My First Day as an Officer

    Dan Jorndt is one of those rare larger-than-life people. He served as our president and later CEO and Chairman from 1990-2003. Having reported directly to him, I have many firsthand memories but none more meaningful than our first “one-on-one”.

   My predecessor, John Brown, who is often credited with bringing our distribution network into the “modern age” had just retired and I had been promoted to take his place. I knew I had big shoes to fill as I headed to my very first officers’ meeting in January 1996.

    As fate would have it, it snowed like crazy all night, the roads had not been cleared and traffic inched along to avoid sliding into each other. I tried to control the panic of being late while cursing my lack of planning. When I finally arrived, I straightened my tie, wiped the snow off and gently turned the doorknob as I entered quietly and hopefully unnoticed into an already packed boardroom. No such luck. (Little did I know at the time that the “Walgreen Way” is to arrive EARLY) All heads immediately whipped around staring at me as if I were pair of brown shoes in a room full of tuxedos.

   As I sheepishly headed for an inconspicuous chair along the wall, Mr. Jorndt, looked up and with a big welcoming smile announced loudly, "Come sit beside me, J. Randolph!" And then he turned to the others next to him and said,”Move on down and make room.” 

   I don’t remember anything else about the meeting except what happened afterwards when Mr. Jorndt asked me to join him in his office.  He got straight to business: “The Board members asked me if you would ever be as good as John Brown. I told them that I believe you will achieve even greater things.”  He went on to talk about how we would work. “As far as I am concerned you're the smartest person in your division so don't worry about having to prove it to me and give your people credit for the work. That was what John Brown did and it was key to his success.”

   What a gift he gave me that day.  And he never mentioned me being late.

The Four Way Test

The Four Way Test did not originate in Walgreens but it has been part of our company for over fifty years.  It was written by Herb Taylor, a fellow Rotarian friend of Chuck Walgreen, in 1932 during the height of the Great Depression. Herb had been appointed by creditors to save a large Chicago company facing bankruptcy. Herb spoke of how he came to write it:

“To win our way out of this situation, I reasoned we must be morally and ethically strong. I knew that in right there was might. I felt that if we could get out our employees to think right they would do right. We needed some sort of ethical yardstick that everybody in the company could memorize and apply to what we thought, said, and did in our relations to others.

“So one morning I leaned over on my desk, rested my head in my hands. In a few moments, I reached for a white paper card and wrote down that which had come to me – in twenty-four words.”

Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

It was not written not so much as a set of ironclad rules to call each other out when they fall short but instead as a means of self-analysis for each person in his or her conduct.  

The Test gained widespread use throughout Herb’s company and it prospered.  It became the official slogan of Rotary International in 1942 and is recited in each Rotary meeting today throughout the world. Herb gave his good friend, Chuck Walgreen, permission to use it at Walgreens and it became “official” in 1955.

Some say that it is quaint or outdated.  Occasionally, it is thrown up as “evidence” when someone objects to a decision.  Others question why do we put ourselves to such scrutiny. I am proud that we do even if we may fall short on occasion.

Twenty-four words to guide us in how we make decisions, deal with our customers and how we treat others. Powerful and timeless.  

We gotta laugh at ourselves sometimes

I have made a lot of dumb mistakes.  Some of them are funny and they even make me laugh when I think about them.

   One of my favorites is about when I made my first visit to Puerto Rico.  I checked into the San Juan Hotel, a beautiful hotel with a gorgeous lobby and swanky casino located off to one side.  The first thing I noticed as I unpacked my bags were a couple of casino chips on my pillow. I thought to myself what a clever way to get guests to visit the casino.  After getting dressed to go out to dinner, I went downstairs to wait for my fellow travelers. 

  I was the first to arrive so I decided to wander around the casino to kill time and maybe even place a bet with my complimentary chips. There seemed to be quite a bit of excitement around the craps table.  After watching the shooter win several times I decided to join them and place a bet.  So just like a “sophisticated” gambler, I placed my new chips on the “come” line in a show of enthusiastic support.  No sooner had my hand left the table, the croupier stopped, turned to me and said with a cold flat voice and a certain amount of disdain, “Those are chocolates.”

  All conversation around the table stopped immediately and all eyes were riveted on me.  It took all the poise I could muster to nod knowingly and with what I hoped was look of cool nonchalance reach over, pick them up and then slowly turn and walk away straight toward the door. It was a long walk.

  When I can no longer laugh at this story, I will know I have begun to take myself way too seriously.  And that is a real bad thing.