Leaders of Change: Omar Haque

OMAR HAQUE has 20+ years of increasing responsibility in eCommerce and Digital. He leads eCommerce at Acelerada, a newly-created, stand-alone business unit of Bimbo Bakeries/Grupo Bimbo (the world’s largest baking goods company with iconic brands like Sara Lee, Thomas' English Muffins, Entenmann's and Ball Park) dedicated to breakthrough product and process innovation and eCommerce. 

Immediately prior to joining Bimbo, Omar headed the Global eCommerce function at Colgate Palmolive. At Colgate, Omar started the eCommerce business and was responsible for Colgate’s eCommerce strategy and execution in all operating markets across all product categories. Omar has a BS from Syracuse University, has an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and is a General Management alumni of Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I used to be in investment banking when the first dot com boom was starting, but was never satisfied with banking as one was not creating anything tangible. It was a lot of number crunching without a lot of satisfaction. But then I got an opportunity to join Scient – one of the premier eBusiness consulting firms of the time and have never looked back since. It seems history is repeating itself...back then it was Urbanfetch, Kozmo and Webvan. Today, it's Instacart, Shipt and Amazon Fresh. 

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? I would say "peeling the onion" way of thinking and trying to get to the bottom of an issue. You can get to the root cause within 3 "levels" of questions and solve pretty much any problem, or at least know who can.

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? I’m obsessed with checklists from doing the most simple tasks to the most complex. Recently, I came across a book called The Checklist Manifesto, How to Get Things Right and was pleasantly surprised that by following simple checklists, airline pilots have been able to avoid multiple crashes and surgeons save thousands of lives. I’m always following some checklist and driving people crazy. 

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? I think when bringing about any change you have to be passionate about it and have skin in the game. Without these two things, people will not believe or follow you and you yourself will either lose interest or become lazy. In early days of eCommerce at CPG companies, a lot of my time was spent in "selling eCommerce" inside the organization and if I didn’t have passion for it and it didn’t show, my job would have been very difficult. 

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? Never suffer in silence and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Learned it early on at one of my previous companies where I was new to the company, was leading the strategy building with 25 company veterans and was expected to be the SME, the facilitator as well as the author of the strategy. It was like herding cats and you can’t do it alone or with a "B" team.  

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? Hire the best people and create a safe zone where they are free to experiment (with results in mind) but not afraid to fail. One of the things we are adopting and promoting at Acelerada is to brag about your failures. If you aren’t failing, that means you’re not trying enough new things. 

What are you learning right now? Perishable and baked good items supply chain – very different when you can’t warehouse and not worry about the expiry dates

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen: We listen to songs and make them our "own." This song resonates with me as the eCommerce space is always changing and we need to "run," change and innovate in order to "survive" and stay on top.
• Under Pressure by Queen: I work best against deadlines and under pressure. If I’m proverbially "floating" at work, something is not right. I need to be always "snorkeling" and be a little "under water."
• Demons by Imagine Dragon: “When your dreams all fail, And the ones we hail, Are the worst of all…” 

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?

• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by A.G. Lafley: This is a must-read for any CPG executive or someone starting out in the CPG space. Gives a great framework for creating a strategy to win.
• Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation by Linda Hill: This book is what led to the genesis of Acelerada and where my organization is today. This is something I gift to all our work guests and speakers.
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi: This book is a true heart-wrenching tale of how a young surgeon is facing certain death. One day he was a doctor treating the dying and the next, he was a patient struggling to live. I try to combine "work"-related books with stories which touch the heart so I never forget what truly matters and always keep that in perspective.  

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” 

This Jack Welch quote just relates well to eCommerce and how CPGs are coming to grasp this reality and trying to change. 

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? “Let’s not be crazy and try too many new things, let’s be fast followers because that’s what we’ve always done.” That may have worked in other channels, but it doesn’t work in eCommerce, unless you’re trying to fail!!

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field?

• Don’t overthink – if you have 50% -80% of the data, that’s good enough, just "pull the trigger!"
• Always easy to ask for forgiveness than permission
• Just do it!!

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? Artificial Intelligence (AI) related to it will be a game changer – and it's already happening – those who master it will have a job for the rest of their lives and those whose jobs AI will make redundant will be in a very tough spot. 

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? A fidget spinner from Amazon for my 5th Grader who thinks everything from Amazon Prime is free!

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.