Before I Was CEO: Life Stories and Lessons from Leaders Before They Reached the Top by Vanham Peter

Author:Vanham, Peter [Vanham, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119278115
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2016-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Beyond these two obvious lessons, van Boxmeer also retained three key principles from his early career in Africa. They are as follows.

If you want to get, you have to give. This first principle can be recognized literally in the serum decision. But beyond that, it also counts for other decisions van Boxmeer and his colleagues took in those decisions. For example, when Heineken employees and their families were among the refugees that fled to Zaire during the Rwandan civil war, van Boxmeer's Heineken Zaire received all of them and provided for them and their families, as they didn't have any income. “If you work with people, you have no other choice than to give, or you'll fail,” van Boxmeer said. “It's very important, even if it isn't easy. The larger the company, the larger the stakes. But you have a social contract with your own personnel. It's one of the crucial elements for a leader to remember and live by.”

Always deliver the goods (or alternatively: always do what you say—but don't always say what you do). Van Boxmeer learned this principle in the always-turbulent Zaire. “If you're faced with a situation you can't control, you have to learn to accept it and decide how to deal with it,” said van Boxmeer. “But the first lesson is that you always have to remember to deliver the goods.” He faced such a situation when because of hyperinflation, he risked not being paid, not being paid enough, or not being able to deliver. “For sure, I couldn't sweep hyperinflation under the rug. It was a given. In that case I have to surf the wave, because I couldn't break the wave . I had to make sure I delivered my own goods, and then make sure I get paid. It's what I did: I delivered the beer, and asked to get paid the day price on arrival. I took the exchange risk, but not the credit risk. I rather had it that way, than asking for dollars, but risking not getting paid, or not being able to deliver myself. Luckily, it worked out well.” Did it work out well because he asked to be paid in cash on arrival? Or did it work because he always kept his end of the deal as well? For van Boxmeer, it was both. But he started by delivering himself.

In less-fragile markets, when leadership became more about “telling the story,” van Boxmeer said he remembered to also “deliver” as a manager. If not, he said, “You would be a charlatan.” So you have to do both: “You have to tell the story, tell where you're going, telling people to be proud and happy, and also deliver. You have to at least be able to manage, and you have to be that leader, too.”

If you fail: admit, apologize, repair. Van Boxmeer recalls the launch of the Amstel brand of beer in Zaire: “It was a complete failure. We had a lot of successes, but this wasn't one of them.

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