Why Michael Polk Says Small Companies Build Better Leaders

Public companies tend to offer polished, long-term development programs designed to groom future executives over years. Private companies rarely have that luxury, and according to former Newell Brands chief executive Michael Polk, that gap can actually work in their favor, pushing people to grow faster than a traditional corporate ladder ever would.

Polk spent years climbing the ranks at Kraft Foods, Unilever, and Newell Brands before retiring from Newell in 2019. He resurfaced the following year as CEO of Implus LLC, a private fitness accessories business backed by Berkshire Partners, and the contrast between the two worlds has shaped how he now thinks about developing talent inside his own organization.

Learning Through Doing

Smaller companies simply have fewer resources to spread around, which forces employees to take on meaningful responsibility much earlier in their careers than they might at a larger firm. “They grow and learn by doing,” Polk says. He adds that senior leaders end up drawn deeper into daily operations, acting as player-coaches who help their teams navigate tough calls while also weighing the tradeoffs that come with fewer safety nets and thinner budgets.

Fewer Layers, Wider View

Without the layered management structures common at large corporations, private companies also expose their leaders to a broader range of business functions. Michael Polk Newell Brands points to sourcing, manufacturing, retailer partnerships, and marketplace dynamics as areas he now understands more intimately than he did while running a public company.

For Polk, the tradeoff has been worth it. The flatter environment at Implus has given him and his team a fuller picture of how the business actually operates, from the factory floor to the retail shelf, and he credits that visibility with sharpening the everyday decisions the company makes.

He often compares the experience to his earlier years at Kraft Foods and Unilever, where structured programs shaped talent methodically over long stretches of time. Implus, by contrast, asks people to figure things out on the fly, a pace Polk says suits the kind of leader he wants to help develop. It is a lesson he did not fully absorb until he saw it play out firsthand at a company built on a fraction of the resources, he once had at his disposal. See related link for additional information.

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