Brad Casper: Road to success may lead out of your comfort zone

In 2005, Brad Casper exceeded his own career projections and goals by being hired as president and CEO at The Dial Corporation. Asked by an audience at the W. P. Carey School of Business how he did it, Casper remained off-the-cuff and humble. "I took a chance, took risks, and did things that didn't always feel comfortable."

Brad Casper, president and CEO of The Dial Corporation, has pulled off some incredible coups in his 25-year career. He started at Dial rival Proctor and Gamble in the mid-1980s. At 28, just three years with the company, Casper was made brand manager at the firm's Kobe, Japan office.

The youngest in the history of the firm to shoulder that kind of assignment, Casper impressed his U.S.-based bosses with his performance, and was later transferred to Hong Kong and then Mainland China where he helped launch products to the Asia market.

At 42 he shouldered his first corporate president role, with Church & Dwight — the company behind Arm and Hammer baking soda, personal care and cleaning products (a line that also includes Trojan condoms and the First Response and Answer pregnancy tests).

In 2005, Casper exceeded his own career projections and goals by being hired as president and CEO at The Dial Corporation. Asked by an audience at the W. P. Carey School of Business how he did it, Casper remained off-the-cuff and humble. "I took a chance, took risks, and did things that didn't always feel comfortable."

But not without hardships

It wasn't an easy journey. Casper graduated from Virginia Tech University with a bachelor's degree in finance in 1982 — one of the worse recruiting years since the Great Depression. Interest and unemployment rates were in double digits. His first job as a financial analyst with General Electric might have thrilled some, but Casper found it hideous.

"I felt stifled and bored. Finance just wasn't my bag." He described the offer to move to Kobe, Japan with Proctor and Gamble as "terrifying." Neither he nor his wife owned a passport, and his wife had never ventured west of Minneapolis. Neither possessed Japanese language skills, either, and at his office, Casper knew he was a topic of conversation.

The Great Hanshin Earthquake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, struck Kobe while the Caspers were in residence there. The next day he moved his wife and two small children to Hong Kong, bringing only the clothes on their backs. Their house had collapsed and all their possessions had to be replaced.

Soon after, disaster struck again, only this time it was the launch of the product line he helped to oversee in mainland China. Despite millions invested, a manufacturing plant built and a 17-course meal set up with Chinese investors to celebrate the launch, the Pantene hair mousse was a flop with the targeted Asian market. "The consumers completely rejected it," he says.

The rocky parts lead to success

Casper was working for General Electric when he met a manager at Proctor and Gamble at a friend's wedding in 1985. The company was expanding and the manager suggested he apply. Casper did, and was hired as a brand manager. He knew instantly this was his path. "As soon as I got into brand management it was a love affair. I've never been bored a day since in my career."

The Japan job felt out of his league, he said, but this and the subsequent posts in Asia were what later differentiated Casper from the scores of brand managers like him back home. Working overseas even helped prepare him to become a leader, he says. "Being a minority is incredibly humbling but also gives you this huge capacity for empathy. I feel stronger as a leader for having this."

Being illiterate and incompetent at Japanese was frustrating, but motivated him to learn the language well enough to converse on a basic level and understand the gist of what others said. And although the Pantene products tanked in China, from this experience Casper learned to become more grounded in consumer research, and to speak up.

His intuition told him the products were doomed, but he was the new kid, a minority and expatriate, and he wanted to show respect for his boss, who had endorsed the line. "With all of this, suddenly I had something that few others could claim: I can work with people, anywhere. I was part of big, global product launches. I work well outside of my comfort zone."

Advising students

Casper commented on the complacency he sees in many young Americans and encouraged the audience to be proactive and pursue job quality. "Do what you love. Find your passion. Follow it," he said. If you find yourself simply going through the motions at work, maske a change, he said, because no one will be fooled by your act for very long.

And don't panic if things don't unfold immediately, he added. Learn public speaking both for building confidence and to help present one's ideas persuasively. Another pointer: take classes on global business, travel, or tackle an internship abroad. "Companies like The Dial Corporation do look for this in new hires. Even watching quirky overseas videos on YouTube helps. It's a mindset we are after."

Jumping on the green bandwagon

The Dial Corporation, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, was acquired in March 2004 for $3.1 billion by Henkl KGaA, a German multinational selling products in 125 countries. The company's Scottsdale headquarters has 702 employees with 1,551 nationwide. Henkl hopes to grow their U.S. market and a new, 350,000 square foot Arizona headquarters is scheduled for completion in December of this year.

Speaking about financials, Casper said the company has experienced growth in line with the markets it competes in and remains one of the most profitable in Henkel's portfolio. But with Dial Soap seeing its 60th anniversary this year, staying competitive and fresh is important, Casper says. Reasoning that cleaning products, not food, are the company's core business, Casper divested The Armour Brother's Food Company, Dial's founding company.

Armour began in 1876 as a meat packing and distribution company. Under Casper's leadership the company also acquired Gillette's Right Guard antiperspirant and deodorants, and he is intent on getting Dial products in the media more. So far, he is doing well. Last year USA Today credited The Dial Corporation with having the most successful brand integration on a TV show.

The kudos referred to the way Dial's soaps were being used in Donald Trump's popular reality TV show, "The Apprentice." It was the first company to appear in two episodes. The company has also jumped on the green bandwagon. Casper's teams found that Dial Complete, a hand soap, uses less water per wash than regular soaps: "Suddenly we realized we had a product that could save an entire reservoir of water."

And Purex's new soap is the first in the world to get the Environmental Protection Agency's stamp of approval. Natural Health magazine just announced that the Pure and Natural soap line, launching in February 2008, was the recipient of their product award. "This is 98 percent natural, even the carton is impregnated with baby breath seeds so if you throw it away, a flower will grow," Casper laughs.

The uptick in interest in environmental issues has even helped an old mainstay product, the 20 Mule Team Borax Natural Soap, make a huge comeback. "It's one of our better sellers," he adds. Perhaps the quintessential changes under Casper's leadership are the lower turnover and increased morale at Dial Corporation since he arrived.

The CEO and president said he knows that most Americans leave their jobs due to bad manager relationships and insists on constant managerial feedback. He personally meets with most employees and prides himself on his down-to-earth approachable leadership. "You are a brand. Decide what you stand for. Determine your unique, selling possessions and then promote them."

The Bottom Line:

• The Dial Corporation, a company of Henkl KGaA, is based in Scottsdale, AZ and is one of the U.S.'s leading makers of consumer products.
• The company's Dial products have been in the American marketplace for 100 years and include Dial Soap, Purex laundry detergents and more recently, Right Guard antiperspirants, formerly owned by Gillette.
• The Dial Corporation has produced some leading "green products" including the Pure and Natural soap range, to be launched in February 2008. Purex's new Natural Elements soap is the first in the world to receive the EPA's stamp of approval.
• Dial Corporation's CEO and President Brad Casper grew up in Ohio and started his career with General Electric as a financial analyst before moving into brand manager work with Proctor and Gamble. His first career break was a brand manager role in Kobe, Japan.
• Dial Soap was launched in 1948 and became America's first anti-bacterial soap. It quickly became a leading brand and sees its 60th anniversary this year. The company was founded in 1876 by Armour Brother's Food Company, a meat packing and distribution company with the slogan: "We use everything but the squeal."