Sam Johnson: Innovator, Environmentalist and Visionary
Over four decades, Sam transformed a $171 million wax business into an $8 billion leader in business and responsibility.
What SC Johnson is today cannot be separated from the influences of Sam Johnson. He led the team that developed some of our most beloved brands. He propelled us into 65 countries, with sales in more than 100. He was an environmentalist long before it became fashionable.
Sam knew that leadership goes beyond the products on the shelf. In his own words, “A leader must have a social conscience, an interest in the surrounding community, both within and outside the company.”
Equally important was the notion of family. In fact, although he joined the company in 1954, Sam would likely say that year was most important as the year he and Imogene Powers got married. Their marriage would thrive for 50 years, until Sam’s death in 2004.
It was Sam’s sense of community and family that brought him back to the company after college and service as a US Air Force Intelligence Officer. As he tried to decide if, after three generations of family leadership, he too should join the family business, his father suggested he take a walk in the factory.
Within a year of joining the company, Sam was named New Products Director. Under his leadership, the New Products team launched thriving brands, including the Raid®, Glade®, Pledge® and OFF!® brands that are still beloved by consumers to this day.
Sam also backed the acquisition of critical brands including Windex® glass cleaner, Ziploc® brand bags and Scrubbing Bubbles® bathroom cleaner, to name just a few.
At the same time, he led the company through an exceptional period of global expansion, adding operations from Ghana to Greece, Turkey to Thailand and Chile to China. He ultimately moved the company into over 65 countries across six continents.
Sam became the company’s President in 1966 and added the title Chairman the following year.
We should not worry about whether we have lived up to the expectations of our fathers, but whether we, as fathers, have lived up to the expectations of our children.Sam Johnson
Fourth-generation leader of SC Johnson
Like his forefathers, Sam recognised the importance of people. Even more than innovation and expansion for the company, as his career continued, he became known for the principles he brought to life.
He led the company’s leadership team to formally articulate our company values in This We Believe. Nearly 50 years later, This We Believe remains fundamental to who we are and how we operate around the world today.
He also famously banned chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from SC Johnson products worldwide 3 years before the government mandated the change. It was one of the earliest examples of corporate activism on behalf of the environment.
As Sam explained in 2000: “Financial performance in one particular quarter or a year will be forgotten in a very short time. What will remain — and what will determine how favourably [companies] are looked upon — is the impact they have had on society generally and the environment where they operate.”
The Carnaúba expedition
For Sam, retracing his father’s 1935 expedition to Brazil was meant to be an adventure. It became a revelation about the powerful bond of family.
Sam Johnson – key milestones
Samuel C. Johnson, known as Sam, is born on 2 March 1928.
At Cornell University, Sam meets Imogene Powers, the mathematics student who will become his wife.
Sam joins SC Johnson (then known as Johnson’s Wax) as Assistant to the President, his father, H.F. Johnson, Jr.
Sam organises the company’s first New Products Department, leading it to introduce successful new brands like Raid® and Glade®.
From the 1960s to the end of 1990s, Sam leads the company through unprecedented geographic growth and business diversification.
Sam bans chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from all SC Johnson products, in a move that stuns the industry.
At the company’s Global Management Conference, Sam leads the formalisation of our principles in the document This We Believe.
Sam receives the Lindbergh Award for his lifetime of contributions towards balancing technology and nature.
Sam Johnson travelled to Manokwari Bay to mount a search for the Sikorsky S-38 plane that H.F. Johnson, Jr. used for his Carnaúba expedition.
Retracing his father’s 1935 expedition to Brazil, Sam rekindles his connection to his father and the company’s spirit of adventure.
On 22 May 2004, Sam passes away at home.
Meet More of the Family
Gene Johnson: A Conscience for SC Johnson, a Champion for Children’s Education
H.F. Johnson, Jr. Inspired SC Johnson’s Future with Creativity and Science
