Neville Isdell Reflects Upon Olympics
Former Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Neville Isdell recounts his challenges and experiences at the Beijing Olympics in his recently released memoirs.
The book "Inside Coca-Cola, A CEO’s Life Story of Building the World’s Most Popular Brand," Isdell writes about his life and his career leading the giant beverage manufacturer.
He describes the importance of Coca-Cola’s relationship with the Olympics.
"The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were extremely successful for both Coca-Cola and China," says Isdell.
"Three years earlier, I stood on the Great Wall of China as Coca-Cola extended its Olympic sponsorship for another twenty years. The sponsorship stretches back, uninterrupted, to 1928."
This sponsorship received negative attention during the 2008 Olympics as China was accused of funding genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Activists – like actress Mia Farrow – demanded that Coca-Cola cancel its sponsorship.
Isdell argues that isolating China would not lead to transformation.
"China’s critics fail to realize that progress is of necessity an evolutionary process. How long did it take blacks and women to obtain the right to vote in the U.S.?" says Isdell.
"It’s unrealistic to expect China’s transformation to occur overnight, as well. Isolating China won’t hasten that transformation."
Isdell adds that he and his wife formed meaningful connections during the Games with their driver and guide.
"Those are the one-on-one encounters that happened at the Olympics that Mia Farrow never understood," he says.
In the book, Isdell also talks about passing on his job to Muhtar Kent, a Turkish-American who had many roles with the company and is currently chairman and CEO.
"I was fortunate to have Muhtar. He was part of the team that helped me build the long-term strategy, guaranteeing continuity for the company when I retired. He could take the strategy and build it to the next level," he says.
Coca-Cola and Global Growth
Speaking at an event in Atlanta, Muhtar Kent discussed some of Coca-Cola’s current projects and his outlook on the world’s economic future.
In his speech, Kent covered a wide-range of business topics including the importance of innovation. He pointed to Coca-Cola’s new freestyle fountain machine that provides more than 100 beverages as an example of this innovation.
"We believe this will be a game-changer for us, giving consumers more choice and interaction and providing us with real-time preference data.
"It’s also environmentally friendly, eliminating 30 percent of the water and packaging associated with our traditional fountain business."
Kent also discussed his thoughts on the recession and highlighted the importance of restoring public trust in all institutions from governments to corporations.
"It’s going to require continued hard work and cooperation among businesses, government and civil society to ensure that we have processes in place for greater scrutiny and long-term accountability.
Kent ended his speech with an assertion that the worst days of the recession had past for the U.S. and Coca-Cola’s hometown of Atlanta.
"Our economy is struggling. Unemployment remains painfully high. Homeowners are stressed and too many good people are out of work," he said.
"Even so, I believe our best days are ahead."
Written by Ann Cantrell.
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