Leadership Learnings from Former CEO of Walmart Asia and Canada

5 min read

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Dirk Van den Berghe’s five lessons on talent, direction and building resilient businesses.

Odgers’ Global Consumer and Retail Practice recently hosted a webinar with Dirk Van den Berghe as keynote speaker, attended by a broad mix of senior industry leaders from the retail, packaged goods and leisure and hospitality sectors from across the world.

A highly accomplished global retail CEO with experience of working in Asia, Europe and North America, Dirk has held senior executive roles at Walmart Inc. and Delhaize Group (now part of AholdDelhaize), and led strategic partnerships with JD.com, Rakuten, GoTo and Flipkart. He currently serves on the boards of GoTo, Ibex Retail Europe, Takko Fashion and Pepco Group.

In the Consumer and Retail sectors, where change and volatility are constant, exceptional leaders like Dirk show how clarity, pace and judgment make the difference. Taken from his rich career journey, Dirk distilled his five major learnings for consumer and retail leadership.

1) Talent is the most important asset

Dirk emphasised that talent is more than a slogan, requiring personal ownership by senior leaders. He explained that what made a difference for him was taking personal ownership for sourcing talent.

He emphasised that senior leaders looking for top talent must act with greater speed and determination than anyone else.

This reveals itself particularly in times of crisis. During Dirk’s time as CEO in Asia amid the pandemic, the CEO in China left to relocate back home. With borders closed at the time, a successor would have been exceptionally more difficult to find had he not maintained strong relationships with talented executives. The emergency never materialised.

He described that nothing is more powerful when people who understand the company’s culture are paired with new talent. When those two groups see value in each other, he said, you can move mountains.

2) Culture, purpose and values as differentiators

The biggest differentiator of organisations is where the culture is continuously strengthened through storytelling, management by examples and by recognising the right actions. It is not a document or a template, but something people absorb by watching how the company actually behaves.

He offered the example that a company with a broken soul and a drained culture is much more challenging to turn around, but one where only greater direction, data and process is needed becomes an easier mission to drive value.

The most effective way to overcome challenges is by relying on people who are genuinely motivated and understand the value it brings to both them and their customers, highlighting the critical role that culture, purpose, and strong values play in this process.

3) The importance of focus and making the tough calls

The ability to focus, Dirk commented, is one of the rarest qualities in a senior leader.

During his time as CEO of Delhaize Group (now part of AholdDelhaize) in Asia, managing multiple markets requires clear prioritisation and rather than trying to improve every business simultaneously, he had to make tough decisions about where not to invest, even if it meant making difficult trade-offs elsewhere.

4) Strengthen the customer value proposition in line with your own DNA

This learning came with perhaps the most cautionary note. Dirk believes the best way to create organisational value is from strengthening and staying true to your core identity and customer value proposition, instead of emulating a different model that doesn’t align.

If a company attempts to reinvent itself too rapidly into something new, it can have negative consequences such as driving away loyal customers while still struggling to attract the new audience it aims to reach.

5) Transformation must be built on a position of strength

The final learning follows directly from the last, but addresses a different temptation.

There are no shortcuts to success to optimise your core business. Dirk reflected on a major transformation in 2016 with Sam’s Club in China where the board recognised its unique potential to compete with e-commerce. The ‘a-ha’ moment came when they calculated home delivery was 6-7% less expensive than running physical stores in densely-populated cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and most other major Chinese cities; a cost advantage which would only increase over time.

This high-value format which met consumers’ needs for quality and convenience meant it was possible to stay competitive when other international retailers were under severe pressure or had exited the market.

Retooling yourself as a leader

When asked how CEOs are best to retool themselves, Dirk summarised his recommendations:

Stay curious about how other organisations solve problems.
Stretch yourself deliberately.
Build a team that will tell you things you don’t want to hear.

Final message for aspirational leaders

For those looking to progress their CEO journey, Dirk concluded with some final advice: “Have no regrets. Anything you do in life, ultimately you learn, it makes you stronger. I’m pretty sure I could have pushed myself even further out of my comfort zone, but down the road, it remains a judgment call. So make a move and make the best of it.”

Odgers understands the impact of appointing transformational talent in your leadership teams. Start the process with a confidential discussion with our leadership experts.

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Odgers provides integrated executive search and leadership advisory services. We are deeply rooted in our local markets, which we combine with global perspective and reach to help organisations build transformational, world-class leadership teams.

Get in touch. Follow the links below to learn more, or connect directly with our dedicated executive search experts and Consumer and Retail leadership consultants at your local Odgers office here.     