Today's scars are tomorrow's stripes

Kevin Hourican LinkedIn Article

Leadership during a crisis: Today’s scars are tomorrow’s stripes.

This expression is a new metaphor for me, but one I have been using often when communicating with our leadership team over the last couple of weeks. I was recently in a conversation with Frank Blake, the former CEO of Home Depot, discussing how he led the Home Depot during the housing crisis of 2008 and 2009. He used a similar expression and spoke of how the physical and emotional scars from that crisis turned into some of the biggest success stories for their company. Frank educated me that Home Depot utilized the crisis to double down their focus on pivoting to becoming a more digitally enabled company. Winning in the digital space became a top priority, and they rapidly accelerated their efforts, leading to substantial business success. At Sysco, we intend to do the exact same thing during this COVID-19 crisis: accelerate progress on key initiatives to enable future business success. Make no mistake, this crisis is unlike anything any of us have faced in our professional and personal lives. With that said, at Sysco, we are going to rapidly accelerate our key strategic initiatives to deliver years of progress over the next six months. We will make our leadership during this crisis our finest hour.

How do military leaders get stripes on their sleeves? They get them by being on the front lines during combat. This crisis is our combat, and the fighting is intense, stressful, and challenging. We are literally in a war against a horrific virus. The war is having a severely negative impact on our global economy, and on almost every business. At Sysco, we are utilizing the war to create a heightened sense of urgency. As I mentioned, we are accelerating our transformation agenda and we are becoming a better, stronger, version of ourselves.

My colleagues at Sysco have been extremely agile and adaptable throughout this crisis. Like the Home Depot in 2008, we are accelerating our digital transformation. We are investing to rapidly improve our customer ordering tool, called SHOP.  We are implementing a new pricing tool that will help us increase sales and margins, while simultaneously improving pricing transparency with our customers. We are re-tooling our go-to-market selling approach to become a more effective sales organization. Most importantly, we will implement each of these initiatives in under six months. I have no doubt that we will look back on this crisis with pride and conviction to celebrate the accomplishments we’ve been able to achieve together under pressure. The pain of the crisis (our scars) will become the pride we wear (our stripes) as we become a better company.

That being said, the business recovery will be challenging. I expect that the recovery will be choppy and somewhat protracted. At Sysco, we are using the crisis to help us remove barriers that get in the way of good forward progress. I am proud that our leadership team is fighting through those barriers and embracing change. Change for the better. Change that will better enable us to serve our customers in the future: existing customers, and countless new ones that I know we will win along this journey.

We are working hard to meet the needs of our customers and help feed our communities during this difficult time. We have been dedicated partners: delivering fresh, high-quality products; helping restaurants set up pop-up markets; assisting customers in establishing takeout/delivery services; establishing multiple avenues of direct-to-consumer sales; and donating over 20 million meals to those in need. Now, we are partnering with our customers to help them understand government guidelines for opening when it is safe, guiding them through the different phases of re-opening and equipping them with the tools to be safe and successful. 

We recently launched a marketing campaign to help create awareness of the need for all of us to support our favorite local restaurants. We are asking all Americans to #takeouttogiveback. By ordering take-out food, you are helping keep local restaurants in business. Your take-out order can help them make payroll, pay their rent, and ultimately, help them stay in business. Plus, it is nice to not have to wash dishes ??. It is impressive to see how many of our customers have pivoted to provide delivery and takeout options and set up grocery pop-up shop markets.

As we navigate how we move forward from here, most importantly, we are prioritizing the health and well-being of our associates. Providing our staff and our customers with PPE to help protect our associates, and those that we serve. We will continue to prioritize safety over profits. 

Sysco has a strong balance sheet and the financial ability to weather this storm; so, although we have had to move swiftly and make difficult decisions to reduce costs, we are creating new sources of revenue and maximizing our long-term business opportunities to ensure we can bring back our furloughed staff as quickly as possible. As we grow our business, we will quickly add inventory and people resources to ensure we service our customers at a world class level. 

I am proud to say that Sysco stands ready as THE strongest foodservice distribution provider in the industry. I am grateful for the tremendous hard work, dedication, expertise, creativity and leadership that my team has demonstrated during this crisis. I am excited for for the future of our great company.

Best regards,

Kevin