When Dick Cooley, CEO of Wells Fargo concluded that the deregulation of the banking industry was going to radically change the way of business, his strategic plan was to remain flexible to the realities that would be created. Internally, he focused on having the best of the best throughout his organization. He remained proactive in responding to industry changes and challenged his leaders by addressing areas of opportunity. It was Dick, who recognized their ability to be the best bank in the western United States. 24 hour service, ATM’s , and electronic banking are innovative technologies that support their commitment to being the best in “customer first” convenience and service.

CEO Elisabeth Robert of Vermont Teddy Bear transformed a comfortable status quo business into a purposeful customer first solution with a direct consumer connection by integrating their unique value to the consumer into her strategic planning. She focused on BearGrams. Recognizing the habitual embarrassment of late and last minute shopping, she took her message to non-conventional venues to reach her target audience. The “Late Jack” buyer enjoyed a valuable consumer offering. Costly? Absolutely! Investing in their customers by not cutting costs and offering unique value translated into taking this traditional and dismal $17 million in annual sales business to a profitable $66 million.

Joe Cullman of Phillip Morris’ decision to put his greatest leader in the role of overseeing the most “revenue challenged” market was viewed as a stroke of genius. His decision was made in part, through his conviction to long-term growth and how to achieve the greatest impact. His choice for this position of leadership was a critical element to growing this undervalued market segment to be the most profitable and fastest growing division of the company.

Arkadi Kuhlmann is a founder of ING Group, one of the largest financial services conglomerate in the world. His ideal is his strategy. Arkadi is a banker that believes that his customers deserve financial security. There are no limits to investing, no fees, no credit card offerings, loans or checking accounts, and forget he ATM’s. His philosophy—to give ING customers a higher interest offering on their savings. ING streamlines its offerings to provide customers with greater profit. Earning and saving, isn’t that the idea of a bank? He encourages his customers to save and positions himself as their advocate. Arkadi believes that if you truly want to redefine an industry, you have to integrate ideas from other industries, take risks, recreate and innovate. And recreate he certainly has, gone are the understated drab colors and boring office space. Add a blast of orange, a café, and plenty of publicity; from free gas tank fills to rock concerts, and you have a business that is redefining an entire industry.

Kroger although quite profitable at the time, proactively addressed industry changes and acted on the new “super store” model that was gaining consumer popularity. They recognized the need to redesign every one of their stores, a costly proposition for a company that currently was profitable nationwide. Their decision was a commitment to be #1 in this redefined industry and transform their identity into an innovative superstore. They achieved their goal in 1999.

Southwest’s strategy is driven by their mission; freedom; the freedom to afford to fly where and when you want, to sit where you want; and for the employees, the freedom to be the best that they can be. The employees can work hard and have fun, as well as innovate and create. As long as it doesn’t take away from Southwest being the low cost leader! Southwest has a purpose, a reason that defines their decision making process; and by making this difference, they have redefined the criteria for being the best.

Alan Wurtzel asked questions. Over and over, he asked questions to gain understanding. He recognized that he didn’t have all the answers and so he listened. The ability to remain open to what others shared became the catalyst to a profitable idea. He surrounded himself with a formidable executive staff and put into action what he had learned through listening. He developed a sophisticated inventory system and recognized the value of viewing regional profit as a standard of analysis. Alan Wurtzel transformed the simple stereo store into what came to be Circuit City. The long-term strategic plan was to be the best large ticket retailing chain.

Whole Foods has made its mark by innovatively capturing the enthusiasm of every single employee. Its business strategy created a fresh and thrilling consumer offering that is uniquely supported by a signature work environment that incorporates team ideology. Staff members at store level are responsible for purchasing, budgeting and day-to-day execution. New hires join teams and undergo a 30 day trail period that can end in dismissal if the team does not majority vote the candidate as a team member. Each department, nationwide, is a direct reflection of the store team initiative. This creates an atmosphere of team involvement and a commitment and passion for the vision and ideology of Whole Foods.

Cork Walgreen understood that profit per customer visit was a critical indicator of growth. This translated to store locations that were convenient and accessible. Making the stores prevalent in prime locations and adding high margin services created their standing as the #1 convenience drugstore. Cork made many controversial decisions to uphold his vision, one of which was to discontinue the profitable food-service offering that Walgreen’s came to rely on as generating large revenue. Years later Walgreen’s recommitted to this goal in response to the .com movement. By designing the most sophisticated, reliable, customer convenient method of utilizing a drugstore online, Walgreen’s remains a cutting-edge leader.

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.
-Mahatma Gandhi
 
Hoping is not a strategy
-Kraig Kramers - Author, CEO Tools
 
Leaders without values quickly become leaders without followers.
-Bill Valentine, TEC speaker