Good Power

6

Being in Service Of

It’s a blistering-hot midwestern summer day, but the air-conditioned office is chilly. I sit down next to the CEO of a large grocery retailer and hand him a multipage report that my team and I put together after months of studying his company. This is the first major consulting engagement I’d personally sold on my own. We’ve interviewed dozens of the company’s executives, studied store aisles, toured warehouses, and researched the industry to know how the retailer compares to competitors. We found problems ranging from inventory shrinkage, as shoppers ate strawberries from the display, to low cashier productivity, and a slow supply chain.

I’ve been traveling Sundays to Fridays, and I am so busy that I’ve forfeited vacation ...