Behind the desk: Foodstuffs CEO Chris Quin on what it takes to be a great leader.
Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a high-powered chief executive officer is like, or a chairman of a listed company, or a founder of a successful startup?
Behind the desk is a new series starting on Stuff Business with Henri Eliot, taking you inside the day-to-day of some of New Zealand's most successful people - and you'll get a look at their desks too. No filter.
Second in our series is Chris Quin, chief executive of supermarket owner Foodstuffs North Island, the company behind New World, Pak 'n Save and Four Square outlets.
What time do you like to be at your desk? Any routine before you start your day? Coffee or tea? Spotify or favourite radio station?
I get up around 5 or 5.30am and try to start my mornings by getting in some exercise, which is either a swim in Mt Roskill or on the training bike in my garage. I listen to business or motorsport podcasts while I swim – underwater headphones are a cool invention! I like to be at my desk by 7.30 or 8am. I'll listen to the news, call my team or store owners or sometimes just Spotify on my commute and I always start the day with a long black from our Café or in the Air New Zealand lounge – I travel a fair bit.
Image Credit, Stuff Limited 2019.
Describe a typical day for you.
I try and spend my mornings doing high-value tasks, like catch-up calls with teams or checking in with our operators. We have a Heartbeat Meeting every morning at 8.30am with my leadership team, which is a great chance for all of us to discuss how we're delivering for customers, new initiatives, how we're handling issues … you name it. As a retailer this just keeps us moving quickly, which is what our customers need from us.
Every month I spend at least one day travelling around the North Island visiting some of our 330 plus stores and owner-operators. This is how I see what our customers see, hear from the teams who make it happen every day for our customers, and check out how well-connected our stores are in their local communities. One cool way to do this is 'step with a customer' where I walk with a customer in the store and see what they see.
My latest trip was pretty special; catching up with a young couple who in the last 12 months have packed up their central Auckland lives, married, had a baby, joined the local volunteer fire brigade and bought a Four Square – moving to our iconic bilingual (te reo) Four Square in Tokomaru Bay, north of Gisborne.
I also try to spend time across all our support centre sites, offices and distribution centres giving business updates, checking in with our safety committees and talking about how our strategy connects to each person's position and customers.
Describe your management style.
Connection, clarity, action. Foodstuffs North Island is a 22,000 plus strong workforce and everyone plays an integral part in ensuring we're living up to our strategy to be one of the most customer-driven retailers in the world.
I try to carve out time to think about our future, to coach leaders and to develop talent. As a significant 97 year-old New Zealand business we have a deep responsibility to be involved in issues which matter to our country like the Future of Work, providing healthy and affordable food, being a good employer and operating as sustainably as possible.
Something that is really important to me is to get out into the regions and hold town hall sessions at our distribution centres (DCs) each month. Safety is a priority for these teams, so we spend a great deal of time understanding our objectives, how they are being reported, and embedding processes and a deep understanding into our culture.
But we still find time to eat some kai, I get to hear what we could be doing better, what's going on in the DCs, and the team gets to hear larger co-op updates from me. I relish these sessions because it's important our employees feel heard, consistently receive clarity on the co-op's strategy, challenges and successes, and that our conversation ends in action.
Are tough decisions best taken by one person?
The short answer – no. The trick is getting the balance right between deep consultation and agile decision-making so we can deliver on our purpose to help New Zealanders get more out of life every day.
Great judgment for me as a leader is to know when you've consulted widely enough, and you have sufficient knowledge, to understand what comes next and then act. When it's time to step up, you need to have the whole team on board, with everyone having each other's back.
Some decisions need urgency, eg responding to an earthquake or a threat to customers or team members, while others need deep engagement eg a long term strategy, or a decision to build and operate a new store or format. I'm fortunate to have a board made up of eight grocers who understand this business so deeply, and three independent directors who challenge us to be strategic and aspirational.
Our values are play above the line, be courageous, we're in it together and think customer. These shape the way we work and operate in tandem with leadership principles from Vince Molinaro's The Leadership Contract.
This requires every single employee to answer the question – do you aspire to be a great leader?
A yes means our team members agree to four things:
Leadership is a decision – make it
Leadership is an obligation – step up
Leadership is hard work – show courage and reslience
Leadership is a community – collaborate
Our employees are the future of work and we're committed to upskilling and empowering them; enabling them to develop their capabilities continuously.
Do you read management books?
The Leadership Contract and Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick are great leadership and business reads. On a less conventional basis I really enjoyed the insights from the Boss – Bruce Springsteen in his auto-biography and I'm not the biggest poetry fan, but there is something about Rudyard Kipling's IF which I love.
Weekend reads?
Downtime for me is Motorsport Magazine and Supercars roaring in the background.
Where is the best place to prepare for leadership: an MBA school or on the job?
There is nothing more valuable than real world, hands-on experience but an education gives you a great framework and connections you can learn from. I was fortunate to take part in a Stanford executive programme in 2014. I'm still in touch with my study group all over the world and often bounce stuff off them.
My advice to students is to study what you enjoy and love – you'll be better at it. The fact you've graduated speaks volumes about how you can learn and work and deliver in a team.
To graduates, I'd say take every project opportunity you can get your hands on, you'll quickly learn what you like and don't like, and that will help you focus on where you want to be.
Would you prefer to be liked or respected?
Leadership roles can be tough at times, and when you have to make decisions in the best interest of the entire organisation, it's best to be respected.
What does your support team look like?
Without a doubt, my work support team is my leadership team. We're constantly working on becoming a high-performing crew and challenge, respect and support each other.
I have an exceptional wife who's done most of the heavy lifting with our family. She's done the most incredible job with our two kids – of whom I'm super proud. They've left home and are now making their mark on the world.
When it comes to friends – you really need to spend some time maintaining those relationships. There's nothing more rejuvenating for me than spending time with a group of my mates watching motorsport in the garage on a Sunday afternoon.
What would your key management advice be?
Be courageous and empathetic. Tackle tough issues efficiently, hold yourself accountable, recognise and move on from mistakes quickly, and always celebrate success.
What do you do in your spare time?
I like to go mountain biking or do car stuff. That said, I'm only just getting back into biking following a bad spill last year, leg met kerb at speed. Leg ended up in bits. Two weeks in hospital with nine months in a moon boot. Thank goodness for my awesome team who stepped in to lead while I was down for the count and a patient wife who suddenly became a taxi driver.
A few of my mates and I get together a couple times each year to fix up and race "lemons" cars – we buy the car for $1000 and race them for 24-hours to raise money for the Foodies Foundation. The Foodies Foundation was established last year to help us help our people and their families when times get really rough.
Final word?
I have a couple of mantras which have always worked for me; 'If it's to be, it's up to me' and 'sit, walk or run but don't wobble' – the latter is a little bit of Zen. And from my dad – be your own judge.
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