Latest / The David Rubenstein Show / Rosalind Brewer

Transcript

Rosalind Brewer · The David Rubenstein Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Currently, there are only two fortunate five companies run by
0:05
Speaker 1: African American women. One of those women is Ross Brewer,
0:09
Speaker 1: who is leading Walgreen Spoots Alliance, a well known pharmacy chain.
0:13
Speaker 1: I sat down with Ros. We were to talk about
0:14
Speaker 1: how she's trying to transform that company into one that
0:17
Speaker 1: also offers additional healthcare services to its customers. I have
0:22
Speaker 1: noticed that Walgreens and another company that's also in the
0:25
Speaker 1: drug store area of I won't mention their name, but
0:27
Speaker 1: the competitor of yours, both of you seem to be
0:29
Speaker 1: interested in being in the healthcare business as opposed to
0:32
Speaker 1: the pharmaceutical drug store business. Why is that? What's what's
0:35
Speaker 1: so much better about the healthcare business? So, first of all,
0:39
Speaker 1: you know we've been Walgreens started in nineteen o one,
0:42
Speaker 1: and you know, when you think about drug dispensing, it's
0:46
Speaker 1: um it's critical to all of us at some point
0:48
Speaker 1: in our lives. But one of the things that's very
0:50
Speaker 1: clear to us um ending the pandemic, or in the
0:54
Speaker 1: middle of the pandemic, we realized our relationship with our
0:57
Speaker 1: customers and our patients was so much more critical. We
1:00
Speaker 1: delivered seventy million shots in arms during the time of
1:03
Speaker 1: the pandemic, but the relationship just went to the next level.
1:07
Speaker 1: Pharmacists have always been consultants with customers and patients, and
1:11
Speaker 1: you will see your pharmacists ten times more than you
1:13
Speaker 1: see your primary care physician. But the idea of having
1:16
Speaker 1: a primary care physician interacting with the pharmacists is the
1:20
Speaker 1: way of the future and we will we will need
1:24
Speaker 1: that ecosystem around us. Okay, So in your case, um,
1:27
Speaker 1: Walgreen's case, you have begun a business. You've bought a
1:30
Speaker 1: lot of companies in this area that are primary physician companies.
1:34
Speaker 1: In the words, you buy the practices of primary physicians,
1:38
Speaker 1: and then in effect their stockers are working for Walgreens
1:41
Speaker 1: and they are still serving their patients, but they're in
1:44
Speaker 1: effect employees of Walgreens. Is that right? That's that's correct there.
1:47
Speaker 1: So we are purchasing We just purchased Summit Health in
1:50
Speaker 1: the New Jersey, New York area and now we're one
1:53
Speaker 1: of the largest primary care physician practices in the country.
1:57
Speaker 1: So primary care physician practice. Um, what how many people
2:00
Speaker 1: in the United States of the thirty million people we
2:04
Speaker 1: have or so, how many of them actually have a
2:06
Speaker 1: primary physician? From what we understand less than thirty of
2:10
Speaker 1: Americans have a primary care physition, and you think it's
2:14
Speaker 1: good to get an annual physical every year. I know
2:16
Speaker 1: you're not a doctor, but now I'm not a doctor,
2:19
Speaker 1: but you know I will tell you that. You know,
2:21
Speaker 1: we are all going to be responsible for our health,
2:23
Speaker 1: both financially and managing our own care. And to get
2:28
Speaker 1: a physical every year is a good database for you,
2:32
Speaker 1: a baseline to build for yourself because it's going to
2:34
Speaker 1: fall back on you. You need to know more about
2:36
Speaker 1: your personal health so that you can interact effectively with
2:39
Speaker 1: your primary care physicians. So I get an annual physical
2:41
Speaker 1: every year. I try to starve myself for the two
2:43
Speaker 1: weeks before the end. Yes, I have mine tomorrow. Yes
2:46
Speaker 1: I have found it doesn't work. But okay, what do
2:48
Speaker 1: you think the biggest health care challenges for Americans? Is
2:51
Speaker 1: it that we're overweight, we take too many drugs? What
