Culture as Competitive Advantage

What if culture was the key to competitive advantage? Alastair Creamer and Doug Milliken, co-founders of Creamer Milliken, share why accelerating culture change is essential for growth, how leaders can make transformation stick, and why the companies that thrive tomorrow will be the ones that reinvent from the inside out.

Alastair Creamer is a cultural change consultant and co-founder of Creamer Milliken. He began his career at Unilever, where he created Catalyst, an award-winning program that ran for seven years and transformed creativity across the company’s UK operations. Since then, Alastair has worked with leaders, teams, and organizations worldwide, helping them unlock creativity and accelerate meaningful cultural change. In 2012, he co-founded Eyes Wide Opened, a coaching program supporting people at professional crossroads—from quarter-life crises to later-life reinventions—guiding them toward clarity and personal purpose. His work continues to focus on enabling individuals and organizations to adapt to change with confidence and creativity. A lifelong creative, Alastair is also a musician, writer, and artist. In 2023, he published a book of prose-poems about his relationship with his son, Ollie. Today, he finds inspiration in the arts and in gardening, which he calls one of his most creative pursuits.

Doug Milliken is a co-founder of Creamer Milliken and a seasoned transformation leader with over 35 years at The Clorox Company. During his career, he led marketing, innovation, and cultural transformation initiatives across the global organization. Most recently, Doug spearheaded Clorox’s Digital Transformation, shifting from mass marketing to personalized, data-driven approaches that generated over $50 million in incremental profit. He previously created the company’s brand-building process and redefined strategy, insights, consumer experience, and media across multiple teams worldwide. Doug is the only employee in Clorox’s history to win the CEO Award for Outstanding Leadership twice. He also co-led the company’s enterprise-wide “Growth Culture” initiative, designed to help 8,000 employees act simpler, faster, and bolder. With an MBA from Kellogg, Doug has also served as an adjunct professor at INSEAD. He lives in Northern California, where he enjoys music, hiking, biking, and restoring his property after the 2017 wildfires.

EPISODE CREDITS

Produced, edited and mixed by Ria Tobaccowala

Artwork designed by Ben Damiano

Additional music licensed through Premium Beats

LINKS

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