Not too many corporate executives would abandon a global president title in a relatively secure corporate environment. In 2006, however, that’s exactly what Rosalind Brewer did when she accepted an offer to join Walmart–a company in transition at the time, with falling sales and an embattled reputation, particularly around diversity practices. She would take this leap to a new industry and a position far below her previous status. But for the seasoned consumer packaged goods professional, “being uncomfortable” has always been a professional motivator. The fact that Walmart was in the arduous process of re-positioning its brand made it more of a gamble. After six months of negotiation, Brewer came aboard as vice president of operations for Georgia–and made swift impact.
Managing 140 stores in the state, Brewer became a student of Walmart and its culture, quickly assessing the business, applying strategic focus to her growing real estate, and building her team. She was promoted in four months to president of Walmart’s Southeast division.
By 2010, Walmart’s senior management realigned the organization to focus on consumer engagement and increasing scale; it grouped U.S. operations into three distinct areas. Brewer was tapped as president of its Eastern business unit, responsible for generating $110 billion in revenue through the operation of 1,600 stores–from Puerto Rico to Maine–and the management of nearly 500,000 associates. Her next promotion would make history. After Brian Cornell resigned as head of Walmart’s Sam’s Club subsidiary, Brewer was installed as president and CEO of the warehouse club, a $53.8 billion division representing 12% of Walmart’s business. Overseeing management of all its U.S. properties, Brewer, 50, is the first woman and first African American to hold a CEO title at the retailing leviathan, achieving one of the most powerful positions within corporate America.
“What she’s been able to accomplish is huge,” says Marlon Cousin, managing partner for The Marquin Group, an Atlanta-based leadership development firm for minority professionals. “Coming from a consumer packaged goods environment, where else could you go and manage that scale of business?” he asks, referring to her former role as head of Walmart’s Eastern business unit. “One hundred billion dollars is equivalent to the size of a lot of [top] companies. It’s just as big as Verizon and almost as big as Bank of America.There aren’t a lot of professionals anywhere who can say they’ve managed $100 billion worth of business.” Brewer now oversees a division with revenues that could place it as the nation’s 52nd largest company. “To put it in perspective, The Coca-Cola Co. is $46 billion. Kraft is $54 billion,” Cousin says of companies with revenues comparable to those of Sam’s Club.
Within a six-year span, Brewer, who came to Walmart with no retail experience, has helped reshape how the company conducts business, focusing on tenets and strategies that have directed her entire professional life. “Roz came to us with an outstanding background in consumer packaged goods more than five years ago. During that time I have seen her develop into a talented merchant and retailer,” says Walmart Stores Inc. President and CEO Michael Duke. “She has strong strategic, analytical, and operational skills, and has successfully managed a large and complex business.”
Brewer believes the key to maintaining performance is responding to customer research data and insights, developing a strong e-commerce component for shoppers, providing unique services to members that extend beyond the shopping experience, and offering high-demand, top-quality merchandise, such as Apple products. “You won’t find those at the other clubs,” Brewer explains.
“One thing that we’re doing different in this era is to really speak to the member. We’re data mining, but we’re activating against that data we have on our members. It allows us to speak back to them in a way they’ve never been spoken to before. What we’d like to do is to be able to understand how they’re shopping and their purchasing habits–and let them know that we’re sensitive to their issues.”
Although Brewer won’t yet unveil her plan for how she will expand membership services, she has said that Sam’s Club will continue its relationship with the Small Business Administration. In 2010, Sam’s Club began offering small loans to members through Superior Financial Group and in May of this year, under Brewer, the Sam’s Club Giving Program donated $2 million in micro-lending grants to benefit women- and minority-owned small businesses. In a recent fiscal report for fourth quarter earnings, Brewer announced the opening of 10 to 15 units this year with up to nine of those being new units, which is a significant increase over the three opened in the past fiscal year.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
Brewer’s tone is consistent–even and calming. She doesn’t shout or swear. “She’s grace under fire,” says Dijuana Lewis, senior vice president of Healthcare Solutions for Walmart U.S. For Brewer, her responsibilities extend way beyond revenues. Managing teams is one of her strongest skills and she acknowledges inheriting a great one that she wants to inspire to drive impact. “Roz has a great vision. She knows where she wants to go and what she has to get done, but importantly there’s a lot of collaboration with that vision,” offers John Boswell, senior vice president of marketing, member insights, and e-commerce for Sam’s Club.
Brewer visits stores several times a week, meeting and talking to associates. During that time her BlackBerry is off. “I’ve always been struck by Roz’s servant leadership when I have visited stores with her,” remarks Duke. “She always lets her team do the talking, with her focus on how to better support their needs.”
Brewer exchanging feedback with more staff
Her technical background in science and R&D has helped her understand how to inspire innovation and manage risk, but also how to manage diverse opinions and cultures within a team. “The whole idea of innovation and risk-taking has been bred into me because I was in research and development and there were a lot of things we didn’t know were going to work,” she explains. “So I’m patient with people who tend to be innovators because you have to give them room to think. They are thinkers, not doers, so you can’t hold them to the same delivery standard that you would your business leader. I set different expectations.”
Married with two children–a son and a daughter–Brewer, unlike most senior managers at Walmart, has not yet moved to Bentonville, Arkansas, and commutes from Atlanta. On a hot, hectic day in August, she juggles important corporate meetings while planning a family summer vacation–with little time to spare. As such, Brewer manages all of her demands through one integrated calendar, maintaining life at her level is about choices, priorities, and trade-offs.
“I’ve had to recalibrate what my priorities are. I look at what’s important to my children. My son is an athlete. He plays both baseball and basketball. He needs to see me sitting in those stands every now and then. And we make an agreement, which games are important to him and I usually don’t break those commitments, and when I’m there, he’s charged. I do the same thing with my daughter. She and I like to have girl time together, so I make that a priority,” she continues. “This is a road map, a life cycle. I take it in pieces. There are times when I’m deep mom, deep wife, [and] deep sister. And then I have my job here. It’s choices; it’s decision-making; its compromising.”
– by Sonia Alleyne