2:55
Speaker 1: is so? I think it's it's too pronged. One is that, yes,
2:58
Speaker 1: obesity is a big problem. Um, But I think it's
3:01
Speaker 1: it's negligence, but it's not intentional. I think people are
3:04
Speaker 1: confused about the cost and access of healthcare, and they
3:08
Speaker 1: think it's going to cost them a lot um and
3:10
Speaker 1: when people have variable employment, as we've seen across these
3:14
Speaker 1: last several years, is that you know, they're not quite
3:16
Speaker 1: true what their insurance will cover and and not covering
3:19
Speaker 1: what their autopockets expense will be, so they avoid going
3:23
Speaker 1: to the doctor. And I think that is something we've
3:25
Speaker 1: got to bring clarity to, which is why, you know,
3:28
Speaker 1: the digital side of healthcare is going to become very
3:30
Speaker 1: important so that we can all look at our mobile
3:32
Speaker 1: devices and understand what's going on with their bodies. COVID
3:35
Speaker 1: brought a lot of people into the drug stores to
3:38
Speaker 1: get their COVID shots. I guess has a business picked
3:41
Speaker 1: up or gone down since COVID is more or less
3:43
Speaker 1: waned a bit in terms of people getting shots. You know,
3:46
Speaker 1: what we're seeing at Walgreens is that we created, you know,
3:50
Speaker 1: an expanded relationship. Um it did start with immunizations, but
3:55
Speaker 1: now people are very deliberate about their flu shots and
3:58
Speaker 1: so they're still getting COVID shots today, vaccines today, and
4:02
Speaker 1: they're getting flu shots in combination. Our retail business, if
4:06
Speaker 1: you look at our prior earnings, is up and performing well,
4:10
Speaker 1: especially as we transition into healthcare. The front of our
4:13
Speaker 1: stores are are picking up. So I have read that
4:16
Speaker 1: post COVID it's difficult for companies like yours to get
4:19
Speaker 1: entry level of people to come in there. They either
4:22
Speaker 1: don't want to come back into the workforce or they
4:23
Speaker 1: don't want the job that you can provide them. Is
4:25
Speaker 1: it hard for you to get people? I noticed in
4:27
Speaker 1: the stores I go to the drug stores, they're always
4:30
Speaker 1: fresh people all the time, new people. Yeah, so you
4:32
Speaker 1: know there's a lot of turnover at the hourly level.
4:35
Speaker 1: I will admit um. But as we have these conversations,
4:38
Speaker 1: it's becoming less about pay and more about their lifestyle
4:42
Speaker 1: and what they want to do and progression. And so
4:45
Speaker 1: what we're encouraging is that, you know, work at at
4:48
Speaker 1: a Walgreen store and you can become a shift manager
4:51
Speaker 1: and escalate. And that's really what they want to think about,
4:54
Speaker 1: is a career and development. So if you were an
4:56
Speaker 1: entry level person at one of these stores like Walgreens,
4:59
Speaker 1: what kind of compensation you get above the minimum wage?
5:03
Speaker 1: But you pay like fifteen or something exactly exactly, and
5:06
Speaker 1: then it moves up based on you know, shift manager
5:08
Speaker 1: and other responsibilities in the in the building. So I've
5:11
Speaker 1: noticed that in none of these stores I go into
5:15
Speaker 1: there used to be younger people post college or something.
5:19
Speaker 1: Who it's the younger people working servicing the drug store.
5:23
Speaker 1: Now I see a lot of people who are older
5:25
Speaker 1: that like post retirement kind of people doing it. Is
5:28
Speaker 1: that a phenomenon? You know, we we see both. Um,
5:33
Speaker 1: you know, on the younger end of the spectrum, its
5:35
Speaker 1: those looking for development or fill in job while they're
5:38
Speaker 1: in college and doing something otherwise in their lives. And
5:40
Speaker 1: then the retirement community is a very um, you know,
5:44
Speaker 1: rich environment for us to recruit from. So I noticed
5:47
Speaker 1: in a couple of drug stores even in my area,
5:49
Speaker 1: which is not the poorest area in washing d C.
