Walking the Talk:

an Article for Critical Eye

Archie Norman, the former CEO and Chair of the supermarket chain ASDA, left a haunting image when he spoke at a conference last week. He compared the store visits he engineered with those of ASDA's previous CEO. In the latter, a fleet of large cars would arrive at the Supermarket door and out would step 5, 6 or more senior executives. The store manager would be waiting patiently at the door. Hands would be shaken and the entourage would sweep down the aisles of the store. 'Hi, what do you do? You enjoy working here?' and then off to the next visit with a passing: 'tidy up that main display' to the manager on the way out. By contrast, Archie would go alone, park in the far corner of the car park, leaving the near spaces to shoppers who were spending money. He left his jacket in the car and walked unannounced into the store. He'd chat to customers: 'what do you like?', 'what could we do better?', 'thanks for shopping here' and to the staff: 'What's the best thing about working here? And the worst?' and finally he would talk to the manager, maybe over a coffee in the canteen. 'What can I do to make your life easier?' 'How's business?' A final walk round the store, maybe with the manger, then off to the car park to write any action notes to himself before setting off for the next visit. The point was not about the need to 'press the flesh' or be visible: it was how you got a realistic picture of what was going on and actually do some useful business whilst you were there. My own direct experience of the company bore that out when I was taking a senior Government Minister to an ASDA store to open an education programme. The Store Greeter (another of Archie Norman's innovations: he or she replaced the dour, uniformed Security Guard at the main entrance), welcomed us and was expecting us, but never failed to miss a shopper