At a recent seminar in CQM’s "New Horizons in Business" series, a panel of four senior executives from major corporations shared their experiences and successes in using cultural archetypes to develop new products, maximize profitability, increase customer satisfaction, and improve employee loyalty. Presenters included: Jim Donovan, Research Fellow, Health Care Product Development, Procter & Gamble; Ken Tabor, Director, Kellogg North American Quality, Kellogg Company; Leonardo Inghilleri, Vice President, Human Resources, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company; and Joe Bransky, Director, Quality Systems, General Motors.

After a welcome and overview of the day’s agenda given by CQM’s Executive Director Dave Walden, Procter & Gamble’s Jim Donovan, gave a brief introduction to cultural archetypes. He described his first experience with them nearly 20 years ago when he learned of Dr. Clotaire Rapaille and began to investigate the research he was doing into the ‘deep meaning of things.’ "This led my work at Proctor & Gamble into an area where we try to discover the deep meaning of things, like the deep meaning of your breath, your teeth, or your hair," Donovan explained. Procter & Gamble has been working on cultural archetypes for thirteen years now.

"From a business standpoint we have been able to convert the knowledge from these cultural learnings to help both our scientists invent new products and our marketers do an outstanding job of understanding how to communicate the products we offer," he explained.