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.

Advice to Newlyweds

At the wedding reception I once attended, the thing that I remember the most is the father of the bride’s toast to the newlyweds.  As he raised his cup, he offered two most important phrases to remember for a successful marriage: "You're right and I am wrong" and "I am sorry".

This was met with some knowing chuckles from the audience.  Wise words and not just for marriage. There is no doubt these are some of the most powerful words exchanged in sustaining relationships. Both at work and at home.

I think about all the times that my pride or stubbornness or fear of losing "face" has prevented me from saying these simple things. And looking back, how much better things would have turned out and how much wasted time and pain would have been avoided had I been able to swallow my pride.

But letting down our defenses is an act of trust and hard to do. I know it is for me.  However, although there is a risk when that happens, I have found it worth it when I gathered the courage to do it

Turtle on a Fencepost

Bruce Bryant is a corporate operations vice president. At his 25th service anniversary, he spent most of the time thanking and acknowledging all those who had helped him along in his career. He likened it to a saying from his childhood: “If you see a turtle on a fencepost, you can be sure it didn’t get there by itself.”

I think most turtles are treated better these days, but it remains true that each of us owes a lot to others in getting where we are. My thanks is to John Gleeson, whose parents spent their whole careers in our stores. John began his career at Walgreens in the stores as a 14-year-old bottle boy, became the youngest person promoted to a director position in our corporate offices, and ultimately retired in 2007 as senior vice president and Chief Strategy Officer. John taught me how the retail business works and what makes our company successful and different from others.  Most importantly, I came to see Walgreens through his eyes and why he loved it so.

It’s easy to forget about people like John, though, in the busyness of our lives. So today, take a few moments and think of someone who has helped you climb a “fencepost” along the way.  If that person is still with us, find him or her and tell them. Two things I guarantee: It will make his or her day. And it will make yours, too

What Got Us Here Will Get Us There

During a meeting today we were talking about opportunities and we were reminded of the incredible breadth of talent throughout our company. It made me recall of how I came to join Walgreens almost twenty years ago.

I started out my career in consulting.  During my first twelve years, I got to work in lots of different companies and be exposed to lots of different “corporate cultures”. My last five years in consulting was spent at Walgreens full-time working on SIMS. 

When I arrived at Walgreens, I had never considered working in “industry”; I was a diehard consultant.  I sort of had the attitude of Groucho Marx who once said that he wouldn’t want to join a country club that would accept him as a member.  At that point in my career and life, the ideal model for success against which to judge others was me and others like me.  That is, since I had been successful, other people had to be like me to be successful.

Thank goodness I got to spend those five years here.  During that time I was able to see firsthand how things worked and Walgreen people interacted with each other. I came to see how wrongheaded my preconceptions were.  I came to know that talent takes many forms. I saw people up and down the organization who did wonderfully creative things to make our company better in so many different ways whether it be how we pick a store site or how we pick orders or how to serve our customers.  In just about every area I saw people who did their jobs much better than I did mine. In all my years in consulting, I had never seen a company and culture like Walgreens.

At the end of the project as I prepared to roll off the project and move back to my new office downtown, I was approached about joining Walgreens. Up until that moment, I had never thought about working here but in an instance, I knew that this is where I wanted to be.

What was true twenty years ago is still true today. Certainly there have been challenges and probably none more than we face today. But our roots run deep and we have proven resilient in the toughest of times over the last hundred years. I consider myself fortunate to work with so many fantastic talented and devoted people. Thank you for the opportunity to serve with you.  And thank you for all you do to serve our communities and customers. We cannot say it often enough to each other.

Little Victories

In response to a recent blog, The Pharmacy America Trusts, Teresia Walton asked an interesting question: “Are there any such examples of this sort of thing in today’s Walgreens?” The Canning story is great because it was an “epic” decision that could have affected lots of people and reflects the values and standards we hold ourselves to. It was one of those rare events where the stakes were high, alternatives were clear and a decision had to be made quickly and communicated across the organization.

However, a recent example is more typical. This last winter one of our trucks was delayed in a snowstorm and it was determined after it had made deliveries that some of the Rx might have been exposed to freezing temperatures. Rather than take a chance, all the Rx and OTC product that was delivered was pulled from all six stores and destroyed. There was no fanfare and only those directly involved know anything about it.

I believe there are similar decisions made every day throughout the company.  Maybe the stakes are not so high and maybe not so public. But they are just as important because it is the choice that counts.

I read once that there are no “good” or “evil” countries. Rather, the battle for good and evil is fought in each of their leaders’ hearts.  Just as it is in each of us.

Every time one of us acts in the interests of others rather than ourselves, we achieve as big a victory as Mr. Canning’s. And I suspect if he were alive today, he would agree.