An adapted version of this newsletter first appeared on Inc.com
When executives can connect their personal history and purpose with their organization’s purpose, the results can be profound. That’s certainly the case for Rosalind “Roz” Brewer, who became CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance in March 2021 after holding top positions at Starbucks and Sam’s Club.
As Roz told me on my new podcast Deep Purpose, produced by Harvard Business School, it was her parents who instilled the tenacity and work ethic that enabled her to reach the top ranks of business. Both her father and mother were assembly line workers at General Motors in Detroit, and her father rose to a management position. Without college degrees themselves, they put a premium on education and advancement for their children.
Brewer said the experience she and her siblings had as end-of-life caregivers for their parents helped inform her view of health care. Even though she and her family had the financial means to care for their parents, it was still a very difficult journey: “I don’t want anyone else to have to go through what I did,” she said.
“If you’ve ever been a caretaker for a family member, and you can see how arduous a task it is to care for someone, either in their final days or at the worst moments of their health experience, you can see how tough it is,” Brewer said. “And they’re not joyful days, but they could be. And if you had the right access around you, you could turn this situation into something that is workable.”
In an interview for my podcast, Brewer told me how her company’s purpose – to inspire more joyful lives through better health – has served as her North Star. Here are some lessons she has learned in her highly influential role.
It’s possible – but not easy – to both make a profit and fulfill a purpose. “It’s a battle every day in health care to really get in that sweet spot of doing right and hitting the right profit position as well as the best position you want for the community,” she said.
Outside partnerships are key to success. Walgreens Boots Alliance has invested more than $6 billion in a national chain of more than 250 primary care clinics. This partnership of pharmacists, insurers, distributors, physicians and other care providers is striving to improve health outcomes, including in underserved communities, Brewer.
Walgreen’s path to success is both local and personal. Walgreen’s has more than 9,000 stores across the United States and Britain, and she sees each individual store as a vitally important link in a health chain. She points out that for many people, their most meaningful medical interactions are with their local pharmacists. If those pharmacists work for Walgreen’s Boots Alliance, then that is beneficial to both the company and the patient.
Engaging employees at all levels – and especially at the frontline – helps a company achieve its purpose. “Never underestimate taking a big problem to your frontline teams because they actually know much more about the execution of it and the reality of it,” she said.
In the current talent war, meaningful work counts for more than pay or benefits, she has found. “People want to know that their work is going to count for something greater than just delivering the profits,” she said. “When people are purpose-driven, they tend to run through a wall for you.”
She feels a responsibility to promote diversity, equity and inclusion – within her company and beyond. She said other CEO’s have called her at pivotal times, such as during the George Floyd protests, and asked for her help on how to respond. she said. “And I will exhaust my every schedule just to respond to them, to help them understand how to deal with this. I’m so glad that they’re making the phone call because I can remember times in my career where a phone call wouldn’t have happened.”
As one of only two Black women to lead a Fortune 100 company, Brewer knows that she receives outsize scrutiny, but says she doesn’t want that to affect her decision making. First and foremost, she said, is doing what’s right for her company.
She always thinking: What’s next? “At some point, we have to face the music that retail pharmacy is just not enough for us in the long haul,” she said. Her long-term vision includes working on legislation to create change in the health care industry. “And it does stem from my lived experience.”
