Leaders of Change: Richard Gibbons

RICHARD GIBBONS is Global Director of eCommerce Customer Development at Kellogg's. He's been working within the eCommerce space for 12 years now across a variety of industries including Healthcare, Consumables and Grocery, and has been at the Kellogg Company for the last 8 years where he has held eCommerce roles that have focused on the U.K., European and now the Global opportunities. In his current role, he works with Kellogg's internal eCommerce teams globally to help them build their businesses in a sustainable way that is aligned to the global eCommerce strategy and also works closely with our global eCommerce retail partners to help accelerate category growth.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? I’m not really sure if I did or if I didn’t. What I certainly did was to pick an area of interest/focus (which was/is digital), and over time, this has led to a career in eCommerce. How this came about for me dates back to a time in 2003/4 when I was studying for my Master’s Degree in Marketing. Throughout the various modules, there wasn’t any element of eCommerce covered, so when it got to the final dissertation, I decided to choose Digital Marketing & eCommerce. The problem was that I knew absolutely nothing! I was essentially teaching myself as I was writing a clear illustration of what this was in the literature review upfront which had 25,000 words -- longer than the required word limit for the entire project! At the time, it certainly felt like a bold move and at other times during the project, it felt like the most stupid move of my entire life! Looking back now, it was probably the best move I ever made as from the completion of that project onward, I knew that little bit more than the average person in the industry when it came to the topic of eCommerce.

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? Probably that I’m not afraid of asking for forgiveness rather than permission, particularly in a field such as Grocery eCommerce where the handbook doesn’t exist and nor should it. Often to grasp an opportunity within Grocery eCommerce, there is a need to slightly break standard practice or even create a whole new process which doesn’t typically fit the traditional way of operating.

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience?

Couple of things here:

1. Cultural Sensitivity: From my personal experiences from my background, upbringing and travel, being aware that cultural differences and similarities between people exist is critical. I have always fully embraced diversity and this helps me to build relationships with colleagues locally and internationally.
2. Football: I’ve been involved in football all my life and at Kellogg, I realized that there were some talented players in the building who were not playing football competently, being new to the area and having moved to Manchester for work purposes. I decided to start a football team to give people within the office the opportunity to play and over 5 years later, we are still going strong, plying our trade in the Salford Eccles Sunday League. Aside from the sporting elements, this has been a great way of integrating new people into the business and building team spirit and friendships.

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? By keeping it simple. I feel that with eCommerce, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using jargon that people outside of eCommerce don’t understand. This doesn’t help anyone and certainly doesn’t help people on their quest to build internal eCommerce capability within organizations. It is for this reason that we have an eCommerce go-to-market strategy at Kellogg called See, Find, Buy. See refers to the marketing role within eCommerce, Find the Category Management and Digital Shelf capabilities and Buy is how we trade. We have a detailed framework for See, Find, Buy, but we don’t use unnecessary language such as ‘Searchandising’ at any point within it so not to lose anyone on the journey.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? Being in a job I didn’t enjoy. I realized so much about what truly motivates me.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? Probably health as I am getting a little older. Technology advancements have enabled me to be much more conscious of my food choices and have also driven me to a more balanced program of exercise.

What are you learning right now? Personally, I'm learning how to cook (as I can’t and I want to be able to make better meals for my son). And I am officially learning how to be a Football (Soccer) Coach (I’ve been involved in amateur football all of my life and as the curtain beings to fall on my illustrious career, I am slowly transitioning into the coaching/management side of the game).

From a professional development point of view, I am learning and practicing Situational Leadership.

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today? Great question! I’ve cheated and added a 4th, I’ll keep these within my personal favorite music genre and will go for something based on song title, rather than lyrical content:

• Don’t Let Me Down by The Beatles): Guess this would serve as motivation to ensure that I do myself justice and repay the people who supported me through education and in the formative years of my career. True story: if my mum hadn’t fallen and broken her wrist when I was younger, she then wouldn't have given me the compensation money to further my education (thank you, mum!), and then my life would be unrecognizable from what it is today -- and not in a good way!
• Made of Stone by The Stone Roses: I haven’t had the most conventional path to where I am today (not that my development or journey is complete) and it’s certain taken a lot of resolve, determination and belief.
• Beautiful Thing by The Stone Roses: Finding something that you love doing and are passionate about is the main ingredient to success and happiness within a career in my opinion. Fortunately, I’ve found that.
• North Country Boy by The Charlatans: Staying true to my roots is something that is very important to me.

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

Books I have gifted recently would be to my little boy and would include:

• Thomas the Tank Engine (Annual)
• Mr. Men Books Series: Mr. Snow being his current favorite (and mine :) )

One that I enjoyed reading recently from a more professional point of view is:

• It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Michael Abrashoff: This book was recommended to me and I now in turn recommend it to you!

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken” – Oscar Wilde

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? Various recommendations I’ve had from some media agencies over the years. I’ve sat in countless meetings listening to people tell me how I should best execute my brands on eCommerce platforms, with zero knowledge of my brands shopper or category drivers. I’ve always maintained that you can burn through a hell of a lot of cash with this blanket category advice, for very little return. There is a clear opportunity for media providers to really get into the data and produce better guidance at a category or department level.

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Fail fast, learn faster, optimize and go again stronger. Follow that to develop your set of eCommerce principles, insights and beliefs, stick to them and you will be successful.

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? Probably consolidation. I guess this isn’t a change that others don’t see, as there is quite a lot of it happening right now, but I truly believe that what we are seeing is only the beginning. I can see a global eCommerce grocery market that is dominated by a couple of players across all territories and markets due to operating model efficiencies and IP.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? Nothing exciting I’m afraid…I started a Subscribe and Save order for some travel-size shower gels and antiperspirant. Very useful little things for travel and sport, but I am forever running low. Hopefully this problem is now solved!

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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.