie" kind of discussion. Diversity is who sits around the table, inclusion is do you have a voice, but belonging is how you feel when you sit at the table. And feeling is so much more important than any kind of intellectual construct. And it's not fixed pie. Everybody can feel as if they belong, and it's a team sport. 

One of the values of General Mills is winning as a team, and it's one of the values that I hold most dear, and it's one of those things that's most energizing. There's nothing more energizing to me. I'm fairly competitive. One of the things that is so energizing is winning as a team, and you can't do that if you don't have employees feeling as they belong. And the thing about belonging that's important is that you can't make yourself feel as if you belong. Somebody else has to make you feel that way. This culture of belonging is more than words on a page. It's a team sport. 

And so the reason why I am proud of it is because 90% of General Mills employees feel as if they belong. If you belong, you feel more engaged. If you're more engaged, you're going to drive the outcomes that we're looking for. And so, while it makes me feel good, it'svery clear to me that this idea and the strong culture we have drives shareholder value.  

David K. Young: Well, Jeff, absolutely inspiring, and a delight to hear your thoughts and reflections. And sadly, that wraps up our time today. But again, from The Conference Board and the Committee for Economic Development, our deepest appreciation again for your thoughts and insights and just sharing a bit of your personal story at General Mills. Thank you, sir.  

Jeff Harmening: Yeah, thank you. 

David K. Young: And thanks to all of you for listening to C-Suite Perspectives. I'm David Young, and this series has been brought to you by The Conference Board.