5:52
Speaker 1: It's a nice upscale area. Um, when I want to
5:56
Speaker 1: get razor blades, you have to go to the front
5:59
Speaker 1: of the place and ask somebody unlock it. Why why
6:02
Speaker 1: are you locking up razor blades and other things that
6:04
Speaker 1: I might want to buy? Yes, So, you know this
6:07
Speaker 1: is a national problem, and you know this isn't you know,
6:11
Speaker 1: random theft, This is organized crime. And you know state
6:15
Speaker 1: legislation has put guidelines on you know how much you
6:19
Speaker 1: you know the theft that you can steal before you're convicted.
6:23
Speaker 1: So it's a thousand dollar limit. But we have been
6:26
Speaker 1: partnering with other retailers and sharing our camera feed. I
6:29
Speaker 1: know some of our partners here from walmartter here, but
6:31
Speaker 1: we're all part of an organization that's coming together that says,
6:35
Speaker 1: if you've you know, we can put our camera feed
6:37
Speaker 1: together and tell that that person has been in our
6:39
Speaker 1: store in their store, and the numbers are higher than
6:42
Speaker 1: one thousand. So we've been able to impact these theft
6:45
Speaker 1: rings most recently. What are the things that are unlock
6:48
Speaker 1: and key the most? What are people trying to steal
6:50
Speaker 1: the most? Other than razor blades, like you know, I
6:52
Speaker 1: will tell you, um I actually it started at razor
6:55
Speaker 1: blades because that's such a high ticket item, but um,
6:58
Speaker 1: you know, it's a lot of cosmetics. But really what
7:00
Speaker 1: happens is that they take advantage of what I would
7:03
Speaker 1: call the elbow move and they just come in and
7:05
Speaker 1: swipe a counter. And so it's just a matter of
7:08
Speaker 1: categories now almost and not just particular. So what is
7:12
Speaker 1: the most profitable, high margin thing that you all sell.
7:16
Speaker 1: I'd have to say it's in our cosmetics area, is
7:19
Speaker 1: um is one, and then in some of our durable
7:21
Speaker 1: medical goods. Some of our take home testing and things
7:24
Speaker 1: like that are are very nice margin item. What is
7:27
Speaker 1: the most common, most frequent thing that you sell? The
7:29
Speaker 1: most frequent thing is probably toiletries like toothpaste and personal
7:34
Speaker 1: care items of those those And why is it that
7:38
Speaker 1: whenever there is like a scare coming along or a
7:40
Speaker 1: pandemic or something, people rush to buy toilet paper. Noticed
7:45
Speaker 1: that people are just are stockpiling toilet papers of hoarding,
7:49
Speaker 1: and it's one of those things you never want to
7:51
Speaker 1: be without. Okay, you're from Detroit. Your family, how many
7:56
Speaker 1: siblings do you have? If I have three sisters and
7:59
Speaker 1: a brother, okay, and you were the youngest, I'm the
8:02
Speaker 1: youngest of five okay, and any of the others running
8:05
Speaker 1: drug store change? No, But I do have a sister
8:08
Speaker 1: that's a pharmacist. Wow, she had No, she's not. We
8:14
Speaker 1: don't want to mix, ok okay, So um, all right,
8:17
Speaker 1: So you're you're one of your parents do so? Both
8:20
Speaker 1: my parents are are deceased, But my parents worked in
8:23
Speaker 1: the auto industry, and so my dad eventually worked as
8:27
Speaker 1: a member of management and my mom worked in hourly
8:31
Speaker 1: labor at Okay, so you are many good colleges you
8:34
Speaker 1: went to Spellman, an excellent college in Atlanta. Why did
8:37
Speaker 1: you choose Spellman? Well, I chose Spellman because, you know,
8:40
Speaker 1: I grew up in Michigan. I wanted to do something
8:42
Speaker 1: a little different, um, get out of the cold weather.
