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.
Randy.......I'm so glad that you started up this blog to bless us with wisdom and thoughtful ideas. This entry sparked a memory for a great Walgreens leader that taught me a lot and he retired a few years ago. When I met John Gleeson almost 20 years ago, I graced his doorstep and his title of "Days Supply Czar" struck me as odd. I was a Director with Apple Computer at the time and John was my customer(along with Randy Lewis, Trent Taylor and other Walgreens folks). I could tell from the start that John was a true visionary and was light years ahead of most others. He shared his vision of matching customer demand with supply side operations to put Walgreens ahead of all the competition. I had the honor of watching his dream take shape within his department and what marked me is how he empowered his team to take hold of the vision and make it their own. John was quick to pass on the credit to his team and that fired them up even more. I remember well that everyone I worked with on pilot projects was pumped up to work hard and succeed. There were a few failures but as a great leader John gave his stakeholders permission to fail.....but encouraged everyone to learn from the setbacks as not to repeat. So their work was focused and highly effective. I witnessed a profound transformation driven by his team that become the envy of the industry and put Walgreens years ahead of the competition. I also saw John as a wise mentor to his key leads and these folks were very young people at the time. Today some of those he mentored have KEY roles in the modernized Walgreens of today. It's no surprise to me that great servant based leadership rears up even greater leaders as a legacy. I found this to be true in watching Randy, Trent and John in their leadership roles. I deeply respected these men because of their wisdom, humility, honesty and visionary ideas to change their world and make it better. I watched them build into their people so intentionally and fervently, it's no surprise that some of the greatest successes came out of their groups during their years in leadership(Randy is still creating a better world for all of us….and you see the realization of a dream he had to make a meaningful difference in the lives of disabled and cognitively challenged people with the new DC's). I remember when Randy shared his dream with me about Walgreens having an environment where there was no class distinction(normal folks and disabled) and it would be a place that provided opportunity to those that are mostly forgotten in society.
ReplyDeleteWhen I toured the first DC built in Anderson, SC……I was moved to tears in seeing the magic that Randy and his team created. It's only fitting that these new DC's would be the most productive in the company and become the model for all future DC's. Now Randy has challenged all other US companies to embrace the challenge of doing what Walgreens has done. It's not only the right thing to do…….the ROI proves it's good business!
It was not until 2004 that I realized how deeply John, Randy and Trent had inspired me in my leadership development. I retired from Apple after 17 years and after 26 year career in the high tech industry, I was drawn to the mission
at Walgreens and wanted to join forces with John, Trent and Randy to help Walgreens win and make high quality healthcare more affordable and accessible to everyone. So I joined WHS in 2004 and my journey lasted 6 1/2 years.
My time at Walgreens was the most exciting and fulfilling of my 33+ year career and I thank God for the opportunity to have served there. So let me tie this back to Randy's original story about how John Brown paved the way for him to be graciously accepted with the rest of the senior executive team. I'll echo what Randy said in that leaders are to steward and engage their people, by helping create paths to succeed. Randy is a fine example of the legacy of intentional and grace-filled leadership. Our challenge is to create that same legacy within our own teams and organizations.