Edward Breen on benchmarking
From WilliamsMarston's The Transformational CFO Episode 8: Ed Breen · · WilliamsMarston
“Benchmark everything—comparing your overhead structure at the corporate and division levels to the best-in-class companies often reveals significant waste that can be eliminated.”
On , Edward Breen, Executive Chairman at DuPont, spoke about benchmarking during WilliamsMarston's The Transformational CFO Episode 8: Ed Breen on WilliamsMarston.
About Edward Breen
Edward Breen, executive chairman of DuPont, has been actively discussing the company's strategic direction and his leadership philosophy in recent appearances. In an October 2025 podcast, Breen reflected on his career, including the DowDuPont merger and subsequent spin-offs, which he described as "getting married knowing we were going to divorce." He emphasized the importance of benchmarking, mitigating risk, and transparency in boardroom communications. On the company's Q3 2024 earnings call in January 2025, Breen stated that DuPont is "advancing our plans to unlock value through the previously announced separations of our electronics and water businesses" and expressed optimism about accelerating the timeline for those separations. He also noted that the company is "making progress in establishing the new boards" and expects to announce board members and key leadership for the new entities by the end of Q1 2025. In a separate interview, Breen discussed his approach to leadership, saying he hopes people will say he "tried always to do the right thing" for communities, employees, and shareholders. He cited Winston Churchill as a model of "grit and tenacity" and stressed the value of curiosity and teamwork in decision-making. Breen also addressed the company's performance, noting that DuPont has seen sequential improvement in its water business and that the company is "past the worst of it" regarding destocking in its semiconductor-related markets. He reiterated that the company remains focused on driving results and demonstrating the performance potential of its portfolio.