After an unusually long 23-year tenure as chief executive, Reuben Mark, who is still chairman of Colgate-Palmolive, sees corporate leadership like a baseball game that is won, not by spectacular homeruns, but by singles and doubles. In a recent Wharton leadership lecture titled, “ The Essence of Colgate’s Leadership Training, “ Mark said effective leadership at the $12.2 billion consumer products company pays off in incremental and consistent gains. “The essence of leadership is the idea of continuous improvement. No matter what, you can always coach people to do a little better, and if everyone does that, the whole organization moves up.” Colgate-Palmolive, headquartered in New York City, is the world’s leader in oral care products with its flagship Colgate toothpaste, but it also sells soaps (including dish soap), pet food and household cleaners such as Ajax. The company’s stable of consumer brands has delivered steady growth throughout the past two decades.…