You Are a Brand Representative: Douglas Daft
They are the world's leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups used to produce more than two hundred and thirty beverage brands. Of course, we're talking about The Coca-Cola Company. Douglas Daft joined the company in 1969, and after serving in regions from Australia to Africa, was named Chairman and CEO in 2000. He held the position until 2004. He met with me at Coca-Cola's headquarters in Atlanta where I asked what were the lessons learned over thirty years of working for Coca-Cola in the field.
I began by asking Daft what were some of the leadership skills he developed in his role as CEO.
Daft said a person in his position needs to "Recognize that you are not an individual anymore. This is probably the hardest thing to come to grips with – that when you say something, you're saying something on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company. So everything has to have the underlying principles of integrity and quality and represent, basically, what we believe the brand represents. And I've sort of got to be a walking imagery of what The Coca-Cola brand represents in everything that I do and say."
When I asked Daft to tell me how to build a team that shares his values and passion for the brand he responded by saying the best way to do that is by example. He spent his first year as CEO observing and traveling. "And rather than send out passionate pleas or letters and saying, ‘Here's what we stand for,' I went to places and said it in pretty simple terms." He used illustrations from his own background and tried to approach people on a personal basis, whether it was with a group of fifty, sixty or a hundred employees, or whether it was individuals. He explained that he thought the only way to start to convey the change of direction that Coca-Cola was embarking on was to be there and do it personally.
CEOs don't only need to focus on how to carry the message of the brand they represent and how to share that message with employees, but they also have to think about what to look for when selecting key individuals. I also asked Daft what the character of a team leader is. He replied that he assumes that people in the group they're selecting leadership from wouldn't have made it into that group without integrity. Although integrity is an expectation, Daft still tried to make sure that potential leaders have integrity because that's such an important value to associate with the Coca-Cola brand. "It's the whole integrity of what we stand for."
Double your value by carrying the message of your organization with constant integrity. The amount of integrity you have will affect people's perception of the brand you represent, and it will also influence employees and how you choose team leaders.
I began by asking Daft what were some of the leadership skills he developed in his role as CEO.
Daft said a person in his position needs to "Recognize that you are not an individual anymore. This is probably the hardest thing to come to grips with – that when you say something, you're saying something on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company. So everything has to have the underlying principles of integrity and quality and represent, basically, what we believe the brand represents. And I've sort of got to be a walking imagery of what The Coca-Cola brand represents in everything that I do and say."
When I asked Daft to tell me how to build a team that shares his values and passion for the brand he responded by saying the best way to do that is by example. He spent his first year as CEO observing and traveling. "And rather than send out passionate pleas or letters and saying, ‘Here's what we stand for,' I went to places and said it in pretty simple terms." He used illustrations from his own background and tried to approach people on a personal basis, whether it was with a group of fifty, sixty or a hundred employees, or whether it was individuals. He explained that he thought the only way to start to convey the change of direction that Coca-Cola was embarking on was to be there and do it personally.
CEOs don't only need to focus on how to carry the message of the brand they represent and how to share that message with employees, but they also have to think about what to look for when selecting key individuals. I also asked Daft what the character of a team leader is. He replied that he assumes that people in the group they're selecting leadership from wouldn't have made it into that group without integrity. Although integrity is an expectation, Daft still tried to make sure that potential leaders have integrity because that's such an important value to associate with the Coca-Cola brand. "It's the whole integrity of what we stand for."
Double your value by carrying the message of your organization with constant integrity. The amount of integrity you have will affect people's perception of the brand you represent, and it will also influence employees and how you choose team leaders.
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