8:44
Speaker 1: But it was also a chance for me to be
8:46
Speaker 1: at an institution that I thought really reflected me who
8:50
Speaker 1: I was and what I wanted to do. And I
8:52
Speaker 1: think also too, I mean, I got a scholarship, and
8:55
Speaker 1: so that was helpful being at the time there were
8:57
Speaker 1: four of us in college and so um, I was
9:00
Speaker 1: actually pursuing you know, support at that time too. And
9:03
Speaker 1: what did you major and what did you want to be?
9:05
Speaker 1: I majored in chemistry, and I thought, you know, I
9:09
Speaker 1: had always been pretty decent in the math and sciences.
9:12
Speaker 1: So I just did what I knew what to do.
9:15
Speaker 1: And I thought I'd either go into medicine or engineering. Um.
9:20
Speaker 1: And actually I was recruited away by Kimberly Clark to
9:23
Speaker 1: work in long range research as a chemist. So I
9:26
Speaker 1: thought you might go to medical school, but Kimberly Clark
9:29
Speaker 1: sold you away, right, Okay, So what did you do
9:31
Speaker 1: for twenty two years at Kimberly Clark so I started
9:34
Speaker 1: off in long range research as a as a chemist.
9:37
Speaker 1: I was an organic chemist UM, and I had interned
9:40
Speaker 1: my summers at General Motors, and so I worked in
9:43
Speaker 1: chemistry there. I worked in analytical chemistry and moved into
9:46
Speaker 1: organic worked in palmer science, and then I worked in
9:50
Speaker 1: UM on one of the business as. I got a
9:52
Speaker 1: chance to join the M and a team probably about
9:55
Speaker 1: six years into my career and UM. At the time,
9:59
Speaker 1: it was when Kimberly Arc was converting itself from a
10:01
Speaker 1: paper company to consumer products company, and we acquired several
10:06
Speaker 1: companies and I got to run one of those companies,
10:08
Speaker 1: and I just stayed on the business side after that.
10:10
Speaker 1: He so you're doing that, You're there twenty two years,
10:12
Speaker 1: You're happy, presumably, and all of a sudden somebody clos
10:16
Speaker 1: you up and says, how about working for Walmart? What
10:18
Speaker 1: did you say? No? No? On the first call, I
10:23
Speaker 1: said no UM. Probably the first, second and third call,
10:26
Speaker 1: I said no. UM. You know if initially they were
10:30
Speaker 1: speaking to me about a job in human resources and
10:33
Speaker 1: I really don't have that skill set, and so UM,
10:36
Speaker 1: once an opportunity came home, came about that had P
10:40
Speaker 1: and L to it, I joined the company and I
10:43
Speaker 1: I was a group president at Kimberly Clark and I
10:45
Speaker 1: took a VP regional job to run the state of Georgia. Okay,
10:51
Speaker 1: so you're at Walmart and then somebody calls up and says,
10:54
Speaker 1: how would you like to wrong Sam's Club? Is that right? Yes?
10:56
Speaker 1: Well a lot happened in the first five years where
11:00
Speaker 1: um I ran Georgia the southeast, then the east coast
11:04
Speaker 1: of Walmart stores, and then um I was a candidate
11:07
Speaker 1: for the Sam's Club job. All right, so you're minding
11:09
Speaker 1: your business. You're running Sam's Club eventually right right there
11:12
Speaker 1: for five years? Yes, I did. Okay, so you're there
11:15
Speaker 1: for five years or the CEO. That's a pretty good job.
11:17
Speaker 1: I guess where you were you living to do that.
11:19
Speaker 1: I was in Bentonville, Arkansas. Okay, you're in Bentonville and
11:23
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I guess another headhunter called you
11:25
Speaker 1: up and said, how would you like to go to Starbucks? Right? No, Actually,
11:29
Speaker 1: I made the decision to leave Walmart stores, and um
11:34
Speaker 1: I was on the board of Starbucks and I had
11:37
Speaker 1: taken them the board seed as I was leaving Sam's Club,
11:41
Speaker 1: and so I had a conversation attending a board meeting
11:45
Speaker 1: and Howard Charlton Kevin Johnson approached me to become the
11:49
Speaker 1: cheap operating officer. But you said you don't really drink coffee,
11:52
Speaker 1: or you didn't say that, you know. I was a
11:55
Speaker 1: tea drinker at the time, so that was interesting. UM
11:59
Speaker 1: and battle wasn't in my UM plans, but UM I did.
