Executives who spend decades running public companies tend to stay in that world once they reach the top. Michael Polk went a different way. After leading Newell Brands and retiring from the role in 2019, he took over as chief executive of Implus LLC in 2020, a private fitness accessories company owned by Berkshire Partners with a sixteen-brand portfolio and a global footprint far smaller than Newell’s.
Michael Polk Newell Brands has spoken openly about what changed once he made the move. At Newell, and earlier at Kraft Foods and Unilever, his days often centered on resource allocation and pushing decisions through layers of management before they reached the people carrying them out. Implus removed most of those layers, leaving him to work directly with his team on brand and business development instead.
Fewer Resources, More Involvement
That directness came with a tradeoff. Private companies like Implus operate with fewer resources than large public corporations, which Polk has said forces both leaders and employees to take on responsibility earlier than they otherwise might. He has described this as a strength rather than a weakness, arguing that people learn faster when the choices they make have immediate, visible effects on the business.
Polk’s timing at Implus lined up with one of the more disruptive stretches the fitness and active lifestyle sector has faced in recent memory, as the pandemic reshaped consumer spending and supply chains alike. He spent his early months reworking the company’s operating model and reinforcing its financial performance rather than easing into the position gradually.
Before Implus, Polk had grown Newell Brands‘ enterprise value from roughly five billion dollars to more than fifteen billion, a track record that gives weight to his case for private company leadership. He has said the current stretch of his career, building Implus into a larger and more competitive business, ranks among the most fulfilling of his professional life. Refer to this article to learn more.
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