Foreword

by JOHN E. PEPPER, JR.
Former CEO, The Procter & Gamble Company
Former Chairman, The Walt Disney Company

You are about to embark on a bracing journey spanning over five decades with a remarkable woman, Peg Wyant.

You will meet a woman who from her earliest years followed the precept that, “When you are truly comfortable in your own skin, not everyone will like you, but you won’t care about it one bit.” A woman who followed the precept, “The secret to winning is start before you’re ready and then persist.”

You will read about a woman who was ahead of her time, not always to her advantage but rarely with regret and ultimately achieving a life of success and fulfillment.

I came to know Peg Wyant over 50 years ago. After already launching a travel business as a young 22-year-old, she was applying for a job in marketing at Procter & Gamble. I was a brand manager. No woman had ever been hired directly into marketing before Peg. She went to take her entry test. She was asked to start with a “typing test.” Her response was, “I don’t type. All I can do is think. Don’t you have a test for that?”

I met Peg later that week. I hadn’t met anyone in recruiting at P&G who was smarter and no one with more energy. So she went on to a day of interviews. She was hired.

At The Procter & Gamble Company, Peg would achieve a series of firsts. She was the first woman to go into the field on sales training. She was the first female brand manager and the first female promotion and marketing services manager. She was the first woman to work all the way through pregnancy. In fact, she addressed P&G’s annual year-end meeting only a few days before giving birth to her first child.

And she was the first woman manager to report directly to the CEO, then John Smale, researching and recommending areas of strategic focus for the coming decade.

Wyant tells her story frankly. She pulls no punches. She spares no words in describing the challenges she faced as a woman, navigating one role after another in a corporate world where female managers were rare to non-existent. You will see the skepticism and no small amount of harassment she faced, but also the empowering support she received from many other executives.

While I was no regular fan of the television show Mad Men, Peg’s story strikes me as Mad Men brought alive through a young woman’s eyes.

Along the way, Peg had encountered a bigger challenge than anything at work – an unsuccessful first marriage. She is unsparing in describing what led to her divorce. Fortunately, a few years later, Peg met Jack Wyant, a charismatic young man also working at P&G. He became the love of her life. They remain together 47 years later.

By the time Peg concluded her work with CEO John Smale, she and Jack had four children, all under the age of 10. Jack had entrepreneurial instincts like Peg’s and was working hard, forming one new business after another. Peg concluded she could no longer balance doing the right thing for her family and for P&G. She became a full-time Mom. I don’t think you’ll ever read a more honest portrayal of the challenges of managing the responsibilities of work and family than what you will read here.

I came to know Peg Wyant over 50 years ago. After already launching a travel business as a young 22-year-old, she was applying for a job in marketing at Procter & Gamble. I was a brand manager. No woman had ever been hired directly into marketing before Peg. She went to take her entry test. She was asked to start with a “typing test.” Her response was, “I don’t type. All I can do is think. Don’t you have a test for that?”

I met Peg later that week. I hadn’t met anyone in recruiting at P&G who was smarter and no one with more energy. So she went on to a day of interviews. She was hired.

At The Procter & Gamble Company, Peg would achieve a series of firsts. She was the first woman to go into the field on sales training. She was the first female brand manager and the first female promotion and marketing services manager. She was the first woman to work all the way through pregnancy. In fact, she addressed P&G’s annual year-end meeting only a few days before giving birth to her first child.

And she was the first woman manager to report directly to the CEO, then John Smale, researching and recommending areas of strategic focus for the coming decade.

Wyant tells her story frankly. She pulls no punches. She spares no words in describing the challenges she faced as a woman, navigating one role after another in a corporate world where female managers were rare to non-existent. You will see the skepticism and no small amount of harassment she faced, but also the empowering support she received from many other executives.

While I was no regular fan of the television show Mad Men, Peg’s story strikes me as Mad Men brought alive through a young woman’s eyes.

Along the way, Peg had encountered a bigger challenge than anything at work – an unsuccessful first marriage. She is unsparing in describing what led to her divorce. Fortunately, a few years later, Peg met Jack Wyant, a charismatic young man also working at P&G. He became the love of her life. They remain together 47 years later.

By the time Peg concluded her work with CEO John Smale, she and Jack had four children, all under the age of 10. Jack had entrepreneurial instincts like Peg’s and was working hard, forming one new business after another. Peg concluded she could no longer balance doing the right thing for her family and for P&G. She became a full-time Mom. I don’t think you’ll ever read a more honest portrayal of the challenges of managing the responsibilities of work and family than what you will read here.

The journey continued. Financial challenges for the family emerged. Peg concluded she needed to go back to work. She also missed the challenges of working. She was about to break more barriers. She became a consultant for several Fortune 500 companies. Seeing that venture capital firms weren’t focused on investing in women’s businesses, she formed a venture capital firm to find she was ahead of her time. So, she started a real estate business. First, flipping homes then acquiring, renovating and managing apartment and commercial properties. It has proved very successful.

Later, Peg and Jack invested in a squash academy to help disadvantaged children on their trajectory of learning. Through the brilliant success of their four children they had discovered that squash can inspire young people to pursue their overall educational success.

You will read about how, having been barred from entering several all-male social clubs because she was a woman, Peg brought together a group of women leaders to form their own social club which did investing over good meals and conversation. That was 26 years ago. It lives on today.

You will learn about how she and Jack raised their four children. It was not a simple or easy path but one marked by one of Peg’s core values: "Never have a bad day, even though you know you will."

Toward the end of her book, Peg concludes with a list of lessons learned compiled by her administrative assistant, Betty Douglas, with whom she worked for 13 years. These are lessons which Peg lived. “You are the maker of your own destiny. Don’t let anyone hold you back.”

As you accompany Peg on her journey, you’ll find these lessons embedded in chapter after chapter of her life, through challenges, sometimes setbacks and, in the end, fulfillment and success. Peg’s and her family’s stories are unique, as all lives and families’ are. I believe you will find Peg’s story has much to teach us as we pursue our own lives.