12:03
Speaker 1: I fell in love with the brand in the company.
12:06
Speaker 1: UM I saw a great opportunity for UM to help
12:10
Speaker 1: the company operate a little stronger. Okay, so you moved
12:12
Speaker 1: from Bentonville to Seattle and you became the chief operating
12:15
Speaker 1: officer of Starbucks. And Starbucks has become so successful because
12:20
Speaker 1: it's coffee is better than other people's coffee or what
12:22
Speaker 1: is the reason you think it's so successful. I think
12:25
Speaker 1: it's two things. I think it is definitely quality coffee.
12:28
Speaker 1: It's customized right for all drinking palettes. UM. I also
12:34
Speaker 1: think that it's their coffee practices along with the baristas
12:38
Speaker 1: in the store. I think the barista's our top notch
12:41
Speaker 1: and really interact great with the customer. What's the most
12:43
Speaker 1: popular thing that people ask for when they go to Starbucks?
12:46
Speaker 1: Is it? Oh gosh, you know, really just a simple
12:49
Speaker 1: pike um is, which is a black coffee. Um it's
12:53
Speaker 1: still very popular at Starbucks. Okay, the cod beverages are
12:56
Speaker 1: really you know, trending. So okay, so you're there, You're
13:00
Speaker 1: doing that for four years and all of a sudden,
13:03
Speaker 1: I assume my head hunter caused you again. Yeah now
13:05
Speaker 1: that was and says, uh, how would you like to
13:10
Speaker 1: run Walgrains? And you say, I'm happy at Starbucks? Or
13:14
Speaker 1: what I say. I think about it for a minute, because,
13:18
Speaker 1: um I I really I was enjoying Starbucks. Um, I
13:22
Speaker 1: you know, wanted to be there, and I didn't really
13:26
Speaker 1: think of myself, you know, coming back into that level
13:29
Speaker 1: of retail. But it was the pandemic and there were
13:32
Speaker 1: so many people dying at that point in people who
13:35
Speaker 1: were adverse to being vaccinated. And I knew for sure
13:40
Speaker 1: because I follow the science on things. You know, my
13:42
Speaker 1: background is in chemistry, and the science just screened you
13:46
Speaker 1: know that if a vaccine became available, we could curtail this.
13:50
Speaker 1: But Starbucks, you have a perfect name for that brewer, right,
13:53
Speaker 1: so ever mentioned that to you, you know, I got
13:56
Speaker 1: that all the time. You know, everything was what's brew
14:00
Speaker 1: wing and all these yes, hashtag every So what did
14:04
Speaker 1: you when you told Howard Schultz you're leaving to go
14:06
Speaker 1: to another company? What did he say? Actually, I had
14:09
Speaker 1: that conversation with Kevin first. Um, it wasn't it wasn't pleasant. Um.
14:15
Speaker 1: I think the board was a little surprised, you know,
14:18
Speaker 1: but we made it work. So do you ever go
14:22
Speaker 1: to Starbucks now every day? Every day? Okay? You ever
14:25
Speaker 1: go to Sam's Club every day? Yes? Not every day?
