CASE: Walgreens Boots Alliance
Business Transformation Director
The Situation
We were asked by the CEO to recruit a Business Transformation Director for Alliance Healthcare, the Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance which contributes $20b to WBA’s $140b annual revenue. The role was to direct the implementation of a major ERP programme with a project spend of $76m over a 3–4-year period.
The success and speed of this search would not have been possible without the incredible trust that existed between Alliance’s CEO and our CEO & Founder, developed during a previous search for Alliance UK’s CIO.
The Opportunity
The overall programme entailed a fundamental business transformation; redesigning core business processes and essentially changing the entire business operating model. We were tasked with hiring a business lead to own the programme and manage its roll out in the UK before assessing its implementation in other countries.
Work on the programme had already begun under an existing business transformation director, who was amicably leaving the company in a couple of months. The client wanted a smooth transition between the outgoing and incoming directors and tasked The Digital Board with finding a suitable programme director as quickly as possible. We were directly approached by the UK CEO who wanted to meet with potential candidates one week after sign off. Both parties devoted considerable time, attention and focus to the search to make this happen.
What made this interesting?
This was a search like (literally) no other we have carried out. It was an SOS call from the CEO asking if we could basically “drop everything” (even though we were working on a number of high profile searches across the wider group) and help find him someone to replace the incumbent leader. Why? Alliance Healthcare were in the midst of a transition of ownership from WBA to Amerisource Bergen and this programme was absolutely business critical. The CEO needed to show there would be a fast response.
Our CEO literally drove it from start to finish. Working closely with the research team, he looked at over 300 profiles and picked 6. He called all 6 with a very different style of message, explaining both the complexity of the and criticality of the role (and timing). In one week, he managed to present a shortlist of just two to the client. Within 2 weeks, the preferred candidate from the shortlist had met 6 key (Group) stakeholders and was offered (and accepted) the role over breakfast on a Saturday morning.
What made this challenging?
Everything....the urgency needed combined with a really rare set of skills (and willingness to work at the spend of the client). The skill balance of exceptional leadership experience, being able to manage a business programme of this magnitude (c. $100m) and in such a niche area of wholesale/supply chain transformation combined with the technical experience (overseeing SAP/Manhattan implementation) and finally with the cultural alignment required to be able to move up and down the gears; one minute presenting to ExCo (Group WBA) steering committee and the next, being hands-on at the coal face with the team, leading from the front. Well, it was a huge challenge but a really stimulating one.
The Digital Board Process
We began the process by working with the client and talking to the key figures that were already involved in leading the programme to understand the main requirements of the role.
We then wrote the entire job description for the client, capturing the idiosyncrasies of the position and the programme and focusing on the following areas:
A business change leader with a deep understanding of supply chain and distribution processes and systems
Experience in overseeing and owning an ERP implementation and
Strong communication and influencing skills to effectively partner with the stakeholders and leaders of the various business units.
Working closely with our CEO and founder Bryan, our research team conducted an intensive sourcing process, identifying 6 key candidates that we felt fit the role description. We built profiles on these candidates and sent them directly to the CEO.
Following his feedback, we initially reached out to all six candidates, and were then in discussions with 5 of them within a week of contacting.
Given the time pressure on the project, we took a streamlined approach to interviewing the candidates, first having a pitch call with the candidates to provide more background on the role and give the candidates an opportunity to consider the role. We then conducted a formal Interview and assessment.
We recommended that the client meet with 2 of the candidates, both of whom were interviewed by the CEO the week after sign off, with his favoured candidate subsequently interviewing with all the other key stakeholders.
As these interviews with the Digital Board and the client took place, our research team continued to search for appropriate candidates behind the scenes.
For this search the proposal was signed, and offer made and accepted within 21 days.
Success Story
This is one of the fastest searches completed by The Digital Board, taking just 21 days from sign off to offer. This success and pace is largely due to the unwavering sponsorship of the CEO throughout the search, and the hard work of his EA who was efficient in arranging interviews with the stakeholders. There was a high level of trust and cooperation between the client and the Digital Board which facilitated a quick turnaround and effective results.
The CEO felt a strong connection with the successful candidate for their ability to be a good listener and influencer and to ultimately deliver all aspects in demanding time frames. The candidate in turn bought into the CEO, galvanising their own commitment to the job and helping them to carry that same impact through to their subsequent interviews.
The successful candidate is now bringing to Alliance Healthcare 30 years of Operations, Commercial Development, Technology and Transformation experience both as a client and supplier, across organisations large and small in a number of industries. The candidate’s experience in technology, digital and process innovation is significant. They had led the steering committee or been a senior stakeholder for Supply Chain for 5 major (3 SAP) ERP system changes at different organisations, including a recent assignment at a UK leading cafe chain. They had also led the implementation of major WMS and S&OP tools for improved Warehousing operations and Forecasting and Demand Planning across different businesses. Additionally, the candidate had enabled transitions to a greater digital set up in supply chain metrics, compliance and cost control.