This interview with Don Knauss,chief executive of the Clorox Company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. Were you in leadership roles when you were younger?
A. I learned a lot of leadership lessons playing football and baseball in high school. But I started to think a lot more in college about what I was going to do. I was working on my master’s in history when I decided to join the Marine Corps. There was a service mentality in our family. My dad was Army Air Corps. My brother was Air Force. I was going to be a Marine. That changed everything.
What did you learn in the Marines about leadership?