14:28
Speaker 1: I bulk up in loyal Okay. So now, what's the
14:32
Speaker 1: biggest surprise of being the CEO of Walgrains? You know,
14:37
Speaker 1: I think the biggest surprise to me was how complex
14:41
Speaker 1: health care is and how unfortunate it is to try
14:46
Speaker 1: and manage, you know, personal health in the health systems
14:50
Speaker 1: that we've set up in this country. And it's it's
14:54
Speaker 1: it's perplexing. I think that this marketplace is right for disruption,
14:59
Speaker 1: and I'm sort of drawn to transformation and disruption. So
15:04
Speaker 1: I became super excited about it once I began to
15:07
Speaker 1: peel back the understanding of the business. Right, So you're
15:10
Speaker 1: the CEO of a healthcare company. In effect, it does Um,
15:13
Speaker 1: you have the physicians business and you also have the
15:17
Speaker 1: pharmaceutical business. What do you do to stay healthy because
15:20
Speaker 1: you have to be a role model, right. You can't
15:21
Speaker 1: look like you're not healthy, right, So how do you
15:23
Speaker 1: have to exercise a lot? Or well? First and foremost,
15:26
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, my my health examin is
15:28
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. I'll be heading back to Chicago to to
15:31
Speaker 1: get that done. So I take care of myself in
15:33
Speaker 1: that way. I like supplements, so you know, I take
15:36
Speaker 1: my vitamins um daily and then I will tell you
15:40
Speaker 1: that I work out three or four times a week
15:41
Speaker 1: as best I can, and so I make it a
15:45
Speaker 1: priority for you. I think about working out three or
15:47
Speaker 1: four times and I actually done. The thing I haven't
15:50
Speaker 1: solved though, is sleep and I think that's our biggest opportunity.
15:53
Speaker 1: If I get sleep down, maybe I can lay off
15:55
Speaker 1: of the supplements alone. Um, you're supposed to get eight
15:58
Speaker 1: hours of sleep at night. In a way, don't get anywhere. Okay.
16:01
Speaker 1: What would you say is the key to success and
16:03
Speaker 1: rising up the corporate world that you would advise people
16:06
Speaker 1: they should do. I really advise people as I'm mentoring
16:09
Speaker 1: them to look at these roadblocks as opportunities because you're
16:13
Speaker 1: going to have them. And I sometimes I get a
16:16
Speaker 1: little frustrated because you know, some will you know, people
16:19
Speaker 1: that I mentor believe that this is like a conveyor belt,
16:22
Speaker 1: like it's just easily going to happen, And you know,
16:25
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to look at you know, in my career,
16:28
Speaker 1: I took probably three lateral jobs and probably maybe even
16:32
Speaker 1: more uh setbacks financially, just to get the development. You know,
16:37
Speaker 1: Like I said, I left Kimberly Clark's group president and
16:39
Speaker 1: came into Walmart as a regional vice president. But you know,
16:43
Speaker 1: it was important for me to learn a new skill set,
16:46
Speaker 1: and I hope that this generation is patient enough to
16:48
Speaker 1: make those decisions. So you're finishing up your tenth year
16:51
Speaker 1: a share of Spellman's board. So what's it like to
16:54
Speaker 1: go to the college and become the chairman for ten years?
16:57
Speaker 1: And Um, what are the biggest problem that college students
17:01
Speaker 1: have at place like Spellman these days? One is affordability. Um,
17:04
Speaker 1: the cost of higher education is escalating, and so I
17:07
Speaker 1: would say that affordability is one of the issues. And
17:10
Speaker 1: then second, if I look at this point in time,
17:13
Speaker 1: right now, we have what I will call the pandemic
17:17
Speaker 1: UM teenagers attending college right now, and they had a
17:20
Speaker 1: lot of social and emotional um impacts, and so many
17:25
Speaker 1: college campuses are addressing that with increased counseling because it's
17:29
Speaker 1: it's it's real, and what will you hope ultimately your
17:32
Speaker 1: legacy to be when you retire forty years from now?
17:36
Speaker 1: You know, I hope um, that people can talk about,
17:40
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity they had to work at Walgreens. Um,
17:45
Speaker 1: I am you know, I was that person that was
17:48
Speaker 1: low on the totem pole that needed to escalate. I
17:50
Speaker 1: hope that people can talk about what their experiences where
17:53
Speaker 1: as a as an employee. So let me ask you
17:55
Speaker 1: what it feels like to be in your situation? Is
17:58
Speaker 1: it more disappointing or surprise? Using that of all the
18:02
Speaker 1: CEOs and the Fortune five, there are only two female
18:05
Speaker 1: African American CEOs, only two you and the CEO of
18:10
Speaker 1: of of Teachers is the only other one, I think,
18:14
Speaker 1: And so are you surprised at this late date in
18:17
Speaker 1: our history, we only have to or disappointed? Well, I'm
18:21
Speaker 1: more disappointed than I am surprised. I'm not surprised because
18:25
Speaker 1: I know what it took for me to get here,
18:27
Speaker 1: and I know the trials and tribulations that I've been
18:29
Speaker 1: through and UM, you know, I'm not quite sure of
18:34
Speaker 1: a lot of people would want to withstand that, but
18:37
Speaker 1: I would tell you that the disappointing part is that, UM,
18:40
Speaker 1: this is just is totally ridiculous that there's only two
18:44
Speaker 1: of us. UM. I think you know, it's going to
18:46
Speaker 1: go beyond mentoring and sponsoring. It's it's pipeline, you know,
18:51
Speaker 1: filling the pipeline effectively getting people of different races in
18:58
Speaker 1: operating roles. UM, having the confidence that you know that
19:02
Speaker 1: they can do it, because they absolutely can. So in
19:04
Speaker 1: your career, what has been a bigger problem being a
19:07
Speaker 1: female or being African American or neither? You know, I
19:12
Speaker 1: would have to say being African American. UM. I think that, UM,
19:18
Speaker 1: it is still you know, a an issue in our
19:23
Speaker 1: environment to accept people of different races more so than
19:26
Speaker 1: it is gender. UM. I think I've seen a lot
19:29
Speaker 1: of progress with women in corporate American and I'd like
19:32
Speaker 1: to see more progress with people of color. So as
19:35
Speaker 1: we talk today, you're in Washington, d C. I presume
19:37
Speaker 1: you're here to meet with government officials to some extent.
19:40
Speaker 1: Do you find that enough uplifting experience when you do that?
19:46
Speaker 1: You know, I find I find, UM, quite a few
19:49
Speaker 1: teachable moments for both of us. You know, I try
19:52
Speaker 1: and bring the real life experience of health care to
19:54
Speaker 1: legislation so that when the right um decisions are in
19:59
Speaker 1: front of them, they make decisions. So what is the
20:01
Speaker 1: principal thing that they, let's say the drug store industry
20:04
Speaker 1: would like to have the Congress, do you know? First
20:07
Speaker 1: and foremost, you know, I would love to see our
20:09
Speaker 1: pharmacists to operate at the top of their license and
20:12
Speaker 1: so for them to pass legislation that will allow pharmacists
20:15
Speaker 1: to both test and treat so that there's not a
20:17
Speaker 1: second step. And you know, just imagine a mom who
20:20
Speaker 1: has to take a child out of school and take
20:23
Speaker 1: them to pick up a prescription, only to find out
20:25
Speaker 1: that the child is still sick and go back to
20:27
Speaker 1: the doctor. So if it's an ear infection strip through,
20:30
Speaker 1: we can do a test in the store to figure
20:32
Speaker 1: out and then pass on the prescription and in the
20:35
Speaker 1: recovery period is smoother. And every legislation that we absolutely do, yes,
20:40
Speaker 1: And do you meet people from the administration as well
20:42
Speaker 1: or I do you know? Most recently, Um, there's members
20:45
Speaker 1: of Senate that our primary care physicians and so I
20:50
Speaker 1: know who they are, so I meet with them regularly
20:52
Speaker 1: because they understand its best and help us carry them
20:55
Speaker 1: the message, you know throughout. So your competitor, principal want
20:59
Speaker 1: to she be us? I think probably the largest competitor.
21:01
Speaker 1: Some people would say, Um, if if if CBS is
21:05
Speaker 1: right here and Walgreens is right there, and I can
21:08
Speaker 1: go to either one, why should I go to Walgreens
21:10
Speaker 1: ver CVS? I could pick either one? What what? Why
21:12
Speaker 1: are you better than? So glad you asked me that question.
21:15
Speaker 1: The you know, I believe our customer experience model is
21:21
Speaker 1: UM stronger. I think that when you walk into a
21:25
Speaker 1: Walgreen store, you may not have this happen to you
21:27
Speaker 1: every time, but I think you get a nice greeting
21:30
Speaker 1: from our cashiers. And I think our pharmacists are second
21:34
Speaker 1: to none. If you walk into a Walgreens today, but
21:36
Speaker 1: they know you. It depends if I worked out that
21:39
Speaker 1: morning now, because they don't recognize me. But um, sometimes no,
21:45
Speaker 1: sometimes yes, um. And sometimes I can hear them say
21:48
Speaker 1: that I'm in the store. You know, I can hear chattering.
21:51
Speaker 1: So they said, So you walk into a store, though,
21:53
Speaker 1: and if you don't like something, you call the manager
21:56
Speaker 1: and say this isn't good or do you just kind
21:57
Speaker 1: of tell them when you get back to the office.
21:59
Speaker 1: So really, what I do is I take a picture
22:01
Speaker 1: of it, and I send it back to my team
22:03
Speaker 1: at the office and say, I wonder why this is happening, right,
22:06
Speaker 1: because usually it's a decision we've made that is causing
22:10
Speaker 1: something to happen. Nine times out of ten, it's something
22:12
Speaker 1: we've done versus what the stores done. So if you
22:15
Speaker 1: need a prescription, do you have to wait in line?
22:17
Speaker 1: Or I do I have to wait in line? Wait
22:19
Speaker 1: in line? I do you ever say I'm the CEO
22:21
Speaker 1: of this company, I'm waiting in line? Absolutely not No,
22:25
Speaker 1: But usually there's not too much of a line. So
22:29
Speaker 1: but I and I know the best hours to show
22:31
Speaker 1: up to. Obviously, you've had an incredible career. Your parents
22:34
Speaker 1: did Your parents lived to see your success. You know,
22:37
Speaker 1: it's interesting, Um, if I could describe my dad, my
22:40
Speaker 1: dad would define my success as what I did in
22:44
Speaker 1: my you know, throughout my education. My dad was at
22:47
Speaker 1: father that showed up to everything. If I was getting
22:50
Speaker 1: the yellow ribbon and not the gold ribbon, he was
22:53
Speaker 1: still there rooting me on. So he really knew who
22:57
Speaker 1: I was as an individual. You know. He we talked
23:00
Speaker 1: about that a lot. He passed away six weeks before
23:03
Speaker 1: I finished Spellman, and he we had conversations. Um, he
23:09
Speaker 1: saw something in me and he let me know that.
23:11
Speaker 1: So I think he is looking down. I think he
23:14
Speaker 1: kind of knew something good was going to happen. My
23:16
Speaker 1: mom definitely lived through a good part of this. UM.
23:19
Speaker 1: And then my siblings are sharing in, you know, the
23:22
Speaker 1: the excitement in our family. But your siblings, you were
23:24
Speaker 1: the youngest. Your siblings say, well, when we were beating
23:27
Speaker 1: you up, we didn't really mean it. Oh yeah, the
23:28
Speaker 1: days my brother right right, the days my brother would
23:32
Speaker 1: throw me across the room. Yes, but we're very close
23:35
Speaker 1: now and they have the wait in line for prescription.
23:42
Speaker 1: So sometimes head hunters have called you and said, would
23:44
Speaker 1: you be interested in this job or that? If a
23:46
Speaker 1: headhunter called you now for another corporate job, You're no,
23:49
Speaker 1: I would not. I really truly think this is the
23:53
Speaker 1: culmination of everything I've done in my life is coming
23:56
Speaker 1: to bear right now. This is what I want to do. UM.
24:00
Speaker 1: I'm being we're being very intentional about impacting medically underserved communities.
24:05
Speaker 1: That's important to me. Thanks. For listening to hear more
24:08
Speaker 1: of my interviews, You can subscribe and download my podcast
24:11
Speaker 1: on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen.